OutsideMatchInside

@mxpxchik11 I would listen to the Dr. I am not sure what kind of practice you are going to, but the one I went to has a shared dietitian. The information in the book and what the dietitian said are not the same as what my Dr said. He actually gave me a separate sheet that he just gives to his patients on how he wants you to eat. Every Dr and Surgeon I know on a personal level (friends, family friends) all eat Paleo/Keto/Low Carb. If your Dr is telling you below 25 grams, follow their advice. It is honestly very easy to do anyway, if you are just eating protein and veggies. Your dietitian is right about eating more meals and getting your calories to 1000, you want to get your calories to 1000-1200 ASAP so you aren't stuck eating under 1000 calories forever. At that stage I ate 5 times a day, and I still eat 4- 5 times a day now at almost 2 years so I can meet my protein goals.

Hot sauce is no calories, so go crazy. Just make sure you are taking a PPI and antacid. I don't eat Salsa, doesn't interest me, can't help you there. An entire brand of calorie free condiments https://www.waldenfarms.com/ They are all just flavoring, xanthum gum and water. Best sugar free BBQ sauce I have ever had, http://www.netrition.com/guys_bbq_sauce.html You can't even tell the difference.

I think apps are the best way to track. My fitness pal sucks in my opinion it is flooded with too much inaccurate information. You can write it down, but an app is doing to do most of the work for you and keep track easier. If you don't have one get a scale. Your Dr should have told you how much to protein and fluids. Do you have a post-op plan? Also it is normal not to lose weight. You don't lose weight every day or even every week.

Are you taking a PPI? Acid can mimic hunger. At 9 weeks all of the nerves are not even reconnected to your stomach for you to feel hunger. Your body doesn't know the stomach is reduced yet and is still producing acid for a full size stomach. I'm almost 2 years out and I have to go almost 24 hours without eating to feel hungry. The entire first year I had zero physical hunger

soft baked white fish, it is basically mush after 3 chews

@maya84 Ask a Dr, it shouldn't be an issue but just tell them and ask their opinion. You have to disclose your medical history anyway. You won't be the first or last in this position. At 1 year plus, you shouldn't have any issues different from any other woman

It really depends on what stage you are on and what you can tolerate. I have never had issues with cheeses or fat. Early on like the first 6 months. Crab cakes chicken quesadillas ( I just eat the meat and the cheese out, I low carbed for a long time before surgery off and on so no one cares they are used to it) chicken salad, problem is a lot of places add sugar to it, so you have ask After 6 month Hot wings without breading, Lots of places have them, just make sure the sauce doesn't have sugar Fried chicken, don't eat the skin or coating Toppings off pizza Steak 9 months on Chicken Caesar Salad Steak It really depends on the restaurant if it is some place I have never been before I check the menu online. Don't be afraid to order you food special, places will accommodate you and you don;t have to tell them you have any specific needs. I just tell them what I want. Like I order entrees with double veggies no starches etc. It is pretty easy to make choices out once you are familiar with your sleeve, I never have issues finding something to eat any place I go. Even if I go some place that just sells cake. I just get coffee.

I think feeling regret has a lot to do with where people are mentally. If you hit rock bottom with your weight and health before surgery you are less likely to experience regret. Also for me mentally being free from thinking about food felt like gaining a tremendous amount of freedom over myself. I am also amazed when I read stories of people that had terrible complications and they don't regret surgery. I also feel like the super morbidly obese are happier after surgery, there are exceptions like the severe food addicts. Just because they suffer more pre-op.

Short, real answer. VSG will not stop you from drinking.

@chpstick2u I'm really sorry that happened to you. I'm surprised the hospital released you like that. They wouldn't release me until I could eat and manage my pain. They don't want to release people and have them go home and starve. If I had a BMI around 30 and no comorbidities, I would just have lipo, same cost and at least it is perm

Honestly is mainly comes down to how good the Dr office is and how good they are at submitting. If they really know what they are doing they can get almost anyone approved. I went with a big program because I knew they could push it because they had a lot of experience and a large patient volume.

Burning a lot of fat can make your Cholesterol artificially high. Mine is high but my Dr understands why and isn't putting me on meds for it.

I just indulge myself but with options of things I like. I might add an extra meal. I might eat quest chips. I might have a protein bar. I have days not just when I am on my period or about to start where I am hungrier than normal. I did this so I could lose weight without feeling deprived, that was the big lure of WLS to me. I don't deprive myself, and extra 3 or 4 ounces of meat is not going to throw off my plan.

@Chris Lee Are you taking a PPI and antacids? There is no way you can be physically hungry at this point, it has to be acid. Your nerves in your stomach are not even reconnected.

I started a little higher than you. Surgery day I was a tight 28, by the time I lost 70 pounds, I think I was a 24 or a 22, it gets kind of weird around that point because I changed and skipped sizes. I still didn't feel very different. I mean I know I had lost weight, and I was smaller but I was still morbidly obese and large to the rest of the world. Plus I was still shopping in the same stores. I don't think I really started feeling satisfied until about 100-110 pounds down. Even though physically I felt so much better before that mark health wise, looking at myself I couldn't see a lot of difference, not like what other people saw. Once I could wear like a regular size 18, not a plus size. I was a lot happier

It is nice to see someone well informed. Don't tell you parents. You don't have to, it will make them stressed out and unhappy and add stress to your life. If you suffer from depression and take medicine for it then you need to discuss WLS with your Psychiatrist. WLS is very taxing mentally. You need a good therapist and a lot of support. The hormone dumping and all the changes your body goes through is really rough. Increased depression to the point of having suicidal thoughts is a real possibility. You only eat a limited amount of calories for a short period of time. You will have enough energy. You body will burn the fat is has for energy and the protein and other foods you eat will fuel you.

Keep up the good work! I don't usually see that many people that started where I did. Size wise we started about the same I was a tight uncomfortable 28 at Lane Bryant, and at 1 year I was in an 18/16.

@funinthesun00 When I first started this and a long time ago before I ever had surgery. I thought surgery was just for extremely large people. People that were larger than I was, just like 500, 600 pound people. I still think that is the mindset of most people. Surgery is only for really extreme cases. Now after being in the WLS world for long, my opinion is completely different. I think people with low BMIs that keep yo-yo dieting should have medical intervention if needed. I think that catching obesity early before letting it get out of hand is important. If I only had 100, 120 pounds to lose I could already be done. I realized answering someones question on another forum that my boredom is coming from the fact the NSV and SV at this point are far and few between (I'm a normal size now). So it is just a lot of the same thing. Picking up a size 8 in a store isn't more thrilling than picking up a 10. Also as I go further down in sizes the more problems I have. My arms are too big for a lot of things that fit everywhere else. My waist is small, my boobs are huge, etc. I don't have a lot of interest in being a size 4 or a size 6 and that is the direction I am headed in. I don't really desire to lose more weight, I'm happy with my physical size, but I know being at a healthy BMI is really important, so I am going to have to keep going.

It is pretty easy. I was doing it most days by the 6 week mark. I was able to eat maybe 3 ounce of soft baked fish at that point. My program wants you off protein supplements and eating real food as soon as possible Eat Protein first at every meal. I don't eat American style breakfast foods for breakfast, not enough protein. 4 ounces of Cod is 20G of protein (3 ounces is 15) All meals/snacks are protein, with protein first. If you decide you have to have a minimum of 15g of protein per meal you can do it. At this point I am almost 2 years out and I don't have an issue with hitting 120 to 130 a day.

@AGreenEyedWolf I work from home too and it is easy to eat all day, especially if you are bored. If I am bored in the afternoon and want to snack just because I am bored, I walk up the block and back. Just something short but it breaks up the day and makes me think. Looking at what and how you eat, basically everything you eat is a slider, which is why you have no restriction. If you were eating dense protein you wouldn't be able to eat so much and you would be more satisfied. I bet if you had a 4 ounce burger turkey or beef BY ITSELF you would feel a lot of restriction. That little stir fry you described, is a bad idea. You are mixing dense protein with vegetables and and kind of oil or fluids. You should eat the meat first, separately, then eat the veggies after you have eaten all the meat. Eating the veggies and the meat all together makes the meat softer and moister, it won't sit in your stomach as long. You are losing weight right now because you are freshly post-op. If you keep eating like this, it won't last. Especially when you are fully healed sometime after July. You need to correct this path before you go much further, while you still have as much restriction as possible.

This is the thing right here. Letting people play with their health on this product. It just isn't worth it. It is morally reprehensible that people keep recommending this to other people and I'm beyond annoyed with it at this point. I'm not "acting" like anything. If I sponsored a study and magically it proved that I was correct, wouldn't you be skeptical? You don't need a college degree for that, that is COMMON SENSE. I said that everyone who has been to college knows that a study doesn't count unless it is independent because verifiable, trustworthy and accurate sources are the basic corner stone of a college education. You can't pass English 101 without understanding and even HS and elementary school children are taught the same thing. It is basic education. This company is just taking advantage of people and it is immoral and unethical. Unless GenPro has been your sole source of nutrition for the past 4 years, your test results are meaningless. There would have to be a study over years that not only measure protein levels but also tracked muscle mass levels (to make sure the body is not leeching from itself to compensate for low protein). They are claiming they have perfected and achieve a new scientific advancement. If this was true it would be ground breaking and applied to many other products. Also how are we supposed to know you aren't new? Your blank profile isn't providing any information.

This is going to be kind of rambling. My original personal secret goal for myself was just to get to 250 pounds. Being over 300 pounds for like 20 years that seemed like an amazing milestone on its own. I hit 250 at around 8.5 months, so I obviously I decided to keep going. I had a goal of 180, my HS weight but I never really thought it was obtainable, at least not when I started. I bounce around a lot in a weight range of 5 pounds right now, my body is really fighting against going lower but I know it will, it doesn't really have any choice with my diet and activity levels. I set a goal earlier this year to get my body fat to 30% and whatever weight that was, I would be happy at that fat percentage. Now with the pending possible changes to insurance I have decided to lose to a normal BMI. I want to lose to a normal BMI, which would mean losing to around 150 (which I'm not even really sure is possible or suggested because I have about 122 lbs of lean mass). I am not quite 2 years out from surgery. Lately I have been feeling bored with the whole process. I think realistically it would take me another 6 months to lose 27 pounds. I'm not sure I really have another 6 months in me. Anyone else feel like this? Bored? I feel being bored is going to make less diligent in the long term.

@James Marusek I discovered recently that my fav protein bars were under representing their sugar content. I haven't had this issue since I started eating meat again after Lent and gave up protein bars. Thanks again for your suggestion.

If it was legit you would post it instead of being all cloak and dagger with it. I provided links to back up my opinion and you provided nothing. If you have legit links and really desire to help people from the kindness of your heart, share, here. This is an online DISCUSSION board, the whole point is to discuss. You knew this was going to be controversial, which is why you asked people to PM you. I don't get why you are acting shocked now.

Ask your Dr. Spotting is not uncommon. People that haven't had periods in years and thought they were done with menopause have had periods after WLS. Burning all that fat, releases hormones and things get wild.