Berry78

Ok, Apple1, if you don't want to decrease your food.. and are just aiming for eating everything during an 8 hour window.. I don't see how that's a problem. It's hitting the goals that's important to me. I don't care what time you eat. I guess I hear "fasting", and it sounds like going a day without food, which we don't want to do during the first 9 months or a year. As for calorie consumption.. The 90+ year old Okinawans of Japan are eating around 1100 calories a day, and maintaining well on that... but they are also well under 5 feet tall and ninety! Maintenance for one person will be fasting for another. While you are losing weight, keep your calories down. When you stop losing for at least 6-8 weeks, then you know your calories and metabolism have aligned. Was it because of calorie creep, or is that your new normal at a reduced calorie load? Since I haven't reached maintenance, myself, most of these ideas are conjecture. My hope is the basic metabolic needs will stay up at least to 1600 calories, so there has to be a distinct uptick in consumption to GET THE WEIGHT LOSS TO STOP. This means that you reach goal without any extra special dieting plan, and when there, you increase how much you are eating until you stop losing and/or start regaining. There should be a sweet spot someplace. Stick around your sweet spot, and like Jess said, when the scale gets a bit stubborn, then bring in some of these fasting techniques. But if the fasting technique is just telling you when to eat, and not how much.. then that could be undertaken any time as long as it doesn't interfere with reaching nutrition goals.

If you type "obesity" and "malnutrition" into a search engine, it will return over a million results. The first few articles that show up are pretty much saying, hey! Obese people are actually malnourished! Who would have thought?! Then you read the articles, and they start blaming the modern agricultural methods and processed foods, soda pop and high fructose corn syrup. They could be right. But I'm interested in following this in a different direction.. or perhaps just further along the same lines. So, we'll take a person (we'll call her Cindy) that is eating the typical flour and shortening diet. She is gonna be short on vitamin C. (And D, and chromium, and iron.. etc. etc but we'll pick on C). So, now the body says, HEY, we're missing something, yo!! But, it can only say it with a nagging hunger that sends Cindy searching through her cupboards. Her eye lands on some ice cream (in the cupboard.. I know, right?).. and she digs it out and starts eating. But since there isn't vit. C in the ice cream, a couple spoonfuls doesn't quell her hunger, so she eats until she's ready to pop. Now she puts on some weight. 5'1 Cindy, who should weigh maybe 120lbs, now weighs 140. With the increase in weight, her body now has to work harder just to exist (the muscles have to carry the extra load, etc), so she needs MORE nutrients.. more vitamin C, and calcium, calories, etc. etc. But, does Cindy increase her consumption? No, of course not! She sees her pants don't fit, the scale has the wrong number, and so what does she do? She goes on a diet! Slashes her calories. But if she just eats less of the same nutrient-poor food that caused her to gain weight in the first place, then she's eating fewer nutrients too! (Imagine she was eating a big plate of spaghetti that had 2 cups of tomato sauce on it, and changes to a small plate of spaghetti with 1/2 cup sauce. The majority of the vitamins in that spaghetti are in the sauce, and now she is eating 25% of the vit C. that she had been). The pounds drop off, but so does her basic nutrition level. Eventually her body rebels and she can't keep to her diet anymore. She starts eating again, and her body is screaming for nutrients, but keeps getting fed junk, so the pounds just pile on. Now she's heavier than she was before! People that are carrying too much weight need to be FED, not starved. But WHAT they are fed MUST CHANGE! We have all the energy we need (and more).. but it's the missing nutrients that we must find and replenish. Bariatric surgery works because we are able to decrease our calories. The postop diet is designed to keep our protein levels up, and we are to take vitamins to replace those we don't get from our food. But not every vitamin comes in pill form, and not every nutrient has a blood test. We HAVE to continue working to improve our food choices so that we can fill all those needs. I have people at home that are trying to lose weight, and I'm watching my MIL grab about 1oz of pork loin to eat for dinner (with some corn). I'm like, what the *expletive* do you think you are doing? She's sooo.... clueless... when it comes to nutrition. But she won't let me formulate a plan for her.

Thank you for noticing this. (Kinda the reason I posted the video). He eats, oh.. I don't know.. 20 times the amount that we bariatric folk can. Of course he can meet his nutritional needs! (Should still take a B-12 supplement though).

Best guess: Plan on losing 10-15 pounds the first month, and 6-8 pounds a month after that.. and the scale will pretty much stop at 160-180lbs. (Once it stops you'll have to work extra hard for additional losses). If you lose faster, it's gravy, but keep expectations low so you aren't disappointed.

I can understand the idea of fasting when you hit maintenance... but during the first year postop, we are in a constant fasting state. We are already walking the razor's edge r.e. malnutrition. Hardly a day passes I don't see someone report low levels of this or that (protein, iron, etc.). Let the surgery do its thing, and if you get to the point where the scale doesn't move for 2 months, but you have more fat to lose.. then by all means, shake 'er up!

Oh, and awesome job so far!! You are lookin' great!

Ok, you gave me permission, so I'll answer. Since you are over 3 months postop, I don't believe it is dangerous for you to eat 8oz of meat. It's surprising, but it must just indicate a larger sleeve (either longer than average, or the doc decided to leave you extra room, being a tall guy). Either way, let's talk about goals. Protein goal... 120g? An ounce of meat has about 7g protein, so 120÷7=17oz. But, people can only use 30g of protein at a meal (7g×4oz=28g). So you need to limit your meat to 4oz per meal, and spread it out into 4.5 meals a day. Limiting your meat will leave more room for veggies (i.e. vitamins and fiber). And keep in mind not all protein has to come from meat. Hopefully your plan gave you calorie and carb goals to shoot for (if I had that, I could help formulate what the day should look like).

You are going to have to spend a lot of time and energy figuring out the protein thing. You can try milk (fairlife has higher protein and is lactose free) and broth.. but with a DS, your protein needs are at least 50% higher than what you needed with the sleeve. Try freezing your shake into ice cream (or warm it up) ..see if that helps. You'll want to try different brands... most have to be ordered online. At the moment, try not to drink anything that doesn't have at least a little protein (I mean, if you can stand broth with 4-8g prot. per cup... then sip on broth all day...don't fill up on snapple). If you can consume a concentrated source, then you need a clear liquid to balance it out. Goal is .75-1oz liquid for every gram prot. (Which means drink 11-15 cups of fluid for 120g protein or 64-80oz for 80g protein.... I don't know what your protein goal is).

I spent all my extra time (hours each day) on this site and others during the last couple months before surgery. I learned so much by doing that, that I was ready when the time came. Take the time to sit and read. Google is your friend. Ask for the preop and postop diet from your program. That way you have something to look at.

If you were careful, I'm sure all will be fine. You can always contact your doc for peace of mind.

Leaks can happen until the initial scar tissue has formed over the wound.. it takes up to 9 weeks to be considered "safe" from leaks. Most leaks are not sudden, catastrophic tears (those that are will most likely be lethal in a very short period of time.. like, not make it to the hospital, short). Instead, leaks frequently tend to be very small, oozing type. The pain can be minimal or significant.. but usually people CAN feel something is just "not right". Once the body realizes food is landing where it doesn't belong, fever spikes. Fewer than 5 people out of a hundred develop a leak... (which means 95+ don't). It's good to know what to watch out for, but since they are pretty rare, don't be paranoid.

16 cups is twice as much as the typical recommendation. I don't know if you have special considerations as a patient, but if you are unsure, you should call your doc to clarify. (Sometimes people are in an exceptionally hot climate and need more than usual, or you, personally, need more). Keep in mind that anything you can drink counts toward your goal. The ideal ratio of water to protein is 1oz to 1 gram. So if you get 60g protein, but only 30oz fluid.. to digest the protein you will draw water out of your body, making you more dehydrated than if you drank 30oz with no protein.

If you are only getting 8oz of fluids in, you are already dehydrated. You need to call your surgeon and go somewhere for IV fluids, today.

Super, smokin' fantastic!

I agree that everything sounds pretty normal. A leak usually will make you spike a fever. Get a good thermometer and take your temperature each day or anytime you are concerned. Fever over 100 Fahrenheit warrants a call to your doc. (102 or over, go to the ER). Fevers can also be other things, so don't panic if you do get one! I'm sure everything is gonna be fine. Push those fluids!

Your doc is concerned about the carb content of the potatoes, not the texture. Potatoes were on my plan, in limited quantities.

First class, nonstop would be my choice. You can stand up and walk to the bathroom during the flight... so that helps with stretching and changing positions. Catching connecting flights and layovers makes for a really long day. If you really want an adventure, take the train in a sleeper car. Probably takes 5 days to get there though....

What's an epilady, and how do you use it?

https://www.rethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov/How-much-is-too-much/Whats-the-harm/What-Are-The-Risks.aspx Ok this is the site where that graphic came from. The website describes the problems of heavy drinking from a mental and physical health point of view. (Dependence, liver disease, etc.) The BBC describes limits as well.... and theirs are based on consumption levels that keep risk of alcohol-related death to 1%. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-35255384

Fluff.. Congrats on getting your surgery type! You'll be a momma 'roo, what with your pouch and all...

Make sure to visit the west coast of Florida. The gulf is so much nicer than the Atlantic. (IMHO). Hopefully the hurricane damage will be sorted.

Woo hoo!!! You look stunning! Love the collage!

Please call your surgeon NOW and tell them what you did. They will tell you if it's ok or not.

Worthwhile reading: http://m.ajcn.nutrition.org/content/99/3/734S.full