No game

Umm... I'm not sure about everything you are trying to say. But glad you got it all figured out.

You people are just wrong......

Read this.... http://www.dsfacts.com/weight-loss-stall-or-plateau.html#.UsC0ZHm9Kc0 Also do a search here for stall you will see that there have been tons of threads just like this.

3 days is not a stall.. But when you hit a stall (it can last 1 to three weeks) it is a completely normal thing, weight loss (even with surgery) is not a predictable pound a day loss process. As long as the overall monthly trend is down, that all that matters. If you do a search here under "stall" you will see a million and one threads about it. Also read this.. http://www.dsfacts.com/weight-loss-stall-or-plateau.html#.UsC0ZHm9Kc0

Hi Cathy, First off congrats on your smooth recovery from your sleeve surgery. I've heard lots if revision patients say that it's such an easy transition that they almost feel nothing had been done. But the feeling of blah can get us all in the first month. Oh and I moved this thread to the "band to sleeve revision" section so it can be seen and answered by fellow former lap-banders

1. If you think it is a magic bullet. Bariatric surgery is not a magic bullet. It will help you lose weight but the responsibility is on you to keep going and maintain that loss. Regaining all of the lost weight is very possible and not even that uncommon. People who do not commit to a healthy lifestyle after the surgery are highly vulnerable to regain. Unlike diets, regain with surgery is delayed. On a diet people usually gain weight back within a few weeks or months. With surgery, people won’t begin to regain the weight until 18 months to 2 years. People who feel like surgery is a magic bullet will not be prepared for the commitment and will end up on the road to failure. 2. If you think it will be easy. Bariatric surgery involves an extensive process of nutrition counseling, temporary liquid diets, and pre- and post-surgery meetings and preparations. Most clinics will ask that you lose some weight before the surgery, start on a special diet, and exercise. If you find a clinic that does not ask you to go through multiple steps like this you should find a new clinic. A good clinic will prepare you for success by giving you the right nutrition, behavioral, and exercise support before and after surgery. If you view these steps as a hassle, then you are not in the right mindset for surgery and will be at high risk of weight regain in the long run. 3. If it is in the back of your mind that if it doesn’t work you will just try it again. Even though people like Carnie Wilson had a second surgery, keep in mind that most people do not. Some surgeons will not want to do a second surgery for you. In fact, they may lose hope in you. Surgeons want to set you up for success. They might not want to take the risk of an additional surgery unless they are very sure you did not squander the results of the first surgery with a blatantly unhealthy lifestyle. Surgery is an intensive and invasive process, only plan to do it once. 4. You Haven’t Truly Made Committed Attempts to Lose Weight. One of the criteria to be eligible for surgery is that you have had numerous failed weight loss attempts. Nearly everyone on the planet meets this criterion, right?! Well, no. If you can’t honestly say that you put your heart and soul into previous weight loss attempts, then you aren’t really meeting this criterion. If your reason for not losing weight in previous attempts was because you were too busy or stressed out to make lifestyle changes, these problems will not go away with surgery. You will need to make the very same lifestyle changes. The difference will be that regaining the weight you lost from surgery will be 10 times more demoralizing than it is from a usual diet attempt. Once again, if you aren’t committed to making lifestyle changes, surgery will not make a long lasting difference.

Perfect Lynda, Fear or as I put it, eyes wide open... I have spent my time here looking ahead. I did not enter this (my post surgery life) thinking my sleeve would take care of everything. I now realize I am (and was) the biggest part of the equation. I was the part, in the past that didn't get on board with TRUE CHANGE FOR LIFE. The way we ate and what we chose to eat does not work. We must change our eating habits for good. Not just a temporary fix to get where we wanted (weight lost) just to go back to "normal" life once those results were realized.

Globe, I'm so sorry to hear about your friend.. Please know that we are here for you. Sheila, Magnus looks like he was a beautiful cat ( and loved) what beautiful eyes! I will hold my old dog a little tighter today. I hope your girls are feeling a bit better today. Kim, I like your snippets of Buddhist philosophy.. I've not looked into it really but whenever you add something from it, it makes perfect sense. A favorite quote of mine, "Between pain and nothing, I would choose pain" William Faulkner. I always took it to mean, that to know the pain I would of also known joy and love..

Over a year out and I can guzzle liquid like a sailer.

I am really surprised that your doctors cleared you for pineapple so early out.. I definitely wasn't allowed to blend fruit into a protein shake. As it was one of the lasts foods to be added when I finally hit no restrictions.

I think that we just have some apples and oranges here... Excuse the spiritual stuff in the picture it was the best comparison I could find at the moment Why “Everything in Moderation” is Killing People Published on October 12, 2013 Written by: Kris Gunnars. I can’t stand it when the “Everything in Moderation” mantra is pushed as the right solution for everyone. There are biological reasons why some individuals can’t consume certain things in moderation, no matter how hard they try. That’s because many people are literally addicted to the junk foods they are consuming. Just like with other addictions, the only thing that works is abstinence. For addicts, moderation fails… every time. Many People Don’t Even Know That food Addiction Exists In the past few decades, literally hundreds of studies have explored how certain foods can lead to addiction (1). However, food addiction has yet to make it into the mainstream and many health professionals don’t even know that it exists… yet. I’ve seen many dietitians and other health professionals literally discouraging people from completely removing the addictive foods from their life. They say that such “extreme” methods are doomed to fail and will lead to feelings of deprivation. Even though these people mean well, they fail to understand how hopeless this approach is going to be when applied to food addicts. Chances are that people who are true food addicts will never succeed if they try to eat “in moderation.” They will continue to eat large amounts of junk food and suffer all the horrible consequences for the rest of their (much shorter) lives. There Are Biological Reasons Why Some People Just Can’t Consume Junk Food in Moderation Food addiction has a biological basis (2). Humans are hardwired to seek out behaviors that release a neurotransmitter called dopamine in the reward system of the brain. This is interpreted by the brain as “pleasure.” Many activities release dopamine… including eating behavior, sexual behavior and all kinds of things that make us feel “good.” This dopamine-driven reward is NOT a bad thing when it happens under natural circumstances. The problems appear when do things that release more dopamine than we were ever exposed to when our brains were evolving. Whereas real foods cause a relatively mild dopamine release, highly engineered junk foods that are loaded with sugar can have a very powerful effect (3). Interestingly, this is exactly what happens when people take drugs of abuse like cocaine… large amounts of dopamine are released in the reward system of the brain. For people with a certain predisposition, this can lead to full-blown addiction (4). When this happens, the “reward seeking behavior” takes over… logic and reason fail and the individual starts succumbing to cravings, despite knowing that it is causing physical harm. This is the reason smokers can’t just decide to “smoke less” and alcoholics can’t just decide to “drink less.” The logical part of their brain doesn’t have control anymore. People who binge eat and can’t control themselves around junk food have the exact same problem. Of course, this is all a drastic oversimplification. Addiction and the brain are incredibly complex subjects and there are many brain centers and neurotransmitters involved. My Personal Experiences With Addiction I can support this with some personal experiences… I am a recovering alcoholic and a drug addict… sober since January 4th, 2007. I’ve been to 6 rehabs, a mental institution, jail more often than I can count and several trips to the emergency room due to overdose. I was also a smoker for many years, but managed to give that up after multiple attempts. The reason I’m telling you this, is to demonstrate that I know how addiction works. I’ve been there… succeeded, and failed, many times. A few years ago, I realized that I had been developing an addiction to junk foods. Full-blown addiction, nothing more, nothing less. I had completely lost control over my consumption… I used to binge all the time and often ate thousands of calories in a sitting. I struggled with this for years. I tried literally everything… cheat meals didn’t work, cheat days didn’t work, pills didn’t work, supplements didn’t work and various different diets failed. “Moderation” sure as hell didn’t work either. Eventually, I realized that I was experiencing the exact same symptoms as when I was addicted to drugs. The cravings, the thought processes, the failure to set rules, the complete lack of self control… being addicted to junk food was the same as being addicted to amphetamine. Exactly the same. Just like with drugs, the only way I have ever been able to stop eating junk foods is by completely removing them from my life. Moderation failed, every time. As soon as I managed to give up the addictive foods completely, I lost weight… with pretty much no effort. I have since spoken to many of my friends who are also recovering drug addicts. They didn’t struggle with binge eating like I did, but they have confirmed that craving ice cream feels the exact same as craving a drug. Even though there are no reliable statistics available, I am personally convinced that food addiction is much more common than most people think. If you have problems with binge eating or have repeatedly failed to set rules about junk foods, then perhaps this is something you should look into. It might end up saving your life. The Other Side of The Story – Restrictive Dieting and Eating Disorders There is a strange dilemma here… there are also studies showing that restrictive dieting can cause binge eating and lead to eating disorders (5, 6). For this reason, being flexible with your diet may be a good idea for a lot of people. Some people can and maybe even should include some junk foods in their life, without feeling guilty, in order to reduce the likelihood of developing an “unhealthy relationship” with food. This approach can work for some people, NOT others. I personally think that people who have already succumbed to food addiction will not succeed unless they manage to avoid junk foods completely. For these people, the “everything in moderation” message, which literally discourages them from doing the only thing that works for addiction, is seriously harmful. This is just one of many examples where there are very few “truths” in nutrition that can be applied across the board. While including junk food in moderation can work for a lot of people, it is a complete disaster for others. What is The Solution? When it comes to addiction, abstinence is only the beginning. Sticking to it in the long run (preferably for life) is the real challenge. People who truly have food addiction may need much more than just a firm decision to stop eating the addictive foods. Fortunately, there are psychologists, treatment programs, self-help groups and 12-step programs (free) that can help with this. One thing is certain… a person with true addiction will never, ever be able to consume their “drug of choice” in moderation. Telling a food addict to eat junk food “in moderation” is just as ridiculous as telling a smoker to smoke in moderation, or an alcoholic to drink in moderation. It simply does not work, period.

No non vets were never "allowed" to comment.. That was something in one thread that someone had mentioned might be a good idea.. The rules were changed after many discussions with the long term vets here.. I for one was on board with this even though when the discussion started I was nowhere near a year out yet... Even at a year I have so much more to understand and learn..

It is a year out and posts were 200 but I think that has been changed for the time being.. As for goal? No, many of are not at "goal" or have reached it and then had some regain so being a "vet" has nothing to to with weight.. We are supposed to have (very soon I hope) it built into the software an automatic stop to the newly sleeved posting here. It will be dependent on surgery date (not join date) but until then it needs to be an honor system also the hosts of this area can remind the newly sleeved (non vets) To please not post here.

Good news pagie! Yes, one day at a time. Truth be known sometimes I have to take it one minute at a time when I'm battling carb cravings....I loved the holidays this year and just got back from yet another party. But I'm glad it's winding down and I can get back to basics. I never want to go back to what I was before. So if I (we) have to take it one day at time so be it

If you ask me I think he needs more "super vet" hosts... I'll poke him to make sure he got your response. Ok major headache today.. I'm sure all the crappy eating and drinking this last week had something to do with it.. Detoxing is a b***h. I have a family party to go to today.. It was just thrown at me, it's at my crazy aunties house. I haven't seen these people in years so it should be fun. But I know there will be no good choices for me there so I'll pray for strength. And bring some yogurt.. EDIT!!!!!!! I have been dreading weighing for three days now.. Because I have given in to holiday crap the last week But I have weighed today, drumroll please....... The same weight!!! 147!!!! Hail to the 5:2! It's funny I've been schlumping around in sweats feeling BIG BIG for several days knowing I've gained. Just got out if the shower and threw on my tightest skinny pants to feel good.

You are doing great! In the early stages, I couldn't even string together a sentence

You should put this on my thread!

Thank you Don. I will reprint it here.. You should not consider bariatric surgery if.... 1. If you think it is a magic bullet. Bariatric surgery is not a magic bullet. It will help you lose weight but the responsibility is on you to keep going and maintain that loss. Regaining all of the lost weight is very possible and not even that uncommon. People who do not commit to a healthy lifestyle after the surgery are highly vulnerable to regain. Unlike diets, regain with surgery is delayed. On a diet people usually gain weight back within a few weeks or months. With surgery, people won’t begin to regain the weight until 18 months to 2 years. People who feel like surgery is a magic bullet will not be prepared for the commitment and will end up on the road to failure. 2. If you think it will be easy. Bariatric surgery involves an extensive process of nutrition counseling, temporary liquid diets, and pre- and post-surgery meetings and preparations. Most clinics will ask that you lose some weight before the surgery, start on a special diet, and exercise. If you find a clinic that does not ask you to go through multiple steps like this you should find a new clinic. A good clinic will prepare you for success by giving you the right nutrition, behavioral, and exercise support before and after surgery. If you view these steps as a hassle, then you are not in the right mindset for surgery and will be at high risk of weight regain in the long run. 3. If it is in the back of your mind that if it doesn’t work you will just try it again. Even though people like Carnie Wilson had a second surgery, keep in mind that most people do not. Some surgeons will not want to do a second surgery for you. In fact, they may lose hope in you. Surgeons want to set you up for success. They might not want to take the risk of an additional surgery unless they are very sure you did not squander the results of the first surgery with a blatantly unhealthy lifestyle. Surgery is an intensive and invasive process, only plan to do it once. 4. You Haven’t Truly Made Committed Attempts to Lose Weight. One of the criteria to be eligible for surgery is that you have had numerous failed weight loss attempts. Nearly everyone on the planet meets this criterion, right?! Well, no. If you can’t honestly say that you put your heart and soul into previous weight loss attempts, then you aren’t really meeting this criterion. If your reason for not losing weight in previous attempts was because you were too busy or stressed out to make lifestyle changes, these problems will not go away with surgery. You will need to make the very same lifestyle changes. The difference will be that regaining the weight you lost from surgery will be 10 times more demoralizing than it is from a usual diet attempt. Once again, if you aren’t committed to making lifestyle changes, surgery will not make a long lasting difference.

Jenny I moved your thread into the pre and post op diet section here... If you look around in this section there are TONS of ideas.. Also here is a thread to help you. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/292198-staple-foods-for-puree-phase-2/#entry3296863

Lol, yep you can interchange it with band too! Disclaimer; Not everyone finds it funny though.. Especially when directed towards them

Never mind I found it I'll get rid of them

What thread Georgia?

I'm not sure about the band diet.. But with the sleeve success comes from eating a Protein and veggie dense diet. This is where some people run into problems.. they try to rely solely on the sleeve to lose the weight.. It's all about choices. As I always say "that sleeve isn't going to jump out of your stomach and slap that shit out of your hand" We get lots of newbies that call themselves rebels or post things like "I know this is going to piss some people off" they then go into this whole thing about how they eat the same crappy things but just "tiny" amounts "hehehehe".. Usually these people are in the first couple of months into their sleeve. We refer to this has the "honeymoon" period. In the first six months the stomach is unbelievably small! It's still healing from the massive trauma and is irritated and swollen. Them bam 6 months hit and it relaxes to its true state (still incredibly small but bigger than a egg) this is where the lifetime of work comes in.. You see, I get full off of dense protein but like the rest of the vets? Junk food, crap or as we call them "slider" foods, we can eat a ton of! Yep just like the band you can eat around the sleeve. So it's up to you, what you put in your mouth. This is not a cure, we must still have willpower and some self control.

Yes the way I'm eating and as feedyoureye above pointed out for her is a more balanced approach. I guess we have to look at carbs. When I think about people eating carbs I go right to crap type foods.. So those are the ones i try and stay away from.. But I eat carbs in the form of fruits and veggies. I eat blueberries every day (no joke everyday) they have carbs also plain Greek yogurt, carbs. Also I eat ancient grains granola about twice a week carbs.. I'm a lazy cook! Hate it. So on a typical fast day you will see me eating roasted chicken on a bed of lettuce and veggies with bolthouse Greek yogurt dressing.

Could it be this one?? http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/177893-a-huge-list-of-protein-drink-recipes/?fromsearch=1