McButterpants

I look at old photos of myself...my decision day photo (taken 08/21/13) is the one I refer back to most often. I also know that when I don't workout, I don't feel good.

@lessofmevsg...you are in patient. You didn't get to 264 pounds in 7 weeks, don't expect to lose it all in 7 weeks. Be patient...breath...You're doing great. My starting weight and loss were almost the same as yours. Stop weighing to much is bad for your soul. Start taking your measurements - it's totally worth it. Also, start documenting with pictures. My husband hid the scale from me and brought it out once per week - that saved my sanity.

Scrambled egg topped with cheese & Jimmy Dean turkey sausage pattie.

Same thing happened to me - my NUT advised me to do something right away. Her suggestion for me was a good quality pro-biotic and metamucil. It worked almost immediately.

You are still really early out...Your body is still trying to figure out what you did to it. You've been living on a starvation diet, you've had surgery and you removed most of a major organ. Cut your body a break and let it heal and recover. The weight will come off. I had similar feelings when I was very early out and my husband hid the scale from me. I was weighing daily, sometimes more than once a day. He brought the scale out once per week. My suggestion for you is to stop weighing if is causes you grief or anxiety - it's not worth it. Take your measurements - this helped me greatly during stalls (I lost inches while in a 4 weeks stall). Also, take lots of pictures - it's fun to run thru the pictures and see yourself shrinking.

You may also want to try other ways of gauging your success - taking your measurements and lots of pictures of yourself will help during times the scale doesn't move. I lost 5 inches during a scale stall - knowing that helped get me thru the stall. I could see differences in my body, too.

I have been a coffee drinker since I was a kid - my earliest memory is 7 years old. I had to be caffeine free for surgery, so two weeks prior to surgery I weened myself off (tried cold turkey and that was a mess). Was cleared for coffee somewhere around month 3, but had to pinky shake with my doctor that I wouldn't go back to my old 5-6 cups per day habit. I have two cups in the morning and one cup in the afternoon...some days doing a little more. I love my coffee!

@@GreenEyes604, The PB2 will give a shake a Peanut Butter taste. I don't like to reconstitute is either - it is not like real peanut butter, but mixing it in a shake gives it a great flavor.

Thanks for sharing your story, Eli. You are a true inspiration! I had my surgery 10 days after you did - it has been an amazing year. I admire your courage and strength at such a young age! Be proud of the fact you took control over your life and made changes. I wasn't as fortunate - I waited until I was 44 years old. I lost too much time. I'm making the most of it now, but my one regret is not doing this sooner. You are an amazing young man! I wish you nothing but good things. Again, thanks for sharing your story.

I'm not clear on the complications thing - I think it depends on the complication (if it's directly related to the surgery like they need to go in to fix a leak, I think insurance won't cover). It's a good question to ask your insurance company or your surgeon's insurance coordinator. I was self-pay and traveled out of the area for surgery - I have a local surgeon that agreed to do my follow up care. As far as aftercare, my insurance doesn't cover anything weight loss related. They don't cover the follow up visits, for me those are $195 each (2 weeks, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months and then yearly). I have my primary care doctor order the labs - she knows to not code it as weight loss related, so insurance will cover it.

My doc suggested walking - she called it the best medicine. But with your pain, I'm thinking Water, to alleviate the stress...walking in the pool? I believe in being in the best shape you are able to get into prior to surgery to assist in the recovery process.

You're my girl crush, @@LipstickLady! I couldn't agree more...I just posted again on that other thread. I am nearing one year post op - this process has been so much more difficult than I thought it would be, but it has given me back more than I expected. I am so much more than the sleeve - I'm a wife, mom, daughter, sister, crazy aunt and loyal friend. I love to work out, I do hot yoga 4-5 times a week, hike mountains, and love taking my dog for walks. I'm looking at renting cross country skis this winter to give that a whirl for the first time in 20 years. I also just signed up for a 5K Turkey Trot. Just as I don't stand up in the mall and proclaim that I had weight loss surgery, I don't tell people about the other stuff I do...But, I don't bash people for deciding they want to tell everyone they had WLS. I don't see why people think that not telling people is lying - I just don't get that. I admire people that can strike up a conversation with someone and tell them about their WLS - that just isn't in my DNA. I will talk to a stranger and ask all kinds of questions and show interest in their lives, I am just a person that doesn't share stuff with others.

This topic always strikes a cord and I love reading the responses. As I've said, I have only told a handful of people that are close to me about my surgery and I'm at peace with that decision. When I decided to have surgery, I didn't sign a document that said I was going to be a flag bearer for WLS nor did I sign up to be an advocate for WLS expressing to everyone how wonderful the journey has been. When I decided to have surgery, I did it to make myself well for me and my family. I try to help people on this forum and I also help counsel people who call into my local doctor's office looking for help finding a good self-pay surgeon. I AM helping other WLS patients, I'm not huddled in a corner keeping all my information about WLS to myself nor am I telling myself that I'm losing this weight on my own. So, saying I'm "lying" is offensive to me. That's my biggest issue with the way this whole thread has played out. This is a deeply personal process for everyone - you're an open book? That's awesome for you. For people like me that don't share everything with everyone, don't call me a liar. As @@LipstickLady so eloquently states, I don't share a lot of stuff with people. My own boss knows nothing about my personal life - he doesn't know how old my son is nor does he know that I have an Australian Shepherd at home. Does that make me a liar about my family? No, it's not pertinent to our relationship. When a thin person asks me how I lost the weight, it's more curiosity than anything - telling them I had weight loss surgery is not going to help them in any way. We are all dealing with our own situations the best we can. For me, I live an authentic life - thus the reason I just told my friend after reconnecting recently. I felt like I wasn't honoring our friendship/relationship - that's being honest with oneself...I felt I needed to tell her because I wasn't being authentic. Not telling someone at the soccer match doesn't give me the same feeling - I don't owe that person or the WLS surgery community that.

I think my biggest issue is the subject title: When you can't even be honest with yourself Just because I'm telling a bunch of people I don't about something deeply person doesn't make me delusional or dishonest with myself.

I use unjury - the chocolate Splendor and the vanilla. The strawberry is pretty good, too. At different stages, I used different "mixers"... On my pre-op diet I used Water because I wasn't approved for anything else. Immediately after surgery, I used 1/2 milk 1/2 water After the first month, I have used almond milk, which I like. I use coconut water on days I do hot yoga (replacing the electrolytes I lose during yoga). I will use the Torani sugar free syrups - my countertop looks like a Starbucks! You can drink them warm and I do, you need to make sure you follow the heating instructions. When I mix my shakes, I mix all the ingredients (ice, fruit, PB2, etc.) first, then add the Protein powder in last - I find if you blend the powder in at first, it gets really frothy. Here are a couple of my favorites... Chocolate Splendor - 8 ounces of milk, 4-5 ice cubes, a splash of sugar free Torani peppermint syrup and 1 scoop of Chocolate Splendor...tastes like a Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookie Vanilla - 8 ounces of milk, 3 frozen strawberries, 1/8 cup blueberries, a splash of sugar free Torani Vanilla syrup and 1 scoop of Vanilla Chocolate Splendor - 8 ounces of milk, 4-5 ice cubes, 1 teaspoon PB2 powder and 1 scoop of Chocolate Splendor. Vanilla mixed with 8 ounces of milk and 2 tablespoons of sugar free pudding mix (my favorites...lemon and pistachio) There are so many combinations you can use - I started playing with different flavors and textures about a month before surgery.

Good for you! Consider this one victory of many in this amazing journey. Great job and stay strong. We'll see you on the losers' bench very soon!

First - thank you to you for your service to our country. Second - start following your pre-op diet as it is specified, even if you are exercising. Your doc wants you on that particular diet for a reason, you should follow it. If you're concerned about the amount of calories you're getting in vs. what you're expending, discuss with him/her if you can add. I was not approved to put fruit in my shakes in the beginning, but like you was exercising and needed "a little more" to keep me going - I only did this after I talked to the nutritionist at the surgeon's office. You don't want to run the risk of them saying "you didn't follow the plan, I'm not going to operate" - that would suck! "Reborn" is a great way to put it. I feel like I am finally living the life I was meant to live...You've been struggling since 2006 - that's long enough and be proud of the fact you haven't lost decades. I've struggled with my weight since 1988 - that's too many years/decades to lose. You're taking control - you should be proud. Best of luck to you!

Prior to surgery, I had heartburn often. Since surgery, I don't have it as much, but still get it. I end of just taking a Tums and feel better right away - I do that maybe once a week. I usually get it from particular foods - some tomato based foods get me, if I drink too much coffee, things like that. Any regrets? Heck no - this is the best thing I've ever done for myself. This is a life changer.

Wow! Those moments do bring you back, don't they. I found a box of clothes that I kept that had various sizes. Like 12 - 18 (at my highest I was a 22, but should been in 24's). They were all favorites, still with tags. These were the clothes I was always going fit into "some day" or when I lose 10 pounds. I went thru that box recently and found that some were too big, so they went to the donation pile, still with the tags on them. It is kind of sad to think how desperate I was thru the years to buy them and "hope" that I'd get into them one day.

I am a private person - when I went thru a divorce 20+ years ago, no one in my office knew until they saw my name change back to my maiden name - was I embarrassed about getting divorced? No, I was happy to get rid of the abusive piece of crap, it just wasn't anyone's business. There are now six people that know I had surgery - husband, son, parents and two friends. I just told my oldest friend last night. We recently reconnected after a couple of years of shutting her out. I felt like I wasn't being authentic with her when I didn't tell her about my surgery. I felt the need to tell her and finally did. She was supportive as I expected her to be. We had a great talk about it - she is naturally thin, she has different struggles than me. She listened and showed genuine concern and happiness for me. I do not feel the need to tell people I barely know "how I lost all the weight". I just don't. I feel like telling them gives them license to share my story with others - this is my story, not theirs to gossip about. I live in a small community - the minute I tell one of the mom's at school, mom's on the other side of town will know. It's not that I'm ashamed, it's my story, not fat to chew at the pick up line at the school. We are all different - our bodies were made differently, our personalities are different. That's what makes this such an awesome forum. I love to read other peoples' perspectives - I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to this debate other than "Do what's best for you!"

Here are a few of my favorites P3 Pack - when I'm traveling, this a great go-to beef Jerky and almonds Pantry Selections Protein bars - Caramel Crunch, Peanut Butter Brownie, Peanut Butter Turkey pepperoni and cheddar cheese

Me on "decision day", 08/21/13 and me last month at 10 months...down 73 pounds.

You're going to be OK - it's perfectly normal to feel nervous and anxious...this is a big decision, it's a life changer. I think it's perfectly normal to have 2nd thoughts. I certainly did - I think I changed my mind 100 times! I'm not sure what the motivation behind your sisters comments about not being successful with the sleeve if you couldn't eat less before the sleeve. I find that coming here helps immensely - we're all going thru the same thing and we understand the struggles. Talking to my thin brother about weight loss issues is futile - he doesn't understand my issues. Even my husband doesn't understand my emotional attachment to food. I can explain it and he listens, but he doesn't understand it.

I used to love a good sandwich - Not so much any more...the bread doesn't make me feel good. I will take a bite or two of the sandwich with the bread, then just eat the insides. Same way with pizza - I eat a couple of bites of the crust, then just the toppings. I don't love the same foods I used to...I don't like or crave Pasta like I used to. I don't crave bread like I used to. "Favorites"...a BBQ chicken pizza made with a Mission Carb Balance tortilla shell. Homemade chili. Grilled steak. Roasted broccoli and cauliflower.