VSGAnn2014

Coming up on twenty years married and two years post-op. Our marriage is stronger than ever.

Thank you, @@Killian .
I am *very* goal-oriented.

Am chuckling here.
For a guy who wasn't going to have WLS, you are certainly ready to do it yesterday now.

Actually, I was JUST like you -- could not WAIT! I actually got so sick of waiting around for everything to happen that I put myself on a 1400 calorie/day diet and lost 11 pounds in a couple of months pre-op.
In fact (don't tell anyone!) I started sticking half-pound weights in my pockets, bra, underwear, etc. at my pre-op visits so I wouldn't trigger any "she's not fat enough" bells that would stop me from having WLS.
It all worked out.
And now, nearly two years later, I barely remember those frantic weeks and months of just wanting to be already sleeved.
It will be OK for you, too.

Regardless of which weight you think you're ready to stop at, you may be interested in learning what worked for me in transitioning to maintenance. (FYI, I'm 21+ months post-VSG and have maintained at or below goal for over a year; I currently weigh 135 pounds).
* I designed a maintenance eating plan based on all the data I had about my weight loss, e.g., how much I'd lost, how long that took, how much I ate (I recorded all that in MFP), how many exercise calories I had burned, etc.
BTW, I'm going to completely spit-wad this and say that if you're still losing a couple of pounds a month that your maintenance daily calorie budget will likely be north of 1500 calories/day. FYI, mine is 1700 - 1800 calories/day, depending on my activity levels.
* After I hit my weight goal (150 pounds) I gradually, and I do mean gradually, raised my daily calories by 100 calories each week. I tried to add mostly healthy foods, not junk food or sweets.
* Adding more food was harder than I'd expected. My sleeve protested a bit. My mind protested more. I realized I didn't have to force anything. But I also knew I didn't want to live on 1200 calories/day for the rest of my life if I could help it.
* Eventually I also experimented with foods I'd previously avoided and with some treats (mostly sugary) foods. For me, that meant I was flirting with trigger foods. I realized that was actually a good thing, because I had to start to learn how to coexist with my trigger foods, which clearly aren't leaving Planet Earth. I learned that I can control some foods I was afraid of and that I couldn't control easily my intake of others. I made mistakes. I learned. I made more mistakes. I kept learning. I'm still learning.
* And then there was this shocker -- over the next 8 months I kept slowly losing weight, dropping another 15 pounds down to 135 pounds, which is where I have stabilized for nearly 6 months now. :)
I came to understand and accept that, for me, maintenance is about making food and drink choices that satisfy three lifetime goals:
(1) Keep my weight normal and stable,

(2) Feed my body the nutrients it needs to be healthy and

(3) Enjoy and Celebrate life.
Very best to you!

Well, that's a whole lotta new info.
Once again, you experienced your experience. And you understand things from your perspective (based on what you think you know). But there's a lot you misunderstand and don't know.
As others have noted, your lack of knowledge revealed in your OP about how WLS patients can retain most of their muscle mass (or even increase their muscle mass) while losing weight is unfortunate -- not just because it's wrong and sad, but because you're using it to rationalize your own experience. And that and your other rationalizations will block your future progress.
Before I had WLS surgery, I did learn about the nutritional and exercise best practices for post-op WLS patients. I learned that post-op while losing weight I should eat a lot of Protein and exercise regularly to avoid losing a lot of muscle mass.
And it turns out, because I followed my bariatric center's instructions, that's exactly what happened. Of the 90+ pounds I've lost after WLS only 12 pounds of it was muscle. I'm not guessing or assuming this. I've had pre- and post-WLS body mass measurements taken. As a result, my lean body mass has increased 15%.
BTW, all of the things you started doing 1 week ago (3 years after your WLS) -- tracking your calories and other macronutrients and tracking your steps -- I started doing 2.5 months before my WLS. In other words, I never considered that WLS alone was going to fix me without me also changing my own behaviors / lifestyle.
I'm sorry that WLS didn't work out for you. For that, you have only your own impulsiveness and your continuing lack of education about WLS to blame. But that's in the past. Looking forward, you'll be well served by not continuing to remain ignorant. More importantly, your rationalizations about WLS won't serve you well either. If you really want to debug your weight challenges, you'll need to keep trying to understand accurately what caused your post-op weight gain.
For others reading this, the OP's posts here illustrate some important truths about WLS:
(1) WLS should not be undertaken lightly.
(2) WLS patients MUST take responsibility for understanding nutritional, exercise and other behavioral requirements for post-op self-care.
(3) WLS can be a wonderful aid to losing and maintaining one's weight loss long-term IF patients don't suffer the delusion that surgery is all they need to achieve success.
Best wishes to everyone out there who's considering WLS. Educate yourself as much as you possibly can. Seek therapy if you need it. As the saying around here goes, "They operate on your stomach, not your head."

Coming up on twenty years married and two years post-op. Our marriage is stronger than ever.

Since WLS surgery? Nothing. Not even the (relatively mild) gall bladder attack or GB surgery / recovery 4 weeks post-WLS.
But pre-op -- it was WAITING FOR THE DAMN SURGERY TO FINALLY FREAKIN' HAPPEN!
My surgeon was so backed up with huge demand. So jumping through all the pre-op hoops took a long time. It made me so crazy that I finally put myself on a diet and lost 11 pounds prior to the liver-shrinking diet.
Pre-op, I also practiced all the post-op eating behaviors -- eating slower, chewing lots more, not drinking with meals, drinking 64 ounces of Water daily, walking more (bought a Fitbit and got up and moved), took Vitamins, started tracking all my food on My Fitness Pal, etc.
I was like a kid who wore a Batman cape everywhere because he thinks he's Batman.
So when I hear about pre-op patients who are having a month of last suppers and whining about the liver-shrinking diet and worrying about losing their hair somewhere down the road and drama-llamaing about potential loose skin and not being able to close down the bars every weekend and other s**t like that, I just shake my head.
Don't they know how wonderful this surgery is going to be for them and that it will be worth any inconveniences and lifestyle changes required of them?
Again -- shaking my head.
(I may have had too much coffee this morning.)

Trust me, you're not the only late bloomer in the world.
For now, just think of all this as "practice." You gotta practice to get good at anything.
Have fun. But be appropriately skeptical.

I had VSG surgery at age 68. I'm 69 now and at goal. It all went pretty easily for me.
My life is worth as much to me at nearly 70 as yours is to you now or as a 25 year old's is.
FTR, my life is soooooooooooooo much better now than it was a year ago.
It's never too late to improve our lot in life.
Never.

P.S. Early on, while your stomach is still swollen from surgery and hasn't calmed down yet and completely healed, that stuffed feeling in your chest *could* be (emphasis on COULD be) that you've eaten too much and that food is stacking up in the lower part of your esophagus.
This is something that lapbanders have been known to do.
It takes a while to know when it's time to quit eating. In my experience, waiting for a "full" sensation is not the way to do it. By the time you feel full, you've probably already eaten a bit too much.
Would love to hear from others who are further out post-op about their take on this.

@Elizabeth21
Have you ever eaten 1,000 calories for months / years at a time and remained overweight?
If not, then don't worry about that happening to you in the future.
For the record, I've never done that before.
Heck, I've never eaten 1,500 calories for months/years at a time and remained overweight. It was always more like 2,000 or more. And I wasn't moving much at the time.
For now, I'm eating 1,400 calories a day and maintaining my weight. I would like to get that up to 1,600/day. We shall see how that goes.

Shaking my head.
To the OP -- you can be miserable for no good reason or you can act like an adult. And yes, I know you're *only* 22 years old. You're still an adult.
None of that drama llama crap you're wallowing in is going to happen.
Just follow your surgeon's instructions.
Jeez.

Coming up on twenty years married and two years post-op. Our marriage is stronger than ever.

VSG patients' weight losses three years out are all over the place. The more you lurk and read here, the more you'll see that some have regained a considerable amount and others are still at or below goal -- and everything in between.
There is no single outcome. It depends on your willingness to continue to follow a lot of eating rules that you learn when you have surgery, your nutritional knowledge and the food choices you make and the portions you eat, whether you exercise (and how consistently), your susceptibility to binge eating and grazing (not the same thing, but both awful for your maintenance dreams), the support system you have for creating a new lifestyle, and your own good or bad luck with regard to your metabolism.
I also think it depends on how badly you want to be healthy and slim long-term. The sleeve helps a lot. But if you're determined to eat (or compelled to eat by an eating disorder or stress or other forces), you can figure out how to eat around the sleeve.
That's my take on it.

Since WLS surgery? Nothing. Not even the (relatively mild) gall bladder attack or GB surgery / recovery 4 weeks post-WLS.
But pre-op -- it was WAITING FOR THE DAMN SURGERY TO FINALLY FREAKIN' HAPPEN!
My surgeon was so backed up with huge demand. So jumping through all the pre-op hoops took a long time. It made me so crazy that I finally put myself on a diet and lost 11 pounds prior to the liver-shrinking diet.
Pre-op, I also practiced all the post-op eating behaviors -- eating slower, chewing lots more, not drinking with meals, drinking 64 ounces of Water daily, walking more (bought a Fitbit and got up and moved), took Vitamins, started tracking all my food on My Fitness Pal, etc.
I was like a kid who wore a Batman cape everywhere because he thinks he's Batman.
So when I hear about pre-op patients who are having a month of last suppers and whining about the liver-shrinking diet and worrying about losing their hair somewhere down the road and drama-llamaing about potential loose skin and not being able to close down the bars every weekend and other s**t like that, I just shake my head.
Don't they know how wonderful this surgery is going to be for them and that it will be worth any inconveniences and lifestyle changes required of them?
Again -- shaking my head.
(I may have had too much coffee this morning.)

Since WLS surgery? Nothing. Not even the (relatively mild) gall bladder attack or GB surgery / recovery 4 weeks post-WLS.
But pre-op -- it was WAITING FOR THE DAMN SURGERY TO FINALLY FREAKIN' HAPPEN!
My surgeon was so backed up with huge demand. So jumping through all the pre-op hoops took a long time. It made me so crazy that I finally put myself on a diet and lost 11 pounds prior to the liver-shrinking diet.
Pre-op, I also practiced all the post-op eating behaviors -- eating slower, chewing lots more, not drinking with meals, drinking 64 ounces of Water daily, walking more (bought a Fitbit and got up and moved), took Vitamins, started tracking all my food on My Fitness Pal, etc.
I was like a kid who wore a Batman cape everywhere because he thinks he's Batman.
So when I hear about pre-op patients who are having a month of last suppers and whining about the liver-shrinking diet and worrying about losing their hair somewhere down the road and drama-llamaing about potential loose skin and not being able to close down the bars every weekend and other s**t like that, I just shake my head.
Don't they know how wonderful this surgery is going to be for them and that it will be worth any inconveniences and lifestyle changes required of them?
Again -- shaking my head.
(I may have had too much coffee this morning.)

I had VSG surgery at age 68. I'm 69 now and at goal. It all went pretty easily for me.
My life is worth as much to me at nearly 70 as yours is to you now or as a 25 year old's is.
FTR, my life is soooooooooooooo much better now than it was a year ago.
It's never too late to improve our lot in life.
Never.

My husband and medical team knows. And two friends who live 1000 miles away (in opposite directions and don't even know each other).
It's been a non-issue. I didn't lose hugely fast. And I've yo-yo dieted a gazillion times, so everyone just thought I was on another diet and finally made it stick.
I've lost 100 pounds and now weigh 135.
YOU are in charge of your information. Do what makes YOU comfortable. Put your needs and yourself first.

Nope, didn't have a drippy nose.
And for a minute there, I thought this thread was about incontinence.

I'm not going to mince words.
Someone should cold cock your surgeon for giving you phentermine after giving you a VSG.
Regardless of how much you're eating, what kinds of foods you're eating, and how much you're exercising -- all that appetite suppressants do is to temporarily check your appetite. The longer you take them, the less well they work. You can't take them very long (they are tough on your heart), and the minute you stop taking them your appetite roars back bigger than ever.
You say you have never taken "pills" before? Well, get ready to experience why those of us who have taken "pills" won't ever take them again. They will make you fatter than you've ever been.
If, as you say, you "really increased your exercise this summer" than you have built and added muscle to your body. That alone could explain no weight loss since May.
And since changing up your exercise program, you probably need more / different nutrients and foods than you did pre-exercising. Yours is a nutritional challenge. Find a competent nutritionist.
And fire that idiot who operated on you. I cannot believe what he is doing to you.

VSG patients' weight losses three years out are all over the place. The more you lurk and read here, the more you'll see that some have regained a considerable amount and others are still at or below goal -- and everything in between.
There is no single outcome. It depends on your willingness to continue to follow a lot of eating rules that you learn when you have surgery, your nutritional knowledge and the food choices you make and the portions you eat, whether you exercise (and how consistently), your susceptibility to binge eating and grazing (not the same thing, but both awful for your maintenance dreams), the support system you have for creating a new lifestyle, and your own good or bad luck with regard to your metabolism.
I also think it depends on how badly you want to be healthy and slim long-term. The sleeve helps a lot. But if you're determined to eat (or compelled to eat by an eating disorder or stress or other forces), you can figure out how to eat around the sleeve.
That's my take on it.

Since WLS surgery? Nothing. Not even the (relatively mild) gall bladder attack or GB surgery / recovery 4 weeks post-WLS.
But pre-op -- it was WAITING FOR THE DAMN SURGERY TO FINALLY FREAKIN' HAPPEN!
My surgeon was so backed up with huge demand. So jumping through all the pre-op hoops took a long time. It made me so crazy that I finally put myself on a diet and lost 11 pounds prior to the liver-shrinking diet.
Pre-op, I also practiced all the post-op eating behaviors -- eating slower, chewing lots more, not drinking with meals, drinking 64 ounces of Water daily, walking more (bought a Fitbit and got up and moved), took Vitamins, started tracking all my food on My Fitness Pal, etc.
I was like a kid who wore a Batman cape everywhere because he thinks he's Batman.
So when I hear about pre-op patients who are having a month of last suppers and whining about the liver-shrinking diet and worrying about losing their hair somewhere down the road and drama-llamaing about potential loose skin and not being able to close down the bars every weekend and other s**t like that, I just shake my head.
Don't they know how wonderful this surgery is going to be for them and that it will be worth any inconveniences and lifestyle changes required of them?
Again -- shaking my head.
(I may have had too much coffee this morning.)

Thank you for this link. Very encouraging news re the metabolic rate effects (nil) of rapid weight loss on WLS patients:
"The most telling indication that the high metabolic price “Biggest Loser” contestants paid isn’t a dieter’s destiny is a study that followed 13 pairs of subjects, matched for gender, weight and age. In each pair, one was a “Biggest Loser” contestant and the other a bariatric surgery patient. At the seven-month mark, the contestants showed an average penalty of 419 calories (and they weren’t followed after that point). After six months, the surgery patients showed a 201-calorie penalty, but after a year it disappeared."
And here's the actual (2014) study referred to, done by the same researchers that did the NYTimes-reported Biggest Losers Season 8 research:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4236233/

Ultimately, this is WLS patients' last chance to resolve their lifelong overweight / health issues.
If you can't wrap your mind around the fact that this is not just another diet (which we have all failed at before) but radical surgery that gives you one last chance to explore and reset the emotional and behavioral issues that kept you from being healthy, then you haven't understood the most important part about this surgery:
The surgery will be on your stomach, not your brain (and, if you're so inclined, your spirit or soul) -- where all of the changes you need to be successful long-term must occur.
While you're losing weight, you've got to learn to live very differently than you have lived up to now. Those food funerals ... hmmmm ... not a good sign.
Your potential resources to change how you think / feel / problem-solve / plan / execute are:
* nutritional education
* psychological education
* a positive attitude
* healthy support from others
* environmental controls
* psychological therapy / counseling
* spiritual counseling
* relaxation techniques
* learning how to live in this moment (not the past or the future)
Very best to you.

Protip: Yes, you can take shakes with you in your carry-on luggage through TSA. All you have to do is identify it as food. TSA will make you open the shake bottles so they can inspect the contents and you'll then have to screw the tops back on tightly. But that's no biggie.
Or make it easier on yourself -- just pack all your shakes in a suitcase that you check. There are no liquids restrictions on checked luggage.