Haven't been here in a while! I still keep getting PMs through my email, so I figured I'd drop by. Been pretty busy with school/work lately (I'm a few months away from finishing medical school). I remember how few people still stick around the boards once they've maintained their weightloss for a few months, and how much the newbies love to see people who are a few years out.

For those who are not familiar with me, I joined these boards in June 2010 and had my VSG with Dr. Aceves on Aug 9, 2010 at 208 lbs. I reached my original goal weight of 150 lbs within 5 months; my lowest weight to date has been 135. I'm maintaining around 140 now (I'm 5'5" and have a large frame). I had a fairly simple and stress-free recovery and consistent weightloss with no major stalls. My weight has bounced up on a few occasions since my surgery, but I always catch myself after I notice a few extra pounds and change up my eating.

I went through a phase where I ate anything I wanted and maintained my weight, but back in the spring I became interested in the paleo/primal diet - which is actually fairly similar to our post-WLS diets in that it's relatively low-carb. However, you are not allowed ANY grains and NO processed foods at all. The diehards will also avoid soy, peanuts, and dairy. I personally still eat dairy, but I choose full-fat versions. I eat as much meat/fish/chicken/game as I want, all fruits and vegetables, nuts, full-fat dairy, and occasional low-sugar treats such as dark chocolate (80-85% usually), etc. I've completely lost all interest in grains and a lot of treats taste very sweet to me now. pizza, etc just tastes like I'm chewing flour; I found some artisan ice cream that's quite low in sugar, but even that's a little too sweet, so I think I'll be getting my own ice cream maker soon and make low-sugar ice cream. I eat about 2500 calories a day on average. I eat about 7-8 times a day. I can eat enough that no one notices I eat small portions.

Today, I ate:

Meal 1: 4 strips thick bacon

Meal 2: about 1/2 pint strawberries with double cream

Meal 3: lamb chop, 2 small cucumbers

Meal 4: kohlrabi and apple slaw with homemade dressing

Meal 5: 3 strips thick bacon, several squares dark chocolate

Meal 6: handful of almonds, cheese curds

Meal 7: roasted figs with goat cheese wrapped in prosciutto

I took 2 months off from the gym recently because of work, but I still biked about an hour 3-4 times a week and tried to run about 30 mins 2x a week. I'm coming back to the gym this coming week. I do Crossfit, so I have a very varied routine with lots of bodyweight exercises like pull-ups and burpees, explosive cardio such as sprints, and heavy weightlifting.

I'm attaching pix of me from the day before surgery and some pix from this summer (I haven't really changed much since).

Congrats Blackberry Juice!

Maintenance has always been the scariest thing for me. I'm so happy to see you are doing well with it.

Lynda

BB Juice,

Can you share your vitamin routine with us?

WCM

I don't take any vitamins at this point, I stopped after a few months out.

Thanks for sharing your story. Did you have a personal trainer? I if so, how many months out? Also, I don't see your incisions. How many did you have and how did you care for them? I am less than a week out and worried about how my incisions will heal and look like.

I never had a personal trainer. I already had a good amount of experience with working out before I started surgery. Like I mentioned in my post, I did join a Crossfit gym about a year out - it's all group exercise with coaches, so I got some help learning the more technical movements (e.g. Olympic weightlifting, gymnastics, etc).

I had 5 incisions. 2 of them are barely visible, they look the same as the scars from when I had 2 tiny moles removed when I was a kid. The other 3 are not visible at all. In fact, I showed my abdomen to a bariatric surgeon and he was blown away by how good it looked. He said he would've never guessed I had had laparoscopy at some point, and he couldn't believe Dr. Aceves was able to pull out the stomach through such a tiny incision - he said he wouldn't have been able to do that himself.

Thanks, everyone!

BBJ for VST POSTER CHILD YOU GO GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!