Babbs

My sister didn't have surgery, but she's recently lost like 70 pounds and got down to 130 pounds with Weight Watchers. She exercises 7 days a week, and refuses to have "rest" days, even when her Trainer tells her to. She's constantly complaining about back issues, but won't slow down when she should to rest it. She's also 54, so I can see her really injuring herself and not being able to keep that pace of exercise up, which unfortunately will cause gain when she's sidelined for any amount of time. I've tried to explain that to her that unless you're a professional athlete, moderate exercise is best to maintain the losses, because moderate is better than none when you've hurt yourself. She says it's just because she's fallen in love with 'being fit', but she's obsessive so I know there's more to it than that.

It's as simple as this: If it grows from the ground, a bush or a tree, it's good for you. Nobody got fat from eating too much fruit. We got fat from eating too much processed crap.

You honestly didn't think you'de be able to eat only 3 bites of food for the rest of your life did you? You'de starve to death! Like everyone said, things heal up and you're able to eat more. As time goes on, even more. It's the natural progression of things. It really doesn't have a lot to do with stretching. Dr Matthew Weiner has a great YouTube video about it.

Serious question: Now that I'm at goal, I still have a pretty pokey out pannus. I've tried shape wear, but I spill out over the top where my tummy fat is. How do you deal with that? Shape wear that goes all the way up to my boobs?

@@Inner Surfer Girl is absolutely correct. A month out is a terrible indicator of failure. Our bodies go through quite a bit of trauma from the surgery and sometimes act completely wonkey. I also don't believe we are fully steering the ship the first 6 months or so, and whatever weight you're going to lose from the sheer caloric restriction will automatically happen. There comes a time when we then have to take the reigns and help it along with proper habits and a little movement. If someone is just depending on the surgery to do it alone, more than likely you won't get where you want to be.

@@higher Fair enought, though you're a much bigger (figuratively speaking lol) person than I and a lot of people who have had to deal with family members unwanted comments about thier weight. You're obviously the type that was motivated by it, and that's okay, too. I just sometimes wonder if parents comments and 'concern' for their children's weight stems more from their desire to control and not from a true place of love? I dunno. It's not an easy subject to tackle.

How mortifying. I will NEVER comment about my kids' weight to them like that. They already know they have weight issues. What good does constantly reminding them about do except make them feel like sh*t?

So much this. I've got one that's overweight and one that's obese in their 20's. Do I worry sick about them? You bet, but just like with almost all of us, we didn't do it until we were darn good and ready. And personally I would rather see them decide on their own than feel forced into it and not put their heart and soul into it and ultimately fail.

@@mi75 Atta girl! Great job! Keep us posted and come back to vent if you need to! You've got this!

I'm not purposefully counting calories I'm using MFP to monitor my protein and Water intake and you're right I'm not meeting the protein amount. I'm not sure how it can be done at 300-600 range.Maybe it isn't suppose too initially. HW 341 lbs 07/19/16 - 298 lbs 08/09/16 DOS - 286 lbs CW 270 lbs It's hard, but you do the best you can! You'll see as you progress and heal up and the swelling goes down, you'll be able to eat a bit more and get more protein in. Between that and water, seems like you're constantly eating or drinking to get enough of both!

So dumb question why is cold water difficult? I prefer my water cold and haven't noticed any issues with it.HW 341 lbs 07/19/16 - 298 lbs 08/09/16 DOS - 286 lbs CW 270 lbs I honestly have no idea! I just can't drink mouthfuls like I can lukewarm or warm stuff. Kind of like it gets "stuck". Like it takes me a half an hour to finish a cold bottle of water, but a room temperature bottle I can drink down in a matter of minutes. Like I said, weird. But it's good to see I'm not the only one

At 2 years out, I still have trouble with really cold water. Room temperature or warm go down much easier. It's really weird!

350-500 is actually pretty standard calories at 2 weeks out. Most can't physically eat anymore than that quite yet, but make sure you're getting your fluids. I did the dizzy thing for a year and will still do it periodically at 2 years out if I'm not getting enough water. When I'm drinking enough, it seems to subside.

Regret is normal early out post op. If you did a search for "Regret" in these forums alone, hundreds of posts would come up. And 99% of them are from people less than a few weeks post op. Take tiny sips and take your time. It will get better as the swelling goes down and you heal up.

All of the above. With the swelling post surgery, the stomach is as narrow as the width of a pen.

Next time find a Protein packed snack like,cheese, almonds or Jerky. If you have to sneak it in, so be it Stay away from anything that isn't giving you protein first until you're practically to your goal weight. That helps with getting there for sure. Popcorn won't.

Sorry about your dad. That has to be tough. It's a big job just working through the grief, let alone worrying about your eating habits. But you have to take care of yourself to allow yourself to heal. Start with small goals. I would say first and foremost is quitting the soda. Make it your only goal for now and make it a priority. Once you've done that, you're going to see weight loss and that may get the wheels in motion to motivate you to move on to your next mini goal, like committing to exercise at least 3 days a week or making sure you're getting 64 ounces of Water a day. Sometimes setting up small goals is much easier that looking at the big picture and trying to do a major overhaul. That can be too overwhelming. And yes, I guarantee once you see a surgeon or NUT again, you're going to feel so much better about things and more in control again. This isn't their first rodeo. They've seen lots of vets who have had trouble with a little regain and are there to help

The higher the BMI, the quicker the loss. I've seen people lose 100 pounds in 6 months, and I've seen them lose it in a year or more. I never quite got to 100, but it took me about 15 months to lose 93. I was a slow poke.

There's an older gal that seems to be at the gym every time I'm there. I've seen her for the past almost 2 years. Although she seems to be in pretty good shape, probably has a great heart, and has much more endurance for exercise than most people her age, she still is overweight and has been since the first day I saw her. When you see people who consistently work out but still aren't in the normal weight range, that proves there's more to it than just exercise

Don't stress what you can't control right now. It's the 3 week stall. Here's the scientific reason why it happens: A "stall" a few weeks after surgery is not uncommon, and here's why. Our bodies use glycogen for short term energy storage. Glycogen is not very soluble, but it is stored in our muscles for quick energy -- one pound of glycogen requires 4 lbs. of Water to keep it soluble, and the average glycogen storage capacity is about 2 lbs. So, when a patient is not getting in enough food, the body turns first to stored glycogen, which is easy to break down for energy. Then when 2 lbs. of glycogen is used a patient will also lose 8 lbs. of water that was used to store it -- voila -- the "easy" 10 lbs. that most people lose in the first week of a diet. However, when the body stays in a caloric deficit state the body starts to realize that this is not a short-term problem. Then the body starts mobilizing fat from adipose tissue and burning fat for energy. But the body also realizes that fat can't be used for short bursts of energy. So, it starts converting some of the fat into glycogen, and rebuilding the glycogen stores. As it puts back the 2 lbs. of glycogen into the muscle, 8 lbs. of water has to be stored with it to keep it soluble. So, even though the patient might still be losing energy content to their body, the weight will not go down or it might even gain for a while as the retention of water dissolves the glycogen that is being reformed and stored.

I chose a goal weight of 150 just because that's in the high end of "normal" range for BMI for my height, which also happens to be 5'5". I ended up going 7 pounds below that at my lowest, and am currently 5 pounds below. I would suggest going as low as your body will let you to allow room for some bounce weight that seems to happen to everyone a few years out.

@@JJCool Oh, totally! That's why I get so mad when the uneducated still insist it's as easy as "calories in/calories out". Yeah, to a certain extent. But our bodies are much more complex than that and tend to disagree

I'm 2 years out and have had coffee from 6 weeks post op on. Two cups a day with the occasional iced coffee treat I drink with a straw. The horror!

That was very interesting! Although I feel he put to much emphasis on sleeve size and the correlation with regain. I feel pretty much the same amounts can be eaten years out as a natural progression, so at that point, size doesn't matter (snert). He did say this though, which I whole heartedly agree: "However it’s not just about capacity. It’s also about frequency of eating and making the wrong choices of food. Reluctance to exercise will compound the problem."

WLS is a temporary solution to a permanent problem. This makes the honeymoon period so critical. It's so important to take advantage of the honeymoon phase when the hunger is low, portions are small, and the weight loss is easy. Lose as much weight as you possibly can and don't squander it by giving in to old habits. Once you lose the weight and have better habits under your belt, you're better prepared for when years down the road the effects of the surgery wane. Studies show as the years progress, hunger and cravings return to almost pre surgery levels and portions significantly increase (although still never to pre surgery levels). Ultimately, it's our good habits that will keep the weight off, not the surgery.