sharkweek

Good morning, all!
Saw the scale budge downward this morning finally. Maybe my stall is over - but I'm not counting my chickens just yet! Some changes I've recently made that have helped are:
using a timer to make sure I am eating no sooner than 15 minutes after my last sip of any drink and drinking no sooner than 30 minutes after my last bite of food
using 1 oz cups to measure my food and liquid, making sure I consume no more than 4 of those little cups in one sitting
finding more lean Protein sources like beef Jerky, P3 protein packs, pork and smoked wild nova salmon from Trader Joe's.
eating Wild Friends Protein+ Peanut Butter. Kind of a weird texture but it's tasty!
no longer eating any dessert with sugar. I've switched to Voortman's sugar-free Cookies, Russell Stover sugar-free candy
drinking Crystal Light Peach Iced Tea and Wyler's light lemonade I can't stand Protein Shakes, Protein Bars or any sweet sources of protein with the exception of peanut butter, so I've struggled a bit getting enough protein. However, I'm hitting about 70 grams a day now (finally) and that is helping a lot! Before, I was only hitting about 50 grams.

You look great my dude. Your hard work is paying off!

Aloha All,
These are my before and after pics at 8 months post op.
starting weight 312
two weeks on pre op diet/ surgery day 302
    
current weight at 8 months post op 240 which are the two bottom pics. I have been losing quite slowly but can only blame myself due to my weakness for wine. My surgeon did warn against alcohol as it will slow weightloss. I am doing much better at abstaining from drinking! Good luck to those who have not made the jump yet and for those struggling, get back on your plan, you can do this! Happy New Year everyone:)
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Thank you all for responding. I did go through with the surgery Thursday and came home the next day. I truly know I made the right decision.
And to healthy angel and dolphin, believe me that I know your pain and state of mind, but just stay positive and like some of the others told me, look at all the reason you’re doing this, mainly for YOURSELF. And how far you’ve come. You can do it and I believe in you! Keep drinking as much as you can to keep full and be proud of yourselves. It’s worth it!

There was a woman in my preop class who didn't have to do liquid. She was much smaller than the other two of us, and had a different surgeon. Not sure what the reason was, but she came through her surgery just fine.

I think the point of the liquid diet is to prepare you mentally for what's to come.
Right now, you can cheat a little and nothing horrible will happen (unless you don't shrink your liver and your doctor decides not to do your surgery....it's happened)
But here's the problem....
Immediately after surgery, you have about two to three days where you don't ingest ANY calories...just clear fluids. Then, you're on shakes and clear liquid for TWO MORE WEEKS. You'll get like 400 calories a day if you're lucky.
And If you screw up and eat something AFTER surgery? You can really hurt yourself and end up needing emergency surgery for whatever you get stuck. My doctor did a talk about all the horror stories of his career....the stupid things people ate and the trouble they got into. Not good. AVOID THIS.
You're just getting started. For me, it was the post surgical period where I nearly gnawed my own arm off. LOL
But yeah...that MONTH of freakin starvation just sucked. It really did. Honestly....it was much harder (in my opinion) than the actual surgery.
But the good news...is that you will survive it. And you'll drop quite a few pounds to soothe your misery.
And you'll be eating yogurt and cream of wheat before you know it.
I was on the liquid diet for Thanksgiving and cooked for my family. OMG...so hard!
For Christmas, though...I get to eat finely cut up turkey and mashed potatoes. And it sounds like heaven.
You all have my sympathies. Stay strong!

I am on day 7/14 and i cheated on day 2. I haven't cheated sense. After the 2 day detox period and you finding what satisfies you for the moment will be where its at! I was raging the first during the 2 day detox period. It does get easier as you go. Just power through! you wont regret it!

I think the OP has challenged us to look at reality. it can be a little discouraging to do this while you're working really hard and looking for the best outcome possible.
Statistics back up most of what s/he said in the OP. People do regain weight. Statistically, it's a fact.
There are also people like Introversion...who almost replace their food addiction with a health obsession. No offense, Introversion, I absolutely admire you....but you're unusual. Most 120 pound women are not as active as you, not doing the cardio you do...and certainly can't eat 2200 calories a day. You're in top athletic shape and that's incredibly cool....but you're not the norm.
I think we can learn a lot from studying outcomes of whole surgery populations, particularly long term studies.
If you've ever looked at the "estimated weight loss" calculators...you know that different people have different results. There's a big difference in weight loss between the top 20% and the bottom 20%. Some can be attributed to behavior and choices, and some seems to be the luck of the draw (or the curse of the draw...lol...depending on which way you go).
I know one thing that has changed recently, is how doctors and dietitians are approaching calorie intake in the weeks after surgery. The old school of thought was to take advantage of inappetence and have patients lose as much weight as possible during the honeymoon phase of surgery by restricting calories severely. There used to be more tendency to limit patients to 500-800 calorie diets for months after surgery. And yep, people lost weight fast.
What we're learning now, however, is that that rapid weight loss and super low calorie diet can reset the metabolism to a starvation level that actually can inhibit weight loss after a while, and can be correlated with more regain years down the road.
A newer strategy being increasingly embraced in the bariatric community is to move patients up to a 1200 calorie diet as soon as possible after surgery, and encouraging exercise early on. This idea is to reset the metabolism to burning through a normal number of calories ASAP...and giving patients the energy to exercise hard and safely. Food choices are extremely important, but addressing exercise habits in resetting metabolism is becoming increasingly more important.
Bariatrics is an emerging science. We're learning so much about the science of gut flora interactions, the roll of hormones and addictive behavior, genetics...all sorts of variables.
Will your body pick a set point that is difficult to overcome? it's an excellent question. One I don't think we have a solid answer to, yet.
Lot of different theories and a lot of studies to consider. It's fascinating stuff.

I lost a bunch of weight quickly for the first three weeks, then hit the three week stall everyone talks about on this forum. Stayed stalled for a week or two, then the weight loss started again. Now the weight loss is less dramatic if you look at it day by day (0.2 lbs here, 0.6 here, etc) but it helps to look at it week by week. For example I thought last week was pretty slow weight loss wise, but then I looked at my weekly view on MFP and realized I'd actually lost four and a half pounds in a week. I would have killed for that a few months ago!

I lost a bunch of weight quickly for the first three weeks, then hit the three week stall everyone talks about on this forum. Stayed stalled for a week or two, then the weight loss started again. Now the weight loss is less dramatic if you look at it day by day (0.2 lbs here, 0.6 here, etc) but it helps to look at it week by week. For example I thought last week was pretty slow weight loss wise, but then I looked at my weekly view on MFP and realized I'd actually lost four and a half pounds in a week. I would have killed for that a few months ago!

I’m liking all the comments on this thread! I started my weight loss off at 6’6” 485 pounds. At dr 1st consult I was 435. Gained back 10 lbs but will have it off long before my 6 week pre op Appt in January. Surgery for feb 14 17. It does take the edge off a bit reading where you guys have been threw all of it. Thanks

I found this thread motivating. In April I was at my all time hw of 610 surgery was the 4th of December at 538 today I am at 508 and very excited to see more weight fall off

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My highest weight was 401, so I just qualify for this thread! I am 2+ days post sleeve and so far no complications. The first 48hrs were ROUGH but then suddenly the clouds parted and I feel great!

Congrats! I'm not far away from two-derland. I started at 377 on 11/15/2017 and I'm down to 317 as of yesterday.

Congratulations Blue! As a fellow former 400-pounder I can only imagine how much better your joints and everything must be feeling in the 200s -- happy for you man. Keep killing it.

An exciting day today as I've officially hit "Two-derland"! It has been a looong time since my weight began with a 2!
HW - 406 (6/13/17)
SW - 318 (12/11/17)
CW - 299.8 (12/29/17)
GW - 225
Male, 6'3"

I'm so glad I read this. I'm at 5 weeks and am stuck, too. Now I don't feel so alone. The people that know about my surgery keep asking me "well, how much have you lost now," and I just tell them I'm not weighing right now..... :-)

Congrats! That's awesome.

So the last 5 months have been a journey for me, and as the year ends, I just want to share some progress pics. My heighest weight was 228lbs and I am 178lbs 5 months post op - 50lbs down. I am going to be taking this weight loss journey even more seriously going into 2018 and making fitness a goal. I want to get in the best shape of my life in 2018. I still struggle with body issues and insecurities and feel absolutely terrible about myself a lot of the time, but I'm learning confidence and self-love during this process and here's some pics from before surgery at my biggest and current selfies I've taken of my progress...

I wasn't really bothered by excess skin. Most of my excess shrunk over the first year. Normally the only part that is visible is below my belt line, so most people never see that.
The one thing that did bother me was very fine wrinkles that developed over my face. These wrinkles were paper thin and made me look like I was 100 years old. My wife suggested I use "Bio Oil" on them. This is available at CVS, Walmart and a number of other stores. I put a little of this oil on my face each morning and I am good for the whole day. Works wonders.

Here's my heaviest and then my most recent pic from last Saturday. 104 pounds lost so far! Never going back!

 

VSG 10/11/17 HW = 360 SW = 292 CW = 256 GW = 220 (6'5")

Congrats! That's awesome.

Congrats! That's awesome.

Haven't been here for awhile, but since Im at my 4 year surgiversary I thought I'd check in. 80% of this post is completely plagiarized from last year's update but it gives a good recap of all 4 years....
Year 1 - the year of losing all of my excess weight (100 pounds), dozens of NSVs, and a new wardrobe. By far, the most exciting year. Even the month of liquids, 6 weeks of diarrhea and 2 insanely painful gallbladder attacks couldn't put a dent in my enthusiasm. It was all so new and fun and easy. Life was great and I was invincible!
Year 2 - the year of finding out life still sucks no matter what size you are, losing my best friend to suicide, sinking into a deep hole of depression and finding that I could no longer rely on my old friends.....food, alcohol and cigarettes. Just struggling to get through each day with really no desire to. Two more gallbladder attacks which I finally put an end to with a long overdue cholecystectomy. Surprisingly able to maintain my weight loss from the 1st year.
Year 3 - the year of emotional healing (well, at least a start in that direction) with a grief therapist, testosterone replacement and an antidepressant. Finally able to crawl out the darkness into a somewhat bearable existence. My latest breakthrough is I actually said yes when asked out on a date about a month ago. Considering my introvert personality and swearing off relationships almost 20 years ago, this is an extraordinary step for me. We've been out 1/2 dozen times and I'm actually enjoying it.
Year 4 - the year of falling in love, being blissfully happy and regaining 10 pounds (yikes!) I'm still with that guy that asked me out back in Oct 2016. Enjoying my first totally honest, mature relationship. Ironically, I've found being a good bariatric patient is harder in good times than in bad. I've got better things to do than think about Protein, fluids, carbs and vitamin......everything has become less and less about surgery and weightloss and more and more about life.
So my downfall this past year has been cocktails and chocolate. Took up the bad habit of consuming both on a daily basis. That, and a lot of donuts and muffins! But the good news is I have already dropped 8 of the 10 pounds I put on. As always, it just takes going back to basics..... drink more Water, eat more Protein and less carbs. My BF is great and jumped on the high protein/low carb bandwagon with me. Of course being a guy, he's dropped 20 pounds to my 8 (stupid boys). I have every confidence I will drop those last 2 pounds before 2018.
Bottom line is successful WLS results is not rocket science. Whatever you had to do to lose weight is pretty much what you need to do forever. If you can't control sliders and trigger foods, they WILL lead to regain. If you don't make the psychological adjustments and permanently change your habits and behaviors, you WILL regain. It's totally up to you whether or not your surgery becomes just another failed diet. Don't be afraid to seek professional help with the mental side of it. Because as the years go on, that's what makes you successful, not how tiny your stomach is.
Good luck to the newbies. Congrats to the veterans.

Hey hey hey! Chin up buttercup! This is a process! Not a quick fix! Your body is a machine in adjustment mode! A science project. If your stalled it’s just your body protecting itself ! Count your victories! Calm down, take a breath. It’s going to get better! You did this because you love yourself enough ... keep it up!
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