Dub

My starting BMI was 58. Zero complications, either.

4-5 hours a night here.

It's not that most of us really eat more protein than before........it's simply that we do away with the other stuff and leave the protein.

It's going to go really well !!!

Quest bars

I sure did during pre-op. It made it all taste better.

My main form of exercise is walking. Treadmills & outside. I'm able to walk a great deal at work, too. I've also resumed weight training. Low weight-high rep count and working around bum shoulder and failing recent hernia repair. Approaching the five month mark soon, too. I'm going to add the elliptical machine on my next gym visit Monday. It gives me a better calorie burn in a shorter duration than the treadmill walking.

YES !! I distinctly remember having leg cramps in my calves for 2-3 days after getting home from the hospital. I kept walking and ensuring that I was getting in my Water and what I could of my Protein. It passed and never returned. Weird phenomenon.

5 weeks. I can't remember how large my meal sizes were supposed to be then. My surgeon has me eating 1/2 cup meal sizes now at 4 months. At 5 weeks I was one week off liquids and eating soft foods like flakey white fish or tuna. I can remember taking it extremely slowly......as in taking 5 mins just to get the equivalent of a forkful chewed and down. It does get easier, I assure you. I detest the feeling of ever getting full. It is a 20 minute period of discomfort that I hope to avoid. Sizing up my meal prior to eating helps me to avoid this.....along with eating very slowly.

I really wish I could go back and have an conversation with my 19 self. So many points that I'd drive home........ The primary point would be to embrace fitness and establish it as a core principle in your life. I was in pretty awesome shape at 19 and probably would have listened.....and stayed on track. I would let the young version know how bad not staying fit will hurt later in life......how it can hinder opportunities and take you down dark roads. I would urge him to always be true to himself and his health first and foremost and to employ any tool available to him towards this lifelong goal. If the sleeve was such a tool....then so be it.

Back in 2011 I was on my biggest health advances as an adult up to that point. I'd dieted and lost 120 lbs and was killing it in the gym. Ankle surgery & hernia surgery halted the gym....and I didn't return. I did, however, return to poor eating habits and piled on a heap of weight.....as in all the weight I lost plus a heap more. Well.....sleeve surgery has been a true lifesaver. I resumed my gym work recently and it feels really good. I recently went through all my clothes and sorted them out....keeping only those that fit. Interesting to find quite a bit of gym wear. Among them were a pair of black 2X UA pants and a 3X snug fitting Nike t-shirt. They were a bit too small to wear back then in 2011.....but I was hoping to reach the point where they would be okay. Wore them both yesterday to the gym. Feels pretty good to be getting into smaller clothes. Looking forward to the day when these become too big.

Understood.....however, you've not used one prior, either, right ? There is nothing about the surgery that will increase your need for CPAP...in fact, it may decrease the need for a CPAP. Your hospital bed will be able to be positioned so your head is elevated.....good position....comfortable position.....I suggest you do the same at home with head elevated. This position seems to reduce the snoring for many people, too. It is immensely more comfortable as your abdomen heals, too. Your surgery is going to go really smooth and you'll see great results very quickly. Who knows....you may fall out of the "moderate" category fairly quickly........

Absolutely amazing !!!! You have hit a grand slam home run and are doing great. Very inspiring to my 4 month self. Thank you for that.

Looking at the percentage stats here......damn !!!! You have to learn to accept compliments, praise and sheer wonder. You have to. It's going to happen time and time again so you'd best learn a move that will get you past if quickly if you so choose. Try something like, "Thank you so much.....I appreciated that......I am feeling so much better.......how are you doing ?". The quicker you can get folks talking about themselves.....the easier it will be. You've kicked ass !!!!!!!

Howdy, Julie. Dinner out......not that much fun for me.....unless there is bar area seating nearby and I've got the green light to partake and roll with it. It's not that I get overly loud or anything.....at least not too overly. I just would rather be at GITMO being waterboarded than to sit at the table while folks stuff themselves up to their esophagi. Gimme a good looking bartender wench to flirt with and an interesting drink menu and I'm happy. This works on date nights.....but seldom anyplace else. For true family meals out......I simply sit and endure it.....usually order coffee and a salad (as my meal) and sip and enjoy....then eat the toppings off the salad and call it good. Dining out.......arrrrrrrghhhhhhhhh........torture............drinking/dining out.....all good. Life is too short. Wasting it sitting at a feed trough is not how I want to spend it......but I endure when I must.

Nope......not from me. Do your thang, Brofessor........do your thang !!!!!!! The goal is and always will be to lose weight and keep it off. Do so by any vehicle available. Much respect and best wishes for you !!!!!!!

There are only a few things that most of us have total control of.....total decision making ability. One of those is what goes into our mouths. It is a simple truth. Simple doesn't always translate to easy, though. Examine the why's behind your weight gain. Why are your behaviors not in line with your desires to lose weight? Why haven't you exerted control ? What will it take to reach the point where you are in control ? The surgery is not the prime mover. It is simply an aid.....a tool. It can be defeated if you allow it. Once you truly gather your resolve to lose the weight you will employ whatever tools that are available for you now.....pre-op...and the weight will begin to fall off. The surgery + your resolve will amplify the results.

If dry beans.......then soak overnight and change the water and boil....then simmer.....add salt, pepper and any other seasonings you care to add........love country ham mixed in with mine.

As crazy as this sounds.......if I'd used my insurance then my out of pocket cost would have been $27,000+ By doing 100% self pay it cost me only $19,000. How crazy is that. Very grateful my surgeon and his group reduce their rates in that way for self-funded patients.

Let the doctors be doctors and the patients be patient. It's a piece of cake.

Don't sweat it. Relax. Eat a bite of what interests you and move along through the meal. its not a big deal unless you make it one. It's all good.

Same thing here. It's really not bad. Good choices in Vitamins help to curb my cravings for fruits & vegetables. The road ahead of you seems to be bland and flavorless.....or at least it did to me when I was 2 weeks out. I stayed on Protein shakes for 4 weeks and was thinking that this new way of eating was going to suck forever. After my 4 week appointment the surgeon challenged me to go ahead and try new foods.....but he was adamant that I should always stick to the meats, seafood and chicken. He's huge on steak. The things he coached me on are 180 degrees from anything any doctor had ever done prior. Vitamin supplementation is the key. I'm staying within my 1/2 cup sized meals of protein and getting in my Water......and coffee is a godsend to knock back any cravings. The game changed for the better on that 4th week. Transitioning off the shakes to the meats, seafood and chicken was excellent. Everything started to fall into place right then and ever since. Please understand that this is a temporary thing.........you will not take near as long as you think to burn off the 75% you are shooting for. Stay strict and exercise. You will be there in short order. I'm looking forward to the months ahead.....hopefully by year's end.....when I can add some food types back into my diet. I'll be a 1 cup meal size by then.....still not an entire Lean Cuisine meal....but the variety will be super. Hang in there and know that you can do anything for several months. It becomes easier, too, as you see and feel the weight falling off. I assure you.

Just getting started back with weight training. It's a bit dicey since I have a torn rotator cuff in my right shoulder and a failed abdominal hernia repair. Anyway.....excuses notwithstanding......here is a pic taken today: This pic taken one day before my sleeve surgery in October 2015: Getting there.....in spite of not being able to really blow it out like I want to.

Back in October 2015....the day prior to my surgery.....disgusted with the state I'd fallen to: Taken today: