OKCPirate

What's going on? I am curious too. You are down 64 pounds since May which is good. Now I will grant you at any given time, viruses happen, so I don't know if that's the issue, or if there is something else. (BTW, I'm not casting aspersions, but you are still on the "obese side" according to your profile. But I don't know what you do for exercise or food. Please feel free to fill in more details. I'm not arguing, I just don't have a complete picture.)

I put the dang stuff in a jar every day and made a mark on it, a little less every day. It was really that bad. But when you do it over three weeks, it's not horrific on your system. But I sure as heck felt it. It's not just sugar, or caffeine, there is something in all that junk food that you really get addicted too. Well at least I was.

Get a shot glass, and sip on it with Water. It will keep you from gulping too much at one time and its a good training aid.

I usually agree with @@KristenLe, but I will disagree at this point. This is one of those areas when you need to withdrawl slowly. Why? There are so many chemicals in processed junk food you will feel like complete crap if you stopped cold turkey. I figured that out when I started my diet Mtn. Dew and junk food clean up. It really took me three weeks to get this stuff out of my system. Just saying.

I add Protein powders to everything, including my morning eggs and my afternoon yogurt. I want it up to 100+g.

@@Debi287 - are you grazing? Are you drinking calories? You might have to disopline yourself to only have 4 meals a day and get rid of snacking stuff in your house.

I have been going to CO a great deal lately, ahem, to work on my potential glaucoma issues . It's all just research at this point. I prefer the crock pot over pressure cookers so far, but I am open to change for a compelling reason.

Hugs and making physical contact with other humans every day. I like you people on this site, but I need the human touch. (Or you can go with Jim Valvonos recipe for a great life: "Everyday, Laugh, Cry and Think. Great speech...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuoVM9nm42E)

Don't. You want that liver small. I drank a great deal before my surgery. I tapered off and quit completly two weeks before surgery. The result? My surgery was done in less than 30 minutes, greatly speeding up the recovery process. So think about what you want. I got in the best shape I could going in and did everything I could to make it easy for my surgeon. Why "cheat" on this?

There are some days when I can have 4 ounces, and some when 3 makes me want to puke. Why? Heck if I know, it is what it is. Just work to pay attention to the signals your body is sending you. Your sleeve could be smaller than others.

@@katiecem - That is a very interesting and good perspective. Thanks. I don't think I've seen it presented like this todate.

Trust me, I am a foodie. I eat waaaaaaaaaay better than most. I think I can prove it. That said, quality is much better than quantity. One or two bites of something great is better than a whole crappy pizza. That is really the decision you are making. Not "can I have this." No it is "can I eat tons of this." I have yet to find something I can't have a bite of. But I'm not making a meal of crap that made me weight 305.

Having some real problems with the audio, can you check on your end?

Nope, love to when I can, but life is what it is. I would not have missed my day with my SO for anything (which was today). I had time with my daughter, would not have blown that either. You guys are great. I enjoy our times together, but this is paying something back to the WLS community to me. There were vets who helped me when I was freaking out, so I help out others. That I think is the deal. On top of that, there is a great deal of idiocy on the web, and I try to at least let people know there really is some sane info out there. If they care or not is on them.

@@VSGAnn2014 - BTW, I started seeing my therapist just over two years ago when I told him I was committing to see him for three years: (1) the year of losing weight, (2) the year of maintaining weight, and (3) the year of boring real life. That is great. I actually did the same thing when I went through my divorce and the guy was great through this process too. That might/should be added to the checklist of things people should consider before doing this. I just went to my doctor's appointment today, and I am up 4 pounds from when I saw him six months ago. He didn't freak out, but I sure as heck did. That is unacceptable in my book. But, I looked at my food and exercise log and realized, very understandable because I have not been working out well and I'm not paying attention to what I'm eating. DUH Now, do I care about the advice of a pre-op? NOPE. UNLESS it is freaking stupid. Then I will CARE. Other than than that, rote stuff is fine.

Yes. But it is a great excuse to not eat so much when I go out.

There are those you just plop on your skin.

I can eat one roll with rice, but I LOVE really good sashimi. Yep, too early for rice. Take your time chewing. I mean really over chew everything for the next couple of weeks. Gulps hurt, so don't do that (unless you like pain and puking, then knock yourself out).

My biggest problem intially was remembering to eat. One of the worst headaches I have ever had was I flew to CO for meetings in the morning, and it just went wall to wall and went back to the air port to fly home and I realized, "I have not eaten all day" and it hurt. So I would suggest learning mindful eating during this phase.

@@GinaCampbell - I was wondering if you were using NHS. That has been one of my concerns about government run health care. I didn't really care for military medical either, and my dad always had problems with the US VA (veterans care). I have seen cases where the NHS has sent cancer patients home without telling them, because there wasn't enough money in the budget to treat them. Thanks for sharing. Very insightful and possibly it may serve as a warning to others in your country to check out self pay alternatives. Going back to the original question, NO REGRETS. I have loved every moment of this second chance and life has gone from pretty good, the freakin fantastic.

There are some interesting threads on this...http://www.bariatricpal.com/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=search&fromMainBar=1

@@karine76 - I really like that pre-workout, but ... I waited until all was healed and started using in month 2. Great before runs. Or if you just want to send it to me gratis, PM me and I'll send you my address.

@@karine76 - which one is it?

Strangely no real change. Biggest problem was weaning off caffeine and soft drinks.

@@emme.vee - I had it pre-surgery. It hurts so bad you feel like your foot is broken. You don't even want a sheet to touch it. They gave me: http://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-8640/colchicine-oral/details and http://www.webmd.com/arthritis/features/pain-relief-how-nsaids-work What I found is I would have the flare ups when I got myself dehydrated. But I have no symptoms post surgery.