Stevehud

yeah isnt it a shock, i use a chewable Iron vegan ( not im not vegan but this doesnt hurt.) http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/p/solaray-vegan-iron-chewable-60-chewable-tablets/so-5024#.Vakuz-JVi1M therer is also several decent sugar fre Vitamins like these http://www.gummyvites.com/en/vitafusion/Products/vitafusion-MultiVites-Plus-Digestive-Support so overall not bad. its where the calories come from that you have to watch for.

ill ay this, many people look at themselves as victims. they aren't fat they are big, or plump or whatever, or its my metabolism, its my ( insert ailment , syndrome, etc) When you dont take responsibility for who you are and what you do, it becomes very easy to simply blame everything as too hard, too this or too that. Now the only saving grace here is when you do own up and make the choice within yourself to grab the reins and pull yourself out of this negative victim hole, you look back and want to slap yourself for being so blinded the whole time. Unfortunately i see a lot of posts by people where you can tell they will never see the truth in front of them, and they are already on that slope to failure. So many successful people on here that truly inspire, like Alex, lipstick lady, cowgirl, babbs,etc ( no offense to those i didn't list.) these people have such confidence about their future because they have taken ahold of their issues with both hands and willed themselves to be successful.

honestly i was approved on a friday and on tuesday i was in surgery, lol now i cannot say that will happen for anyone else.

I have a memory foam mattress and i will say the first night i slept in my recliner. It was just easier. but after that , not a problem, i did use a body pillow to keep from rolling over on my incisions. but that is it, now im thankful for the memory foam mattress now that ive lost so much you sort of find new sleeping positions because you will have these bones where you never did before lol

business runs the world. What you think this website and all the server space and bandwidth is just paid for out of Alex's good will? They take on advertising as a way of life, if they allow free advertising then why would anyone else pay? This isnt facebook and Alex isnt a billionaire.

Awesome! keep it up, youre rocking this!

Weymouth massachusetts-10 miles south of boston.

for me, its a texture thing, they have that live "pop" that i just cant do , it is a big reason why i dont eat fruit skins at al, and always liked bananas, which is not the greatest fruit for you. but any fleshy fruits i can deal with. melon, sure, and pears and apple minus the skins, yep. but nothing else. lol but i limit fruits to an extremely low level, i like mango and some berries in a smoothie Protein shake, but i only do that once a week and as a workout adjunct. other than that i dont encourage even natural sugars in my diet if i can help it, of course i do get them from veg but not a way around that.

I'd like to say this in regards to Rogers post. The studies that call 50% of excess body weight loss as a success, are a failure to me. If I go through this only to lose 50% of my excess weight , then it would not be worth it at all. While I think 100% of excess weight loss maintained is certainly attainable, but not exactly realistic. However somewhere in the range of 85% of excess weight lost, would be the minimum I would feel comfortable with without truly regretting the whole process and viewing it as a failure. Maybe I am alone in my thinking, but I think I am not.

While this happens to me all the time, and if you notice there are so many people who go from fat or big or whatever euphemism we use, to becoming personal trainers etc. ( to me it's just wrong, but that i my sole opinion) but i do catch myself saying things in my head and not out loud etc, when i see a really big young person and thinking, "please , please. dont go through life the way I did, Please start fixing things NOW before you get to be in your mid-forties and have all these health issues and miss out on so much of life." It is a hard thing to get over, and I'll never tell anyone they have to lose, or should try this or that, unless they know me and ask specifically about the surgery, and then ill keep it confined to the surgery. But this is the reason I won't even watch my 600-pound life, I wind up yelling at the TV when I see them cheat or when families don't help the people. It's just a natural reaction to want to reach out and teach someone about the mistakes that I have made. But I know it would hurt too much as it would've hurt me when I was fat as well.

lol

if i made a post that said slap me, the line would be out the door. lol Seriously though i took a piece of this light whole 8 thousand grain bread and put some all natural Peanut Butter on it, you know the kind made out of just peanuts that you have to stir first etc. took one bite, and the pain from that bread expanding and the peanut butter sticking..taught me a lesson i wont soon forget. Sometimes we have to experience that pain, to really reinforce our need to succeed. I have to agree here, moderation is not the key, carbs in moderation wi make you moderatly fat. Sugar in moderation will make you moderately fat. you see how it works. Im not saying you cant have something bad-ish now and then , but dont eat a big mac ( as if i could fit one) and then complain, oh i cheated tee hee hee, no if you cheat once a week, then twice a week is easier, and pretty soon you fail. Everything in moderation why we get fat. Think about it, you eat everything. But i too was in denial for so long I can understand why people stay that way.

we had our surgery the same day sir, and trust me, we are all in the same boat. everyone raves about how good i look etc, and most days i think i either look sickly or i dont recognize who I am, or i think i look fat. People used to use that a skinny guy on the inside waiting to get out line, but im not sure if i wasn't a fat guy on the inside too. lol I dont think the end results will ever be aesthetically where we hope they will be, even with plastics. For me, age just prohibits it. I think it is going to come down to accepting that while i wont be fat, I also wont look amazing in and of itself, unless you compare the before and afters. SO someone who doesn't know I was fat, wont think i look amazing. I truly understand , as do we all here it seems. The silver lining is at least ill be here to have these problems. Without this surgery and weight loss, I dont think id be here for that much longer.

take up photography, go hiking to find those great pic's,

Im going to go with preparation. To often I am seeing so many people not getting the pre surgical preparation work done. They do not know what they are in for. It seems that either there are many unscrupulous practices out there, or its just that people are not reading up on the surgery and what to expect. So many of these surgeons do so many surgeries they don't have the time to educate the potential patients as to what is really involved. We see lots of people taking advice from non-qualified people. Or they ask very simple questions about topics that should be part of the basic prep work done by a surgeons practice prior to and immediately following surgery. As a result people are not mentally prepared to make this journey count and to use this tool to make those lifestyle changes so that when the "honeymoon" period is over they can still go forth with their new knowledge and their new attitude and lifestyle, and make the most of it. Now i wholeheartedly agree also with the support reason. I find more and more people here and in other forums etc, that hide their WLS from everyone, because they either fear failure, or they fear some type of stigma. WHen you hide the WLS, you cannot expect support when people don't even know you need support. I am a big proponent of the open and often, method. I have a blog, and I share my WLS story with everyone and anyone. I am proud to be on this journey and proud enough to make myself succeed. The daily or the like, affirmations i get from friends , family and coworkers are truly a way to recharge, when i'm feeling down or feeling that this is too tough. I think people focus on part of the journey , like exercise, and they dont try to educate themselves in things like nutrition and how to cook in smaller portions or t with healthier ingredients. I also see people who think that they just have to summer for a few months then when they hit their goal, and go into maintenance mode, they can just go back to eating whatever they want. Attitude is so important here. Honestly, If i didn't have a breakthrough in my meeting with a counselor, I might not have made it this far either. Once I did have the counseling, they made sure I understood , why I had failed before, and why i got fat. Yes i use the term fat, I wont hide from who I was, or what I was. I feel it is important not to live in a delusion about where we are/were and where we want to be.

pretty much the same, 2 weeks of liquids, 2 weeks of purees, 2 months of soft foords, then at 3 month whatever i can tolerate etc.

Go ahead try a few nice swallows of sparkling anything. then sit back and enjoy the pain and suffering. ( please dont do this) If you need to go out and get the sodastream soda mixes and just skip the machine that carbonates the soda and just mix up some non carbonated diet cola or diet root beer etc. trust me it helps. ALthough i pretty much live off of mio type products like the kool aid liquids the most.

heres the simple answer, you cant have anything your surgeon didnt tell you was ok. everything else do not listen to. no one here is your surgeon and cannot give that advice. Stick to the plan. you can and will make it happen.!

Okay straight up . its not just the stretching. the real reason is, related to dumping. Putting Fluid in your gut with food will push that food through your sleeve too fas t, which results in more undigested food reaching your lower digestive tract. When this happens your colon and affiliates, decide it's not good and pushes it out. And you wind up with the extreme need to spray paint the toilet bowl. If you get my drift. I've tried just taking little sips even, and its not a good thing. Now granted it has become much better over time, and as your sleeve stretches more, you will technically be able to have a few sips. I was always a huge drinker while eating, not alcohol, but just drinking. That s lost now. It takes time to get past it. Breakfast is the worst. When i say you will get past it, I'm not joking, it's the truth.

you have to envision your night shift like a day shift, dont eat 4 hours before bed. so if you go home and go to sleep, you have to be sure your not eating Breakfast then going to bed. Thats the hardest part of the night shift.

it sounds like you need the psychological and emotional help and that you may never have truly used this tool as it should be. Caloric intake isnt the be all end all, its all about sugars and carbs and since you admit to eating badly, how can you expect any weight loss when you eat that way? Its not a magic sleeve. Its like a training wheel you use it to learn to be different. but if you dont learn along the way you fail to change. and this is all about change. Skip the burpees and ab exercises these are not designed to take off weight. they are designed to tone muscle, which is great if there is no fat sitting on top of the muscle. Stick to pure cardio, and use some weight training for flexibility and light toning. cross fit stuff is only good for people wh are fit or close to it. it is one of the big myths about CrossFit, but any real CrossFit trainer ( i worked for reebok for years ( fattest guy in the place, oh well) but we worked on that research and development, and any CrossFit trainer who isnt trying to get money in the door, will tell you, this. Crossfit type training is for general all around fitness, not for losing weight. But then again these are just my opinions and others will jump on me for saying that. Good luck. If i were you I would look to get some emotional /psych support first. Then try a reboot. The sleeve wont lose for you, you have to use it correctly to get it to do its job. That being said, You Can Do This! And I hope you do.

okay, 11 ounces for 30 grams is not the best there is by far. Try Syntrax products. dont buy premade, they always taste worse. I suggest the syntrax sample pack at www.s103.com the fruit flavors are just awesome. use Water or if you need to use unsweetened decaf iced tea, use 1 % , skim or unsweetened almond milk with the sweets like chocolate and vanilla etc. I get 30 grams of Protein in 5 to 6 ounces of liquid. you can find my taste test videos in the video section or by clicking on my name etc. personally the fuzzy navel ( peach) lemonade and iced tea are awesome, and i pretty much live on the Cappuccino. which i mix with 1% milk and 3 or 4 ice cubes, then blend and instant iced coffee drink! Also dont drink so fast. slow and stead wins the race. You can do this!

Hello all, So yesterday morning I awoke, got on the scale and hit the 212 pound mark. which puts my weight loss at 150 pounds down. I was stunned to say the least. It really makes for a great day. The weight loss numbers are wonderful, but i also just bought some new shorts and fit into a size 36 , or a mens medium, now instead of the 56 and a 4xl last summer. Now that really makes for a great day. This morning i logged into Facebook and the folks over at Si03.com aka the makers of Syntrax Protein products, sent me a wonderful message. They are starting a new social media campaign, called Transformation Tuesdays. They asked me to be their first subject, and would like before and after pictures of me and the link to my blog to be featured on their Facebook site and twitter feed. I almost came to tears just reading their message. So tomorrow, if you would like, feel free to check out the syntrax facebook page and see me there lol. just kidding you don't have to go, But I wanted to share this bit of a success with so many here who have helped me along the way. And to show anyone who hasn't got to where they want to be yet, that we can do this.

Thank you all, Truly!, According to the Syntrax social media rep, they received over 2500 re-tweets and instagrams follows of my pics. Hopefully, they will be sending me out samples of the Syntrax naturals. as well.

The sweating thing is the biggest thing for me. I used to sweat heavily to the point all my baseball caps would have huge salt and sweat marks after 2 or 3 days of wear. Even at like 75 degree temps. Now i dont sweat at all. all the body sprays and powders i no longer have to use are a testament to this. lol But the tables in a restaurant, etc are all so true. My other one is in my small bathroom shower, i used to always complain about the shower curtain basically being on top of me, now i have all this room to spare, its quite amazing. I used to have this "big persons" special office chair that was extra wide and had a weight limit of 800 pounds, for my home use, but i gave it away and now i sit in a regular office chair with room to spare. being able to drive my wifes car without having tp push the seat all the way back. Or sit in the back seat of a two door car. I actually test drove a mini cooper, a MINI! i mean seriously , had i even tried that before it wouldve been laughable. Also the towel thing is oh so true. I havent been able to wrap a normal towel around my waist without having to walk with one hand holding the ends together. But i did it the other day for the first time it kind of made me tear up a little. The biggest thing i will miss , is all the health issues. My legs now have normal circulation and as a result the hair grew back on them. Sigh, why didnt i do this a long time ago. lol