Marauders

I get my B-12 evey month using an injection. My surgeon calls them in for me but 6 one one unit vials cost about $12.00 without insurance. For calcium I use vita fusion Multi Vitamins gummys and target brand calcium. It is a treat. I am however 8 months post op.

Vitamin Gummy15 HB Egg White17 HB Egg White17 Calcium45 Salad Dressing40 Salad with Crab Meat 90 Cheeze Its150 Protein Shake - Pina Colada 228 HB Egg White17 Cottage Cheese Lowfat 1/2 cup 80 Total calories 699

I found that hard boiled eggs (take out the yoke) is good. 17 calories and 4 g of protein but you can eat a couple as snakes - add a little hot sauce or some flax seed. Very tasty.

Next week will by 8 months post surgery. I have been happy with the weight loss. I have gone from 280 lbs to 168. Overall, I have done a great job of sticking to it. I exercise regularly and really monitor what I eat. With that said Yes, I have snacked but rarely and No some days I do not exercise but I follow things pretty closely. The weight came off prett well but now things have come to a standstill. Some say that will happen between 8 and 10 months post op and the body will start to gain weight without an increase in calories. That is what seems to be happening to me now. For those newbies or those thinking about the surgery just keep in mind you will get results but it is a tool. You will start to see some changes like food not tasting quite the same as it did before. Like they operated on your taste buds. As for exercise - do it - if you are struggling try something - anything but get moving. The hardest thing after surgery is more psychological - the fear that after going thru everything that when you reach a pleateau that that is the end. It is not. You may hit a plateau or two but keep doing what your doing it will come off. A couple of things you can if you did a plateau however like increase the intensity of your exercise - really create a sweat. Change the type of exercise you do - if your using a treadmill switch to a bike or a hard walk. Drink more Water and watch your carbs. If you have a support group that you can attend put everything else aside and attend it. They are great. It helps so much to be in a room with others who have had surgeries and just talk about many of the same things as this site but you get the human interation. If you don't have a support system then visit here. Do not try to do it alone. At the start when the weight comes off you will think you don't need any help but you will. Many have joined weight watchers and attended the weekly meetings. They have a good support system and it keeps you motivated. You will notice things with family and co-workers as well. SOme will say things like "you cheated" or "took the easy way out". Yes, that is stupid but that is how some people think. The easy way out is not commiting ourselves to a major surgery and the risks involved but you will have people say that. You might also see friends be less supportive than you would think - some of it is jealously some just don't want change but you will see it. Also, what you do DOES affect other people. YOU have opted for the surgery so you have to balance the best way to handle it. If your married then you struggle to find a balance between not having certain triggers in the house for food however, that is not fair to others in the household after all why should they suffer for what you chose. There will always be a McDonalds weather you choose to have the surgery or not and you will HAVE to face those issues. You will have those that just don't get it - they will say "oh, just eat you look great" or something like that. IT will happen so be prepared. There will be times when you are not hungry but just feel like chewing or feel the need to eat. Keep lots of Protein available and keep the water cold. Hard boiled egg whites are great protein and only 17 calories. At the start you will feel like you are alone. You will not be sure what to eat, when to eat. You will be concerned your not taking in enough protein or water and sometimes you just won't. That is normal. Do the best you can. Eventually, drinking water will not be an issue so don't get upset if you can only drink limited amounts of water - do the best you can and work up to it. As I said it has been 8 months for me but things have slowed down. My goal is 155 lbs. I had gotten down to 164 and started to gain without doing anything different. I have heard about a bounce as the body adjusts but being so close to my goal was hard. For my weight I should be taking in 2300 calories to maintain however I take in about 1000-1200 calories a day plus I burn about 500 with exercise. Knowing that a pound of fast 3500 calories if I were to reduce my caloreis from my maintain 2300 calories by just 500 calories a day I would lose 1 pound a week. Well I have reduced my maintain calorie number by 1,000 and added anthoer 500 calories for the execise and logically that should allow me to be losing 2-4 pounds a week now but that is not happening. It is just something I have to work thru. I wish you all the best. I know we all say it is a tool but it is. You will do fine but the harder part will be afte the 6 months post op and that is when you will need to work a bit harder. One more note: This is a journey. Take it one day at a time. Your stomach is now about 70-80 smaller so many of the things that were difficult will be bette but you can't drink milkshakes all day without gaining. You have to change your diet. Things will be different but better. With your full size stomach we always had a goal but when we got close somethign would blow it - a holiday, birthday or summer BBQ. Now you have a smaller stomach and that will not change -ever. So use the tool. The one thing about this website is that only we who have had the surgery or thinking about it UNDERSTAND what we have gone thru all our lives. It is not a decision we did quickly and we have all probably done as much research as any doctor or nurse. Certainly more than any dietiticain we have ever met. We have all cheated and fooled ourselves that it was anything else but eating too much and too many calories. THe thing about this site and support groups are you soon learn you can't kid a kidder. We have all done it. We have gotten angry at the scale, we have moved that thing an inch to get the best reading and then when it showed something we would get on it multiple times a day. We let a little number guide or lives. We have grazed in the middle of the night and eaten cake batter, we have struggled and succeeded and then lost and we have done it so many times others would not understand. Finally, we had to make a decision and that is why we are all here. In this new way of living you will meet medical professionals, doctors, nurses and dieticians and all will have book knowledge but they will not really understand. No one really understands but those of us who have lived it. You will get conflicting information from others who have had the surgery, nurses etc. One will say you have to take a particular kind of Calcium like calcium citrate, my particular doctor said any calcium will do including tums. You will compare notes and one doctor will say you can't have carbinated drinks because the bubbles expand in the stomach and another will say that is foolish the reason is because they stimulate the appitite for more sweets - BUT IT DOES NOT MATTER. Listen to all the advice and DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU. A lot of this is mental. We have spent a lifetime thinking about food a certain way and that does not go away quickly. We will go to a restaurant knowing we can't eat it but order it anyway because we used to. It will look and smell good but what you did before you surgery will not work now. Your mind is the same person but our bodies will not be. IT will be like two different people living in one form. The mental part is hard. I remember how devisted I was when I hit a plateau for a week and was about 60 lbs down. The emotional aspects of feeling that the surgery did not work or was not working was hard. Day by day I would get angry with myself for undergoing this surgery for just 60 lbs and all the "medical pro"s " were no help. THe thought of the surgery not working is very hard to deal with but then WOW - you will get on the scale and be down 5 lbs and it will start again. Realistically give yourself a hard year to work. Commit to it. You will lose much of the weight in the first 6 months but after that it will come off slower. We can help with mental part so ask all the questions. People here are great. . Good luck sleevers - you can do it. You will be frustrated and scared and wonder if its working but it does and enjoy your new life. Yes, you will be able to fly without your body going to someone elses seat, you will be able to go to a football game and fit in the stadium seat, you will be able to do so much more and it will feel great. Those are non scale victories. Enjoy them.

I don't think water is an issue - I do drink enough of that - usually about 60-80 oz a day. I could float a boat in the water. I usually try to stop the consumption around 7 pm so I don't get up in the middle of the night. I am trying a few things such as limiting my carb intake to between 60-90 grams a day, eliminating salts and even changing around the kind of exercises I am doing. I keep a really tight reign on my food diary and monitor everything. Yes, on occassion - rarely I have snacked but never enough additional calories to warrent a weight increase I have been experiencing. Also not noticing anything more in my cloths.

I have had a number of friends who have had the sleeve (5 in all) about a year and a half ago. All said when they got between 8 -10 months post op the body just started to add weight even though they were staying in the guidelines. I am at 8 months post op and see the same things. I have gained 6 lbs in the last 6 weeks. I do not snack and log everything I eat and exercise daily and keep my carbs between 60-90 g a day. I have lost 120 lbs and got to within 9 lbs of goal weight before I started to add the weight back. I know I am not taking in the amount of calories to gain. For m weight (165) y maintain weight calories are 2200. Typically I will eat between 1000-1200 calories a day and exercise enough to burn between 500-650 daily. I know to lose a pound of fat if I decrease my calories by 500 calories a day by the end of the week I should be 1 lb down but for the last 6-7 weeks this has not been happening and I have been gaining. If you look at the numbers I have decreased caloric intake by 1,000 calories a day plus 500 plus calories burned from exercise for a reduction per day of about 1500 calories or 10,000 calories a week so I should have been losing about 3-5 lbs a week. Had anyone had this happen to them at the 8 plus month post surgery or have you heard about it and if so what do the doctors say and is this something that will go away with more exercise etc. Please help.