JamieLogical

I haven't eaten much pasta since I was sleeved, but the couple of times I have, it really seemed to fill me up super fast. I will try anything at this point through. I didn't even break 400 carbs yesterday!

I don't know if this is an option for you, but the way I paid for my surgery was to borrow against my retirement account. I am allowed to borrow up to 45% of the value of my retirement account with no penalties/fees/taxes and the rate is very low, most of which just goes back to me as "return on investment".

Well, I am supposed to run a marathon 2.5 days from now and I am completely freaking out. I feel like an inmate on death row awaiting my execution. Today I had to start my carbo-loading, which is a challenge for sure. I'm supposed to aim for 600 grams of carbs a day for the next three days, with 85-95% of my calories coming from carbs! Talk about the antitheses of what my sleeved diet has been like! I was in an almost full on panic attack about knowing I can't hit my goal of 100 grams of Protein a day for the next few days if I want to have room for all those carbs. It's almost 4:00 in the afternoon and I'm only at 207.5 grams of carbs for the day. Only 1/3 of the way to my goal. Crazy! And this morning I had a muffin and there was so much sugar in it, I actually got dizzy and felt a little sick. To think, for years of my life I would have loved the opportunity to binge on sugar and carbs all day every day for three days straight!

I don't really see why it would matter. Liquids pass through your stomach in a matter of seconds. As a slightly thicker liquid, a Protein shake might stay in there a tiny bit longer, but probably not much. I honestly don't think the guidelines about drinking before or after eating are all that critical. My NUT said I could drink right up until the time I started eating once I was fully healed. The risk before then is "filling up" on fluids and not having enough room for food when it's time to eat. But, once the swelling from the surgery was gone, liquids would pass straight through, so it was impossible to "fill up" on them. As for drinking after eating, I was told to wait 20 minutes, but I typically wait more like 40, because when I am full of food, I simply have nowhere for the fluids to go, so it makes me super, uncomfortably full to try to drink too soon after eating. The REAL critical and lasting habit you want to form is not drinking WHILE eating. Drinking WHILE eating waters down your food, making it runnier, and making it pass through your stomach more quickly, allowing you to eat more and defeating the purpose of the restriction.

I was talking to someone who had the RNY and she is ready for plastics. She said to get everything done - all around the world TT, arms and boobs costs about $35,000. She thought it was going to be more. Uuuummmm...Any good plastic surgeons in Mexico? LOL! There are LOTS of good plastic surgeons in Mexico! I was able to get my breast lift with augmentation, all over lipo, and extended tummy tuck done by an excellent surgeon and stayed two full weeks in the recovery house there with 24/7 nursing care for something like $11,000.

I still feel like it has to be something metabolically wrong and not anything to do with the sleeve itself for you to be gaining weight while eating so few calories.

I 100% promise you that you are not gaining fat. It is not scientifically possible for you to gain fat on that few calories. To gain a pound of fat, you have to ingest 3500 more calories than you burn. Likely you are retaining water for some reason. It could be too much sodium. It could be sore muscles. It could be hormonal. You really really really should just stay off the scale in these early weeks. You are going to drive yourself crazy.

Well, I am training for a marathon (this Sunday!) so I do burn a lot of calories, but not a CRAZY amount. I run twice a week during the week for about 4.5 miles and the I have a "long run" every weekend, which varies in length according to my training schedule. In all, I probably burn an extra ~3000 calories a week from my running. That works out to about 428 calories a day on average. If you are walking 1.5 hours a day, you are probably doing at least 300 calories a day. So not WAY far off from my calorie burn. Plus you are taller and heavier than me, so your resting metabolic rate should be higher than mine.

@@LisaMergs Mine's very specific too. Explicitly states it doesn't cover skin removal as a result of weight loss.

You got an easy one! Mine was just 3 protein shakes and one green salad with calorie-free dressing per day!

I would worry about both the skin and the seeds. Ask your nutritionist!

This is a myth and has been debunked by the Mayo Clinic: http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/caffeinated-drinks/faq-20057965 I was allowed caffeine beginning at 30 days post op. Different surgeons and nutritionists have different guidelines regarding all sorts of things. I encourage you to follow those guidelines in the early months post-op, during which you are getting to know your sleeve and learning new habits, but ultimately YOU are the one who has to live the rest of your life. You need to figure out what works for you and what you can live with long term.

You are eating 1000-1250 calories a day and GAINING?!?!?!? I was eating 1400+ calories in my weight loss phase and now eat about 2200 a day in maintenance. There is definitely something wonky with your metabolism. No way it has anything to do with a stretched sleeve.

If nothing in your routine has changed, I wouldn't think it would be due to stretching of your sleeve, since you aren't eating any more than you were before, right? Stretching of your sleeve, if there were such an issue, would be allowing you to eat more, which could cause you to gain. But you said you aren't eating more, so that's clearly not the problem. Has your body composition changed at all? Is it possible you are gaining muscle or retaining Water?

If you are getting your protein in, you shouldn't have to worry about calories or carbs, as it is unlikely you are getting too much of either. If anything, count calories and make sure you are getting ENOUGH to sustain your current level of activity. The mistake a lot of people make this early out is starving themselves, which can lead to long stalls and reduced metabolism.

Awesome to see you are still going strong and rocking your sleeve at 3 years out!

I do have to supplement with Protein Bars. The rest of my protein comes from meat, cheese, nuts, and yogurt. Back in my weight loss phase, my daily intake looked something like this: Breakfast: Protein Bar (~20 grams) Morning Snack: String Cheese (~8 grams) Lunch: Meat of some sort, usually leftovers (~16-20 grams) Afternoon Snack: Greek Yogurt (~12 grams) Dinner: Meat (~16-20 grams) Evening Snack: Protein Bar (~20 grams) For the "meat" mentioned above, it was always the protein portion of whatever my husband made for dinner (I was married back then). So if he made meatloaf and mashed potatoes, I just had meatloaf. Shrimp and Pasta, I had the shrimp. chicken and rice, I had the chicken. You get the idea.

I don't count carbs either. During my weight loss phase, I found that getting my 100 grams of protein in meant I didn't have room for many carbs anyway. In maintenance, I still get my 100 grams of protein, but actually have added back in some "carb only" snacks like toast with peanut butter or a Clif bar before my runs (I'm a runner now).

Do you count it as 15 or 30 grams toward your daily Protein goal? I would be so hesitant to count it as 30 with no third party studies backing up their claims. Would suck to only be getting half as much protein as I think I am.

@ As long as you keep training and working toward it, it's definitely attainable! @@goplay94123 Pretty soon you'll be running marathons with me!

For me, setting specific fitness goals kept me motivated. Finishing a fitness program (think the 90 day ones), training for an event, etc. Working out for the sake of working out never motivated me. I had to have a goal I was working towards.

Not necessarily before/after, but they are just photos of women that you can search by weight, height, body type, and age so you can get a sense of what you might look like at your goal weight: http://www.mybodygallery.com/

No, I didn't have any comorbidities. If I had, I might have had a chance of qualifying for insurance coverage.

@@goplay94123 That is a fantastic pace and time! You must be so psyched!

40 grams is WAY too low on protein. Especially if you are working out that much. Aim for more like 85 grams and try to increase your calories. I am positive that will get the scale moving again.