Babbs

@@AvaFern I remember your Percoset-ugly butt posts. Good times

When my husband had RNY 10 years ago, I gained 30 pounds. Just put your foot down about it. Maybe explaining how much money it will ultimately save you by not ordering two full meals anymore will help?

You have exactly 120 minutes to edit that......

You've decided to have the surgery because you want change, right? Don't be afraid of change. Life is constant change, and we don't grow emotionally if we can't adapt to it. Yes, you will be a different person once you lose the weight, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that as long as you stay true to yourself. Embrace the changes that are ahead and realize this will be a new and exciting chapter in your life!

Awesome, AWESOME list! As someone who is in maintenence mode, I would just add one more: Once you get to your goal weight, the hard work shouldn't end. There will be different challenges. Never become complacent and always remember the basic "rules" of WLS and you'll have a great chance of keeping the weight off.

@@Twinmomma422 Sorry about your situation. I agree that even if he doesn't want to go, counseling for you would be a great idea. Hang in there!

THIS ultimately is a good indicator of health.

You are going to find that a weird phenomenon happens the closer we get or even when we get to our "first" goal weights. We want to push it and see how much lower we can actually go. Especially when our bodies want to keep losing. I'm sure others can vouch for me when I say once the health part happens, the vanity part kicks in. Right or wrong it happens

I just recently saw this study too, actually. So I'm golden!

I think you should settle at a weight you're happy, comfortable and healthy with. BMI is a poor indicator of health anyway. That being said, I'm at the very highest end of a "normal" BMI right now. 7 more pounds higher and I'd be considered "overweight". Meh.

When you tell people about your surgery, expect judgement. There's a lot of ignorance and misinformation regarding WLS. And the reason you care that this particular person disapproves of your surgery is.....? Also, why is it always the fat ones that seem to disapprove?

Do you know how much protein you're getting a day? How many calories?

21 months here maintaining between 139-144 pounds. Right now I'm at my high end so working on getting back down. I've managed to lose a couple, but it likes to hang on at this stage in the game! Here's what I've been doing: Breakfast: Protein shake or 1/4 cup of steel cut oats with splash of almond milk and a little honey. Mid morning snack: Greek Yogurt or a cheese stick Lunch: 1/2 cup of salad with a bunch of veggies thrown in with 4 oz of protein (chicken, seafood or beef) with a small amount of dressing (usually a TBS or 2) Afternoon snack: Some sort of fruit, hummus with carrots or a low carb cracker of some sort, maybe more protein leftover in the fridge. Just depends on what I'm in the mood for and if I'm feeling snacky. The right protein will keep me satisfied if I'm feeling particularly munchy that day. Dinner: Some sort of protein prepared yummy and healthy ( most of the time on my husbands Traeger grill) and vegetable. May have a dessert of fruit or a chocolate greek yogurt depending on how many calories I've had that day. I keep my calories between 1000-1400. Right now I'm cutting back a little obviously to around 1200 so I can get back to my low bounce range weight. I average between 80-100 grams of protein and about the same in carbs (but cutting back a little right now). I eat on a schedule and every few hours whether i'm hungry or not so I don't get hungry and keep my metabolism going. I also work out 3-5 days a week, but a 20 minute walk every day will also suffice for you if it's at all possible. Just an example of what works for me at almost 2 years out. Hope that helps!

I have worked out and gone to the gym since about 5 months post op, so about a year and a half. Not once has my husband gone with me. Does that mean he's not supportive of my journey? Not one bit. He's very supportive, and always has been. I just want to emphasize the fact that just because someone isn't doing exactly what you think they should be doing, doesn't mean they are automatically sabotaging you. Like Ann said, why don't you just ask him what's going on?

I agree with you most of the time, but this is BS. Why the hell do we expect the whole world to revolve around our diet? Ridiculous. If someone is really serious about changing their eating habits and lifestyle, what everyone else is doing shouldn't matter. If your will power is so weak that you absolutely can't help yourself around people with "tempting" foods, then you really need to question how serious you are about having the surgery and changing your life. Let's stop acting like we have absolutely no way to resist tempting foods that people eat around us. There has to be some sort of will power involved here. I mean stop with the "Devil made me do it" crap already!

I never did and never will worry about what people are eating around me. This is my gig, not thiers. When you go to a buffet, party, restaraunt, work event, or holiday get together are you going to insist everyone around you eat the way you eat? You're going to have to get used to temptation because it's going to be around you the rest of your life. Think of it as building up your will power muscles. Keeps us honest.

I believe that is a photo of a stomach before sleeve surgery and then after. The stomach cannot stretch back to its original size. It's physically impossible. Do you realize the sheer pressure it would take to stretch a stomach that has no fundus? A lot more than a few carbonation bubbles can do. Can we just put this old wives tale to rest now? It's tiresome.

Every day. During the losing phase, I would officially record it every Monday morning after I woke up, peed, and stepped on the scale stark nekked. I still weigh every day now that I'm maintaining. I say as long as someone understands that there are going to be normal up and down fluctuations and not let it drive them crazy or obsess about it, weighing every day is a good way to hold yourself accountable and track patterns of gains and stalls in case you need to change things up.

I honestly think you're having more of an issue with the lack of normalcy around it. I think next year it will seem like things are more back to normal, and you may even get a cake, and even have a piece of said cake Happy Birthday!

From a 18 to a 6. Took me around 15 months to get to my lowest weight.

I'm almost 2 years out, and I can't eat 1/4 cup of oatmeal and a scrambled egg at the same time. No way.

Yup, the effectiveness of both surgeries wane over time. My husband is 10 years out RNY and can now eat normal portions. He no longer counts on the restriction or malabsorbtion to maintain his weight, it's pretty much all on him now. It is with sleeve patients years out, also. I look at the first couple of years after surgery as our training wheels. Soon after, the training wheels come off and we either fall or keep riding

Amen!!

I just used the little chart in the link, and my down days calories is what I normally eat in a day, lol. I wouldn't know what to set my down days to....maybe like 500? I actually seem to do this naturally somewhat already in maintenence. My "down" days are my "I'm just not very hungry" days.

Glad you're okay! This place wouldn't be the same without your crazy ass!