Babbs

I don't think so with the amount you're excersising. Are you still losing?

Bread. A little, toasted or it gets stuck for me. Diet Coke. Gross. I like Coke Zero. Cookies. Yum. I eat them occasionally but I don't make a habit of it. Same. I have just recently started having a Coke Zero every once in a while. Doesn't hurt anymore. I don't know if that's a good thing.... I like a piece of 60 calorie Daves Killer 21 grain bread toasted with an egg or low fat Peanut Butter. Not toasted it sits like a rock. Cookies are rare. I'm a glutton with some of them, and I can't stop at just one sometimes. Plus I'll crave MORE!

One thing I've tried to do is eat at the same time every day. Breakfast between 7-8:00am, snack @ 10:00 am, lunch noon, snack between 2-3:00 pm, dinner @ 5:00 pm (sometimes 6:00). I find if I keep to a strict schedule, it keeps me on track and helps me stave off hunger. It's worked for me for 13 months! I can't always stick to it, but I try my hardest to make sure I do!

Yup, stalls suck. Especially this first one when you're losing a shit load of weight and then our bodies put the brakes on. The one thing I can almost garuantee is it will happen again. And probably again. But subsequent stalls are more a matter of making adjustments to make them end. This one? Just more of the same and ride it out.

What you're going through is normal. Second thoughts, push back from family and friends (that's why a lot of people choose not to tell anyone) seems to happen to most of us. I told everyone and could care less what anyone said. I was ready. Yes, most people have regrets very early out. You're sore, tired, hungry and grieving our old friend food. Once you heal up and things start to normalize and you're losing weight, the regrets go away. When you've lost all or most of your weight, the only regret you're going to have is you didn't do it sooner. Complication rate is VERY low with the sleeve. Less than 1%. The odds of me using this tool to change my life for the better were 100%. I liked those odds. Yes, people fail. Notice I said PEOPLE and not the sleeve. It's up to us to use it properly and do the hard work. The sleeve just helps us along. It's ultimately up to us to change our lifestyle with the intentions of losing weight and keeping it off. The sleeve won't do it for us Good luck to you and keep us posted on your progress!

I cut coffee for a month after surgery. Now I have 2 cups a day. My "go to" order at Dutch Bros ( I hate Starbucks) is a medium iced sugar free almond milk caramelizer

I waited until I'd lost 75% of my excess weight to implement that stuff in preparation for maintenence. My focus was protein and veggies the first 8 months. If I needed pizza, I would just eat the toppings. That seemed to satisfy the craving for it I would say you're safe with potatos and pizza toppings now. Bread and tortillas seem to sit badly with some people as far out as a year, but you'll have to see how it feels.

@@KChelper Okay there, internet tough guy/gal. You're pleasant. I'll bet you're fun at parties.

The only thing I would be concerned about is fatigue. You're going to still be recuperating from surgery and eating very little at that point, so you're going to be tired and low energy. Will you be able to enjoy yourself? As far as diet goes, it's going to be fairly limited. So it may be a challenge finding things to eat that early out. It can be done, but may be a challenge.

@@terrydumont46 That's....terrifying.

Oh, and as far as the poster who linked you to the very awesome, very correct and very informative thread about stalls, I'm sorry you thought the response was "canned". But you also have to understand, this question comes up about 5,623,125 times a month. If you're on here long enough, you'll see what I mean....lol. And who told you the weight was going to just "fall off" the first couple of months?

You want a conversation? Okay, here it is. What you are going through is completely normal. 99% of us went through it. It's called the "Dreaded 3 Week Stall". No, you're not failing. No, you're not doomed. No, you're not doing anything wrong. It's physiological. In laymen's terms, your body just takes a break after the rapid weight loss to adjust. Expect to completely stop losing here soon. It may last a week, or it may last several. Hard to say. Not much you can do about this particular stall except ride it out. Once it's over, expect to start losing at a more "normal" pace of 2-4 pounds a week. And yes, you will probably stall again. And again. And go up a pound or even 2. Then lose it again. Then go back up 1. Then lose 3. It's all just part of the normal fluctuations our bodies do. You'll get used to it over time. Now, here comes the science: 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.

EXCELLENT post! Spot on!

@@readyforthislifechange Fair enough. I do understand where you're coming from. But like Ann said, speaking out because maybe, just maybe, ice cream in your protien shake doesn't seem like the best idea? When people say "I've got my own journey, you've got yours" it always seems to say to me " I don't care what the rules are. I'm going to still do what I want". The general rules of WLS may vary a bit from surgeon to surgeon, but overall they are the same. And nowhere did I see putting any kind of ice cream in your Protein shake at 3 weeks out was one of them. *Shrugs* I wish you nothing but success. Honestly.

@@leag78 Yes, you will see onederland. Just be patient. Are you tracking your calories, Protein and carbs? Staying clear of sugar, processed food, and white carbs? Drinking all your Fluid? Moving around enough to get your heart rate up 5 days a week? If you answered "no" to any of those questions, that may be your answer to why you're stalling so much.

@@KChelper You know how I finally got to goal? By drinking my protien shakes for 6 solid weeks after surgery because I was having problems with GERD. You don't think I was sick of the fucking protien shakes? But I still drank them because that's what I had to do. With NO ice cream! You know how many times I've had ice cream since my surgery a year ago? One. Because I knew eating protien and veggies is more important to my health and weight loss than ice cream. Because that's what I had to do. You know how many times I went to the gym even though I didn't want to? Hundreds. Because that's what I had to do. Sometimes to get results in life we do what we have to do and delay gratification to get there. Putting ice cream in your protien shake because you can't stand the taste of it any more doesn't sound like someone who is willing to delay instant gratification and sacrifice some things to make the surgery successful. You have to sacrifice and deprive yourself of things you really want through this whole journey and beyond to get the results you want. When I see someone who isn't willing to do that, I see someone who will struggle. Drink the damn Protein shakes and do what you need to do to be successful. I'm not going to condone putting ICE CREAM in your protien shakes, no matter how many times you call me rude. It's ridiculous, and the NUT who said it was okay is, quite frankly, an idiot.

I hate eating my vegetables. I think I'm going to start putting a scoop of ice cream on them to make them taste better. Thanks for the tip!

I see too many people who want to rush into this surgery without being prepared thinking that the weight will magically disappear and they will live happily ever after. Those are the people who get disenchanted with the surgery and either don't get to goal or do and start gaining the weight back because they didn't realize how much work actually goes into making it sucessful. I say the more prepared you are, the better. Why not take the 6 month supervised diet to actually learn about proper nutrition and exercise and lose some weight before your surgery in the process? I'm glad I had the time to research and prepare to help me become as successful as I've been. In hindsight, you will be too.

I've seen that article before, and it's pretty spot on. The drinking rule, though, is more towards bypass patients. Sleeve patients should also follow it, but I feel they can be a little more lax with it. By lax I don't mean guzzling Water while you're eating, but small sips while you're eating isn't going to kill you. Also, the 15 or 30 minute before I feel is debatable. But not the waiting after. Just my humble opinion My very favorite part of the article, because it is SO TRUE: Here’s your wake up call. THE WEIGHT LOSS PARTY ENDS. During those first seven months of massive weight loss you are not driving the bus. You will lose the same amount of weight no matter what you do. There are some who don’t catch on to this and happily think that they have somehow cheated the system and are still losing weight while eating french fries. This does not end well in the long run. It is common for post ops to not lose all the way to goal weight or over the years regain a substantial portion or even all of their weight back if they have not embraced making completely different foods choices. Even those paying attention can get hit with a gain, just like people who have not had weight loss surgery can gain weight. As with most successes, you create a long term plan and follow it. Weight loss surgery is not effortless nor does it last forever without serious commitment to the new way of life you create.

My husband and I ride atv's and utv's as part of a club. We get to go exploring all over our beautiful state of Idaho! We have a blast!

Wow! Look at that tiny waist!

I was so early out last year during the holidays, they were a breeze for me. Last Halloween was the first one where I didn't eat ONE piece of candy. I was pretty proud of myself. This year I'm afraid the Holidays will be a little more difficult for me now that I can eat whatever I want with no issues and will be on maintenence. But we will get through them with NO GAINS gosh darn it!

Awesome @@*Lexie*!! Amazing accomplishment! Congrats!

The thing that people early out from WLS seem to forget or not even realize (and I consider myself still early out) is that restriction isn't forever. There's going to come a time where you will be able to eat a normal sized portion of food, albeit smaller than the humongous portions most Americans eat. Either way, more than we can now. So what you're choosing to put in your mouth will be that much more important when the time comes to maintain the weight you've lost. So I guess my point is lean protien and veggies should still make up most of the bulk of our meals in order to maintain. You start making carbs and sugar the priority--which I've seen happen when people start getting lax with them because they are addicting--THAT'S when weight gain happens. Don't believe me? Ask my husband who had an RNY 9 years ago and got lax with drinking empty calories, sugar and carbs and started packing on the pounds. It wasn't until he went back to the basics of very limited carbs and protien first and then veggies did he get it back under control. Does he indulge occasionally? Sure, but VERY occasionally. Otherwise, he will be right back to square one. You all are fooling yourselves if you think you can moderate those things and live happily ever after. Sorry, but I speak the truth. We have the disease of obesity, and the only ongoing treatment is moderation and even avoidance of certain foods for the rest of our lives, or weight will be regained.

Uh, you just got a cancer diagnosis. You get a pass from me. But really, use this as an opportunity to get healthy and eat healthy. Putting real, nutritious food in your body instead of sugar and processed foods will help you get through the chemo a little easier. Being at a fighting weight will help you heal and fight, also. Good luck to you! We are all here for you if you need to rant or just talk about things. I will be thinking about you!