STLoser

I found that all the chewable ones were disgusting to me, especially soon after my surgery. I prefer a pill so the ProCare is perfect and my levels have been great so far.

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I’m so happy for you I wanted to cry! I have a seven year old and feel the same way about doing things with him. He told me it’s not fun to play catch with me anymore since now I’m fast and can catch him. I love capturing him and smothering him with kisses!

Best. One. Ever. It snowed here in the St. Louis area, and I have always loved snow but haven't been able to play in it for years because of my weight. My 11 year old son and I just came inside from playing in the snow and sledding and I went up and down our hill so many times to sled and wasn't winded AT ALL. This is the first time in my son's life that I've been able to get out there and keep up with him in the snow and this and this alone is worth every penny I paid for my surgery!!! [emoji16]

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Best. One. Ever. It snowed here in the St. Louis area, and I have always loved snow but haven't been able to play in it for years because of my weight. My 11 year old son and I just came inside from playing in the snow and sledding and I went up and down our hill so many times to sled and wasn't winded AT ALL. This is the first time in my son's life that I've been able to get out there and keep up with him in the snow and this and this alone is worth every penny I paid for my surgery!!! [emoji16]

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Best. One. Ever. It snowed here in the St. Louis area, and I have always loved snow but haven't been able to play in it for years because of my weight. My 11 year old son and I just came inside from playing in the snow and sledding and I went up and down our hill so many times to sled and wasn't winded AT ALL. This is the first time in my son's life that I've been able to get out there and keep up with him in the snow and this and this alone is worth every penny I paid for my surgery!!! [emoji16]

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I had NASH (fatty liver disease), newly diagnosed high blood pressure and I've had Migraines since I was 10. I'm 50. Everything went away except the migraines, but I'm also going through menopause I think and they have increased. [emoji2370]

The thing is, anyone can have these conditions, so I do take issue with doctors acting like weight loss will cure everything. I knew it was the only way to improve my fatty liver, and it did, so I'm happy about that, but I wish doctors would let people know that there is no guarantee it will make all thr comorbidities go away.

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Best. One. Ever. It snowed here in the St. Louis area, and I have always loved snow but haven't been able to play in it for years because of my weight. My 11 year old son and I just came inside from playing in the snow and sledding and I went up and down our hill so many times to sled and wasn't winded AT ALL. This is the first time in my son's life that I've been able to get out there and keep up with him in the snow and this and this alone is worth every penny I paid for my surgery!!! [emoji16]

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Best. One. Ever. It snowed here in the St. Louis area, and I have always loved snow but haven't been able to play in it for years because of my weight. My 11 year old son and I just came inside from playing in the snow and sledding and I went up and down our hill so many times to sled and wasn't winded AT ALL. This is the first time in my son's life that I've been able to get out there and keep up with him in the snow and this and this alone is worth every penny I paid for my surgery!!! [emoji16]

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There is so much fatphobia and anti-fat bias in healthcare. So many doctors default to seeing us as obese only, and can’t see past our weight so they end up prescribing weight loss as the cure to anything and everything. So your story doesn’t surprise me one bit ☹️
They’ve done that to me so many times, to my fat friends, to many fat influencers I follow on social media.. it’s one of the reasons I got surgery in the first place. It’s so dehumanising to realise you will never really be treated like a person if you’re fat, be that in healthcare or out and about by strangers.
Wishing you well and I truly hope that you end up getting relief for your symptoms, be that through continued weight loss or doctors who finally listen instead of judge. 🤗

Hello all! I had the SADI-S on July 24, 2020. I weighed 393 pounds at my highest and 368 on the day of surgery. I am so excited because today I finally made it to onederland! When I started out I was hoping to get at least down to 200 pounds. I am so happy to be officially under that number now and I hope to go even lower. My weight has slowed down a lot in the last few months and sometimes it's hard to stay motivated but I am not giving up! My wonderful, supportive husband gave me the shirt I'm wearing in this pic to Celebrate. It came last week and he wouldn't let me open it and I thought it was something for the anniversary of the day we met, which also happens to be 18 years ago today. I was so surprised by the shirt.
Anyway. I just wanted to share because I am so excited and had to tell someone who understands.  
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Try an electrolyte drink too. It will give you a boost of energy. I carried some with me for months & I often take some with me if I’m going to be active. Low BP can be can be difficult to deal with - the vision fade outs, doughy or thick head, energy drops, … I have it all day every day. My BP sits around 70+/- over 50+/- but it’s not uncommon for it to be lower.
Personally I’d avoid the coffee & try tea instead - less caffeine. You don’t need the shakes from too much caffeine on top of everything else. Keep your fluids up.
Hope you feel better soon.

find a place that does the PCR test (the one you can get at pharmacies and doctor's offices - where they send your sample off to a lab and it takes 2-3 days to get it back). The antigen tests (the ones you do at home or the 15-minute ones you can have done at some places) aren't as accurate with the omicron variant as it was with the earlier variants - but the PCR is still very accurate with omicron.

we were allowed to go off Protein Shakes at the point we were getting most (if not all) our Protein from our food, but some of us stayed on them (I STILL have one every day at almost seven years out), and they were fine with that. I know some surgeons want their patients off them pretty quickly - so I guess that's not that unusual BUT....as others have said, the rest of what he told you is nuts. Is there a dietitian in that clinic that you could work with?

I will add another voice to the "very hard to stretch out stomach" camp. It sounds like your surgery team might be behind the times on their advice. I have listed to a number of talks by surgeons and researchers who say that there's not much evidence that being able to eat "too much" means your stomach is "stretched out". Some surgeons will look at someone's stomach and say "hmmm, this is bigger than I expected, they must have stretched it out!" But people just have varying anatomy and the stomach naturally stretches and contracts based on a number of factors.

Mach Dich doch keine Sorgen!! You're not going to stretch your pouch out like that. It's okay. As said above, it is just food.
My surgeon was full of piss and vinegar about my eating too much (1600 kcal / 6700 KJ per day)... but I just stop when I feel full, and I have more energy. And you know what? Occasionally I will eat something junky. Usually if I have a craving for something that lasts a couple of days. And after a couple of slow bites of it, the craving is gone.
And I am still losing weight hand over fist.

Eating a few more vegetables than you’re ‘supposed to’ is not going to stretch out your tummy or ruin your weight loss. Unless you’re frequently eating huge portions of high fat, high carb, high sugar foods I wouldn’t worry.
Out of curiosity, how far along are you? I ask because as you progress and are able to eat larger portions you’ll find the dilemma of Protein vs vegetables isn’t as much of an issue. Just eat your protein first & if you can eat a little more choose vegetables. I like @ShoppGirl’s suggestion to eat vegetables as a snack.
There’s a lot to learn & it takes time to discover what works for you. Because we’ve either been where you are or are still working our way through it. We understand & want you to be successful. It’s why we’re all happy to share our experiences & what we’ve learnt along the way.
The reason you feel more satisfied eating a smaller portion of toast than vegetables is that the toast tends to swell in your tummy & sit more heavily. It’s why many of us are advised to avoid bread, Pasta & rice while losing. (I still avoid them - can’t get my protein in & I feel blah!) Depending on how you cook them they’re relatively low calorie & you’ll get way more nutrients from the vegetables than the toast.
I’ve always loved vegetables so eating so few in the beginning was very strange. I remember that first single green bean I was able to eat. So excited. Then I just slowly added a few more as I was able. At 2.6yrs post surgery I eat about 3 ozs of protein & about 1 cup of vegetables & sometimes a meal is only protein. But that works for me.
Have a chat with your dietician about portion size (volume vs weight) & calories. It may put your mind at ease.

This has to be the most draconian crash diet of which I've ever heard.
I always say to follow the plan because once we start picking and choosing we're no longer on a plan, but...
Asking different medical team members can yield different answers. My surgeon was four square against Protein Shakes, while his associate was all for them. You gotta love consistency, but at least you can "plan shop."
Good luck,
Tek

My mom is in assisted living but mentally she is great I stopped in to bring her some adult diapers the other day and I walked in her room - I had sunglasses on - she said Hi and I said Hi! She said can I help you with something? I lifted the box of diapers and showed them to her. She said Oh! Did my daughter drop those off for me? I said what?! She said why didn’t she come see me? She just dropped them off with you? I took off my glasses and said mom it’s me! OMG she said I didn’t recognize you! Well open the blind honey I want to see you in the light! I’m only 5 weeks out but back into a size 14 jeans and lost 32 pounds. It really made my day. I’ve seen her once right out of surgery but didn’t feel well enough to stay long. I felt like I wasn’t loosing really so it meant a lot to me for her to not recognize me at first it made me realize I am progressing

Nothing too fancy yet, but finally my favorite winter PJ fit loose on me when I avoided wearing them for few years for fitting too snug on me. 🥰

Welcome & congratulations on your surgery.
Never be afraid to ask for help. This process is not always easy. Many hiccups & roadblocks along the way as we work through the crap that lead us to being overweight. We don’t talk about the importance of doing the head work for nothing 🙂
Were you recommended a therapist as part or your pre surgery program? If not ask your team for a recommendation to someone who specialise in eating disorders & bariatric patients. You may find working with a therapist about your cravings & night eating very helpful. There are many people on this forum who have benefitted from working through their food obsessions etc. with therapy to understand what’s drinking them to eat & finding strategies to manage those drives.
Good luck & congratulations on your weight loss so far. It’s just the beginning.

I am 4 months post surgery and this morning I am 106lbs down!!! I fit in a seat belt again, I can tie my shoes, I had to move my seat up in my car, I went from a size 28 jeans to a now 18!!! I am feeling amazing, I had no issues whatsoever!!! Seriously the best decision of my life!! Im living again
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New to the forum, here is readers digest of my story.
I am a 47 year old Caucasian male. I am on my third career. One kid to graduate HS this year, one to graduate in 2 years. Married 21 years. And I'm pretty good at lying to myself.
I always told myself I was really good at dealing with stress. Never recognized I was a stress eater the entire time. I spent 15 years in EMS right out of college, 3 as an EMT, 12 as a Paramedic in a high performing urban 911 system. Then I went into the labor union world for another 10 years, negotiating contracts and working in workplace disputes. Now I work in Medical Insurance as a teacher/trainer/adult education specialist, teaching others how to handle appeals and complaints.
I have some unique abilities that helped lead to me being 364 lbs (6 foot tall) in December 2020.
I remain fluent in the 7-11 diet. I can look at a hot dog on the roller and tell roughly how long it has been on it. I consumed up to 2 liters of soda per day for many years. My partners all used to smoke, but I watched my grandfather die of COPD from smoking as a kid and have never touched a tobacco product. So in essence, I replaced cheap ass convenience store food and soda for smoking during my EMS career. My metabolism changed around age 30 and I just couldn't keep the pounds off anymore. And, this is important... I DIDN'T CARE.
I was pretty burned out, crispy as a medic. I got a job offer to move into the labor union world, negotiating contracts and representing other EMTs and Paramedics around the country. I moved my family (wife and 2 young kids) to another state to work for a startup labor union. I took it. And I stopped exercising as I tried to conquer a new career field. What they don't tell you about labor work is that it is also high stress work. I cut soda out during those years but drank a lot of sweet tea and despite what my doctor, family, and friends would say.... I DIDN'T CARE about my size.
The union I worked for went through an old fashioned union labor coup. My life was threatened and people intentionally harmed me personally and professionally. At the same time, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. The union I worked for was absorbed by a big national union player. I signed on with the big national player because I needed the insurance for my wife. We weren't in a good place, survival mode. I spent the next few years traveling for the new labor union, in order to have the insurance to pay for my wife's cancer treatments.
When my wife was well enough (she still is chronically ill, years later) to travel, I moved our family back to our home state of Oregon. The labor union I worked for (who had approved my move) promptly laid me off. So back into survival mode, I became a statistic. Middle aged man, laid off, starting a 3rd career. I was hired by a Medical Insurance Company that paid very little, but jobs were scarce and it was what I had. I took a second job at a local grocery store and worked 60-70 hours per week for a few years. There's no such thing as dietary control when you are working that much and are that tired, and frankly....I DIDN'T CARE about my size.
Over a few years, my financial situation has improved and while we are not well off, I no longer work 2 jobs. My PCP asked me 3 years in a row to look into bariatric surgery. I finally looked into it, and this is important... I CHOSE TO TAKE THIS PATH. The choice is important. The surgery is just a step to get there.

It was time for me to grow up. I'm 47 years old, Life is damn hard and I need to start taking care of myself... I already have several other medical conditions associated with middle age. I frankly still don't care what I look like physically, but I can see the road ahead and don't want to go down that path (obesity gets worse, diabetes, HTN, Stroke, High Cholesterol, Heart Disease).

I did this to myself by not being disciplined. So to make this lifestyle change, I need to be as disciplined as possible. I was ready. I CHOSE. IT IS TIME TO GROW UP.

December 2020 - 6' tall - 364lbs
RNY Surgery December 2021 - 316lbs
I am 4 days post surgery writing this today.
And I worked my ass off to change my relationship to food.

That's my story... For what it is worth. I finally decided to grow up.

I am finding that I am enjoying my non-scale victories very much!! 😊😊 I can cross my legs, take the stairs without my knees hurting and being out of breath. Most of all I am really enjoying the restful nights sleep!

I've got the one sure-fire way to avoid stalls:
Get off the scale. scales are crazy-makers. You know the saying that a watched pot never boils? Well, a watched scale never moves.
Trust your plan and the weight will come off.
Good luck,
Tek

yes - it's related to the surgery. It affects your hormones. A lot of women experience screwed up menstrual cycles (and/or have weird moods) for the first few weeks or months after surgery. Estrogen is stored in fat cells, and the theory I've read is that it's released during rapid weight loss (don't know if the latter part of that is true, but it IS stored in fat cells, and lots of women DO have hormonal issues after surgery because of it). It'll eventually stabilize and things will be back to normal.
I don't know the answer to your second question, though.