Butterthebean

Me too....thank goodness cause I can eat way too much food. And no sliming, no dumping, nothing bothers my sleeve...except laying on my butt. I just cannot bring myself to take many days off. So I try to mix things up the best I can and take "active rest" days occasionally. I find with mixing things up, getting in good sleep and good nutrition, I don't need to take days off as often. I listen to my body, and usually it says "go do something."

The article is talking about 20-30% of TOTAL weight not excess weight. Makes a difference. Still, 20-30% seems a bit low but I think that completely depends on how overweight you were to begin with. It is also an average of everyone who has WLS, not an expectation for each person who has surgery, so half the patients will have to exceed those numbers, while the other half fail to meet it.

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It's pretty certain you will lose weight with the sleeve. Many make it to goal, some do not. It may not be 100% guaranteed....but without WLS, most of us here could be guaranteed of still being obese.

This is why playing the calories in/calories out numbers game is so dangerous. It's almost always based on age, gender, weight and "activity level". There are so many other factors that do not get accounted for. Lean body mass for one, but also hormonal differences that cannot be measured easily. That's why the "required calories" that one needs according to online calculators is just a starting point from which we must make adjustments.

Thanks everyone. Ms Skinniness....my wife's degree is also in psychology so when you say you see traits of obsessiveness in me, as she does, I know it's coming from a place of training and education...and not just someone's uninformed opinion. And while I do enjoy the occasional battle of wits with my psycologist wife, I can never quite tell if I'm winning or she's playing shrink mind games with me. But it does motivate me to stay on my intellectual toes. Fiddle...you and my wife would be fast friends. If there is anything she loves more than analytical deep thought...it's music (and fitness). I'm currently in step 1 of ??? .....studying to retake the SAT. Wow, I didn't realize how much I had forgotten from high school.

The app is designed to run every other day or 3 days per week. Most people need a rest day from running every other day. You can do other things, but save your legs the impact. Cycling, swimming or upper body resistance training are great ways to fill the off days.

The Quest bars, off the shelf, are nothing to write home about. But put them in the microwave for 20 seconds and it's like a protein bomb brownie. Really does make a world of difference.

The whole time I was losing, I never gave 2 thoughts to maintenance. I figured the body would find a happy weight and just stay there. Well, it kinda has. But my mind isn't coming along for the ride. Maintenance is hard for me because it's emotionally taxing. It's like there is this constant, permanent low grade stress that I can't shake. Losing weight was great. I was getting somewhere. Maintenance is like standing still.....and standing still is too close to backing up. Its disconcerting. In my old life, if I worried about my weight, I'd have that same low grade stress all the time, always worried about my health. But back then I was able to shroud myself in denial for periods of time and forget about it. Of course, when I did that, I always gained weight. I think that's my fear now. If I relax....if I forget about what I need to do....I'll gain. And I will, I've already done it. The couple of times I've thrown caution to the wind, I gained back a few pounds very quickly. Those new habits aren't as ingrained as I'd like them to be. They still take a certain amount of effort and diligence. Perhaps they always will. I often hear people say they didn't have this surgery to be on a diet for the rest of their lives. Well, what is a diet if not being diligent about what you eat? If that's a diet, then I'm on one and I'll have to stay on one forever. So be it. Better that than regain the weight. It's hard yes, but worth it. What's hard about it for you guys?

I think I got my first pair after I lost about 120 lbs. Yes my feet shrunk before that. Well, I honestly don't think they shrunk as much as the extra weight was causing them to splay out further when I stood up. But I can wear 14's now when before I needed 15's (yes, big feet). From that point on the fit really didn't seem to change much, but as I've gotten more used to wearing them the shape of my feet have definitely changed. My arches are more pronounced now because I have strengthened those muscles and tendons. It was a process to slowly build up that strength and endurance in my feet but now I can wear them all day, every day if I want. Last weekend I did a 6 mile hike, a 6 mile run and a 7 mile hike on 3 consecutive days...all in the same pair with no foot issues. I certainly didn't start out being able to put those kinds of miles on them.

I definitely agree with the quest bars. Nutritionally they are as good as it gets for someone like me who is carb sensitive. They have very low net carbs. I personally don't find them addicting like other bars (Zone). But if a bar wakes up your carb monster, don't eat it no matter how good you think it is for you. Like I always say, no one ever complained of having their carb monster awakened after eating a piece of grilled chicken.

Ok...so for a real panni, something like this works great. http://www.makemeheal.com/mmh/product.do?id=93735 I've run many miles in it with no issues. It's basically like compression underwear but it comes up over the panni. It does not roll down and it keeps things where they should be. Check out the site as they have many different ones to suit anyone's taste, but this one works best for me.

I suppose I'm the lone Vibram wearing runner in the house. Probably the only one on all of VST. Oh well, I've gone back and forth and nothing keeps my proper form in check like wearing the Vibrams. For almost regular (but still minimalist) shoes...the Merrell Road Glove or Trail Glove are great shoes. Another good one is the Skechers Gobionic. An unusual shoe with no heel lift or arch support, but still has some bottom cushioning if you like that. Very very light...as light as Vibrams. I started out with Brooks Beasts which is about the thickest soled motion control shoe there is. Worked my way down the gammut to barefoot before settling on the Vibrams. With the thick soled cushioned shoes I had nothing but knee pain while walking or running.

Plenty of people run every day. I've run 3 days in a row a few times, and back to back many times. But sometimes I just can't do it. My body will feel like crap that second day. Other times I'm fine. I say if you feel good go for it. If you find that your performance is way down that second day, you'll know you need more rest next time.

Oh how I envy this schedule. I wish I had a life that allowed such regimented scheduling. I switch back and forth from days to nights every week at work...working every other weekend....always changing my schedule. I pretty much have to plan every workout around all that. So one week I'm working out first thing in the morning, the next week it's late evening...sometimes in the middle of the day or the middle of the night. I've run at 3am plenty of times before being at work at 5. It's not fun but sometimes it's all I have.

Agreed....really like these DVDs so far. Prepare for your glutes and hamstrings to be sore.

Well, I was doing alot of weight lifting but I inured my shoulder so I've had to limit that. So these days I'm running every other day, usually 4-6 miles but maybe 1 day a week I do about 3 miles of intervals instead at the track. Once or twice a week I'll do a 6 mile hike with the dogs, and I just started doing the "You Are Your Own Gym" DVD workouts which I'm doing every non running day. And I'll try to work in a bike ride once or twice a week. Obviously this means I sometimes "workout" twice a day, but really a hike in the morning and a bike ride in the afternoon doesn't feel like 2 workouts...it just feels like staying active. Now if I do a long run, I'm pretty well done for the day. Days off? Not many, maybe 1 or 2 a month, when I'm feeling poorly for whatever reason. But even on those days I'll try to walk 2-3 miles for an active recovery session.

Don't be fooled .... my sleeve limits me on Proteins and veggies, but sweets simply slide right on past my restriction. I can easily gain weight if I hit the pastries or candy bars. And they don't bother my sleeve whatsoever. There's nothing wrong with a little taste of birthday cake....but using food to dull depression or even "bad days" is a bad habit that got alot of us here. Really try to be strict with yourself during those first 6 months or so to develop new habits and coping techniques and maximize your weight loss.

I think it's fine. You contributed, that's what we need.

Yeah I'm not sure why someone would delete all of their postings when they could possibly be helpful to someone later on. The op originally sounded like he was trying to share some information, but clearly sharing was not the intention or the posts would not have been altered.

Great news that you found the problem and that it is readily treatable. I had similar issues with low potassium when I was newly sleeved but my symptoms were so much different than yours it didn't occur to me. My symptoms were cramping and dizziness when I stood up too quickly. My levels were low but not "critically" low. Adding electrolytes to my Water a few times a day turned out to be the solution for me. Plus now I eat enough that I can usually get most of my needs met with just food alone, needing Vitamin supplements less and less. Good luck...I hope you see an improvement soon.