Fiddleman

Laura- I still get slimes all the time. Most of the time it is my fault because I have never been good with the 20 minute rule. I have come to know what foods lead to them and then eat those a little slower. Once a food shoveler always a food shoveler. however, I am really good about quantity so never eat too much in a meal. I think my ability to shovel was really fine tuned and honed to a science starting in college because I never had time to eat with taking 18 credits and working 3 jobs to pay for it. It continued into my adult life because I never had time to eat lunch and sometimes dinner because always working on the computer coding. Oh well, what is done is done. I am an old dog who has learned many tricks. The best I can do is learn new tricks. WLS has helped with this by helping me design a good nutrition and fitness lifestyle.

I can understand the frustration. What has worked for many is to do a little of both. Set a long term goal of where you want to maintain. Before hitting that goal, set some mini goals that will pump you up and are going to be hit be sheer fact that WLS works. You can ride on the successes a long the way to give you the ammunition to seek out and hit the big goal. As most will tell you, the last 25 lbs is hard to lose so during that time you need to be sure of who you are and what you want to achieve, in order not to fall short during the homestretch. And then remember this is a lifestyle. Losing and hitting goal is just the beginning...

That is great that you have set a new goal! Being adaptive is key to being happy with success despite circumstances. Thanks for sharing. I like the adaptive approach to picking a goal number because it allows room for refinement based upon the feedback loop of life.

Andi-very good answer and has a lot of personal meaning to you. You are also able to connect a sense of peace, comfort and well being with that number. I think that is going to help you tremendously in being happy with your goal and make it more natural to maintain. Way to go at striving towards an envisioned goal of being a medium. Seeing yourself as a medium is really helpful as it will be something your subconscious can take action on, without it feeling unnatural to you because you will not be fighting it.

Richard, shooting for under 200 is an excellent goal and, I believe, has universal appeal to most sleevers. For many, including myself, that is not a number that has been seen for a long time, in a galaxy far, far way.

Thanks Laura. Are you happy with that decision? Would you change it before you hit it or go full steam ahead with that goal in mind?

That sounds about the right amount of food to eat in a meal. However, it depends on what type of protein you are eating. I can eat way more soft chicken (5-7 ounces) then I can steak or hamburger (3-4 ounces). My sleeve must not like beef that much because it feels like a rock every time I eat it. So I tend to eat chicken or pork most of the time. And not just chicken breasts, but chicken meatballs and chicken patties. I currently am loving the bbq chipotle chicken patties from Costco. So good! I do struggle with eating a lot of veggies after protein. I am most successful with salad or with steamed broccoli or Brussels sprouts. Probably others work well, but these are my favorites. Other steamed or cooked veggies like string beans and zucchini or squash often lead to slimies. It is a toss up with how well I do with raw veggies. Red bell peppers are my favorite, but I have to be sure to chew a lot or I get a really bad case of slimes or worse case, they come up. You have to pay attention to what works well for you and if you want to eat more, perhaps pick certain non slider foods ( sorry, no cheesits).

I think reaching goal is worth way more then 100 dollars, but that is just my opinion. I would go for it and try to drop the 15 lb.

I have finished weight loss during the first 7 months (180 lb goodbye) and the following occurred: 1. Shirt size dropped from 3x/4x to medium or large ( in between). Casual button shirts feel best in large on me. Fitness shirts for running or cross fit feel best in medium on me. Tshirts are good in medium or large, depending on brand. 2. Pant size dropped from 48 to 32. A good fitting Levi feels great! Perfect fit! 3. Shoe size dropped from 11 w to 10. Not a big win for me, but I do like to wear normal size Nike now, especially for running and workouts. Be prepared to go through several sets of clothes as you drop weight. We ended up buying from Value Village or good will and, in turn, donated huge amounts of clothes there. Now I shop at places like Macy's, old Navy, kohls and the likes.i have not really felt the need to step into the really trendy mall clothing stores yet, but that is just me. Too expensive and I am approaching middle age so don't need to fit in that way.

It has been a couple weeks since the last post. I feel progress is going well and the goal of real strength is becoming obtainable. This week I have switched onto intermediate training on the "be your own gym" workout. It did not kill me. lol. These are incredibly effective exercises that work out the whole body and several major muscle groups at the same time in a relatively short amount of time. I really enjoy doing these workouts and it is over before i know it. The moves are extremely functional so my body is in a happy place when performing them. I highly recommend others to try the training if you want to do challenging workouts with the power of your body only ( a bit like cross fit without the weighted routines). I missed cross fit this week because I needed to be with my wife at the hospital for her sleeve. She is home and doing so well, 100x better then I did as newly post op. Also notable is some stair running I did at the hospital to get a little exercise in. 45 flights up and 45 flights down total in a short amount of time. I think I am going to do the big climb up the Columbia tower of Seattle this following year because 45 flights up was not that much effort. I am excited as to where fitness is taking me week over week. My arms are still not getting big yet, but my quads, chest and back are getting powerful. Darn arms!! It feels good to own my fitness routine and not to be afraid of it. My weight is 178 lb this week, yet i have been gaining lean muscle all over, especially in upper body (athletic build). Happy about the progress. Lets keep on going to the end of the 12 week challenge. Hope y'all are doing great!

In the hospital for two days while my wife is getting sleeved. A good quick exercise I found is to jog up and down the 15 flights of stairs in the east wing of Swedish hospital. I jogged up and down 3 x and it only took a minute or two each direction. Not too bad and was able to get my legs stretched a little in the process. Now I want to find a 100 flight building in downtown Seattle and try jogging it over the summer.

I am currently drinking GNC Wheybolic 60 cookies and cream after a workout and re-feed at night (tastes worst then monkey butt, but does work effectively). In the morning, I drink muscle milk light with chia seeds ( my yummy shake).

If the soreness is from training, a good recovery shake with branching amino acid chains in it should help next time. Drink it within 20 minutes of working out. Also, remember the importance of cool down and stretching. A few minutes on the roller or a heating pad also helps. Remember also to warmup in order to prevent muscle or ligament issues.

Yup- she is doing very well. Out shopping with her mom at Costco this morning. Has already been walking 1/2 mile. She can drink her 60 oz of water and also hit 78 oz protein shake yesterday. It is an excellent recovery.

It is bound to happen to everyone. We are human. And to be human is to err. Do not be so hard on yourself as there is always tomorrow. That is a good part of the sleeve journey. Nothing is permanent any anything can be corrected or modified. As for your question, I've had a few Mexican standoffs with my protein bars and lost. The next day, I dusted myself off and continued along my way. Another good motivating thought is to remember Newtonian physics. An object in motion will stay in motion. 3rd law if I recall my college physics correctly. Seven months is a long time of building up momentum in a particular direction. A screwup does not have enough opposing force to stop your momentum. Many months of screwing up might do it, but the occasional screw up is not going to derail you.

Thanks - I think I will do this! Good cause also.

Yup, agree with you. Bariatric Advantage or Celebrate are two good companies to start out with for supplementation needs (Vitamins and minerals). I have no problem with that, but would suggest nectar or unjury as great Protein shakes for a newly sleeved individual. They are both solid brands and work well. In fact, my WLS center also recommends Bariactric Advantage for supplementation and Syntrax Nectar for protein shakes. That being said, I am 1 year post op so am a mature post op and somewhat new vet. I have been around the block a few times in my journey so far and have learned much and have much to share around shakes and supplementation and their impact on weight loss and fitness. I hope you do not read my post as anti-doctor or anti dietician. Quite the opposite in fact. In the first six months, it is critical to follow doctor orders to a "T" both dr and dietician know how to make their patients successful. Of course you are aware every doctor and dietician can potentially give different plans to their patients that may not be consistent with other patient doctor and dietician plans. After 6 months ( or when you feel is a good time), you can start to form your own strategies in terms of diet and fitness. The level of tweaking that you do is highly individual. The shake mentioned in this thread from GNC is just another tweak to the lifetime eating plan. Re-feed may not be an ideal shake for me, but I wanted to give it a try for reasons mentioned above in this thread. I also take cake batter muscle milk light and GNC Wheybolic or Isopure vanilla bean for recovery shake. I am so much a shake person at 3 a day. I eat small protein based meals for the other 4 meals. By small, I mean 3 oz lean protein and perhaps a veggie.

Any of you try this re-feed nighttime Protein powder from GNC? It is new. I went into GNC last week ( I know, first mistake), looking to refill my night time casein supply from optimum (gold standard double chocolate, yummy). Normally I go to Vitamin shoppe for my needs, but I was short on time and GNC was closer. The GNC clerk suggested this brand because they do not carry the gold standard. I do not like interacting very much with the GNC because they have very little actual knowledge about the chemistry and physiology attributes of the supplements. The Vitamin Shoppe clerks are very different in this regard and I can have decent conversations with them. Anyways, re-feed has a lot of marketing gimmick speak on it related to optimal anabolic body state instead of catabolic state. So far sounded good for me. It also states it has valerian, hops and other herbs for more restful sleep. I bought the vanilla ice cream flavor and have been trying it out this week right before bed. So far so good this week with good lean muscle results. I can see my veins popping more on my arms even when not working out. The problem is it tastes nasty. I mean really nasty like old gym sock I suppose. Like sniffing old underwear. lol. I think the taste comes from the inclusion of valerian for better sleep at night. I have had valerian root before and it smells the same way. Better sleep translates into better repair for your muscles. The GNC clerk warned me the double chocolate re-feed one tasted like butt, but she claimed the vanilla ice cream was good. Not! Sigh. I can return it, but I like the next day results so far. A good nighttime casein always, and I mean every night, results in leaning out over night ( for the 5:2 crowd - casein at bed is almost magical in how it amplifies results over night). That got me thinking about whether I have to enjoy every protein supplement I take if I am more after results. Don't know. I have tried a lot of different protein powders in the last year and this is the only one that has turned me off so far in terms of taste and smell. The next day results from gold standard casein are very good, but I think, not as good as the re-feed. Should I grin and bear it or go back to my gold standard double chocolate casein? I have about 25 days to make my mind up.

Everyone is so insipiring in their motivation and dedication. Thank you for putting your struggles in a public light to also help and indirectly motivate both pre ops and post ops about the challenges of losing weight as a mature vet. Food for thought ( haha): even normal people who have not had WLS struggle with losing the last 10% of excess body weight. For this reason, I believe it is key to see yourselves as normal (maybe even better then normal) in getting off those last lbs to your personal goal. Those that are naturally thin struggle the exact same way! Deep breaths everyone and bask in the progress you have made so far. It will happen soon enough and, again, you are all inspiring.

I think I will go back to gold standard, but am having no desire to take valerian. Don't like it, hate the smell and just do not need it. Thanks for your response. Hey, you are a Swedish hospital patient right? Britney told me yesterday, while i was at the hospital with my wife, that the next support meeting coming up on Saturday July 13th will be about plastic surgery. This will be a good meeting to attend.