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Thanks. This is a great help. I drank my first protein shake yesterday - 8oz probably over 15 mins. I had no trouble, but was sort of expecting to feel resistance like with the gastric band I had - nothing. But this morning I had a bit of a sharp tummy ache. The first pain I have had with this! Settling now. Slow right down - heck, that will probably be my big challenge! Thanks. Glad to hear your surgery went so well too. Aren’t we brave!

There are some basic strategies for success after weight loss surgery. You are reminded of some of these tips regularly. Others come up for discussion less often, but making these mistakes can keep you from losing weight. This lesson is a simple one, but one that so many people are unable to grasp. It is a lesson that, when learned, can help you lose extra pounds almost effortlessly. The lesson is, “You are not a trash can.” What?! That’s the big secret?! Yes, it is, and if you do not learn it and apply it, you will have a lot more trouble losing weight. Treating yourself like a trash can is shockingly common, and you may even be doing it to yourself without realizing. Well, take note and see if you can give yourself a weight loss boost. Symptoms of Trash Can-itis Funny as it may sound, you may not even realize how much you treat yourself like a trash can. A trash can is where you put things you do not want anymore. Have you ever… Eaten a few servings of a creamy casserole because your neighbor was kind enough to bring it over? Finished off your child’s sack-lunch sandwich because you want to set a “good example?” Eaten the entire slice instead of a few bites of pie because that’s what was on your plate? Do you see the resemblance to a trash can? Things you don’t want go into the trash can. Food you do not need goes into the trash can. If it is going into your body instead, you are treating yourself like a trash can. You Versus a Trash Can Like a trash can, you can hold a lot of unwanted food. Also like a trash can, you’re a convenient receptacle for the food. Just think about how easy it is to spoon the last few bites from the pot into your mouth instead of the garbage, or clean your plate instead of carrying the leftovers back into the kitchen to toss them. Unlike a trash can, unfortunately, your unwanted food does not go out to the curb each week. It goes to your hips. And belly. And thighs. And a lot of other places that you know all too well. Why Are You Eating? Consistent with the rules of the WLS diet, your goal is to eat the amount your body needs. If you’ve gotten into the habit of eating for other reasons, it may be time to retrain your brain to remember that you should eat what you need, and not what is “there.” Eat what you intend to eat based on your hunger or meal plan; don’t eat food that you had not intended to eat just because you want to finish the box or clear your plate, or because it happens to be there. Put the rest away if it is salvageable; if not, throw it away. Opt Out of the “Clean Plate Club.” For many of us, being part of the “Clean Plate Club” meant making our parents proud. It meant you were a good eater. Sometimes, cleaning your plate at dinner was what earned you dessert. Times have changed, and it is time to grow up and get out of the club. There is no need to clean your plate! Still, those habits can be ingrained for life. So, if you grew up as a proud member of the Clean Plate Club and you find that you are not able to cancel your lifetime membership, use a smaller plate. Do Some Good with Your Good Will Your conscience can be of the biggest barriers to throwing away food. You may wonder that if 1 billion people in the world are starving, how can it be conscionable to throw away perfectly good food? The truth is that what you throw away has nothing to do with what children in India or sub-Saharan Africa are eating (or not eating). Whether you eat the bread that came with the hamburger or you throw it away does not affect starving children. If you really want to lend a hand, donating money would be far more effective than eating too much. Respect Yourself Treating yourself like a human being and not a trash can do wonders for your WLS journey even aside from skipping the extra calories that come with eating extra food. Treat yourself with respect, and you can have more confidence in your daily decisions and behaviors. After all, isn’t it more worthwhile to treat yourself right than to treat a trash can right? Stop treating yourself like a trash can, and you might lose a lot more weight. You will not only be skipping extra calories that you do not need, but you will also have a lot more respect for yourself – which can add fuel to the fire of your weight loss intentions.

As others have said, I do Wendy's Chili. I am almost 3 months post op, I can not eat an entire small (it is at least 2 meals to me). Anywhere else I will order a burger/grilled chicken sandwich without the bun (dry) and ask for mustard. If it comes with bacon I will eat the bacon. I do Buffalo Wild Wings (traditional on bone) hot/medium or lemon pepper (now that I eat so little, I have added other flavors that have some sugar in the sauce). It is too early for me to eat salads (raw fruit or veggies), so will change over time. I find it easier to ask for it without the bun. They usually put it in a hard plastic container and are used to people asking for it this way (for those who watch carbs or for those who order it this way for their dogs).

Check out the new BariatricPal Protein One. It's a protein, multivitamin, calcium, and fiber as well. It's available in 3 flavors and unflavored. We're going to roll out another 5-10 new flavors in 2018.

This is a 97% chance that you made the best decision for your health. It's hard to get better odds than that in sport or weather forecasting. YOU HAVE MADE A GREAT CHOICE WITH AN OVERWHELMING CHANCE OF SUCCESS IN IMPROVING MANY OTHER LIFE OUTCOMES!

This is really up to your surgeon and your individual situation. There was one person posting recently on one of these forums who had a sleeve done instead of a bypass due to the extent of their fatty liver, despite being compliant with their pre-op diet (which somewhat reinforces the point that I have heard from several sources that there is only so much that a couple weeks of dieting can do for this problem.) Some docs are more sensitive to this than others - my doc doesn't do any pre-op dieting other than the typical day before surgery thing and doesn't have any issue with working around fatty livers (it's what he does for a living); other docs may be more troubled with it. YMMV. All you can do is to follow his directions as best that you can - let him know that you had some problems and why, and let him be the judge on it.

I didn't speed it up - it was fairly slow-going all the way. The thing is, after the first six months or so, it's pretty much slow-going for everyone, so after that point, we were all pretty much in the same boat. I just stuck to the plan, that's all. It came off slowly but surely. I almost never went off my plan - I suspect I was more compliant than a lot of others in my group, so I had great success with it (losing 100% of my excess weight). And yes - I did have two or three major stalls along the way (some people have more than that). My first one lasted two weeks (it was weeks 2 & 3 post-surgery. My weight loss started up again week 4 post-surgery - I dropped like 6-8 lbs within a couple of days, then the "slowly but surely" thing started up again). I don't remember how long the other stalls lasted - maybe 2-4 weeks? I remember thinking during those times that this was it, I wasn't going to lose anymore, but then....it would start up again. I did work out (still do), but I'm not a gym rat. I mostly went to water aerobics a couple times a week and yoga a couple times a week. A lot of it was weighing & measuring my food, tracking, weighing myself several times a week, and not going off plan. I was determined to lose as much as humanly possible!!

Your journey sounds similar to mine. Were you a slow loser? Since you said you were close to 300 lbs and lost only 16 the first month. My starting was 294 and I've only lost 44 since surgery Aug 14. Looking for advice or reasurrance that this isn't the end of it all. I'm feeling like crap and need some help getting my shi! together. Thanks Sent from my SM-N910C using BariatricPal mobile app

That's 12.75lbs/month on average. That's outstanding! Don't watch My 600lb Life any more. In my opinion it gives a totally unrealistic picture of the realities of life after weight loss surgery. Most of us will not lose 20/25lbs or even 30-50lbs per month. (Some of us lucky bastages will...and I will hate them for it. )

My surgeon said in one of his presentations that at least once a week or so someone bursts into tears after surgery and says they've done a horrible thing and they regret it. He says these same folks usually do just fine and within a few months they're happy with their choice.....but YES, it's an emotional time:) Don't feel bad if you find yourself double and triple guessing yourself and wondering if you did the right thing....it's very very common.