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If your looking for a less processed shake, I find these to be delicious: 1/2 medium size banana 4oz unsweetened chocolate Almond Milk 3 tbsp Peanut Powder (I use Hoosier Hill Farm) 2 tbsp Ghiradelli unsweetened cocoa powder 274 calories 28g Protein If you are worried about calorie intake, you can drop the cocoa powder, saving 40 calories and only losing 2g of protein (234 calories, 26g protein).

I eat fruit everyday and have since early on. pineapple, grapes (skin) and apples can be tough for me. I eat them, but I have to be very careful chewing, going very slow, and keeping it to a small portion. Strawberries and blueberries I eat all the time with no problem. I use bananas in my smoothies and to sweeten up steel cut oatmeal. All of this is allowed per my plan. I know there have been heated debates about bananas on here, but I am approved to have them. I generally have half a banana a day. Im 7.5 months out.

Ha. The US is a pretty big country with lots of climates. Many of which are far colder than the U.K. I live near Detroit, and our average low in January is about -8 Celsius compared to 1 Celsius in Edinburgh. We Celebrate any day in January where it is ABOVE freezing, let alone the AVERAGE low temperature. And Detroit is definitely not the coldest place in the US!

Damn dude, color me impressed. Congrats.

Yes, it will get better. It's a slow process, slower for some than others. I am about 7.5 months post op and am just getting to the place where I have what I consider a "real meal". Still small, but very satisfying. As an example, I had about 1.5 ounces of pork roast (two small slices) and a small sweet potato (yes, I'm allowed this on my plan) for dinner. It's not a ton, but very satisfying. For lunch I had 6 cherry tomatoes and a cup of homemade bean/ham Soup. For breakfast I had .5 cups of steel cut oatmeal with half a mashed banana (yes, I'm allowed bananas) and some peanut powder. I consider these all "normal" meals. All those items in total gave me 884 calories and 61g of Protein.

As everyone said, follow your doctors plan and you WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. One thing to point out is that it takes a lot longer to drop the first couple of sizes then the last few. The first few months I would drop sizes every 30-40 lbs. At lower sizes I am dropping sizes after like 15 pounds. As I got into lower sizes, I would literally skip sizes.

What I've found to help me is to do one of two things: 1) Get some exercise. If time permits I might go to the gym, if not I'll just get out and walk the dog. It kills time, is a great stress reliever, and tends to make me less hungry. 2) Eat. Yep, I'll eat. If I am really obsessing about food, I will go eat some; however, I will only eat healthy, low calorie food. Specifically veggies (preferred) or fruit (low calories fruit like berries). If I don't feel like eating either of these things, then I know that I am truly not hungry and refer to #1 :-). That may not work for everyone (#2 specifically), but it works for me. It satisfies the cravings while fueling my nutrition. And it is EXTREMELY hard to get fat on cucumbers and/or blueberries.

I have experienced a very similar thing. Some days, food goes down relatively easy (assuming I eat very slowly and chew very well), other days food is very difficult. I especially have this problem with dense foods - chicken, pork, oatmeal, etc. There is one "trick" I have found that will often work for me, not sure if it will help you or not. What I have found is that when food is difficult, it generally starts feeling "stuck" or a little painful after just a few bites. If I try to just soldier through it, it ends in disaster. I feel pain and often have to vomit, and I will never "move past" it and be able to finish my meal. However, if I just take a break as soon as I have that initial feeling (usually after just 2-3 bites) and wait, I can actually FEEL the food start moving through. It's almost like it gets caught in my pouch because my stoma panicked and closed up (don't even know if this is physically possible, just what it feels like). Sometimes I have to just sit there for up to 10-15 minutes, but eventually it feels like the pouch relaxes, and I can feel (and hear) the food start to move through. There tends to be a lot of loud gurgling that accompanies this. Once that happens, I'm good to go and can eat the remainder of my meal. Works almost every time. This happened last night with my meal of baked chicken breast and green Beans. After just a couple of bites I started feeling pain. I just sat there for awhile. Once the gurgling and relief started - I was able to finish a meal of 3 oz of chicken and an ounce of green beans. That's a really big meal for me.

I struggled (am struggling) with what a healthy "goal weight" should be. My surgeon does not set goal weights, and at the beginning of the process mentioned that I should be able to get down to around 200. He is a believer in letting your body figure it out. I am a very driven and competitive person, so I set my personal goal weight at 185, and really wasn't sure if it was even possible (started at 333). I have since blown by that goal and am now at 159lbs and still losing. I no longer have a "goal" weight. For the last several weeks I am just focusing on my nutrition, activity and health and what happens will happen. In regards to BMI, I feel the same way about the fact that these are general averages and do not directly apply to individuals. That being said, it turns out I must be pretty average, because BMI seems to actually fit me really well. When I was at 182 (that put me about 18lbs over a "normal" BMI) I had a DEXA scan, and my body fat % was also a couple of % over "normal" - they were actually extremely well aligned, much to my surprise. I am now at 159, which is about 5 lbs below the threshold of "normal" BMI. I am having another DEXA scan on Monday, and I anticipate I will now be at the high end of "normal" from a body fat % as well. I'm not saying that BMI will work out that way for everyone, but I was surprised how well a healthy BMI lined up with a healthy body fat % for me.

Have you checked out Salvation Army / Goodwill? As I dropped through sizes I've bought several sport coats / suits from there. Brand name, great condition, and you can get a whole suit for $20-$30. It's crazy.

@@Nymea How is your progress now that you're around 3-months post-op? I just reached a "normal" BMI myself this week (about 7 months post-op, and 8.5 months after starting pre-op diet). I started at 333lbs (151kgs), and was 159lbs (72kgs) this morning.

I'm in West Bloomfield, and had my RNY on 3/21/2016 with Dr. Weiner at Huron Valley Sinai Hospital in Commerce. Where are you having your surgery? Who is your surgeon?

Thanks everyone! I wake up everyday motivated to continue this effort. Today I'm taking my daughter to the Sports Club to go swimming, and my wife is meeting us there later to play tennis. Re-adjusting our "normal" as a family.

I'll be there for what is looking like a beat down, and not one for the good guys this year :-). Of course I was there last year too, so I will always have that. And for the one where we held you guys to a total of -26 yards rushing a couple years ago. Oh, I'm already missing the old days. Haha. I'll just hold out for a miracle this weekend. Go Green!

I definitely think obesity affects balance. Where I have noticed it is in sports stadiums. I go to a lot of games at college stadiums that generally have bleachers. At the end of the games my son used to run ahead of me and bounce down the bleachers. I would have to VERY GINGERLY step on a bleacher, then down on the concrete, then the next bleacher, etc. And even then I was very nervous I would lose balance and fall. 170 lbs lighter, and I can pretty much run up and down the bleachers. I feel a lot more confident in my balance and ability. I'm not a teenager anymore, but I am a very mobile adult. It's a great feeling.

eggs and nuts. Neither one of them "hurt" or "get stuck", but they both make me nauseated. What's strange however, is that only seems to be the case when I eat them straight up. I put peanut powder in my shake every morning, and have no issues at all. I can also eat Huevos Rancheros (without tortilla of course). But when I eat the egg with Beans and the sauce, they go down ok. I also have a bit of an issue with ground meat, which intuitively would seem easier to eat, but I can't seem to chew ground meat down as finely as a cut of meat. It goes down ok in Soups if I proceed with caution, but otherwise it tends to hurt. I also have absolutely no idea how things like rice, Pasta, bread or sugary food go down as I have not tried them. I am 8 months post-op RNY.

Spartans Will! Mine were both BCBS MI PPOs, just different PPO options.

Wow, that's almost the exact scenario I had when I switched jobs about a year ago. I was at $550/mo and went to $1250/mo. I will say that my new PPO is absolutely top notch though - my RNY surgery this year cost me a total of $20. I could have gotten essentially the same $550/mo plan I used to have for $1050/mo, but went with the $1250/mo because it was so much better. My surgery alone would have cost me close to $8000 with the $1050/mo plan, so it was worth the extra premiums this year, and frankly, most years. My family spends a lot on medical care. For me, it's better to pay a higher monthly premium and know that I'm fully covered than get a lower monthly premium and end up with a high deductible and a much bigger share of the cost. Don't get me wrong, I was not delighted to pay an extra $8,400 a year, but that came with zero deductible and no cost sharing (other than standard $20 co pays).

And I believe you can get to any weight you want. Just follow your plan. Like I said above, my personal goal started at 185. That seemed IMPOSSIBLE at first. Like you, I would have been happier had I lost even less that that. My thought was anything under 225 would be great. I'm at 165 and still losing. Albeit not nearly as fast, but I am still losing 2 lbs a week. I feel I could get to the 150s even 140s if I wanted to. The surgery is an amazingly effective tool. How tall are you? HW 385 SW 359 Sleeved 10/5/16 5'8"

And I believe you can get to any weight you want. Just follow your plan. Like I said above, my personal goal started at 185. That seemed IMPOSSIBLE at first. Like you, I would have been happier had I lost even less that that. My thought was anything under 225 would be great. I'm at 165 and still losing. Albeit not nearly as fast, but I am still losing 2 lbs a week. I feel I could get to the 150s even 140s if I wanted to. The surgery is an amazingly effective tool.

I essentially try and eat "real food" as much as possible. I get in 60g of Protein a day and my 64oz of fluids (usually more). I don't have a calorie goal, but it usually ends up being 800-1000 a day. This would be a somewhat "normal" day: Breakfast: Protein shake Half a banana Peanut powder (PB2 like, but without the sugar) Cocoa Powder (unsweetened) chocolate Almond Milk (unsweetened) LUNCH: I cook up about 4 weeks of lunches in advance. Recent Meals: Bean Soup Split Pea Soup Black Bean Quinoa chicken Enchilada Casserole Spanish Chicken Stew Dinner: Animal Protein (Chicken/Shrimp/Scallops) Veggie (green Beans, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, broccoli) Snack: Fruit (varies). Examples: Strawberries Blueberries Watermelon That's pretty typical for me, and I don't really stray from that too much. As far as exercise goes, I am not strict about it, but I try to get to the gym at least twice a week (been very inconsistent lately) for a "real" workout - running and weight lifting. Then I try and get out a go for a walk with my dog and/or daughter a couple times a week. Just a mile or two. That's it. I've been eating this way pretty much since I got to the "normal food" stage. The food I eat is delicious. I get hungry, but when I do, I just eat. But I eat good foods. The only tough part, for me, is what I can't eat. But as the months go by I care less and less about that. Once in awhile something my family is eating looks SO good to me. I will often take a TINY bite of these things (like a tiny pinch) and almost always I think "man, that wasn't as good as it looked".

Yep. Being men. Other than that, I probably did the same things as all other compliant patients.

you lost 133 pounds in 4.5 months? holy ****!!! No, I was down 133lbs 4.5 months post-op, but that was about 6 months after I began my pre-op weight loss. So it was 133lbs in 6 months, not 4.5. As an update, I'm down to 165 as of this morning. I'm now half the man I used to be, and only 1 pound away from being at a "normal" BMI. I'm now at 168 lbs lost in a total of 8 months and 10 days.

Funny topic, but yeah, there are a few things: Yes, being cold all the time Yes, butt hurting Bones, bones everywhere. Hip bones stick out and knees are boney and both of these make sleeping on my side difficult. All small prices to pay, but there are down sides to being a "normal sized" person.

Did you try the fitbit food tracking and not like it? Sent from my LGLS992 using the BariatricPal App Yes, I tried Fitbit and LoseIt, but really just prefer MFP. Probably because I've used it so many times over the years already. But the database of food is also huge.