Rainbow_Warrior

Why not do a pouch reset diet? It's out there to help you get on track.

Can I please counsel you to stop to think? Isn't a short term "pain" (a couple of weeks of not-so-perfect protein shakes to shrink your liver for surgery) preferable to the years you've spent OBESE (or morbidly obese)? Are you not prepared to make 14-15 days of sacrifice for a future lifestyle of better living at a much healthier weight? - - - I was not thrilled about my Optifast days either. I look where I am now with 33 kilograms (73 pounds) off my 2017 body. Yes ... those Optifast days were but a "BLIP" in time. - - - Not everything in your life has to be sugar sweet and of perfect taste.

When the scales are not moving, look to your NSVs. NSV = non-scale victory. e.g. 1. Your belt buckle moves a notch or two. e.g. 2. Your old 36" pants suddenly fit when they didn't last week. e.g. 3. You can stick 2 or 3 fingers inside the buttoned-up neck of your shirt & tie. e.g. 4. Your shoes are not so tight as they were a month ago. e.g. 5. You can hold your breath for 45 seconds underwater (when before surgery/before exercise it was 18 seconds). Watch for these or other examples of success.

Yes ... to me couple of times in the 13 weeks post-op. Yes, the happening is normal. The frequency varies.

Keep doing the things that ARE KNOWN to work and there's every chance your situation will right itself fairly soon.

So true. I can see the numbers on the scale diminishing. (Averaging about 1.4kg OFF per week for the last 13 Mondays ... equal to 3.1 pounds per week). I can see the 7" to 8" of belt holes passed. BMI down from 56 to 45. But the photos don't say much to me. Also happening here! Nigh on impossible for me ... knees and ankles seriously impaired from years of obesity. In three months since surgery, I returned to the indoor swim centre and put in 3.25 to 4.5 hours per day ... with just one day off per month. 60% of the time is devoted to ambling breaststroke. 35% of the time is for chest-deep 'wading' and the other 5% is for water resistance exercises. It'll do until I can walk smoothly again. I have ended my relationship with fizzy drinks, soft drinks, 'sodas' and beer. I stopped coffee a month before surgery and stayed off it for three weeks after. Since surgery, I have about FOUR or FIVE small turmeric espresso lattes on unsweetened almond milk per week. It helps with settling my post-op stomach. Thanks, James, for your insights and advice. Much of it applies well to me.

I mentally calculated 29.6 pounds. Well, thank you. As I said before, it's my best SUMMER/XMAS for many seasons here from November to January. (Yes, readers, Australia's seasons are 'inverted'. We are mid-summer right now.) I wanted to achieve that 34 pound loss in the period. It was very good to go close. The success is borne out by an old Wayne Gretzky story. A journalist (years ago) said to Gretzky (in his prime), "Geez, Wayne, you have an average 4.7 shots on goal for each goal you score. That's a lot of wasted shots." Gretzky said: "Yeah, and I never score any goals from the shots I don't take." That's how I feel about missing my 304 target ... I went way closer to this very target than any targets I'd previously set in other years.

As long as no-one threw birdseed. :-) :-) :-)

That can happen in amongst the many weight loss systems and support groups. Sadly, not everything is a good fit. I hope you can get suggestions from someone in your part of the world.

I may do things differently to you for different reasons ... but your attitude is clearly to be admired. Thanks for sharing.

I've seen a few people present this way. Maybe I should emulate: Jan 10, 2018: 308.4 pounds = FINAL Jan 03, 2018: 313.3 Dec 27, 2107: 319.2 Dec 20, 2107: 320.9 Dec 13, 2107: 322.4 Dec 06, 2107: 325.8 Nov 29, 2107: 329.4 Nov 22, 2107: 332.7 Nov 15, 2017: 338.0 Goal: 304 While I missed my goal by 4.4 pounds (or 2.0 kg) , I'm pleased that I went so well over the xmas-New Year period. Thanks for running this @The New Kel

Great post. We all need employers of that ilk. Sadly, such enlightened bosses/owners are a small minority.

I gathered that, Alec. I'm just so surprised that people who say they fear governments and government departments will willy-nilly FREELY hand over their personal information to FACEBOOK, GOOGLE, etc. They then lament the targeted ads and fake recommendations. I live with Ad Block Plus, a search engine that is NOT Google or Bing and a high security threshold. I do have FB but it's a limited relationship.

FaceBook is insidious ... its data collection, its ads, its prying. Grrrr!

Best wishes. You are making the (likely) best decision you'll ever make to ensure your longevity and health.

More preservatives than a salt mine??? :-)

Most people's preferred position!

I used to work with 35-40 people five days per week, every year. There would have been two, maybe three, that would've been fine with the information ... BUT, on the other hand, there were 16-20 who are intrusive and/or negative people. I took the "better off telling no-one if you can't tell everyone" choice. Touche. Other than my wife and a couple of family members, only my best man and a friend of 32 years were told. I'm filtering the TRUTH for everyone else ... "stomach & hernia surgery" is 99.99% true for my secrecy purpose. Everyone knows that i swim three to four-and-a-half hours most days. Everyone knows I'm calorie counting, eating smaller meals and only having two glasses of wine per week. I'm 33kg (73 pounds) down in 5.5 months ... just over half that in the 12.5 weeks since surgery. My changes are reason for praise and awe at the pool. Getting some positive verbal responses to the trimmer me.

Think of the greater future and accept the TEMPORARY seemingly unpleasant taste. If you need help, MAYBE try a self hypnosis video to try to get past any negative feelings. This one, maybe: Bear in mind that I am neither a doctor, a psychologist or a psychiatrist. Any choice you make is your own. (The video has been used by over 12 million people of whom ABOUT HALF have a positive outcome. It is NOT, however, for everyone!)

Impressive change. Awe-inspiring results.

Good effort, you!

I'm retired (19 months) from my life-long job of 42 years and drawing a comfortable pension. But I have a skill set which keeps me in offers of work almost continuously. I currently have FOUR to SIX employers at any one time. My major employer of those depends on me a lot BUT I just told her I needed to take about 10-12 consecutive days in mid-October for some urgent stomach & hernia surgery. None of my colleagues needed to know. (I only see them one or two evenings per week between assigned work in my own space at the local office.) I returned to work after a fortnight off. Another casual employee picked up my workload and my pay. It was a blip on the radar. Work has been in summer/xmas shutdown since Dec 14th. I resume on Jan 29th or 30th. I'll just tell 'em I've been busy exercising and dieting over the summer. (Both true!)

SISTEMA 1.25 litre Bento Cube Lunch Box. (There are two other sizes: 1.65L and 1.72L) Made in New Zealand. Available Worldwide. Available in supermarkets, Kmart, etc. for $5.79 (discount); RRP $8.99. Try http://www.sistema.com.au ... use search function there. I hope this helps, Alec!

1. Have four half-strength low-carb protein shakes made on WATER over the course of a day. (about 4.5-5.5 hours apart). 2. Drink 1.2-2.1 litres of water during the whole 24 hour day. 3. Snack on cucumbers, tomatoes, baby spinach and celery if you have to chew! 4. Exercise: (a) swim 3000m and/or (b) wade chest deep in water as fast as you can for 2-3 hours and/or (c) use a treadmill on 4mph or higher for two hours or more AND (d) do 15 minutes every hour you're awake of resistance or resistance-band exercises or dumbbells/barbells to 10kg (22 pounds). - - - I swim 3000m (2 miles) every day and deep-wade a further 2000m (1.25 miles). Every second day, I do 35-40 minutes of pool resistance exercises. On the alternate days, I do 25-30 minutes with resistance bands and ankle weights. I weigh myself before I leave home and when I come back. The difference (before any eating or drinking) is 700 grams to 1.7 kg (1700 grams) lost via exercise ... depends on heat, humidity, intensity, hydration ... So, before I eat my 950-1450 calories per day, I am already down 700-1700 grams. (That's 25 ounces to 60 ounces melted daily ... or 1.5 to 2.5 pounds per day). On my post op and eating much more than you will, I have a nett loss of 1.2kg to 1.7kg per week (3 to 3.75 pounds). - - - Do NOT follow this advice if you are self-aware enough to know that it would be dangerous for you. I am NOT a medical professional or exercise consultant. I am just telling you what I have learnt about my own rate of weight loss in the last 6-8 months. n.b. TWO DAYS PER WEEK, I swim/wade with my family doctor.

Pity you didn't plan to do it in 12-25 days. Seven days or fewer is a tall order.