bikerchick519

You weren't that big to start with and you've lost a good amount. You are bound to have a stall. If you are working out every day you may need to increase your calories a little. My pcp told me to increase mine on days I work out.

My loss also seems pretty slow to me and I only eat about 700 calories a day. I have a pretty good week and then nothing lost for a week, and the cycle goes on and on like that. I've been thinking about increasing it to see if that helps. I'm just afraid of increasing the calories and getting used to eating more only to find out it doesn't help and then I'm just eating more and used to it.

Megnwilliam, I went to Dr. Kelly in Tijuana. They picked us up at the airport. My dad and 19 year old daughter went. She stayed at the hospital with me and they drove my dad back and forth from the hotel every morning and night. Everyone was awesome. I had an ideal recovery with no gas, no pain, I felt great. I had horrible acid reflux before surgery and have not had it once since. Dr. Kelly is the best in my opinion. I paid 5560 plus airfare but I think he raised it to 5700, still worth every penny.

theworldaccordingtoeggface has some good recipes. I use Herbalife shake mix and I think I've tried all the others. I think Herbalife is the best. I'm a distributor so I just order it online.

I was told to wait 3 weeks for coffee and then it was ok. I have about 2 cups a day. Since I had to give up diet coke there's no way I'm giving up coffee if I don't have to.

Yep. I started putting Benefiber in my coffee and my MIO water everyday. Never had that problem before surgery.

I was self pay and went to Mexico. My surgeon was awesome. I had to sell my motorcycle and borrow the rest. It was worth every penny and I would do it all again the exact same way. It is the best money I have ever spent and I do not regret a minute of it.

Whenever the mood strikes you. I say go for it!!!

I spend less on groceries and a lot less on eating out. It's nice considering how much I used to eat out.

I had head hunger pretty bad the first few weeks post op but now I don't get it that often. It does get better as you can eat a wider variety of foods. The times I have had something I shouldn't have, it wasn't that good and I felt really guilty afterwards so I pretty much stick to the plan.

I've always enjoyed cooking shows but since the sleeve, I've become addicted. I thought it was weird. It doesn't seem like torture because I know I wouldn't be able to eat much even if I cooked it. My favorite food that I miss is pupusas. It's a traditional El Salvadoran food that my daughter and I first ate on a youth missionary trip there. It's a sort of corn meal outer crust with pork and chesse inside that you pull apart and dip in salsa. Heavenly.

I must have went to all my favorite restaurants the month before surgery. Then as soon as the pre-op diet started, I was in it all the way. I decided to do and do it right. After surgery I no longer wanted the bad stuff, all I wanted was to lose weight and eat right. It's so much easier now. You will be better able to make the right choices after surgery because you are not starving. It is a daily effort to eat the right stuff but you can do it.

I went to Mexico and stayed in the hospital 2 nights. Then 2 nights in the hotel.

I woke up with a naseau but it was gone in a few hours. I had no pain of any type, ever. It was awesome, I felt like I didn't even have surgery. I know I was lucky and everyone is different. No matter what you have to go through, it's all worth it. This has been the best thing I have ever done for ME.

I used to own an Herbalife Nutrition club and I made protein shakes and smoothies of all flavors. I use Herbalife shake mix but any shake mix will do. If you are allowed fruit yet this will be great. Use a cup of skim milk, the protein shake mix powder (vanilla), about 3 frozen strawberries, a teaspoon of strawberry extract, and a few ice cubes. Blend in the blender until frozen and smooth. I can only eat a half one now. theworldaccordingtoeggface.com has great shake recipes too.

The hospital has plenty of bottled water and there are pharmaicias on every corner that have bottled water if the hotel charges for it. The ice chips they gave me at the hospital tasted good and I didn't get sick so it must be filtered.

Netrition.com has protein chips and protein puffs. They are pretty good and it's a great crunch. They ship them to you pretty fast.

Right after surgery I used baby spoons and appetizer spoons and forks. It helped me take smaller bites and eat slower. You can also count your chews, atleast 20-30 chews each bite.

I was sleeved Nov. 4. I had a great recovery, no pain at all. I've lost 37 pounds total. I just started working out at the gym this week and it felt great. I can eat just about anything, even salad. I still struggle with my brain not knowing portion control. I look at food and think, that's not enough when in fact it's too much. So I have to measure everything I eat. Soup I can eat about a 1/2 cup but tuna or other meat is 1/4 cup or less. I use myfitnesspal and log all my food. I stay at 700 calories and usually get between 50-65 grams of protein. I need to work on the protein. Wondering if I should be increasing calories on work out day. Still the best decision I've ever made and I am loving life right now.

Think about that motivation you had right after surgery. You lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. You can do it again. Re-read your diet instructions from the surgeon and follow it to a T. You can do this.

What motivates me is that no one in my family lives to be 70 years old. They all have died of diabetes or cancer. All the women in my family were over 300 pounds and all were diabetic. I was 257 post op. I have always enjoyed working out but could never keep the weight off. So my motivation is to break the cycle of obesity and diabetes in my family and have a long heathly life for my kids and someday my grandkids.