joatsaint

I chickened out on my 1st attempt to start the process. A month later, I realized I wasn't going to lose weight any other way and just made my mind up to go through with it - no matter what.

I wasn't much of a drinker pre-op, but if I had the desire to drink before I started the pre-op diet, I would have. But I wouldn't drink once I was on the diet. Alcohol has too many worthless carbs.

Congrats on a successful start post-op! I went through the haywire taste buds thing soon after surgery. Every flavor had to be double strong for it to taste good, but that went away after a week or so. The good part was that I started liking (healthy) foods that I wouldn't touch pre-surgery.

Yes, it is completely normal. I completely freaked out and at the same time was excited. This is a life changing event. And I was feeling like I was the one person it wasn't going to work for. After 20 plus years of hearing the hype about the new "weight loss miracle" pill/system/diet it was hard to believe that WLS was actually going to work for me.

Welcome to the board. Feel free to lurk around or ask questions.

Here are the shoes I bought over a year ago. I've been averaging 12 miles a week for the past year walking in these and I swear by them. They have 2 sole inserts to customize the amount of cushion. Plus the soles are extra thick. I do a lot of walking in my local park and the straps really help support my ankles. They are made for diabetics that have foot pain. I got them off Amazon. I'm a size 10 1/2 and the shoes size seems to be spot on. I ordered an 11 because my feet were swelling. When I reorder, I'll be getting the 10 1/2s. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00130SWU6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00130SWU6&linkCode=as2&tag=weilosadv-20

I can't post proof. My mirror still flinches everytime I walk out of the shower!

Congrats on your NSV! Please post pics for proof.

I got the infamous 3rd week stall right on time. After that, I could expect a week long stall at least once a month.

When I suddenly stop losing like you have, I fall back on this thought - if I haven't changed my eating habits and it was working, just stay with the plan till my body decides what it wants to do. If I try making too many adjustments, I just wind up second guessing myslef with no way to track the results.

Congratulations.

Congrats on having such a successful pain free surgery. I remember not being in any kind of shape to be able to make casual conversation, much less post updates online.

I went down about 1/2 size. But for years pre-surgery my feet would swell and shrink for some reason, so I never really knew my actual size. One bad thing about the shrinkage is that the hairs on my feet are closer together now. I have fuzzy Hobbit feet!!!!!!!!!

I've only gotten the "ice pic" to the temple feeling when I'm having caffeine withdrawals, none of the other symptoms your experiencing. I do get nauseous when I take vitamins or calcium on an empty stomach. Hope they ease up soon.

I think I lost 8lbs the 1st week. But I was wondering how much of that 8lbs was the part of my stomach they removed?

I too suddenly could eat more at 9 months. And it scared me. I was allowing myself to drift away from my normal diet and eating a small piece of cake here and a "fun" size candy bar there. My weight loss started to slow down even more as my body grew accustomed to the new way of eating. I had to take a hard blunt look at what and how much I was really eating. And I cut out the sugary stuff and went back to lean protein and low glycemic vegetables like salad/squash/eggplant/lentils/beans. I've gone through quite a few stalls and I know that as long as I stick to my eating plan, I'll eventually start losing again.

Have you considered getting some of the unflavored Protein powder and mix it in with your chili or Soups? That's what I still do to get in extra protein. But you didn't say how far post-op you are, but for the 1st 3 months, I know I wasn't able to get in the recommended 60 - 80 grams of protein daily. I just did the best I could and focused on staying hydrated.

From my own experiences, I know that if I eat carbs from candy or fruit I tend to hold or gain weight and experience sugar cravings. If the same amount of carbs come from beans/vegetables I don't experience weight gain and I don't get sugar cravings. The guidelines I was given said try to have 75% Protein 25% carbs per meal. And by carbs they were referring to fibrous vegetables like greens/beans/squash/eggplant - nothing that could be quickly converted into sugar like fruit or potatoes or Pasta or rice.

The Atkins diet worked for about 6 months for me before my weight loss stopped. I just couldn't maintain a diet of virtually no carbs forever. But I can remember losing 10 lbs in 8 days by eating less than 20 grams of carbs per day and all the meat I wanted.

My insurance only required 1 visit, but it really dependw on your insurance provider.

I was worried that I would fail pre-op, but post-op, I was hurting too much to think about failure. :-P

I know where you're coming from. I used to drink 2 or 3 glasses of Water or Crystal Light with my meals. It took quite a while to get into the habit of not drinking with meals. Along with training myself to break the habit of trying to eat everything on my plate. At 15 months post-op, I can't say I don't drink at all with meals, but it's only an ounce or two. I drink the tiniest sip, just enough to wet my tongue.

I've only tried 3 brands - EAS carb control, Muscle Milk and Premier Protein. All premixed and only the chocolate flavor. Premier Protein comes in 1st - being the smoothest and most like chocolate mile, EAS comes in a close 2nd (just a little grainy texture and waterier), Muscle Milk tasted good, just too many calories from carbs. I can usually find the Premier and EAS at Sams and Walmart for around $1.25/shake. When I want a thicker shake, I toss in a scoop of powdered protein mix.

Never had a problem with cold water doing that to me. But the flavor of room temp water makes me nauseous. I need it to be ice cold to taste good.

I'll take the Spiderman plate please. :-P It will go well with my Captain America sippy cup.