NCTRNL

I'm about 5 years out and I can in my experience, I can definitely eat more than I could 6 months after surgery, but if I eat "correctly", the amount I eat is much closer to that 6-month amount. When I start eating junk food, I notice I can eat quite a bit more of it. My "tool" still works if I let it. But I can easily navigate around it if I want to.

My doctor gave almost the exact same instructions. I do have to say it may have been the most eye opening part of the whole process for me. Seeing how ingrained meals were in my daily routine blew my mind. I lost almost 30 in that two weeks and it was a good kickstart. It's extremely hard...but you will learn a lot.

I was wearing 52's before and now I'm wearing 42's...who knows where I'll end up but it's pretty damn cool how much everything has changed.

Yeah I am about halfway to my goal and it's becoming more clear that I will probably need a lot of help with the excess skin. Guess it's not the worst problem to have...

You can't swallow pills yet? I didn't have any trouble post op.

I take the bariatric advantage chewables. I don't love them but I only have to take them twice a day...as opposed to the capsules that I would have to take three times/day. Since I already have to space them out with my calcium chews 3x/day it's just not worth it to me. I just suck it up and chew the damn things...

I walk at the mall over lunch...because I need to walk and it's hot as hell outside.

Don't we all...

I use a straw now with no issues at all. I did have those weird bubbly gas issues when I would take drinks early in the post-op phase. I will say that it does go away but, as I saw someone else post in here, our small stomachs are talkers. All kinds of weird noises come out of my mouth when I am eating and drinking.

Well just one friend really but it's been a very interesting experience. My wife is 1000% supportive and I don't have any worries at all that WLS will cause any problems with my marriage. What it does seem to be causing issues in is my relationship with my best friend. It didn't take a lot of reflection to realize that a large part of my relationship with my best friend, in the past, has revolved around eating and drinking. Now it's like we don't have much to do when we hang out. It's pretty interesting so far and I'm really only 8 weeks into this process. I'm sure it will even itself out but I thought some of you on here might have the same issues.

I don't know if it's related to this but I am not really in a very good mood at all lately. Maybe it's the whole '800 calories/day' thing...but who knows. I went to a WLS support group and honestly...ended up really annoyed with most of the people I talked to.

I really can't imagine a situation where mashed potatoes would EVER be a good idea. They're pure carbohydrates. Can you have fat free refried Beans? I really like the refried black beans...they were the best during that part of the diet.

I had surgery on 6/2/15. Started at 445, lost 26 in the 2-week liquid diet, down 30 since surgery. I honestly thought it would come off quicker but I'm just going with it right now...

Eh, I bought a new scale just for the occasion and I weigh myself every morning...so...yeah.

Does the 40 in the first month include the pre-op diet?