mommy319

I've been preaching about sugar addiction...if you think you have a "sweet tooth", there's a good change you're a full-on sugar addict. Do some research...it's as physically addictive as cocaine, and imaging shows that it lights up the same areas of the brain as cocaine addiction does. I always thought I just had a sweet tooth.... it wasn't until years after surgery (and 55 lbs of regain) that I learned about this. Understanding that it's just as real as an alcohol or drug addiction, and recognizing it in myself, has made all the difference in the world in my ability to get off and stay off the stuff. Please research it and understand it. It's the one and only thing that I wish I'd known about ahead of time.

hang in there Lex.
Results vary and the timing varies greatly.
You are under a huge amount of stress right now and since this a mostly mental game post op the stress can really do you in.
You cant target the weight loss. Your body decides and that is that. You can tone the muscles under the fat but the fat does as it wants.
my gut was my most hated and it was the dead last thing to start shrinking. You just have to keep on keeping on.
The plan will work. The timing might not fit our mental wishes but there is little you can do.
Follow your doctors plan and review it from time to time to make sure you havent started to slip up
my personal list - as seen in many many of my posts (lol)
1. hydrate
2. Protein
3. no added suagr
4. no simple carbs - thats just sugar misspelled
5. complex carbs from your veggies
6. no snacking
7. Does your workout routine still leave you in a puddle of sweat? change it up if your answer is no
and lastly fight the good fight no surrender. It really is a mental game from here on out.
all of the above is just my opinion and that and 2 cents will get you tossed out of a Starbucks.

Well said! That's exactly it... I keep hoping if I take the physical pull of food away like the grehlin that it will stop but you're dead right about dealing with the food addiction side of the process.
It's a tough journey! Thanks for the advice though I appreciate it.

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Maybe you didn't intend for it to come off this way, but if that truly is how you feel then that's something to be concerned with. In all honesty you'll end up feeling the same way if you go and have a bypass done. You have to come to terms with what real hunger is versus head hunger.

For years my routine was to get home, sit for a few minutes to rest from the work day, and get something to eat. Even now it doesn't matter if I eat right before I leave work and feel full. By the time I get home I feel hungry. Why? Because it's habit and my brain saying you need to eat. It's no different than old nicotine cravings I would get when I was a smoker. Habit was to always have a smoke right after a meal. Didn't matter if I smoked right before dinner. I obviously had my nicotine fix. But because the habit was to always have one as soon as a meal was finished I thought I was having nicotine cravings.

This is a tool. It's not a cure. The mental side to having WLS is just as important as the physical changes from surgery. It's like the old saying/joke of trying not to think about something. If you tell yourself don't think about sex what do you do? Immediately start thinking about sex. If you find yourself constantly dwelling on thoughts of food then there are some addiction issues you need to come to terms with. I fight head hunger all the time as well. It's annoying, so I get it. The more I think about "okay I have to go 3 more hours until lunch so I can eat again" all I end up doing is thinking about the clock and how much longer I have until I can eat.

I don't have an easy answer for you. Food me after surgery I tried to look at food as being something I just need to survive and not letting it control my life. I'm perfectly fine having chicken salad and regular salads for 80% of my meals in a week. We food addicts are like alcoholics. It's a battle we're always going to have. Just because you stop going to a bar doesn't mean it's suddenly easier to deal with alcohol dependency. It’s no different than food. Addiction is a b***h no matter what the addiction is.

I told my husband that I didn't want any candy/chocolate/food related gifts, and I bought the kids each a new book and some glow-in-the-dark stars for their room. dinner was a fair bit richer than what I've been having lately, but I still managed to keep it within my allowable calories for the day (it meant a pretty sad little lunch though... lol). I even had a small dish of ice cream afterward.

I know that's got to be hard. So even more congrats on restraint during an emotional evening. I spent last night and today making strawberry- filled cupcakes for my son's class and church plus my normal requests when I bake... So I think that 144 cupcakes helped me not to even want to smell a sweet today🤣🤣

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Tomkitten and I just had our dinner, I tried to restrain my portion size, ate mostly my salad. I'm still pre surg but have lost enough to not jeopardise the small losses I've achieved. Very quiet evening but we like it that way. Shed a small tear,remembering my late husband and Tomkitten's daddy. We spent 44 Valentine's Days together.[emoji197][emoji307]

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I was worried about this when I got my surgery too. I've lost weight a little slower (on purpose so I didn't wreck my metabolism and in hopes that my skin could keep up with my weight loss). I'm down 65lbs and have about 55 to go and yes, my belly (and now my rear too), hangs more than I was hoping. My husband did some research for me and the only real way of getting the skin to tighten back up again without surgery is to drop down to a very low body fat percentage... Like dangerously low. The reason the skin can't tighten back up is because there's fat trapped in little pockets which prevent the skin from bouncing back. Obviously most of us have also damaged the skin but apparently if you get body-builder skinny, your skin has a fighting chance of tightening. The likelihood of me doing this is pretty slim but I will give my skin a couple of years to tighten before I consider surgery. After all, it took me a couple of decades to gain all that weight - I should probably give my stomach some time to do its thing before I cut it off!!

Happy Monday. 198.9

Happy Monday! 195.6

Happy Monday! 200.8

Congratulations!

Happy Monday! 196.8

Current weight 200.2

Todays weight is......204.6.

I am in! current weight 205 goal weight 185. thanks.

I have both and have not used any since my surgery on Sept 30, 2015. I have a shaker bottle for my Protein shakes. I plan on using my nutribullet soon for my smoothies.

Hi all. 15 days post op. a couple of days ago I had one of those moments where I just wanted a big change. Yes like this gastric sleeve isnt big enough. ha. I have always had hair down to my shoulders or longer. I have thick wavy hair. It is unruly. well I had it all cut off. I have never had short hair. because in my mind heavy people cant have short hair--or at least not me- I wanted to try and hide my big cheeks. and hide whatever else I could hide behind there. the other thing I am doing is looking now for clothes with color. I have so MUCH black in my closet. always the thought that the color black is slimming. no it is depressing. My husband would say to me*why do you always wear black? like you are going to a funeral?* I would give him the eye and say maybe I am!!! uh huh.. Johnny cash moment.
so I thought I would post my elvis punk rocker hair do!! I have received a lot of nice compliments.. and trust me its so different for me! but thats what all this is about. Change!! for the better. Not sure if I will keep this hair--but for now I am enjoying it. Peace out trouts!!

You do not need a blender or a nutra bullet. It just makes things easier. If you will not use it after the all liquid phase, save your money and invest in a few good blender bottles instead. I had my nutra bullet years before WLS. It's the original version and has served me well.

I had surgery 3 weeks before my birthday. My family took me to a frozen yogurt shop. I could only eat a tiny amount but it felt like a celebration and a birthday treat.

Congratulations!

I'm in. I really need to reset with some liquids.

I have a cup of dandelion root tea and it gets things moving. Also good for liver and kidneys.

I'm 4 weeks out and i can take a few gulps at once but that's my limit.

I have a cup of dandelion root tea and it gets things moving. Also good for liver and kidneys.