Dub

It does stop sucking. The post op stuff is a beast.....a couple weeks removed from that and most everyone feels much better. First couple of days I distinctly remember the gasses causing some serious shoulder pains and other discomfort.

No horns..........yet.. Yet.

I got nothing, bro. Nothing. If it works for you then more power to ya.

Meat is the ticket…

I'm putting this here in the supplement section....hopefully this is a good spot. I've been a coffee lover my entire adult life....if one dared categorized me as an adult. I have no plans in quitting my coffee, but I may substitute some of my daily mugs with green tea. I keep seeing it referenced as having weight loss benefits. Skeptical but willing to try something different. With coffee, I"ll generally buy pre-roasted beans and grind them just prior to brewing each pot. Are there certain brands, types, forms of green teas that you've tried and enjoyed ? Is there a little caffeine boost from it ? 😁

Anyone who has ever flown commercial has seen the safety briefing, right ? "In the case of cabin pressure drop....an air mask will lower itself in front of each passenger.....put your own in place before helping those beside you" Took me quite a while to realize that our own personal health condition is no different. The WLS provided a wild ride for about three years. Surgery yield excellent weight loss results. Faster than I was ready for. I didn't make the best of decisions and never missed the opportunity to go have fun. One day....I woke up from the hubris and took inventory. My marriage had somehow survived...as it had survived tough times well prior. I was a dad to an insanely gifted son. I had a good job surrounded by great people. Mostly, though....my wife was there at my side and patiently waiting for me to get my head extracted from my arse. I did. We then had what can only be described as the best years of our marriage....like we were dating again. I was blessed and the first to acknowledge such. She had some health issues arise and we discovered it was worse than we were expecting. Diagnosis was cancer....treatment began right away but it was a terminal diagnosis. She fought hard...superhuman efforts. Her pain tolerance was simply beyond my compression. Cancer took her in April of 2021. I maintained my promise to her to keep on with the sobriety. I failed in most other ways. I had zero desire to cook as it was too painful. Anytime I'd try the sense of loss would be overpowering. We had so many fun times in and around the kitchen....I'd cook and she'd help me clean up my mess. Music always on....every day together was alike a date night. I remain so very grateful to have been given those recent great years together....but I chickened out when it involved anything we'd once do together. No cooking of anything other than maybe a quick breakfast.....no music....no movies or shows we once enjoyed, no gym, no maintaining of friendships......just went to work each day and came home....existing off fast food and vending machine garbage at work. Three and a half years went on like that. As the fourth anniversary of her death loomed, I once again took inventory. What I acknowledged was ugly. The mirror sucked, the way most of my clothes fit sucked, my annual checkups with our primary care doc sucked....and I owned every single bit of it. I owned all that suck. I also knew that she would kick my ass for letting myself give up like I had. I've never quit anything in my life....yet there I was....quitting on pretty much everything. I pissed myself off so badly. I made the decision to crawl outa that hole and do what she would have me do if she was here to push & pull on me to get my shyt together. She fought so hard to live....and there I was... giving up...no fight, no attempt, just giving up like a punk. So things began to improve greatly when I started jumping on what I could gain control of. My health was a perfect place to start..... And so it has been going the last few months. Daily macros are improving more each day. Essentially keto but am supplementing with fish oil, fiber, turmeric, powdered greens, multi-vitamins.....trying to shore up every aspect of daily good stuff taken in. I flipped the collective bird to all the fast food restaurants and their drive thru windows. Screw 'em all. Found the stereo again....whether in the truck or at the house. There is music. Took over the yardwork....and there is a pile of it needed. Joined a gym. Bought some new ear buds and gym clothes....and a heap more new music. In short.....I acknowledged that throwing my own health away was what had been selfish......taking control of it was imperative. The loss is still there....but my response to it is now different. Now I am doing much more to honor her by living as she wanted me to. She wanted me to live....all aspects of living. Health first, foremost and always.......and the other aspects of living are becoming more clear each day. Life is a gift. Squandering that gift is a crime. Longwinded answer.

Much respect for how you played that. You'll rock that dress. It is great to have some "goal clothes". I have a pair of jeans that are in the closet....waiting on me to grab 'em & wear 'em out. I hung onto them as I'd bought them right after the sleeve. I never got there.....but I am confident I will this time.

Thank you. Seems like there are wins occurring every single day. I am finally in a place where I can see them for what they are and appreciate them. A pile of these little wins are funny in some way, too. Back in the timeframe surrounding my sleeve surgery the weight loss is what drove my happiness. Getting rid of the unwanted bulk was awesome and it was the spark that ignited a powderkeg of fun, adventure and a small bit of misadventure. I had no plan or goal for what life would look like....I simply jumped onboard the train and was okay wherever it took me. Now it is different, but I believe in a better way....perhaps. I know what lies ahead in terms of carving off the unwanted weight. I'm familiar with trodding that ground and know where some of the pitfalls may be. I think having my head screwed on correctly has made the daily discipline easy to achieve. The weight loss is more of a symptom of everything else falling into place. It is not its own thing, but a part of the overall improved state of mind. Hard to verbalize, but there is a goal for daily life...and I am getting closer to being in that spot and living that daily. I still get a kick out of hearing the scale make its new lower reports, but I don't get pissed if there isn't some big drop or even an uptick from the day before. I know this for the long haul. There will be a steady drop and there may be a few days here or there where it'll be in a holding pattern before resuming the loss train. One aspect of life...one that will take care of itself so long as I follow through on the straightforward nutritional steps. One thing that makes it SO freaking much easier this time around is the supplements available to us now. Essential greens in a powder, turmeric capsules, fiber-filled products, protein products with zero sugars, vitamins galore, etc, etc. Life is good....and getting gooder.

No....it is I who thanks you. It is always GREAT seeing people looking ahead and gathering intel on the potential minefield they plan on crossing. It is always GREAT seeing people finding ways to WIN. This motivates the heck out of me. I've been coming back here the last couple months after a long, long absence. It helps me tremendously seeing successful strategies being implemented.

Just had surgery today and you are up moving around !!!!!!!!! Winning right there. Congrats.

The most important ingredients needed are: The right surgeon The right facility Your mindset and long term commitment The first two you'll take care of nailing down well prior. Until that third aspect is a lock...then waiting and further consideration is wise.

Routinely knock out 60hr weeks. I think I took three weeks off after the sleeve and that was largely due to a massive abdominal hernia that was repaired at the time of the sleeve surgery. It was my 3rd such repair...and has held up great these last 9 years. You may be able to flip the script......and make those 80hr weeks your best weight loss weeks. There is going to be a time when the protein shakes are the ticket...then maybe those small foil packs of tuna and salmon. Food won't be an issue that occupies your thoughts. You'll laugh at the vending machines and shoot 'em the bird. Make sure you buy all your necessary supplements & shakes and tuna packs and load up your desk or locker. Having those on hand will be one more way to keep food off your mind. You'll not be wondering what you are going to have for lunch every day. You'll have that covered. 8 weeks will be a great amount of time to recover and acclimate. You'll lose a pile of weight in those 8 weeks, too. Those 80hr weeks are going to feel much, much shorter from this point forward. Congrats. Go kick some ass. You got this.

Horns may prove to be....awkward. That'll put me backwards to rocking a hat all the time. #damn-no-way-to-win

A couple small wins yesterday. Small, but I take note of them and small wins encourage the behaviors that lead to bigger wins, right ? So...this 'un is a two parter. Several months ago, a few weeks before I had taken action to burn off the regains and dig my way back.... I was goofing around on the web... looking through a certain company's website. They make gear that is hobby related. I happened to notice that they also had some logo T-shirts that looked cool. So I ordered two....but ordered them for two sizes smaller than I was wearing then. They arrived and were stashed away with some other clothing, all smaller sizes, that I'd been ordering. The stash had made it's way upstairs to be put away. Soon afterwards... I started putting in the work....burning off the regain and get in better overall health. Kitchen discipline being the first step. Fast forward to yesterday.....laundry day at the hacienda. Grabbed a shower and started getting dressed so I could go knock out some errands. Almost dressed but remembered my normal day off work stuff was on the drying rack. Damn. I spied the stack of smaller sized stuff still in shopping bags....sitting there. Hmmm. Screw it...let's find out, dude...either it'll fit or it won't. Grabbed one of the new cool guy t-shirts and some new flat fronted cargo pants. Cut off tags & peeled off stickers and began to.....WTH !!! This shyt if fitting. Bamsucka. Got dressed and strutted around the room like a bantam rooster....chest poked out....big grin. Small Win Numba One Achieved. While running errands I wheeled into a parking space in front of one of the local gyms I'd been considering. Took my bantam rooster arse up in there and looked around. It was clean, plenty of open treadmills and recumbent bikes...just what I need for pre-habbing my knees. Gonna build up the muscle tissue before getting those suckers replaced over the next couple years. I joined. Small Win Numba Two Achieved. I plan on never having to eat an elephant (although I used to look like I could)......but....but if I did....I'd eat that thang one bite at a time. Thankfully getting healthy may prove to be easier than elephant eating. 🤣

💪Huge congrats on your results. Looks like you'll be in the driver's seat and have the options available within your desired timeline I'm ignorant to the intricacies of the skin surgery but do have experience with your other question...in getting below the "obese" BMI labeling. It was a major rush...almost surreal. It was especially noted when I would go shopping for clothes. Being 6'4" and obese my normal stores were simply big & tall stores. Upon hitting closer to the normal height-weight range my options opened up exponentially. Felt pretty damn good to roll outa a dressing room and hand stuff back because it was too large. Too Large...wow. Life was a pile of fun living at that weight. A family health crisis occurred and it completely changed every aspect of life as I knew it. My health was such a distant concern as to have been off the radar for a few years. Getting back on the road towards normal height-weight range has been like riding a bike. All the tools, principles and prior methods are familiar and fairly easy to resume. The hardest part was getting my head wrapped around it. One thing I had to get firmly set in my mind was this: It is not selfish to focus on your own health, it is selfish not to. That is now hardwired in my noggin. . Keep on hitting those home runs. Winning always feels GREAT . 👍

Making the mental, dietary and exercise changes is like climbing a steep hill and reaching the top.......the hardest work is done. Keeping on track is the next part....the faster and more exciting downhill leg of your hike. You are going to keep winning and feeling the victories along the way. Acknowledge them and enjoy your progress of busting through each milestone.

Tried to reply earlier…using my laptop. It is acting up…time for a replacement, I suppose. I have an upcoming appointment with my primary doctor for annual physical. While I am in there I will ask him about this hair wizardry gel you mentioned. Thank you. Many thanks. On one hand, what am I concerned about…I am a dude. We lose hair at some point…most of us, at least. It is no biggie. On the other hand I am gonna hold up before grabbing the razor and going scorched earth, lol. Explore the options and whatnot. Slowing my roll and investigate the possibilities. Good news is that I am now 1/4 way through my 30 day supply of these bovine collagen tablets…on day 2. This afternoon I snorted at the neighbors dog and stamped my hoof….didn’t charge, though. Prolly will after a few more days at this intake.

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That's probably a sound approach. Certainly much better than the suggestion I gave the girl cutting my hair.......asked her if she could sweep up some off the floor and use her products to adhere it to my scalp. She had a great sense of humor. Will be making a pit stop in there again on Thursday. That'll be my 4th day on the collagen tablets. I just gotta take the entire 30-day supply in those 4 days. Maybe she'll see results.........

Saw this topic and got some laughs from it. I hope all the vets from this time frame are doing well. Y’all kept me laughing all the way through those days.

Timely seeing this thread topic. Hair loss concerns here as well. Not simply from weight loss, but from getting older and fighting the DNA that threatens to thin my hair severely. I tried the head shaving thing a few years ago and it wasn’t for me. Got outa the shower looking like I had been in a cage match. Bleeding from some new cut all the time. Some dudes rock the bald look. I will do it if forced to, but in the meantime I am gonna throw money at it and hope for the best. Currently taking daily vitamins, iron, fish oil, potassium and started the collagen caplets this morning. Protein intake is good. Drink BCAA’s daily, too. I really noticed it when getting a haircut recently. The gal cutting it was cracking jokes about trying to work with my Donald. I was laughing, too….but geesh. Dis getting ta be serious bidness.

Breakfast & lunch today:

Awesome wins right there @Mspretty86 And I am in awe of your jogging, too ! It would take two angry grizzlies chasing me to have me jog…at least until I get a new knee that I abused. Great job on all aspects. New all time small sizes. That is super. Congrats.

I agree