catwoman7

I never stopped keeping a food journal, because I know it helps keep me on track. If I didn't pay really close attention to what I'm eating and how much I weigh, my weight would start going up pretty fast. I credit close monitoring with being able to maintain my weight all this time (besides the COVID weight I mentioned - working on getting that off!). So yes - I would definitely recommend tracking!

I'd just call the customer service line at Cigna and ask them. Or check your policy - it's probably written somewhere. Many policies seem to require six months, but not all.

there is no consensus among surgeons re: coffee drinking. Some will say no caffeinated coffee again for the rest of your life, some allow their patients to drink it before even leaving the hospital. Others just limit it one to two cups a day. And still others are OK with it after a certain amount of time - like after one month, or three months, or six months. So you'll have to find out from your surgeon what he/she recommends. they usually recommend you wait a year before drinking alcohol because of the risk of transfer addiction, but I know some people drink it earlier than that.

I'm almost six years out and would like to lose 10 lbs. I've just made more of an effort to exercise at least 150 minutes a week and have cut back a bit on calories. I know it'll take forever to lose it since I'm currently four lbs "overweight" (thanks, COVID), but that's fine. If I decide I want I want to lose faster, I'll cut back more on calories.

I think I might have at one time, but now I take 10,000 IU's once a week. Ideally you should get regular blood tests (I get them at my follow up appts once a year) and then adjust your dosage accordingly. I was advised to cut back a little on my Vitamin D because my blood levels were pretty high (at one time, a few years ago, they were too low)

I didn't think it was the hardest part. I thought the test I got was a little annoying (repetitive questions), but in the interview he did afterward, I think he was just trying to see if I had realistic expectations and was ready for this. I don't think this part had any more bearing on insurance approval than any other part did.

Fortunately, I lost very little hair. It started at about six months out and lasted maybe three months - and it does grow back. Some people say that biotin helps, but most will say it didn't do anything. I don't think most (any?) of those products do. The others are right - once you're in that cycle, there's really nothing that'll stop it. It'll grow back, though.

just so you know, there's hardly anyone on here who's that far out. Not sure where to recommend you ask that question as most people that far out aren't on forums or in support groups anymore, but maybe someone will respond...

my clinic recommended Flintstones Complete, but I wanted to do Centrum instead (they said those were fine, too). With either choice, you had to take two a day.

I just white knuckled it. It was really tough, but it got a bit easier by day 3 or 4 (when your body goes into ketosis). I ate sugar free popsicles and sugar free Jello with abandon (as in - a whole box of Jello a day). I was also allowed a limited amount of broth and tomato juice/V8 (I think a cup of each a day), so I took advantage of that since the sodium in them made me retain water - thus I felt a little fuller. But it wasn't easy. I thought it was the hardest part of the whole ordeal. I was actually relieved by the time surgery day came around!

I doubt at this point you're eating too much. There are so many things that factor into your rate of weight loss - gender, age, metabolic rate, activity level, starting BMI, whether or not you lost a lot of weight pre-surgery, how closely you stick to your clinic's food plan, etc. The only two on this list that you really have any control over at this point are your activity level and how close you're sticking to your food plan. If you're sticking to the plan and exercising, then that's pretty much all you can do. So just make sure you're doing that. Otherwise, some people just have pokey bodies for whatever reason. I was a slow loser from the get-go...

You got an A on that dissertation, ms.sss!

I can't remember if I felt more restriction in my pouch after plastic surgery (I had my procedures 2 and 2.5 years ago, so it's been awhile), but to this day if it eat too much (as on Thanksgiving. Or if I eat something that makes me bloat), I get uncomfortable because my torso feels really tight (part is from my LBL - the other part is due to the fact he brought the "side boob" incisions down my sides farther than he usually does to try to pull some excess skin off from under my ribs that was too high to get to when he did my LBL earlier, if that makes sense...). So...yes - at least indirectly...

I just get Centrum (or more often, the generic equivalent at CVS, Walgreens, or Costco) for my multi. You have to take two of those a day to meet the requirements, though. I have several versions of calcium - Bariatric Advantage chews (which I order online), Upcal D (a powder I mix into yogurt - also ordered online - through amazon), and generic calcium citrate tablets I get at Walgreens or CVS. yes - a lot of people drink (and like) Syntrax Nectar products. I like several of the flavors. I mix the chocolate and vanilla ones with unsweetened almond milk, and the fruity ones with Crystal Light lemonade (the lemonade boosts the flavor a bit more)

I agree with NovaLuna. Statistical average for sleeve is about 65% of your excess weight, so that's where most people end up, but some of us can and do go well beyond that. It'll take a lot of commitment on your part, though - but it can be done if you put in the work.

I don't worry too much about carbs anymore since I'm in maintenance (and have been for four years), but I don't eat a lot of pasta for the reasons others mentioned - it sits in my gut like a rock. I do have it occasionally, though - but never very much at one time. Maybe 1/2 C or so.

at my initial appt at my clinic, the health psychologist asked if I had a goal weight in mind (although I think he may have just been seeing if I had realistic expectations from the surgery). I blurted out "200 lbs" (I honestly had no idea what my goal weight was when he asked). He said that should be do-able - which kind of shocked me because given I weighed close to 400 at the time, 200 lbs sounded like a pipe dream. But I made it - and then adjusted my goal weight down a couple more times (and then up a few lbs) until I hit an acceptable weight that I could maintain without too much of a struggle. So...it can change as you lose. That's probably why some surgeons don't have you set one.

^^^ agreed!

I really only felt conspicuous the first three months or so (and you're in luck - we're in a pandemic, so not many people are meeting up for meals ANYWAY -- so it's likely to be just your family). After that, I could usually find something on any given menu that I could eat, and I'd usually order something like soup, chili, or an appetizer. If anyone said anything, I'd just say I wasn't that hungry. Although I have skinny friends who usually eat like that, so I rarely was asked. at this point, and really for the last three years, I eat pretty much like my never-been-obese women friends who are watching their calories. Sometimes if I'm not particularly hungry I'll still order something like soup or an appetizer - otherwise I'll order a "safe" entree and eat half of it. I'll take the other half to go and eat it the next day. if you're talking about meals with your family, that never bothered me. It's just me and my husband at my house. He ate his thing and I ate mine. After the first few weeks or so, we'd eat the same thing - but he'd eat more of it, of course - and I'd also give him something like a potato or rice with his.

I had that happen when I was about 18 months out. I was SHOCKED. I told her right away that I used to weigh over 300 lbs. I have no idea why I felt I had to say that...

I wonder if it's something you're eating? Could even be something like an artificial sweetener (some people get G/I distress from them - or some of them). Or some kind of carb your body is having a hard time with? Or some kind of food intolerance?

there's no way you're gaining weight. It's probably just water retention.

I think it's the same as a gyro. They call them doeners in Turkey and gyros in Greece. well, I just googled it and I stand corrected. There are some slight differences (doener is spelled "doner" in Turkey - but I think there's a umlaut over the "o" (or some other symbol), so you sometimes see it spelled doener in other languages). But for practical purposes, they call similar sandwiches doners in some countries in gyros in others. People are usually referring to the same type of sandwich. https://www.travelwrite.guru/2019/02/14/greek-gyro-versus-doner-kebab/

most of the ingredients in this are B vitamins, which are water soluble, so you just pee out anything your body doesn't need. So those shouldn't be a problem. It also has vitamin A, which you CAN get too much of - but the question is, how much vitamin A does this have in it, and how much does your multivitamin have in it? (just checked - this has 300 mcg of vitamin A. Recommended dose for women is 700 mcg. So as long as your multi doesn't go too far over 400 mcg, this should be fine (of course, you get some vitamin A from food, too. Although it looks like the toxicity level is 10,000 or more mcg - so that's quite a bit..) I don't know about these other ingredients: Dermal Repair Complex Blend Ingredients -- Hydrolyzed Collagen, Saw Palmetto Fruit Powder, Methylsulfonylmethane, Wild Yam Root Extract, Hyaluronic Acid, Silica although the collagen shouldn't be an issue another thing to consider, does this even work? A lot of these kinds of products make a lot of claims that aren't very realistic. Although I can't speak to this particular one.

I wouldn't do the pouch test again. Most nutritionists hate it because it's too much of a restriction, which for many people will just end up setting them up for a binge. Just start logging your food again and see how many calories you're averaging a day (may have to do this for a couple of weeks to get an average). Then once you know your average, start cutting back - slowly - by about 100 calories each time (maybe once every two weeks) until you start losing. Gradually getting down to 1200 a day (or whatever you need to for losing) should be easier than dropping 500 - or 600 - or whatever - calories overnight.