Paul11011

I was able to hold off until I was out of the recovery room. Never thought I would make it that long. Contact your surgeon for the answer. There are differences in all individuals that could come into the answer.

Well played my friend, well played!

This thread is worthless without pics....teee heee hee. Sorry ladies, I could not resist.

I have made it a habit of stopping 15 minutes before and waiting 45 minutes after, regardless of what consistency of food I'm eating. Stick to this, it's a key to success long term.

No regrets at all, best decision I have ever made.

Yep, what she said....and said very well.

Maintaining at 1400 cals, 80 + grams protein, less than 100 grams of carbs. I try to shoot for a calorie mix of 40% protein, 30% fat and 30% carb

Congratulations Holly! Here's to continued success on your journey.

My secret is to be an unapproachable ass. That way no one wants to know anything from me. I really get very few PMs, but the ones I do I answer sincerly. If they took the time to ask my opinion, then I will give it to them the best I can.

The taste pre op was not bad, for packaged food that is. your tastes after surgery will likely change and honestly I did not care about taste at that point any way.

Hi BethAnn. You're going to enjoy Dr. Baker. He is an outstanding surgeon and wonderful man in general. He was my surgeon too. I went through his Grand Health Partners (GHP) facility in GR but I'm pretty certain his requirements through McLaren will be similar. I would expect that you will purchase your two week pre-op and two week post op foods and Vitamins from McLaren or directly from GHP. There will be a bunch of information that will be given to you, pay close attention to their recommendations and follow them closely. That is all that I did, follow and do what I was told, and it has worked wonderfully for me. Best of luck to you.

During the time I was in "active weight loss", the first 12 to 18 months or so, the frequent congratulations and " you look so good" comments were awesome. They were one of the things that kept me diligent and working to follow all the rules and stay on track. I don't mean to say that I was an attention hound, but the immediate feed back was a motivator and felt great. In addition there were NSV victories coming left and right, the ability to climb stairs, fit in stadium seats, set in booths, etc were more instant gratification and motivation Now most of the people I encounter don't know anything about me "before" or have already shared in my transformation. I have recently started a new career and those people all know me as the "after" version. When I talk about running or biking as a hobby, to them I'm just a normal guy. It is bitter sweet. On the one hand, they don't look at me with disbelief, they see a guy that is fully capable of running for sport and completing long distance bicycle rides. On the other that "Wow, you have come so far" sparkle in the eyes of long term friends is nowhere to be found if I were to be telling them of my new hobbies. There still is the rare occasion when I encounter someone I have not seen since pre-surgery, and those times I get to re-live the initial joy I had from the congratulations and way-to-go's but its very seldom. I can't say I'm surprised about the diminishing attention, it's the natural course of events. At some point in time we all fall away from being the latest, greatest show in town and become who we will be from here on out. I do have to admit I miss those days of new experiences and excitement. Am I alone in this period of having to adjust to the new normal? Should I be concerned that I'm going to morph into a Daffodil?

Great! Something interesting gets posted and I'm a few hours too late to read it. Grrrrrr.

I am still not used to seeing the "new" me when I look in the mirror.

Kohls, Macy's, Younkers, Nike, Under Armour oh and I'm still a big fan of thrift shops. I have been amazed at some of the great quality name brand items I find there.

Yes, they will deny you and not allow you to reapply for the procedure...................that feeling you're having right now. Hang on to it and remember it next time you want to stray. No, they won't deny you. We all make mistakes, the important part is to learn from them. I would definitely say in all seriousness, do not have anything to eat from now on, if that is what you were instructed. There are physiologic reasons that they may want you on liquids a day or two before surgery. Good luck!

This was said so well it is deserving of a repost! Additionally realize that your head is what is going to need to change in order to make this effective long term. Even though our stomach are much smaller then they were, it is still not healthy or productive to revert back to our old habits....overeating. Strive to think like a skinny person, food is fuel and nothing else. We don't pump gas until it's flowing over the tank do we? Learn what amount of food your body needs to make you feel satisfied, not full. This is a learning journey we are on.

Calories alone are not the best thing to go by. The first things I would check are that you're getting at least 60-80 grams of protein and 64oz of non caffeinated non caloric fluids. If you are, then how much are you exercising? It could very well be, especially if you're exercising, that you're not getting in enough calories. If that is the case, try bumping it up to 800-900 calories. But again focus on the proteins first. If all of your numbers are where they should be, then there is a good chance that you're just in a plateau Stick with it, be diligent and do what you're supposed to be doing and the scale will start moving again. This is a good time to mention the importance of taking body measurements so you can see that your body may very well still be shrinking even if the numbers are not going down. Good luck!

I highly recommend a Tanita with a body fat monitor. If you get one with a body fat %, make sure it's the type that has the warning to NOT use if you have a heart condition. These ones send out an electronic wave that is strong enough to give an accurate body fat reading. I have had one that did not send out a strong enough wave and the % was way off....in the high direction, not good.

The daffodil comment was from the mythological story about how the daffodil came to be. "Narcissus was so handsome that many women and men fell in love with him. He rejected all of them. One of his admirers was the nymph Echo, who had been cursed by Hera* to repeat only the last words spoken to her. Ameinias, another admirer, was so devastated by Narcissus's indifference toward him that he killed himself. Before doing so, however, Ameinias called on the gods to punish Narcissus. They caused the beautiful youth to gaze into a pond at his reflection. He fell in love with his own image and drowned trying to touch it. In other accounts of the story, Narcissus killed himself out of sorrow and frustration. The gods then changed him into the flower that bears his name." AKA the daffodil Read more: http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Mi-Ni/Narcissus.html#b#ixzz2L80lsFjA

Lol, leeann71. That is so sweet of you to say. You bring up something that I have realized and has been pointed out to me, if anyone is flirting with me, I don't often know it. That really is a serious statement. I have always been the nice, funny, big guy, just kind of who I became. I never expected to be flirted with and went out of my way to avoid being in situations were other guys were getting flirted with because I just saw it as a situation where I would feel left out. Strange the psyche one develop having lived their entire life morbidly obese. It has happened more than once in the past 6 months where a person I was with has pointed out to me that women had been flirting with me and I simply didn't catch it. Uhhhgggg.....lol.

We used to have pizza every Sunday night, it was our weekly family event. After getting my sleeve and starting to account for all of the calories I was putting into my body I went through what I would have eaten on one of our typical Sunday pizza nights. I would have 1/2 of a family sized stuffed crust 5 meat pizza, bread sticks, a bigggg bowl of ice cream and of course a soda or two. That one meal alone I was eating nearly 8000 calories! It makes me sad to know now what I was doing to myself then.

Thank you all for your comments and the congratulations, I have taken some words of wisdom from each of the comments. I love the skiing analogy!

I'm feeling somewhat narcissistic, I'll play.