ItsMe2033

Most surgeons want you to wait quite a while before eating bread and related products. I think with my surgeon it's something like 6 months. In terms of can you ever eat them then yes, eventually you can. But if you want to be successful in your weight loss efforts then they should be an occasional treat, but not something in your daily eating plan. Hopefully prior to your surgery you should have asked yourself the question "What is more important to me, being able to eat what I want or being able to weigh what I want?", and hopefully since you chose to have the surgery, then you answered that question by saying that it was more important to you to be able to weigh what you want to instead of being able to eat what you want.

Chicken broth and sugar free gatorade are two things to consider.

I too suggest that you should get a second opinion.

Awesome NSV. Congratulations. I can relate to the wheelchair part. I broke my ankle 2 1/2 years ago and I was in a wheelchair for 3 months. Although I'm not glad I broke my ankle, I can say the being in a wheelchair gave me an appreciation for so many things. As part of my wheelchair experience, I flew to Las Vegas with some friends (we had booked the trip about a month before I broke my ankle). I know it will sound really strange, but I'm glad that I had the chance to experience being in a wheelchair. And unlike you, I did not have any lingering complications after I healed and had physical therapy. I'm glad to hear about your cave experience. I guess that it didn't have any really tight spots. I've been in "Mark Twain's Cave" in Missouri, which is big, but I don't think I would like going into a small cave.

If you haven't ever tried CarbQuick, I recommend that you do. It's great. I've been doing low carb for 13 years and I will say that it is the best product of it's type that I have found. I liked it better than the Atkins product which I had tried several years ago. The best price I have seen on it is at : http://www.netrition.com/tova_carbquik_page.html I know it used to be available on amazon, but I think a few years ago I was unable to find it there, but it may be there again.

I discussed my level of carb/fat consumption with my NUT. She was fully in support of what I was trying to do by reducing my carbs. She said that the recommended percentages are just intended for the typical diet after having the sleeve.

Lot's of people have a stall at the 3 week point, so I think that is what is going on in your case, so just stick with the plan and you will be fine. Your NUT has probably given you three numbers to focus on. 1) Ounces of Fluid per day 2) Grams of Protein per day 3) Total calories per day As long as you are sticking by those numbers, it doesn't really matter how the calories are distributed. I would encourage you to always reach your protein goal. I think you should probably aim for 80 grams of protein instead of 60. Are you drinking Protein Shakes? There are also tons of threads on here about alternatives to protein shakes if you aren't drinking them. As far as other calories are concerned, they can come from protein, fat, or carbs. If you have a certain level of protein intake, and if you want to keep your calories the same then if you cut carbs then you must increase fat. There is nothing to be concerned about here. Remember that my fitness pal is a general website, not one geared specifically to people who have had weight loss surgery. I'm glad that you've made the decision to cut back on your carbs. As long as you are meeting your three targets (fluids, protein, and total calories) then don't worry about your fat consumption. To answer your specific question,I try to get 800 - 1000 calories per day. If I consume 125 grams of protein in a day, that's 500 calories. The other 500 have to come from the remaining groups. In my case I generally consume 20 - 30 grams of carbs per day, so the rest will come from fat. 30 grams of carbs is 120 calories, which means that I will consume 380 calories of fat, or 42 grams of fat per day.

So much of the stuff you have done is amzaing, but this This is remarkable. Very few people are able to accomplish at this level. Congratulations on your success. Your work has really paid off. And thanks for posting this to help inspire others.

For a cautionary tale of what can happen if you get pregnant at 12 months after surgery see the thread at: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/97860-how-to-go-back-after-almost-a-year/

You probably just need to go slower on the elliptical, or use less resistance. You should be able to talk normally while on it, and it it kicks your butt in a few minutes, you're overdoing it. The best benefits will come from working at a comfortable pace. Work your way up to 45 minute sessions. Once you reach that point you should come back on here and research High-intensity interval training (HIIT), also called High-Intensity Intermittent Exercise (HIIE) or Sprint Interval Training (SIT). But don't do that right at first. Just keep working your way up to 45 minutes or so.

To get you energy up, I would recommend that you stick closer to the 800 calorie range. Also, how much Protein do you get? It's great that you're walking 5 times a week. .75 miles is probably around 15 minutes, so I encourage you to work your way up to perhaps 45 minutes of walking in each session if you have the time. Walking really helps boost your energy.

Have you been walking or doing other exercises? Also, you might try to increase your fluids some. How may calories are you getting per day?

One thing I forgot to mention is that if you start working out a lot between now and the time you get pregnant, and work out moderately after you get pregnant, you will both increase your chances of keeping the weight off, and provide an optimal environment for your health and the baby's.

Welcome to the forums Laura. This is really an amazing resource. The collective knowledge of everyone here is amazing. I encourage you to spend an hour or two per day on the forums preop and an hour a day on the forums after surgery, at least for a while. Learn as much as you can. You will see some areas where some veterans on the forum might have slightly different ideas on what's best, but for the most part you will see that most of the experts agree on most things. You're not starting out as heavy as some people, so I encourage you to pay special attention to the threads on people who start out at a lower BMI. Since your surgery is coming up soon, I encourage you to find the threads on what to take with you to the hospital. You probably won't need most of the stuff, but take it anyway because you don't know in advance what things you will actually need. You sound like someone who has given this a lot of thought, and I'm sure that you are making a great decision. Best of luck to you, and please update this thread or another one as you make progress.

Often the kindest thing may involve inflicting a little pain. I think if he had the capability of picking up subtle hints of disinterest he would have already picked up on them by now. I think that what Jane suggests will work, for a while, but since he won't pick up on the subtle hints you've already given him, I think telling him that you are exploring something with someone else right now only invites him to contact you again in a few months to see where he stands. I think if you kindly told him where he stood, he would be less inclined to pursue you later. Something along the lines of "I enjoyed meeting you, but I just don't think we have enough in common to go out anymore." It's courteous, it doesn't waste his time by leaving him any room to believe that there could be a future together, and it doesn't place any blame on him. Furthermore, it's the truth.

A whole lot of people lose about 5 pounds per week for several weeks around the time of the surgery and then after that they lose around 2 or 2 1/2 pounds per week. You've lost 36 pounds in a month which is fantastic, so I don't believe you have anything to worry about. It is important that you have realistic expectations going forward about your rate of loss per week or month. At the current rate, you'll be losing around 10 pounds per month going forward. That's fairly average, so I don't think that you should expect any more than that.

I encourage you to try eating a very low carb diet for a couple of weeks and see if it eliminates your sweet cravings. For a lot of people, eating carbs of any sort makes them crave sweets. The first week that you eliminate carbs you'll probably crave sweets worse than usual, but after that you level of cravings should go down. If after a couple of weeks of low carb you find that you are still having your cravings, then you could stop the low carb diet if you want to, or stick with it if you prefer. But if you see that it does help with your cravings then consider staying on low carb for a while.

I think that what you really want to know is the answer to two separate questions. Once you know the answer to those two questions then you can decide what your priorities are. The first question is: "At what point after the surgery is it safe to become pregnant that won't cause any additional health problems to me or to a baby?" You could research this, but a tentative answer might be one year after surgery. The second question is: "How long after the surgery should I wait to become pregnant in order to maximize my weight loss and the odds of keeping the weight off.?" The answer to this one is probably much more difficult to find. My guess is that you would want to get to you goal weight, and be stabilized there for some period of time prior to getting pregnant. I know that there is supposed to be a 12 - 18 month honeymoon period after the surgery where it's easier to lose weight. I think that even if you go to goal prior to 12 months that you would still want a substantial period of time at goal to stabilize your weight and your lifestyle prior to getting pregnant. So if I had to answer this question, my guess would be that the optimal period of time to wait would be two years. When you look at this question you should find the answer to this question by putting aside any "baby fever" and just try to figure out what is optimal. Once you have answered question one and question two, then you should decide how important optimal weight loss is to you versus wanting to have a baby quickly. As an example, if the answer to question one is 1 year, and the answer to question two is 2 years, then perhaps you might decide that you are willing to have less than optimal weight loss and go ahead and get pregnant at 12 or 18 months. In that case, you would understand what you were trading off, and be happier with the outcome. It's fine if you want to make that decision, but just keep an awareness of the tradeoffs you are making. You should try to find the best possible answer to questions one and two. And you should answer those questions as objectively as possible. Your decision should come when you try to figure out what you are willing to trade off.

Premier Protein is great. It's ready to drink. It's sold at Sams and Costco. It has 30 grams of protein and is 160 calories. Since it's ready to drink that's the total calories unlike in a powder where you also have to add the calories of what you mix with it.

There should be an option on the poll something to the effect of: Diabetes pre-surgery but totally controlled by a low carb diet and exercise, and still totally controlled post-surgery by a low carb diet.

What you have described is two people with disordered thinking about eating and body weight. It's probably not as severe as someone who is anorexic, but it is disordered thinking. If you can be around them without it being a burden on you (and it sounds like you can't) then be around them and be understanding that they have a disorder. If you can't be around them and they aren't really that close to you then you should just gently move them out of your life. If you can't be around them and they are really close to you then try to talk with them in some of the ways that have been suggested above. If you choose to talk with them, there is no need for drama on either side. Just have a gentle conversation with them and try to get their support. If that doesn't work out, just gradually distance yourself from them. Perhaps in a year or two you will be able to be back around them without too much discomfort.

I hope you don't think me unkind for anything that I am about to say. I am trying to help you to the very best extent that I possibly can. What do you expect will happen when you don't eat properly or exercise. Is what has happened anything other than what you would expect to happen. The sleeve is a tool. It is not a magic wand. I don't think you are using your tool properly. You say that you are not trying to make excuses, but you are. In your case you should be estimating your calories every day. If you don't know exactly the calories in a dish, go online and try to look up a food somewhat like that and make your best guess. If you don't know how much you are eating, go to one of the websites that teaches you to estimate quantities of food. Stuff like 1 oz is the size of a golf ball, 3 oz is a deck of cards, etc. If you have any desire to lose any more weight you must have some idea of how many calories you are getting in a day. I don't know you, so I can only gues that the answer to this is yes. You should avoid foods at the chow halls that won't help you meet your goals. Yes you should work out more if you can find the time. Because of your situation, I don't know if you have the time to do that or not. Life is sometimes like a fairy tale, but in this case you get one wish, not three. If this is really what you want, then you must start to behave like it is what you want. And you should eliminate behaviors that are not consistent with that goal. The most important thing to keep in mind is that food is more important than exercise. You can always eat more calories than you can ever exercise away. So my suggestion is that you think about what you really want. If you really want to lose more weight then you probably already know what to do. You just have to find a way to get yourself to do it.

I think it takes about 50 pounds for most people to start noticing or commenting.

This may sound like I'm suggesting that you should not be true to your feelings, but if you need his help I would let him help you and not say anything until your problem has been resolved. Then on your last visit you could ask him why he has behaved that way.

It sounds like there is at least an element of a control issue here. I think the solution to this depends on if you want to keep this a secret from your mother forever, or just until after the surgery. If you have surgery at the end of November and your sister comes in early January, she will most likely figure something out. If you want to keep it a secret from your mom then I would suggest postponing the surgery til after the visit. If you only want to keep it a secret until after the surgery then if she figures it out, no harm done. And by the way, you have the right to keep this a secret from anyone you want to as long as you want to. Don't let anyone try to shame you into telling if you don't want to.