Butterthebean

As someone who has gotten into more than my share of "debates" on this forum, one thing to keep in mind (and I often forget myself) is that people who are fresh out of surgery can be very emotional because they are going through a tough time. They will rarely admit to that, but it is not a fun time...those first few weeks. My inclination is to always tell someone the cold hard truth. But it's clear that sometimes people don't really want that, what they want is just some support and encouragement...and to know they are not alone. There are plenty of fine people here who will always give that encouragement. The important thing to remember is that you're likely to get both on any given day. You have to be prepared to receive both if you put yourself out there. I also notice that "tone" gets lost or misconstrued so often in these dust ups. It's so hard to accurately translate someone else's tone over the internet. It makes for plenty of misunderstandings. If we were all sitting around the treehouse having these same conversations, I doubt there would be half as many heated conversations.

You pretty much touched on what I was going to say. I noticed a few months ago I was doing something strange...I was eating to lose weight but working out to increase fitness performance. These 2 goals are, in some ways, in conflict with each other...primarily nutritionally. You can burn fat for fuel, but it will not provide the building blocks to repair and regenerate damaged tissue from excessive physical exertion. I had to decide if I wanted to focus on fat loss or improved fitness and adjust accordingly. In the end, I decided to try to meet in the middle...adding in some carbs and calories, and toning down the intensity of some of my workouts (but upping the duration). I could not stand the thought of any more red meat or chicken, so I have tried to add more fish to my diet. I also eat more green salads and asparagus for the carbs. Oven roasted asparagus is like eating green french fries. It's yummy. I've talked to a couple of sleevers who focus on long endurance training and they both told me the same thing, you have to eat more carbs to have the energy to train to that level.

I thought a vegetarian could have dairy? Or is that the octo-tarian? Or whatever....I get them all mixed up.

It's not the soft food. It's likely not 5 pounds of fat you've gained either. Think about it, to gain 5 pounds of fat you would have to eat 17,500 calories IN ADDITION to the calories you burn just being alive. Have you eaten that much? No, so you can rule out fat gain. Water retention is much more likely and that is really not a problem to worry about. You're doing fine. Keep eating and don't go back to liquids. That's what a yo-yo dieter would do. You are not that person anymore. You are a sleever now and from here on out you are on to a healthier way to live....not a yo-yo diet. You are likely restoring your body's glycogen reserves, along with a lot of water as the above link says. Believe it or not fat loss is still happening, and it will continue to happen long after this Fluid retention stops. Hang in there.

Could it be dehydration? Dehydration can definitely cause dizziness and drinking can bring about dehydration which would explain why it got worse when you drank. It's time of year dehydration is more prevalent because the air is cooler and dryer so we are less thirsty, but still losing fluids. Just throwing that out there.

Read the link in my sig about stalls. You are getting to the point where you are likely to hit the 3 week stall. That's okay and perfectly normal. Do not try to reduce calories or delay moving on to the next phase because you are afraid of gaining weight. At this point in your journey your calories are so severely reduced if you do not start eating food eventually your body could go into starvation mode and that will really hinder your weight loss efforts.

You look great. Nice going.

Tattoo, do you play slow pitch? I used to live at the ball park 7 days a week. And lived on ball park food too. Not good. League ball every night and tourneys every weekend for about 20 years till I tore my ACL. It took about a year before I could play again and by then I didn't want to. But I'm thinking I'm gonna start back up again as soon as I'm old enough for the 50-over league.

The highest that I know of are tempeh, seitan, lentils, black beans and chick peas.

Way to go Patrick.

Kevin, from everything I've read you cannot spot reduce fat, nor can you spot reduce excess skin. You can increase muscle mass in a certain area which can possibly help tighten saggy skin. But the thing is, so many people see themselves losing weight, but they think the lower abdominal area is going to be a problem because it is still not toning up as fast as other parts. That's the nature of the beast. The abdominal area is where we guys store most of our fat. It stands to reason that it will be the last to tone up. But to tone it up you should just keep doing what you've done to tone up the rest of your body all along. It will just take longer. People will say to do sit-ups or crunches, but a strong core will be active and working all day long. A few crunches won't make much difference. As for saggy skin, if you had a big belly then yes, there might be some saggy skin that only surgery will fix. But it can take 2 years for the skin to finish shrinking. It does not withdraw as fast as we can lose weight. So give it time to see what it will do on it's own.

It's been brewing in my mind for a while but I've got a lot more research to do. I want to get me a vitamix blender and start making some green shakes, but my wife won't allocate any kitchen counter space to me....she has it all.

I grill or pan broil several chicken breasts 2 or 3 times a week then chop them up. I also occasionally buy those pre cooked packages of fajita meat at the grocery store. They are good but high in sodium so I don't like to eat them too much, but they are good in a pinch. I make little omelettes with chicken, chopped bell pepper, mushroom and cheese and the egg beaters for breakfast almost everyday. For work I will take some chicken or beef fajita meat and make lettuce wraps with a little cheese. Or else I'll take some frozen fish and microwave it. I like the Gortons brand. A microwave is all I have available and I work 12 hour shifts so I have to make due with simple foods.

Same here. I was in Huntsville running this past weekend. When I say it was hilly, that's almost exaggerating. More like....wavy earth.

Yes but not like before. Since the beginning I've been eating on a 3 hour schedule. I have some protein at every meal. Sometimes I'm hungry at that point, sometimes not. But I look at it like putting fuel in the tank. I keep putting fuel in there so the engine can always run. I don't want it to run out because then I will be tempted to eat whatever I can get my hands on.

Yes, but you asked about complex carbs didn't you? I personally do not limit myself on complex carbs. They are so good for you and the glycemic index is so low that they do not cause the concerns that bread, potatoes and sweets do. Plus, they are usually so dense and fibrous that it is very hard to over eat on them, especially with the sleeve. A cup of asparagus is 40 calories. A cup of mashed potatoes is 360. See what I mean?

Seems like a ton of people have trouble with this. I went out of my mind. I remember that second week licking the flavoring off of wheat thins. I don't suggest anyone try that, but it was good. But I do remember as soon as I was able to have soft foods at 2 weeks, it got much better. I had scrambled eggs and those were the best damn eggs in the history of poultry. It does get so much easier after you begin to eat again. My doc let me have grits on my full liquid phase....and cream of wheat. That may help with the head hunger because its kinda like eating food, it will fulfill that need. Just as long as you're getting in your Water and Protein first, otherwise you don't want to waste valuable sleeve room on grits.