Fiddleman

My wife was looking at my hands this morning and said, you have old person's skin. I said "what do you mean" because I am 38, hardly that old. She then went on to tell me a story about how her grandma would constantly squeeze a layer of skin between her fingers and say "see, I am old" when she was growing up. My wife said she was grossed out because it would not bounce back after her grandma did that. My wife then squeezed a layer of skin between her fingers from the top of my index finger. And the ridge stayed in place and did not bounce back. We both let out a collective " groossseee." It eventually did bounce back after rubbing it out, but it was a little unnerving. Next thought was injections for my hands. Just kidding, I am not that vain. Has this happened to any of you after losing a significant amount of weight? I have lost about 150 lb. Skin on other body parts is still ok ( neck, face, arms, legs, feet, stomach, etc). I guess the layer of fat under be skin in saying "so long, and thanks for all the fish"

I didn't think I would experience this. Following 6 months, there are some days when I feel really hungry 1-2 hours after a meal when I need to go 3 hours. There are other days when I am not hungry at all. The time of day that this happens is pretty random. It started to get more noticeable around 4 months. I tend to eat very well, getting in at least 3 oz of Protein per mini meal and try to get in 1-3 oz of veggie (sometimes only 1 oz). My Water intake is really good at 120+ oz daily. I find that drinking sometimes helps the hunger, but not always. My exercise tends to be pretty intense for an hour a day. I do not tend to keep track of calories burned versus calories eaten. I am a KISS sort of guy and don't like to complicate where it is not necessary. All in all, I have been good about keeping on my plan, but it is getting harder. I especially think about wanting something crunchy or very flavorful. I love foods like seaweed salad, chipotle chicken, and satay that burst with savory flavors found in other countries. I have always preferred to eat international foods over American foods. Any suggestions, tips or hints on how to tame the hunger beast? I can't just grab a 1 oz serving of something in between my 6 meals because I would then be grazing. I do not have long to go until done with weight loss, about 10 lb. At 195 lb and started at 360 ( my highest ever before starting pre surgery diet).

What flavors do you like to freeze?

By accident, I found a good stretch for hamstring/buttuck muscles that is very easy to perform. Siting in a chair, put right leg over left leg, right above knee, bend forward and hold. Repeat for other leg. It really gives your hamstring a good stretch, one side at a time and feels oh-so-good when you are sore there (e.g. I have been running). This is easier then the traditional runner's stretch of laying flat on your back, lifting each leg to 90 degrees and holding. Do both of these stretches target the same group of muscles in the hamstring area? I do not know a lot about muscle groups and the interactions between them with regards to stretching so I am going to research that.

I started walking my dog the day back from the hospital which happened to be day 5 post op. Only made it about 100 yards on that first walk and my brother was actually holding the leash. Over the next month, I was literally out walking my dog up to 3x a day up to 3 miles at a time(ramped up the endurance, of course). I lost a lot of weight by just walking like this until 6 weeks out ( about 65 lb). And my dog got addicted to all the walks. Since then I still enjoy walking my dog, but usually only once a day and no longer for exercise. He is well behaved on a leash and got a canine good citizen certificate 2 years ago. He is an english springer/ border collie mix that weighs about 55 lbs give or take 5 lbs depending on how many treats or table scraps he gets.

Accidentally posted this to food instead of fitness. Does anyone know how to move the post or is this something a VST admin (eg *susan*) needs to do?

This sounds like a challenge

Welcome to the joys of running!

Don't forget unicorns. LOL!

I can completely relate to (5) as sometimes I think exercise is contraindicated to weight loss that is measurable on the scale ! In fact, when exercise picks up the scale almost always does not seem to do anything or even ebb up a little because we are forming muscle. The old truth remains that muscle does weigh more than fat and takes up less space than fat. One thing that can be said for you is that working out 4 times a week will result in smaller sizes and toning (the "hot factor" ), something the darn scale is not smart enough to measure. By the way, you will always have a pretty face no matter how much you weigh.

Has anyone found a strange metallic taste in their mouth after eating beef jerky? It is quite strong and almost acts as a deterrent. I do not eat beef that often and have had beef jerky 3x since surgery 6 months ago. I hope it tastes better in the future.

Neither actually. I keep my eating separated from my exercise. And most machines are not that accurate about calories burned. I eat as well as I can and exercise as well as I can without tracking calories. For example I try and exercise for 45 minutes and switch between fat burning zone and cardio zone every other interval. I just track Protein and Water amounts. Additionally, I try and limit carbs as much as possible but do not tend to stress too much about counting either because my food choices tend to be low carb. I tend to live by the KISS rule and pick strategies that I can maintain without much fuss while losing weight.

I was not sure I would like it the first time, but now it is one of my favorite side dished with a portion of protein for dinner. It has a good salty seafood taste and is apparently really good for you. I ate it for first time a couple weeks ago at a sushi place, but have since found some at Costco. Be forewarned that it is very stringy and you may need to wait until tour sleeve can handle it. For me, that is about 6 months post op. Come on, give it a shot. You know you want to.

To answer about when sliming goes away: I would state that between month 5 and month 6, the consequence of sliming or getting the stuck feeling in chest reduced drastically even if eating too fast. Agree with others here that you want to develop a habit of chewing and eating slow, but a least you know that sliming will become much less in a couple more months for you. I do not know why this is the case, but suspect that it took 5 months for the stomach to heal and the swelling to go down. I can drink a lot of Water now in a short period of time. Eating 3-4 ounces of chicken no longer causes me pain or sliming when eating over 5-10 minutes. However, I do slime if eating around 5 ounces around the same amount of time. It is best to continue to follow the best practices for eating until you get to the point where you can judge what your stomach allows. Being able to interpret the body signals is something that really helps to prevent overheating and/ or sliming as time goes on so you don't have to rely so much on the rules that we get as new sleevers (eat x ounces amount of food and take y amount of time to eat it). You will learn to eat to satisfaction rather than to fullness. Some days, you will need to eat everything you put on your plate ( even if it is only 3-4 ounces) and other days you will not. it is all about interpreting the body signals to know when to put down the fork and stop eating for a meal. Good luck and I hope this information (from my personal experiences) helps you.

That sounds great. I have been wanting to start in on some yoga this year. I have 1-2 yoga DVDs here at home, but never tried them before because of the extra weight. Now I am much more flexible and can do twisty things with my legs and arms. Lol!

You can also report any one that you feel is a regular negative contribution to the forum. They will be banned and will not be allowed to post.

I like the nectar sweets the best. Cookies and creme is my go to shake every day now for months. I also like chocolate truffle mixed with pb2 to create a quasi Reece's flavor. I do not like much of the fruit flavors and absolutely cannot stand the fuzzy navel flavor. I was really a peach and banana flavor person pre surgery, but have a lot of issues tolerating these flavors post surgery in just about any form. It is interesting how our tastes change after surgery.

What about the WW (weight watchers) sundaes? I used to love these as a desert and they are not very many calories for the yummy taste. I lost a lot of weight eating these when with WW. For every dinner i would have these for desert along with the Thai noodle frozen dinner and green Beans. I also mixed Fiber one Cereal granules (look like rabbit food) in with the Thai noodle to create a faux casserole. Not sure if we can still eat these foods (maybe not the fiber one granules or the Thai noodle), but all were helpful for me in the past when dropping weight with WW (sometimes 5-6 lb a week) when combined with exercise. I have not eaten these since being sleeved, but offering them as a suggestion...

I have the same issue only worse now. I hope someone else knows how to resolve this.