DropWt4Life

I usually wait 30 minutes, but if I eat something dense, I wait for an hour or so.

I would ask your doc, but I ate some crispy bacon at eight weeks out with no problems. I probably eat a slice or two every two or three weeks on a Saturday or Sunday. I don’t care too much for turkey bacon, so I would rather have the real thing and cut corners somewhere else.

I am not worried about the holidays this year. I have already had 2 dinner outings at work this month, and my last one will be tonight. I stick to the fish/chicken and veggies options. We are going to Chama Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse tonight, and I will have a good size salad and chicken. The fact that nobody at work knows that I've had surgery allows me to get away with killing the salad bar. I can eat more salad than Protein, so I will break the protein first rule tonight as it will allow me to eat for longer.
We are hosting Christmas and New Year's Eve parties this year as well, but I can control the menu, so it's all good.
Don't stress fellow sleevers! Make the best choices that you can at these functions, stay strict in between, and everything will be fine.
Happy Holidays to you all!

Impressive, Bro! You look like the other guy's little brother. You'll definitely be at goal in no time at all! Keep up the hard work!

I am not worried about the holidays this year. I have already had 2 dinner outings at work this month, and my last one will be tonight. I stick to the fish/chicken and veggies options. We are going to Chama Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse tonight, and I will have a good size salad and chicken. The fact that nobody at work knows that I've had surgery allows me to get away with killing the salad bar. I can eat more salad than Protein, so I will break the protein first rule tonight as it will allow me to eat for longer.
We are hosting Christmas and New Year's Eve parties this year as well, but I can control the menu, so it's all good.
Don't stress fellow sleevers! Make the best choices that you can at these functions, stay strict in between, and everything will be fine.
Happy Holidays to you all!

Many different surgeons have many different plans for their patients. This is primarily because they see different scenarios play out with their patients. What I don't understand is why they don't ALL err on the side of caution. Case in point...Liquid diets. Veggies and Protein during this phase is not liquid, but it is allowed on some plans. I have recently replied to posters that were allowed to eat meat on day 3 post-op. That is crazy to me. Why not require a set of standards that apply to everyone? They can have substitutions for say those that are lactose intolerant, have a heart condition, etc.
It is sometimes hard to tell people to follow their doctors' guidelines when they are told to eat meat a few days after surgery or that they should take weight loss pills (Phentermine) before and after surgery. Just Sayin'.

I wish that I had known that my taste buds would change. I threw out tons of Protein, Soups, broth, etc, because I just couldn't stand them after surgery. Don't get me wrong, I read this in multiple posts, but didn't think that it would apply to me.
My advice...Don't buy too much of anything before surgery, because you might just despise it afterward.

I wish that I had known that my taste buds would change. I threw out tons of Protein, Soups, broth, etc, because I just couldn't stand them after surgery. Don't get me wrong, I read this in multiple posts, but didn't think that it would apply to me.
My advice...Don't buy too much of anything before surgery, because you might just despise it afterward.

I would ask your doc, but I ate some crispy bacon at eight weeks out with no problems. I probably eat a slice or two every two or three weeks on a Saturday or Sunday. I don’t care too much for turkey bacon, so I would rather have the real thing and cut corners somewhere else.

You don't have to join a gym to build muscle. My best friend lives 15 miles from a gym. He joined it, but found that it was too hard to find the time and discipline to go religiously. He hired a personal trainer there to teach him how to workout total body with nothing but dumbbells. He now walks, does exercises without the need of weights (pushups, dips, squats, abs, etc.), and uses 20lb, 30lb, and 40lb. sets of dumbbells to work things like shoulders and back.
He left the gym, bought the weights at Walmart, and got into great shape.
Maybe you could try that. You could start with lower weight, and gradually increase over a long period of time.
My mom also has bands that she exercises with. She is 73, and she gets great workouts with the bands.

12/20/2017
CW: 233.8

According to the internet: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease worldwide. Treatment recommendations for NAFLD are aimed towards weight reduction, thereby reducing insulin resistance. Unfortunately, lifestyle modifications have not yielded long-term success, while durable weight loss is routinely achieved with bariatric surgery.
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/763056
So what this summary says it that lifestyle modifications such as dieting and exercise have not yielded long-term success but bariatric surgery has.
Another article says: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is a progressive disease with potential evolution to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.
Another article says: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease. It encompasses a spectrum of conditions associated with lipid deposition in hepatocytes. It ranges from steatosis (simple fatty liver), to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH–fatty changes with inflammation and hepatocellular injury or fibrosis), to advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis. Studies suggest that although simple fatty liver is a benign condition, NASH can progress to fibrosis and lead to end-stage liver disease. The disease is mostly silent and is often discovered through incidentally elevated liver enzyme levels. It is strongly associated with obesity and insulin resistance and is currently considered by many as the hepatic component of the metabolic syndrome. NASH cirrhosis is now one of the leading indications for liver transplantation in the United States.
I underwent RNY gastric bypass surgery because my health was deteriorating rapidly. I dieted and exercised and still could not shed the pounds but instead continued to gain the weight. I had the surgery to correct my health conditions. The surgery corrected a number of my health conditions including diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, acid reflux (GERD). It even corrected my asthma condition. If your focus is to become healthy and live a long productive life, then I would suggest the surgery. I dropped 120 pounds after surgery and my BMI went to normal. Weight loss was just a little gravy on top of health improvements.
One of the factors that enter into the equation is cost. The operation is expensive and therefore it is important to have insurance that covers the operation. Therefore the guideline requirements from your insurance policy will dictate how easy it is to obtain this surgery.
Many insurance policies are written very similar, so this will give you an idea:
Surgical treatment of obesity (bariatric surgery) is covered only if:
- eligible enrollee is 18 of age or over
- clinical records support a body mass index of 40 or greater (or 35-40 when there is at least one co-morbidity related to obesity). Applicable co-morbid conditions include the following:
* Type II diabetes mellitus (by American Diabetes Association diagnostic criteria).
* Refractory hypertension (defined as blood pressure of 140 mmHg systolic and or 90 mmHg diastolic) despite medical treatment with maximal dose of three antihypertensive medications.
* Refractory hyperlipidemia (acceptable levels of lipids unachievable with diet and maximum doses of lipid lowering medications).
* Obesity–induced cardiomyopathy.
* Clinically significant obstructive sleep apnea.
* Severe arthropathy of the spine and or weight bearing joints (when obesity prohibits appropriate surgical management of joint dysfunction treatable but for obesity).
- Documentation of failure to lower the body mass index within the last 12 months through a medically supervised program of diet and exercise of at least 6 months duration.
So if your health insurance policy was similar to mine, you would not be able to qualify because of age; but the moment you turned 18, you would get a green light because your BMI is over 40. So the best advise I can give you is to dig out your health insurance policy and read the fine print.

it depends on your program. Mine was more of a balanced one, so they would have been fine with that. Some are ultra-low-carb. It also depends on how carb-sensitive you are. I'm not very - but some people are *really* sensitive to carbs.

I certainly did, and it didn't bother my weight loss. Some people are heavily into the low carb thing and have a firm belief that they are bad and should be avoided. This is basically a mirror image of the low fat diets of yesteryear. Unless you have a specific morbidity such as diabetes or insulin resistance and have been told to avoid carbohydrates by your medical team, go ahead and have a healthy diet (which includes some carbohydrates...) as long as your calories are still under control.
I occasionally used a thin corn tortilla, crisped in the oven, as a mini-pizza crust. After about four months, I needed to specifically add some complex carbohydrates tactically into my diet for energy management purposes.

When I hit my goal weight, I am going to plan a trip to an amusement park with my daughter and ride every ride! We all have season tickets to Six Flags Fiesta TX in San Antonio, but I always sit out while she rides with friends. Have taken the walk of shame too many times to count. I am sure that I can pretty much ride anything that I want now, but I am going to wait anyway. I think we will hit up Holiday in the Park in December. I should be at goal before then the way I am going now.
As far as food, I won't reward myself. I already eat anything and everything that I want. I made a promise to myself that after surgery, I was going to eat what I wanted and not diet any longer. Now that I am a little further out, I do that although I must admit.....I don't crave many things that are bad for me. I do crave veggies though, all of the time. All kinds. So far, I haven't craved sweets, so that's a big plus.
Oh yeah....A wardrobe shopping spree! I am already running out of clothes. Everything that I own is baggy on me, and I have gotten rid of 2/3's of my wardrobe already. It will be nice to wear something a bit more fitted and not saggy.

Good luck bro! You will do well!

You don't have to join a gym to build muscle. My best friend lives 15 miles from a gym. He joined it, but found that it was too hard to find the time and discipline to go religiously. He hired a personal trainer there to teach him how to workout total body with nothing but dumbbells. He now walks, does exercises without the need of weights (pushups, dips, squats, abs, etc.), and uses 20lb, 30lb, and 40lb. sets of dumbbells to work things like shoulders and back.
He left the gym, bought the weights at Walmart, and got into great shape.
Maybe you could try that. You could start with lower weight, and gradually increase over a long period of time.
My mom also has bands that she exercises with. She is 73, and she gets great workouts with the bands.

You don't have to join a gym to build muscle. My best friend lives 15 miles from a gym. He joined it, but found that it was too hard to find the time and discipline to go religiously. He hired a personal trainer there to teach him how to workout total body with nothing but dumbbells. He now walks, does exercises without the need of weights (pushups, dips, squats, abs, etc.), and uses 20lb, 30lb, and 40lb. sets of dumbbells to work things like shoulders and back.
He left the gym, bought the weights at Walmart, and got into great shape.
Maybe you could try that. You could start with lower weight, and gradually increase over a long period of time.
My mom also has bands that she exercises with. She is 73, and she gets great workouts with the bands.

Nine pounds per month is great. I am only losing about five. You will see later on that your weight loss is going to slow down even quite a bit more than that. I eat less than 1,200 calories per day, work out 6-8X per week, and still only manage to drop a pound on average per week. I am definitely leaning up though, even though I'm not losing much weight. I am also pretty close to goal, so a slower weight loss it expected.
Don't be discouraged though. Even a five pound per month loss is still sixty pounds per year.

You don't have to join a gym to build muscle. My best friend lives 15 miles from a gym. He joined it, but found that it was too hard to find the time and discipline to go religiously. He hired a personal trainer there to teach him how to workout total body with nothing but dumbbells. He now walks, does exercises without the need of weights (pushups, dips, squats, abs, etc.), and uses 20lb, 30lb, and 40lb. sets of dumbbells to work things like shoulders and back.
He left the gym, bought the weights at Walmart, and got into great shape.
Maybe you could try that. You could start with lower weight, and gradually increase over a long period of time.
My mom also has bands that she exercises with. She is 73, and she gets great workouts with the bands.

You don't have to join a gym to build muscle. My best friend lives 15 miles from a gym. He joined it, but found that it was too hard to find the time and discipline to go religiously. He hired a personal trainer there to teach him how to workout total body with nothing but dumbbells. He now walks, does exercises without the need of weights (pushups, dips, squats, abs, etc.), and uses 20lb, 30lb, and 40lb. sets of dumbbells to work things like shoulders and back.
He left the gym, bought the weights at Walmart, and got into great shape.
Maybe you could try that. You could start with lower weight, and gradually increase over a long period of time.
My mom also has bands that she exercises with. She is 73, and she gets great workouts with the bands.

Thank you sometimes you need these reality checks to remind u that just because you had surgery it’s still a journey and will be a work in progress

Nine pounds per month is great. I am only losing about five. You will see later on that your weight loss is going to slow down even quite a bit more than that. I eat less than 1,200 calories per day, work out 6-8X per week, and still only manage to drop a pound on average per week. I am definitely leaning up though, even though I'm not losing much weight. I am also pretty close to goal, so a slower weight loss it expected.
Don't be discouraged though. Even a five pound per month loss is still sixty pounds per year.

I would be thrilled with 9 pounds a month. You didn't gain all your weight in a few months...you won't lose it that fast either.
Your body consumes an insane number of calories healing itself immediately following a major surgery, plus you had several days of not eating at all in there. You've done the heavy lifting of healing at this point, and you're starting to eat again. You can only lose the number of pounds your body is consuming in calories.
According to mayo Clinic...A 250 lb. female who is moderately active burns about 2,050 calories per day.
Assuming you're eating about 1000 calories a day....the best you can hope for is about 2 pounds per week with moderate activity.
If you want to up this number...you have to up your calorie burn....which means more exercise every day.
The other way to up the number, is to eat fewer calories....which is a trap, because while you will lose a little more weight, you'll end up resetting your metabolism to a starvation conservation level that makes weight loss more difficult...and regain more likely.
If you want to lose more....exercise more.
But 9 pounds a month....is phenomenal progress. Be happy you're doing so well!

I agree with other posters that you should quit smoking immediately. Not only is smoking going to increase your risk of having the complications mentioned, but it is going to hinder your body's ability to heal quickly and correctly. I would also start walking at least 30 minutes per day now, and drinking tons of Water. You want to build up lung capacity, and start getting into shape.

I was already working out 6-8X per week before surgery, and everything was super easy for me. I could have returned to work after 2 days. I smoked for 10 years, and I understand how stress makes you grab for that cigarette. Don't do it though. You are doing this for your health, so why not make a complete change starting tomorrow? You can do this, and will be better off for it.

Good luck to you.