VSGAnn2014

LOL!

@@Miss Mac ... you are so cool. Love your approach to things and your attitude. Always have. Thanks.

Am loving this thread. Am also learning a lot about what works for other people. Thanks, guys.

As of this morning I've lost exactly 100 pounds. Woot! And my shoe size hasn't changed one bit. Just goes to show nothing about this journey is completely predictable.

Congrats to those who've lost all they want to lose. But if you're still losing beyond that point, to solve your problem you simply have to eat more than you're eating. Some of us are eating 1700 - 2000 calories a day and still having trouble stopping the weight-loss machine (raising hand here) It's a strange problem for folks like us to have. But that doesn't mean it's not a real problem. Some suggestions: * Drink whole (not skim) milk -- or even half and half * Add some high-carb Snacks * Make one of your snacks a handful of nuts * Eat dessert every once in a while (and by that, I mean the real thing) * Add some breads to your daily menu Keep weighing daily or weekly to see how these (and other changes you want to make) affect your weight. After dieting for so long (and that's indeed what we've done) we can get into a place where we permanently *restrict* too much what we eat. We have trained ourselves not to eat until we feel full, and some of us have learned that lesson very well. However, the truth is that some of us CAN lose too much and can find it hard to turn off the feel-good switch when we see the scales dropping. I'm not sure that's anorexia so much as it is just finding it hard to change direction. And when this does happen, consider that it's just a new problem we need to learn how to solve. Good luck to us all! The goal is to lose what we need to lose -- and then learn how to MAINTAIN (neither lose nor gain).

See -- this is what leads to long-term WLS success: Recognizing patterns and relationships between what you're eating and what happens afterward and, based on that, building a way to eat for the phase you're in that will work for you. Way to go, @@BCs 1000 !

I hear you, @@JamieLogical . This is not at all what I expected either. And yes, I need to get my ass in gear re exercise -- winter has cramped my style!

I'm 17 months post-op. I started at 235 pounds highest ever, was 216 pounds surgery day, hit my goal of 150 pounds in 8.5 months post-op, and today (9 months later) weigh 136 pounds. I'm doing great. By the end of Month One post-op, I was eating one slice of toast (Sara Lee 45 calories/slice high-Fiber, high-Protein bread) with no difficulty. Around 3 months post-op I could eat HALF a McDonald's cheeseburger including the bun VERY SLOWLY (150 calories). And no, I didn't eat that very often. By the time I was 8 months post-op, I could eat a whole McD cheeseburger. That's about my fast-food limit now, too. And no, I don't eat these things often at all -- usually once every month or two when I get stuck on a road trip and have access only to fast -food on Interstate off-ramps. This journey is about doing what you're supposed to do most of the time. When I was still losing weight, I stuck very close to my program probably 95% of the time. Now, 9 months into maintenance, I eat according to my program about 80-90% of the time. P.S. I'm eating 1700 - 2000 calories/day now to maintain my current weight.

Thanks, everyone. I've copypasta'ed it below: When I want something tasty, I eat Protein cake in a cup. It is delicious, totally not cheating, and gives you 25 grams or so of protein. One scoop Protein Powder, a 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, a couple tablespoons each of sugar-free syrup and milk, stir until it is all wet. Microwave in large cup for 45 seconds or so. Delicious tasty warm cake! I have one most days and it feels like a treat, but really is not.

So cool of you, Andrew, to be sitting in top of all that data about your eating and being able to see what changes you'd made and correlate those to weight changes (up and down). After 17 months post-op, I have come to respect that everybody's body needs / wants what it needs / wants. What works for me doesn't necessarily work for you or others. And vice versa. Having said that, I do know that in my case different foods with identical calories have different effects on my body -- re weight gain, weight loss, physical and mental energy, satiety, and muscle-building capability. All I can do is understand as best I can how different foods affect me. And then I have to have the discipline to (most of the time) eat those foods that help me meet my goals. I follow these rules 80-90% of the time. And then sometimes I decide to do something different. But those are exceptions. Once on another forum I said I thought it should be required for all WLS patients, after they reach goal and maintain for a while, to then regain 10 pounds on purpose -- so they could learn how to recover from regain and not fear it. So congratulations. This is your opportunity to learn all that.

@@WL WARRIOR ... I'm interested in your last comment (above in bold). What did you mean by that?

Oh, and about that ghrelin ... There is no timetable about that. Or even huge medical agreement that it comes back. Or if it does, how much of it comes back. And whether it comes back for some, but not for others -- and in varying amounts. My surgeon says it doesn't ever come back at the levels at which it was once present. We shall see. I'm only 18 months post-op, and the ghrelin is still pretty much gone for me, other than for feeling physically hungry when it's mealtime. Even if it does come back for me I'll STILL have to be responsible for how I respond to it. Some good news (for me, at least) is that after 18 months of really working hard to be consistent in how I eat and how I respond to s**t that happens in my life (as it does in everyone's life) I am confident I'm building new habits and discipline that I certainly didn't have before. Heck, just planning my daily meals every morning gives me so much more control over my behavior than I have had in decades!

Yes, hunger comes back. And how it affects you depends on a number of things, including whether you: * suffer from binge eating disorder or other food-related issues that make it especially hard for you to resist food to calm / soothe / medicate your anxiety * Have chocolate sitting in your desk drawer. (If so, WHY?! in the name of God is it there?!) * are eating the foods you should be eating that keep hunger at bay -- Protein, high-Fiber veggies, some whole grains * are drinking sufficient Water * are avoiding high-starch, high-sugar slider foods * are taking antacids that prevent excess stomach acid from mimicing hunger * are aware of the events in your life / environment that trigger head hunger and are working to minimize those triggers and/or develop new ways of responding to those triggers besides eating * are working with a therapist if you have eating / food / behavioral issues that could be improved by working with a therapist * are able to practice mindfulness in life and being present for what's happening, including feeling your feelings without trying to medicate them away * planning your daily meals and *know* what you're supposed to eat for each meal and each snack and aren't just compulsively eating things because you don't know what you're supposed to eat that day * don't have a way to call STOP to destructive behavior (could be calling a friend, a WLS buddy, journaling about your feelings, posting to an online forum , etc. Years ago, I once actually yelled, "STOP!" at myself to startle myself out of my compulsive eating. It actually got my attention. * put on your walking clothes / shoes and hit the sidewalk or treadmill to get yourself focused again on what your long-term goals are. There must be so many other things others can add to this list that could help.

Whew! I'm exhausted just reading that! You young whippersnappers are living life fully. And your re-entry into running is awesome. Congratulations on everything.

Did your surgeon prescribe a PPI (proton pump inhibitor) antacid medication post-op? That's what mine did (he prescribed Protonix) -- and BOY did it make a difference! I took it only four months post-op, and then went back to my old reflux medicine, Ranitidine, which works fine now. (FHI, I'm now 18 months post-op, have reached goal, and am maintaining easily.)

That was the route I took -- told only hubby and two close friends who live nowhere near me. This is a personal decision. Not a group experience. And one thing I've learned is that for those who associate with other heavy people -- NONE of your friends and family will think you need WLS. You look just like they do. And THEY certainly don't need WLS! LOL!

What others have said above -- congratulations and thank you for your positive, thoughtful, intelligent posts here. I truly enjoy your company here at BP. So, so happy for your successes and happiness. Love the "sampling" concept.

LOL! Seriously, that all sounds magnificent.

My capacity at 17 months post-op is a lot like Babbs'. Also depends on whether I drink wine with the meal and whether the meal lasts an hour or longer, both of which can increase slightly the amount I can eat.

You don't even have to stretch your sleeve to eat more food. You could just graze all day on "slider foods" highly processed foods that don't require a lot of digestion / breakdown in the stomach -- foods like Cookies, crackers, chips, cake, candy, ice cream, potatoes (starchy and sugary and fat-laden foods). They're called "sliders" because they slide on right through the stomach easily leaving room for more sliders. And/or you could just drink high-calorie drinks all day, which the sleeve wouldn't resist at all. Or all of the above. I've seen people put all their weight back just drinking sweet tea or Mountain Dew. Not kidding.

Obviously I don't know what your "issues" are, if any. But given your "failure" (as you defined it), I assumed you had found a way to eat around your WLS. That could have been a lack of personal commitment to your own goals, living circumstances (or family members) who sabotaged your WLS compliance, a binge eating or some other eating disorder, depression or other mental health issues (diagnosed or not) or medicines that sabotaged your eating behavior or your metabolism, etc. Or perhaps a trauma you suffered before or after your WLS that made it too difficult for you to comply with your surgeon's instructions. My thinking was that those things could sabotage a second WLS for you if they were unaddressed prior to (or in conjunction with) a second WLS.

I used to think my way was the only way. I'm a lot smarter now. I'm almost 18 months post-op. And I've learned a lot in that time. I've been very successful and have learned what really does work for me. The funny thing is that what works for me doesn't work for some other very successful WLS patients. And what works for some other successful WLS patients would soon have me back at 235 pounds. One thing that probably is common to most successful WLS patients is that they observe and collect enough information about their own eating and understand how those foods affect their bodies and they have the discipline to stick to what works for them. Sometimes I wonder if we're all even the same species.

We live in a fat world. In the U.S., nearly 70% of all adults are overweight or obese. That is a staggering reality! I'll say this: At 148 pounds (and 5'5") I thought I looked anorexic, after losing from a highest ever weight of 235 pounds. Eight months later, now weighing 137 pounds, I certainly don't look anorexic -- to me, to my husband or (so far as I can tell) anyone else. It just takes a while for us (and others) to adjust to these changes. And we will. But as others have said, we should not let others' misperceptions of our new healthier sizes make us feel like we're getting "too skinny." Because, except in rare instances, we are not. This is what healthy looks like.

This is precisely why God made plastic surgeons and aestheticians.