Foxbins

Just a note to say that I, too, was a medium to large frame when I measured my wrist just before surgery, but as the weight came off, my wrist, fingers, and feel all got smaller. Now I am a small frame according to the wrist measurement. I am two inches taller than you and weigh 138. I like how I look here, slim but I still have boobs. You'd probably look good at 125.

If you can swallow the citrate pills, go for it. I have to use the chewables or a liquid as the pills get stuck.

My gallbladder was removed 10 months after surgery. I had lab tests before surgery that did not show any inflammation, but my surgeon told me that the pathology report showed "chronic inflammation" after it was removed. I can only assume that it started getting inflamed after surgery though I didn't have any symptoms until I got pancreatitis. If you did a pre-op diet, plus the six weeks post-op, that's probably enough time for it to get good and angry. I'm happier with mine gone anyway.

I am 13 months our and I think you are going to have a hard time measuring volume with meat. I eat 3 large shrimp and a couple broccoli florets and that's it. I eat 2.5 oz of steak and that's it. I never eat until I feel full to the brim; I hated that feeling when I was fat and stuffing myself and I hate it now. I eat less than that and I feel satisfied. You and your sleeve will figure it out but I encourage you to eat less than you can hold.

Benedryl is fine--just don't drive or operate heavy machinery!

It's not technically dumping, from what I understand, which occurs after bypass surgery and is caused by sugar ingestion. However, as a veteran of many, many diets, I'll tell you (and you have also probably experienced it) that if I ate a piece of fried food after being on a "low-fat" diet for a couple of weeks I was in the bathroom pronto afterwards and the results were not pretty. So yes, I have "dumped" but not in the RnY sense; same outcome, though.

Thanks, you too! No adventures planned but I am open to anything that comes my way.

There is some research to support the idea that the body has "set points" where weight stays steady for long periods. I have noticed this myself--I weighed 155 for a long time, then 165, 173, 192, 209, and then quickly into the 220s and 230s. On the way down it was the same. I never had a true stall, but I stopped for a couple of days at each of those weights. Insofar as getting below, I reached my goal of 150 at 8.5 months after surgery and continued to lose until New Year's. I weigh 138 now and it's holding pretty steady--a 1-1.5 lb fluctuation each way looks to be normal for me. I'm 5'8" and 57 years old. I thought for years I had a medium build but my wrists are under 6" now so I think I am small-boned despite wearing a size 10 shoe.

You can also say that your doctor has ordered that you follow a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet if you don't want to endorse something like Atkins. There are so many variants of high protein diets out there anyway--Dukan, South Beach, the old Stillman, the new Paleo...I found that people mostly looked at what I didn't eat (chips, cake, soda) than what I actually put in my mouth.

Well, I am clearly biased due to my easy recovery and great results with Dr. Aceves. If you can afford him, go. 3 nights in the hospital, the night before surgery in a hotel. I had little pain, no nausea or vomiting, and no complications. At goal in 8 months and below goal now.

I am self-employed as well and after 13 months, no one knows except my physician. I took two weeks off. I could have worked at my desk earlier than that but chose not to. I was good to go full-time at three weeks. My friends have seen me gain and lose over the years--when they asked how I was losing weight I told them Atkins as all they saw me eat was protein. I don't have a husband and my family lives far away and has also seen me gain and lose repeatedly.

At 3 months, I had: EKG--rapid weight loss can cause muscle to be lost, and heart tissue is muscle. Albumin, Alkaline phosphatase, BUN, Bilirubin, Blood Calcium, chloride, Lipid panel (Total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, LDL), GFR, Creatinine, Ferritin, Fasting Glucose, Iron (TIBC, UIBC, Transferritin with saturation, Iron) Potassium, AST, ALT, Sodium, Vit D, Vit B-12, Complete Blood Count with differential, Diabetes A1C, Vit A, Vit B1, Folate, PTH, TSH (TSH because I have hypothyroidism). It was about 8 vials of blood. It's good to get baseline levels; this is still a somewhat new procedure and no one is very sure about long-term effects, but for sure early Vitamin or iron deficiencies can be found and treated. Better safe than sorry, and all that. I think it would be good to get them done the first time, and if everything is normal, then annually.

I was not hungry immediately after surgery and still do not get hungry. If I don't eat for a while, I feel empty and kind of lightheaded, but not hungry the way I used to. My stomach growls a lot full or empty so that is not a hunger indicator for me anymore.

Journal your food so you know what and how much you are eating...Weight loss pills are a bad idea in my opinion. We need to fix what's broken in our relationship with food and pills don't help with that. If you are in a stall, eat less, exercise more, and be patient. Are you taking your measurements? Often in a stall we get smaller though the scale doesn't move.

Are you tracking your intake? Calories, Protein, Water? If not, I encourage you to do so. I also encourage you to look at when you are stress eating. If you know what situations cause you to eat you can take steps to be prepared beforehand. If you have to work at McDonald's, okay, but you don't have to eat there. Bring protein and healthy food from home. Are you exercising? Walking, at least? Weightlifting will build muscle mass and that will help increase your metabolism so that you can eat more and still lose weight. I encourage you to make these changes now. You had surgery to change your relationship to food and you sound young. Please do not let this time slip away and end up fat and fifty-six, wishing that I could have had surgery when I was younger. Keep posting your struggles and we will help you.

My length stayed at a 10 but the width went from a Wide to a Medium. I had bought a pair of sandals for the following summer in a 10W and ended up selling them on Ebay because I couldn't walk in them.

Six weeks for me, same as yoga, but last year it was so wet here I skiied instead.

Hi, Todd-- I used to eat too fast, too. I bought myself a baby spoon and a cocktail fork, so that my bites would be little, and then I put them down in between bites. I'm a year out and unless I think about eating slow, I can still go too fast and then get the ickies (pain or slimies.) At six weeks out, it sounds like you hit the 3-week stall two weeks ago. Do not worry ,you aren't doomed to fail! Your body is adjusting and will begin to lose again. I weigh myself every day but I don't get upset if the scale doesn't move or if there is a small gain. I look for overall trends and chart my weight only on Tuesdays. For all of my weightloss the trend each month was downward. If you are freaked by no scale movement or a small uptick, then weigh less often, but I got fat by not weighing myself and wanted to change that after my surgery.

What you are eating is mushy and mushy won't make you feel the restriction. Give it some time, you are doing fine!

Job well done! Congratulations on your success!

When I lived in NYC I moved a lot and had lots of different phone numbers. I had a hard time remembering my current one until someone suggested trying to make the numbers spell something. It spelled Foxbins and I have always remembered it even now 30 years later. It reminds me of good times.

I am more than a year out and it happens to me quite frequently. I have not noticed any correlation with bowel movements or acid. Some days I can eat lots, other days, not so much. I just make sure to get in my vitamins, water, and supplements and I figure the nutrition evens out over the "big amount" days and the "little amount" days.

I had a face and neck lift with chin augmentation 16 days ago in Costa Rica. I love my chin! I always had a slightly receding chin and a rather large nose, so now my profile is better balanced. I have scabs behind my ears and in my hair that I keep wanting to scratch off but resist because that will just delay healing. There are some red bruises on either side of my chin and yellow in front of my ears. My neck feels like I am wearing a tightly tied bonnet and my ears are swollen and pretty large. Right now I think my face is too tight but I can't tell if it is still swollen or if this is it--some must be swelling because I can't open my mouth very widely. There was almost no pain but my ears were very uncomfortable the first week and even now I can't lie on my side. Overall, I think I look younger but not "me" yet. Maybe it takes time to get used to the absence of wrinkles?

It works. I can't really describe how my relationship with food has changed other than to say it's no longer important to me anymore. I used to wake up in the morning and think about what I would have for breakfast; at Breakfast I would already be planning lunch, dinner, and Snacks. I don't do that anymore. Food is fuel and not a hobby, or love, or a way to push down feelings of anxiety or anger. Sometimes I want to eat the way I used to, just mindlessly stuffing anything edible into my mouth, but I can't do that anymore and the longer I have my skinny body the less I want to do it anyway. Hope this helps-

What an interesting article--Thanks so much for posting the link.