Kiba

I am tracking my calorie intake via Fitbit -- very helpful, but I can see the issue is my protein intake, I can't imagine hitting 100g of protein a day without the shakes though. Anyone else doing it without the shakes? What is the focus on the protein coming from besides dairy, meat and nuts; most of the other sources tend to be heavy on the carbs, no?

I was told 60g but it's quite possible I was wrong! What is the average carb intake everyone is getting?

About 40g -- it varies some days but I'd like to think its around there. I try to incorporate mostly good fats and protein and little to no carbs. But I feel so tired without the carbs.

It's a frustrating situation indeed. I have basically noticed myself stopping weight loss at 1 year out and tried increasing my calorie intake to 1100-1200; it helped me a lose a few more lbs but now I'm stuck again and haven't moved in two months. I've tried going back to 800 or so, doesn't do a darn thing. I tried cutting any carbs I could (I usually try to keep under 30g a day) but it made me dizzy and unable to exercise at gym. Unsure what else to do, work out 4 times a week myself and don't eat more than 1200 calories, my body has gotten insanely comfortable at this weight. http://dailyburn.com/life/health/how-to-calculate-bmr/ -- great to calculate your own metabolic rate.

You'll be back to it in no time. Avid backpacker/trek lover here, I started doing it again 6 months post op, I had some very raw feelings around my tummy that took some time to heal and the risk of hernias is enough reason to hold off. I am happy I waited, got my butt handed to me after a 10 mile hike on my first hike back, but felt damn good getting back into it. Now at almost 10 months, I am slowly getting into my usual self, new habits will make energy a bit harder to manage I've noticed. Focus heavily on Protein and fruit packed trail mixes, I carry a bladder AND a bottle of Water, extra hydration is a must especially to make sure you're getting h2o as you're burning all those calories. Some of the best pre-made trail mix and Jerky I've found is at Epic. It doesn't hurt, settles well into your tummy and it's made of the real stuff (kinda pricey but worthwhile.) I find myself stopping a lot more now than I did pre-op, it's still a healing process, I know it hasn't been a year yet and I'm damn happy I'm where I am. Be patient!

9 months post op, I have some loose skin especially around my tummy and thighs, it will adjust when you're done losing weight, of course I'm a bit younger than most who have the surgery as well. As everyone says, aside from age, Water and Vitamins is critical for success, so is typical skin maintenance, I use organic skin tightening lotions and bathe with sesame oil after using fragrance free soap. Try to shower in cold water as well, keeps the pores tight. I've noticed my skin collapsing right back into itself very quickly as I do this with fitness. Of course as you mentioned the most important thing is being healthy, it isn't ideal but you could always get it tucked back in; but assume that is truly worst case scenario.

9 months out and sometimes if I stretch the wrong way, it will give me a dull ache around the incisions -- my surgeon said it truly takes a year for them to fully heal, be patient!

Disagree as well -- the whole thing that was stressed to me and I'm sure others is, "This is a tool to losing weight" just imagine how impossible it was to lose without it( At least for me it was.) I'm 85 lbs down and 10 months out and my weight loss has gotten INSANELY slower; but that doesn't mean it will stop. I know full well and can feel myself getting comfortable at my current weight and need to work harder to lose it. I still have 30 lbs really to be 'happy' with myself. What is 30 lbs now after all this weight lost?! I'm happy with the habits I formed during this 10 month surgery and promised myself to continue by never revisiting the dark side of horrible foods and laziness.

Oh man, so weird! Going to try and up my water intake and go back to working out a bit harder this coming weekend. I'll see how the scale shows next week! Thanks guys!

Hi all! Hope you had a lovely holiday and a Happy New Year coming up! I had an interesting situation this past holiday week; I had the week off on vacation (yay) but to keep up with my regimen, I ate pretty much my usual daily intake and kept up with calorie counting; the only day I went a little over was of course Christmas dinner. Now, I weighted myself and noticed a 5 lb difference! I totally didn't eat 5 lbs worth of calories, so I assumed it was just Water weight since I've been really thirsty and I'm sure I didn't have enough during my vacation week. My question is, how long should it take to readjust this weight change? I feel bloated for sure and I did just get my period, could the combination of the two be causing it? I've been back to my routine since Monday, here I am at Thursday and that number hasn't moved off the scale! Really worried.

At the beginning I would get horrible pain in my stomach and throat, sharp and throbbing. Now I'm finding myself at 8 months out, eating fast just results in feeling fuller faster and it causes a lot of awful bloating.

Been having some odd symptoms this past month and it resulted to be blacking out and ending up in the hospital. I guess I've slowly developed hypoglycemia, which I didn't realize is quite common for VSG patients. I never had diabetes or was in danger of it prior to my surgery, fortunately, so I was a little surprised this came out of nowhere. Anyone else noticing this being an issue? Mine was the result of over activeness without proper fuel/food, which makes sense considering how little we eat now; I suppose my old habits of working myself to the bone just need to break now.

It could be your gallbladder, but I had a similar pain and it ended up being bad constipation. You don't realize how little you go since you eat so little now, but it's good to cleanse every now and then to make sure things empty out, sometimes it gets trapped up there. I was afraid of gallbladder issues so I drink those chinese teas that keep the stones emptying out just to be safe. If you want to be safe, do an apple cider vinegar and olive oil mixture and it'll wash out stones.

The above questions are important, I realized at 6 months out I was eating TOO little and once I upped my intake, I started losing again. Are you being honest with yourself in what you're eat? How much you're working out? Are you gaining too much muscle, perhaps it isn't fat you are gaining?

6 months and it's still loud as ever! I've learned to accept the fact it just wants to communicate with everyone and everything!

Best thing to do is reevaluate what caused the weight gain, immediately structure your diet around the good and bad stuff. Seeing a NUT again is a great place to help establish a visual end goal, they can cater to your dietary or health restrictions. Surrounding yourself with the right people will make a difference on your mental outcome, toxic relationships with people, intimate or not, won't help your situation. Depression is a contributing factor to weight gain, unfortunately, so focus on making yourself happy and finding some inner peace. Congrats on getting married, I hope your spouse is supportive of your desire to improve your health, that will be a big motivator to staying on top of your regimen. Just remember what you did to get to that point, cleanse, start up those shakes and count those calories; resorting to a secondary surgery (if that is even a possibility) would be horribly unhealthy.

Agreed with above, one plan might work for you and not for another. If everything was so easy to follow no one would have issues with diets in the first place! For instance, my Protein at the beginning was high, but my body just didn't take well to it as some; I've shifted to more veggies and fruits and it is just working for me. I was worried I wasn't eating the high levels of protein, but I try to get all the recommend stuff from my NUT, 6 months post op I can't complain with the results. Shakeology was horrible stuff, made my insides ache. I did Iconic shakes prior to surgery then switched to Premier after surgery because the sugar contents were lower. Both worked really well for me, I liked how Iconic made me, I felt no bloating and stayed satisfied, not to mention it tasted fantastic.

I've been upping the weight resistance & I started using this cream called Cellulite Defense and WOW, huge difference. It's a strange smelling product, but no other cream has helped like this, two weeks and already seeing lines tightening around my belly and thighs. Worth a shot for others!

Hi all! I'm at 6 months down and I'm discouraged by the sagging tummy. I know, the weight loss is most important, but I do the Vitamins, tea, creams and exercise, it isn't shrinking in like it used to. Before I put on the massive weight gain, I used to have a flat belly at this numbered weight before, now I have a sagging belly What are some things people are doing to maintain a tighter body during weight loss? Everything else is going in perfectly, my neck, arms and legs. Just my stomach and thighs are kinda bumming me out.

I waited 3 weeks to be safe! I was very tender and achy after my surgery. Luckily my boyfriend was gentle, but once the weight sheds off, you become an animal! It's great to see yourself be more agile and energized.

My boyfriend was fully committed to being there for me when I was at my biggest, he's an athletic slim guy. It bothered me I was bigger than him, now that I am shrinking he feels motivated to work out with me and strengthen his core. We try to go running together and he tries to adjust his diet around my cravings. But it was tough to get to this point, at the beginning after my surgery I was very depressed and hormonal. This is a huge change and it is meant to shift everything around, you just hope for the best and pray the person you're with understands the struggle and is willing to make sacrifices with you along the way.

Why are you trying to keep to 900 calories? That seems really low for as far out as you are. What does your NUT advise? My NUT advised me to keep between 900-1000, but honestly I have a hard time getting in 800-900 daily. It's strange, the 900 was keeping me dropping up until this point. I can feel myself hungrier than before and of course able to fit in more food, but the fear of overeating is preventing me from eating more I suppose. Do you think up-ing my intake would help break the stall? I am more active than I was before, perhaps my body is holding onto weight? It's quite a battle

Trying to break a 1 month stall at 6 months post op, really frustrating. Fluids & Proteins are getting in, trying to keep at 900 calories still. Any suggestions? Is it common at 6 months to stall this long?