ryan_86

As you heal, you'll be able to eat more. Eventually, you won't. But if you measure what you eat and don't eat more than your doctor tells you, you'll be fine. Yes, you can stretch your sleeve. But no, you haven't, and no, it won't stretch if you follow your doctor's instructions.

I like long distance hiking, and I'd like to add running and mountaineering, but I know you need a ton of daily calories to do those sports. Anyone figure out how to make this surgery work with those sports? I have a multiday hiking trip planned for march and I'm wondering how it will go. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

Am I eating too much? Am I slipping into old habits? Is this one treat the start of a slippery slope? Am I stretching my sleeve? Am I going to end up like I was? Will this flabby middle ever go away? Can I ever eat what I want without feeling guilt and failure and the dread that it's the start of backsliding? Is this as good as it gets? Will I always feel like this? Am I the only one who goes through these thought every-single-day? Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

As I began to eat more, I found the smaller snacks I eat only take a few minutes to eat. I turn the timer on my phone on to help me slow down. I also found that I can make a protein drink last longer than food. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

I call BS on your friends. You'll get through the stall. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

I was in bad mood for a solid month of liquid diet. It's not just you Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

My experience with trainers and every healthcare pro who is not a bariatric specialist is they don't understand us or our needs very well. I'd find out what my surgeon and her team thinks, and perhaps they can connect you with a trainer with some bariatric experience for some guidance, if not actual sessions. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

Just started getting serious about exercise. Plan is to lift and do cardio four times a week each. Started this week. I'm hungry all the time, and having difficulty resisting temptation. In fact I should get off the couch and go to the gym right now before it gets late. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

I still eel hungry and get cravings. What I've learned is to shape my environment, there is nothing in my house to snack on, but that's easy because I live alone. Much harder is the constant stream of junk at the office. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

There's a limit to how much protein the body can absorb in a given time frame, and many nutritionists seem to think it's 30-40g. But excess anything eventually is stored as fat. Excess broccoli gets stored as fat. The key is to think holistically: if you eat 50g of protein in a sitting, but only 800 calories in the whole day, your body will use that excess protein as energy, not store it. The reason we are told to eat so much protein daily it's because when you lose weight, that includes approximately 25% muscle mass. For people who lose a lot of weight over a short period of time that percentage is actually much much higher. In order to avoid becoming frail and losing too much muscle mass, we eat extra protein. I think many female patients, who have less muscle mass begin with, don't notice the lost muscle mass as much as men. Speaking for myself, I definitely notice it in the mirror and in everyday activities. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

Hi all, I'm 5 months post-op and finding myself hungry between meals. So far my snack foods have been rice cakes, sugar free fudge pops, and popsicles. In general I have always had a hard time with Snacks - I never chose healthy ones and always ate too many. I find myself too tempted with the snacks I've been buying. Other than string cheese, what snacks do people recommend? Fruit just seems like sugar, vegetables seem boring (and upset my stomach), Peanut Butter has so many calories... I get in sufficient Protein with my regular meals, so not looking to eat more bars (already eat 2 a day). Any suggestions welcome!

Sleeved 9/12. This had been the busiest first quarter of my career ever. Daily stress of spending every day trying to get work done and above all not dropping any balls is exhausting. Nice to be in demand, but all I want to do is tell every Senior Vice President within earshot to do whatever it is they need done by their own damn selves for once! Or promote me so I can pawn off my work on others, too. All of which means that the candy dish on the file cabinet is way too tempting (taken from it recently, which I had successfully sworn off for over six months - thank you, OCD client who takes up 5x more resources than the account is worth!) and I want/miss junk food. I miss food as a coping mechanism. I've yet to eat my afternoon Protein bar and feel even a little less stressed because of it. And I know emotional eating is bad, and I know it was only ever momentary relief, but dammit(!) if I can't eat and I can't drink then I'm going to have pick up a substance abuse problem of some kind because no one can work in this industry without some chemical stress release valve. Kidding, but come Friday I need more than a sugar-free popsicle to refresh me. I need some damn endorphins, stat. And the next person to tell me what a great stress release exercise is can kiss the flattest part of my once-fat ass! February, just be over! No one like you anyway. You're that kid at the sleepover who was only invited because the host's mom made him! And then to come to the party with nothing to offer but carrots sticks? You're an asshole, February, and I hope you dry up and shrivel! March is only bringing celery, but at least he isn't a demanding sucubus! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

"People say" is a funny phrase. I listen to what people say for a living, and the maxim I go by with my clients is that it doesn't matter if what people say is true. It only matters that they believe it's true, because what they believe is going to inform their behavior. But when it comes to my health, I only care what people say if that person is a medical professional, particularly one who isn't getting paid to be a shill for fads, frauds, and pseudoscience. At best, I suspect that you can raise your BMR again, but until your BMR levels out, you will be gaining weight. How long did it your BMR to hit its floor, and how much weight did you lose during that time? What if it takes that long to find a new ceiling and you gain that whole time? But I'm not an expert. I don't know. The experts say it can't be done. Listen to the experts. I listen to people daily tell me their opinions on everything from food to healthcare to insect repellent to aircraft carriers. Most of them don't know anything, but only a fraction knows they don't know anything. I'm any case, why do you want to raise your BMR except to eat more than you need to feel full? How did that work out the first time? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I wish. I'm in the processing of accepting that my body is permanently different. The only reason to want a higher BMR is so I could graze. I don't want to graze. It's hard enough resisting that temptation even when I know it will lean to weight re-gain. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I've been finding myself in the same boat, partly because when my surgeon said I could eat up to 1000 cals a day, my brain "you can eat a 1000 every day, and how difference is there between 1000 and 1200?" My brain and I don't get along so well on the subject of food. So I get my main meals and afternoon snack in, and if I have cals left over, I tend to fill them. I like rice cakes and sugar free fudge bars the occasional sweet treat. It's a process: I'm figuring out what I can eat again AND control myself with. No chips or salty snacks. No regular ice cream. I like things that come in regular servings. But yes, grazing becomes a temptation, and head hunger becomes a real problem. Ultimately, I think it's about shaping your environment to the extent possible - you can keep the cookies out of the office, but you can keep them out of your home - and straight will power (which sucks). But that got me this far. Probably you m, too, so I bet we can keep going. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

My Pulmonologist told me that when people lose weight, they lose it inside, too. He told me this after looking down my theist and noting that my epiglottis (i.e. Throat opening) is wider since I've lost the weight. Makes breathing easier and could change the timbre of your voice. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Yes! I heard this so many times, including people admonishing me that my goal weight was too low (thank you, person who is not a doctor! you opinion I meaningfully yours!). My favorite was last week when my father volunteered that at some point I "have to pick a size" because it's expensive to buy new clothes or alter old ones. Yep, because that's a thing I'll decide: stop losing weight because so I don't go from a large to a medium. Most people mean well. Many of them are stupid. Some of them are just clueless. Bottom line is that as society has collectively gotten fatter, its image of what a healthy weight and appearance are have gone up. People are conditioned to see someone who doesn't have any spare fat and think they're unhealthy. Case in point: Homer Simpson didn't get any larger over 28 seasons, but his weight, when referenced in the show, did. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

So I'm 5 months out and about 9 pounds from my goal. It's all happened so fast, and I know that mentally I haven't changed - if I'm around a food I never could control myself with, I will eat some of it. A couple crackers, a little cheese, a french fry, etc. I try to stay away from those things. I don't buy them. But I work in an office where people are always bringing food in, there's always a full candy bowl on the file cabinet (that I ate took 2 pieces from this week after not taking any for 6 months), and I had to stay with family for a couple weeks this month (house fire - January was awesome!). More so than at any time since my surgery, I feel like I'm depriving myself, and in the past that has always led to undoing good eating habits. And all of that has me afraid that this new body is temporary, and given the "last resort" nature of surgery, that scares me very much. I wonder if I'm alone in that.

I was under the impression that dumping syndrome was only an issue for those with bypass, not sleeves. But over the past two weeks, I've tried being a bit more adventurous with my meals, taking advantage of all the calories allotted to me. I had some sweets last week, and today I had half a pulled pork sandwich. Shortly after eating them, I got a headache, felt a little dizzy, and felt overheated. Also a little nauseated. I thought it was a bug going around the office, but I'm detecting a correlation. Have others experienced this? Is this dumping syndrome? Thanks. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Not knowing where you started, it sounds to me like you're doing ok. How has your loss rate been lately? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I told friends and family, and no one has said a thing to me about what I am or am not eating at a meal. It's just ignored. Only the waitress brings it up when she reminds me that the side dish I turned down comes with the meal and asks me if I want a box. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I had my procedure on Sept. 12, so not entirely a newbie. How far out are you?

GERD is pretty much universal for sleeve patients, but it's tolerable for those who didn't have it before. Hiatal hernia is more or less synonymous with GERD. If you already have bad GERD, I'd think carefully about a sleeve. Could make it much worse. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I tell them I'm on a high Protein, low calorie diet, which is 100% true. I didn't lose weight because I had surgery, but because of the diet. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

The 3500 number is based on the calories in a pound of pure fat. It never had anything to do with actual people's metabolism. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App