OutsideMatchInside

The only time I waited between bites was when I started soft foods. It is too easy to overeat at that point. I have never used baby utensils or plates and never plan to. I have very nice flatware and plates and I use those. It is pointless to use that stuff when you live in a real adult world and as soon as you leave your house you are going to have to use real utensils like a grown up. It gives you a false sense of security and an inaccurate view of what a proper small portion is in relation to other things. Using small items so they are just as full as large items, reinforces incorrect portion sizes. JMO

come clean to your mom now, and explain why you felt you had to lie. My mom doesn't know I had surgery and she never will. I am an adult and my medical decisions are none of her business.

I would say chicken except it has over 1/2 a day of sodium in one serving.

@@kadie777 The honeymoon phase is about yeah having more restriction but I also think most people are just more motivated and more afraid to do the wrong thing. Accidently overeating, which is easy to do early on even if you measure because the amount of something you can eat can vary a lot based on the Water content of the food which can vary based on preparation, was something I was terrified of. So I would eat sparingly and very mindful. Then once I healed at 6 months, I wasn't as cautious because pain and discomfort from being overly full is rare. I still have a lot of restriction, and 5 ounces is about my max. Maybe 6 ounces of really moist fish. I will be 1 year post op in a week. At this point I don't see how I will stop losing, and I feel I will keep losing slowly for a ver long time, just because it is basically impossible for me to eat an amount of calories near my resting metabolic rate, unless I just sit and eat all day, and I don't have time for that.

@@SPettijo I'm not done losing weight so I am flabby but my skin has fat in it still so it isn't so bad. I don't think men care as much as we think. I mean some might, but in the end that isn't someone you want to be involved with. If I am laying on my back, it isn't that noticeable. The only thing that I am not comfortable with now is being on top, even though I used to always do it when I was really heavy. The reason I won't do it now is just because the skin moving around hurts. Can't really wear a compression garment to bed to hold it all in, for cowgirl time. Maybe get some nice babydoll lingerie to wear to bed? Also, take some pictures of yourself laying on your back etc. It probably doesn't look as bad as you think it looks. As far as the hair, shave or wax it if you want to. If both of those are too hard, I recommend http://www.bettybeauty.com/readybetty.php easy to use, not irritation and basically no smell. I find shaving a lot easier since I lost weight.

@@albare1978 Stop weighing yourself. Most people don't start really losing a lot until after 6 weeks.

I took vitamins before surgery, and I basically take the same ones post op. I spend about $40 a month on vitamins but $30 of that is a specialty hair vitamin, which I took before surgery. So I take like 7 pills a day.

@@ML573663 Yep, once submitted to insurance they approved it in less than a week. If your BMI is over 40, you don't have to jump through a lot of hoops.

@@Bufflehead is the one person I can think of that started at a high BMI and lost over 200 pounds. Maybe she can talk about what happens after 12 months.

@@Stillmissing Visit the Dr

@@SiSSi829 Once you post on public forums it isn't really just about you anymore. A lot of people read these forums, pre-op and post-op for information. The responses that people give aren't just about you, they are for all the other people in the same situation that never post and just lurk. Advancing your food stages before time can jeopardize the health of the patient. People can easily end up on a feeding tube because eating before you are supposed to and stressing your new stomach and cause scar tissue and other issues. So for everyone that reads this and is thinking about doing the same thing, they need to know it is not the right move. If you don't want the opinions of strangers do what normal people do and talk to your friends. The first few weeks after surgery I wanted to eat, head hunger was getting to me. I kept remember an old friend from college that had bypass surgery and ate KFC within 2 weeks of surgery "just a taste" to see if they could, and ended up on a feeding tube with all kinds of long term issues. My health and safety is what prevented me from going off plan, that lasted long enough for me to have some results that encouraged me to stay on plan.

@@chycky Thanks! I have never seen the Jif powder before but I will look for it in the future. In the big scheme of things 1g of sugar isn't a big deal. As I am still trying to lose and coming up on one year, I have to think long term. I see so many people come back to forums at the 2 to 5 year mark talking about regain or never meeting goal, and usually is it a lot of little things that make that happen, not one big thing. So I am really trying not to let those little things sneak in or become lax in how diligent I am about what I eat just because I have lost X pounds already.

I like Peanut Butter as a snack or on my Protein brownies but it is very calories dense. I have been looking for a peanut butter powder without sugar and additives for a while but I have been unable to find one. Until yesterday! http://www.crazyrichards.com/#!product-page/gt5wt/e9a2505c-93d5-18c8-f088-a07e12a2a0c4 I picked with up at a local grocery store. It is awesome, I am eating some right now. I just added a little Water to it to make it creamy. You can add stevia drops to it to make it a little sweet or whatever your sugar substitute of choice is. It would probably be great in shakes also.

It isn't the few, it is the majority really and it has been escalating for a while. That is why WLS forums are filled with newbies and not veterans.

@@Bigdog56 Check your policy. You are going to have to prove that it bothers you, like rashes etc.

@@haleymarie Ask your Dr, but most Doctors want you to wait at least 3 months. If you have to drink something, Vodka neat or Vodka and Tonic are better choices. Beer is basically the worst thing you can drink, it is just liquid bread. And if you are going to drink, eat out etc, plan it in your calories. Like have Protein shakes all day to save the calories for celebrating.

@@TXTinana I am looking forward to the answers if they come, but I kind of already know the answer. When I did my research before I had the sleeve, I knew with my BMI it was going to take longer than a year to lose all the weight and it was going to slow down around this point. High BMI people take 18-24 months to lose all their weight and it slows a lot after the bulk comes off quickly. Knowing it, and living it are two different things and it can be frustrating. I haven't had a stall last longer than 2 to 3 weeks though.

@@CortneyReed18 I had tried everything and wasn't losing enough weight to make a difference in my health. My health seemed to be rapidly declining at a young age. I finally decided that even if I died on the table, it would be better to die fast than to die slowly, which is what I felt like was happening to me. I attended a seminar because that is the first required step at most programs. Short term surgery is a big life change, maybe the first 6 months, but long term I don't think it is. At least I don't feel like it is.

Honestly 6 weeks is the real answer. I work for myself so I worked as soon as I got home, I responded to emails. 2 weeks is the minimum. If I worked in an office or had a commute, there is no way I could have functioned and went back to work in 2 weeks. I would have fell asleep in traffic on the way home, or fell asleep on the train and woke up at the end of the line. You just don't have the long term energy reserves for a whole 8 hour day plus commute. At 2 weeks you will probably be in the 500-600 calories a day range if you are lucky. Can you work all day and perform your job functions on those calories?

@@KM16 I would suggest seeing a therapist and working out your emotional eating before even thinking about surgery. If you are still an emotional eater and you have surgery, nothing will change. Surgery won't change that for you and it will possibly just make it worse for you. You have to work out your emotional stuff before surgery for the best outcome.

@@KM16 I cut out sugar, soda, alcohol, and was fairly decent at low carbing (I had portion control issues) and I still wasn't losing weight. I did this for 3 years before surgery. That told me that surgery was my only option since I had cut out all the things people said to stop doing and I still wasn't losing. I think if you aren't a miserable fat person, you don't really change a lot. The people that hated themselves and were really miserable fat with low self esteem and low self worth. They change a lot and not always for the best. Many seem to over correct and swing the other way too hard. I'm basically the same and at one year out my life is not really that different. I enjoy food. I enjoy eating out. I eat proper portion sizes. I enjoy the quality and presentation of food, not just having massive amounts of it. I was always a picky eater and now I am even pickier. When you eat small amounts it better be delicious. If you have a good handle on yourself pre-op, you will have an easier time post-op.

@@Nathifa Bembrey Are you still taking your medicine? I still took my diabetes meds until I was told not to by my Dr.

Wow! Congrats. I wish I knew Univ of Chicago worked so fast, I read about what a slogfest Northwestern was and decided against having surgery in Chicago entirely. I might have made the train trips into the city and went there instead of having surgery in Missouri. I hope you have a great recovery.

@@Jazlynxx 8 weeks. I needed it to happen in a short time span for professional reasons.