fernandfj

This may sound counter-intuitive, but have you tried increasing your intake of Protein and complex carbohydrates? You are working out quite a bit and your body needs inputs. Our bodies kick into a survival mode when caloric intake drops. You might be there.
Have you been dropping sizes? It could well be that you have replaced fat with much denser muscle, so they scale has not moved but your body composition has.

I waited until my early 50s to do this surgery and I wish I had much earlier. i waited until the extra 150 lbs I carried ruined my knees and created four lumbar hernias in my back. Congrats to all of you who made this decision in time to maximize its benefits. Great for all those who lost weight without WLS - i did too and gained it and quite a bit more back. This sleeve is a great tool exactly because the restriction is permanent. Some of us need that extra help - and that is no cause for shame.

I love the idea of this list - sometimes I feel that I obsess so much about what I eat and my weight that I am letting it define me. Thanks for putting together something that puts things in perspective!
Here's my (very shot) brag list -
I retired at 50 after 28 years of govt service (25 overseas), and went back to work full time two months later because I was bored. I hope to really retire within the next four or five years (my wife smiles and shakes her head when I say this).
I love to fish, especially in mangroves (I am passionate about Snook).
I've got three adult kids and in a two months I graduate to the next great stage in life - being a grandpa!
My wife and I have become internet shopping mavens - amazing the things and great prices you can find if you look for them!
I live by the motto that anything tastes better on a grill!
I have mastered the art of using home exercise equipment for everything but exercise!
I live in a place where driving is a contact sport - and I've become really good at it! The other side of this is that I get scared s***less of getting tickets when I have to drive in civilized places so I drive like a little old lady
I am a binge watching addict
Strolling with my wife is a past time I treasure
I have finally learned to slow down and enjoy life.
We are more than our WLS - it just takes some perspective to realize this!

Been maintaining in the low 190's for a couple of months now. Over 150 lbs lost. Hard to
believe I used to fit in those pants!

This might help.

Firstly...I'm nearly four years post banded. Just a couple of weeks till my anniversary. I've been at goal for around three years give or take so I absolutely consider myself a vet though not necessarily one of long term duration.
So...this week has been both a bit of a challenge and also a great joy. The joy part is that I'm with my friends, family, and loved ones and I'm doing a spectacular stay-cation home in NYC. A little background is that my boyfriend owns a food tour company and is obviously very knowledgeable about food and is a huge foodie as part of his job and interests. And that is often the challenge...especially this week.
We decided to do a global food tour and in tandem, head out of Manhattan to explore the outer boroughs and eat foods from different ethnicities. So we went to Greenpoint Brooklyn which has a large Polish population and ate Polish food. We went to Staten Island and had Spanish food, we went to Arthur Avenue in The Bronx which is a well known Italian enclave. We've done Brazilian, Malaysian, Jewish delicatessen (along with movies on Christmas Day), and we're still heading to Astoria Queens for Greek food.
I got on the scale this morning and am exactly the same weight I was a week ago when we started this foray.
And what does this tell us? For me, it tells me that as long as I watch my volume, and make good choices, I can eat anything and live the life I want even when my interests still gravitate towards food. The difference now is that I don't need or want to eat to excess. A little bit goes a long way. Last night was my biggest challenge. My danger food is Pasta. I ordered the house special...Nona's meatballs and spaghetti. Suffice to say the spaghetti was perfectly al dente. Chewy deliciousness. I had about three or four small forkfuls, and let the remaining three dinner companions go to town on the rest of it. This worked so well as I got in my chance to enjoy this food and still not give in to it.
I know everyone has to approach living post WLS the best way they know how. For me, this works. My fervent hope is that I'm posting the same when I'm ten years post banded. Today I think I can make it.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all my friends on BP.

Each year one my sister, my grandma and I have this small ritual where we go up to Brussels and walk around to visit the Christmas market and also buy the last Christmas gifts, and I have pictures from last year before the surgery and a picture of yesterday.

So, voilà!

Been maintaining in the low 190's for a couple of months now. Over 150 lbs lost. Hard to
believe I used to fit in those pants!

Been maintaining in the low 190's for a couple of months now. Over 150 lbs lost. Hard to
believe I used to fit in those pants!

Been maintaining in the low 190's for a couple of months now. Over 150 lbs lost. Hard to
believe I used to fit in those pants!

Been maintaining in the low 190's for a couple of months now. Over 150 lbs lost. Hard to
believe I used to fit in those pants!

If your diet has a high amount of Protein and /or your liquid consumption is low they couldn't we'll be kidney stones. I'm having my gallbladder removed in a couple of weeks thanks to stones after losing almost 160 lbs. luckily no symptoms yet but it's chock full of stones. Doc said it was better to do this electively than wait until it was an emergency.
Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

If your diet has a high amount of Protein and /or your liquid consumption is low they couldn't we'll be kidney stones. I'm having my gallbladder removed in a couple of weeks thanks to stones after losing almost 160 lbs. luckily no symptoms yet but it's chock full of stones. Doc said it was better to do this electively than wait until it was an emergency.
Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Been maintaining in the low 190's for a couple of months now. Over 150 lbs lost. Hard to
believe I used to fit in those pants!

Been maintaining in the low 190's for a couple of months now. Over 150 lbs lost. Hard to
believe I used to fit in those pants!

Been maintaining in the low 190's for a couple of months now. Over 150 lbs lost. Hard to
believe I used to fit in those pants!

Been maintaining in the low 190's for a couple of months now. Over 150 lbs lost. Hard to
believe I used to fit in those pants!

So, I've been a "lurker" as someone put it for the past couple of months...going through pre-op approval (psychological testing in a certified mental institution and all), the joys of getting a surgery date, having my surgery moved up more than a month (to the point where I had the choice to start my two week pre-op diet 12 hours later or postpone-I picked the former option ) to the realities of surgery and being in the hospital (first time ever) to the more-painful-than-expected recovery, to the questions and questions and questions. And now, still so new (surgery was 9/7) to all of this, but finally feeling compelled to contribute and not just read along.
I can honestly not even put into words how much gratitude I feel towards everyone on this app. This process is undoubtedly exciting, but it's also full of so so so many unknowns. It's been a comfort to have the ability to come here and see what others are going through, hear from those who have reached their goals, see the pride and support in the progress photos and have my own questions answered instead of needing to call my surgeon every.single.day. for the first week (excessive nausea-normal? My eyesight is strange-is this temporary? I have an indentation in my stomach-is this a sign of something bad? I can't get more than 4 oz of Protein in one sitting-am I going to be ok? My pain is terrible-how long will it last? Etc etc etc)
I've used this site for everything-answers to my questions (thanks so much for the Nioxin recommend ps!), educating myself on what I can expect (stalls, I'm ready for you!), sharing in successes (albeit silently) and also learning what NOT to do. Some of it may seem so obvious (eating macaroni three days out) but some are honest mistakes that help us learn from one another and become our best selves.
Long story short, I appreciate every post on here for helping to make my experience better, and I look forward to eventually becoming one of those before/after success stories.
-Allison
Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Been maintaining in the low 190's for a couple of months now. Over 150 lbs lost. Hard to
believe I used to fit in those pants!

No, because I can still have those things. I eat steak all the time, and drink alcohol occasionally.
In the beginning, it's easy to get short sighted and think never. For those of us who have children, remember when they were newborns and we used to think "I'm never going to be able to go out and have fun again!" But then one day, we could? But we still knew we were responsible for a child, so we did it occasionally and responsibly?
Yeah, its like that.

Been maintaining in the low 190's for a couple of months now. Over 150 lbs lost. Hard to
believe I used to fit in those pants!

Been maintaining in the low 190's for a couple of months now. Over 150 lbs lost. Hard to
believe I used to fit in those pants!

Been maintaining in the low 190's for a couple of months now. Over 150 lbs lost. Hard to
believe I used to fit in those pants!

Been maintaining in the low 190's for a couple of months now. Over 150 lbs lost. Hard to
believe I used to fit in those pants!

Been maintaining in the low 190's for a couple of months now. Over 150 lbs lost. Hard to
believe I used to fit in those pants!