Rick Green

When I started this in 2013 weighing 258 lbs. The most I ever weighed and after diets worked (I was down to 175 in 2008 for a little over a year) they never were permanent. I'm going to burst a lot of bubbles now, neither is the sleeve BUT IT IS WHY I CAN NOW KEEP THE WEIGHT OFF. Let me explain. It is now 8 1/2 years later and I am down to 178 for well over a year now. A year before that I was up to almost 230 again. Not because of how much I ate, but what I ate. I was a carbohydrate addict. I've been living 2 1/2 years on Keto. I have NEVER CHEATED even on vacations, and we take a lot. It is so easy these days to be on Keto and eat what you want since just about everything is made low carb with the exception of good bread, my favorite. Now, here's how the sleeve comes in to this. Many ways. First, I was pre-diabetic and all my family, parents, siblings and uncles are, or were diabetic. The 20 lbs just after I took on this adventure at least kept me out of diabetes. The best thing was that it kept me from eating too much at a time. I could eat all day but not a lot at a time. I have had no problems eating anything I was told that I could never eat again before the surgery. Now, I was actually fluctuating from 230 down to 200 but would eventually get back up to the 230. Here's the thing. I have an eating disorder, didn't know it until a year ago. It's called Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). My symptoms are that I've NEVER tasted or eaten, poultry, seafood, most vegetables and no steak, pork chops, in fact the ONLY meats I eat are sausages and cured meats. I will not eat a sausage unless I know that it's only made with beef or pork or both together. I love pizza and pasta and of course bread, so those are the hardest things that I have to avoid with Keto, but here's how I do it. I will order a pizza and always say extra sauce because I'm not going to eat the crust and need to scrape the toppings off the top (so it doesn't cook into the bread). Here's the thing, the crust flavor bakes into the pizza, so I never really miss the crust other than with my eyes. Anyway, 2 1/2 years later I live with it and like I said I don't cheat and the urge to cheat is driven away with this thought. Everyone tells me you have to have a cheat day once in awhile. You know you've told yourself that on each of your diets. Here's the problem with that. Next week I'll think, I didn't gain weight on the last cheat day, I can do it again, and so on. I still truly live for food, but now it's 90% sausage (good hot dogs) or ham, bacon and salami. Just think, you guys can have all the chicken, fish and steaks you want. Load them up with butter. Since I limit myself to 40-50 carbs a day, I eat a dinner roll at a restaurant and load it with butter. Anyway, here are photos of before and after. I'm now 71, very healthy OH, and because of the sleeve and Keto (and some pills) my blood numbers have all been perfect for the last two years. I mean perfect when my Cholesterol and Triglycerides were always high. My glucose is 94 and A1C is always around 5.4.

Best of luck. I find it gets very easy when you aren't trying to do without carbs completely. I feel the carb cravings are easily satisfied staying around 40 or less a day. For your chocolate craving, get some Reecses mini cups and eat small bites :) Only 5 carbs. lol

I feel your pain as I had pretty much the same thing. I realized in the last 2 1/2 years that the reason I wasn't losing weight was because I ate too many carbs. Honestly, I don't worry about portions on anything, I let the sleeve let me know when I can't eat, if you know what I mean. I started Keto 2 1/2 years ago and haven't cheated. It's very easy to stay under 40 -50 carbs a day with all that's out there. Hardest part is giving up good bread (the Keto bread sucks) But there are great alternatives like the low carb tortilla shells, and they are good. I don't drink water, only diet coke and crystal light. I went from 230 to 178 in less than a year and have stayed at that weight for a year in a half already. Never cheated. BTW, that's with next to no exercising, maybe a walk once in awhile. You've got the sleeve, that's the best start. Good luck. BTW, I posted about my story today and it's in my profile.

Well, I'm actually from June 2013. For some reason I thought it was Sept.2012. Anyway, I'm very happy. Still eating anything I want, but cannot eat near as much as I could . This pleases me as my blood work has always shown that , at 69 I am not diabetic which would've been impossible to avoid had I not had this operation. I have no energy problems to travel and walk all over foreign cities Best thing I think I ever did for myself.