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I just gotta throw this out there. These drugs taken for appetite suppressant are not entirely "without serious side effects". Pherntermine is an amphetamine that has very similar effects on your heart and central nervous system as cocaine. Would you take cocaine to lose weight? At the very least, you are getting high each time you take one, and Long term use of appetite suppressants can result in convulsions, heart arrhythmias, heart disease, high BP, and death...even when taken at the prescribed dose. As for the antidepressants, my mom was rushed to the hospital twice for tachycardia and fainting. Turned out it was the anti anxiety medicine they prescribed for her. My younger brother died from a heart arrhythmia that the medical examiner attributed to the Adderall he was taking for ADHD. The amount in his blood stream was normal, therapeutic levels, but after an extensive autopsy and toxicology screen, that was the only plausible finding. He was 42. And, BTW, he was adopted so this is not a "genetic" thing. The other point I'd like to make is that appetite suppressants simply do not work as a long term weight loss solution. We KNOW this or we wouldn't have needed surgery. Sure, you'll feel great (why not, you're stoned) and lose a few pounds. But as soon as you stop taking them you are right back where you started, fighting your appetite and weight gain. Sure, drugs are another "tool" we can use, but all the tools in the world can't build a house without lumber. Our heads and ability to make good choices is the concrete foundation AND the lumber required for our lifetime fight with obesity. That is what we need to work on, not short term, temporary Patches.

How on earth can you say you are a slow loser? You've lost 74% of your excess weight in just 4 months. That's the equivalent of someone your same height starting at 300 pounds and losing 103 pounds in the same time period. With a starting BMI of only 37 I think yours is the fastest weight loss I've ever heard of!

Welcome back, nice to see you! I'm right at 2 years, too, so I know how easily that snacking/grazing urge can kind of creep in. And life has also been pretty shitty for me this 2nd year out. One thing that has worked for me, to stop weight gain, drop of few extra pounds and get my head back in the game is to go back to basics. At first just switching to strict Protein and veggies after a particularly carb heavy weekend or holiday did the trick. But then I discovered simply going back to my liquid preop diet was even more effective. If I feel out of control of my eating habits or if I pop even 1 pound above my bounce range, I go back to the beginning. I stay on the strict liquids until I drop back to the bottom of my bounce range. Sticking with liquid Protein shakes and broth for a couple days helps in 3 ways.....clears the carb cravings, kind of tightens up my sleeve's restriction, and shows me I still have to willpower to do this. I find it empowering. A lot of people seem to get the same results with the formal 5 day pouch test. In fact I just did a couple days of liquids (still getting 60-80g protein/70-80oz fluids every day) so I am headed into the holidays at my lowest weight ever. I will snack and eat sweets guilt free next week! The other thing is your gallbladder. After 2 years I finally had mine taken out. Full of stones. Other than 4 seriously painful attacks, I didn't really have any symptoms in between the attacks. But it turns out I was having low grade acid issues because of it. Didn't realize how uncomfortable I was until I wasn't anymore. And I find myself not as "snacky" in the evenings. Good luck with whatever you end up doing!

Go ahead and compare to me.... You won't be disappointed. 5 days up 11 pounds from surgery day. 11 days Weighed the same as surgery day. 6 weeks postp lost 17 pounds 7 weeks gained 3 pounds 10 weeks back to 17 pounds lost 12 weeks lost 25 pounds postop. As you can see, stalls and even gains are normal. Also notice that I only weighed myself 6 times in the first 3 months. scale numbers DO NOT MATTER. Just stay on plan, STAY OFF THE SCALE, embrace the NSVs and have fun!!!!

I eat Greek yogurt and cheese and drink milk EVERY SINGLE DAY. I lost over 100% of my excess weight in 10 months and have kept it off for 14 months, so I'd say, no, dairy does not stop weight loss.

WLS Statistics need to be taken with a grain of salt. Your personal chance of success has absolutely nothing to do with anyone else's success or failure. Unlike car crash statistics or cancer rates or even postop complication rates, your ultimate weight loss success rate is within your control. You can choose to lose all of your excess weight and keep it off by making appropriate food choices and lifestyle changes. Or you can choose to stray off plan and either not lose what you want or gain it all back in a few years. I lost 113% of my excess weight in 10 months and have kept it off for 14 months. No one besides me is responsible for this. Somebody else who only lost 50% or gained back all their weight after 5 years has no influence on my personal stats. Just as they have no influence over yours.

No. I've been taking my supplements and medications in capsule and tablet form since 2 weeks postop with no problems.

Yes, I've had them as well as the Chike and Syntrax nectar coffee/cappuccino/mocha/latte flavored drinks. They all taste fine. A little too sweet for me, but all protein drinks are too sweet to me. I usually mix them with twice as much water or milk as the directions say and with these I've actually added a bit of real coffee to cut the sweet.

I'm with you. At least with the online forums I can turn the computer off and go do something else when I get annoyed or bored. It's rude to just get up and walk out of a meeting. (And you know I would hate to be rude )

Chike and Click and Syntrax nectar all make cappacino/latte/coffee flavored protein powders. It's a great double whammy....I get my coffe fix and protein! They're good both hot and cold.

Everyone is different. I switched to decaf tea prior to surgery (coffee=acid and caffeine impedes healing) My dr had no rules, I just did it on my own. About 2 months out, I tried to start drinking coffee again but it didn't go over well. Too acidic and caused pain. Eventually, many months out I was able to tolerate it again, but in small amounts. But after about 16 months it started hurting again, so I just bagged it and went back to decaf tea. Really strong Republic of Tea Double chocolate Matte with creamer is my morning coffee substitute go-to. But other people are drinking regular coffee 2 days postop with no problems, so you won't know till you try.

My ankles were always swollen. Weight loss did nothing to help. Turns out it is mainly from poor venous return in my legs. I'm just now getting treatment for my varicose veins. With both of my faulty, leaky medial saphenous veins ablated, the vascular doc says my ankle edema should greatly improve. I'll know in the next month or so.....

Sounds like we are getting different types of treatment. My doctor uses radio frequency ablation rather than schlerotherapy for varicose veins. Basically the medial saphanous vein is destroyed with a radiofrequency catheter. This only required 1 tiny incision, basically the size of the needle they use when you donate blood. I barely felt a thing for this part. Then they surgically removed all the bulging varicose veins coming off of this main vessel (thus the other 35 tiny incisions). This isn't particularly necessary because these veins would just shrivel up on their own but that could take months and they often get hard and even more bulgy as your body reacts to the excess tissue. By performing the phlebectomy the varicose veins are all gone immediately. They will repeat the procedure on my left leg next week. This way everything is done in just 2 visits rather than multiple treatments. Because they are too tiny for the radiofrequency catheter to pass into, he does use schlerotherapy for the spider veins. That's the part my insurance won't pay for but I'm gonna do anyways, with the first treatment being free. He said it could take 1-3 treatments for maximum results.

Hey, we're like twins. I had my gallbladder out two weeks ago. Getting the varicose veins on my left leg done next week and spider veins in January. Even with all the appeals Insurance declined the spider vein treatments but my vascular doc is throwing in the first treatment for free.

Nope, never attended a single support group meeting. No time and I'm REALLY not a people person. I get all my support from friends, family and online forums.

Yep, totally normal. I could eat twice as much at 6 months as I could at 3. And twice as much at 12 months as I could at 6. I probably reached max capacity around 14-15 months. It is now mostly my head that controls my portions. If I ate as much as my sleeve holds I would definitely regain. That is why establishing new eating habits and coping mechanisms early on are SO important. Long term success has very little to do with your sleeve.

Before surgery at least a 1/2 thin crust pizza. Could probably eat a whole smallish frozen one like California Kitchen. Postop about 1/4 of the pizza toppings only. I might have a bite or two of crust but mostly just scrape the toppings off and eat those. My dogs love pizza crust!

What Inner Surfer Girl said.... Keep yourself busy. I distract myself with hikes, organizing the office, volunteering at the local animal shelter, taking pottery classes, shopping and I'm remodeling my kitchen myself (ugh!). This is on top of working 10-12 hours a day. I have the cleanest garage in the neighborhood, my dog knows more than a dozen tricks. I personally don't go to a gym, but establishing an excercise pattern instead of an eating pattern can be very helpful with long term success. I drink a huge bottle of Water when I want a snack. Or I reach for a healthy snack. I am not a big fan of cooking, but if I were I would spend a lot of time exploring new bariatric friendly recipes. I read several bariatric self help books and thousands of threads on this and other WLS forums. I talk to friends that had WLS. If you can't figure out how to do it on your own then you need to seek therapy or go to support meetings. The more you give in to head hunger the easier it is to give in to head hunger.

@sharoninidaho. Where in Idaho?

Start eating right. Get in all your protein, drink all your water. What's your calorie intake vs exercise level? Are you taking your vitamin supplements? What did your 6 month bloodwork look like?

Personally I like Syntrax nectar, Syntrax Matrix, Premier Protein, Body Fortress, Spirutein, Raw Protein, Raw Fit, Syntha 6, unjury, Muscle Milk, Chike and Quest. I did not like Isopure, Jay Robb, Pantry Selections, Bariatric Advantage, Bariatric fusion, Optimum Nutrition, Celebrate or Protizyme. There are dozens of brands and flavors out there that range from "make me gag" to "love it I could drink it everyday" (which I do). But everyone's tastes are different so you should get samples and try them out yourself. A lot of whole food stores will have single servings, Nashua Nutrition offers sample sizes and you can get variety packs of some on Amazon or from the manufacturers. The other thing I do is add torani syrups and fresh fruit to offer even more variety. It's kinda fun inventing new flavor combinations and at 2 years out I still never get bored with the shakes.

I started my preop liquid diet on dec 4th (2013), had surgery dec 20 and continued postop liquid stage until the second week of January. During that time I attended 2 Christmas parties, a funeral, a birthday party, Christmas dinner at grandmas and a New Year's Eve party. I sipped on Protein shakes, ice Water and soup broth through it all. Basically lived my normal life and enjoyed the company of friends and family. Eating during the holiday festivities is not mandatory. Just do what you always do, you don't need to go out of your way to make different plans just cause you are on a liquid diet. Although I did go "festive" with my Protein Shakes....added gingerbread Torani syrup to my Syntrax vanilla and it was yummy. I also made eggnog protein shakes. Do a search on here, pretty sure that's where I got the recipe from.

It lasts as long as you keep stepping on the scale. Put the scale away for a month and I guarantee the stall will be over. No Scale = No Stall. It really is that simple and that easy. And, BTW, there is an entire sub forum dedicated to this topic. You can spend that month reading hundreds of posts about stalls. Everyone has them and they all end in their own time.

Nope, never given calorie guidelines. Just Protein and Water. But personally, I never let myself stay low for very long. Didn't want my metabolism slowing down. Although I never tracked or counted, a couple spot checks showed 600-800 calories at 3 months, 1000 calories at 6 months, 1200 at 8 months and maintaining at 14 months at 1400-1600. That was 10 months ago and still maintaining but I have no idea what my calories are.

Well it FINALLY happened. After getting a second ultrasound and having a 3rd appeal by a third party review board, I finally got my insurance to pay for my varicose vein ablation and phlebectomy. I had my right leg done today. 2 1/2 hours, 36 tiny holes and one very thick compression wrap later I'm finally back at home with my leg elevated. They had me apply lidocaine cream to my entire leg prior to the procedure so I barely felt a thing except when they were passing the wire guide into my vein and twice when they snagged a nerve lying close to the vein they were pulling out. Yowza! But of course I have several tattoos, so this was nothing. The worst part is I have to keep this compression wrap on for three days...no showers allowed. Getting my left leg done next week.