LindaS

I'm 5'8-ish. My surgeon suggested 140, but I think that is too small for me. I am happiest in the 170s.

I tried my first fast day yesterday, and I kept my intake to 627 calories, which was a bit higher than I was aiming for initially. I was mainly concerned with still reaching my 70 grams of Protein, but I realize now that you might not make protein goals on fast days. I had a Protein Drink for Breakfast, a Protein Bar for lunch and 3 ounces of beef Jerky for dinner plus a couple of other things. My protein was 72 grams for the day. Does anyone else reach their protein goal on fast days? Or do you focus more on staying around 500 calories? Also, I picked a day that I work (teach four university classes). How do you choose your fast days? Do you fast if it is an exercise day? A heavy work day? I initially picked that day because I'd be busy and less likely to be around food. I'm just curious about others pick their fast days.

You can see before and after pictures of my face in my photo gallery area. I think I have some after pictures of my belly there too -- my belly is really the only wrinkly place I have, and you need to keep in mind that I gave birth to four kids, so it stood up to a lot of abuse.

I had been sleeved for a little over a year when my mother-in-law had her sleeve done. I was so nervous about it because I felt like she would blame me if anything went wrong. When I first had my sleeve, she made it a point to say she'd never have WLS. Then two of her siblings died within a year's time from heart-related problems. She went to see a cardiologist because she was scared, and he told her she needed to get WLS. so she started asking me questions. She went to my surgeon's office and even ended up with my surgeon. In the end, her surgery went well. She's lost around 70 pounds and is very happy. She tells people that I saved her life by telling her about WLS. She is just so much more active and happier with herself, but it was really the cardiologist that made her start looking into WLS. She is pushing her daughter to get WLS. When I started, my BMI was 39/40, my mil's BMI was 48/49. My sister-in-law probably has a BMI in the high 50s if not into the 60s. I have not talked to my sister-in-law about my WLS. She has a lot of health complications. I hope she is able to lose weight, but I don't have the magic ticket. I know that I would again be very worried about the outcome if she ended up getting the WLS.

MFP is not accurate in what I should be eating nor is it accurate when it predicts what I will weigh in 5 weeks. It wants me to eat much more than I can eat in order to maintain. It thinks I will lose much more than I will actually lose. I use MFP to help me track my Protein intake. My goal for that is 70 a day. I also use it to record exercise and Water intake. I like that I can check the amount of calories, carbs and sugar in something I plan to eat because it helps me make great decisions. I am very leary, however, about the amount of calories ingested and the amount of calories burned. I think there is too much wiggle room for these to be accurate enough for me to ever consider eating my exercise calories. I feel this way about any calorie counting and not just that at MFP. If the calorie amount is printed on something, the actual calories can be 10 percent higher or lower and still be within range, according to labeling laws in the U.S. The predictions for how much calories are being burned by exercise often depends on effort as well as size of the person, and effort is just too unpredictable. It allows for too much variance. I used MFP every day for almost two years, and I am again back to using it daily. It is a great tool, but it doesn't know everything.

I'm going to try it. Thanks everyone for sharing your experience with it!

I do love the dress, but I meant to say that you look great in it too. Your face glows! Your men look handsome too.

Gamergirl, I love that dress!

Thanks, Sheila!

It has nothing to do with conceit. Sometimes when the scale isn't moving, you can still have changes in your measurements. It's another way to keep track of what is going on with your weight loss, and it can keep you from being discouraged when the scale is being a jerk.

I felt like I smelled bad after surgery. I had a drain for a week, and the drain was part of it. Protein also smells bad, so it gave me ad breath. Ketosis also makes you smell bad since you breakdown the fat and it comes out in your breath and your waste. I kept sugarfree mints with me and drank a lot of Water, which seemed to help. It did get better. I feel like my biggest source was the drains. It is also possible that my nose was just more sensitive for a while.

I read about this, and it suggests dropping calories to 500 for women. This is supposed to be approximately a quarter of your regular day's calories (based on a 2,000 calorie diet). The question I have is what do you do if your normal calorie day is 1200 or less. Do you still aim for 500, or do you still aim for only a quarter of your regular calories?

As a mom, I hope my kids never have to work to hide something from me. I know it isn't realistic -- all kids hide stuff, but I can still hope. Although, it is sweet that you are thinking of her health. To help you, I highly recommend eating some slider foods to make it look like a more normal portion.

I lost about 30 pounds the first month, 15 the second month and then had several months of losing 8 pounds, it went down again to about 4 pounds. I also had several months without a loss. Currently, I fluctuate two to three pounds. I am not really losing.

I was fine by 2 to 3 months out. I like what Lipstick Lady said about comparing it to the first trimester of pregnancy. It is very similar. I was able to do what I needed to do, but if I sat down, I was out. :-)

Go to "More Options." It's the little gear-looking thingy up in the upper right corner of your browser right next to your user name. Click on My Profile. On the right side, you'll see an "edit your profile" button. Click on that. You will then see an option to upload a profile photo.

I'm over two years out, and I still eat a high Protein low carb diet. If I eat my protein first, I don't have a lot of room for anything else. So, for me, in order to get the amount of protein that I need, it means I eat high protein low carb. It isn't hard to stick to it. I tried Atkins before having surgery. Both are high protein low carb, but I don't eat like I did when I was on Atkins. But yes, they can be similar.

I went back to work two weeks after my surgery, and I was exhausted. I was falling asleep when watching the news and in bed by 8 p.m. most nights. It's a normal part of the process. Your body is working overtime burning all of those fat cells. It did become better. It was a gradual process, and eventually I ended up with more energy than I could remember having.

I'm more than two years out, and I still drink Protein shakes. I really like them as a way to reach my protein goal (70) when I am low but don't want to add a lot of calories. I like the EAS vanilla and strawberry flavors (and price). They are 100 calories and 17 grams of protein in just 11 ounces. I also still eat Protein Bars. I find the shakes and bars are really helpful when I have a busy day and am on the go. It keeps me from going to a fast food place. I love that I can now buy Protein drinks at most gas stations.

Or maybe not. I remember when I got my sleeve, I thought I'd reach my goal weight within 6 months. I was wrong. It has been over two years, and I still haven't reached my goal. I've learned to enjoy where I am, which is so much better than where I had been.

I like Maurice's, TJ Maxx, Target and JC Penney's. They all have great clothes for good prices. I don't like to buy most clothes from Walmart because I've had problems with the quality, but I do love their Danskin workout clothes, especially the price. They do last; I tend to shrink out of them before they wear out. :-)

I had the sleeve over two years ago, and even before surgery I didn't get a lot of hunger pains. But what surgery doesn't fix for me is the head hunger. I get cravings for Snacks -- especially salty snacks like popcorn, chips and nuts. I still get these after the sleeve even though I am not hungry. Sometimes I go to bed early just to avoid eating late at night. I think this would be true regardless of the surgery type. I haven't had any complications since being sleeved. I have not vomited at all. I can feel very uncomfortable if I eat too much too fast, but I've adjusted how I eat to accommodate this. I tend to stop eating after a few bites and give my body a chance to send me signals about fullness before continuing. Before my sleeve, I loved my carbs especially breads and potatoes. Since being sleeved, these are the foods I am least likely to eat because I don't like the way they fill me up. I can eat more of these than I could during my first year after surgery, but they tend to be crunchier versions, and I don't eat as much (especially potatoes). That said, I can still eat them. I just don't like the way they make me feel bloated, so I don't eat them. I love that I am satisfied with less. It sometimes takes me longer to eat if it is really protein-rich food. Alcohol hits me harder and faster on way less. I do drink when eating. I take NSAIDS fairly frequently. I should drink more Water on a regular basis. Lately, I have been neglecting to take my Vitamins, and I should at least be taking Iron because I tended to have iron-poor blood before surgery. When my blood work has been done, my results have all been very good although my B Vitamin levels were higher than normal, so I stopped taking Biotin. When I am taking my vitamins normally, I take one Multivitamin and 1 iron Vitamin A day. When I was taking Biotin, I also took one of those a day. I do not take Calcium supplements since I tend to have a lot of calcium in my diet. I love cheese. My stomach was very noisy right after surgery. For a while, it quieted down. In the last month or so, my stomach has gotten noisy again. I'm not sure why, but it may be because I've cut back down on my calories again. Growl, roll, growl. It can get pretty loud. This is something that didn't happen before my WLS. When I eat in public, someone who doesn't know that I had WLS won't comment about my eating habits. Those who know, especially if they haven't been with me when eating before, will comment about how little I eat. I would agree with someone earlier and say that what I eat is on the low side of normal portions.

Under my profile picture over there on the left, it says I am a LapBand Patient. I'm not. I'm a sleeve patient. How do I change this? It seems to me that this designation means that the Lapband forum is being brought up as a default for me both as a home page and for searches, and I'd rather see vertical sleeve results. I also noticed I'm not the only VSG patient that says Lapband there. Linda

Thank you!