orionburn

If you don't already have it I'd suggest getting the Starbuck's app for your phone. It's nice to take your time going through the drinks and making it your own, order in advance, and be in & out picking up. Plus the app will tell you how many calories your drink has.

For home the different flavors of Premier Protein make for a nice add-in to coffee.

I'm finally coming back to the boards after a very long hiatus. Yes, I've had some dreaded regain between health issues, Covid, etc. and decided I need to do some sort of "therapy" even if it is socializing on here again. I admit that one of my main reasons for avoiding coming back here is exactly what you are posting about. I kept telling myself that all I'm going to here is go back to what you used to do, drink water/take vitamins/protein-protein-protein. All goes back to WLS being a tool and if your head isn't in the game you're boned. I know I'm not alone in this, and yes, it's so frustrating, embarrassing, and infuriating to be going back up after all the progress I've made. The elephant in the room is that deep down I know 90% of my struggles are mental. When you've spent 40 some years struggling with bad food relationships that crap doesn't just go away with a smaller stomach.

I'm finally coming back to the boards after a very long hiatus. Yes, I've had some dreaded regain between health issues, Covid, etc. and decided I need to do some sort of "therapy" even if it is socializing on here again. I admit that one of my main reasons for avoiding coming back here is exactly what you are posting about. I kept telling myself that all I'm going to here is go back to what you used to do, drink water/take vitamins/protein-protein-protein. All goes back to WLS being a tool and if your head isn't in the game you're boned. I know I'm not alone in this, and yes, it's so frustrating, embarrassing, and infuriating to be going back up after all the progress I've made. The elephant in the room is that deep down I know 90% of my struggles are mental. When you've spent 40 some years struggling with bad food relationships that crap doesn't just go away with a smaller stomach.

I'm finally coming back to the boards after a very long hiatus. Yes, I've had some dreaded regain between health issues, Covid, etc. and decided I need to do some sort of "therapy" even if it is socializing on here again. I admit that one of my main reasons for avoiding coming back here is exactly what you are posting about. I kept telling myself that all I'm going to here is go back to what you used to do, drink water/take vitamins/protein-protein-protein. All goes back to WLS being a tool and if your head isn't in the game you're boned. I know I'm not alone in this, and yes, it's so frustrating, embarrassing, and infuriating to be going back up after all the progress I've made. The elephant in the room is that deep down I know 90% of my struggles are mental. When you've spent 40 some years struggling with bad food relationships that crap doesn't just go away with a smaller stomach.

I'm finally coming back to the boards after a very long hiatus. Yes, I've had some dreaded regain between health issues, Covid, etc. and decided I need to do some sort of "therapy" even if it is socializing on here again. I admit that one of my main reasons for avoiding coming back here is exactly what you are posting about. I kept telling myself that all I'm going to here is go back to what you used to do, drink water/take vitamins/protein-protein-protein. All goes back to WLS being a tool and if your head isn't in the game you're boned. I know I'm not alone in this, and yes, it's so frustrating, embarrassing, and infuriating to be going back up after all the progress I've made. The elephant in the room is that deep down I know 90% of my struggles are mental. When you've spent 40 some years struggling with bad food relationships that crap doesn't just go away with a smaller stomach.

I'm finally coming back to the boards after a very long hiatus. Yes, I've had some dreaded regain between health issues, Covid, etc. and decided I need to do some sort of "therapy" even if it is socializing on here again. I admit that one of my main reasons for avoiding coming back here is exactly what you are posting about. I kept telling myself that all I'm going to here is go back to what you used to do, drink water/take vitamins/protein-protein-protein. All goes back to WLS being a tool and if your head isn't in the game you're boned. I know I'm not alone in this, and yes, it's so frustrating, embarrassing, and infuriating to be going back up after all the progress I've made. The elephant in the room is that deep down I know 90% of my struggles are mental. When you've spent 40 some years struggling with bad food relationships that crap doesn't just go away with a smaller stomach.

My office sold stuff but didn't really push it onto people. There's a lot of stuff out there that is perfectly fine to use so if they are outright saying no to something it seems a bit sketchy. My doc's office sold a lot of Unjury products and that's what I use to this day. The flavors are great, and while still pricey it's cheaper than the premade bottles like Premier. Recently I've taken another liking to Premier because of the convenience of it.

I usually only check out recent posts and rarely pay attention to the forum it falls in. Didn't mean any harm to anyone, so sorry if somebody's feels got hurt.

My diet is plant based. I eat the animals that eat the plants.

I will never to subscribe to any one diet being superior to another. Find what works for you and makes you happy. Want to be a vegan? Great. It simply doesn't make you better than everyone else. Nor does going carb free, or gluten free, of whatever else. If the guy was selling himself as being vegan that's one thing, but you can argue that his diet is plant based if the majority of his diet is fruits & veggies. Just because it does include meats doesn't negate the other 80-90% of his diet being plant based.

Two weeks to go until I start my new job. Hoping that since I'll be away from the desk more it'll get me to help being more active. My body is in love being at 235 lbs and doesn't want to move away from that for whatever damned reason. Driving me insane! Spring is on the horizon and ready to put this damned winter behind us to get back outside and do more.

Nothing really new to report on my end. Did the low carb thing again and didn't really see any changes. Back to the usual diet again. Don't think I'm going to see the scale move anytime soon unless I can get my not as big as it used to be ass back outside and walking on a regular basis. It's in the mid 30s today so feels like a heat wave! Hoping my upcoming job change will see me being more active again and help get things moving.

No regrets, but there are certainly times when it can be annoying with changes. I have a beer every once in a great while but it's kind of all or nothing. Gone are the days of being able to even eat 6 wings and a drink a small glass of beer with the guys at B-dubs. Now it's half a glass and maybe 2 wings and that's it. I mean it's not the end of the world, and the pros have definitely outweighed the cons.
My only other real cons are the annoying loose skin. I'm older now, was overweight for a long time, and pretty much knew I was boned when it came to that. Oh well...there are worse tragedies in life but it's annoying.

Two weeks to go until I start my new job. Hoping that since I'll be away from the desk more it'll get me to help being more active. My body is in love being at 235 lbs and doesn't want to move away from that for whatever damned reason. Driving me insane! Spring is on the horizon and ready to put this damned winter behind us to get back outside and do more.

Nothing really new to report on my end. Did the low carb thing again and didn't really see any changes. Back to the usual diet again. Don't think I'm going to see the scale move anytime soon unless I can get my not as big as it used to be ass back outside and walking on a regular basis. It's in the mid 30s today so feels like a heat wave! Hoping my upcoming job change will see me being more active again and help get things moving.

Wow. Sorry to hear that the surgery was cause for a break-up. It can definitely put some strain on relationships. But good for you on going through with it. I was a nervous wreck in the final week as well, but so happy I did it. Lot of support and info on here so welcome to the club. Good luck to you on your journey!

And then we have this "graceful" dummy

Today is my one year surgiversary so I thought I'd blow the dust off of this thread. I had my one year meeting with my doc yesterday and everything is going along smoothly despite a hell of a start to this journey! Like a dummy I forgot to take photos this morning to mark the occasion so I'll have to do that tonight.

When I first started taking a serious look into WLS in May of 2016 I was back up to 354 lbs. I had to do a 6 month program due to insurance. I was at 336lbs starting my 2 week liquid diet, and 318 on the day of surgery. This morning I weighed in at 232. That puts me down 86 lbs since surgery and 122 lbs total lost. I still got a good ways to go and weight loss has slowed down significantly in the past three months. Lousy weather has kept me from walking much and it's been difficult to get to the gym.
Doc asked me yesterday if I'd do it all over again and without hesitation I said yes. Even with the rough start I've done more and felt better in the past year than I had the previous 3-4 years combined. Little bummed that I didn't reach my "goal" weight of 225 lbs. Now realizing that isn't really a goal weight any longer. In the coming months I hope to get some more fat off and replace it with muscle to get evened out a bit.

Anyway, it's been a hell of year and glad I did.

Figured it's time to post some damned photos. Yesterday was my one year surgiversary. Before photo is morning of surgery. I was down to 318 at the time of surgery. When I started my journey I was 354 and 336 at the start of the 2 week pre-op diet. Currently coming in at 232. Ways to go yet and things have slowed down a lot in the past few months, but I'm okay with that. My main reason for having WLS was due to chronic sciatica that was destroying my life and thankfully I feel like I have it back again. I'm not the poster child for WLS but still happy with where I've gotten to in the past year.

Btw...my after shirt is really too big on me and hate that it makes me look like I still have a huge gut. I'm not brave enough to post the shirtless photos...lol

Yep. Head hunger is still my biggest battle that I fight. I really don't crave the bad things of old, but that habits of feeling like I need to eat (like as soon as I get home from work, late evening, etc) are still there.
I was a diet soda freak before surgery. Haven't had it since so that was a big acomplishment for me. Don't really miss Pasta and breads. I'll have a tiny bit every once in a blue moon but I'm actually happier without it in my diet. I eat so much chicken I fully expect to sprout feathers one of these days.

What happens? Worst case - doc gets in there to do surgery, sees that your liver hasn't shrunk due to not following the diet, and decides then and there not to go through with the surgery. My doc had apparently done that to patients in the past. That was enough for me to stay on track. Even if the doc goes through if your liver doesn't shrink then it's going to be more difficult for them to work around. I had a fluke bleed develop (on my third day) in my spleen that was likely caused by getting bumped while they were working. My surgery went fine, doc said liver was fantastic, and I did everything to plan. So that being said I sure as hell wouldn't have wanted to do anything else to have made things more complicated for them. I'm an oddball statistic (only met on other person on here that had the same thing happen) so I'm not trying to scare you. Point is do everything you can to make sure you have a smooth and easy surgery.

A lot of us had to do two weeks of a liquid diet. It isn't fun, but you have to keep in mind that it's liquids on the other side too. This is a good time to really evaluate your relationship with food. You'll get through it. It's a few days of suffering for a whole bunch of rewards on the other side.

Thought it might be fun to share photos of our hounds and see what pets people have. We have a bit of a greyhound obsession. Adopted our first one about 6-7 years ago and been hooked ever since. These are a couple of our hooligans (yes there's more than these 4...lol). We started fostering with the group we adopted from a few months after we got our first hound and been doing that ever since. We've had about 50 fosters go through our house. Been a lot of fun and seen a lot of awesome dogs get adopted.

Let's see your pups!

Thought it might be fun to share photos of our hounds and see what pets people have. We have a bit of a greyhound obsession. Adopted our first one about 6-7 years ago and been hooked ever since. These are a couple of our hooligans (yes there's more than these 4...lol). We started fostering with the group we adopted from a few months after we got our first hound and been doing that ever since. We've had about 50 fosters go through our house. Been a lot of fun and seen a lot of awesome dogs get adopted.

Let's see your pups!

Figured it's time to post some damned photos. Yesterday was my one year surgiversary. Before photo is morning of surgery. I was down to 318 at the time of surgery. When I started my journey I was 354 and 336 at the start of the 2 week pre-op diet. Currently coming in at 232. Ways to go yet and things have slowed down a lot in the past few months, but I'm okay with that. My main reason for having WLS was due to chronic sciatica that was destroying my life and thankfully I feel like I have it back again. I'm not the poster child for WLS but still happy with where I've gotten to in the past year.

Btw...my after shirt is really too big on me and hate that it makes me look like I still have a huge gut. I'm not brave enough to post the shirtless photos...lol

Figured it's time to post some damned photos. Yesterday was my one year surgiversary. Before photo is morning of surgery. I was down to 318 at the time of surgery. When I started my journey I was 354 and 336 at the start of the 2 week pre-op diet. Currently coming in at 232. Ways to go yet and things have slowed down a lot in the past few months, but I'm okay with that. My main reason for having WLS was due to chronic sciatica that was destroying my life and thankfully I feel like I have it back again. I'm not the poster child for WLS but still happy with where I've gotten to in the past year.

Btw...my after shirt is really too big on me and hate that it makes me look like I still have a huge gut. I'm not brave enough to post the shirtless photos...lol

Figured it's time to post some damned photos. Yesterday was my one year surgiversary. Before photo is morning of surgery. I was down to 318 at the time of surgery. When I started my journey I was 354 and 336 at the start of the 2 week pre-op diet. Currently coming in at 232. Ways to go yet and things have slowed down a lot in the past few months, but I'm okay with that. My main reason for having WLS was due to chronic sciatica that was destroying my life and thankfully I feel like I have it back again. I'm not the poster child for WLS but still happy with where I've gotten to in the past year.

Btw...my after shirt is really too big on me and hate that it makes me look like I still have a huge gut. I'm not brave enough to post the shirtless photos...lol