VSGAnn2014

"Listen to your body" is not altogether reliable advice -- when "listening to my body" made me obese and "listening to your body" may also lead to anorexia.

Read this very recent NYTimes article. I think it applies to you and to some others here. Per your post above (and others you've made), losing weight has become a habit for you--and one that gives you great satisfaction. Per the NYTimes article the restrictive eating associate with anorexia is now viewed as a habit. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/health/extreme-dieting-of-anorexia-may-be-entrenched-habit-study-finds.html?_r=0

The greatest utility of Protein Drinks for sleeved and gastric bypass patients is obviously for use early on (first few months post-op) when the sleeve and the pouch are still healing. As a band patient, you wouldn't know this, but takes weeks (or a few months) post-op before patients are even allowed to eat any kind of meat. There are stages like Clear liquids, full liquids, purees, soft foods that we must endure before being allowed to eat denser foods. Thereafter, some patients still use protein drinks from time to time to get all their protein in and when dense protein isn't available or convenient, e.g., during air travel, after strength-building exercise, and on go-go-go days.

@AKCPirate ... none of my Isopure is green tea. Nothing nearly that lovely.

Isn't it awful?! Honestly, I think only 2-3 people I've ever read about can stand that stuff. I'm 14 months post-op, and I still have a shelf of that s**t.

Looking forward to hearing what's in your magical potion.

OK, this may sound rough, but it's not directed at you (the OP) per se, so I hope you'll read it all and at least understand where I'm coming from before you reject it. Nobody ever told me that WLS was voodoo magic done to me in some mysterious ways that exempted me from planning what I ate thereafter. You want to call that "being on a diet." I call that taking responsibility for eating differently than the way I ate that made me fat. I clearly understood (from reading online forums, from going to pre-op education classes, and from my considerable common sense) that the sleeve was only one of many tools I was going to have to use very well to lose all my weight and to then build a new lifestyle that would help me maintain my weight loss long-term. I also clearly understood that "a new lifestyle" was mostly about changing what and how much I ate and exercised. I knew I'd have to eat differently not only in volume, but in the types of food I ate. I never, ever, ever imagined that having WLS included putting some magical switch in my brain that automatically made me recognize when I'd eaten X calories or Y Protein grams or Z carbohydrate grams. I figured if I'd have to do the math myself until I learned more instinctively how much food and what kind of food helped me become satisfied and stay satisfied the longest so I wouldn't be tempted to overeat. I figured it would take a while to learn all that. And it has. I clearly understood (from what I read and heard) that for several months post-op most people lose weight easily, even those who do little food planning, because their new innards just won't handle much food. But at some point post-op (pick a month) I learned that if WLS patients aren't eating protein, eating it first, adding colored veggies as they're able, then adding whole grains as they're able, avoiding high-carb, high-sugar, highly processed "slider" foods, drinking all their Water, exercising as much as they can (without hurting themselves), eating slower, chewing their food well, not drinking with meals, not grazing throughout the day, the good times are going to end. They won't lose all their weight, they won't maintain their weight loss, they'll figure out ways to cheat the sleeve (or the pouch or the band), and pretty soon feel like a failure. If you didn't understand all that pre-op, then that's really too bad. If you did understand all that and now you're realizing it's a lot of hard work to do it this way and you aren't great at figuring all this stuff out then that's too bad, too. But my advice to you is do it anyway. Do the best you can. You can't help but get better at it. Planning my daily menus every day and tracking what I eat (on My Fitness Pal) has helped me so much and taught me so much. If you can find something else that works for you, then good for you. I hope you will share it with all of us. I know there are plenty of people here who have figured out other ways to lose all their excess weight and maintain the loss. They mostly seem (to me) like they exercise a lot. I mean a LOT! Very, very best to you. Don't get frustrated. You've got a lot longer to go on this journey. BTW, a 26-pound weight loss in 7 weeks for a lightweight like you were is amazingly fast weight loss. Don't sweat the stall. Your body is just catching up right now.

I enjoy so much some of the smart, funny people I've met here. And there are many. I especially treasure the contributions made by those who are 2 years or longer post-op. I don't care whether they're doing wonderfully or badly -- all their stories are helpful to me. Thank you to everyone who's a "veteran" who continues to participate in this community.

Once again -- I have no idea where some new WLS patients get their expectations about what's fast / slow weight loss. To the OP -- your expectations are crazy unrealistic. To lose 38 pounds in 2 months and 5 days is very fast. Congrats to you. At that point post-op I'd lost 23 pounds. And I'm not even a band-to-sleeve revisionist (who sometimes see slower weight losses). Yet I've now lost 96 pounds and am 10 pounds under my weight goal and having no trouble maintaining. That's what normal WLS weight loss looks like.

The liquid in your stomach makes it easier for the food you've just eaten to move from the stomach into your small intestine. Then your stomach's empty again -- (rumble, rumble) -- leaving room for you to put more food in it. Ruh roh!

Well, you seem to be having a reaction to surgery that warrant your seeing a counselor at this point. I bet your bariatric surgeon can recommend someone. Good luck.

Some people ....

The older I get the less excited I am about hot tubs or commercial pools -- for all the reasons Elode said. It's a shame, because aqua aerobics is a great exercise for me. But I'm leery after getting several UTIs I KNOW came from my exposure in public pools.

@@CowgirlJane ... To clarify ... That wasn't advice directed toward you. They were general observations.

Today's food (I've been on maintenance for nearly 6 months and am maintaining at 140 pounds) Breakfast - Protein shake (GNC Lean 25) coffee latte (skim milk and coffee) Midmorning snack - Doctor Kracker 3-seed kracker, 1 ounce cheddar cheese 2T Smuckers sugar-free strawberry jam lunch - Homemade chicken / onion / peppers angelhair Pasta 4 T grated Parmesan cheese dinner - (Ruby Tuesday leftovers) 1/2 hickory bourbon salmon entree 1/2 green Beans serving 1/2 brown rice pilaf serving Evening Snacks / Treats - Dannon Greek oikos vanilla yogurt 1 cup raw strawberries 2 ounces single malt scotch (Glenlivet) Total calories = 1,583 Carbs = 151 grams Fat = 47 grams Protein = 118 grams Fiber = 17 (should be at least 21 ... oops!) P.S. I'll eat / drink more than that this weekend. I average 1700 calories/day.

Some days you wake up and just go, "Meh!" It happens.

Same size -- but my shoes in that size now fit much better.

My thought .... Being trapped is horrible. It's slavery. And when you have a situation going like this ... (like having a VERY stressful/crappy new job - like come home crying because I hate it so much...) ... you are trapped, enslaved. And everyone would be stressed to the max in a situation like that. Stress keeps us in addiction and out of recovery. You do have choices. This isn't the only job in the world. Yes, I know, you're about to tell me why this is THE ONLY JOB you could possibly have right now. And even before you tell me how this is THE ONLY JOB for you right now, I say: Hells, no!

Just a comment re those guys with more problems than us but with whom we "feel a bond": Those are the truly dangerous ones! They're the middle-aged and even older versions of the cute, dangerous, boys in high school. When I was single I was terribly attracted to those rebel, misunderstood, not-boring types -- actors, world adventurers and writers who loved living in Central America, the Himalayas and other exotic locales (I did, too). But gad, are they NOT relationship material! They're, by their lifestyle, antisocial. Protip #1: The men who are promising relationship material have actually been in successful relationships in the past. Protip #2: Men who are normal and were once married to insane women who divorced them are also potential future husband material. Protip #3: Widowers are great future husband material.

I'm 14 months post-op and have lost 95 pounds. Yes, I have a different self image when I'm in motion -- walking, moving, feeling no pain, and able to move much faster and more easily. At these times I'm quite aware that I'm much smaller than I used to be. But until recently -- while working, reading, writing, and generally being mentally engaged -- I haven't felt much different than when I was much heavier. In these situations, I just feel like the "old me." But during the last few weeks I've been at events where lots of pictures have been taken of me, posted on Facebook and shared in other ways. I've truly been visually bombarded with current pix of the way I look now. Somehow, these pix have had more power to change how I view myself mentally than have the mirror reflections I've been looking at for months.

Serious question -- can you return any of the things you bought? For example, the camping equipment? Even though you "need" those, the timing of your purchase was not ideal. Re the need for new clothes as you get smaller -- first, shop in your closet for "skinny clothes" you saved as you gained weight. Then find consignment shops that sell second-hand clothing in your area -- including high-end shops, church bazaars, Salvation Army, Good Will. You'll be amazed at what good things you can find there.

@@CowgirlJane ... I'm awed by your good judgment (about the shape he's in) and your decision to break it off. Not dis'ing him -- just impressed by your good sense. Deep down, almost everyone is a worthy person. But not everyone is a good match for us.

Dub, you did it! Good man. Onward and downward.

I have been writing the studies author, here is his response: Thank you for the clarification. First of all, I share your concern that the overall benefits of this procedure should not be misinterpreted in media reports and we have tried our best in all interviews that we explain well that this (self-harm) problem concerns a small proportion of bariatric patients, and it can be addressed by a targeted, better follow-up of patients who may need them. Regarding the comparison, we did not compare the bariatric population (cohort) with any external general population. The statistics that you have mentioned is a descriptive one. It indicates a mental health diagnosis recorded in health databases in the five year prior to the surgery. Of note, up to 10 diagnosis can be recoded per patient, whenever, he or she contacts any provincially funded healthcare provider (mostly physicians). The most patients were diagnosed with anxiety disorder and a proportion with depression. What we did is that we repeat the analysis per stratum, i.e., by age, gender, income, and mental health strata. We observed similar trends as the main results though some strata showed more increase in events than others. We are aware of Cleveland clinic study as well as the fact that there are several groups in the US looking into long-term psychosocial consequences of this surgery. We tried our best to indicate the benefits of the surgery and the accompanied invited commentary from JAMA Surgery also seconds us on this. - We aim that our findings result in a better acknowledgement and awareness of this issue that touches a small proportion of bariatric patients Warmest regards, Junaid Subject: RE: Your JAMA article/editorial I saw the difficulty in doing the study. Without significant funding it would be really hard to get a real profile of those who are doing the self-harm. My concern is in the abstract you mentioned 93% of the self harm group already suffered from some form of mental illness. And when compared to the population at large was there a check to see if the populations were similar. Was there demographic analysis of the population that did self-harm besides location, age and sex? For instance income? My concern is that you are probably looking at a specific demographic sub-set which should be compared to a like sub-set, not the population at large. Without it you are creating a new stigma for those of us who have used these procedures. If the media is misinterpreting your study for a cheap headline, well that’s not your fault. Did you all check with the Cleveland Clinic who has been doing some fantastic research on long term results of bariatric surgery? I appreciate your attention. AWESOME, @@OKCPirate ! I swear -- if I were single and your age I would try to date you! But I bet we'd wind up being "just" good friends. You are my kind of person. Again, so freakin' awesome!

This is the BEST thread on BP we've had in a long time. Great stories, @@BigViffer ... great comment, @@CowgirlJane .... and hilarious visual, @@OKCPirate . LOL!