Dub

LMOA. Am wearing jeans to work tonight. First time in 18 years........Dayum. Old dude feeling.........less old.

You'd laugh heartily at my lunch box.... I often walk into work with a grocery store plastic bag.....packets of tuna, salmon, beef Jerky, Protein bars and shakes inside. It's how I roll at work. Nothing to bring home.

Mine was a great experience. It was like talking to a friend. She was very supportive and kind. She'd had me watch several videos she made first. The content and manner of how she presented her info in these videos was highly educational and thought provoking. They really helped me formulate my gameplan well before our visit.

I am very relieved for you. You are going to be a model patient as you have been all along. You will reap every possible benefit from taking this action to improve your health. Very, very scary to consider what may have been had you not............. Proud of ya ! You also strike me as someone who's gonna push themselves really hard. Please take time to recover and heal properly first, though !!!! Very happy for you. Well done and congrats on being on the other side of things now. Each day of your life will now be more healthy than the last.

That's okay. It gave me an excuse to come back here and look at @@Dub gams again! LMAO. I wouldn't have been caught dead wearing shorts for the last several years due to the staining on my lower legs from crappy circulation. It is the sole reason I've been going to the tanning spot.....just to camouflage the stains with a tan. Now.....for the first time in many years I am wearing shorts in public. This pic as taken this past Tuesday morning as I was leaving the tanning spot. Bad looking varicose veins and scars all over both knees from football field mishaps.....I couldn't care less. Comfort is gong to be had this Spring & Summer. Shorts will be worn. Getting rid of this weight feels so damn good. There is zero downside to being less fat. So damn grateful. So far yet to go, but truly happy with the decision to have the sleeve surgery.

I like how you roll. I tried this on Monday......walked by Casual Male Big & Tall. I flipped them off and kept walking. Big old dude working there tried to run me down......huffing and puffing. I kept on walking. So long, Bigger & Taller Clothiers.....siunara bye-bye !!!!!!!! (Insert Leslie Chow from Hangover....making his pump and spray gesture here) LMAO at the new feels towards shopping. I'm gonna become a clothes ho. Or just a plain old ho.

I still have a 4-pack of Monster Low-carbs that I had prior to my sleeve surgery.......5 months ago.......scared to fool with them. I shy away from carbonated drinks. coffee does well for me.

LMAO at this. It just hit my funny bone.

"Learning the hard way"........that statement.....could easily be inscribed on my tombstone one day. "Here lies a dude who learned the Hard Way". LOL. Who to trust? Very crucial bit. Unfortunately we don't find out who we can't trust until it's too late. That's been the case with me, at least. The person that you think has your back in life.....is facing all challenges, big and small......for better or for worse......sickness and health.....then you realize your trust was misplaced. Damn. It sorta skews things and clouds your judgement on ever trusting again. I can now look back on my life and see the people that I've detached from.....friendships that I've not upheld.....old interests, etc.......each of these has some component to broken trust as the reasons for moving on. I am lucky, though.....very fortunate to have recently found that I can place my trust with someone. I can share with them. It has been the key to me finding peace with my current state of affairs and moving forward. I am a better man for this. Damn......so many similarities here. I'm the old dude in my relationship.....the old dude who is working the long hours and still has an almost insatiable appetite for bedroom cardio. Hell.....put in a 17 hour night shift last week.....called home at 10:00am and woke her up and asked her if she wanted to go out for a date-lunch....hoping to get the fires stoked for fun later that afternoon........was up way over 24hrs while trying to make the magic happen. I was told earlier today that, "We do it all the time......I mean....we just did it last week.....". I just raised my eyebrow and nodded my head.....waited a second or two and replied, "........And, my Dear.......that is precisely the problem.....I never took a vow of celibacy.....I have needs". I disengaged from further conversation for a while and let that sink in. I'm not going to be able to be a once-a-week guy. It's unreal when I consider what would-will happen if she ever meets me halfway.........

I stuck with the Protein shakes for four weeks. I was fearful of the purée phase and avoided it. unjury chicken soup Protein powder worked well....just couldn't make it really hot.

Fingers crossed. You are going to do great !!!!!

Heck yes !!! Hoping you are waking up and ready to walk on over to the Loser's Bench and have a seat.

I am a Joy Banks guy myself. They have awesome sales.Their clearence section is really great too. I've found that their suite hold up much better than anything else. They do really cool Daily Deals as well. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using the BariatricPal App I bought a couple dress shirts from the local J.Banks store yesterday. I was really impressed with the store and will be going back for certain once I'm leveled off and living at maintenance. The young lady helping me almost had me tempted to jump on a 3-suit deal yesterday.........almost. Looking forward to future fitting sessions.

When I finally hit my fighting weight and things show signs of leveling off and maintaining......I will thoroughly enjoy going somewhere like Joseph A. Banks and buying a few suits.

Well said !!!! There is a smoothie King in my gym and I've avoided it like the plague.....mainly due to ignorance over all the varieties they offer. A quick glance at the menu and I felt like it was a caloric minefield that I simply haven't been prepared to wade through. St. Patrick's day found me waiting around an airport with a few hours to kill. I hadn't eaten that day....and walked around and looked at the options available to me......bar & grill foods, chicken spots and burger joints. Nothing really appealed to me.....then there was a Smoothie King. I've been coached up by a good friend about some of their leaner, low carb options and I decided to give one of them a try. I believe it was called The Gladiator....could be wrong. It's a good thing I was coached prior as the girl running the Smoothie King professed to be clueless as to the nutritional info on anything on the menu. It was pretty decent, but my mistake was ordering a large version......sipped on that thing for two hours and tossed the rest in the trash. That was my first smoothy since sleeve surgery. I"m sure it won't be my last, but it's just something that's not really on my desired eats right now. Protein shakes suffice. Once I reach my goal fighting weight.....then it may be a convenient way to get in desired macros.....protein and some veggies....small amount of fruit.....I can see where they'd be helpful to me then.

Yes.......faced with some that felt that wls is a way of giving up and going the easy way out and that I'd not tried enough on my own.....etc, etc. I had my reasons for embracing the surgery as a tool for getting rid of.....and keeping off......the excess fat that had taken over my body and my life. Once the weight started falling off and I became way more active and happy.......they each began to be supporters. It was interesting to see them change their views. Don't let anyone.....no matter how close to you......no person sway you off your chosen course to get healthy.

Well played.

Well said. Routine fitness is best approach for me, too. Just do it without thought.

So much truth right there !!!!!

Often depends on if it's a workday or a day off. Work day will find me hitting a shake or Quest bar. Sometimes some deli meat with a slice of cheese. Days off generally finds me making country breakfast for my tribe. I'll usually do an omelette for my own eats.

You lost 200 lbs before on your own ? I would expect you to match or exceed any prior weight loss efforts with wls. Furthermore, I feel that it will provide you with the tools needed to keep it off. Excess skin amounts will be hard to predict. How bad was it when you dropped the 200? Don't worry about it. Lose the weight.....get down to where you want to be....then address the skin then. Have it removed and move on with your life. Done. Finished. Onto next fun? Finding the woman you can connect with on many levels.......hells yes. That, sir, is relevant to my goals, too. It's what makes the world go 'round. It was when I was your age.....and I suspect it will be when I'm an old guy causing the halls of the nursing home. My sleeve has been a most wonderful tool for me. I've experienced nothing but improvement in every aspect of my life since having it. There is no way for me to rank them in order of importance....as every single benefit that comes on the radar has it's own wonderful gifts, too. Some are simple capability enhancing benefits.....some are more emotional in nature. ALL ARE WELCOME CHANGES !!!! You asked about the penis aspects. I'm going to be direct here. I'm a simple guy who takes great pleasures in life's base level endeavors. Sex and making love with the woman you share your life with.....a very big priority for me. Ranks somewhere up there with having a steady pulse and breathing easy. I remember having ACL & MCL surgery....waking up in hospital bed with cast from hip to toes......and groping and being groped by one of my nurses that night.....and having sex in my hospital bed the next day. That's how I've rolled all these years. A hopeless knuckle dragger who never misses an opportunity to smack the wife on her ass or back her up into a wall and lay a big smooch on her. For the first time in my life, this capability was compromised last year. It damn near shut me down, son. I'd been getting treatment for some pulmonary issues....and then screwed up my back at an attempt to be He-Man and lift things that I had no bidness lifting. Never had back pain like this before. Shut me down. Couldn't even think about sex. Weeks....months pieced together......a drought like I've never experienced before or since. It was freaking miserable. Not the pain....sure that sucked outright.....but, the lack of ability to act on my desires....to satisfy her's....to be a damn man and act on it. It was this lack of ability that cut through the haze and helped me see clearly.....the voice in my head screaming"Get yer shyt together, boss. Get it together right freaking now". Spine surgeon made strong bariatric recommendation....I left his office with a referral and I jumped squarely behind the idea and the rest is history. Good history. The best chapters are still being written. At the moment.....the only thing that ever holds me up in the least in the bedroom is how my back may be doing that day. Even then it's simply that some moves are not wise....but other angles and positions are just fine. It's often tweaked from working too many hours on the job and still hitting the gym....not sleeping enough....doing stuff I should leave for others to do....etc. Even on the worse "bad-back" days I'm capable of great fun. In fact....THE greatest sexual moments of my life occurred recently on a "bad back" day. I kid you not. The day was filled with hours of the best feels this old dog has ever known......and the day ended with me almost unable to walk......yet fumbling his way into a situation where I was being propositioned by a good looking woman while I was minding my own bidness and nursing a well deserved celebratory drink in a busy bar. It began as an innocent conversation...a few laughs over the next hour and then....HELLO.....an invite was made. If I'd not been sitting there......all chilled out like a dog in the sun.....reflecting on the day's wonderment.....I may have taken on this gal from Manhattan's offer. She was mighty persistent... The old landing gear is better now than when I was in college. Deploys better and can handle any runway with ease. Zero complaints from me or my co-pilot.... I wish you the best. The sleeve was the easiest of any of my surgeries to recover from. It was a nonevent. Pain was nonexistent. I'd have been back in the bedroom cardio action sooner if I'd not also had a umbilical hernia repair done with my VSG. As it was....I remember giving it over a week to heal before I test drove things. The hernia was an issue....but she was careful to work around it. Was back on my job after 3 weeks off. I'd do it all over again in a skinny minute.

Augusta here. Sleeved in October 2015. 2/3 to goal

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Dub, I do hope you are being safe! That can be a bad addiction if you're not careful! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App I just said I was obsessed with it.......didn't say I was letting it ride...yet