vikingbeast

I had a two-day athletic seminar this weekend with a bunch of people I've never met. We were asked to tell our story, so I told my story about struggling with weight loss, getting WLS, and trying to maintain strength through the weight loss. Afterwards a few of the participants said, "I would never have guessed you were heavy before. You could never tell now." Like a (refreshing) splash of cold water because I of course remember myself as the fat kid.

How is your blood iron level? When my iron levels get low that is EXACTLY how I feel.

If you're only eating 1000 calories at 9 months out, maybe try bumping that up to 1200 calories for two weeks and see how you do. (You're not going to "balloon"—200 extra calories a day for 14 days is about 0.8 lbs, if bodies were machines.)

Been a while since I checked in. A friend of mine said, "You know, if you do a French tuck*, you can show off those belt buckles of yours. You're slim enough now." I am not convinced this is the style for me (feels like I wasn't paying attention after pulling my pants up and accidentally buttoned them around my shirt), but damn if it didn't feel nice to actually be able to do it. So here I am, another almost 40 lbs. down, 39 to go. Three quarters of the way to goal. * French tuck - you tuck in the front but not the back. I know no French people who do this, but maybe it's named after Tan France instead of France France.

Congrats!!

Congratulations! The 100-lb. thing is such an amazing feeling.

It took me a good month before I wasn't constantly tired. And it gets better, and fast. I have so much energy now it's hard to believe (though I do crash around 8:30 p.m.... but I get up at 5 a.m.).

My surgeon's office was in the hospital itself, so he had me trot around to various departments. The EKG was in the cardiology department. The blood work and urine sample were in the lab across the hall. The only involvement my primary care doctor had was a separate appointment to give final clearance for surgery, which was basically him reviewing the results of the labs and EKG and then going, “Are you ready?” “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

I got a DXA scan, assumed I would lose 5-10% of my muscle mass, and picked the weight based on wanting to be below 20% body fat. That end goal changes as my body comp changes, but I guessed 240 and I was exactly on target.

I eat fruit every day, usually high-fiber fruits like berries. I'm going to respectfully disagree about keeping it under 1000 calories the first year—work this out with your nutritionist and make sure you are fueling what you want your body to do as well as setting yourself up for fat loss. 60-70g of net carbs sounds really low. I track all carbs and don't net out the fiber, but I eat 120g of carbs on "low activity days" and 150g of carbs on "high activity days", plus 60g of fat and 140-150g of protein, for a total of 1580-1740 calories a day. I am four and a half months out.

I'm with @JAKE H - if you can, try out CrossFit. The exercises look intense but can be scaled down to the level where you are, and you build up. Most CrossFit classes are a combination of pure strength (today was barbell power cleans) and then a high-intensity workout (today was short runs, dumbbell cleans, and pull-ups or ring rows). That said, I don't do CF every day. 7 days a week is too much. I usually do CF 3-4 days a week, go for a decent run (5k) twice a week, and do mobility work (with a program called ROMWOD) 3-4 days a week. And sometimes my body goes on strike and I do sweet f🤬-all for a day or even two. The result is that I have very little loose skin (a little around my chest and some in the front of my stomach), and my metabolism is at full rev most of the time.

I eat more slowly than I did pre-op, but I'm not taking 30 minutes to eat a meal either (which makes my surgeon crazy, he says I'm going to stretch my stomach doing that). I pre-plan my meals ("the food scale eats first") so I know I'm not going to overeat, and some days the restriction kicks in early and that's that.

Yes. Absolutely. My nutritionist has actually broken stalls for me by telling me to go a day without tracking my food and just eating to satisfied. She also is trying to get my consumption up because at some point my "set point" will reset, and she wants it to be a normal-ish amount of food, not 700 calories a day or something. I'm currently at 1600-1700 a day and it's almost time to bump up.

September 14 here. I am down 78 pounds since surgery and 87 since the start of the pre-op diet. Weight loss has definitely slowed as I replace fat with muscle, but it's nice to be able to buy clothes and have choices again.

When I started losing weight on my own, my shoe size went down (from a 16W to a 14W). It was actually great, because my feet didn't hurt anymore. And so I dutifully bought all new shoes. When I consulted with my surgeon, I asked if it was likely that my shoe size would change again, and he said no, I had arches now and it's not like arches just randomly re-establish themselves to where they were. Don't worry about it, he said. Last week I was exercising and noticed I had a blister on each foot. I went to a shoe store and measured my feet—size 12, and no longer wide. I love the way I feel but my poor wallet! I had to buy new work boots, too, (11.5—those always run big) and those are NOT cheap. I still have 70 lbs. to lose... am I gonna end up doing this all again in six months or a year? I guess we'll find out.

@MelanatedQueen It's totally the three-week stall. Your body is rebalancing its fluid levels and stuff. While there's some variation (hello, hormones...), generally the rule is CICO (calories in calories out). If you're eating 500 cal a day, there is no way you're not going to lose weight. Even if you're very petite, your body requires a certain number of calories just to exist, and 500 is below that number. If you get through another three weeks without moving, talk to your surgeon, but nearly everyone breaks that stall in a week or two.

Apparently carb balance tortillas and those little packets of tuna salad make up a huge portion of my diet. Oh, and Core Power chocolate milk protein shakes. Gotta get the fiber in somehow...

Another crazy Scandi here... I am shaming my Viking ancestors on the daily here. I had my entire HVAC replaced so I could have more efficient heat (I live in Orange County, California!). I am ALWAYS cold. I am about four months out so have a while before equilibrium hits.

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.

WHOOP WHOOP! Amazing! That's an incredible transformation, thank you for sharing it and thanks for being here to talk us newbs through the process.

Icelandic yoghurt is also called skyr, and it is absolutely the perfect food for a weight loss surgery patient—high protein, low carb, and low fat.

Wow. Let's call a spade a spade—that is abuse on their part. But screw them. They're not going to be supportive no matter what. Let's talk about the reality here. Are there people who could lose 100 lbs. on their own with diet and exercise? Yes. And they all have something they'd really like to sell you. It is NOT the easy way out. It is basically giving you a lifesaving tool—the TEMPORARY ability to restrict your calories and not be starving hungry and tempted to undo it. Basically you are going to get a year or so to reevaluate your relationship with food without having things like a sugar addiction hanging over your head. But it is still diet and exercise. I wish I could beam into your head the wonderment I feel as I shrink down. I'm 6 feet tall and have lost 85 pounds in four months (including pre-op). I haven't broken out into a random sweat; I can work all day (physical labor) and just be tired when the other guys are tired; I can run and jump and fit in spaces meant for average size human beings; I can buy clothes in normal stores; I don't have any comorbidities anymore, and in fact when I got Covid, it was mild and my doctor said my weight loss almost certainly helped with that. tl;dr You do this for you, and the hell with what your gaslighting parents say. Psychiatric ward, my hind foot.

I ate potatoes at that point. But only a couple of bites. I'll be honest that post-surgery, I don't really like French fries anymore. (This is SO WEIRD.) I'm making a mashed potato tonight for me and my sister, I'll have a couple of bites and be good.

I'm surprised they want you on so little food, honestly. What happens if you bump the calories up by 100-200?

That’s just my own poor reading comprehension! 1g/kg body mass makes way more sense <does math>. Thanks for being patient with me.