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I'd love to hear how I screwed up. I never ate off plan until I passed goal. I followed every instruction my doctor gave me. I have gotten 60g+ Protein and 64oz+ Water every day. (Except when I was so nauseous from a medication I was on for a C. diff infection that I couldn't even swallow my own spit...which of course led to dehydration and IV fluids at which point my doctor and I found an alternative solution to cure the infection. In other words, make sure you drink!). I take my Vitamins every day. I get my bloodwork done as recommended and adjust supplements accordingly. I am active everyday. I lost over 100% of my excess weight and have kept it off for 7 months. Sure, now I eat deserts and carbs and drink alcohol, but I'm in maintenance and I'm allowed anything and everything in moderation. Any weight gain I observe I immediately check by going back to strict protein and veggies. Again, where is my non compliance? But if I was, then good for me for being so successful despite all my cheating! My point to the OP is that this is a lifetime commitment and she struggled with just 7 days. food addiction is serious business and everyone needs to get whatever help they can to overcome it. Like @@VSGAnn2014 said, not everyone is successful with this tool and not taking responsibility for your choices and trying to validate cheating makes for a slippery slope towards failure. I consider myself a rockstar of WLS, and I'm on here to pay it forward. I'm a big proponent of everyone making a plan that works for them. My way is not the only way, just one of the many ways that works. But not being able to say no to sweets is generally not one of the plans that works.

"Oh, I almost forgot! PLEASE PLEASE read "The Emotional First Aid Kit" by Cynthia Alexander. I am half way through it and don't know how I was getting through this before I read it. Should be must reading for any pre op and post op WLS patient!" Ditto! I read it before surgery and reread parts once I was in maintenance, just to keep my head in the game.

Sorry some of you didn't appreciate some of the truthful "tough love" comments on here. I expressed my concerns as someone who has gone through this. 16 days of a liquid preop followed by another 18 days liquid postop and 22 additional days with a restricted diet. That's almost 2 months of following my doctor's orders to a T and not cheating even one single time. My preop was over Christmas with lots of holiday parties loaded with food and drinks and sweets. But I sat there and drank my Protein shakes and Water because I was committed to this surgery and everything that goes along with it, including fighting head hunger. My post was meant to help the OP realize that while preop is hard, it's nothing compared to the years of temptation she has in front of her. If one week of saying no to sweets is too much to handle when her medical safety is at stake, she has a long, hard road in front of her once she is healed unless she gets help with her addiction (and yes, not being able to stop a behavior despite its negative impact is an addiction). This surgery is not a miracle and the physical restriction will not change what she chooses to eat. I'm 14 months out and believe me, the head games we play with food never end.

So what plans do you have to keep yourself from "cheating" every day post op? Since you are choosing to go against your doctor's orders your medical well being is obviously not a priority. If you aren't already, you probably need to see a therapist to deal with your food issues because you will be hungry after surgery, too. There's really nothing but your head keeping you from eating whatever you want and either not reaching goal or gaining weight back after you do lose it.

137. 7 months of successful maintenance!

I never even bought a scale. I weighed maybe 7 times the first 4 months postop, mostly at my doctors office. Since then I've weighed about once/week on the dog/cat scale at work so I have something to post on the challenges on here....fully clothed with shoes or boots and after breakfast.

You may ask your PCP to do a fecal culture, check for parasites, and test for C. diff. I developed urgent, frequent diarrhea 6 weeks postop. Turned out to be a C. Diff infection. I didn't get it from VSG surgery, I got it from the antibiotics my dentist put me on 3 weeks after VSG, but not being able to drink very much at a time led to dehydration and I had to get IV fluids 3 times. Took 12 weeks of unsuccessful medical treatments and finally a fecal transplant to cure the C. diff. Yours may just be "travelers" diarrhea or new sleeve intolerance, but better to be safe than sorry. I talked to both Dr. So and Dr. Martinez about my diarrhea, and they advised immodium and probiotics (the good, refrigerated, 50 billion+ CFU, multistrain kind you can get at a lot of health food stores, not just the worthless OTC kind in the grocery store). Yogurt really isn't that high in probiotic cultures, either. But they are clear down in Mexico and can only give you their "standard answer" without actually seeing you and doing diagnostics. And if it is C. Diff, Imodium is contraindicated. I only let mine go on for 2 days before seeing my PCP. with my history of hospitalization, GI surgery, and antibiotics, (all C. diff risks) he immediately ordered the fecal tests. The first C. Diff actually came back negative, but a week later we retested using a different test method and it was positive.

Nashua nutrition has all of the Syntrax Nectars plus dozens of other brands and flavors available in single servings. $1.99 each. A great way to find something you like. I've also seen Spirutien , Raw Fit, Raw Protein and Jay Robb single packs in a lot of health food stores.

I mix the fuzzy naval, crystal sky, lemonade, cherry and Apple with Water. I actually like lemonade/cherry combo the best. I mix the vanilla bean, chocolate and strawberry mousse with milk. They all taste great. In fact I did a taste test of about 12 different brands of chocolate and vanilla powders. The Syntrax nectars both were tied for first with 2 other brands on taste but their nutritional profile popped them up into the #1 spot. Edit...I mix them with 20-24oz water or milk, not the amount they say on the package. I also don't especially like the taste of artificial sweeteners, so sometimes I add real 100% juice to the fruit flavors to mask it with the real thing.

Hey, @@Alex Brecher any word on getting this thread back? Can you just delete or edit the posts that mention the offending surgeon?

I'll throw my hat into the 3-4 month time frame before I felt normal. But I developed a C. Diff infection from a dental procedure 6 weeks post VSG, so that definitely delayed my recovery. The fecal transplant at 3 1/2 months out that cured the C. Diff was pretty much the turnaround point for my health and well being.

Discharged and out shopping and sightseeing about 18 hours after surgery.

Hey Alex, what happened to the Dr. Ariel Ortiz and Obesity Control Thread? I got a PM that said they couldn't access it. Now I can't even find it.

HW 238 SW 216 CW 140 TPL 98 TGP 88 Took my dog in for an MRI last week and found out he has a metastatic tumor in his cervical spine, not the herniated disk we were thinking it was. Spent the last 6 days stress eating my way back to the top of my bounce range.

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Yeahaw...congrats!

I've never liked presweetened yogurt because it's too sweet. I could handle vanilla sometimes, but none of the fruit flavors. I was very excited to discover all the great ways to flavor plain Greek yogurt and customize the sweetness.... Vanilla Protein powder Mio black cherry pureed berries, peaches or bananas Torani syrups....almond, English toffee, raspberry, caramel, pumpkin pie, etc Honey (my friend is a beekeeper, so I have an unlimited supply of raw honey...use it in everything!) I also add flax seed or steel cut oats a lot of times. And one I just discovered today....banana Protein Powder with chopped walnuts. Mmmm. I'm 13+ months out but still love my pureed stage foods.

I had to put my English Pointer to sleep last September. Her name was Belle and she was just 1 week shy of her 13th birthday. Even though I have another Pointer, Abraham, its been very sad and lonely without her. I volunteer at the local animal shelter, and have been watching an Australian shepherd mix for the last few weeks. I finally broke down and brought him home for a weekend sleepover. Of course it only took 24 hours to decide to keep him, so everyone, meet Isaac..... (The second collage is Belle...still miss my sweet girl)

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So I took Isaac and Abraham snowshoeing 4 weeks ago. They had a blast leaping through the snow and exploring tree wells for critters. The next morning Abe woke up with severe neck pain. I put him on NSAIDS and tramadol for a couple days with no improvement. Then saw a chiropractor with no improvement. Started on steroids and was almost instantly pain free! After a couple weeks on prednisone and gabapentin he started getting painful again. The vet I work with and I Figured he probably had a herniated disk from something he did in the deep snow, so took him in for an MRI. (A nearby hospital is nice enough to allow us to bring dogs in after hours to use their MRI.). I dropped the CD off at the radiologist's house on my way home. She a friend of mine and volunteered to review the MRI after she put her kids to bed. The radiologist called me before I even got back home (1 1/2 hour drive from the hospital) to tell me unfortunately it wasn't a disk. She found a mass deep in his neck that has tentacles into his spine where a second small mass is compressing the spinal cord. There are some changes in the vertebrae as well, and she suspects this is hemangiosarcoma metastasis. I consulted with my former boss who is a veterinary oncologist who advised it isn't surgically resectable and too widespread for radiation. And for all practical purposes, lymphoma is the only canine cancer that responds decently to chemotherapy. So I've got him on steroids and pain meds and he's doing pretty well....eating horse poop, digging for voles and acting pretty normal as long as he doesn't move his head the wrong way. Another friend of mine who is a veterinarian that specializes in alternative medicine (acupuncture, laser therapy, chiropractic and Chinese herbology) happened to be in town when I got the news. She did some work on him and left me with a whole pile of Chinese herbs that are supposed to help shrink tumors and support spinal health. I was just so shocked to get this news....not what we thought at all. At least a disk would have been fixable. I'm grateful to have the resources and advice of such specialized veterinarians, but sadly there's nothing more we can do. I will keep him comfortable for as long as possible but unfortunately think he will be seeing his sister, Belle, sooner than later. Ironically, I kind of "feel his pain" and my cervical CT Myelogram is scheduled for this Thursday. We are already taking a lot of the same medications! Thanks for listening...and feel free to send happy, healing thoughts to Abraham.

Pretty sure those paper underwear wouldn't fit anyone with a BMI over 30! After trying them on and sending my sister into hysterical laughing I went commando, too.

This is the main reason I got a Fitbit One. I use my arms a lot at work and didn't want those counted as steps. You wear the One clipped to your waist or pocket or even your bra. (It does have a wristband to wear to bed.) The only time I can tell it really miscalculates is if I'm driving on a bumpy road. I also can't wear it horseback riding because that movement "looks" like a step to the One. The problem is I combine riding and hiking a lot and I can't turn it on and off on the fly....so I either have too many steps if I wear it, or too few if I leave it in the truck. And as for the calorie thing, I don't track or count any of my calories in, so obviously don't pay any attention to what the reported calories burned number is, either.

You not only go shopping for your first bathing suit in almost 20 years, but you get a bikini to show off your rock hard abs.

HW 238 SW 216 CW 137 TPL 101 TGP 88 Back to the Bottom of my bounce range.

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