bikrchk

Keep logging food and exercise and keep an eye on your weight. I had kind of the same experience, (I'm about 1.5 yrs out too) but I had stopped logging and let larger Snacks and too frequent alcohol creep in. Put on like 5 pounds outside my goal range then had to go back to the habits that work to take it off again, (which I have), but only just. Now working on creating a little wiggle room. If you're not gaining, maybe you need the calories. If you really want to stop it, change up your snacks to whole foods only for a week or 2. Sometimes I just need to break a habit and going "clean" can help.

So I GAINED 10 pounds on my 6 month diet. I was close to the BMI limit and couldn't have lost and still qualified. Plus I had recently been prescribed a statin med that exacerbated weight gain. BCBS of KC approved me in 10 days. It's NOT impossible. I did manage to take off the 10 required plus interest for the doc's required liver shrink the month before surgery once they'd taken me off the statin in prep for surgery. His office staff (one in particular) was AWFUL but Doc was AWESOME! I can say I was completely honest about the good and the bad when it came to survey time!

Could be a while, or never, LOL. I've been in maintenance for about a year now and still "want" to eat more that I should. I don't because it will make me miserable and I will puke. Simple. This is exactly what I paid for! I still tend to weigh\measure when I can more in self defense than anything else. When I'm out, I eyeball and manage pretty well now. I've learned to deal by allowing myself some delayed gratification, (you can have the leftovers tomorrow if you want them). Sometimes I do, sometimes, they just don't look that good day 2. It's a learning process.

35 with comorbidities is within the guidelines for most insurance these days. Mine was about that on the day of surgery. It's not THAT odd, though I got the same comments about not being big enough, but with high BP, sugars, cholesterol and asthma, I was headed for an early suicide by knife and fork without help. Today, off all meds and with normal blood work and BP, my results don't lie! If you look at the research, some experts say WLS can have health benefits for those with as little as 50 pounds to lose. You gotta do what's good for YOU and damn the opinions of the uninformed\uneducated! And yes, I do tell folks about how I did it, (even folks who didn't know me fat), because I believe the conversation is worth having if it can help educate the uninformed. You'll never have 100% agreement or understanding and that's okay. I'd rather risk the argument than avoid an opportunity to share what this tool has helped me accomplish! I walked and stood from 1 pm to midnight at a music festival in the mud over the weekend. Not a patch of grass to sit on if I wanted to. Up the next morning for an all day motorcycle ride. No way in hell I could have done that 2 years ago! 2 hours on my feet at 253 pounds and I'd have been DONE! Not this chick! NEVER again!

I never did feel deprived. After the first 2 months of healing, (not lying, that part is an adjustment), I could eat pretty much what I liked as long as it was in small quantities. I supplemented Protein to meet my goal of 80+g per day, (still do) so I can have that variety in my diet. I LOVE the fact that now that I'm in maintenance, I can eat relatively clean during the week and party on the weekends and stay a size 4! SO worth giving up that 2nd 3rd or 4th slice of pizza!

The only "rules" I was given were: Don't wash your meals down - I adhere to this one as drinking with meals tend to make me uncomfortable anyway. Get your Protein - Yes. In maintenance 1 year now and still put a scoop of whey in my (real) coffee every morning. I avoid caffeine the rest of the day now. (Previously lived on diet coke). Stay compliant with supplements - Yep. Still do that too. Vitamin deficiency is a real risk with us. My Iron sat was down a bit even while taking iron supplements as directed (outside any other supplements) so I changed to a chewable with C. Hopefully I'll absorb it better. Don't know if it's helped, but I have more energy now. Guess I'll find out at my next physical. Other than that, I eat high protein and pretty clean during the week, exercise every weekday and party on the weekends including alcohol in moderate amounts. I don't consider it "rule breaking", but living life as a fit person in maintenance!

Three weeks is soon IMHO. I would not have been ready. I was a dry red wine drinker before but found that after surgery it just doesn't typically sit well. White is better now if I do wine, or even a cocktail made without soda. I do find that alcohol will put weight on me faster than ANYTHING else. Even 1 drink per night with calories worked into my day can derail my progress. I'm in maintenance now for the last year. If I dial it back to just weekends and watch the quantity, I can maintain\lose a little to stay in my zone relatively easily. I echo what others have said about the empty calories. If you want to maximize your WLS honeymoon period, try and leave it alone as long as possible!

I think stalls are real and an absolutely normal part of the weight loss process. Just part of your body adapting. However, if you "stall" lasts more than 6 weeks or so, you probably need to change up your behavior\routine. You could be eating too much or too little or not getting all the nutrition\exercise you need to get to your goal. If what you're doing is not working for a couple of months, you need to take a hard look and probably do something different!

Didn't even meet with surgeon until I'd done the 6 month weight loss attempt, psych and nut visit and had all my paperwork in a pile. I was approved in about 10 days via BCBS of KC at a BMI of 37 with high cholesterol, high bp, asthma, hi blood sugar (not to diabetic levels but close) and hip displasia. A year and 1/2 later, maintaining well off all pre-op meds with none of those issues, (other than the hip displasia I was born with)!

I had reflux the first month to the point I couldn't sleep well from coughing then things got MUCH better! Check with your doc on a higher dose PPI or different PPI. I still take 40mg Omeprazole 2xday but no symptoms. Hang in there!

This is so, so common. They found mine on the EGD and fixed during the sleeve procedure. I don't know that there were any extra incisions for me. (I had 4 holes, 2 for instruments and 2 for cameras). No issues and I recovered easily and quickly from surgery. Never needed pain meds and was back at work the next week. May your recovery go as smooth!

Good advice to keep it light with no bubbles. Early on I did well with cranberry\vodka and still enjoy a skinny margarita if I can get it.I used to love red wine, but it tends to cause reflux for me now so I avoid it. I can tolerate a very lightly carbonated beer like Guinness, but only if I'm completely empty.

I do, but slowly and I have to be super careful to choose one that's lightly carbonated (like Guinness) when I do. Poured in an icy glass is better and wait a bit for the bubbles to escape. Wine makes my tummy hurt most of the time now. I've come to prefer a sugar free margarita if I can get it.

I'll be 2 years out in 4 months. I do one or 2 Protein supplements per day. Daily, one in my coffee to make a "latte" and often, but not always one in "bar" form later in the day. The "bar" one is really more of a "cookie fix" when I use it. PowerCrunch is da bomb! I'll probably never give up my protein latte at this point. It's my morning treat!

I was back on decaf within a few weeks, Caffeinated within 6 months. Today, my "protein'd latte" is my favorite treat of the morning. 1 cup of really good coffee with a scoop of vanilla whey and a shake of cinnamon mixed in via shaker. IF you try this in the future, be advised, YMMV with Protein in hot liquids. Too hot and you'll end up with a chunky mess. Also, hot liquids in the shaker are volatile! Lid on tight, shake once or twice and burp it, repeat till mixed. God luck!

I had the same thoughts a year and a half ago. Lost 90ish pounds to my goal range eating what I wanted in small portions, meeting my Protein goals and exercising 5 days per week. At about 4 months shy of my 2 year surgiversary, I can tell you I still eat very little in a sitting. Restriction is still there :-) However, I'm working harder to maintain my weight loss these days. I had to learn to snack to meet my nutritional goals early on. My doc said to eat 1000-1200 calories to lose and it worked like a charm! Added a few more to enter maintenance when the time came to stop losing and it was all fine. Then snack sizes and portion sizes creep up over time. I got fit and reclaimed my social life which includes having a drink with the boyfriend\friends more often, (never more than a couple as I can't hold my booze like I used to), but that stuff has calories! If I don't watch what I'm doing I can put on 5+ pounds in a snap and taking it off is more of a struggle now. Pay attention, don't skip my workouts and lay off the empty calories and I maintain just fine, but it's WORK now, where it wasn't so much before. Know that your honeymoon WILL end at some point but that doesn't mean you won't be successful! You just have to keep working your tool.

It's funny. At my consult, the doc said "you should lose 100 pounds". I'm 5'6" and was 235 at the time. I couldn't fathom weighing less than 150 pounds and 135 seemed like an unreachable goal. Then 6 months post op I was still clinically overweight at about 160 pounds and I got the "You look good, you're off all BP, cholesterol, asthma meds with normal labs, you've lost 70% of the weight... You are a WLS success! Go forth and prosper!" But I didn't feel like I was "done" till I was well inside "normal" BMI territory, so with the docs blessing, continued losing till I got to about 145 and a size 4. Lowest weight 139. Decided to enter maintenance and adjusted my calories to stop losing. Maintained well for 6 months. Today, I'm bouncing around between 143 and 146, still well withing "normal", though I'd prefer to be 135-140 and am working to get the last few pounds to my stretch goal of 135-140 off to get and stay there. This last 10 has been a struggle. I'm maintaining pretty well, but losing now is tough! Advice... set a firm goal and a stretch goal. Meet the firm goal and then decide if you really want he stretch goal.

My doc does a 90% sleeve. 90% of my stomach - GONE! wasn't sure how a person can live like this... BUT I DO! And happily too! Looking back, I did the work... take supplements, still focus on Protein, exercise 5x per week, etc and it was really manageable for the first year and 1/2. But now... Now I have to WORK to maintain. (Like everyone else). I put on a few pounds and it's a struggle to get it off again, but it DOES come off when I work at it and force a return to good habits. Definitely NOT easy but so worth it!

I do both, sparingly. As far as carbonation goes, if it's heavily carbonated I just can't. Makes me very uncomfortable. So when I do beer I choose Guinness which is very lightly carbonated and put it in a glass if I can to let more of the bubbles escape and take it slowly.

My doc doesn't use them.

No, but I didn't lose either. Hit a few week stall right around that time which is pretty common. Just keep on keepin on and it'll happen.

Glad it was over! And very groggy. It took me a really long time to really wake up. My op was at 7:30am and though I was taken back to my room by 11am, I wasn't really "with it" till 8pm that night. Good news is by the time I was really with it, I felt better than I expected and was up trucking around the ward as prescribed.

If you tolerate deli turkey, I'd think some baked fish might go down well. Baked whitefish was actually my first real restaurant meal. Other than the fact it was heavenly and I wanted more than the few bites I could fit, it was a great choice!

Maybe it's the dairy? Some folks become a bit lactose intolerant post op. I know it's not "ideal" nutrition wise at lease as far as what I was taught, but you might try a soy based Protein and mix it without dairy, use almond milk or put in coffee or whatevs. Soon, if not already, you'll be able to tolerate Quest bars , (yeah, I know there're whey in them and whey=milk), but you may tolerate better. Just a thought.

I never look at my choices as "cheating". While I was losing, I set my calories and macro goals in MFP and met them. End of story. Whatever particular food choices I made to get there were neither good or bad, they just fit withing my plan for the day. One chocolate chip cookie? No problemo. It fit into my 1200 calorie, 75+ protein gram day as long as I make good choices around it. Once at goal I loosened up the logging a bit. If I gain outside my zone, I go back to logging and a 1000-1200 calorie day until I'm back where I belong. No cheating, no guilt, just adjustments.