BCs 1000

Yes, yes yes... everything in my closet is brand new, even my shoes!!!! Every morning I look at all of my beautiful clothes and have so many good choices of what to wear. Before I used to put together an outfit that looked the least worst.

@@ButterflySeoul you are totally right. Bariatric surgery does have beneficial effects for type 2 diabetics regardless of any secondary weight loss. But the OP wasn't asking about if surgery would help with diabetes. She's claiming she does not eat large portions and that she eats less than 1000 calories/day. Her claim is her obesity is due to poor choices. Surgery will not fix that. From her description, the benefits of surgery (smaller portions) is not something she needs. When it comes to making better food choices, a good therapist or even a dietician would be a much more effective, less drastic and safer tool.

What I have found post-op is how screwed up my diet was based on years of dieting. Pre-op, it was all about maximizing volume and minimizing calories.
Now, it is about maximizing nutrition and minimizing volume.
It wasn't until I started this process that I learned how important Protein is to my health. I spent decades living in carbs. No wonder I was almost 600 pounds.

Basically no. If you stay fat on very few calories it probably won't help. How many is it you get in a day? You say you struggle to eat "enough" how many is enough?
And don't count on surgery making it harder to eat anything--it might, but many people have "sleeves of steel" and can eat anything. Most of us can eat crackers and chips no problem.
Lots of people don't feel like eating ANYTHING at first and that part might help you change your patterns and tastes. But it's basically a restrictive procedure. If you gain weight on 900 calories a day, you need to talk to an endocrinologist or something because this probably won't help.

Well....
Let's be real, if you only ate a little bit of the wrong foods you wouldn't be overweight. No one will get fat eating half a small hamburger and six fries. It's a combo. Sure you have to eat a lot less of unhealthy calorie dense foods to be heavy.... But it's both. It's like no one got fat eating tons of vegetables. The portions and types of foods are not independent of each other.
If it's a disease process that keeps you heavy then no it won't help because the whole point of WLS is to restrict eating and control portions.
It won't change WHAT you eat you have to commit to that. It can help you change those habits, but you can continue to eat unhealthy foods after surgery. People do and then they gain the weight back.

I just saw a photo of myself with a few members of my family including my sisters. Not only am I no longer obese, I am tiny.... I look so slight next to them. It is to be expected as I am so short that my healthy weight range is that of a six grader lol.
What is bizarre is I don't feel small. I still feel fat, but that photo clearly shows I am much smaller than the others in the photo. My collar bones are really prominent now also, so that jumped out at me too.
In the photo I was wearing a size 4 shirt. When I first tried it on I was sure it would be really tight and would cling to me, but it was swimming on me. I should have got the smaller size.
I wonder how long it takes the brain to catch up???

I shopped consignment on my way down. It was cheaper and I didn't feel bad when I only wore things 3-4 times before it no longer fit.
Enjoy the journey, not just the destination. Looking good at all sizes encouraged to to stay on track.

I buy all the clothes.
High end consignment, Forever 21 and American Eagle, Anthroplogie, Urban Outfitters, H&M... All the clothes, all the places.

Now that I feel a difference and am over 50% to my goal I have started to want to buy clothes...
ALL the clothes...
Before I decided to get surgery I had a pretty bad habit of buying and collecting cute clothes (only a portion of which actually fit me)
and now even some of those clothes that didn't fit me before are starting to be looser on me
When I decided to get surgery, I stopped buying clothes all together. And I did good! Until now...
Luckily everything I've bought so far has been a bargain, and I'll just have to try hard to not buy anything else. (NONE of it is plus size )
I think that the shopping addiction is something that is common for people who have struggled with their weight, I was never happy with how my body looked so I tried to dress it in things that made me feel beautiful.
and I need to learn to keep it check.
I still have aways to go until my goal weight, and it'll take a while to get there as my weight loss has slowed down some.
When did you guys start buying clothes? How did you judge what size you are/ would be?
Is anyone else's experience similar to mine?

Maybe I'm wired up differently.....once I came home from the hospital....the absolute last thing I wanted to think about was food.
My response to food make me the morbidly obese guy that I was. It led to me having surgery for weight loss. Let me repeat that.....it led me to seek surgical undertaking in order to gain better control over weight loss.
I wanted nothing to do with food.
I was now on a new plan....and have been ever since. I eat to live. I no longer live to eat. Simple concept, but huge in scope.
For the record.......since the date of surgery the absolute only hunger I've had is "head hunger". There has been zero real hunger.

I said it in another thread and I will say it again here.

Listerine strips. They taste horrid and will make anything you eat taste even more horrid. They are portable and the taste lingers for at least an hour.

Your breath will be fresh and you will have plenty of time to let the head hunger pass. Keep them in your pocket.

238 scale not moving, but I am getting smaller, so sigh, and yay!

Hey loves, just had my weigh in.. THE STALL IS OVER BIG TIME
231.4.. 6 pounds lost this week omg!
Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I just saw a photo of myself with a few members of my family including my sisters. Not only am I no longer obese, I am tiny.... I look so slight next to them. It is to be expected as I am so short that my healthy weight range is that of a six grader lol.
What is bizarre is I don't feel small. I still feel fat, but that photo clearly shows I am much smaller than the others in the photo. My collar bones are really prominent now also, so that jumped out at me too.
In the photo I was wearing a size 4 shirt. When I first tried it on I was sure it would be really tight and would cling to me, but it was swimming on me. I should have got the smaller size.
I wonder how long it takes the brain to catch up???

@@BCs 1000 - Amazing Weight Loss!

You might not like deflated balls anymore than inflated balls! lol

Happy Monday. Thanks @@goplay94123
123lbs today. At this stage of the game, 5lbs is a whopping loss

I get excited with exercise and then bored really quickly. Since my surgery I have had phases of:
1 - Couch to 5 K (finished the 5k then was over it)
2 - Jillian Michaels 30 day shed & shred (finished beginner and intermediate DVDs, so 60 days of this)
3 - Going on really long walks
4 - Yoga classes
5 - Jogging 10km 3 times a week
6 - Strength/weight classes (this is where I am at now)
As soon as you feel you don't want to go or are making excuses, try something different. And it doesn't always have to be full throttle, walking and yoga are great also.

You're welcome, @@Daisee68 .
Here's a typical day's macronutrient proportions:
Protein - 100 grams
Fats - 75 grams
Carbs - 175 grams
Yes, it varies. But less than you might think.

I get excited with exercise and then bored really quickly. Since my surgery I have had phases of:
1 - Couch to 5 K (finished the 5k then was over it)
2 - Jillian Michaels 30 day shed & shred (finished beginner and intermediate DVDs, so 60 days of this)
3 - Going on really long walks
4 - Yoga classes
5 - Jogging 10km 3 times a week
6 - Strength/weight classes (this is where I am at now)
As soon as you feel you don't want to go or are making excuses, try something different. And it doesn't always have to be full throttle, walking and yoga are great also.

I make my own Seitan. Very high in Protein.
http://40aprons.com/seitan-ground-beef/
http://weelicious.com/2012/07/06/vegans-and-carnivores-unite-seitan-tacos/
https://www.buzzfeed.com/mathewg5/29-ass-kicking-recipes-for-homemade-seitan-dst2?utm_term=.ptqDkvBMr#.vxEbl7kWx

Same here; no advice and I don't really have any follow up doctors. I get most of my advice from here! But at 3.5 years out I am still at goal...and I can tell you, just do the 5:2 or 5 day pouch test (with my social life I can usually only make it 3 days) but I can tell you, after just two days my restriction is back! Grateful for that. I do want to lose 5 lbs before the end of the year because I want to have some extra skin removed from my stomach. Good luck!

Thanks @@ridgerunner - The cucumbers somehow helped me with the "crunch" even though they aren't really crunchy? Seriously, I remember asking my NUT "When can I have cucumbers?!" I saw it on a post somewhere of how someone used cucumbers instead of crackers (i.e. with cheese on them or with tuna on them, etc) and I just couldn't get them off my mind! I think I was probably 3 months out when I started eating them and I kid you not, I eat them NEARLY every day! Very strange.... Oh and raw onions. LOVE the crunch I get from that too. (Weird I know.) And just to be clear, I have had my share of chips and cheez-its and it is only in the last few weeks that I have started to understand and be able to deal better with my "addiction" to them. I was in therapy today, and even the therapist commented that even though my addict voice is still there, it seems to be getting a little weaker than my "healthy choices" voice. It is all a process....

You'll hear things from your bariatric surgeon that seem to conflict conventional dietary advice over and over again.
On the surface it may seem to bit a bit wonky.
There is one underlying premise that you must embrace for your nutritional needs to be met after having VSG surgery...at least in the first year. That rule is SUPPLEMENTATION IS KEY !!!!!!
You have limited room in your new stomach. Get your protein in. Supplement with bariatric Multivitamins, Iron, Calcium citrate, B-12 and Fiber drinks like Metamucil. Be mindful of the timing of this supplementation as Calcium needs to be taken at distant time intervals from vitamins and Iron.
Your surgeon & hopefully your NUT should coach you up here.
As you gain the capacity to move from the initial 1/4 cup up to the full cup meals....you will be able to add in wholesome foods that contain the nutrients that may allow you to cut back on the supplementation....YMMV.
Remember....the goal is to lose weight and spare muscle structure in those initial months. The diet you embrace during the first year is geared toward maximum fat loss. The diet you embrace later will be more in line with what you'll do for the rest of your life.
Now.......these are just my own opinions........based on the numerous conversations I've had with my surgeon and my own experiences. It works for me and is relevant to my own goals. It's all about finding your stride and blazing you own trial. Just understand that this wls path comes in stages & phases and our gameplan needs to be in accord with each step of this.
Change is the only constant during this first year. Trust & Believe.

As I was coming out of the soft foods stage.....there simply isn't enough room in a 1/4 cup sized meal for anything but Protein.
All that other stuff simply doesn't fit, thusly was avoided.
Now that I've been told to push towards 1 full cup of food there is room to get my Protein in...and add some vegetables, too.
1/4 cup isn't much food. Stick with protein. This is the point in the weight loss focus where we shouldn't be concerned about food focus....it's not about wonderful flavors and such......it's simply about getting the nutrition and moving on. Break the food focus and get going with the losing.