Stevehud

heck go on ebay and have a plaque mad up declaring themthe best Bariatric staff, or some such. Quite cheap, but it makes an impact and they can show it off.

I havent seen any Phen fen , mentioned. lol Gosh i was on it for three months before it got pulled from the market i lost like 50 pounds and loved it. of course there were the nights i forgot to take my nighttime fen, and you , do not ssleep, if you didnt take that part lol. but it was a learning experience. Me and my wife were on it, and we both started the same day, and on the first day we were sooo hyper from the phentermine, that we went and walked around the biggest mall in the area, not once , not twice but 7 times, just non stop walking , fast. lol never even went into a store. Looking back i realize why that stuff worked. it was basicallt like meth to pick you up and then a sedative to bring you back to reality. lol WHEEEEEEE! lol

i tried the all sex diet, but i had to give up after 2 minutes...

sugar free jello, kept me sane. learn to love it!

if youd like me too, ill fly out and kick him in the nuts for you. I wouldnt want your foot to bet possibly bruised kicking a d*ick in the d*ick. Absolute morons. i swear. Good for you not killing him on the spot. let him say goodbye to his friends first....then kill em.

i was denied by cigna, only to be okayed after appeal, and we rushed the appeal through in less than 7 days. So it can be done, however if the employer has excepted their coverage from bariatric surgery as many employers do. there is literally nothing you can do. I eventually had to take out my own separate insurance and carry two, just to cover the after surgery items.

they are going to have to block IP addresses as this person is persistent in creating new accounts it seems.

I live in north Weymouth, and have for many years. The biggest struggles are in your first two weeks after surgery. The dreaded liquid diet. It takes a lot of willpower to get over the hump and onto something you can chew versus just drink. It's a struggle for many , including myself to hydrate enough. But its a huge necessity. I'll post this picture, of how I helped myself through it thanks to some great people here. That is a big help. The fun is in the weight loss. Other common difficulties are, chewing a lot, and eating slowly, and just in discovering how much, you can eat without discomfort. You really have to focus on eating slowly. You learn to prepare your foods in advance, the idea of grabbing something and going, is non-existent. Other issues are in finding what your stomach can tolerate after you "graduate" to more normal foods. Another big one for me, is not drinking while eating or vice versa, however you look at it. I was a big liquids fan during eating, whether it be wine or Water, or diet soda. I mis carbonation, but it just does not work for me with this sleeve. Also a big big issue is, finding a Protein drink you like and can enjoy, not just choke down when you have to. You can watch my taste test videos in the video section here to get an idea of flavors. I recommend buying trial sizes or packets etc to taste first then buying a bit more bulky product . Personally i swear by Syntrax products, especially Fuzzy Navel, Cappuccino, lemonade, iced tea, vanilla, and cherry. I mix the vanilla and cappuccino with 1% milk and the other with water or unsweetened iced tea. Add some ice to your blender with the cappuccino mix, and you have a great coolata, which is a godsend for me seeing ive always been a huge ( pun intended) dunkin donuts fan, unfortunately there is nothing you can do about donuts, which were my biggest vice. So read a lot, ask a lot, and dont hesiatate to ask me anything.

Im a weymouth guy. Though im six months post op ( almost) id be glad to help you in anyway i can. My first bit of advice is to read, read , read, all the posts you can, go back as far as you can bother to do it. Then ask lots of questions. You can do this if you want to. I am an ex smoker and i know the feeling. Good luck, and remember , you can do this.

To each their own, in this. I can say this ive had crabs from edamame crackers made with some rice flour, a few with hummus is fine, or i found some great chickpea chips with some homemade salsa rocks, but again if i eat to many, i stall , carbs are the enemy unfortunately. I had a bite of a piece of toast last weekend, and realized afterward that it was simply a waste. You have to find that healthy mid-line for yourself, how many carbs you need vs how many you take in. On an average day i manage to keep my carbs under 10 grams. on a bad day i can go as high as 30. But i try to get my carbs from veggies if possible. Even if its a starchy veg, i limit how much, So i might have two tablespoons of mashed potato say, or a spoonful of sweet potatoes. but only maybe once a week. food is what we Live ON, Not what we Live FOR!

WHy did you change your name? i was a bit stunned there, lol

Simply put and not to be wishy washy, but i think it really varies. But i think a combination of exercise and diet make this work. I know if i stop working out for a week, my weight loss slows and I really have to focus on my eating. But doing my cardio etc, helps me, and makes my eating easier. so its a mix of both, as to percentage. Couldnt tell you.

Its in my ticker, but 362 pounds was my starting weight. that does include my month of preop weight loss.

like babbs i sleep with a pillow between my legs, and try to do more side than belly now, you will be amazed what happens when you lose the weight, you find these things sticking out of you, i think they call them...bones? lol seriously its weird getting accustomed to new positions because you are a lot more comfortable in different positions.

wow, tough call on that. I'm at almost 6 months out from my sleeve, and im down to 225. went from a 5x shirt and 4x bottoms to a xl shirt and l bottoms. that's from a 60 reg jacket to a 44 reg, and 54 inch waist pants ( with elastic) to a 40-inch waist without elastic. if you can do even half that, you may need a good seamstress to privately alter your dress. Either way, you're going to look great and beautiful not matter what weight, and you'll have a wonderful day together and many years together I'm sure. Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials and on your taking control of your health.

yeah any place ive been the food on the kids menu is way too bad for me to touch, grilled cheese sandwiches and hot dogs mostly. Not worth my time.

Try the Syntrax products personally i love the nectars, but even the sweets ( vanilla, choclate etc) are good as well. best bets are the fuzzy navel ( peach flavored) and for me Cappuccino, ( which i make with milk) and the lemonade and iced tea flavors. You can see my video taste tests of these products here in the videos section. As well as other products ive done taste tests for . Keep up the good work. It all takes time.

work hard at slowing down your eating, it helps , a lot. I still have ,ajor liquids issues and I am working hard at staying hydrated. Some days , yes i dont feel like eating at all. and i had a good month or so where i really ate less than i should, and stalled hard because of it. Use Protein shakes as an adjunct to your diet. They meet both protein requirements and liquids too. so you get a two fer on those. Keep with it, you can do this and you will!

Vitamins are an adjunct and tyou can look at my tickers to see im a little over 5 1/2 months out and down 137 pounds. It took a good month on solid food before i really felt comfortable with my eating. 3 bites is wayyy too little. my day goes like this and has for quite a while, Breakfast 1 egg scrambled with 3 pieces of turkey bacon or two turkey sausages ( i recommend the Johnsonville pre-cooked turkey sausage links, they are awesome and you cant tell they are turkey..really!. ) then about 3 hours later i have a greek yogurt, the dannon low cal sugar free stuff, then 2 hous later i have my lunch either some veggies or a Protein shake with some Peanut Butter ( all natural no sugar type, or use PB2, or fruit or a mix of both) and then 2 hours later a snack usually carrots and so oil and vinegar salad dresssing as a dip kinda thing although there are some great lite salad dessings, just watch the fat and sugar content. but also can have some apple slices maybe, or the like, dinner is chicken fish, beef or pork or turkey, i love indian food type chicken, but ground beef still not having a great amount of luck with steak, or ground beef patties with cheese ( yes a cheeseburger without the bun) you can wrap in lettuce or use a very low fat low cal. no sugar lw carb bread type. I like the josephs lo carb pita and wraps, very low carbs, and i have about 5 ounces of meat and sometimes a little less than that and some veg or a small side salad, i also like having a salad if im in a hurry with some tuna, and hard boiled i egg in it, or some protein meat in it. Are my portions small, yep , smaller than i ate before, oh yeah, too small to enjoy, no. sometimes i wish I could eat more, but i cannot begin to tell you the changes my body has gone through. You ll get there just dont rush, enjoy the losing.

Absolutely Awesome!!!

I know many surgeons wil allow you to use Nicorette or the patch, just be careful Nicorette is not sugar-free. lol But seriously ask your surgeon, the nicotine isnt the bad thing in your surgical body, its the smoke, and what it does to your lungs that makes you a higher risk, also your less likely to spike nicotine levels in your blood on the patch than with a cigarette.

Everyones journey is different. Dont measure yourself versus others, what some lose isnt what you wil lose , you might lose more, or less. but you will lose. thats the key! Keep your chin up. That first stall sucks, but when it breaks..it breaks.

Yep, you are in full blown denial, sorry but thats one of the first stages, just like the stage of grief your in those grieving over food, and trust me you overate, anyone e who says they didnt overeat they just ate bad things is unable to look at themselves as the cause for their weight problems. You overate, plain and simple accept it, its not some mark against you that people can hold over your head, its just something that you put behind you and learn to be better. If you cant accept yourself as an obese person, and know that only you can make this happen, then you wont get anywhere. Trust me, in week two post surgery i said to my wife that i wish i could undo this. Now id would like t go back and slap myself. Why did i say it? because i wanted to go back to eating my old foods, I wanted to give up. But that is why this works, because you cant give up. You have to see it through. When you get where your going, its a wonderful place to be and im only most of the way there and my life is amazing compared to what it was and I thought it was good before. Lets see you said "Unfortunately, I now realize that I could have did this on my own. I'm working out everyday, which I wasn't doing before the surgery. Since they recommended I workout daily and eat a high Protein diet, I'm doing it. It's not that I "couldn't" before. So are you really saying you had no idea that diet and exercise would help you lose weight and only learned that because they told you now? Really? Here's a hint. diet and exercise help you lose the weight , but keeping it off is up to you! That's how this helps, it forces you to train yourself to eat right. Remember the start of the journey is always the hardest.

Or just nicely say, " I'm really not interested with what may happen in the future and really would appreciate not having to discuss it., thanks for thinking about me." It says Hey shut up, while letting them feel good about themselves, and avoiding any HR flareups.

All depends on the metabolic T rate. Testosterone is a key hormone in muscle building. Woman have less..Thank god lol. But here is the rub. We lose faster but we gain faster as well. Women have a much easier time keeping it off. and i say easier, not implying it is easy by any means. That needs to be said, losing isnt easy for men or women or no one would be overweight. So testosterone is a double edged sword. Also men average 8 years less life expectancy than women.