Tink22-sleeve

1. If you think it is a magic bullet.
Bariatric surgery is not a magic bullet. It will help you lose weight but the responsibility is on you to keep going and maintain that loss. Regaining all of the lost weight is very possible and not even that uncommon.
People who do not commit to a healthy lifestyle after the surgery are highly vulnerable to regain. Unlike diets, regain with surgery is delayed. On a diet people usually gain weight back within a few weeks or months. With surgery, people won’t begin to regain the weight until 18 months to 2 years. People who feel like surgery is a magic bullet will not be prepared for the commitment and will end up on the road to failure.
2. If you think it will be easy.
Bariatric surgery involves an extensive process of nutrition counseling, temporary liquid diets, and pre- and post-surgery meetings and preparations. Most clinics will ask that you lose some weight before the surgery, start on a special diet, and exercise. If you find a clinic that does not ask you to go through multiple steps like this you should find a new clinic. A good clinic will prepare you for success by giving you the right nutrition, behavioral, and exercise support before and after surgery. If you view these steps as a hassle, then you are not in the right mindset for surgery and will be at high risk of weight regain in the long run.
3. If it is in the back of your mind that if it doesn’t work you will just try it again.
Even though people like Carnie Wilson had a second surgery, keep in mind that most people do not. Some surgeons will not want to do a second surgery for you. In fact, they may lose hope in you. Surgeons want to set you up for success. They might not want to take the risk of an additional surgery unless they are very sure you did not squander the results of the first surgery with a blatantly unhealthy lifestyle. Surgery is an intensive and invasive process, only plan to do it once.
4. You Haven’t Truly Made Committed Attempts to Lose Weight.
One of the criteria to be eligible for surgery is that you have had numerous failed weight loss attempts. Nearly everyone on the planet meets this criterion, right?! Well, no. If you can’t honestly say that you put your heart and soul into previous weight loss attempts, then you aren’t really meeting this criterion. If your reason for not losing weight in previous attempts was because you were too busy or stressed out to make lifestyle changes, these problems will not go away with surgery. You will need to make the very same lifestyle changes. The difference will be that regaining the weight you lost from surgery will be 10 times more demoralizing than it is from a usual diet attempt. Once again, if you aren’t committed to making lifestyle changes, surgery will not make a long lasting difference.

I love to go to Chico's because i can wear a size 2 there, lol.
I also love to go into my fave consignment store. i had to stop shopping there for awhile, they only carry up to a size 14. now i can go there again. YAY for shopping!

How are u doing?

I agree chat is much slower than it used to be. It was a great way to pop in and ask a question if you were in a hurry. I have also met some very nice people and formed friendships with people I have met there.

Good grief, never mind then. I was just looking to get support from others who are doing well, experienced, just getting started, etc on this plan. I've done my own googling on this but hearing what works/ didn't work for others was all I was looking for.

I dont always do it right, but i try to practice "mindful eating". Mindful meaning that i try to be "present " while eating...paying attention to what i am eating, and why i am eating it.
This is s good topic since its the holiday season.

As a surgical Icu nurse I have personally cared for several patients who ruptured their staple line due to non compliance with the post op diet. The most memorable ate 1/2 a chicken, the other a Big Mac. Both died of overwhelming infection after a long terrible fight. I've said it before but there is more at risk than not losing weight. It's one thing to cheat yourself with high calorie foods that meet the consistency guidelines, it's another to make a crazy choice. Strict compliance until the sleeve is totally healed isn't optional, doing otherwise is playing Russian roulette with your life.

Thanks for the reminder about mindful eating. Lately I find myself eating because I am "entitled", not necessarily because I am hungry. Promise to self: eat mindfully.

I dont always do it right, but i try to practice "mindful eating". Mindful meaning that i try to be "present " while eating...paying attention to what i am eating, and why i am eating it.
This is s good topic since its the holiday season.

I have read in other posts on this site that hunger like you describe could be remedied by starting, or increasing the dose of, a PPI - proton pump inhibitor. Those are the meds like Prilosec, Tagamet, etc. that reduce the amount of acid your stomach produces. As with every medication change, though: ASK YOUR SURGEON BEFORE YOU DO IT.

I recently heard of a story where a woman who had undergone Sleeve Gastrectomy surgery had eaten a whole cheeseburger 2 weeks after her surgery and her stomach erupted and she unfortunately passed away. So this leads me to think about how many times I eat something without thinking. We all had this surgery for a reason, so why would we want to detriment ourselves like that? This was a tragic story that I heard and I wanted to share it not to scare anyone but to enforce the think before we eat for all of us even myself. I wanted to post this for all sleeved persons so that we as a community can come together and make sure that no matter how far we are into our journey that we will always think before we eat something that might not be good for our sleeves. Please if you have nothing nice to say don't say it at all. Thank you!

Thanks everyone! For the information - I'm going to track this week to see what I'm eating and get a gauge of my regular daily calories and go from there.

Someone asked about Protein on fast days. I personally don't worry too much about it but I do drink a Protein Drink every day so right there I have 30 grams of protein. I like to fast until around 3 in the afternoon and then I have my protein drink that includes spinach and flax seed that I mix in. This is about 250 calories and my stomach is usually very tight by this time so it takes a while to drink the protein drink. This keeps me filled up. I usually have a greek yogurt or some string cheese a few hours later.

I would stick to the premier Protein. more Protein per serving equals more protein for the buck

Where is everyone? The chat room is a great place to meet each other, discuss wls, get support and ask questions.
The chat room used to be an active place. Where have all the good times gone?!
Please come chat with me! (Look for the "door" to the chat room in the community tab at the top of the page).

plus green tea is a natural appetite suppressant.

Tink22 I am late to the party but next time try a cup of hot green tea. May fill u long enough to squash the desire to eat and adds to liquid goal

When I don't have a lot of calories left but know I want/need to eat, I stuff myself full of salad greens for the low low price of 20 calories, homemade vinaigrette is another 45 calories.

...also, keep in mind the ladies who have been doing the protocol here watch what they eat on "feast" days... keeping it pretty low.... like 1200-1500 a day depending on exercise and such.... not whatever they want like "normal" folks. We follow the basic eating plan for the sleeve, Protein first, don't drink Water with meals.... you know the rules.

I am also doing the 5:2 diet and it has helped me maintain even though I have messed up a few times...It keeps the extra off and when the scale goes up, I will do a fast day. I found that I have better restriction after my fast days too. It also helps with keeping my sugar intake at a real low since I try and focus on mostly proteins....I highly recommend this for people that are further out, past a year too..... ;P

Thank you! This is really helpful!

I choose my fast days based on my exercise regimen; I am doing the Insanity 60 day challenge and the planking challenge, I fast on the two days a week that I do not do Insanity. I still get all my Protein (60+) on fast days. Usually a Protein shake and a complicated salad and some high Fiber drink supplements.

My fast days are Monday right after the weekend and Thursday just before my weekend. I tend to eat out on the weekend and maybe eat less clean than during the week still staying in the right calorie range. I too find it easier to fast when I am working and busy. But night time is always hard. Not eating after diner 4 out of 7 nights is teaching me control

tuna in a cucumber boat super low cal

Sure or if just something small, a mini babybel cheese has 50. NSA fudge bar 40 . One extra lean turkey frank 50, sliced veggies and spreadable laughing cow cheese wedge only about 35-45.