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I am obsessive, but to me it is all more of a game that I'm playing and winning. I don't know how to explain it. Before surgery, I thought about food a lot, and I still do, but it is different. I feel like I am staying on top of it all, I'm in control.

1300 calories is what I get in, I'm maintaining. It's a fine line, if I drop to 1200, I'll lose and if I'm much over 1325, I will gain. Between 1250 and 1325, I maintain I'm "safe". I don't get bored with tracking and I find it fascinating the calories in some things, and then there are foods that I think will be higher than they actually are. I was using Fitday.com for 2.5 years but started using MFP five or six months ago. I like it a lot better, easier to use and I like it that I can enter recipes.

I confess, I obsessively track my calories/protein. I've been doing it for three years now, it's habit. I sooooo wish I'd done it prior to surgery, just so I'd know how many calories I was taking in on a daily basis. I don't have a clue, I can't even make an educated guess. Oh well.

My daughter's best friend from HS is a teacher in Pflugerville! Great area down there.

Awwww, looks scrumptious, you weren't kidding!!! Thank you!!!!

22 have RSVP'd, what are you waiting for??!!! Lunch at Season's 52, a plain ol' support group in Plano, Texas! This has been going on for four or five months now. This is a group, started by a fellow sleever, everyone is invited. It's fun, informative, a good time, good fellowship all of us, no matter WHERE we are on this path we've chosen to travel! If you have a 'cheerleader' bring him or her with you! Season's 52 (in the Shops at Legacy area) can be found on line, every entrée is 475 calories or less. If you want Texas sized portions, you may be disappointed, but it's good food, and size appropriate!!! C'mon - you won't regret attending. If you're interested, send me a message and I'll give you the email address you need to RSVP.

It's all head stuff. I'm three years out and wearing 4's and 6's, I still have days when I feel fat. It's crazy. At a support group I attended prior to surgery, we were talking about how they operate on our tummy not our head.....and someone suggested that when you are out with someone, eating or at the mall, grocery shopping, just out, have the person you're with point out somebody else that is your size. You can look at a STRANGER and see their true size, whereas you do NOT see that when you look in a mirror!!! It's very helpful and interesting. I am not sure it will all be "normal" in my head, but I'm better than I was a year ago!

Tuna started for me at week #3.

How disappointing for you. Hopefully it will be resolved soon. I'm sorry.

I'm not sure who you're talking to or which of us are confusing, but I for one traveled a lot. Back and forth from Wisconsin to Texas, four round trips to and from my surgeon before we moved back to TX, I stayed in a hotel over night every trip. A pretty good discount due to the nature of my stay. I've read through every post on this thread and I'm certain they are all plain and clear, nothing murky.

SF Jell-O, yogurt, 1% cottage cheese. In a week or so you can add deli meat, I loved smoked turkey!

From TX - surgery on June 11, 2010. 23 pounds prior to surgery, 85 total.

I didn't until I reached goal, but ask your dietitian. They're all different. I eat guacamole now, not a lot but when we eat fajitas, I don't eat the flour tortilla, I eat the meat, guacamole and a little beans and rice. Yummy!

Three years post op, as of today! I lost 23 lbs prior to surgery, 85 total. I have been maintaining for 2.5 years, going between 144 and 147.

Thanks Kathy! Feeling good, and like you, I don't hide from the camera any longer. My new picture was taken two months when we were in Galveston. I'm glad you're feeling/doing good.....life is so different now. We both made a good decision when we decided on this surgery. I don't take it for granted and am still grateful that I was able to do it. My youngest 'grand' was 18 months, he'll doesn't even remember the 'other me'.

It is beyond "Thanksgiving" full. Not as much painful as it is uncomfortable. It is almost always when eating out, at home I weigh and/or measure my food, when I'm out, I get busy visiting and I don't 'start feeling full'. If you've ever heard the term "One bite too many" it is true, one bite can put you over. There have been occasions when I've had to lay the passenger seat back on our way home. Ugh. Rice and pasta are THE WORST!!!!

Bariatric Advantage, this is where I get my calcium citrate. I take four per day, 250 mg each. Two chews at a time, but you need to do the other two a couple of hours later. Usually do two before noon and the other two later in the day. I like the chocolate, like eating four Tootsie Rolls every day. They ship me two bags on a regular basis. If you are on auto re-fill, shipping is free.

I'm am three years out today, with that said, this is MY experience with some of the questions you have asked. I still do not eat and drink together, I drink up to the time I eat and wait for 30 minutes after finishing. This includes, water, iced tea, alcohol. Everything is included. It's just habit now. I didn't eat fried food at all until I reached goal. Now I do, but seldom and not much. Today I had a reg. McDonald's hamburger, the meat and one side of the bun. In addition to that, I had six or seven French fries. I can't imagine that you'll ever be able to, or want to eat a double meat cheeseburger again. I've eaten a couple of fried pickles, zucchini....things like that, but it is something I choose not to do often. I'd rather have a jr. dip of ice cream at Braum's. I've eaten spicy foods from the get go practically and have eaten out since week two.....tortilla soup, just the broth, at a local Mexican restaurant. At year #3 I can eat and entire tamale or enchilada, with about 1 tablespoon of refried beans and 1 tablespoon of rice. I also order corn tortillas and can eat one....it is what I dip in the salsa rather than the fried chips. Pasta and rice are tricky, for me anyway.....it's like both of these get in there and then triple in size!!! I make spaghetti sauce and pasta, but keep them separate. I can eat about a fourth cup of pasta, but put a half cup of sauce on it. These are two things that have both made me miserable on several occasions in the past three years!! I don't smoke anything, so I can't tell you anything about that. I hope this helps!

Full liquids. Cream of chicken soup and other cream soups, I got the 98% FF - I liked Celery and chicken the best, blended or strained. No chunkies. Yogurt, SF Jell-O, skim milk. These are the things that come to mind.

Believe it or not, I got a "steal of a deal" with what I paid. We were living in WI and sleeve surgery wasn't popular at all up there....at that time. I attended a support group, pre- op and post-op. There was ONE lady who'd had it and her surgeon had to battle with the insurance company for it to be approved. Anyway, IF you could find a doctor that did our surgery, it was between 22K and 28K. Shocking, because it was so much less in the south, TX, TN, LA, GA. All over down here it was between 11K and 15K. I'm not sure why, but it is the most popular surgery here, with most of the support group people having had sleeve surgery, with 1 or 2 RNY and seldom ever a lapband patient. Before I decided to come to Dallas for sure, I check Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and even Chicago, all were about double the price, some more than double and that is for cash pay! So, I was thrilled with the price, it felt like Christmas morning when I discovered there were options when insurance wouldn't pay because I wasn't big enough and didn't have pre existing health issues. Oh well.

I can't believe it's been three years. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine how my life would change. It's been a wild, wild ride and I wouldn't have missed it for the world! I still don't really see me as others do, and I'm not sure I ever will. I'm still a work in progress. Good luck to all of you starting on YOUR journey, it's fun. Get a disposable camera and have someone take a picture of you the day before or the day of surgery....then have them take a picture of you every month on your surgery 'date'. After your 'one year' surgiversary, go get the camera developed. Having the pictures laid out side by side....seeing your transformation like that.....it is amazing! You'll be glad you did it, it's fun! Have a great day!

There is also http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/ I like it, but I didn't find it as useful as this one.

Today is THREE years for me, and thank you! Actually it's only been less than a week ago that all the nastiness began, I THINK - although it may seem like longer. Nothing is wrong, but all the Mexico posts just kept on and on and on....when I saw one post praising some doc down there and acting like it's the best medical care they'd EVER had, basically putting down the U.S. doctors, I had just had enough. After a few posts, it was like a free for all. Forgive me, the 'filter' is in place again! Have a great day!

No, don't leave and don't think it's always like this. It is not. Welcome to the VGS forum!! I was on it for seven months prior to surgery and I got a lot of valuable information.

I am not sure if you're asking me, I THINK you are! If so, I am doing great, three years today. Right now I was in surgery, or at least I was "out of it" and headed that way!! I reached goal in six months, MY goal, which was five lbs less than my physician's....I got to his goal, 150, a month earlier. I'd say YES, the first six month is a real honeymoon period. Follow the plan, under eat your sleeve. Log your food, weigh and/or measure your food and weigh daily so you'll know where you are at. Develop these good habits, let them become your new normal, your life. To me, it's habit, just like breathing. Good luck to you, you'll be shocked at how different your life is a year from today!!!!