Proud2BMe

Check your carbs. While you are in the weight loss phase there is really no reason to eat carbs at all as they can stall your progress. As others have pointed out, get your sleeve checked to see if you may need a revision. If not enough stomach was removed then you will lose less than other people as you won't have the same restriction level. Finally, make sure you are eating enough calories. If you eat too few calories your body will go into starvation mode and will cling desperately to every calorie you have stored.

Not good. I don't eat bread a all. Too many carbs and hot dogs are highly processed and contain a great deal of fat. He is well on his way to failure. It seems as if he was not mentally prepared for this journey or that he somehow thinks the surgery is a magical cure and that it will do all the work for him. Talk to him and see if you can get him back on track. He needs to cut out the carbs and focus on Protein, preferably lean meat like chicken and fish. Non-starchy vegetables and no junk carbs like bread, potatoes, rice, Pasta, etc.

I needed to lose 200 lbs. So far I've lost 168 lbs and it's not even been a full year yet since my surgiversary. The weight loss percentages that you read are just averages. Some people will lose less, some more. It all depends on how dedicated you are to following the program and losing the weight. If you expect the surgery to do everything for you then no matter which one you chose you likely will not reach your goals.

The sleeve is just a tool. It's not a magic cure. You must get your eating addiction under control or else you will not be successful. All the sleeve does is restrict how much food you can eat at one sitting. There are ways to get passed this restriction, such as eating "slider foods", foods which pass right through your stomach and don't cause restriction as well as eating multiple times a day. So make sure you are committed to this before proceeding. Good luck to you. I personally would never do the lap band because there are too many risks of complications and the results are not that good for really heavy people. Now, many doctors won't do the sleeve on people who are excess of 400 lbs. So be aware that your doctor may recommend gastric bypass instead, or may make you lose weight until you are under 400 before approving you for the sleeve.

Yeah, if you got it down you are fine.

Lately I've been craving, and eating usually before bed, peperoncino peppers, banana peppers and pickled okra. Weird, right?

Hmm....never thought about the sodium.

Congrats! I have to lose 4 more lbs before I hit one-derland. So exciting!

If they have a salad eat that. Or if they have a vending machine get some nuts. If they have the packages that are 290 calories then get that one and just eat one, slowly. Don't get carried away with nuts because the have a lot of calories.

I wouldn't because they have too many carbs. Crackers are slider foods and the "meat" is highly processed. But if you do decide to eat them don't make a habit out of it.

I don't identify as a gay man and have never been with a man but thanks for assuming. I mean, I would be with a guy if he had money but just not something I would pursue for pleasure. At this point in my life I would take a sugar momma or daddy, I really don't care.

Regarding the original question of this thread.... It all depends on how much fat you have in the pubic fat pad. If you have a lot of fat stored there then losing weight will wow you. If you were fat your entire life you may not know just how big you truly were. However, if you don't have a large fat pad then you aren't going to notice much difference. I maybe gained maybe an inch or so. However, what really shocked me was my nuts. My nuts seem bigger and hang lower for some reason now. I have no idea why.

I'm sorry but that's total B.S. A woman may give good advice but there's also many women who give horrible advice and who have ulterior agendas. As an adult man we are supposed to be mature enough and wise enough to make our own decisions.

I'm not going to get into the middle of this fight but I will post to agree with you that there is a huge problem with women posting on the men's forum when men rarely post on the women's forum. I wonder why that is? The owners really need to fix this so that women are blocked form viewing and replying to the men's forum and vice-versa.

If after making sure that you aren't getting too few calories or too many calories, especially cabs, then you might try going on the pre-op diet or do a 5 day pouch test. I know I was stuck for over a month with no weight loss and I realized it was due to nuts so I cut them out as I can't control myself with them and began losing again.

I can tell you that the surgery is a breeze. I too was so scared. I heard so many horror stories about the gas pains and was paranoid about blood clots and not waking up from the anesthesia. I thought the pain was going to be horrible. I was delightfully shocked to learn that the pain was on the level of being punched in the stomach, meaning quite tolerable. No gas pains at all. The only part that actually hurt was when they removed the drain. So you have nothing to fear. Also, I have no memory of even losing consciousness. I simply laid down on the operating table and the next thing I know I wake up in a dark room. I actually thought that I hadn't had the surgery yet and was surprised to learn that it was all over with. Total breeze.

Normally people feel bad right after surgery, as if they made a mistake. I was one of the few that didn't which I believe is because I was self pay and had to work hard to get the surgery. The result was that I was mentally prepared for everything, knew what I was doing and had reached the point where I wasn't going let anything stand in my way. I think you will do fine. The surgery will change your life.

I'm almost a year out. The hair shedding is unavoidable but it's not severe. It's not that bad and it will grow back when your weight stabilizes.

Be very careful with Peanut Butter and peanuts or nuts in general. I know from personal experience that they will sabotage your weight loss if you consume too much. I didn't lose weight for over a month because I was eating a few teaspoons of peanut butter in a bowl with a spoon every night and/or peanuts during the day.

Buddha was skinny. You are probably referring to "Laughing Buddha", whose real name is Hotei. He's the jolly fat guy whom people rub his belly for luck.

I can assure you the surgery is a breeze. It's no big deal. Now, the plastics is what scares me. Plastics can set you back months. The sleeve is just a couple of days of not being able to do much. The only pain I felt was similar to being punched in the stomach, meaning very tolerable. Pulling out the drain was the most painful part of my experience. And for those scared about anesthesia, I had no idea they even started it. I remember lying on the table and then then next memory was waking up in a dark room. I still thought I had yet to have my surgery. So it really is no big deal.

That's weird. Every doctor I know of does go over the new eating habits. Be careful of carbs. They will sabotage your weight loss. This is especially true since many carbs are sliders and you can eat a ton of them. I know this from personal experience. Imagine my shock when I ate almost the entire bag of large popcorn at the movies without even the slightest feel of a restriction.

I wasn't aware that a revision would help with that.

It's normal. You should be over carb withdrawals by day 3 or 4.

Most places in Mexico require payment in full before surgery. It's not a problem. Just save up. It took me less than a year to save up for mine. If you want to go that route then the best bet is to do self pay in the States. You can find doctors who will bill you out like that but you will pay far more than had you gone to Mexico. Congrats on quitting smoking. However, don't let that be an excuse for a huge weight gain.