BigViffer

Hot damn that sounds awesome!

I have been thinking this for weeks! I just assumed it was me. I am getting them on my arms, my sides, and the occasional one on my face. The whiteheads are what I am seeing the most of right now on my arms. I have resorted to using my wife's scrunchy/loofa thing on my arms. Bizarre.

Man, everyone is posting meals with far more planning than I am interested in! I keep it simple. Last night I had hanger steak on the grill medium rare. Seasoned it with sea salt, ground black pepper, and garlic. That's it. Huge dose of Protein. I ate brussell sprouts pan seared with olive oil, butter, and garlic then topped with cheese for a snack. High Fiber and more protein. If my wife is cooking, she does more intricate meals, but if I am cooking, I'm having steak. It's actually affordable when you don't eat more than 4 oz at a time! Oh, for the rest of the family they had steamed vegetables and pork chops. I could have gone that route myself, but I had already bought the steak the night prior and it was on my mind all day.

Ah, we have something in common. Single sided swingarms are sexy on a bike! I've heard the boxer engine design makes for a smooth ride, but I have never ridden one. If you have time, I'd love to know what bikes you have ridden/owned in the past.

Just saw this, what do you ride @@LisaLouBop?

ST1300's are wonderful touring bikes! Good friend of mine just sold his last year with 150K miles. The rides that bike has seen are enough to make me green with jealousy!

The problem with coffee is the caffeine. Caffeine is absorbed into the body with the same receptors as Vitamin D. If caffeine is present, you cannot absorb the Vitamin D. On top of that, it also leeches Vitamins out of the body. I have at least a cup of coffee a day, sometimes two. But I also have mega dose prescription of vitamin D that I take mid day. As always, talk to your surgeon about these things. My nutritionist is worthless for the most part as I always have more information going in to my appointments than she has prepared. Her appointments feel more like scheduled product sales pitches than anything else.

I did the baby spoon as well, I forgot to mention that. That is a really good tip too. Eat slowly, but carry a small spoon!

Sounds perfectly normal to me. Uncomfortable yes, but normal. That's how I always knew I was eating too fast or eating something that did not agree with me. One thing I can tell you, do not think that taking a sip or Water will get that feeling out of your chest. Basically, the food is slowly seeping into your stomach. Add water on top and you will only exacerbate the feeling. First time I vomited was because I thought something was stuck in my throat and needed a sip. I am 6 months out and I still get that feeling from certain foods. That is the main reason I do not eat Pasta, tortillas nor bread. It clumps and sticks to my esophagus and makes me feel like I am choking. I talked to my surgeon and he recommended toasting bread or tortillas first to get rid of the elasticity. When I say tortillas and bread, I DO NOT mean white wonder-bread and the cheapy flour tortillas either. I've only had a hard toasted slice of a french loaf and a quarter of a whole wheat tortilla.

I keep a spreadsheet of everything I eat by meal (Breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack) and track my macronutrients. I pull the data off MyFitnessPal. Every week I pull a report and add it to my table. I then have pivots showing me my average Protein intake by meal, day, week, or month. I also have a calculation to show % of calories that come from protein, carbs, and fat. Lastly I have a graph of my weight loss. Unfortunately I didn't start using MyFitnessPal until sometime in May, so while I have my weight starting from surgery I do not have macronutrients logged in. Here is an example of one of my pivots: Of course, this is from Excel, so the formatting does not transfer well into forums, but you get the idea. One thing I should mention, the times when I did not lose weight coincide with the times that I get the most compliments. I think it has to do with our bodies changing shape/moving fat deposits. Now that I am 6 months out, I am on a pretty steady 3 lbs a week weight loss. EDIT - dang it, that is not what it looked like when I was pasting that stuff in. All formatting was lost. I'll tinker with that. EDIT AGAIN - took screen shots.

Figs and dried apricots are my go-to remedy for getting regular.

I have the Android version and it seems to work pretty well. Every once in a while it will hang during launch then crash. But it is few and far between.

Ah, now I remember your story. Short and sweet: you are going to lose muscle and fat. Once you are fully healed and can start introducing regular food, you will taper off. But it will take time. A year from now you will likely level off and start to gain weight again. The thing to keep in mind is that you can get overweight again even with a reduced stomach by grazing and eating junk food. You are going to need to focus on Protein rich foods as much as possible and begin weight lifting to stave off muscle loss. The good news is that you will be able to gain healthy weight this way also.

I must say I am surprised that you were cleared for the sleeve and were only 214lbs in the beginning. At best I would have thought they would have done a lapband. I don't think there is anything you can do to maintain your current weight that would be considered safe or recommended. especially only 2 months out from surgery. After a year of healing and adjusting, maybe then you could build some muscle with Protein and exercise. I don't think eating junkfood in order to inflate your caloric intake would be recommended by anyone, forum member or surgeon.

I am having this issue as well. The when I told my surgeon, he said that I just wasn't getting enough fluids in a day. I admit that in the beginning I was not able to always get the 64 oz of Water a day. But I am routinely getting over 70 oz a day now and the problem is just as bad as always. I have stumbled and almost fallen over many times. Sometimes I check my BP and it is 105-ish over 65-ish. While not clinically low, it is a far cry from what I have had for the past 15 years. I am going to make it a point to talk to my surgeon again at my 6 month follow up appt.

Ooh! A fellow sport tourer! How long have you been riding LisaLou? Any other cool bikes in your past?

Yeah, no. If that's what you got out of some of the responses, then you really didn't read them. Yeah, I read some. And that is what I got out of them. You've already called me an a*****e in one of my threads, so I am just going to chalk your reply up to another insult. Do this for me, on the upper right side of your screen click on your user name Then click on Manage Ignore Prefs. Then type in BigViffer and click save.

Jesus, it looks like Charles Dickens is posting on BariatricPal nowadays. People are writing books. Don't get me wrong, I like reading. Just not when it is a bunch of worthless pulp. So for newcomers to this thread, let me summarize it for you: Original Poster: I had gastric surgery long before I was mature enough for it. I didn't do what I was supposed to do post surgery. I never lost as much as I wanted. If I can find one person to agree with me, then it's not really my fault. Everyone Else: You weren't ready for the surgery. You didn't do what you should have post surgery. You would have if you followed directions. Most of us don't agree with you. Go back to basics, find some friends who can give you the support you must need.

Learn to love kale. Lettuce does nothing for you, but kale is a "superfood". It's tough, chewy, and has a distinctive flavor. If you make a salad with it, you should make a dressing for it as well and let it sit in that for a while before eating. It will soften it up and make it bearable. After acclimating to kale, try a bit of lettuce salad again. Iceberg will taste watered down and not very satisfying. Spinach salads also are ok.

NCTRNL - I don't know dude... we could walk the mall looking for chicks. Go to the food court to nibble on some Sbarro and get caught up on all the latest fashions while listening to the newest music produced by today's "artist". Oh yeah, that sounds like man heaven to me.

It's funny, the first time I tried spaghetti squash it was served to me like spaghetti. I was told it was squash, but was told that it's spaghetti. I hated it. The next time I tried it, it was just the squash with some olive oil, garlic and a few other light herbs. Fricken loved it! It's the same way with veggie burgers. Don't lie to me and call it a burger, it will disappoint everytime. But tell me you made veggie patties and I am in the right mindset for it and it's OK. If you are looking for a serious Pasta replacement, I heartily recommend Banza chickpea "pasta". www.eatbanza.com 14 grams of Protein in 2 oz?! Sign me up! I liked it quite a bit in a cheese and sauce bake.

lauraellen80's post is excellent. Buy the tupperware cups and don't purchase individual foods. More preservatives are in those for some reason. In my case, I packed cottage cheese, applesauce and greek yogurt. Better develop a taste for greek yogurt, it's a lot higher in Protein than American so you don't have to eat as much. Don't worry, it will be funky at first but you will acclimate to it soon enough. I buy the Faget plain yogurt in the big tub and add Torani sugar free flavoring or PB2 Protein powder to suit my tastes. Applesauce is not high in protein, but it is in Fiber and you are going to want that. Dried apricots, prunes and figs can be put into a blender with your protein powders for a well rounded food/drink combo. Those individual tuna bags are awesome, but try to avoid the canned chicken and tuna salad. They are too high in fat. Also, get a good shaker cup. Damn things cost $15 sometimes, but you will have it by your side at all times and you don't want one that leaks after being washed a couple times. Don't ask me how I know. Crystal Light Water enhancers are a lifesaver for me. The water at my office tastes like pool water to me, so that helps mask it. Hope this helps!

Mine actually has an example diagram of what surgery I had done. So it doubles as a medical emergency card and a restaurant disclaimer.

Mine was given to me by my surgeon. So far, I have seen about 10 different variations so I am guessing they are specific to the hospital. Here is an example of one I found on the net:

You will definitely have a greater chance for heartburn, but unless you are using some sort of crazy hot additives you should not be in greater risk of an ulcer. I have found that my taste for spicy has diminished somewhat. Habenero's still taste good to me, but they heat is uncomfortable to me now. But a lot of food tastes different to me now, so I just deal with it.