anaxila

I have had that problem with other activity trackers and pedometers, but never the Fitbit. That's one of the reasons why I settled on it. The first one I tried actually added about 10,000 steps in 30 minutes, based on the vibration of my motorcycle! I am left-handed, so my non-dominant hand (the one they suggest you use), is also my throttle hand and the tracker couldn't tell the difference between arm-swinging/walking and throttling the motorcycle. Needless to say, that one went back to the store in a hurry!

@, I'm sorry you're in so much pain. Mine was pretty bad too. I'm always amazed by people here who claim they had no pain, took no painkillers, etc. That was not my experience at all. I took my liquid oxy pretty continuously for the first week, and only started cutting back on it when I started to get nervous about how much I was taking. (Drugs kind of scare me.) The pain didn't start to fade until week 2. I wish I'd had a recliner or something else to lie on, because getting in and out of bed was tough. As was drinking while in bed, as you've also noted. I also had some challenges with my incisions - one in particular opened up and did NOT want to heal. There was nothing to be done for it but time, and it was no fun at all. I prefer to sleep on my side or stomach, so that was also hard. It was at least a month before I could shift effortlessly in bed without having to be mindful of incisions, pain spots, etc. Having said all that... I still feel like I had a pretty easy time overall, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I never had any complications that required treatment, never vomited, never dumped, etc. Once the pain starts to fade and the fat starts to melt away, you'll never look back again. You can do this!

@@starbuckscoffeegal, I'm so sorry that things are so rough for you. I've been there, and it's no fun at all. At my 4 week appointment, the nurse practitioner asked me "so how have your emotions been?" I am SO glad she asked, because they'd been all over the place but I wasn't planning to talk about it until she brought it up. I'd been massively up and down and weepy and elated, but mostly down and weepy. She told me that one of the things that fat cells store is estrogen, which is released into your system in great quantities when you lose weight quickly after surgery. This is the explanation for both my menstrual cycle craziness (one period lasted FOUR WEEKS), as well as my emotional roller coaster. It didn't make the feelings go away, but it certainly made me feel less crazy about it. Here's hoping the coming days are better than the last.

@@FinallyFit50s, When I first tried to switch to myfitnesspal, I went running in the other direction all "nope nope nope not for me". But I finally got lonely all by myself over on Lose It and tried again, and the second time it took. I think it was just different, because once I decided to switch I found myself completely loving it. Part of the reason why I love it is because it integrates so seamlessly with my Fitbit activity tracker and Aria scale, Water tracking app (Waterlogged), and couch to 5k training app (C25K Free). It connects everything to everything and never duplicates info. You can adjust your target calories - and target nutrients, target activity level, etc. - to whatever you want it to be. The only thing it WON'T do is automatically generate a post to your timeline (e.g., "anaxila completed her food and exercise diary for 3/29/2015", followed by a link to view my diary) if you take in fewer than 1000 calories. Everyone I'm friends with can still view my diary (something you can turn on or off), but it doesn't prompt them every day that I'm done and they can go look. It's an annoyance, and a relatively recent one that lots of bariatric users have been giving strong feedback about. I know some users make dummy calorie entries on their diaries (for example, adding "254 calories added to publish my log" under snacks), which is an option if the automatic feed entries are important to you. In my experience, this is the only drawback to the app and website.

I'm with @innwtitdtity. There may be a physical component to the hunger, but the way to master it is all in your head. It's important to fight this battle at this phase and win it, because it sets the stage for your next battle and the one after that. The next few weeks will really test your resolve at times, but you can do this! That said, I think it's okay to push the boundaries, but not go all the way into the next phase. One thing that helped me a lot was to strain the food out of some good Soups and just drink the highly flavored broth. For example, Progresso chicken & Herb Dumpling Soup - with the chicken and dumplings strained out - was just about the best thing ever and kept me from losing my mind while waiting for the next phase.

I used "loseit!" before "myfitnesspal" and really didn't want to switch at first. But everyone else was over on myfitnesspal and I wanted the community, so I made the switch. SO happy I did! The friends I've hooked up with there (mostly all from here!) are amazing and the support they give me on a daily and hourly basis is fantastic. I'm also amazed at how extensive their food library is. I have scanned the barcodes of some very obscure foods, and been shocked to find they are already in the database. I also love that I can enter any recipe at all, by hand or by URL, and it will give me detailed nutrition information based on the precise ingredients and quantities. There have been times when I thought an online recipe looked pretty good, but once I ran it through mfp I found either the fat, carbs, or sugar were out of line. That alone makes the app worth its weight in gold.

I second the posters above. Deeply unpleasant, but completely normal.

I had the same urge, but I took the full time off and devoted that energy to building a gym routine that would survive my return to work. I was very scared that the habit would fall away as soon as I had to start working all day every day (afraid I would be "too tired"). So I stayed away from work and focused on building my stamina. It worked perfectly to plan for me. I say if you have the time off / can afford it, TAKE IT.

I would ask your surgical team. Some require you to avoid the gym for at least several weeks. Mine didn't, so I started with the treadmill, recumbent bike, and arc trainer at 7 days post-surgery. I did 30 minutes the first day, and 60 minutes thereafter with no issues. It's critically important to avoid any lifting/pulling/pushing that exceeds your weight limit, though. As my nurse said - if you're using your core at all, STOP. So no rowing machine, no yoga, no pilates, no weights, no resistance training at all. I started back in with light (5# - 8#) weights at 4 weeks. Once I was cleared of everything at 6 weeks, I went back to weights, rowing machine, etc.

My nurse practitioner told me I could have a cup of coffee per day once I could routinely get in 100 oz of water per day. That was all the motivation I needed.

I have a Fitbit Aria scale too and I love it! No issues at all, perfectly matches the doctor, and very reliable.

Add me too please! abarr.wi@gmail.com

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My fitness pal!

This is completely a scale-related victory, but I thought y'all would get a kick out of it anyway. I just noticed that as-of Tuesday, my actual weight is lower than the completely fictional weight I've had on my drivers license for the past 10 years. LOL.

First, definitely tell the truth at your psych eval. The things you described should not be barriers at all. The main point of the eval is to determine if you've really thought it through, understand what is expected of you for the long term, and have realistic expectations. Nothing to Rory about. I did take FMLA leave for most of my time off. I work for a large company so they have good processes and routines and not a lot of guesswork on my part. Sorry if that's not the case got you.

Not sure if you're still looking for an answer on this, but just in case or if others have the same question... Iron supplements are weird. There are lots of different ways that iron can be made into supplements, and they each have varying amounts of "elemental iron". I learned this earn my team told me to start taking x quantity on iron, and like you that would have had me raking massive doses. So seek clarification from your team and read the package of the supplement you buy and make sure they match up. Here's some info from NIH if you're curious: http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-HealthProfessional/ "Frequently used forms of iron in supplements include ferrous and ferric iron salts, such as ferrous sulfate, ferrous gluconate, ferric citrate, and ferric sulfate... The different forms of iron in supplements contain varying amounts of elemental iron. For example, ferrous fumarate is 33% elemental iron by weight, whereas ferrous sulfate is 20% and ferrous gluconate is 12% elemental iron [18]. Fortunately, elemental iron is listed in the Supplement Facts panel, so consumers do not need to calculate the amount of iron supplied by various forms of iron supplements."

I am 47 pounds down, as of this morning. I don't feel like I've been a rapid loser compared to others here; a bit on the slow side, actually. But most of my clothes, pants in particular, are becoming alarmingly saggy. If it wasn't for the hard work of some dedicated belts, I'd be routinely flashing the general public. No one wants that. All of which is leading up to the news that today, I am wearing a pair of jeans I haven't worn since... I don't even know when. Many, many years. They fit well, and are even a tiny bit loose. Amazing. I don't feel like I'm a "new person" yet, but I look at photos of my face on surgery day compared to 6-weeks post-surgery, and I am shocked and thrilled to find angles where before there was only roundness.

Here's a big one for me. I'm on the plane, about to take off for my first post-surgery international flight... and I fit! Not only do I NOT need a seat belt extension, I actually have 6" of seat belt to spare! I just checked the tray table, and it folded all the way down, also with room to spare. It didn't just fold partway down and then run into my belly long before it was flat. This is a banner day!!

I was at the gym 5 days the week after surgery. It was very light cardio, but it was a full 60 minutes and felt great. Good luck!

In the next 6 weeks, I'll be taking two trips to unfamiliar locations. I'm going to Greece for a week with work, then going to Peru for 2.5 weeks on vacation. I am super excited about both of these trips, but so nervous about my new pouch. I'm only 2 months post-surgery and don't yet have a ton of experience on what works and what doesn't. I could just throw a couple dozen Protein bars in my bag and call it a day, but food is such an important part of experiencing a culture and I hate to miss everything. This is a hard one for me.

I had surgery on 1/6 and my cycle has been all over the place. In fact, I can hardly call it a cycle at this point because I have been bleeding for a full month. I am due for a new period, but the last one hasn't stopped yet and all that happened is it got heavier. Per the nurses in the program, this is not unusual. It's a combination of the surgical trauma and the tight relationship between estrogen and fat. Apparently losing a lot of the one makes the other go crazy. Either way, I'm ready for this phase to end. Today they took some blood to check my iron levels in particular, since I'm losing so much blood. Lots of fun here. But if this is the worst that happens, I'll still count myself lucky.

I don't believe for one second that I could have done this without surgery. I need the triple whammy of restriction, malabsorption, and hormonal changes. Without surgery I could never be satisfied with 1/4 cup of food. And although I've never had a dumping episode or vomited, the threat of both is enough to guarantee my obedience. I overdid it at the gym a couple of times right after my surgery. It's hard sometimes to know your limits, but you'll eventually learn them one way or another.

@@New2loseOR, we are in similar places. I am a few pounds larger: 305 at start of preop diet on 12/23, 292 for surgery on 1/6, 253 this morning. But my surgery was just a day after yours, I have also been working out 6 days a week since just a week after surgery, and I never have trouble getting all of my Protein and all of my Water. I hit a bad stall in the middle, but the scale is moving again and I am fairly happy with the 52 pounds I've lost. Of course I'd love for it to be more, but it's still better than I ever dreamed of doing even a year ago and I keep reminding myself to be patient.

I'm also tracking full carbs instead of net carbs for basically the same reasons. That said, the carb balance tortillas are the best balance (see what I did there?) between protein, fat, and carb that I've found while still being tasty. They go down a little tough sometimes and they're still more carbs than strictly necessary (as my surgeon told me: "no one ever died from lack of carbs"), but every once in a while they really hit the spot.