OutsideMatchInside

Yeah, WLS boards basically have nothing to offer people that are over 6 months from surgery and not failing. 85% of the board is pre-op and the newly sleeved, 14% are the random re-gainers that post asking for help, that never respond or provide logs of what they are eating, and the remaining 1% people doing well. I'm excited to see you hit your goal. I wish I was 6 feet tall so I could stop at 180,

I was surprised at 9 months when it was a little different. I thought when I was "fully healed" at 6 months that would be it. Then at 12 months it was really a big difference, almost shocking. Not so much a large increase in capacity but it was like a switch flipped and things were more normalized. I'm not sure if it was physical or mental (just used to post-op life), but it was at that point I was able to chug bottles of water again, which thrilled me to no end. I just wanted to make you aware, because I don't recall anyone talking about different feelings. They just usually say they are hungry all the time. There is definitely a restriction adjustment.

Those just use your weight, and guess your lean mass and calculate it. The machines that use your breath are averaging the measurements from your breathing over a period time. If you have higher or lower metabolism, this is the only way to get an accurate reading. The Tanita machines are basing it off lean mass and fat mass, which is it getting from an electronic scan. This would work okay for most people that don't need something very accurate, but when you are dealing with people that might have impared metabolisms, the breathe measurements are showing how you body is actually metabolizing energy, not based on lean mass and fat mass but what your body is actually doing. An accurate RMR test with a DEXA scan and MD or PhD in sports medicine around are good ways to get accurate calorie goals. It just don't make sense to blame weight gain on a slowed metabolism, when you haven't had it tested and have no idea what it is. Tracking your food carefully should be the first step. I can eat a lot more at 23 months than I could at 6 months. The only thing that stops me is weighing all my food and deciding how much I am going to eat before I start eating.

If you switched the cottage cheese for meat, you wouldn't be able to eat or need to eat as much. When you get to 12 months, you might notice a difference with restriction. I did every 3 months the first first year, but the difference between 12 months and now is the same. If you find that you suddenly have more room (and I am talking about an ounce, 1.5 ounces) you might need to switch to more dense protein. I don't see that cottage cheese working out long term unless you just love it.

It is odd. I called my coordinator and told I need a date on a specific week because I had commitments. She gave me the date I wanted. You are paying them thousands. Call and make them give you want you want. The squeaky wheel gets the oil.

@blizair09 I totally agree. When I ate smaller more frequent meals early on it helped me realize I was not being deprived and my next meal was just around the corner, it didn't matter that I could only eat 3 ounces at a time. Once I was past 6 months and could eat steak, steak sits in my stomach a lot longer so it isn't as necessary to eat as often. I think a lot of people that are food addicts could benefit from small frequent meals, but so many programs are 3 meals a day with no snacks...

I'm probably alone in my opinion but I think if you have any doubts you shouldn't have surgery. You should only have surgery if you feel it is the best and only option. That makes post-op life a lot easier to deal with, other than that, any doubt you have pre-op just get magnified post-op and the hurdle you have to jump post-op seem harder.

@Dabearo Almost everything he eats could be easily portable. Lots of people eat all day at their desks anyway. We just don't notice it as much because they are having chips, donuts, candy bars. I couldn't eat like @blizair09 I'm just not that into food or have the attention span he does. Also I have more capacity than he does. I don't bother with 2 or 3 ounces of protein, I always eat 4 at a time. I also, don't bother with things like Cottage Cheese. Since I just basically eat dense protein, it takes me at least 2 hours for that feel like it has passed through my stomach and small intestine. If I didn't eat dense protein, he eats a lot of soft protein, I could probably eat more often. The way he is eating is good though for getting plenty of protein in with real food and also, eating all day so you are never hungry and are never tempted. I was eating 6 times a day when I was at his point but I have always been a dense protein person. I'm just too lazy to eat 8 times a day, LOL As far as the person that asked about fluids. By the time I was a year out I could chug about 8 ounces of water without taking a breath. Now as soon as I wake up I chug 16 ounces of water. I walk the dog and drink another 16 ounces of water while I make my morning coffee. I drink 16 ounces of coffee. then another 16 ounces of water while I make my 2nd round of coffee. So that is over 64 ounces of fluid before 11 am. I don't even start eating until Noon and I still get 120 gram of protein in a day.

Nothing is going to help except surgery or tape. I would just go the tape route. You can spend money on creams and collagen but they aren't going to help. I'm lucky I never had a lot of fat in my face or neck so I don't have loose skin in these areas. Still I have lost of loose skin in other places. I would rather have loose skin and feel light weight then be fluffy, fat and heavy. Once the skin is stretched out, it doesn't matter how fast or slow you lose the weight. Losing fast doesn't matter if your skin is already damaged from being stretched out long term with weight.

@ReviseMe Find a University or Dr office that does RMR/BMR testing. You want the test where you are laying or sitting still for 20-30 minutes with a mask/tent over your face. The scales and machine that just take a few seconds are not accurate. Basically you are getting a reading of the baseline of calories your body burns just being alive. If you didn't move all day this is how many calories your body would burn (ie you are in coma). @Jim in Utah I mean unless you are seriously tracking every single thing you put in your mouth with weights, you can really know what you are eating. Just a few things could make your calories higher or lower. There are not that many people here in the 2 years plus range that post and the calories that people maintain on vary pretty wildly. The active people that post here seem to be maintaining on around 2000. I do yoga once or twice a week and I walk everyday, but I don't do any formal exercise and I have not really at all since surgery. Just walking. @BigViffer is a guy. He can tell you what he does.

Is it fat or is it skin? If you have loose skin in that area and fat is attached to it, it is almost impossible to get rid of. If your weight and BMI are correct you probably have very little fat left. You can't spot lose fat or concentrate on it. If you build the muscles under it you are just going to have toned muscled under fat and skin.

8 weeks.

I 16:8 fast with my best friend although I have been slipping on it lately because I have been gaming and just acting like I'm on Spring Break. I started it long before surgery. We did it because we work from home, set our own hours and pretty often, stay up late. It was a way to cut out late night eating and in turn it stopped us from staying up until 2 or 3 am gaming. If you are hungry at midnight or 1am, you just go to bed if you can't eat.? I have never been the kind of person to eat when they wake up anyway. So not eating till noon works for me. I drink coffee and water until noon. It allows me to easily get my fluids in all morning. Then I eat every 2 hours basically till 8. This is fine when I am at home all day working. It sucks when I am up and out doing things in the morning. It works for my lifestyle but if I had a regular 9 to 5 job I could never make it work. If 16:8 is too hard, try 12:12. Almost every one fasts at least 8 hours a day because they are sleep so extending your fast a little longer isn't as dramatic as it sounds. There is a reason breakfast is breakfast, because you are breaking your fast. Like @BigViffer I pretty much think about good all the time. I plan and craft it so I can meet all my macros. If I didn't some days I wouldn't eat at all. I still don't have much of a physical appetite. I have to be very aware of food or I will just drink water and coffee all day and not eat.

I understand about the healing and the scar tissue. Another one of the. Many reasons a stretched sleeve doesn't make sense long term. Cutting and removing the stomach simply creates a newer smaller stronger stomach (mine is tight as a drum). My concern with plication and endoscopic sleeve is that long term is has the same issues as RNY. You basically have a blind stomach they can't see. So if you develop ulcers or stomach cancer in that folded over tissue, there is no way to see or access it easily. By the time they would see it, it would have spread far beyond the source. Which is why I felt long term just removing the stomach your are not using is the safest option. I plan on living another 40 or 50 years like this. I need the simplest cleanest option available for long term maintenance. I still want to know why there is all this sudden interest in this surgery. I still think only 3 or 4 doctors in the US are doing it. That might be a stretch, I only found 2 programs period. So why are so many people asking about it?

When I say just protein, I mean just meat. Real food, not supplements. I would never suggest someone healed from surgery go on a liquid diet ever again. Someone that started at your weight could easily eat 90 to 120 grams of protein. Upping your protein could start you losing again.

Try just protein for 2 weeks and see what happens. Just by what you posted it seems like you are getting like 60 grams of protein a day? Is that accurate?

Gastric Plication and the Endoscopic sleeve are basically the same thing, the only different is one is done by going through the throat instead of laparoscopic. I don't think 3 rows of titanium staples is really any better than sutures as far as foreign material. Just removing the stomach is "cleaner" than leaving it there folded over, for a few reasons. I don't think there is anything wrong with the surgery though, I would need to see more long term results before I chose it. @KittyV Grand Health Partners has nothing about Endoscopic Sleeves on their website. What has your experience been with an endoscopic sleeve? What was the insurance process like?

No, contact your Dr.

What would be the point in increasing the acid content of the meat? Tomatoes are high acid. It sounds like he has a stricture, and should contact his Doctor.

The only Drs that perform it are in Minnesota, NYC and Boston to the best of my knowledge. It is still new surgery and not covered by most (if any) insurance in the US.

Have you had your metabolism tested? How do know it has slowed? Do you track all of your food? I can maintain on 2000 ish calories.

@facebro29 I tired it for lent and it was a complete failure for me. Too few options on what to eat when I was out. It was pure hell. I was hungry all the time. I mean it was a good experience for Lent. Since I wanted to suffer some, that was the point. I would never ever do that to myself again. I'm still suffering health wise from that experience. If you can't tolerate these foods anyway you basically have nothing to lose. However, it seems odd you are having this many issues with foods. What has your doctor said about it?

Are you still eating 800 calories a day? How long have you been eating that level of calories? Do you track all of your food? Do you weigh all of your food? How much protein are you consuming daily?

I had controlling parents. I'm 40 and I haven't talked to either of them in years. The years I haven't talked to them have been the best years of my life. Just that you would consider removing her from your insurance tells me every thing I need to know about you. I feel sorry your daughter. I imagine you have made her feel terrible about her weight her entire life too. Why is everyone that posts in the friends and family section is a terrible human being. Lol every fricking time.

I'm single. I had surgery and live alone. It isn't hard. Just have premise protein shakes.