VSGAnn2014

The word "selfish" in the situation you described does not even apply. I'm assuming you've lost weight before and been unable to keep it off. Most people here have lost many tens, even hundreds of pounds before having WLS, only to regain that weight and more and wind up right back in the same mess they were in before. The reason most people have WLS is not because they cannot lose weight, but because they cannot keep from regaining it. Your husband sounds to me like he either doesn't understand why you need WLS (if you do) or he's running some sort of control game on you. What do YOU think you should do?

I don't understand the question.

Of course eating/drinking will become normal again.

I, too, no longer have a big fat ass or big thighs. And you can also see daylight between my legs. My bottom half never looked like this before.

I probably shouldn't, but I still have to ask: Why do you want to wear underwear into the operating room?

I tell people I'm doing a number of things differently: Seeing a shrink, using My Fitness Pal to plan and track all my menus, wearing a Fitbit, eating more Protein, avoiding starchy, processed foods foods, and going to the gym. That's all true. Friends and family have seen me yo-yo diet all my life. They think the stars finally aligned for me. The End.

Your post really gets my blood pressure up. Your husband is a jackass. You have to get healthier. You really have to get healthier. If WLS is how you can best do that, then have WLS. BTW, I am 69 years old, and I look soooo much more attractive since I lost 92 pounds. Truly, I look 15 years younger than I did a year ago. I bet you will, too. Ignore him.

Prepare to be amazed. Yes, our weight loss may slow down a little toward the end, but the dropping dress sizes do not slow down. I never, ever, ever thought I'd wear a size 8. And that's what I wear now. It still boggles me. Also, in my case the last 15-20 pounds I lost was when I lost the most troublesome tummy weight. Oh, and I've lost 7 pounds since reaching my goal. It's a little hard to slow that freight train down, even though I'm eating a lot more these days. I really think I'm done now though.

Boy, you did enjoy your coffee, didn't you?

Good post! Thank you.

I'm a sleeve patient. Had WLS in August 2014 and reached my goal (150 pounds) 3.5 months ago. I've since lost another 7 pounds, but seem to be at a stable weight now. For me, the sleeve surgery, recovery, the weight loss phases were all easy-peasy. Maintenance is different, but I'm learning how to do that, too. Like all WLS, your surgery isn't the only assist you need to reach and maintain your weight loss. You must learn to eat much healthier and exercise / move more than you did pre-op. You may also need therapy to address some eating disorders or emotional causes of overeating if you have those issues (and many obese people do have those issues). But if you're really committed to changing your life for the better, WLS can be part of some bundled changes you need to make to get and stay healthy. Just be forewarned: As the saying around here goes, they operate on your stomach, not on your head. Best wishes to you.

LOL! This thread was started for August 2014 sleevers, not those being sleeved in August 2015. Anyway ... if any of you newbies care, I was sleeved last year -- August 2014. I reached goal 3.5 months ago and have lost another 7 pounds. You're all going to do great -- if you make the effort to understand and follow your surgeons' instructions. Best wishes to you all.

Here's my experience. Others' mileage will surely differ: My surgeon allowed me coffee at 10 days post-op. Thank God! I heat half a cup of skim milk and have that with half a cup of coffee. Nearly a year later, I seldom have more than one of these homemade skinny lattes a day. As someone with longtime insomnia, cutting down on coffee has really improved my sleep. Re wine -- I didn't start drinking alcohol again until 5.5 or 6 months post-op. These days (nearly a year post-op) I have 4 ounces of wine most (not all) nights. For those of us with GERD / acid reflux / heartburn issues, there are some well-known foods / drinks to avoid, and coffee and alcohol are both on that list. In other words, don't over-indulge in those foods if you suffer from GERD.

Save your strength for what matters at this time -- not about this little drama llama. Best wishes for your husband and you at this time.

Alex, The first NUT I saw wanted to spend part of our hour together teaching me how to turn the list of foods in the "foods for each weight loss phase" pamphlet into a shopping list I could then take to the grocery store so I would come home with the right foods. A f**king shopping list. This is the same woman who said that I could leverage the skills I'd surely acquired over the years to plan my husband's meals to plan my own meals. I lol'ed. F**k me.

How's about you post a link to the video you watched.

Height - 5'5" Weight - 142.8 (That's what I weighed this morning - lowest ever. Shockingly, I'm still sloooowly losing weight.) Jeans - 8s, 10s, mediums (My 10s are very loose now.)

Well, that's a whole lotta new info. Once again, you experienced your experience. And you understand things from your perspective (based on what you think you know). But there's a lot you misunderstand and don't know. As others have noted, your lack of knowledge revealed in your OP about how WLS patients can retain most of their muscle mass (or even increase their muscle mass) while losing weight is unfortunate -- not just because it's wrong and sad, but because you're using it to rationalize your own experience. And that and your other rationalizations will block your future progress. Before I had WLS surgery, I did learn about the nutritional and exercise best practices for post-op WLS patients. I learned that post-op while losing weight I should eat a lot of Protein and exercise regularly to avoid losing a lot of muscle mass. And it turns out, because I followed my bariatric center's instructions, that's exactly what happened. Of the 90+ pounds I've lost after WLS only 12 pounds of it was muscle. I'm not guessing or assuming this. I've had pre- and post-WLS body mass measurements taken. As a result, my lean body mass has increased 15%. BTW, all of the things you started doing 1 week ago (3 years after your WLS) -- tracking your calories and other macronutrients and tracking your steps -- I started doing 2.5 months before my WLS. In other words, I never considered that WLS alone was going to fix me without me also changing my own behaviors / lifestyle. I'm sorry that WLS didn't work out for you. For that, you have only your own impulsiveness and your continuing lack of education about WLS to blame. But that's in the past. Looking forward, you'll be well served by not continuing to remain ignorant. More importantly, your rationalizations about WLS won't serve you well either. If you really want to debug your weight challenges, you'll need to keep trying to understand accurately what caused your post-op weight gain. For others reading this, the OP's posts here illustrate some important truths about WLS: (1) WLS should not be undertaken lightly. (2) WLS patients MUST take responsibility for understanding nutritional, exercise and other behavioral requirements for post-op self-care. (3) WLS can be a wonderful aid to losing and maintaining one's weight loss long-term IF patients don't suffer the delusion that surgery is all they need to achieve success. Best wishes to everyone out there who's considering WLS. Educate yourself as much as you possibly can. Seek therapy if you need it. As the saying around here goes, "They operate on your stomach, not your head."

My resting heart rate is certainly lower than it was a year ago. Just checked it, and it's 54 bpm. Before surgery 92 pounds ago, it was over 70. When I was in the losing phases it got down into the 40s.

If you care about actual evidence, consider this: I'm nearly a year out. I always ate lots of Protein throughout my weight losing phases. And now I still eat lots of protein, averaging 100 grams a day. I am at goal (actually 7 pounds below goal) and have been for 3 months. I take only a multivitamin/mineral (Centrum chewable). 8 months post-op I had that huge expensive panel of blood tests, which includes a B12 test. My B12 result was smack dab in the normal range, as were all my other results. So your NUT's warnings and advice certainly don't apply to me. I'm now going to say something I wouldn't have said (or thought) a year ago. Although some NUTs out there must be good, the NUTs I've seen personally and many other patients' NUTs I've heard about here aren't terribly educated about bariatric surgery. Most of them don't offer much more insight than the basic stuff we learned in high school or at Weight Watchers.

If you're talking about the GNC Lean 25 Protein shakes, I love 'em. I've been using them since pre-op. Hubby also loves them and has been having them for Breakfast now for months. I love that they have 25 grams of protein and only 170 cals. If you're talking about something else, sorry ... I don't know about any other "lean shakes."

At this point in the WLS experience, the weight loss and the elevated mood (because we finally feel successful and in control) really does feel "easy." You may remember some earlier times when it didn't feel so "easy," eh? And in a year or two when your body has found a way to manufacture and release more ghrelin (hunger hormone) into your body and your appetite is coming back, it won't seem so "easy" then. At that point, you and he will be on a level playing field again (or close to it). But for now, I can see how he'd feel a little resentful. But tough titty. If he's big enough right now to have WLS, he's welcome to do so, too. If he's not, then he can't. Sometimes, we just express how we're feeling at the moment. Sounds like that's what he did. Doesn't seem like a biggie to me.

Never heard of it either. And I didn't have to have an EGD pre-op. And my surgeon repaired a hiatal hernia that he identified during surgery. Sounds like a lot of to-do about nothing.

And some other outdoor adventures still not done yet that I'll still do: * Colorado River rafting trip (the whole shebang) * English Lake District hike (8 days) * Swiss Alps hut-hiking (5 days)

I used to climb and trek and backpack -- seriously -- in the Sierras and the Himalayas. I haven't done any serious mountain stuff in 20 years. It's time I got back. I don't have any treks or hikes to report yet. But I have the "old lady" trek left in me -- the Milford Track in New Zealand. It's one of those treks everyone saves until The End -- and we're old and gray. Just a five-day trip. But it's time to do it. So I'm not reporting in yet, but am promising to do so in the next couple of years that it's checked off.