Matt Z

Just remember those that start off at a lower weight, don't lose as much or as fast as those that start with a much higher weight. You went from 93-80 KG (205.03 LBS to 176.37 LBS) that's a pretty decent drop, that's a 13.97% drop in body weight. That's not something to scoff at. Your calorie and water intake is kinda low. You really want to be closer to 3-4 liters of water a day and 1000 calories a day this far out from surgery. What's your doctors saying about your intakes?

I get it, the pay to play thing does really help limit the "only here for a hook up" folks. They usually have trial periods so you can get in, start things off and see if it's worth it before committing to paying for it. Get yourself tinder and start playing around, you don't have to actually hook up with anyone, but when you start matching with people, and realizing that means they like you and are interested, it really does help to boost self esteem. Seeing other people have an interest can be quite empowering.

What amounts of water and protein are you getting each day? What's your starting weight, Height, Age, ETC required to find out your BMI? Are you tracking your intakes? What is your average caloric intake per day?

This is what's going to be harder. The "scene" these days is much different. Have you tried any of the dating services that are a bit more... professional? Something like Match or eHarmony where the idea is more about soul mate matches than hookups. But... hookups are a great place to start getting that confidence back... no judgement here.

This is the biggest myth going around with protein, it's false and there is plenty of information online about why it's false. Info here including links to study's showing the absorption cap is a myth. https://www.muscleforlife.com/the-truth-about-protein-absorption-how-often-you-should-eat-protein-to-build-muscle/

The patches are a very hot subject around these parts. Very divided group with this topic. I'm Curious why are you only using the patches for 30 days?

Dating is easy.... just be yourself. That's really all there is to it. It's when folks start trying to be more than who they really are to impress people that things get harder. Just be yourself and don't stress over people that don't respond to that, the whole idea is to find people that WANT to be with you, not those that want to be with the fake persona they have been exposed to. Good luck! And remember, always be honest and always be yourself.

Thank you very much! You are looking a floral as ever! LOL

Did your doctor tell you that a very common side effect of the sleeve is GERD/acid reflux issues? If you have GERD or acid reflux issues now, the sleeve generally makes it worse. Post WLS, odds are there are going to be some foods you can no longer eat. Even if only for a little while. I've come to find that so far, 99% of the foods I try, I have no issues with, including the ones I wish I did have issues with... I don't seem to get any dumping with any foods at this point. Which makes working with the surgery a bit harder, because it's back to that mental fortitude in order to not eat **** food.

No doctor is going to reverse any WLS simply because a patient can't eat what they want to, it would ONLY be reversed due to a complication that would warrant it. Your stomach doesn't absorb nutrients, that's the job of the intestines, which is why the Bypass folks have the malabsorption and the sleeved folks don't, there are plenty of sleeved folks that, once they get into their proper eating schedule, don't need any extra nutrition because everything is provided by the food they eat. Bypass patients generally will need vitamin supplementation for the rest of their lives.

The sleeve doesn't require much added vitamins, because there isn't any malabsorption going on. So don't worry too much about that, when you are afraid of the change, just ask yourself this, whats going to happen to you if you don't make any changes? I know for me, when I was a stones throw from 400, I knew not doing the surgery was going to kill me. When I was revised from the band to the bypass, not having the surgery was the bigger risk. Weight loss gets harder and harder as we age. You need to sit down and write out a full pro/con list. Because with the sleeve, a large portion of your stomach is going to be removed and thrown away. There is NO going back from the sleeve. The bypass is more reversible than the sleeve is, because the bypass, you get rerouted, but nothing is removed and the bypass is only reversed in very rare instances. Something else to think about as well.

My surgery date is listed in my callout. I had Band to RYN Revision on March 21st of this year. I'm having all the normal typical labs drawn, and my levels have (for the most part) stayed within the normal range. My only dip was in Vitamin D, because of where I live and my job, I don't see a lot of sunlight ever. So I've been supplementing that, but everything else is good, even was taken off of extra B12 because the patch has been providing the levels I need. My surgeon, PCP, the hospitals lead nurse and lead pharmacist all approved my testing of the patches as they haven't seen them ever. But, 3 month labs were all good, 6 months labs were all good. Been on the patches for 7+ months. Not sure who had issues or why with your groups, could be patch placement (you need a hairless, thinner skin placement area), could be patch wear length (you *HAVE* to wear them for 8+ hours) It's funny, there's another member around here that is against the patches and always says you can't tell if they work because vitamins won't drop within 3 months, yet you've got reports that folks had their levels drop within 2. Just amused at the differences all over the place with WLS.

I kept things pretty quiet moving into the surgery, not really out of necessity, just not something that I needed to broadcast. I told a select few people for one reason or another, but for the most part I kept pretty mum about the process until it was official, then once I started my pre-op, I let the rest of my friend base know what was going on.

Quinoa is a grain and it's massively high in fiber, most issues I've seen or read about were caused by the extra fiber, or the coating on the grain itself. Proper hydration and cleaning of the seeds should resolve these issues. I haven't had any issues eating it.

Congrats!

Have to add "Why am I not losing as fast as others".... it's funny in this current social norm where everyone is unique and special that people are constantly trying to compare themselves to others... everyone is different, even a set of twins having the same surgery from the same doctor and doing everything else the exact same way, would lose at different rates.

In this situation, you can drink to clear it. They tell you not to drink while eating as to not force the food through or cause any expansion, but in a situation like this... you can drink to clear the blockage. My bigger question is, why are you eating real foods only 3 weeks out of surgery? Most folks are on puree's for a full month before moving over to soft solids, then normal foods.

Pretty much most places offer some form of samples, sometimes you just have to ask, this includes Brick and Mortar locations as well.

2 shakes should get you to or above 50 grams of protein alone.

Can you tell me exactly how you know they won't work for the OP? I've been on them like 7 months now and they are working just fine for me, as per my doctor and my labs, not just my personal opinion.

That sucks, but at least you've got a light at the end of that tunnel. My mother was denied outright because of an esophageal issue she has, she's unable to have *ANY* WLS at all because of it.

Everyone's weight loss is different. But weight loss does and will slow down as you get smaller. This is because your BMI is reducing as you age and as you get lighter. So the amount of calories you were burning 7 weeks ago, is higher than it is right now.

Tried to keep it up this weekend... but didn't do all that great. Long, stressful, emotionally trying weekend. Ate like an a*****e... but, I'm still down .5 lbs this morning so... yay? Back on the horse we go!

Work to cut out all added and extra sugars. Work to reduce your caffeine needs. Work to increase your water intake shooting for 128 oz +. Best mental trick for me. Remember all the reasons you want the surgery. Understand that things will get tough, but you will make it through. Physical, this one is tough because we mostly all started out pretty heavy, unhealthy and inactive. Starting to get into the habit of using the stairs, or going to the gym beforehand can help. Best emotional cooping, I faced all my "issues" head on, knowing that down the line, I'm going to be around things I used to be able to eat but can't anymore, that my comfort foods might not be viable, facing down the issues for me helped me get over them, I'd be faced with something like, the candy isle at the store, I'd walk down and look at all the goodies and I'd think, "that's tasty, but it almost killed me. That's my favorite, but it helped make me fat and I don't like being fat." Stuff like that. It's not easy, but it worked well for me. Look for swaps. Things that will replace certain food items to help you with cravings. For me, Ice Cream is a must, but eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's doesn't fit into my diet nor should it, but Halo Top does. I can't eat the whole pint any longer, but even if I did, the Halo Top is max 320 calories, where as those Ben and Jerry's are upwards of 1300. Finding little changes from unhealthy to healthy really do help. I snack on protein based snacks now, for sweet cravings, Fruits do the trick, etc etc.

Suffer through it. There really isn't anything you can do that's 100% proven effective for all.