MarkLewis

The PA at the practice told me recently that I need to eat more calories. I was eating about 1200, and she wants me to move up to 1500 and perhaps 1700 on days that I exercise particularly hard. The biggest thing for me is to track everything that I eat and adjust appropriately. I have a huge fear of regaining weight, so I will back off on calories if I feel I am at risk and see how it goes. I think we all constantly adjust to keep on track.

I was on Metformin and left the hospital without taking any meds again (been 15 weeks). My sugars are routinely in the mid-70's in the morning. I might need to eat a few more carbs...

Yes, when I say I "snack", it is a cup of yogurt or cottage cheese to get my protein in for the day. I would consider, in my terminology, a protein shake in between meals a snack. I eat my breakfast at 6:30, have a "snack" (<100 cals) at 9:30, eat lunch about 1:00, have another "snack" at 4:00 and eat dinner at 7-7:30 after the gym. This is the only way i could ever get in enough calories or protein. having said that, I agree with the point that we are all different. I also plan out every crumb of food that goes into my body the night before, so I know exactly how much I am eating, etc.

I plan my intake pretty carefully and given the small amount of food I can eat at a sitting, I have to eat every 3 hours or so to get my calories and protein in for the day. No way I could hit my targets if I didn't. My program has a calorie goal of 1,200 at this point going forward. I struggle to get to that number even with eating every three hours. I think part of my slowdown in weight loss is just not getting enough calories.

Update: I got the pill forms of the vitamins and they go down just fine. No nausea, etc. I also had stalled while not taking any vitamins, but now that I have been taking them for a week I have lost another 5 lbs. Sweet.

I agree, my health, especially the diabetes control was my number one reason for getting the VSG. Thanks for sharing your great progress.

I am 7.5 weeks out from my VSG. I am pretty darn happy about these results. My fasting glucose was an 82. Have others seen these kinds of dramatic shifts?

I got cleared to lift weights and go back to regular activities by the end of week 6. I go to the gym 4 times per week (2 weightlifting, 2 spin class).

All, Here is what I ate yesterday: Breakfast: Coffee, CarbMaster Peach Cottage Cheese Snack: PowerCrunch bar Lunch: Leftover Pot Roast (3 oz) and one small red potato Snack: Two Good low fat, low sugar yogurt Dinner: Leftover bean/beef casserole (1/2 serving) Snack: CarbSmart Vanilla Ice Cream Nutrition: 1,188 calories, 85g Protein, 56g Carbs, 17g Fiber, 67g Fat My program has me targeting 1,200 calories per day. I weigh pretty much everything that isn't packaged and track it all in MyFitnessPal. How does this compare to a typical day? I am 8 weeks out and have been on "normal food" for the last 3 weeks. It is sometimes a struggle to get in near 1,200 calories, that is why i spread everything out in 5 "meals". My weight loss has really slowed, but I am doing very well staying in the guidelines so I think it will pick back up.

I had my VSG on 11/19. I lost a good bit of weight for the first 4 weeks or so, but have basically been at the same weight for the last 2.5 weeks. I am eating about 1100 calories per day, getting in 64+ oz of water and hitting my 80+ grams of protein daily. I go to the gym 3 times a week.

I am on week 4 (soft foods) and my program has me trying to get 800-1000 calories. The most I have gotten in 900, but more likely 800. I try to eat something every 2-3 hours and then supplement with a shake to get in my protein and calories. At the end of week 4, I will be down 30 pounds or so. I am getting much better recognizing the signs when my pouch is full.

I also get nauseous when taking the chewable vitamins. The NP at my surgeon's office said I could switch to pill at my next delivery so I called the pharmacy and made the switch. Hopefully, this will be better.

I had my VSG done by Dr. Jaime Ponce in Chattanooga for $12,000 plus a $250 consultation fee. This covered all the pre-op testing, etc. I had a one night stay in the hospital and all post-op visits are covered. All in all a great experience with almost no issues other than getting oral thrush and constipation from the iron supplements. I highly recommend his practice as the staff is extremely efficient and the hospital (CHI Memorial) was awesome.

November 19, 2018: My lovely wife took this picture of me right before they whisked me away to surgery. I wanted to memorialize this last point before my surgery.