So Cal Kurt

Social situations are the hardest at first. The truth is, no one is watching what or how much you eat. You will be able to find something diet appropriate, eat what you should and everything will be fine. For me the hardest part was separtating the food from the event. It is the company that makes it, not what you eat. Have fun and good luck., You will do great.

If you can fit it in, there really is no off limits. If the pizza you had came from a national chain, they have nutrition information on their website. Look up what you had, it will surprise you. They ordered Pizza in at work a few weeks ago and after looking up the nutritional info, I decided for the extra 70 calories over the lunch I was having, WTF. The bummer is it didn't taste as good as I hoped and I think I would have rather had the lunch I brought from home.

The mental game is by far a lot harder than the physical one. I also had a really hard time. My whole social life revolved around food and drink. It is hard to separate the two. Eventually I realized that it was about the people we are with and not the things we consume that matter. You need to surround yourself with people that will be there to support you and that you can lean on. If your Physician has a support group, go to it. Exercise and do activities that will help you adapt to your new lifestyle. Give yourself plenty of leeway and expect to stumble along the way. This isn't a quick fix, it is a lifelong commitment. by 6 months out or so, you will be able to eat a normal albeit much smaller diet. Your feelings are normal, you are at the beginning of an incredible journey. Embrace the successes and learn from your mistakes. You can do it, it just takes a little mental toughness.

Congrats!

I don't know if it is too far for you but UC Irvine in the city of Orange has a seminar every 3rd Tuesday of the month. Great program and a great team.

My wife and I are both sleevers, She had been in a few week stall, she is just under 8 months out. I suggested she try tracking her intake with the myfitnesspal app for her iphone. She started last Friday, stepped on the scale today and was down 3 lbs after a few week stall. She found she was taking in too many carbs and not enough protein. Everyone is different but for her keeping her carb intake around 80g a day and protein over 65g a day along with 1200 calories, seems to be working. The app is available for smart phones as well as for your PC. Good luck!

Any thoughts about getting together in November?

It is a crap shoot with UHC. I sailed right through approval as did my co-worker. My wife had to jump through hoops but finally did get approved 9 months later. The strange thing is she had great documentation and years documented tries at weight loss. Hopefully you are one of the lucky ones. Worse case scenario, you play the game for a few months and re-submit. Good luck!

I have some before and after pics in my gallery. I am a little smaller now but only by a few lbs. They aren't in order but you can tell which ones are which.

It has been a really long time since I took anything my mother says to heart. Unfortunately, I blame a lot of my problems with food on my family and my upbringing. My dad passed away at a fairly early age for these day (71). He was morbidly obese most of his life and had all of the obesity related issues that went along with it. In the end he died of unrelated lung issues but I can't help but think if he had 100lbs less of a body to oxygenate, he would have been around for a little more time. I can't help but wonder how his life would have been different if he had access to this procedure. I haven't been ashamed to tell anyone that asks even though I don't broadcast it. Perhaps it is my age or my place in life. I don't live my life for anyone but myself at this point. Accept it or not I really don't care. I have gotten that second chance at life that so few get, I am taking full advantage. When I was rolling around on the floor with my 6 month old grand daughter least night, it really shows me the gift I have received.

I never ventured in here before. I don't think we are as small of a minority as some think. I think the minority are the ones that openly admit it. I am not saying there isn't a god, just that I have no evidence of one. I am doing my best to live for today as there might not be a tomorrow. Now if I could just get rid of the catholic guilt from my upbringing.

Nothing better for a man's ego than an extra 3 or 4 inches of penis. Even if you are in great shape. Just saying. Let your brother try to argue with that!

here is the link to the group. http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/groups/show/2-socal-vsg-support-group/ we are meeting in Eastvale (north of corona ) on Aug 13.

My wife and I are both sleevers and live in Ontario. There is an IE group that tries to meet once a month. Welcome.

I myself was beyond hair loss way prior to my surgery. When I was at a support group 2 months ago, they were talking about hair loss and were saying the pre-natal vitamins helped. My wife was with me, she was just under 2 months post op, started the pre-natal vitamins and hasn't really had any hair loss at 3 and a half months out. She is taking the Gummi pre-natals from Target.

I was driving 4 days post op and returned to work in 2 weeks. My wife returned to work in 6 days. 6 weeks is a really long time. I did however have a no heavy lifting restriction for 8 weeks and that seems to be the norm. In 2 weeks, aside from being tired, I was pretty much feeling normal.

I took a 2800 mile motorcycle trip 9 weeks post op. Had over 900 miles in the saddle the first day out. No physical problems whatsoever. Make sure you plan out your food and have stuff on hand or a plan on how and where to eat. For me the problems at that point were still trying to figure out the diet and how to do it while not at home.

I don't think the calorie count is high but 180G of carbs is ridiculous. A 60-80 g of protein daily is really good. 1 cup of cooked Penne past is 63g of carbs. you would have to eat 3 cups in a day. the average slice of bread is between 14 and 21g of carbs, 12 oz can of coca cola classic, 39g. I think she is a little off base.

No problem, when I was on Protein liquids right after surgery, I used Tabasco heavily in my bean soup. Love spicy always have.

I think the skin issue all depends on the individual. My weight has been as high as over 320. Prior to my sleeve, I was at 300. I am presently at 187 and have very little excess skin and it seems to be continually getting better. I don't think it does any good to worry about the" What ifs". The surgery will improve your health and change you life. Good luck!

Congrats! You should have a great recovery. I was in the same spot walking the halls the evening of my surgery, it really helped dissipate the gas. Walk as often as you can as soon as you can. I was doing 2+ miles by my 5th day post op. Not power walking by any means, just strolling part of my normal daily route. I think that more than anything helped my recovery. Expect to be tired, especially in the afternoon for the first couple of weeks. Welcome to the losing team!

My vitamin D was also a little on the low side. I am a shift worker and that is one of the side effects. I take 5000iu a day now. Vitamin D is also key in sugar being absorbed by the cells from the blood. More effective than Metformin. I wish my Dr had put me on that prior to all of the other diabetes drugs. Water under the bridge now. No meds at all and A1C is now 5.6

My biggest question is how can surrounding yourself with supportive people that are going through lots of the same things, sharing their problems and celebrating their success a bad thing? Where else can we find a group of this size and diversity with one common problem? Face it, we all have a mental problem with food or we wouldn't have to opt for such a procedure. This forum has been a wonderful support since I have found it. I only wish I could have found it prior to my surgery so I could have been more prepared for the obstacles of the first few months post op.

Don't allow your success to be measured by the scale and only the scale. We all have stalls and even slight gains. You are doing all of the right things. Your intake is right on track and you will start losing again. We tend t get caught up in the number on the scale because it is really the only measure we have to see our success on a daily basis. Your lifestyle is your success. People that follow the plan succeed.

I hadn't kept it a secret and told anyone that asked. I can however understand you not wanting to share. Maybe because of my age(49), I really don't care what people think. My coworkers all know, my close friends all know and the truth is. At almost 50, a lot of my friends are having the same weight related health problems and are considering WLS as they have seen my success and currently my wife's progress. I don't quite understand the stigma attached to WLS. I can however understand your apprehension. At first I told people I was going to have a hernia repair(not a lie) but realized that it wasn't a big deal. When I dropped 80+lbs in 3 months, I had no choice because I got a lot of "are you sick?' type questions. One way or another, you will love the results. Good Luck!