IncredibleShrinkingMan

Never respond to a stall by eating more carbs, or eating more of anything, really. At a certain point, it becomes very difficult to lower caloric intake any further than we already have, and the only way we can up the ante on weight loss is by ramping up the exercise. The release of endorphins has a therapeutic effect, one that for me, in the past, has cancelled out hunger, even before surgery. That does not work indefinitely, and eventually you'll need your recovery meals, but chances are your body will be ordering much higher quality food (i.e., protein, beneficial fats) following quality workouts than it will when you are sitting on the couch lamenting an unsatisfactory pace of weight loss. Just my two cents!

First of all, cut toxic parents out of your life. Completely. No questions asked. If he can't be supportive he has no place in this journey. Second, and to respond directly to your question, it gets much easier. You probably already notice an improvement from how hard you were struggling to get Water in while you were in the hospital. In fact, I noticed an improvement every day, and I am now worried that I'll drink so much that it will stretch my sleeve. I am 4 weeks out. Do not, however, expect your water intake ability to ever return to pre-op levels. The good news is that with reduced calorie intake you should never have the urge again with so little to wash down.

I was driving the day after I left the hospital. However, I didn't touch the narcotic (or even the morphine in the hospital). If the roads are really twisty and windy, perhaps wait two weeks, but otherwise, in the absence of pain, the driving restriction is really overblown. If you are OK going back to work and those demands, in almost all cases you should be OK to ride. I don't drive a motorcycle, but I could easily have ridden a bike three days out as well. FWIW.

As you lose weight, your calorie requirement goes down, so the same number of calories will result in progressively less weight loss. In addition, before you have the surgery, your hunger hormone will instruct your body to lower your metabolism in response to calorie control. I agree, the best thing to do now to jumpstart your metabolism is exercise. That way, at the time you have the sleeve, your body will not respond to dramatically reduced calories by attempting to lower your metabolism. After that point, the only weight loss hold-ups you will see is when you have attained a weight that is sustainable with the number of calories you are taking in...and hopefully the first time that happens will be your desired maintenance weight!

Read "Food Rules" by Michael Pollan. He speaks to this point the best (Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.)

Even though I have awful GERD that has been made worse by the sleeve, I went with the sleeve so that a) dumping is not even a word on my map, I can rely on restriction to get me where I need to go without constantly being on the lookout for some sugar that could make me totally sick (sugar wasn't a weakness anyway so bypass would've been a waste in that sense), and c) I am not convinced that the hunger hormone completely goes away with bypass as the stomach remains inside your body. The latter issue was the most important to me by far, and while I am not one of those lucky few that have to be "reminded" to eat or find old favorites sickening, I can eat and be satisfied for the first time...ever.

You guys should consider yourselves lucky. I have had absolutely no change in my taste buds. Walking past places that serve palatable stuff set off the same triggers in my head as they used to. If people are eating sexy food around me I just start wanting it more. Well, I guess there's no curing that, but I know if I started eating it I'd quickly need to stop, which is what I signed up for in the first place.

The best proteins at this point are ones that are ground up or made into meatball/sausage like consistency. Lean turkey meatballs have gone down fine, but I haven't yet had the gall to try a grilled chicken cutlet or the like. I really think I can wait until Thanksgiving to try real bird. I accidentally swallowed some raw ahi tuna without chewing on Friday and I drove to two different ER's (didn't go in) before the scare subsided. Say the alphabet chewing and then swallow. I've never had anything get stuck following this rule.

Can't you wear a t-shirt in the Water if you feel uncomfortable? I do that even when I'm just over at my friend's house with nobody else watching me. I think you'll be surprised at the results once you bring carbs (especially bread of any kind) and sugar to an absolute minimum. To me, they have been the Achilles heel of any weight loss attempt. Luckily, my failure to get off of them to any significant extent in the past also prevented me from ever yo-yoing. I am almost four weeks now and I know if I ever somehow went back to them I'd be toast (no pun intended), but I think the sleeve makes that virtually impossible.

All the sleeve is before weight loss is a tool with which to do it. Once you enter maintenance, all the sleeve is after weight loss is a better opportunity to stay there. Nobody fails, including the sleeve itself. It's just not a guarantee of anything, it's just better odds of a lot of things. If you experience weight gain a year or two out, then just get back in the game. The sleeve should still be helping you do that at that point. For everybody who talks about how stats are unreliable because of re-gainers not reporting or following up, I'd point out those studies also don't point to weight "re-loss." The most important thing to me out there is that it appears that our set points definitely change, which is more important than the loss or gain of any particular pound.

Unless they work for the insurance company directly, they are looking for every reason to approve you, rather than deny you. Whichever case this may be, the psych eval is completely pro forma. They will write anything they need to achieve their goal of getting you in or keeping you out. I said some pretty crazy stuff about my food relationships in mine and he just sat there smiling and approved me.

I wouldn't go to any gym that didn't have a one-strike policy against c**ts like that woman.

31 y/o, HW 314 (2013), final pre-op 286, surgery 266, current 239. I hope this pound-a-day business can keep up for at least another month, and then maybe settle at 3 lbs/wk for the rest of the year. Good luck!

Following the Protein first rule, here goes: Grilled chicken Greek Yogurt Soft veggies (you still don't want really crunchy stuff at this point) Low-fat cheese Low-fat dressing And if you have room...maybe a cracker or two to satisfy any carb craving you way have...like wheat thins. You probably won't get to it anyway.

Yes, cutting carbs will do unimaginable things for your weight loss. It will also really help you out post-op when, at least in the initial few months, significant carbs are out of the question. I think most of the regain people experience a year or more out is because carbs slowly become an option again. I expect that to happen to me and I don't care as long as there is a tight ceiling on it...and that ceiling would be provided by the sleeve. Unlike some dieters, I never tried to seriously lower carbs as part of any trim-down, and consequently I never really lost much weight, let alone permanently. What you will find is that a couple of bites of carbs, just like a couple of bites of anything else post-op, is extremely satisfying. Best wishes!

If you are allowed to have fish salads and eggs, opt for those (they will provide more satiety). Save yogurt and other dairy for the end of your shift if that is the concern.

Pain is an absolute red flag at this point. About a week out I was running to catch a train (I couldn't drive yet) and my incision sites (which have since healed) totally rebelled, especially the drain site. I had been tempted to start jogging during my evening workout that night, but totally scrapped those plans in light of that experience. Now, 26 days out, I am giving it another shot. I will still listen to any signs of pain, as I am a best man this weekend and can't injure myself. Good luck!

Did your surgeon give you a liquid diet to follow? Or a low calorie diet? Those are supposed to help with the liver, and having done it really helped me follow the rules post-op. Good luck!

I learned my lesson pretty quickly. I was having my go-to protein source (raw tuna) on Friday, and for the most part chewing until it was mush, but I slipped and swallowed a pretty big chunk whole, and that chunk included some of the connective tissue (unchewable). I had the worst choking sensation ever for about two hours and drove to the front of two emergency rooms. I know there are other foods that will be coming back into my diet in the next few weeks that I often didn't give one chew, and I will remember this episode and acknowledge that those days are over. My longing for certain types of meals is completely dwarfed by watching myself stop and move away from a quarter-eaten plate of food. You couldn't hold a gun to my head and ask me to do that pre-op.

I went back after one week (also a desk job). Frankly, I was ready to go back on Monday after my Thursday sleeve, but was trying to see if the hunger would subside a little bit for optimal concentration. It did, and has been steadily improving since.

HW (2013): 314 (may have been higher because it was after exercise and before eating when I drew that top reading) SW (7/17): 286 (started pre-op diet the next day) VSG (8/6): 266 (gained 8 lbs of fluid in the hospital which went off almost immediately the next day) Visit (8/19): 248 (two-week post-op visit) Today: 242 (three weeks out)

I wish so many people hadn't scared me into thinking I wasn't going to be able to work for six weeks, or lift anything heavier than a paper clip, or have violent physiological responses to all but the simplest foods. I feel that three weeks out, I am still tippy-toeing around life and I need to rebuild my confidence. FWIW.

I really want to go back to Texas for a visit but I am afraid I will blow the entire surgery just spending a day down there (Rangers ballpark food...holy sh*t). Good luck, folks.

Expect some soreness to linger at the drain site long after you have no more pain at your other incisions.

I had the pulmonologist's tests and he cleared me and waived the sleep study requirement. If you don't snore, just say that to him and you'll be out the door. They really don't want to be in the business of holding up people's surgery. NP's and PT's, though, that's another story...