bikrchk

I was eating between 1000-1200 calories per day during my loss phase and exercising 5x per week for 500-600 cal burn each day. I lost consistently but not necessarily "super fast". One thing I found that helped was to vary my intake day to day, (one day low end, the next high end of the calorie range) and to always take 2 days off in a row from exercise to rest. I'm continuing the same in maintenance though with more calories (and try to eat back the exercise calories now) and it seems to be working. I'm a bit below goal and may let a few more "vanity pounds" trickle off.

This chick, that's who! All results normal\desired\healthy! Words that have been used exactly never before! :-)

I had a pretty easy surgery, but no, I didn't pop out of bed and run a mile! I shuffled out of bed and did a 1/4 mile of laps around the hallways. Then next day it was farther and they sent me home. I was back at work the next week but didn't try anything besides walking ( I was up to several miles by then) for 2 months! Today, I ride a bike. I find I can get a more intense workout that way, (I have hip displasia so running and many other exercises are off limits). Just aim do a little better tomorrow than you did today and eventually the thing that feels like a marathon will feel like your warm up!

Amen to what McButterpants said! Weigh no more than once per week. When you see a stall it will feel short lived. I didn't weigh after surgery until my 2 week post op appointment and I'm glad I didn't. Started me off in the right frame of mind, (to change my habits and the #'s will eventually follow)! Personally, I ditched exactly NOTHING other than my obsession with food! I log food and exercise so I know what's coming in and burning off and I work the things I want to eat into my diet now. As long as I'm getting my Protein and macros, I have no guilt in having a treat when I want it. For me the guilt was tied to the obsession\craving so it works for me. I exercise enough to allow that wiggle room, (an extra 400-500 cal burn most days). Others find they need to eliminate trigger foods entirely. Neither method is wrong, you just need to figure out what control looks like for you. Best of luck to you!

Ask your doc if it's safe for you to have Tums at this stage. If Tums takes the edge off, it could very well be acid related. I take 40mg omeparzole twice a day. Tried to cut back to once per day but felt hungry. I do have reflux, but it's apparently "silent", no heart burn or anything I can feel, but they did notice it's affects in my EGD so no symptoms don't necessarily mean no acid.

I gained weight during my Dr assisted diet, (if I'd lost I'd have been just under the BMI to qualify still with 100 pounds to lose!) but had not been submitted to insurance yet. My surgeon requires ALL the pre-requisites be met before meeting for the first consultation after which they submit to insurance. For my insurance, they required the 6 months of documentation, but the results didn't matter.

I was told to lose 10 pounds in 3 weeks to shrink my liver and show commitment to making a change. I lost 13. 25 in three weeks seems unsafe.

For me, I've always been a size bigger on top than on bottom. This. Is. A. Blessing! When I was at my largest, it was harder to tell, but still true. Once the weight came off, it became more apparent again. I think it's just the way I'm built. Medium tops, (or a small if it's stretchy) and small to size 4 pants. You CAN tone and work on specific areas. I ride a bike for cardio so my legs are very muscular (under the extra skin, lol) and I do push ups and crunches to help firm up the rest, but you're not going to completely change your body type with WLS.

I second the nectar product suggestion! You can also put lemon juice in the Nectar Iced Tea to cut the sweetness some. I was not required to follow a specific pre-op diet except just 5 days before surgery, but I WAS required to lose 10 pounds (which was a very small request compared to what others have been required to do) to shrink my liver and show commitment to the new lifestyle. All programs are different in their requirements.

I'm 1 year out and yes, my appetite came back. The difference is that if I forget my good habits now and choose to over eat, there WILL be immediate consequences. I thought I was past the "I over did it and had to barf" stage, (it's been months since I took one bite too many and got sick), but my "shock collar", (that's what I've named my sleeve), continues to do her job. I'm in maintenance now and still log every bite. I had some calories left at the end of yesterday and decided that after dinner I'd try a few tortilla chips with salsa. Not that this food is bad or good, (they were a higher Protein bean tortilla chip), but I WASN'T HUNGRY when I ate them. Spent the rest of the night puking because I over ate. Unlike before surgery, THAT will not be happening again in the near future! Unlike before, I was up before the sun this morning on my bike for an hour because that's my habit now and I feel like crap when I don't exercise. So, not, it's not a magic pill and yes, you CAN figure out that you can eat every few hours and graze on slider foods and gain weight, but for me, the reminder not to repeat the experience I had last night will stay with me for a while and the good habits I've developed over the past year will see me through the rare times I "forget" my boundaries!

This experience will mess with your mind as much as your body! What it boils down to is you have to WANT to change and you have to do something different that what you've always done if you want to get different results! For me, in addition to the small portions, the lifetime changes I have committed to are exercise and food journaling. These are the things that help me manage food in a successful way now, because as others have said, I can't over eat in one sitting anymore, but I COULD graze on slider foods all day long and land right back where I started. Moving my body and keeping track of what's going in and my burn is my particular strategy. Some have found other ways, but that's what works for me! Good luck!

I really didn't have issues. I was in the hospital overnight, never took narcotics and was back to work the next week at my desk job.

I think I waited about 3 months. Now, I'll go for a 100 calorie bag after dinner if I have leftover calories. I've not had problems tolerating anything.

I feel full in my chest now, but really didn't begin to experience hunger and fullness normally (newly normal anyway) until I was back on solid food again. You can try gasX and walking for the gas. That past just takes time.

It was required that I attend at least 2 in person support sessions pre-op. Best advice ever! My local group is full of very supportive folks and led by the Bariatric Nurse Coordinator, (also a 13 year WLS survivor) so there is a wealth of experience and information there. I do not miss! Very helpful. Plus, now that I am at goal, the rookies are looking to me for advice and encouragement. Being in that position helps me maintain my motivation to stay on track and remain a good example rather than a horrible warning, LOL

When I went for my 1 month check up i was told to add snacks because I wasn't getting enough (about 600-700, I think). I was told to shoot for 1000 calories a day and no more than 1200. Eventually, I was able to increase my intake to that range and lost weight well on 1000-1200 calories per day. I was exercising 1 hour on a stationary bike (reasonable effort @ 500-600 calories burned) 5 days per week. Those numbers kept me in a calorie deficit over the course of my loss phase. Now that I'm in maintenance, I take my BMR and add back my exercise calories to get my number. That is working pretty well. I'm a bit under my goal now, but still well within the healthy range and feel like my metabolism is in a very manageable place for lifetime maintenance.

Some folks choose not to. I'd advise you to refrain until you are healed as at least for me, sugar too soon was NOT a fun experience! They say sleeves don't dump, but for the first 6 months if I over did it on sugar or fat, I'd dump. Today, I have a bit of something sweet almost every day. I work it into my day making sure I have my nutrition covered and a left over calories to absorb it without going over. Most of the time it's something like a Skinny Cow ice cream bar. I love individually packaged treats as they are safer for me. Occasionally, it's a cupcake, but even today, there is a price for the cupcake. The last one I indulged in required a nap a couple of hours later. I was just wiped out! I feel the consequences of my diet more these days, which is good. It keeps me on track the majority of the time!

Ditto. Mine flap in the wind when I ride my motorcycle. I think they might be getting smaller though since I added some upper body work to my exercise routine!

#fitgirlproblems LOL. Even my glasses are sliding down my nose now! Just filled my wastebasket with undies last week myself. Victoria's Secret always has a special on panties! Some of them are very stretchy, (one size). Might try it! If you've never been able to shop there, (I hadn't up until recently), it can be very liberating!

Let me preface this. This is an NSV for me. Fat girl all my life, teased by boys from an early age, shunned later, I, (as many of us I'm sure), learned to remain "aloof". Show no interest and they'll leave you alone and not hurt you. This makes for a "cold" and rarely playful adult woman. So the NSV... I'm chatting with this guy I've met on-line who I have a date to meet in a few hours and he flirts a bit. I actually managed to come back in such a way as to elicit the comment, "You're a good flirt"! Funny that that's a milestone for me, but it totally is, to have the kind of confidence to take that kind of risk! So wish me luck with this one. He looks kinda cute and he's funny. And he's a good flirt. LOL

I lost almost nothing during the whole puree phase. This will pass.

I take a multi, D3, B12, fishoil, biotin and a probiotic first thing in the morning, calcium citrate chew about 9am, iron about 11am, calcium citrate chew about 3pm and another multi\fishoil before bed. Per my bariatric nurse, the key is to separate your extra calcium from your extra iron as calcium decreases iron absorption. For the same reason you separate the extra iron from your multivitamin as the multi contains calcium too.

I too, spent my CHILDHOOD, TEENS, twenties, thirties and most of my forties obese. Feel like I'm making up for lost time now having a second childhood! The older you get the worse the weight related health problems get. You still have a lot of life ahead of you and you'll get to live it as a healthy person! best gift ever!

I've also found that I have little room for anything other than protein at meals. And. That. Gets. Boring. So, how I deal with it is to make sure I get enough supplemental protein in my snacks or whatever. I dump a scoop of chocolate whey in my 1 cup of coffee in the morning. Bang 25G! I have a quest bar in the afternoon for another 23G. I buy P28 high protein bread, you can get protein'd pasta an other products as well, so I sub with these sometimes, but I find if I do 2 protein supplements per day, I'm covered for protein even if I choose 1 meal that's not particularly high in it.

Hi all! This is my first post on the forum. I've never joined any kind of forum before, but you guys seems so lovely and warm and supporting, so I couldn't help myself joining you I am having my vertical sleeve 9.19.2014, you can imagine how excited I am. I am 216 lbs now, I am hoping to be 140-145. (I'm 29 years old) I have some questions for you, if you can answer any of them, I would be very very very thankful. 1- I was never slimmer than 180 lbs (except my childhood). Sometimes I believe that goal of 145 is just impossible. What do you think? 180's was my lowest before too, (lasted for about 5 minutes, lol) and I felt the same as you pre-op. I'm 47 and 5'6". Started at 235 a year ago. I hit 145, the top of my goal range about 7 weeks ago. If my old a$$ can do it, so can your young one! You may do it faster or slower, but you can totally DO IT! 2- If you believe that it's possible, (just a wild guess) how long will it take? A year? More then a year? Maybe some of you had your operation close to my weight, so you can compare/guess. Everyone is different, see #1 3- Any of you used to drink nutritional shakes like Ensure, Glucerna etc in the first days of your liquid diet phase? I prefer unjury, Isopure or Syntrax nectar. Also use a lot of Quest bars. 4- What is your opinion about Protein shakes? Personally, I NEED to supplement protein to get 75+ g per day. I prefer Unjury, Isopure or Syntrax Nectar. Also use a lot of Quest bars. I dump chocolate whey in my coffee and shake it up. Tastes like a mocha latte. 5- This question is for you gals I forgot to record the date of my last couple of periods, so I have no idea when I will have it. I guess I won't be able to use any drugs to delay it. Would it be impossible to deal with a period if it occurs on my surgery date? Any suggestions about it? Don't have those parts anymore, but I'm sure it's not a deal breaker. They'll tell you to be prepared to "start" as a result of the shock of surgery anyway. It happens, I'm told. 6- My last and the most important question. A year or a couple of years later the surgery, do you start struggling with your hunger and appetite again? Like we all do before surgeries? My worst fear is day by day gaining hunger and appetite again, after a few months... I'm about a year out and I DO get hungry, but it's NOT the same. I don't struggle with over eating anymore. I eat what I like in small portions including any of my old favorites ON OCCASION. For the most part, I've learned to make my favorites in a healthy way, I use high protein Pasta, high protein P28 bread and protein supplemented Unjury cheese sauce. But I do indulge in the real deal occasionally by working it into my day AFTER I have met my protein goals.