temkins

3 years after the surgery, and still could eat just a few bits of a steak. I just learned to enjoy every bit :)

I feel like I need to share my experience with others, as I wish someone would have shared the same with me years ago. My weight loss started over 20 years ago, never stopped since, culminating with a gastric sleeve in 2017 (SW 360, CW 250, GW<200). After the WLS I've lost about 70 lbs and hit the plateau which lasted a few months. I tried breaking it with intensive gym, calories counting, but no real impact. As a result, I've lost motivation, and over the next 2 years gained about 30 lb back (late night snacks, sugary treats), which was a huge frustration. Having a sleeve - the best WL tool one may ever have - I felt like being a "regain" statistics, not an individual with life and willpower. I still had my "pouch" restriction, but after 30-40 minutes after having a meal I was ready to eat again. It lasted till last November, when I hit 290 lbs. The frustration turned into anger. I spent days to research diets and practices. As a result, I'm back on track, losing rapidly about 3-4 lbs a week, full of energy. Here are my 3 key pillars, which brought me back: 1. Low carb diet. After researching multiple trendy diets, KETO seemed to be the most promising one. But I didn't like the idea to consume lots of fats, and avoid vegetables. I'm an old-fashioned guy. So I adjusted the KETO idea by adding a decent daily portion of green veggies (zucchinis, asparagus, green pepper, kale - those which have nearly no sugars, but lots of fibers), and limited my fats to avocados, brazil nuts, eggs and fatty fish (salmon) - no huge amounts of bacon, butter, cheese and oils. For protein those above also provided enough, plus I have some lean pork, beef or chicken. That type of diet keeps my in permanent ketosis, while I still have a decent amount of fibers and healthy protein. My nutrients are around 50-60% of fats, 25-30% of proteins and 10-15% of carbs. 2. Intermittent fasting (IF), 18:6. It means my eating "window" is 1pm - 7pm, during which I have 3 meals. Personally I believe that low carbs diet and IF are made for each other. Being in ketosis I feel no hunger at all, as my insulin is very low. That makes IF a simple task. Also once a week I do a 42 hours fast by skipping meals on Sundays - right before my weight check on Monday morning! ). IF is also a solution to plateaus. I adjust the fasting time to 12:12 for a few days and do a long fast after (48+ hours) to reset. 3. CICO (calories in, calories out) is the 3rd pillar. Keeping everything written down is not just a good habit, but also makes me feel I control the process better. My daily intake is around 1,100-1,300 calories, which creates a huge weekly calories deficit for weight loss. One may consider it's a bit too low, and I would rather agree. I'll certainly increase my calories after hitting my goal. A few more tips from my experience: - After 40+ gym can't be the only solution. Keeping yourself active (especially with this pandemic) is important for general health, but unless I'm a professional athlete, 1-1.5 hour walk every day (outside or a treadmill) is good enough. - Staying hydrated is a must, healthy weight loss won't work without it. Tracking water was always a pain for me, I was forgetting to do that. Now I have 6 magnets next to my water cooler. Each time I refill my bottle, I move one magnet to the other side, which helps me to see how many refills left. No fuss with writing down, takes a fraction of a second to move the magnet - while keeps me fully informed. Helps a lot! - Supplements!!! Lots of them! Since I'm restricted and have rather a distorted diet, I need to fill the gap of minerals and nutrients. Multivitamins, husk fiber, omega-3, collagen, cumin, ox bile, Vitamin D, electrolytes etc. It's 18 pills per day, in 2 batches! My latest blood work returned perfect results - no deficiencies, and the lowest sugar level I ever had in my life. As a conclusion - no hunger, no frustration, no cravings, energetic, clear mind, active, positive - and still losing weight! I even think that it would be very doable without my WLS, but in fact a restricted stomach makes everything much easier. So much easier, then it feels sometimes I'm actually cheating in this weight-loss game! I do hope someone will find it helpful. I wish I knew that years ago, but better late than never.

check your thyroid. It doesn’t mean you might have any health issues, but rapid weight loss may cause our hormonal levels fluctuate. An endocrinologist should be able to track and adjust that.

That was my concern as well for 2 last years - after a multitude of mindless diets, meal plans and reckless food attitude I was absolutely sure my metabolism is in ruins. Until recently I managed to finally measure it with a doctor and have learnt that my basal metabolic rate is in fact 2700-2800 /day. Stalls may occur while the body shifts from one energy mode to another, while being in stress, some environmental issues etc etc. In fact IF might help to pass the stall. If 16-8 doesn't work after 2 weeks, try 16-8 + low carb / keto diet - just to see what works best. It doesn't mean you have to keep going on IF+keto, you'll just pass the stall phase.

Thanks for sharing! I’m doing very similar drink, which is a protein bomb. 300ml of 1% unsweetened Kefir (can go with plain milk, but kefir is thicker) + 45g (3-4 tbsp) Vanilla Protein powder. Blend that together, and add one shot of Nespresso coffee, and mix it lazily :) It takes me about 30 minutes to sip it after my GS, but with 350+ calories it goes perfectly well as a full breakfast or lunch.

You are doing extremely fast! Also, with 20 lbs/month just imagine what would happen to your skin?! You would tangle in it while you walk :))

Exactly! I believe less we think about food and deciding what to eat, the better. I dream of a pill full of all important calories/nutrients, with a hunger-off capability That will solve the entire poverty issue on Earth.

After the surgery it turned out that I'm no longer tolerating meats. I can eat a little bit before my stomach riots, but that amount was far not enough to get my proteins. I also tried beans, tofu, cottage cheese, greek yogurts etc as a source of protein, but those have various negative sides, such as gas, fats, sugars and so on. Finally I realized, that I was now even more focused on foods, than I used to be before the WLS. I decided to go back to shakes, but discussed that with my NUT first. Her only concern was that I might have psychological issues with relying on a single boring food, which might be considered as a low-quality life. Other than that, there are simply no solid arguments against relying fully on supplements. One may say that shakes are bad chemistry and not healthy. But we could say that about anything we get from a grocery store, right? That said, my 4 shakes (Premier Protein, which I personally enjoy) provides over 200% of daily proteins, 100% of selected vitamins and minerals (+ I'm adding extra post-bariatric vitamins as recommended by NUT), 20% of fat, 8% of carbs - with very low sugars, and just 640 calories. Basically, I take one shake (11 oz) as a full meal every 3 hours, starting from 9am. On the top of that I eat fruits and some vegetables in between, but mostly afternoon. If I want some snacks late after 7pm, I crave berries or melon. So far doing fine. If I go out with my family or friends, I'm not going nuts and eat whatever is served - my sleeve just doesn't let me go too far

It took me 6 months post-op to start drinking plain WATER! Every single sip of water turned into a pain. Surprisingly, if I just add a little bit of crystal light powder into my water, or just a lemon juice - stomack reacted perfectly well. So no surprise milk is no longer tolerated in your specific case - post-WLS stomack is uncharted waters :))

I'm a slow loser as well. Many of us are excited with first 20-25 lbs gone super-fast and easy, just within days post-op. In fact, that weight is nothing but water. Our body requires more time and efforts to burn fat cells. And even so, it will first try to burn muscles, not fat. That's why it is important to focus on protein and physical ex, specifically weights. I'm 10 months out and now every pound requires more and more efforts. Surgery is not an ultimate solution, but just an instrument which helps you eat less. Also, try not to focus on food so much. Your meals description indicates, that you are too much into food. You should definitely pay attention to calories and fat/carbs/prot levels, but do not stay enslaved by the fridge, as this is exactly what brought all of us to surgery. Food is a fuel, not an excitement. Personally, I'm still on my 4 protein drinks, which gives me around 700 calories and 120 grams of protein per day. The rest 500-600 calories come from fruits and veggies, which give a lot of water, good carbs and fiber. Plus I'm trying to burn about 200-250 calories in the gym every day.

don't check your scales so often. Do it once a week, same day, same time. I do mine twice a month, and every time scales moves the right direction - but just as Sosewsue61 said - baby steps!

you are just a few days out, and you may be drinking too little. This sounds like a thirst - many of us usually tend to mix up a thirst with a hunger. When I feel hungry, my first reaction is to drink as much as possible. If that feeling returns in 30 minutes, I can crave something (within my specific diet, ofc!)

6 months out, have 4 Premier Protein shakes daily (9am-12pm-3pm-6pm) as my major primary meals + have one small veggie lunch (around 1:30pm), which is fully packed with dense fiber. My dietician approves that. Don't care much about the latest "anti-DATEM campaign", as a single fastfood burger has 100 times more crap in it, and we used to eat that sh*t a lot. So all damages are already caused! )) Right now I'm feeling well, losing weight steadily, also doing daily 40-50 minutes fat-burning cycling at the gym). The reason I decided to stick with my shakes is that after the sleeve I feel some discomfort with all types of meats (beef, pork, fish, chicken etc), while beans and legumes are bit too gasy With my protein shakes I feel fit and full, while still low on calories and high in protein.

if your doc accepts your new insurance, there should be no problem.

You should check the source of the pain with your doctor - shouldn't be that sharp 2 months post-op. Gas is usually dissolved by that time completely.

You are doing just great actually - 31 lbs within about 4-5 weeks is brilliant!

Just try it and let us know

Vanilla or caramel (the best one!) Premier Protein with a double espresso (or just regular coffee, just make sure it is strong enough). Taste like a latte. With a chocolate shake it is more like mocha. That said, coffee will mask a synthetic taste of any shake.

after 7 weeks I still have them

I'm on 7th week, and still have pureed + liquids diet mostly. I can tolerate most of solids, but just feel uncomfortable, so sticking to some softer/mushier foods. A full liquid diet is the best one, imho - especially if based on protein shakes. Our ultimate goal is to lose weight, after all.

Sometimes we take thirst for hunger. Try drinking more, much more - it might be a sign of dehydration.

Exactly!

So how was it? Recovering well?

I agree at some point. Celebrities are people. But at the same time I never forget, that celebrities are behavior models for many of us. That adds some extra responsibilities - you just can't claim you are doing just sports if you did a VSG - others will be trying to do the same and obviously will fail, piling up depression and diffidence. Many stars are advertising very questionable health and sports products, saying that this is exactly how they build their bodies. One would say "oh, she did that in 6 months just with a 30 minutes of using that fancy hula hoop, so why can't I?" And in fact, the real reason of stars great results are surgeries, a platoon of dietitians, chiefs, instructors and assistants.

Great!