VSGAnn2014

@@Strangefruit ... My bad. I thought you were newly sleeved. My apologies.

About 6-8 weeks ago, after indulging for a month or two a bit more in dark chocolate than I felt comfortable doing (I had ramped up from one square per evening to 6 squares per evening!) I experimented to alter my appetite for carbs by going back to using a PPI short-term instead of my usual H2 blocker antacid. I wanted to reduce my stomach acid production and, thereby, any stomach acid contribution to my appetite. My Science Experiment Outcomes: The experiment worked. After a week of cold turkey on dark chocolate and a single PPI a day (Protonix), I was no longer a carbaholic. Thereafter I went back to my two-a-day H2 blocker (Ranitadine - 150 mg.). I am now again indulging OCCASIONALLY BUT NOT NIGHTLY in dark chocolate. food for thought ...?

@@Strangefruit ... whoa! Whoa! You have somehow gotten completely the wrong idea. So wrong! If you think @@reallyrosy 's story about her WLS experience is typical, you are so mistaken. It is not. Mine is much more typical. I have lost 100 pounds, now weigh 135 pounds and am easily maintaining at that weight. BTW, I'm a healthy 70 years old. And I eat 1800 calories a day to maintain at this weight. I eat any damn thing I want -- but I also mostly eat healthy food. Today for Breakfast I had a chocolate Protein shake (hey, I like 'em!) and a skinny latte. For lunch I had a chicken caesar salad and a glass of chardonnay. This afternoon, I had a coffee with a tablespoon of half and half and a limone biscotti. Tonight for dinner I had scrambled eggs and cheese, applewood bacon, a biscuit, a little butter, some sugarfree strawberry jam. After dinner I had a couple of squares of dark chocolate. And all that added up to 102 grams of protein and 111 carbs (lower than usual -- usually I eat more veggies, fruits and whole grains than I did today). I hope you can gain a broader perspective on what successful WLS life is like. Because you sure have gotten the wrong idea somehow.

I weigh and measure my food 20.5 months post-op. I use My Fitness Pal to plan and track my food. It's what works for me. I've lost 100 pounds and am maintaining at 135 pounds now. Never, ever did this well at weight loss or weight maintenance in my life. Ever.

I've had 3 NUTs. The first one went back to school. The other 2 both suck. I think Boost is ridiculous.

Then how come I know many people more than 3 years out who are doing well re maintenance? I've lost 100 lbs. If I gained 10 lbs in the coming 16 months, I would consider myself a brilliant WLS success. That surgeon offered some really crappy advice. I think he needs a new specialty.

Just offering my experience -- I was doing about 800 cals/day and 70 grams/protein at 7 weeks out. I see you're a male, so your calories / Protein might need to be higher. I don't think that starving yourself is the right approach during WLS losing phases. So talk to your NUT / medical team and get their input. My own team convinced me to ramp up to 1,000 cals at the end of Month 4 and then to move up to 1,200 cals by the end of Month 6. I found that approach worked great for me, long-term. And long-term results are what you're aiming for -- the ability to lose all your excess weight and to maintain it easily. You don't want to force your body's resting metabolic rate to go lower than it should by starving yourself. Good luck!

I reject the idea that obesity as a disease is caused solely by lack of discipline and that recovery from obesity is as simple as pushing away from the table. Yet self-discipline is clearly critical in obesity recovery. What is heart breaking about this research is the apparent extent to which TBL contestants (and millions of others, including us) have been handicapped by their past Herculean efforts to lose weight. Of course, the heartbreak in this situation doesn't change the tautological truth that it is what it is. Whatever our metabolism is is the metabolism we must work with. So post-op, let's call an end to all those years of merely working hard and continue to work smarter. IMHO, having WLS is a lot smarter than dieting and exercise alone, although no one who's had WLS would call it "easy." And notwithstanding the benefits of positive self-talk, none of us who've had WLS have any business thinking that pounds once shed are magically "gone forever." The factors that affect our obesity recovery range from our food choices and how much we eat, meds and supplements, exercise and movement, the emotional and psychological support we find wherever we find it, and the minimizing or avoidance of environmental factors that trigger and destroy our recovery. I believe that science and medicine will learn more about obesity's causes and will develop more tools to help conquer obesity. I am so glad I finally accepted that doing the same thing over and over while hoping for a different result was just about the dumbest thing I could do. Courage isn't always doing the hard thing. Sometimes courage is needed to do the different thing. I sincerely wish those still morbidly obese TBL Season 8 contestants could find the courage to do something different -- weight loss surgery.

Yes, I've done phentermine -- once with fenfluramine, twice without. Lost weight both times. Regained it all IMMEDIATELY upon stopping the drugs. Fenfluramine went away due to the cardiac damage it caused. Common side effects of phentermine include: * feeling restless or hyperactive; * headache, dizziness, tremors; * sleep problems (insomnia); * dry mouth or an unpleasant taste in your mouth; * diarrhea or constipation, upset stomach; or. * increased or decreased interest in sex, impotence. Back in the 1960s I also used and really, really loved Preludin (phenmetrazine). Sadly, it went away because high-dose injection speed freaks also loved it. And I regained the weight immediately upon stopping taking the drug. This kind of yo-yo weight loss / weight regain contributes to the magnitude of obesity.

You may have to do this without the support of your "friend." In fact, it sounds like you'd be better off taking a break from her for some time. I've been on these boards for almost 3 years now, and a pattern I see that's undeniable is that one's heavier friends are the ones who rail against WLS and, if they don't know about the WLS, simply getting slimmer. Our healthier, slim friends usually cheer us on -- whether any of them know about the WLS or don't know about it. Not hard to figure out why this pattern is the way it is.

The New York Times is doubling down on this story, adding more videos, more side-stories. I think they're on a journalistic mission to destroy The Biggest Loser and its bad, bad "medicine." Fine by me! I hope that effing TBL "doctor" who trashes WLS goes down like the Titanic.

Boy, does the increasing capacity we have after being sleeved vary! My capacity (at 20.5 months post-op) is at least a cup. But a cup is a lot less than I used to eat pre-op. I assume that's true for everybody else here, right? Hubby's gone to pick up a thin-crust supreme pizza right now. (We do this about once a month -- used to be once a week, at least.) I'm going to eat two slices of it with a little grated parmesan on top. (EDIT: I turns out, I ate only 1.5 slices.) Life and food doesn't suck for me. But big caveat -- I did NOT eat like this during the weight-losing phases. For one thing, I couldn't. And for another, I didn't want to waste those first six months. I wasn't trying to break any weight-loss speed records. But as an older person I really wanted to use those months while my sleeve was healing and my restriction was greater than it would ever be again to get rid of some serious poundage. And now it's all gone. :) To the OP and other newbies here who are suffering through the first month ... this phase will pass. And then you'll have new challenges. And sooner than you know it you'll have lost all your excess weight and be agonizing about how to maintain your weight. And then you'll figure that out, too. It's a process. One day at a time. That's all you ever have to do. Good luck!

To the OP ... when was your surgery? If you're still in the early food stages -- lots of soft foods, liquids only, etc., you have never gotten to the phase where you're eating dense Protein and have experienced actual restriction of your new stomach. Just wait 'til you try to eat some chicken or fish. You'll find out what your sleeve can do for you.

I lost 10.4 pounds my first month post-op. I've lost 100 pounds and now weigh 135 pounds. Bam!

@@brown eyed gal ... it took a while before they arrived here, too. And we are about as rural as it gets. EDIT ... P.S. Also look for "Cafe Steamers" which are even lower calorie than the "Fit Kitchen" branded stuff. FYI, we shop mostly at Walmart for groceries. Of course, there's always Aldi's and local farmers' markets for fruits/veggies.

Sometimes I love you people. And I don't even KNOW you people. But seriously ... you know what I mean. @@BigViffer and @@Babbs ... your posts brought tears to my eyes.

@ ... actually, I was impressed by the consistency in almost all participants' responses in terms of changes in their metabolic rate -- and was honestly shocked at how huge the decreases in their metabolism. It's the first quantitative *proof* I've seen that metabolic rates do decrease and by a lot. I keep thinking I know about so much about obesity. But there's so much more to learn. I'm thinking that this study and the coverage it's likely to get in popular culture because of who the participants were and how popular that show is (ugh, I know) is going to accelerate interest in bariatric surgery.

The research I've read (conducted by some of the same NIH researchers who are reporting their TBL study today) suggests that the greater your caloric deficit while you're losing weight (the difference between your caloric output and your caloric input), the more you lower your basal metabolic rate. However, let's remember that the TBL study doesn't investigate a population of WLS patients. Once again, I would love to see the bariatric surgery industry take responsibility for conducting valid research using samples from a much more diverse WLS population than those who are still checking in with their surgeons several years later. The way you do such research is to figure out ways to compensate patients for participating in the study -- WHETHER THEY'VE LOST WEIGHT OR NOT. And FTR weight loss and weight loss maintenance are FAR from the only outcome variables we are all interested in learning about. Anybody out there listening?

It's worth remembering that TBL contestants have lost weight faster and in one of the most extreme ways possible. I certainly didn't lose weight nearly as fast as those poor folks did. My calorie deficit also wasn't even remotely as huge as theirs. I do wonder how extrapolatable these study's findings are (other than "directional") for others who've lost weight by diet / exercise. And mostly, I wish like hell someone would do this kind of study on on WLS patients! In fact, the ASMBS seriously needs to pony up resources to do this kind of research. I'm getting pretty tired of the lame-ass "long-term studies" reported by hospitals with horrific non-response bias thanks to the majority of patients who fade into the woodwork over 1, 2, 3, 5 years post-op. IMHO.

Also loved this throwaway paragraph in the story: "On the day of weigh-in on the show's finale, Mr. Cahill and the others dressed carefully to hide the rolls of loose skin that remained, to their surprise and horror, after they had lost weight. They wore compression garments to hold it in." So let us please not assume that it's only weight lost through WLS that produces loose skin.

@@Cervidae ... great post!

@@Dub ... that is one of the best, most helpful responses on the fraught topic of alcohol consumption for WLS patients I've ever read. Thank you. @@Nikkipit ... my personal experience with alcohol and WLS is that pre-op I was a social drinker -- having a single drink most (not all) evenings. FYI, my husband doesn't drink simply because he doesn't enjoy the taste or the experience. Back to me ... I didn't drink any alcohol for 2.5 months pre-op or for 6 months post-op. Thereafter, I began having a glass of wine (4-5 ounces) or 1.5 ounces of single-malt scotch most evenings before dinner. At 8.5 months post-op, I reached my weight loss goal (150 pounds). I'm now 20.5 months post-op, have weighed 135 pounds for the last 5 months and am maintaining easily. A single drink is still part of my menu most days. I don't think everyone can safely drink post-op. It worries me a bit when I read here about younger patients (especially those in their twenties) struggling with the desire or need to drink socially with their friends in bars, as young people are wont to do. I also know what "girls nights out" are like. And they don't typically involve a single 5-ounce pour of chardonnay. If you can handle the peer and environmental pressure in social settings like that, then more power to you. I do think you're going to find out how much you really like to drink. And you'll need to be honest with yourself about how big a role alcohol should play in your life. I'll close with the question my psychologist asked me a few months ago when I raised the subject of alcohol use: "Why do you drink?" I told him I enjoyed the tastes and the celebration of high-quality alcohol. (He knows I'm a "social drinker" -- defined for women as having no more than a single drink/day and 7 drinks/week.) He responded that he would become concerned if my alcohol intake increased as an emotional response to events in my environment. (And trust me, I do currently have some "events in my environment" -- as most of us do and will always have.) That's my story -- for now. As @@Dub said, things could change.

Putting the blame for this young woman's failure to launch and her subsequent ten years of misery on her weight loss surgery is like blaming the Vietnam War on Elvis Presley's hips.

@@KindaFamiliar ... don't you think this is an experiment for which video would be the best medium to document the experimental treatment?

@@Dub -- your approach during weight losing phases has been to maximize Protein and minimize everything else. You've lost 180+ pounds so far, so you're really on the weight-losing train. But remember what your doc said -- it's time to start making friends with veggies. @@Bufflehead is right -- you won't need as much fiber now because you're eating much less than you will be when you start figuring out maintenance. BTW, I think guys eating (I'm guessing here) 2500 calories/day are supposed to eat around 32-35 grams of insoluble fiber. And for @@Dub -- no, I haven't used Benefiber or Metamucil. Never needed to. I do eat an apple 4-5 times a week (unpeeled), and that pretty much does it for me. BIG CAVEAT: My posts above describe what works for me. Everything I do may not work for you. Don't ignore your surgeons / NUTs / whatever. But if this thread raises confusion or questions for you, please query your medical team to see what they have to say or to find out if (perhaps) you've misunderstood their life-long instructions. There are a lot of different recommendations out there. I know that one bariatric surgeon (Dr. Matthew Weiner) makes a lot of online videos and has published a book suggesting we all eat a pound a day of plant-based foods, e.g., vegetables, whole grains and fruits. See http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AEYQYDE/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1