lizonaplane

Jello is not considered a solid. It melts in the mouth

So, I was in Greece for a family vacation and we had a private food tour with just my parents (who are "average" sized) and we were discussing with the guide life in Greece, and she mentioned that recently there are kids in Greece who are fat and this is a real problem that the doctors are worried about. After the tour, I mentioned to my parents that I wondered if I was still really fat would she have made this comment, and my parents said they had wondered the same thing! I now "pass" for a "normal" person!

9 months post op and I eat 1100-1600 calories a day.

I really like this idea. I already eat when I'm hungry regardless of how many calories I have "left". But sometimes I feel like I'm eating "too many calories" even though I don't know how many calories I can eat and still lose weight, plus my calorie counting is always an estimate because I eat out most meals.

CRA= Clinical Research Associate - I travel to different hospitals/medical centers and review data/methods of clinical trials to ensure that the hospitals are following the rules of the study and ensuring the safety/rights of the patients. CTM= clinical trial manager - oversees the general day to day management of the clinical sites (hospitals/medical centers) for the company running the trial (usually a CRO = clinical research organization - that's the company that the pharmaceutical company hires to run the trials).

I'm a CRA! Was it that obvious from my posts LOL? I am unfortunately not a fan of eggs, sausage, and bacon, and usually the yogurt has sugar in it. I usually can buy protein shakes at the local CVS/walgreens. It's really a lot better now, in terms of hunger. I try to eat a lot of fish - finally in the last few weeks I started being able to eat salad, at least mixed greens, if not romaine/iceberg lettuce. So, that opens up a lot.

Caffeine really isn't dehydrating. That's an old belief; newer research shows that unless you are drinking more than about 450 mg of caffeine (about 5 cups of coffee), you are fine. I was told I could have caffeine after 30 days, mostly because it can irritate your stomach. I drink tons of coffee, tea, and some diet soda now and I have no issues with dehydration.

I ate and still eat a lot of mushrooms, sauteed. And onion and garlic, of course.

I would be happy to feel "not hungry". I was told I could snack on non-starchy veggies, but I can't seem to figure out how to take them with me when I fly/am in hotels that don't necessarily have fridges/am on site with no fridge all day. I don't particularly want to get food poisoning. I find that if I am really busy, I don't notice the hunger so much, and the topamax is definitely helping, as is the metformin. So does drinking lots of coffee and tea with milk, which I can usually get wherever I work.

I have been hungry from day one. I try to eat things that are nutrient dense and filling, like deli meat and cheese (the fat in cheese keeps me full longer), fruit (fiber keeps me full), fish, etc. I find that if I eat crackers/cookies/chips, these just disintegrate into nothing and don't fill me up at all, so I'd try something besides triscuits. I find that I have to be more full than I want in order to not be hungry in 30 minutes. I did talk to my surgery center and they put me on medication because I was so hungry. It happens to some people. But coffee and tea with milk help me too.

For me, it's more about what I eat... if I eat junk food (chips, cookies, sweets) I feel like I can eat a lot, but if I eat solid protein like chicken or deli meat, I can't eat much at all. But, some days I'm more hungry than others, and I think this has to do with how busy I am - if I'm really busy and not thinking about food, I'm not that hungry

I had sauteed zucchini at 2-3 weeks with no issues. It was delicious. I was told to avoid celery, but I was able to eat whatever else I wanted at 3-4 weeks. I am 9 months out and I still struggle with iceberg and romaine lettuce. I haven't tried celery, but I don't like it anyway.

I find that if I don't eat to restriction, I am so hungry in 30 minutes-1 hour. It's not particularly comfortable, and there's a fine line between feeling too full and wanting to puke, but I don't know how else to eat enough to stay "full" more than 10-20 minutes.

All of my visits starting with consultation have been via video. The only time I saw anyone in person was for the actual surgery. It was great because I didn't have to take a half-day off of work each time to drive into the city, pay for parking, etc. Just make sure your internet works and you have a private place at home to do the appointment from. The first time you might want to get set up a few minutes early to make sure you can get the system working Good luck!

As others have said, a low resting heart rate is a sign of good cardiovascular fitness (in most cases). Athletes and marathoners often have shockingly low heart rates. If you are concerned, seek out a second opinion, but low heart rates in the absence of other symptoms are usually good not bad. Congratulations on better cardiovascular fitness!

It's normal to be scared. I agree, lapband is not a great surgery. Bypass has the best stats as far as reversing diabetes. I generally like the idea of following your surgeon's advice or getting a second opinion if you're still not sure.

You still have to take vitamins with sleeve, but the risk of vitamin deficiency is lower, because sleeve allows you to absorb all the nutrients you are able to eat - the issue is if you are focusing only on protein and can't eat too much, you are not getting enough nutrients. Sleeve does have slightly lower rate of complications, but both are pretty safe. With sleeve, you have to worry about GERD, so if you have GERD now, it's probably better to do bypass. However, certain medications have absorption issues with bypass, so depending on what medications you take, it might be better to do sleeve. I think you need to talk with your surgeon and see what they recommend, and get a second opinion if you still aren't sure. I wasn't sure, and after two surgeons suggested sleeve, I went with it. I think that was the right decision for me.

Yeah, I weigh whenever I have a scale. I don't plan to stop that either.

I know many people really like Baritastic, but I have more than 12 years of data on MFP and I am comfortable using it, so I don't want to change... I think I'm going to track calories this week to see if I can lose the 2 lbs I gained on my trip and then see from there.

I agree with all of this. Except that I never lost my hunger. I have a calorie "goal" but I usually would go over it and not get upset or restrict myself. It's just that you have to put some number in MyFitnessPal. I've had a lot of different types of disordered eating.

Honestly, no matter what you set your goal weight at, your body is going to decide where it lands. That may be higher or lower than what you expect.

I have several friends who've had this surgery who are 5'11" and are doing well around 175. But the weight you can sustain while still enjoying your life is much more important than the lowest weight you can get to.

I was told to take vitamins with food to help with absorption. I find that taking it with food helps with the nausea. I take my multivitamin at night, but I eat a good snack with it. It can still make me throw up if I don't have enough food in my stomach!

Unfortunately, this wouldn't really work for me as I eat most of my meals out due to work travel. I'm always "guestimating" what I am eating, but usually that is not an issue if I make good choices. At home I do make recipes in MyFitnessPal and know exactly what I'm eating. But that's only 1-2 days a week most weeks.

I would watch some youtube videos designed for plus size people. They tend to be gentler and take into account how bigger bodies move. You could also do a leslie sansone walking video (I'm sure you can find that on YouTube as well). You will not find a personal trainer for low cost. Where I live it's about $90-$100 per appointment.