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Makes no sense that your surgeon won't allow other food options once you are physically able (and at 1-2 months you definitely are). Sounds like a good recipe for malnutrition. Your body needs more than just protein to be healthy. Depriving your body of fats, carbs and other vital nutrients is definitely not what you need after a stressful thing like surgery. What's his reasoning?

My surgeon's goal was 160 which was still overweight. My personal goal was 150...at the top of the normal BMI chart and what I weighed when I was super fit in my 20's. Well I've blown past both of them and seemed to have settled around 140. I've basically just let my body decide where it wants to stabilize. But I would have been happy at 150 or 160. I dont want maintenance to be a constant struggle just for the sake of a number on the scale.

I take a whole food based Multivitamin everyday. It has Probiotics and digestive enzymes in it, so got that covered. I take D3 5000iu 3 times/week and B12 sublingual the other 4 days. My calcium was high on my last labs so I quit taking the supplement....I eat/drink a ton of dairy. My ferritin was also high, so I only take a 1/2 dose of Iron two days/week instead of everyday like I originally was. D3, B12, and everything else was normal. Since I'm not taking everything every day, I use a weekly pill container to keep it all straight. If I forget one day, I just double up the next day. My next bloodwork is due in December and will adjust my supplements if needed at that time. I try to eat a balanced diet of Protein, veggies, fruits and whole grains, but I've made taking the supplement thing into such a regular habit, It is an easy way to make sure I am healthy as well as thin and fit.

I was told to wait at least 18 months after WLS and/or 6 months after your weight has stabilized before having plastics. It takes this long for your skin to tighten as much as it's going to. I had a huge neck waddle, saggy face skin and bat wings within the first few months of losing. These have all disappeared. My tummy has also smoothed out considerably. I had the most weight to lose in my butt and thighs, so I have considerable sags there. I definitely will never look good in shorts or a skirt, but it's not something I'd have plastics for at this point. And let's not talk about my boobs....went from a DD to A/B cups. It's been a challenge finding bras I can stuff all the extra skin into. But again, something I'm willing to live with unless I win the lottery.

At 10 months out I finally got my first cold. I was travellling and attended a conference, so was exposed to hundreds of new people's germs. But the symptoms were fairly mild and didn't last very long. I attribute my good health to eating so much healthier since surgery (I make it a point to eat plenty of fruits and veggies in addition to protein) and taking my multivitamins everyday. I also started drink Sleepytime tea with echinacea and Emergenc-C before and during any travel to help boost my immune system.

Your pre and postop diet restrictions are for such a tiny period of time. Just suck it up and follow your surgeon's instructions. No hunger pain or craving or food dream is worth a complication. It sounds like it's mostly in your head and that's something you'll have to figure out how to deal with. You will have to struggle with good and bad choices for the rest of your life. It is a huge blow to your mental commitment to go ahead and cheat so early in the game. In the meantime Try the PPI...the physical "hunger" could be acid. My surgeon had me on 40mg Omeprazole mandatory for two months while the incision heals. Even with that, I would still take a Rolaids or Maaloxx when I felt hungry. It could also be thirst. Are you drinking at least 64oz/day?

Ditto! Eat more. Drink more. And STAY OFF THE SCALE!

And I had hot dogs and chili dogs a few times at picnics last summer and will grab an occasional one for lunch. I never eat the bun and I still can't eat a whole one before getting full. And I've cut them up with baked beans more than once. Very filling!

I ate Vienna sausages in my soft food stage at 4 - 5 weeks post op, so I guess those are like baby hotdogs

The nut I refered to in my post is short for nutritionist.

Artificial sweeteners caused me pain in the the first few months. Plain water also hurt. I drank milk, dilute 100% fruit juices, and dilute regular Vitamin Water, Sobe, Pedialyte, etc. I used pureed fruit such as peaches, bananas and mangos to flavor plain greek yogurt. Don't know if you are allowed yogurt in your liquid stage....I was.

PM me if you'd like more info about Obesity Control Center.

"This is only worth it if you are willing to do the work" Exactly. Well said.

Dr. Ariel Ortiz and Dr. Martinez at Obesity Control Center use 2-0 PDS to oversew the staple line.

The only thing that limits you to only losing 60% of your excess weight is you. I've lost over 100% and am maintaining easily. I eat whatever I want whenever I'm hungry....protein first, then veggies, fruit and whole grains. But I also eat ice cream, desert, bread, alcohol, cake, etc.... just everything in moderation. I do not excercise and I've never tracked or counted or measured my food. I didn't have surgery just to be on a diet the rest of my life. I do make sure I drink at least 64oz of Fluid and I do take my Vitamins (but I've always taken vitamins, so this is no change) Other than making much healthier food choices, my life isn't a whole lot different than preop. Unless you count Having a normal BMI, shopping in regular stores for clothes, not being in pain everyday, spending a lot less money on groceries, and being able to hike, climb stairs, etc without getting out of breath, Perhaps I am an anomaly, but I just wanted to let you know that there is more than one way to be successful and postop life does not have to be all that complicated.

Dr. Ariel Ortiz and Dr. Martinez at Obesity Control Center. OCC is a Center of Excellence with over 12,000 bariatric surgeries. No middle man medical tourism company to deal with....you go directly through OCC. Top notch care including excellent followup with all of the doctors, nutritionist and support staff. Check out the thread, "dr. Ariel Ortiz and Obesity Control Center" on this forum for comments and experiences from dozens of OCC patients. Or PM me for details about why I chose OCC and my experience.... No postop pain, no complications, over 100% loss of excess body weight and maintaining below goal at 10 months out.

We've all heard of cross addiction, right? We trade overeating for alcoholism or a gambling addiction or drug addiction, etc. From reading these posts it looks like we should add "scalaholic" to that list. Not being able to control a behavior and letting that behavior control our emotions and mental well being definitely falls into the category of addiction.

HW 238 SW 216 CW 143 TPL 95 TPG 88 Ok, so my 10 day carb fest paid off. Not only did I finally stop losing, I gained 4 pounds! I was travelling, visiting friends and family and attended a conference. 10 days of bread, ice cream, potatoes, desert, chips, cinnamon rolls, chocolate and LOTS of alcohol. I'm still under goal and well within my bounce range. But now it's back to the old 12 hour work days, protein eating, water drinking routine. It will be interesting to see what happens over the next couple weeks. And to tell you the truth, it was exhausting having that much fun

Or bag the whole sugar free thing altogether. While I was healing, I couldn't tolerate artificial sweeteners at all. They gave me bad pains. I could tolerate stevia but that's it. Plain water also upset my sleeve so I had to resort to diluted 100% fruit juices and regular Lifewater, Vitamin Water, etc. to get in my fluids. After about 3-4 months I could drink plain water and the artificial sweeteners didn't hurt but I can't stand the taste now. I rarely drink or eat anything sugar free...I just go with the real thing (or unsweetened) I simply consume in moderation, like everything else. At 11 pounds under goal, this strategy obviously has not stopped me from losing weight.

It was a short, 2 hour flight. I felt super bloated and had the typical crowded experience I've always had bring overweight in those teeny airplane seats, but nothing too uncomfortable. I wore the compression stockings I was given at the hospital. I was told if it was a longer flight to make sure I get up and walk the aisles, so an aisle seat would be a good idea. Walking in the airports was actually a good thing. I had a 5 hour drive home after the flight and that was more tiring than being on the plane. Had to stop and get out to walk a couple times. Talk to your surgeon about your travel plans. Blood clots are the major concern, so that's where the walking and compression stockings come in. They may even want you on blood thinner Meds. BTW, I'm on a plane right now and at almost 100 pounds down I have plenty of room to spare!

Full liquids 18 days then puréed days 18-28 then soft food till 40 days. Took me a little longer then that to tolerate a lot of things.....3 months till I felt normal

Some things I remember eating.....Refried Beans, soft cheeses, pureed split pea soup, pureed bean soup, cream Soups with added Protein powder, cottage cheese, pureed tuna fish (sounds gross but it was yummy with a dab of mustard), cooked squash, sweet potatoes, plain greek yogurt flavored with Protein Powder or Pureed Fruit, deviled ham, applesauce. And I ever only tried 1 new thing every day or two to not overwhelm my tummy.

That's just not true for everyone. I went back to a very active job after 1 week. No problem. For me, no work=no income. And I would have been bored out of my mind not working for 6 weeks.

I was on a plane 3 days postop.

I took off 1 week over Christmas. I am a veterinary technician with a mobile vet practice and we were too busy for me to miss more than a few days work. Very active job......driving, standing, bending, squatting, and lifting all day. 10-12 hours no lunch break. I couldn't lift over 20 pounds for 3 weeks, but could do everything else just fine. Made sure to have plenty of liquids and protein shakes available.