PolkSDA

Thanks, I'll check those out. I've tried the Cherry 7-Up one and it's ok but nothing to write home about. Most of these drink mixes tend to put the emphasis on "sweet" rather than the actual underlying flavor IMO.
I've been getting my ginger fix from hoarding the seasonal "Gingerbread Cookie" flavored Equal packets they put out last Christmas season. They had this, Peppermint Mocha, pumpkin Spice, and Salted Caramel. This and the Peppermint Mocha are quite good. What caught me off guard is that they are actually more flavor than sweetener; the gingerbread in particular is a very robust ginger flavor. A couple of packets in my coffee and I'm in hog heaven.
I didn't learn about them until after they were pulled from sale, so I had to seek alternative secondary market sources for them.
Supposedly they're coming out with them again this winter, so I'll be sure to stock up this time rather than having to pay inflated prices on the secondary market (eBay, Amazon Marketplace).

Hang in there. At least you have a new scheduled date. When my surgery was cancelled in April of 2020, there was nothing even proposed, let alone tentatively scheduled as a new date.
We as a society were freaking out (toilet paper hoarding, nightly BLM protests, riots)... no one knew what the endgame was going to be, and there I was being told by my surgical team that I still had to keep from gaining weight for an unknown period of time or risk being booted from the program. As a lifelong overeater, lemme tell you that stress eating most certainly is real... especially with society seemingly falling to pieces around you and also having to manage a team learning to work from home for the foreseeable future.
tl;dr: Smile, it could be worse.

I'm 13 months out from surgery and my calorie intake varies wildly, anywhere from 1100 to 2000 calories per day, with the vast majority of days in the 1300 to 1600 range.
I'm still losing weight though, hit my lowest weight in 35 years this morning.

Being able to buy clothes "off the rack" rather than having to go to a DXL store. It's amazing the difference in cost. When I started the journey I had a 56-inch waist, which non-Big&Tall stores just don't stock.
I've been reluctant to invest a whole lot of money in clothes as I've been losing weight, as ideally I will continue to lose sizes for a bit longer, so why pay for clothes I'll (hopefully) only wear for a couple months. It's like the reverse of being a kid/teenager, when Mom would get frustrated that I outgrew clothes yet again.
However, at some point the old clothes start looking awful, like you're wearing a tent... not to mention heavy and uncomfortable AF. Being in a transition state with sizes and not wanting to spend money, I went to Wal-Mart and bought some $10.97 jeans... first time wearing jeans in over 30 years. Hard to wrap my brain around it... the jeans weren't unbearably uncomfortable. I was able to buy 44-inch waist and now several weeks later, they're already feeling a bit loose. My next shopping trip, it might be 42.
They had a bunch of dress shirts on clearance that rang up at $2. The XL (down from 3XL) fit easily. At that price, who cares if they fall apart in a few washes.
A whole new world: Being able to shop clothing sales and clearance. That hasn't been part of my life in many many decades.

I'm 13 months out from surgery and my calorie intake varies wildly, anywhere from 1100 to 2000 calories per day, with the vast majority of days in the 1300 to 1600 range.
I'm still losing weight though, hit my lowest weight in 35 years this morning.

Being able to buy clothes "off the rack" rather than having to go to a DXL store. It's amazing the difference in cost. When I started the journey I had a 56-inch waist, which non-Big&Tall stores just don't stock.
I've been reluctant to invest a whole lot of money in clothes as I've been losing weight, as ideally I will continue to lose sizes for a bit longer, so why pay for clothes I'll (hopefully) only wear for a couple months. It's like the reverse of being a kid/teenager, when Mom would get frustrated that I outgrew clothes yet again.
However, at some point the old clothes start looking awful, like you're wearing a tent... not to mention heavy and uncomfortable AF. Being in a transition state with sizes and not wanting to spend money, I went to Wal-Mart and bought some $10.97 jeans... first time wearing jeans in over 30 years. Hard to wrap my brain around it... the jeans weren't unbearably uncomfortable. I was able to buy 44-inch waist and now several weeks later, they're already feeling a bit loose. My next shopping trip, it might be 42.
They had a bunch of dress shirts on clearance that rang up at $2. The XL (down from 3XL) fit easily. At that price, who cares if they fall apart in a few washes.
A whole new world: Being able to shop clothing sales and clearance. That hasn't been part of my life in many many decades.

I'm 13 months out from surgery and my calorie intake varies wildly, anywhere from 1100 to 2000 calories per day, with the vast majority of days in the 1300 to 1600 range.
I'm still losing weight though, hit my lowest weight in 35 years this morning.

Yeah, I'm admittedly a "lazy loser" myself. I've never been ANY good at counting/tracking calories, points, whatever. I eat things I enjoy because I know that one of my mental shortcomings is that if I try to force myself to eat things I don't enjoy just because they're healthy, I know I will cheat. I will *have* to eat something enjoyable, regardless of what other "healthy" things I've eaten... so rather than compound the calorie intake, I'll just cut to the chase and eat what I enjoy, healthy or not, but in moderation and smaller portions.
Not everyone's brain works the same way, and I know this perspective is likely anathema for others, but it's working thus far for me.
1 year out from surgery date my weight has plateaued as expected, but knowing my propensity to enjoy food, I'm deliberately keeping a closer eye on the scale. I have my fast food and my occasional sweets, but If I see any long-term trend upwards more than about 2-3 pounds, I immediately tighten things up.
So far, so good. Just this morning I hit a new low weight, so the the trend is still downward, and IMO that's what's important, no matter the methods employed.
Different strokes, yadda yadda yadda...

Yeah, I'm admittedly a "lazy loser" myself. I've never been ANY good at counting/tracking calories, points, whatever. I eat things I enjoy because I know that one of my mental shortcomings is that if I try to force myself to eat things I don't enjoy just because they're healthy, I know I will cheat. I will *have* to eat something enjoyable, regardless of what other "healthy" things I've eaten... so rather than compound the calorie intake, I'll just cut to the chase and eat what I enjoy, healthy or not, but in moderation and smaller portions.
Not everyone's brain works the same way, and I know this perspective is likely anathema for others, but it's working thus far for me.
1 year out from surgery date my weight has plateaued as expected, but knowing my propensity to enjoy food, I'm deliberately keeping a closer eye on the scale. I have my fast food and my occasional sweets, but If I see any long-term trend upwards more than about 2-3 pounds, I immediately tighten things up.
So far, so good. Just this morning I hit a new low weight, so the the trend is still downward, and IMO that's what's important, no matter the methods employed.
Different strokes, yadda yadda yadda...

My likely response:
"The only weight I'm really looking to lose in the short term is GETTING YOU OFF MY F*CKING BACK!"
To be fair, I have on occasion been accused of being somewhat indelicate and tactless... "He's uncouth. Couth him!!!"

My likely response:
"The only weight I'm really looking to lose in the short term is GETTING YOU OFF MY F*CKING BACK!"
To be fair, I have on occasion been accused of being somewhat indelicate and tactless... "He's uncouth. Couth him!!!"

My likely response:
"The only weight I'm really looking to lose in the short term is GETTING YOU OFF MY F*CKING BACK!"
To be fair, I have on occasion been accused of being somewhat indelicate and tactless... "He's uncouth. Couth him!!!"

Congrats on the progress!
One thing: When you say "I hoped that I would be at goal by now, but I'm ok that I'm not.", given that you're not at the one year point, I don't know that this was necessarily a realistic goal.
It's not a finite 1-year horizon from surgery. My surgeon told me that by one year out I will have lost the vast majority of the weight I'm likely to lose, but there was no framing it as a time limit or deadline. People lose at different rates, so some will reach their goal months before or months after that 1-year point, and some may never reach it at all. I've seen some wildly optimistic goals mentioned on this forum.
I've not been concerned with "goal date", but rather the long-term trend. Am I still losing? Yes. Is it at the same rate it was? Heck no, nor should that be expected.
Some people drive straight to the office and some take the scenic route.

Huh. This is the first I've heard of Metformin helping you lose weight. Then again, it does explain some things...
I was diagnosed with early stages of Type II diabetes in June of 2019. I was prescribed a low dosage of Metformin. It was as a result of that doctor's visit that I started looking into weight loss surgery and then went "into the program" being required to showing some persistent weight loss before the surgery was approved.
Despite my being morbidly obese my entire adult life and never being able to lose weight, I was actually able to lose the prescribed weight leading up to my surgery without too many trials and tribulations... in retrospect, I wonder whether Metformin aided in that weight loss effort without my realizing it.
Not that it makes a difference now. I've not taken it since my surgery in July of 2020.

Congrats on the progress!
One thing: When you say "I hoped that I would be at goal by now, but I'm ok that I'm not.", given that you're not at the one year point, I don't know that this was necessarily a realistic goal.
It's not a finite 1-year horizon from surgery. My surgeon told me that by one year out I will have lost the vast majority of the weight I'm likely to lose, but there was no framing it as a time limit or deadline. People lose at different rates, so some will reach their goal months before or months after that 1-year point, and some may never reach it at all. I've seen some wildly optimistic goals mentioned on this forum.
I've not been concerned with "goal date", but rather the long-term trend. Am I still losing? Yes. Is it at the same rate it was? Heck no, nor should that be expected.
Some people drive straight to the office and some take the scenic route.

Being able to buy clothes "off the rack" rather than having to go to a DXL store. It's amazing the difference in cost. When I started the journey I had a 56-inch waist, which non-Big&Tall stores just don't stock.
I've been reluctant to invest a whole lot of money in clothes as I've been losing weight, as ideally I will continue to lose sizes for a bit longer, so why pay for clothes I'll (hopefully) only wear for a couple months. It's like the reverse of being a kid/teenager, when Mom would get frustrated that I outgrew clothes yet again.
However, at some point the old clothes start looking awful, like you're wearing a tent... not to mention heavy and uncomfortable AF. Being in a transition state with sizes and not wanting to spend money, I went to Wal-Mart and bought some $10.97 jeans... first time wearing jeans in over 30 years. Hard to wrap my brain around it... the jeans weren't unbearably uncomfortable. I was able to buy 44-inch waist and now several weeks later, they're already feeling a bit loose. My next shopping trip, it might be 42.
They had a bunch of dress shirts on clearance that rang up at $2. The XL (down from 3XL) fit easily. At that price, who cares if they fall apart in a few washes.
A whole new world: Being able to shop clothing sales and clearance. That hasn't been part of my life in many many decades.

No regrets at all, but believe it or not there are downsides, or more accurately unanticipated adjustments that may be needed. It's been 10.5 months since my surgery, and in no particular order:
Temperature sensitivity. I always used to run hot, which made summers uncomfortable but was great in the fall and winter months. I had enough internal insulation that I frequently didn't need to wear a winter coat even down in to the 20s. Now it's the exact opposite; I always feel cold. In moderate temperatures (50s-60s) I feel chilly. By the same token, I can now go outside for exercise in 90 degree weather and I feel fine. It's just completely different parameters when it comes to temperature. Bones. Everything was padded before. Now with bones/edges, it can be a bit uncomfortable sleeping/lying on my side or stomach, as pressure/weight is now on bone rather than fat which cushioned everything. Lack of muscle. For my entire adult life I could leverage my bulk when it came to moving or picking up things; inertia vs. using muscle. Moving furniture and heavy/bulky objects is much more difficult now. I really need to work on building/rebuilding actual muscle. I can't just put my hip into something anymore... they push back! Knowing what I know now, would I change my mind? Absolutely not. The benefits still outweigh (no pun intended) the downsides, just be aware that there may be life changes you didn't anticipate.

Being able to buy clothes "off the rack" rather than having to go to a DXL store. It's amazing the difference in cost. When I started the journey I had a 56-inch waist, which non-Big&Tall stores just don't stock.
I've been reluctant to invest a whole lot of money in clothes as I've been losing weight, as ideally I will continue to lose sizes for a bit longer, so why pay for clothes I'll (hopefully) only wear for a couple months. It's like the reverse of being a kid/teenager, when Mom would get frustrated that I outgrew clothes yet again.
However, at some point the old clothes start looking awful, like you're wearing a tent... not to mention heavy and uncomfortable AF. Being in a transition state with sizes and not wanting to spend money, I went to Wal-Mart and bought some $10.97 jeans... first time wearing jeans in over 30 years. Hard to wrap my brain around it... the jeans weren't unbearably uncomfortable. I was able to buy 44-inch waist and now several weeks later, they're already feeling a bit loose. My next shopping trip, it might be 42.
They had a bunch of dress shirts on clearance that rang up at $2. The XL (down from 3XL) fit easily. At that price, who cares if they fall apart in a few washes.
A whole new world: Being able to shop clothing sales and clearance. That hasn't been part of my life in many many decades.

Yikes!
150 for 5'11" is a good 15-20 pounds lower than what even the online calculators come up with, and those typically shoot way lower than reality as it is. Where the heck did he get that number from?
Statistical outliers notwithstanding, IMO that is setting someone up for failure.

In all honesty, I really don't care how I look. It's how I feel that matters to me. I've never really been interested in how others perceive me (hence my being a lifelong bachelor utterly oblivious to fashion/hair styles). I dress for comfort, not other people's opinions, and this journey has been about my health and my comfort and mobility; how I feel physically. If someone else likes the appearance of the "new me" compared to the old, that's fine and dandy, but that's never been a goal unto itself.
Lowering the initial weight goal is more about "ok, that goal may have been reasonable at the time, but given the progress thus far, I think I can do better."
But again, it's about me, not anyone else. I'm just an old fart that's set in his ways enough to not really care about how others think I look. Some may consider that self-centered... but that's a them problem, not a me problem.
*shrug*

100% this. It's a life changer (and quite possibly a life saver).

No regrets at all, but believe it or not there are downsides, or more accurately unanticipated adjustments that may be needed. It's been 10.5 months since my surgery, and in no particular order:
Temperature sensitivity. I always used to run hot, which made summers uncomfortable but was great in the fall and winter months. I had enough internal insulation that I frequently didn't need to wear a winter coat even down in to the 20s. Now it's the exact opposite; I always feel cold. In moderate temperatures (50s-60s) I feel chilly. By the same token, I can now go outside for exercise in 90 degree weather and I feel fine. It's just completely different parameters when it comes to temperature. Bones. Everything was padded before. Now with bones/edges, it can be a bit uncomfortable sleeping/lying on my side or stomach, as pressure/weight is now on bone rather than fat which cushioned everything. Lack of muscle. For my entire adult life I could leverage my bulk when it came to moving or picking up things; inertia vs. using muscle. Moving furniture and heavy/bulky objects is much more difficult now. I really need to work on building/rebuilding actual muscle. I can't just put my hip into something anymore... they push back! Knowing what I know now, would I change my mind? Absolutely not. The benefits still outweigh (no pun intended) the downsides, just be aware that there may be life changes you didn't anticipate.

No regrets at all, but believe it or not there are downsides, or more accurately unanticipated adjustments that may be needed. It's been 10.5 months since my surgery, and in no particular order:
Temperature sensitivity. I always used to run hot, which made summers uncomfortable but was great in the fall and winter months. I had enough internal insulation that I frequently didn't need to wear a winter coat even down in to the 20s. Now it's the exact opposite; I always feel cold. In moderate temperatures (50s-60s) I feel chilly. By the same token, I can now go outside for exercise in 90 degree weather and I feel fine. It's just completely different parameters when it comes to temperature. Bones. Everything was padded before. Now with bones/edges, it can be a bit uncomfortable sleeping/lying on my side or stomach, as pressure/weight is now on bone rather than fat which cushioned everything. Lack of muscle. For my entire adult life I could leverage my bulk when it came to moving or picking up things; inertia vs. using muscle. Moving furniture and heavy/bulky objects is much more difficult now. I really need to work on building/rebuilding actual muscle. I can't just put my hip into something anymore... they push back! Knowing what I know now, would I change my mind? Absolutely not. The benefits still outweigh (no pun intended) the downsides, just be aware that there may be life changes you didn't anticipate.

Being able to buy clothes "off the rack" rather than having to go to a DXL store. It's amazing the difference in cost. When I started the journey I had a 56-inch waist, which non-Big&Tall stores just don't stock.
I've been reluctant to invest a whole lot of money in clothes as I've been losing weight, as ideally I will continue to lose sizes for a bit longer, so why pay for clothes I'll (hopefully) only wear for a couple months. It's like the reverse of being a kid/teenager, when Mom would get frustrated that I outgrew clothes yet again.
However, at some point the old clothes start looking awful, like you're wearing a tent... not to mention heavy and uncomfortable AF. Being in a transition state with sizes and not wanting to spend money, I went to Wal-Mart and bought some $10.97 jeans... first time wearing jeans in over 30 years. Hard to wrap my brain around it... the jeans weren't unbearably uncomfortable. I was able to buy 44-inch waist and now several weeks later, they're already feeling a bit loose. My next shopping trip, it might be 42.
They had a bunch of dress shirts on clearance that rang up at $2. The XL (down from 3XL) fit easily. At that price, who cares if they fall apart in a few washes.
A whole new world: Being able to shop clothing sales and clearance. That hasn't been part of my life in many many decades.

100% this. It's a life changer (and quite possibly a life saver).