VSGAnn2014

We just binge-watched (on Amazon Prime) a great series (first season) called "Bosch." We really liked it. Bosch has been renewed for a second season. Here's the Wikipedia write-up: Bosch is an American police procedural television series produced by Amazon Studios. It stars Titus Welliver as Los Angeles Police detective Harry Bosch. The show, developed for Amazon by Eric Overmyer,[1] takes its inspiration from three of Michael Connelly’s novels:City of Bones, Echo Park, and The Concrete Blonde.

Well said, @WLWarrior and congrats to you on your honking weight loss! Yes, it ultimately comes down to the new lifestyle we build after WLS and the choices we make. Right now, I'm happy to be finding my way during early maintenance. Continuing to plan my meals and track all my food / drink intake is part of my new lifestyle that works very well for me. Thus far, I'm fortunate to be able to eat some sugar, alcohol, Pasta, and bread. I don't eat them every day, and so far they haven't turned into trigger foods. But if they were to start causing me problems, I hope I'd have the fortitude to hold myself accountable and avoid them altogether. I no longer wish to choose foods and drink only on the basis of its temporary taste appeal. I want to eat and drink MOSTLY those things that nourish my body. I had this surgery to become healthier and stronger and to improve my life. Those here who are further out post-op than me say maintenance requirements can continue to change, so I'm not blind to the fact that our WLS challenges will continue for the rest of our lives. I know that I will probably always need to adapt what I'm doing to remain healthy. For now, I say, "Bring it on!"

I start my day with a lot more Protein. That's when I do most of my exercise, so I like sipping on some serious protein a little before and after my exercise. Almost every morning for breakfast during my weight loss phases and now during maintenance, I have: 16-ounce skinny latte (heated skim milk and coffee) GNC Lean 25 Protein shake (Swiss chocolate flavored) Macronutrients: Calories = 259 Protein = 33 grams Carbs = 19 grams Fat = 6 grams Fiber = 3 grams Sodium = 517 mg. Like @@Djmohr I also like to spread my carbs throughout the day.

Some docs give their patients some pretty conservative "goals" so as (I think) not to discourage people who aren't as focused as you are. Yeah, some WLS people aren't focused. FTR, my doc didn't give me any weight loss goals at all. He just asked me what my goals were and then said, "You'll do great!" I liked that approach. And I reached my weight loss goal 8.3 months post-op. Three months later I've lost another 6 pounds. Very happy camper here. For all of us who go from obese to a normal weight range, we've changed our appearances so radically (as you are) that the changes certainly require us getting used to them. And that doesn't happen overnight. I wouldn't be so quick to call it a disorder with a nice Latin-sounding name. You just go on and become your own good self. And if you don't like what you look like eventually, you can alter that considerably through more exercise and surgery.

I don't know what is causing your lack of weight loss. Not even close to having enough information to comment on that. But FYI, not losing weight after WLS is not a "complication." A complication (as the term's used around here) is something physical that goes wrong during or following surgery that is sometimes (not always) life-threatening and requires further surgical or physical intervention and often more time spent in the hospital or another medical facility. This includes leaks, strictures, damage to other body organs during surgery, organ failures, infection, etc. So any "complications" threads here won't address your situation, as I understand it.

You're not from the South, are you?

Bless your heart. LOL!

I'm drinking a glass of chardonnay right now.

I hear you on the guesstimating what you're eating trap. Here's a test for everyone who thinks portion creep is becoming a problem. Put what you think is a tablespoon of Peanut Butter on a knife and spread it on a piece of toast. Now, using a real tablespoon measurement tool to measure out an actual tablespoon of peanut butter and spread that amount on a piece of toast. Compare the two pieces of toast. Use tablespoon measurers, measuring cups, and food scales to learn if and by how much your eyeballs are under-estimating the foods you eat daily. How much half and half, milk, mayo or Miracle Whip, cheese, sauces, sour cream, and other things you eat often are you actually eating? What about that baked potato or that apple or that orange? How much do they really weigh, compared to the weight and calories you're tracking?

Yeah, pork rinds are so nutritious. Mostly fat. The bad kind. All that sodium. Rolling my eyes.

I assume neither of you is mute or deaf. You and he can actually talk about this stuff. Or you can sit alone in the dark and cry.

I think your surgeon offered some good advice.

Even though I'm at maintenance, I started this list yesterday. This is a great activity not only for losing, but for maintenance.

My experience with maintenance is that you can't just put the brakes on when you want to. Stopping losing weight is a project unto itself. And the way to do that is NOT to drink milkshakes, but to gradually build up to eating more healthy food -- probably more Protein, more veggies / fruits and more whole grains. That will likely mean a greater volume of food. And with our smaller tummies, that takes time to build up to. And regarding whether you're too thin -- I think that's a question for your medical team to assess. That includes an assessment of how "skinny-fat" you are, i.e., your muscle mass. Are you losing too much muscle? If you've lost too much muscle, are you strength training to build that back up? (That will add pounds, but the kind that make you look good.) I would NEVER have imagined at 5'5" and 235 pounds that I'd ever want to stop losing weight. I'm not as light as you (I weighed 143.4 pounds this morning). But I've lost the last 7 pounds during the last 3 months while trying to stop losing weight. It's starting to even out. But boy oh boy is it more complicated than I thought it would be. The point to WLS was to become healthy, not to be the skinniest person in the room. (Maybe that's over the top, but I'll just say it "out loud.")

To my knowledge, my surgeon didn't do any drug tests on me. Just sayin'.

I don't know if I have any condition that requires a title, but ... When I have insomnia and need to unwire and relax enough to go back to sleep the food that does it for me is dairy products -- cheese, skim milk, warm skim milk, cheese toast. Those are my go-to foods. And they really do work. Years ago, I'd make a whole cheese sandwich, with two pieces of bread and mayo. Now I just use one piece of toast (Sara Lee 45 cals, 6 Protein grams) and put 0.5 to 1.0 ounce of cheese on it and nuke it for 15 seconds to melt the cheese. Works like a charm. Nothing else relaxes me like that. (If anyone figures that out, let me know.)

What Norma said. We can't figure this out for you. But we can encourage you to figure it out. Best to you.

Absolutely agree with others. You are already leading your lifestyle. Treating this like a short-term diet (and trying to lose 10 pounds in 20 days sounds just like that to me) is the wrong mind-set. Control what you're supposed to control -- what you eat, how much you eat, when you eat (and drink), and how much you're moving your booty. That's what you can control. The scale will respond. And good luck to you.

@@SleevePerry ... the proof will be in the results. Why don't you wait a few weeks and see what those look like before feeling like you have to make a decision? Your macros do sound good to me. And you're working out hard. Remember also that if you're just starting to work out and you're doing a lot of strength training early on that your weight loss will slow down for a while as it builds those early-on, easy-to-build muscles. Again, that's not awful. But it'll just slow the scale's results temporarily. I know someone (online) in her early 50s who ate about like you're eating early on and exercised about like you are doing. She did great and now weighs 132, last she reported. She started in the 190s. EDIT: As I've said before, for each of us this is all just a science experiment with only one subject - you. As long as you understand the principles, the nutrition, and the basic inputs / outcomes of this process (and it sounds like you really do), you just have to figure out what works for your body and your life.

Babbs, your post made me look back at my own rate of weight losses pre- and post-WLS. I'm not sure you realize this, but it took me 13 months to lose 90 pounds. That includes the 2.5 months pre-op diets (my own pre-op diet that lasted 2 months and my surgeon's pre-op liver-shrinking diet for 2 weeks) and all my post-op weight losses (including the 5 pounds I've lost after reaching goal). That was June 3, 2014, through July 6, 2015. I don't consider that to be a slow weight loss. You're an impatient girl!

There's an assumption often made that IMHO is not supportable: That every bariatric surgeon operates the same way using identical techniques of cutting, staple placement, sewing, over-sewing, etc. Also, everyone doesn't have the same size / shaped original stomachs to start with. Just as with other body parts, our stomachs aren't all the same length and shape to start with. Nor are our other body parts the same size that are involved, e.g., hiatal valves, duodenal valves, esophagus lengths, liver sizes and health variances, etc. So given the variances in patients' bodies and surgeons' operating techniques, we don't all necessarily get exactly the same results. Therefore, there's the possibility that not all of us are going to get (or need) the same post-op eating guidelines. This is why I think everyone should just do what their surgeons tell them to do during the first few weeks after surgery. After all, a few weeks is a relatively short time to be extra-compliant. P.S. I've definitely seen Surgeon X order different pre-op diets and diet lengths for different patients, depending on their starting weights and liver sizes.

They're negative conditioning for me. I find them so disgusting (including that 4X too-big burger the young women try to fit their mouths around -- not because it's phallic, but because it's so blatantly stupid). The food is just too huge to fit in my stomach anymore, and it gives me the same negative physical reaction I get when I've had a bite or two over the limit. Ugh!

FYI ... the reason I used 700 calories in my post is because earlier today in this thread you had posted a response to Babbs in which you said you were averaging 700 calories/day. Your post was then deleted. I was just using your own data. And your correction is now noted. Thanks.

Good on you. You're a woman of action. You're going to be a long-term success story. Fuck your ex-PCP. Not only do her consultation style and her emotional intelligence suck, but she doesn't even know the WLS long-term stats. She's ignorant as a goose. Apparently the one thing her patients who've regained their weight have in common is that she is their PCP. Can you imagine the influence someone like her would have on their patients' long-term prospects for health? Yuck! Onward and upward!

I have a VERY weird question. Is there any chance you're pregnant? (I told you it was a weird question.)