cygnusatratus

After 5+ years we turned to ivf. Problem was mostly with me, not my wife. Now two awesome girls age 2 and 5. Wish we could do more but age catching up with us because we waited so long to get assistance.

I let myself have either a little cheese on my eggs or a little heavy cream in my coffee in the morning. A little fat wont hurt. May even help. But yes, I saw the same thing with output vs pre surgery and if I'm right, the faster you get enough water in you that your body doesn't want to retain any more, the faster that fat loss should start showing up on the scale. Thats my half brained theory anyway.

I had this very bad. It cleared up when I did two things: get completely off the pain meds, and add some probiotic powder to my liquid meals. It's actually your intestines making all that noise and movement.

My nut said that decaf can be counted towards my fluid intake, but not regular.

Since 3 week stall broke about 5 days ago, I'm down 8. I'm happy again. But hunger is always there between meals now. It's hard but I need to keep pushing water in and avoid temptation to snack. I eat three meals and two protein shakes. Meals are high protein low carb. My carbs are under 20g now. Under 50g / day when I was stalled so I think I need really low carbs. Regarding alcohol, my docs/nut says to avoid it the first year. Im assuming there are a couple of reasons for that: 1) alcohol is liquid carbs/calories and 2) people tend to replace one addiction with another (i.e. food with alcohol). I've seen some YouTube sleeve blog videos where they stated that they definitely have slowing started drinking a lot more alcohol post sleeve. That being said I don't have an addictive personality and if I want to have a glass of wine or a marguerita on a special occasion, I will.

Not sure. I do know may stall broke the day after my nut said I cold have 2 cups of regular coffee per day and I added it.

I love peanut butter but not the 190 calories in 2T. I've ordered some defatted peanut powder (PB2) and ill be trying that this week.

Instead of a shake sometimes I have a plain fat free Greek yogurt (Fage) with half a scoop of Protein powder to flavor it. Also my doc says casein and egg protein are good sources. You can buy those instead of whey if you like. My favorite protein is 40% whey, 40% micellar casein, 20% egg white. It's low in carbs and fat and tastes good to me. I think powders that blend those three seem to go over well taste wise. A friend likes beverly international which seems to be a similar 3 source blend. I cut out milk because of the carbs, but almond milk or coffee! make a nice shake.

Dayum! I'm 2.5 months behind you. I'd be happy with that kind of result.

My doc's nut says .8g-1g per kg of body weight for men. Fwiw she wants me on more Protein than I have ever hit post op. Although docs and she said if I can hit 100g I'm doing good. I've read online a few places about this topic and some sources quote that .8-1g per kg but some say that kg should be based on your lean body mass, so basically ideal weight. My plan specifically wants my protein intake based on current body weight and it will decline as I lose weight. My favorite protein is called trutein and it has whey casein and egg. Today I had a shake made with coffee for first time instead of milk or almond milk. It was excellent.

My docs explained that Aetna requires 3 calendar months of you meeting with dietician AND primary care about weight loss. (1 visit to each in each calendar month). It was just over 60 days for me because I squeezed in first visits at end of August. They require documented proof of weight from physician over past 2 years. They require a letter of medical necessity from pcp. I got approved within days with that formula.

Congrats Dee. Did you do what undercoverbariatricgal suggested and drink a lot more? Just curious if that is what worked for you.

I was in a 3 week stall. I lost 4.2 pounds in last two days though. Things I did differently last few days: had a cup of coffe at breakfast after my nut said I could have two cups of caffeinated coffee per day. I noticed significant changes in "liquid output" on the very first day I had coffee. I also cut carbs from 40-50g range to 15-20g range. One of those things or both seems to have shaken me loose after being completely dead in the water for weeks. Or it was just time! My working theory is that I got a bit dehydrated in the 2-3 weeks after surgery and while I was meeting my water requirements in the next 3 weeks, my body was holding on to the water more than it normally would WHILE I was still losing fat. So the scale didn't move. Then either the diuretic effects of a cup of coffee or the diuretic effects of extremely low carbs started shaking lose that excess water I was retaining and output returned finally to pre-surgery levels. Another possibility is that I finally got enough hydration into my system that I stopped retaining much of what I was drinking. If that's the case, you might be able to avoid a stall or end a stall by forcing more water than the 64oz minimum: like 80oz to a gallon. A quick check of the scale tonight says I'm lower than this morning (which almost never happens during the day as I eat and drink) so I expect to see more loss when I weigh in tomorrow. This is all very anecdotal so take it with a a grain of salt, but its just me theorizing at an early stage about what I did, what I observed, and what may be breaking my stall. I in no way believe I suddenly lost 4 pounds of fat after losing nothing for weeks. The fat must have been gone already and last two days were mostly dumping water weight and/or glycogen. So... If you are in a stall, i would ask yourself "am I drinking a lot?" and "am I peeing a lot?" The answer to both should be yes.

I woke up in recovery in some of the worst pain of my life. They seemed suprised by it. It took them 20-30 minutes (I'm guessing) to get it under control. I had a late day surgery so this was around 7pm. Once in my room I had a pain button I could hit every 10 minutes if needed. I used it quite a bit and mostly slept. I had no drain and no catheter. By 5am, with my pain meds I was walking the halls. By noon I was feeling like I wanted to go home. I was off the pain pump by 3pm and had walked enough circuits in the halls to constitute a full mile. I got 2 "meals" in (1 oz protein broth, 1oz cranberry juice, 1 oz protein jello). I was discharged 23 hours after surgery and had a lot of soreness but the real pain was gone. I needed no assistance after that and was able to climb stairs to bed that night. Rolling over in bed was painful for a few nights and I had liquid percocet that I took for about 3-4 days. This shows that recovery experiences vary greatly.

Do check Greek yogurt for sugars. I eat plain Fage 0% flavored with protein powder a couple times per week. It's high protein, 0 fat, lowish in carbs (better than milk anyway), no added sweetener (just the lactose sugars that the live cultures eat, converting them to lactic acid giving it that tangy taste). I will not (at this point) be eating any of the flavors from any yogurt.

Me too. Stalled for all of January but lost 2.0 yesterday and another 2.2 today.

A couple of things. You could try to get her to do a version of the post op solids diet (limit calories, protein first, low carb, water intake, etc)including doctor / nutritionalist supervision and all the vitamins. Her portions would be bigger than yours but from experience, very low carbs also suppresses hunger. She could see results without the expense, and yes it will be hard, but she would have you for support and advice. With or without the surgery she will need to show that level of discipline to be successful. Point #2: I don' think it is a good example to take her to a fast food restaurant that she loves and for you to order and eat fried food, and demonstrate that you can only eat a little of it. We both know that you can get away with that bad choice, but demonstrating that to her and putting her in that situation and then telling her how hard it is and trying to demonstrate to her that she will have to make tough choices is a little unfair, IMO. It seems like a bit of "do as I say, and not as I do". I'm sorry if it is tough to hear and I'm not judging, just offering an outside perspective.

Sleeved on Dec 13, lost 29 pre-op and 20 since. I have lost nothing since before New Years. I'm being good and doing what I am supposed to do. Mentally I can't take it. I didn't get this surgery so when I ate 600 calories for weeks on end I wouldn't lose a single pound. I could do that fine on my own eating much more before. I don't want to have to go back on liquids, that's not why I got this surgery either. I was exercising daily until a few days ago when gout hit my foot hard. How can I eat this little for this long and not lose a single pound? What about calories in vs calories out? What about my so called basal metabolic rate? Is it just trashed now? I'm seriously at my wits end. I know I'm just supposed to wait it out and be patient but in 2007 I lost over 75 pounds quickly on my own without any type of a stall like this. I see people on youtube with this surgery and they lose like crazy and look better every week or two and never mention stalls. I feel like a broken man at this point. VSG was my last hope as a tool to get fit but I feel like I've already gotten what my body is going to allow me to get out of it and I'm sitting here in extreme physical (gout) and mental (stall) pain. I know I lost a lot (most of it pre-op on my own) and I should be happy but I'm 346 and have so far yet to go... I feel like giving up.

This a topic for a whole other thread but my wife is VERY anti-WLS even though she is heavy too. She says she would never do it. She was very passive aggressive about my interest and ultimate pursuit of it. I am finally understanding that she feels like I deserted her, and did what I wanted, despite many many attempts over the years to lose weight together, with some temporary successes. She wants to lose weight naturally and she doesn't care how long it takes but neither of us has ever kept anything off long term. She won't accept that I did this to avoid the temporary part and get to a healthy weight so I could be here longer for her and the kids. I told her I don't any really old 400 pound guys walking around out there. I was/am deperate to save my life, but that argument is made harder by the fact that at 40, my heart is still healthy and I don't have diabetes or any major health issues (yet), just sleep apnea (treated) and osteo arthritis and gout. We are at an unfortunate impass where she doesn't believe my reasons for doing this and resents me for doing it against her wishes and leaving her behind in my weight loss plans. I get that, but from my perspective, it had to be done to give me some hope for the future and if she doesn't want to do it for herself, that is her issue and I had to do what I thought was right for me, even though I love her immensely, and always have. The other day I told her I hadn't lost any weight in about 3 weeks and I was afraid my metabolism is screwed and afraid the surgery will be a failure. I told her she should be happy that I haven't left her behind and I'll still be fatter than she is. She just went on a tirade about how the docs just want to make money and I and they should have thought about assessing my metabolism before doing surgery, becasue the truth be told, I have eaten pretty healthily for years (lowish carb, no sugar, whole grains, brown rice, no processed food, lean meats and veggies, limited healthy Snacks, etc). My portions are so small now she gets mad that I have no room for the veggies, let alone any whole grains. My big fear is that she is right, and I'll stay stalled forever in starvation mode with a shot metabolism, but my biggest fear is that this has done irreparable harm to our relationship, whether it works or not. So any talk of regrets from me, factors in all that baggage. I could not care less about the food aspects.

Yes, maybe it was. Dropped 2 pounds since yesterday morning. I hope this keeps up and isn't just a random swing. I am so ready to be done with the week 3 stall! Next couple days should tell me the answer but that is the most movement I have seen since 2012.

Without any change to my drinking I'm suddenly peeing a lot today and its clear (better than I have seen since pre-op). I'm hoping this is the beginning of the end of the stall.

[quote name=Lisa ' timestamp='1358359455' post='636771] In the past when I've gotten to this point, I give up and I gain it all back. Now, that doesn't happen!! My only regret is that I waited so long to do it!! I would do it all over again in a heart beat!!! Exactly why I defied my wife's wishes and had this surgery. Ask me in a year how I feel about it. I hope it is better than I feel today.

I feel you 100%. The endless rain is killing me too. Spring will be here before we know it and we will look back on stalls and laugh about it.

I have some measure of regret every day. I feel like the OP, that I could have done this on my own so far, and my wife is in my ear daily telling me the same thing. I do know that eventually I would stall (with or without the surgery) and get discouraged and feel hopeless. Without the surgery I would just cave into those feelings, like always, and start gaining it all back. My hope is that with the surgery, I won't be as prone to (or as able) to sabotage myself that way and that I will at least have a shot at maintaining whatever weight loss I acheive. I know for a fact that if I lost it on my own (been there, done that) I would not be able to maintain forever and I would be one bad week away from stuffing myself or carbing out and starting down the path to regain. So yes I have second thoughts (especially while I'm stalled here) and wonder what I could have done on my own if I really applied myslef one last time, but I am also hopeful that this tool I have been given will keep me on track long term and if a miracle happens and I reach goal, it will make it easier to maintain that goal.

Trutein is thicker than a normal whey shake. I like it with 12-16oz of liquid. But to me that gets me more liquid, yay. The others are less thick. The whey isolates (like allmax isoflex) come out the thinnest with the least volume and the protein is absorbed quickest.