Used2b575lbs

WTG!!! Doing great, keep up the good work!!!

WTG!!! You look great, what an inspiration!!!

After 4 weeks as required by my doctor I never drank another protein shake again. I get a good amount of my protein from skim milk. One cup is 8 grams, I try to eat as much as I can but if i'm short i'll have a cup or two of skim during the day.

To be honest with you the first two weeks I was on liquid and didn't want to eat/drink and hardly could. My doctor called for me to have 3 3-4 oz servings of Protein shake at double strenght to get my 60 gram requirement and 64 ozs of Water along with 2 Vitamins and 5 Calcium chews and my other medicines. That alone was nauseating and hard to swallow. weeks 3 and 4 I was on two shakes and one 3 oz serving of soft protein Cottage cheese worked great for me during this time and was definitely my favorite mushy. Another favorite was refried Beans but due to fat and sodium I limited them to only on occasion. After four weeks I moved on to slow cooker chicken, eggs, cheese, turkey chili, and other softer hard Proteins. I got sick a handful of times but I think on every occasion it was my fault either eating too fast, too much, or not chewing it good enough. Hope this helps.... If you're ever in doubt make sure to reach out to your doctor and nutritionalist as they all have their own programs.

I rarely got sick maybe once a year if that but I have been sick twice since surgery, I think it may have to do with not getting as much nutrients. I am taking my vitamins but I used to eat a lot and a good amount of it was fruits and vegetables. Not a medical expert but the changing weight so quickly may also cause the body stress and stress breaks down the immune system causing illness. On a side note I am so so so cold always cold and I used to be a big sweaty furnace so maybe that has something to do with it...

I guess I shouldn't expect my head to catch up in less then 2 years to the 20 years of overeating I had before it. I also know it's not practical to think one can stick to low carbs forever. I suppose i'm just having problems finding the balance between eating the good and the bad. My body is definitely carb sensitive and if I have anything with sugar or that similates sugar it sets off the fireworks in my head. Took me a while to realize this but i'm kind of addicted to it. I can break that addiction for a time but if I have something sweet my body goes back into crave mode and it takes 3 days of eating low carbs to break that chain again. It's like all or nothing kind of like the years of yo-yo dieting I did, struggling with breaking the all or nothing philosphy and working in the good and bad at the same time while making sure the bad is only moderate.

Thanks just saw this now, still have a ways to go but i've definitely come far.... Isn't it amazing how tough it is to find those pics when you were at your biggest... Wish I had taken some in t he doorway before I lost the 200 lbs on my own.

I've already done quite a bit of this stuff being down 317 lbs but i'm still looking forward to being able to do anything without size limitations... I already fit in so many chairs and booths that I couldn't have before. I used to break out into a sweat getting dressed now it takes 20+ minutes on the elliptical... One thing I hope for is to some day losing the phisiological connection to food Food still has a pull on me, I still enjoy carbs and junk way too much I hope to some day break the addiction to junk food. I thought I was there but over the past few months I realized this stuff still has a hold on me grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

I was once 575 lbs as the name states, my wife too had a problem with the surgery and many others did as I was able to lose 200 lbs on my own presurgery but what they didn't know that I did was I could easily gain back all that weight plus some without a surgical intervention. I had lost 115 lbs in 2007 only to gain it back plus 50... before that I had lost 80, 85, 60, etc etc etc... Now that I have gone through the surgery she couldn't be happier, she still thinks I could have done without the surgery but I know the surgery was the cement I needed to keep the weight off. Now down 317 lbs in less then 2 years I couldn't be happier, without the surgery I wouldn't be as healthy at some point my yoyo would've snapped me back into a weight gaining binge. The surgery breaks the yoyo, I can still gain weight if I eat wrong but can not gain it nearly as fast and i've learned enough new GOOD habits during the process never to get anywhere close to where I was before. Ask a simple question.... How many 50, 60, 70 year olds weighing as much as you do you see walking around happy and healthy... I knew for me my weight was a death sentence and i'm so glad that over 300 lbs of me is gone!!!

It is really up to your surgeon and also whether or not you lost weight on your own, I lost 200 lbs before the surgery but I started a pre op diet 2 weeks before and it was 2 Protein Shakes and a small salad with a piece of lean Protein and oil and vinegar for dinner. Then 2 days before it was only soft foods pudding, Jello, broth, all sugar free and fat free... the day before was just jello, broth, and Water and I also had to take a laxative two nights before the surgery to make sure I was cleaned out. It varies by doctor... The way I lost most of the 200 lbs was 5 small meals a day all with lean protein as the focus. Hope this helps but i'd put in a call to the doctors office or nutritionist if I was you.

wow way to rock the sleeve!!! I believe many of us are in your position... By nature we are carb sensitive myself included... Once I introduced carbs back in I stalled big time... I took them out and lost more weight then I had in 2 months in one week... Glad that you have broken through!!!

congratulations!!! what great news, I know what you mean about emotions on the scale over the years I've definitely had them both good and bad... Fortunately the past year and a half they've all been positive. Keep up the good work!!!

Congratulations and good luck!!! If I had to make this decision 100 times I would do it all 100...

I wouldn't recommend it so close to the surgery i'd follow the doctors orders, get into the eat to live mode now...

slow cooker chicken, cottage cheese, omelettes, tuna fish, ground turkey chili, three bean salad, and chick peas with oil and vinegar were some of my staples along with some of the stuff that was already mentioned here.

Good work, I myself dieted for a year before surgery and took off 200 lbs knowing it was the last "diet" I would ever have to truly be on... Every bit you lose before the surgery helps. It makes it easier for them to operate. It makes your recovery easier and it makes it easier for you to walk as most doctors want you to start walking right after surgery. It also helps you get used to your new lifestyle, yes you won't be hungry or shouldn't be stomach hungry but dieting ahead of time helps you get used to the head hunger that will still occur.

You do a double take when seeing yourself in the mirror Someone you haven't seen in a while doesn't recognize you until you speak You make frequent trips to the salvation army or goodwill as you know you'll only be in this size for a short period of time You get weird looks from waiters/waitresses not because you're struggling to fit in the booth but because you tell them you don't need/want a drink with your meal You eat to live and no longer live to eat

What a great thread glad I had the opportunity to read it, goals are great to have and each one we hit makes us stronger so happy for you and all your success with the sleeve.

WTG!!! Keep up the good work!!!

Me too and I know I still am but rather then give myself credit for the 317 lbs i've lost I harp on the weight that I still have to lose. We are our own worst critics!!! It's horrible for sure. I still feel like the biggest person in the room that everyone is staring at, I still feel as if I can't sit in that booth, seat, or fit in that space because i'm so big. Then I sit or move into that space and I have enough room for another one of me to fit into there. Your head is definitely behind your body, even if I go out and order something at a restaurant I always order WAY too much and even after eating it 3 or 4 times still end up throwing it out. Some day i'll figure it all out, hopefully sooner then later.

Get in a Protein shake that's 20+ grams of protein but to be honest it took me a month to get in over 400 calories. I was on liquid for two weeks and then mushies for the next 4 with Protein shakes if needed but when I first started solids this is what I would consume: 4 egg whites (16 grams of protein) 68 calories 1/2 cup ff cottage cheese (16 grams of protein) 90 calories 1 chicken thigh slow cooked no bone/skin (14 grams of protein) 110 calories 2 cups of skim milk (16 grams of protein) 160 calories Totals 62 grams of protein 428 calories Of course check with your doctor and nutiritionist but this worked for me.

I sleep on my stomach but favor one side or the other and switch through the night, I didn't have much pain after the surgery and didn't have a drain... The only reason I took pain killers was to go to bed and this only lasted the first week. After that I was fine to sleep however I wanted.

WTG that's great, I was fortunate to get hand me downs and also hit up the salvation army several times along the way... Don't spent too much money on clothes as you will be burning through the sizes, my pants went from 66 to 40 in 19 months. Some dieting some after the sleeve, keep rocking it!!!

The physiological connection with food doesn't go away with the surgery and after about 6 months your adversion to many of those junk foods won't be bad. I'm telling you if you offered me chips, a donut, combos or many other "junk" foods vs. chicken right now my stomach would take the junk, much of it actually is more settling and goes down a lot easier then what we're supposed to eat Protein... For 7 weeks I got misguided eating junk because it soothed me, fortunately the sleeve doesn't let you eat a lot of it and I was still getting a good deal of protein, all my Water, and exercising like a mad man so I only gained 2 lbs during this off period. I went back to doing what I was supposed to last week, eating protein, drinking water, exercising hard and I took of 12 lbs. Kind of sad that for 7 weeks I had the tool in place and had I just stuck with chicken fish eggs turkey etc I could be much lighter now. In the same sense I know this is for life and i'm not going to beat myself up for the slip as I've come such a long way. You will from time to time still let your head get the best of you but you will need to learn how to reel your behavior back in... and I can only imagine as time goes on it only gets harder and harder. If you work the tool it will work for you!