VSGAnn2014

Sorry, docs won't operate on anyone. Just not true. I'd be surprised if your insurance will fund your sleeve at a BMI under 40. At a BMI of 35, most insurance companies require 3 comorbidities. I'd say your magic words to try if you're a 35 BMI are: arthritis, stress incontinence, high blood pressure, diabetes, pre-diabetic condition. Here's a complete list: http://www.nationalbariatriclink.org/comorbidities-insurancequalification.html

mzdee, did you work out a lot pre-op? If not, you're building muscle weight, and your working out hard is making you body / muscles retain Water. All that means is that you're building a body with more muscle mass that long-term will burn more calories. This is a marathon. You ain't gonna lose it as fast as you fantasized.

Oh yeah, right. And I remove my diamond studs, too.

I weigh daily -- after arising, peeing, and stripping naked (including my wedding ring). I've done this most of my life. It keeps me honest. However, there are days, when I'm traveling or when I wake up at 1:00 am, that I don't weigh. But those are pretty much the only exceptions. However, I think everyone should weigh when it makes sense for them. I know people who've had WLS who weigh only when they go to the doctor's office, and that works for them. But it wouldn't work for me.

Bites the size of a pencil eraser ... forever? Chewing 30-40 times a bite? Seriously? Yes, my bites re smaller. And yes, I chew more (but not that much). And yes, I do wait between bites. But even at nearly 5 months post-op and even though I consider that I'm a compliant sheep my eating behavior sounds nothing like your nutritionist describes. Did I mention I've lost 66 pounds? I swear. I don't know where some of these so-called nutritionists are coming from. Mine was certainly better than your NUT was. So sorry you got the scare treatment. Bottom line -- you have to take responsibility for feeding your body good food. You just have a smaller stomach. You'll just have to eat like a French woman from now on, not like an obese American woman. Not that bad, eh?

Jules, My earlier post was in response to your post (at #43 above), in which you seemed to be saying that you think a likely (not possible, but likely) outcome of WLS was that you will die (referencing your anecdote about your friend’s mom who died of WLS). In your post #43 above, you also expressed that you didn’t think you needed WLS at this point because you are able to work and support your family, because you have a successful sex life, and because you’re not like the “very large woman” who could barely walk into your doctor’s lobby and who looked “defeated.” My earlier post was to express that my view of WLS is different from yours. You expressed your view. I expressed mine. No more complicated than that. You then asked what my reasons were for choosing WLS. I chose WLS when I weighed 235 pounds (I’m a 5’5” 69-year-old woman) because I wanted to regain the physical health and vibrancy I had when I was younger, but no longer felt. I chose WLS because I want to have a happy, active retirement with my beloved husband. I chose WLS because I want to stave off knee replacement surgery for several more years (like most older people I have arthritis). I chose WLS because I look a lot hotter at 169 pounds than I did at 235 pounds and I will look even hotter at 150 pounds. I chose WLS because at my age I didn’t have the confidence that I could lose the amount of weight I needed to lose to become healthy again. But most of all, I chose WLS because I have lost and gained and lost and gained hundreds of pounds during my lifetime, but never been able to keep it off—and I have a strong hope that I will be among the 50% of people who have WLS who retain all or most of their weight lost via WLS. And that 50% chance to remain normal-sized for the rest of my life is one helluva better chance to lick that lifelong problem I’ve fought tooth and nail than through diet and exercise alone. You have every right to make your own decisions and to regard WLS in any ways that make sense to you. And I have every right to counter your observation that WLS is only for “defeated” people who can barely walk, who don’t have good sex lives, who can’t work or support their families, or whose health puts them in grave danger of dying from WLS surgery. I wish the very best to you. I truly hope that all your dreams come true. I hope mine do, too.

LOL! @@Recycled, good post. I didn't die either. For lurkers, most people who have WLS are NOT semi-dead, NOT in a wheelchair, NOT unemployed, or NOT unable to have sex. Yes, I had my reasons why I chose WLS, but they weren't any of those reasons. Just sayin'.

I don't think you know what gastric sleeve surgery is all about yet. I encourage you to keep studying. You seem to think it means you can't drink or eat post-op, that VSG surgery causes malabsorption like gastric bypasses -- it doesn't, or that you have to eat some odd diet the rest of your life, or that you have to take expensive, strange combinations of vitamins and minerals. It doesn't mean any of that, at least not to me. At not yet 5 months post-op, I go out to dinner with friends, I have a glass of wine, and I can eat everything I want (although because I'm still losing weight I choose NOT to eat everything I want). I take a Centrum senior chewable Vitamin and two Calcium pills a day (no biggie). Obviously, we choose post-op to eat in a way that helps us lose weight. But long-term, the folks here who are maintaining eat (typically) 1400 - 1600 calories a day. That's what normal people eat. They also exercise and/or move more than they used to. HOWEVER ... if it bothers you that in order to be successful long-term you won't be able to eat 2,500 - 3,000 calories a day and eat lots of carbs, then this surgery is not for you. In fact, no weight loss regimen will be successful for you if those things are important to you. You've read it before (or maybe you haven't) that the sleeve is a very helpful tool for long-term weight loss and maintenance success. But it is a tool that YOU have to use. You have to be committed to weight loss and weight loss maintenance. Good luck to you.

So you're staying. Thanks.

So you're not leaving?

Happy to oblige. We both have a job to finish in 2015.

You have, indeed, lost an average of 9.3 pounds a month for the last six months. Yeah, you're really sucking at this. j/k

Eat the egg. You're still making this too complicated. (This is me being encouraging.

@@LadyK44 Yup. The sleeve / WLS is just a tool. We use the tool. Or we try to beat the tool. Sounds to me like you need to add some more tools. Have you ever considered counseling / therapy / coaching to address your eating disorder(s)?

I use My Fitness Pal, and I love it. When you really learn how to max out its features it's soooo helpful.

Yeah, I'm not buying that God made my stomach thing either. If you object to WLS, that's fine. Totally your right. But dude, that's a lame argument.

Wow. Just wow. You're the only WLS patient I've ever seen say something like that. That's not been my experience at all.

Mine used 36. But academic research on subjects post-op that I've seen finds little if any differences between results, despite bougie sizes 40 and below.

Maybe you should get up and move. FYI, I lost 10.4 pounds my first month post-op. And I was moving.

No, don't juice. At that point you'll be drinking calories. Slippery slope. And 4 pounds a week is unbelievably amazing. I hope you can realize that. It sounds like you're starting to make yourself a little nuts. Just do what you're supposed to do. This is not a race. Even with some imaginary you.

No, I have never done that. My weight is what I weigh.

It's been my experience that: 200 calories of chicken make me feel fuller for longer than 300 calories of rice. 200 calories of chicken make me feel fuller for longer than 500 calories of cake. 200 calories of chicken make me feel fuller for longer than 600 calories of tortilla chips.

This, too, is why I don't walk with others. I've been walking all my life -- up and down the Sierras, Rockies, Ozarks, Alps and Himalayas. In the mountains--the real mountains--there is respect for everyone's individual pace. Real mountain walkers would never act like your MIL. She acts like an ass and probably is an ass. It doesn't matter how slow or fast your pace is. What matters is that you get where you're going when you want to get there. Your pace. Your choice. Enjoy yourself.

Damn! 100 pounds since August. Those people with penises sure can lose weight! Congrats to him.

Someone here just liked a post I made months ago on another thread. Like everything else I've posted here, I'd forgotten what I'd written. Part of my old post (pasted below) is relevant to this thread's OP and to the upsets that occur from time to time on online forums: I hope you keep posting authentically and transparently just exactly what you feel / think / are curious about. Besides, nobody's post is ever all they think about a topic or the last thing they will ever think about it. In many ways, message boards are like a big city where some people grew up, others moved in from smaller towns, and others moved there from different countries. On these boards you find disparate cultures colliding with each other. The most unsophisticated visitors assume that their own personal values and culture are the superior values and cultures and should be reflected by everyone else on the board. They spend a lot of time bitching about how others aren't following their rules, making them more comfortable or meeting their needs. This is a message board. It's not anything else. And you're not responsible for others' feelings. IMHO.