OutsideMatchInside

Weigh all your food and eat proper portion sizes. Don't guess on how much food weighs, weigh it. If you do that always and don't depend on restriction to set your food sizes you will never over eat.

Today I was able to pick some clothes out and just buy them without trying them on. This was really huge for me, but I have a really hard time accepting I am an 8/10 and I always have to try things on first to convince myself they will really fit. Well today I took a leap, believed I am the size that I am, and they fit! Logically I know they should fit but it has been a really hard thing for me to accept. Being able to accept that I am really this size and it isn't a dream or a delusion is a massive NSV for me (even though I have been this size for a couple months now).

I miss living in Chicago (I never had dudes taking me on whack dinner dates then either, even when I was a whale, too much to do in the City), but even the smaller city I live in has plays and all kinds of events that range from free to still really cheap. A fun guy is going to take you on a fun date. A dinner date is about the most boring date you can go on. When I met the right guy. I told him I was into being healthy and active. Since I don't look my age (thanks sleeve for knocking 12 years off me at least), when I say I am into health and fitness people believe me. When he cooks for us or we go out, he makes sure their are healthy options for me. I told him I low carb, almost everyone in my generation has low carbed at some point so it isn't a mystery what people eat or how it works. I don't drink and he doesn't either. So there are no weird convos about alcohol. We go to sports bars and order coffee I don't eat a lot at once but I eat literally all day. Eating small amounts all day pretty much deads any convos about how little you eat when you are eating every 2 hours. The whole point in dating is finding someone who is you match. Some dude that wants to go to TGI Fridays and hit a movie isn't a good match for me, but someone else would love to have him, and they should.

Seems totally normal to me.

@BigTink2LilTink Looks like you just missed out

Well if they are asking me out, I assume they want to spend time with me. If they don't then that is fine too, my dog is better company than most people and better dressed. The kind of men I date aren't the kind of men that don't take charge. If you can't tell by my posting style, I'm pretty aggressive. I need someone more aggressive than me or I will be bored. I work for my self and have for a very long time and I usually date men on that same level, and that comes with a certain personality. I get that you are disappointed in your dating life and having a hard time, but I'm not going to be your online punching bag because you are bitter you can't get a date.

Go ahead

I have since about 6 months post-op. I eat more stuff that is not strict Keto, but low carb a couple days a week, but on a daily basis, I am Keto. I low carbed for about 6 years before surgery to control my diabetes without insulin, so this isn't a new thing to me. I don't really associate with a post-op surgery life, but with being healthy and my body running at optimal levels. Combining Keto with WLS though, is so easy and delicious it seems like cheating If I followed a normal bariatric post-op diet. I am pretty sure I would have bottomed out in the 240-250 range. Just make sure you don't follow it blindly. Use a calculator to set your Macros and weight/measure all your food and track it.

That is healing, congrats. That seems pretty normal. I have no idea what size the chicken sausage links are though. The ones at Trader Joes and Sam's are bigger than hot dogs. How many ounces/grams are you eating at once? And how long does it take you to eat it.

Someone made a thread on here, I haven't seen it in a while, it was late fall early winter.

I don't think they meet in Collinsville anymore but someone had started a new group that met at STL public library. They always met on days I had work deadlines and had to work late, so I could never make it.

If I have to plan a date, I can just make a date with my friends, people that I actually know and I already like. Instead of leading a middle aged man by the nose. I expect to be courted or it isn't worth my time. Think dating one month post-op you are creating a lot of your own problems. If you waited until 6 months, you could eat enough what you eat or don't eat on a date would be a non-issue. Men are used to women not eating a lot on dates, especially first dates.

I'm not sure if we can link to this site, but this calculator is pretty accurate when you use the in depth one. http://www.obesitycoverage.com/the-complete-patients-guide-to-bariatric-surgery/ The issue with weight loss is everyone is so different.

Well at least you are talking to your face and not behind you back. I want to lose 20-25 more pounds so people can gossip about me and say I am on drugs or something People have no idea what normal looks like. When I watch old movies I realize how fat everyone is.

Yes, no fine dining establishment has a kids menu. That isn't to be mean or condescending that is just fact. Only on the internet is plain English condescending. They don't expect or want children there. Some places are just for adults. This is like getting angry because I said there is no kids menu at the strip club...

I'd keep taking the prilosec, Don't be like me, lol. There is no harm in taking it for 6 to 9 months and a lot to not taking it. Just because you don't feel GERD issues doesn't mean you aren't producing excess acid. If you can eat food at other meals, eat food at all meals. Give up the protein shakes, and yogurt is just a slider. Eat ral potein as much as possible.

Well no nice restaurant has a kids menu because nice restaurants do not expect children to be dining during dinner hours. If you are at an actual upscale restaurant, the portions are normal to small anyway, so unless you are under 6 months post-op needing a smaller portion is a non issue. Only fast casual and family restaurants have kids menus. I understand restaurant table turnover and I feel like if I enjoy and establishment and want them to be around I should support them. Margins in food are razor thin. Also even though I might not order a full tab, I still tip my server like I did. Although now at this point post-op is a non issue, I can order like a normal person.

My experience early on was I had to eat solid food all the time or my sleeve would swell more and restrict. So once I started on food all my meals were food not protein shakes. I would have a protein shake in between if running low on protein but that was it. My experience is still, if I don't eat protein (I have been sick a few times not WLS related) and just have fluids because I don't feel like cooking or eating. My restriction is tight a drum. My sleeve has a use it or lose it attitude. Also 2 bites is a useless metric. How many ounces or grams is that?

I didn't date at 1 month post-op, I would actually suggest people wait until they are over a year post-op but I understand hormones make that hard to do. If you wait longer you can eat more and there is nothing to explain about your eating habits. The idea in dating is to find a match. You shouldn't have to lead someone by the nose to get them to like what you like. OP do you have in your dating profile that you are active and you like to do active things? I had that in my profile and it helped weed out a lot of guys. Most of the guys I met are high energy and active like me. If they aren't they can't really fake it, although some try.

A lot of times people don't come back to a thread but you can click on their name, see their activity and see if they are posting at all. You can follow people like that.

I kind of judge guys on the kinds of dates they take me on. If I'm not asking, I shouldn't have to plan. If a guy can't come up with a good date that allows me to actually get to know him and he isn't trying to impress me, there is no future in the relationship. I'm saying it like that because I want someone that is active and likes doing activities and doesn't plan dates that revolve around meals, which is boring to me. I was like this with dating before surgery. I want to do an activity so I can make a judgement on their personality. Dinner is too easy/boring. Anyway, I like concerts and outdoor events. I get to evaluate how they act in public, how they react to crowds, if they will protect me and treat me like a lady, how good they are with parking and other things. Basically I can see how the act under slight pressure, early on, without having to date them and waste my time. Also you kind of can't plan a date for a man because you don't know their finances. How creative they are with a date tells you a lot about them.

If you want something with a crunch, Quest Protein chips.

What does your daily food log look like?

It is hard because they make it that way on purpose. Obese people are still a group of people that it is okay to discriminate against. A lot of WLS programs make people jump through pre-op hoops to prove they are "worthy" or surgery and will be compliant hoping it will lower post-op complications. In the past insurance has made it difficult for people to get approved because they thought WLS was expensive. Now with Diabetes increasing and the cost of diabetes being so expensive, a few years ago a lot of insurance companies eased the path to WLS because it is more cost effective for them to get people to surgery ASAP. I got my ball rolling my BCBS by calling them, verifying my coverage. Finding a Blue Center of excellence, and going there for the seminar. Going through my normal Drs was absolutely useless. I went to the Bariatric program and then they told me what I needed from everyone else, and I just hounded everyone to get what I wanted as fast as possible. So I went from first visit to surgery in 8 weeks. ETA: I read your prior post, which you wrote while I was writing my post. That sucks but you need to get rolling on this 6 months ASAP if you want to have surgery this calendar year. The year is already almost 1/2 over.

A lot of times it isn't insurance that requires it but the program. Your BMI is high enough that insurance probably wouldn't require 6 months. I would call the insurance company and verify the coverage with them to be sure.