2Big2Skate

Welcome to the fun side of the surgery! I had ninja gas pain. Nothing in the hospital, nothing the first 2 days home, then BAM. One day it just showed up in my shoulder, hung out for a day, and was gone. Like a ninja.

For the late night thing, I keep some of the SF 30cal pops around from liquid phase. If its not a sweets thing i have cauliflower or radishes for crunch. But sometimes that upsets Thor, God of Thunder, that lives in my belly.

Pooping

What would life be without forum drama? And popcorn.

My PCP knew I was fat and trying to lose weight for a decade. So when I came to him and said "its time to try something else", he was completely supportive. There was no judgment or blame. He just said "if you're convinced you cant do this yourself, then this makes complete sense for your long term health". He doesn't want to treat you for complications of obesity for the rest of your life so I can't imagine he'd be anything but supportive.

I dont want to know how they induce the butt wrenching constipation! DONT TELL ME!

The scale makes it fun for me! Enjoy the heck out of your transformation. Focus on your goals, and track as you get closer to them. Use this time to relearn slow, intentional eating with proper nutritional balance. You just spent a ton of money, now you've got some jobs to do! As many on here have said to me "every day is better than the one before". Congratulations and welcome to the losers bench.

Anyone else do this? I find myself putting the next bite in my mouth way too early and i end up making myself overchew that next bite like 100x before swallowing (to slow myself down)? My family has no idea whats going on but i feel like such an undisciplined buffoon!

Congrats on the awesome progress pre-op! You definitely have what it takes to be very successful with this surgery! Keep up the good work!

I started on 40 once a day and was upped to 40 twice a day. I'm 2 1/2 months out and still can't drop down to 40.

The opinions on marijuana are so varied right now that I hesitate to say anything. For clarity, let's just act like it's any destructive addiction -- even like my own food addiction. Is it possible for you to love him while hating his addiction? I know there is a trail of destruction in the lives of everyone who loves an addict so I can't pretend to know the answer to that question in your case. But if you CAN love him and hate the addiction, then it's possible you can love him through treatment and the cure. Unfortunately, he's going to have to see and admit his addiction. There are resources out there, and professionals who can help, once he's willing to try. You do owe it to your children to protect them from the destructive effects of his behavior. You can't compromise on that point. I wish you all the best and hope it doesn't have to end like this for you two. Jay

Greek yogurt turns me into an acid spitting dragon.

347 at first NUT consult 6 month supervised weight loss 322 day of surgery 264 after 2.5 months post op All my best, Jay

There's an android app called "eat slower" that lets you set time between bites. I have the same problem. Ive started taking reading material to the table (and apologizing to my wife.) My whole family scarfs food down and frankly it makes me uncomfortable. It's hard to watch and not want to keep up. I try to precut my bites and spread them out on the plate so clearing it becomes a long slow journey. My PSYCH said to separate the food into 4 quarters and eat one quarter every five minutes, roughly. That might work for you, it didnt do much for me.

Yesterday over lunch, I hit the ice and played hockey! It was a little akward at first, and I have some great blisters on my ankles, but these are the payment the hockey gods require. I skated ok, and had decent stamina. Being pickup we didnt have a lot of subs on either side. But I defended well against a bunch of college kids home on break. I didn't have much burst, as I feel overall weak. But my balance was great, especially skating backwards. It was such a great feeling afterwards. I forgot the rush of adrenaline-fueled brain chemicals you get after good competition. It was like I was high, or having an out of body experience lol. When I got back to work, it was as if I had drank 2 pots of starbucks high octance coffee. So that's a big check in the box next to one of my big goals. Sore today, but completely worth it. My pads fit really well too, which was an unexpected perk. Another NSV I had at the gym. You know those stupid little towels they give you that are made out of sandpaper so you dont steal them? I was able to wrap one around my titanic butt and stay covered on my walk to the shower! Hallu-freakin-lujah! Previously i had to choose a region to conceal and hold the towel in place lol. TMI I know, but some of you have probably been there done that. Happy day for me! Jay

Cheeky, How are you doing? I hope things are going well for you. Please let us know! Jay

Any variation in your diet? The day I introduced greek yogurt into my diet was NOT a good day. I still cant eat the stuff without feeling like an alien is burrowing in my chest.

Too funny! I wish I couldnt relate. I was thinking the other day. (Im still wearing my fat guy work khakis) "Man these pants cover more of my shoes than they used too". My inflated butt made my trouser legs into floods! The shortest distance between two points is NOT a semicircle!

Hey guys, I'm so glad I found this thread. I feel so weak in the gym. I'm still in the losing-fast honeymoon, but I get a lot of Protein every day. I don't measure exact (since i eat a lot of meat Snacks and leftovers) but its over 80 for sure. I was curling 50s before surgery and now 25s make me shake. Legs are closer to pre-op, but still weaker. I've started supplementing with a little creatine to help recovery and volumize. It helps a little but I'm still bummed out. I think the smaller muscle groups got hit the worst. Back and chest are still pretty good. But calves and forearms, forget about it! When I get to maintenance weight, I plan to switch to a gym-friendly diet right at my daily maintenance calorie totals.

Thanks for giving back, y'all. You're my daily dose of 'do something right today'. Jay

Congrats on your accomplishment!

You used to also get a lot of Water out of the food you ate. Now there's less coming in on all fronts. You're very early in so I wouldn't go to any extremes to cause movements just yet. I drink enough to have clear pee (finally) but I still only pee maybe twice a day. Everyone's different. As for the other end of the *cough* discussion, I think I went once the first week I was home. The doc told me that I'd be messed up as the body 'wakes up' from anesthesia. Then I went about every third day for a while. Once I got on purees it picked up a bit. But I didn't get back to daily until like 2 months out. RJs spot on correct. Your intestines are very long and your body is in no rush to pass the vital nutrients out. Remember you're kinda starving your body so its going to be very possessive of every little bit of food and water you give it! If when you do go, its painful or problematic, call the doc. I had to take a softener and laxative at the beginning of solids. And at that time I introduced a SF Fiber chewie and now I'd say things are "normal-ish".

Just razzin a fellow philly guy. Where'd you have your surgery?

Interesting question for sure. I'm not in a place yet where I'm worried about not losing. But in general, the sleeve is a calorie restriction device right. So if you want to slow down losing, increase your calories. I'm not sure it'd be healthy or advisable to TRY to go so far over your calorie target that you gain a significant amount. Why not just level off when you like what you look like? I bet that'd take the form of increasing your calories per day from say 900 to 1200 or something in that range. I think the vets can weigh in better on getting to a maintenance weight and holding steady.