VSGAnn2014

@@nybariatricgirl ... Yo mama!

Alex, I was taught not to bend my knees more than 90 degrees when doing squats to avoid knee injuries. As we age (and since most of us long-obese folks now have osteoarthritis in our knees) bending our knees any more than 90 degrees invites big trouble. That photo above still looks (to my eye, at least) like the knee is bent about 80 degrees. The author will surely want to select a photo that illustrates her own view about the proper squat form.

All very good points. But why use a photo like the one above that does not show proper squat form? In that photo those knees are bent at noticeably more than 90 degrees. That photo should be titled: How to Mess Your Self Up."

You're lucky if not eating pizza is the hardest thing you've ever done. Seriously.

I've had two husbands: One was an asshole, the other is a saint. I like the saint a helluva lot better!

I'm bet if you ate only chicken or fish you could eat only 3-4 ounces. Max. What you eat determines to a great degree how much you can eat at one time. Protein will stay in your stomach much longer and make you much more satiated than ... potato chips, ice cream, crackers, and other slider foods.

What @@LipstickLady said. @@BeautifullyCreated1982 ... My first three days were the toughest (I had a 14-day pre-op diet). But thereafter, things got easier. I hope yours goes that way. So impressive, what you are doing!

68

Soooo cute! Congratulations.

I'm 5'5" and 69 years old. I'm 6 months post-op and have lost 73 pounds (20 pounds pre-op, 53 pounds post-op). I've set my goal at 150 pounds. BTW, my surgeon never gave me a specific weight goal. He and his team already think I am a success.

Yeah ... no. I don't think the sleeve will permanently stop me from eating too much. And as far as I recall, no bariatric surgeon and no sleeve patient who's been successful long-term has ever promised me that. If you really want to conquer this monkey on your back, I urge you to find a good therapist who deals with these issues and do the hard work you need to do. I've been in counseling for 8 months now and have promised myself I'll see the therapist for 3 years -- the year of losing weight, the year of maintaining weight, and the year of boring real life. What the sleeve WILL do is give you a few years of relative peace to address your issues. But as with the band, there are many ways to game the sleeve. And (as I've read) the sleeve's restriction and its dominance over your eating behavior will ease to some degree. Already, at 6 months post-op, I can eat more than I could 2-3 months out. Admittedly, that's a lot less than I could eat pre-op. But those who are longer out than me (a year, 2 years, 3 years) mostly say it's up to them what they put in their mouths and swallow. Sorry, but IMHO the sleeve is only one of many tools you must use to become and stay healthy. I wish you the very best.

I'm 6 months out, and I have never had any. Yet. There are just other, much more nutritious foods that I like much better that I've added in first.

Very, very best to you, BeautifullyCreated1982.

LOL! Honey, I already gave it all up!

Cray cray! Peace out.

Smart lady. Best wishes.

Good golly, Miss Molly! You have some major bone structure goin' on there!

Pinklady, I'll say again what others have said above ... Different surgeons give different post-op instructions for their patients to follow. You have to contact YOUR surgeon and get him or someone on his staff to explain to you what YOUR post-operative eating instructions are. You can't ask us what OUR surgeons' post-op programs were. For one thing, we don't know how large or how tightly your surgeon built YOUR new stomach. This isn't a phase you can treat like a recipe-swapping phase. Again, everyone's post-op instructions are highly individualized. Don't go "shopping" here for instructions you would prefer to follow than the ones your surgeon has asked you to follow. Ask YOUR surgeon's office what YOU should do. And if you don't understand their instructions, ask them to explain the instructions. Best wishes.

@@Kindle Maybe you didn't cheat once on you're pre-op diet. Great for you! But what about all the other pieces of the puzzle? Perhaps you are one of the blessed ones who never had a problem with anything in your life. Then why are you here? What did you struggle with? Are you so perfect that you are the person in this world who has the right to dish out tough love to another? I don't know you...but I know that you are human. And as a human....you messed up....you failed...you tried your best and you fell down flat on your face! I know this because you are here. You followed your doctors orders to a T? Well, then why couldn't you follow a diet to a T? You needed help, just like the OP. Who are you to dish out 'tough love'? Who are you to judge? What is it about this conversation that has you bent out of shape? Seriously ... why do you object to others making judgments / evaluations / expressing their opinions here? It's what we get to do. I assume you know that not everybody wins this game, right? Not everyone who has WLS loses their weight and, of those who do, not all of those maintain their weight losses. It's hard as hell to win this game. And the sleeve alone doesn't save any of us. It's the NEW (not old) behaviors we build and our determination that will make the real difference. That's where the tough love comes from. Kindle is someone who's lost the weight, is maintaining her weight, and (if you knew more about Kindle, you'd know that she ... ) has had her share of health challenges since WLS and overcame those challenges. She is exactly the kind of person whose judgment you and I should be respectful of and listen to, whether we agree with her or not.

To my mind, the real issue in this thread is not about being perfect. It's about taking personal responsibility for your behavior -- instead of blaming the cat, your period, your kid, or your boss for making you eat food you didn't "mean to eat." A lot of very experienced, very smart vets used to post on BP. Here's a thread some of you would benefit from reading. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/292173-you-should-not-consider-bariatric-surgery-if/page-2

Have your surgeon's patient coordinator / navigator call the insurance company. Those conversations are often much more productive than the ones you or I could have with our insurance company.

Some social events where food is served do require that I pre-plan and navigate the event in real time. But that's on me. So far, no one has held me down and forced food into my mouth. Plus, my normal-sized friends (with whom I socialize) don't eat mostly fat-food either, so animal Proteins, vegetables, salads, fruits, and whole grains are always on the menu in their homes and on restaurant menus we frequent. It's up to ME (not them) to make sure I don't indulge heavily with breads, sweets and high-calorie drinks. After all, I am the one who had WLS, not my family or friends.

For decades (30 years) I've taken ibuprofen or Aleve twice daily for my arthritic knees. They never were great knees--the miniscus slipped regularly, and I've had arthroscopic surgery on one of them already. There've been months at a time I couldn't walk without a cane. Multiple MRIs I've had of both knees reveal that the joints and areas around the joints are literally full of "gravel" (bits of cartilage that have torn off and around which the body has added mineral deposits). Two months before surgery I stopped taking all NSAIDs. And yes, my knees hurt like a sonofabitch. But now, 73 pounds lighter, I still don't take NSAIDs. And my knees do not hurt anymore. I bound around like a much younger version of me. I walk on the treadmill, in the neighborhood, use the elliptical, and can shop 'til I drop. I don't know what's happened besides the weight loss, but it is probably partly due to me no longer eating so many simple carbs that inflamed the crap out of my body. So never say never. You can't predict how your body will respond after WLS. I certainly would have never predicted this!

Today, clothing sizes for women are marketing tools--not keyed to standard sizes, which barely exist anymore at all. Over the years, moderately priced women's clothing sizes have expanded: "In Sears's 1937 catalog, a size 14 dress had a bust size of 32 inches (81 cm). In 1967, the same bust size was a size 8. In 2011, it was a size 0." See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_sizing

This ain't a magical journey. Wanting it ain't enough. You have to actually do it.