blizair09

I am 8 months post-op, have lost 203 pounds, and am 14 pounds from goal. I have completely re-defined my relationship with food, changed my life for the better, and positioned myself for a long, healthy life! The early weeks post-op are among the most difficult times in this journey. But it is more important than ever to follow your plan, meet your protein and water goals each day, exercise as you can, let your body heal, and stay off of the scale. Good luck!

Google "three week stall." Right now, your body is desperately trying to heal. Stick to your plan, meet your protein and water goals, walk when you can, and stay off of the scale. The weight will eventually start coming off. And get used to the stalls. I have learned that nothing about post-op weight loss is linear. It is frustrating, I know, but if you just trust in the process and do exactly what you are supposed to do all of the time, you will be successful. Good luck!

I have had zero nausea throughout the entire experience. They gave me a bunch of prescriptions for gastric-related things, and I have never taken one pill. Some people just seem to take to it better than others in that arena...

How many calories are you taking in per day? Carbs? Protein? Water? Are you tracking your food and drink intake? The sleeve will only do what it will do. You have to make good choices regarding food and drink if you want to be successful.

I lost 99 pounds (from 397 to 298) during my six-month, insurance-required diet program. Many people asked me the same thing as my surgery date approached. The answer was simple. I was ready to put an end to my morbid obesity and weight problems. A real end. Not a get-to-250-pounds-and-be-satisfied quasi-end. If I had done that, I'd be 400 pounds again in a couple of years. The key for me was to keep the eye on the prize. For me, that is 180 pounds and a normal BMI. The sleeve has helped me, and I am now only 14 pounds from goal at 8 months post-op.

The issue is that the doctors need to know everything about your current level of health before they operate on you. I had no co-morbidities at all, but I had to have several tests and a medical clearance from my PCP (with more tests) before everything was finalized. That is just part of the process when going through insurance. (And, frankly, it is just good practice even if you were paying out of pocket. After all, we are talking about paying for a major surgery, not a new appliance. And I know that last time I bought a new dishwasher, I asked the salesperson about 100 questions before I committed to it...)

Great post!

It just becomes a routine over time, but it does require a lot of commitment (especially in the beginning).

I do. I keep a consumption chart every day that helps me keep track of the times. I drink 32 oz of water between Meals 1 and 2 and Meals 2 and 3, 16 oz of water between Meal 3 and 4, 16 oz of PowerAde Zero between Meals 5 and 6, and 8 oz of PowerAde Zero mixed with 8 oz of water after Meal 8. It takes me 12-14 hours each day to get everything in.

But that was my point. It's all about the audience. My entire point was that posts like this are dangerous sometimes because of how people read it, misapply the information to their own life, and end up worse off than they were before. I'm turning off notifications for this thread. Like I said, to each his or her own on this one. Hopefully it will work out for those of you that choose to go that route.

Too funny!!!

Agreed. I have journaled everything that has gone in my body since March 21, 2016. My journal is up to 218 pages now. I can't imagine not journaling, not weighing my food, and not being completely aware at all times of what I have consumed in a day. It gives me the power and control. It is no different from my friends who are super devoted to the gym are about their own fitness and nutrition. In fact, I took my cue from them. But this is my new normal. And it has been my normal for a while now. A lot of folks hope that they will return to some form of their old normal, it seems. For me, that would be a recipe for disaster. Being at a healthy weight is so much more important to me than any food or drink.

Exactly. Thank you. These things are certainly premises healthy adults should aspire to. I am pretty far along in my journey, have lost over 200 pounds, and successfully re-defined my relationship with food, but I wouldn't even trust myself with some of these. And lord help these poor people who are slaves to food that pour in here by the dozens every day. Everyone is free to follow whatever path they wish to follow in this journey. I'll just be interested to hear how things are going 6 months or a year down the road for the intuitive eating clan...

Keep your body biologically fed with adequate energy and carbohydrates. (Carbs. Yes. Let's see, first I'll have some peeps, maybe later, some potatoes, and if I walk, I can eat that entire container of Halo Top Ice Cream since it has protein, too.) If you tell yourself that you can’t or shouldn’t have a particular food, it can lead to intense feelings of deprivation that build into uncontrollable cravings and, often, bingeing When you finally “give-in” to your forbidden food, eating will be experienced with such intensity, it usually results in Last Supper overeating, and overwhelming guilt. (I can't cut myself off from anything. Pizza time! Uh oh, I ate the whole thing -- how did I do that? I thought I had restriction.) Scream a loud “NO” to thoughts in your head that declare you’re “good” for eating minimal calories or “bad” because you ate a piece of chocolate cake. (I have been eating chocolate cake every night this week. That has pushed me to more calories than my body needs considering that I am not exercising at all. Oh well; I'll do better tomorrow, but I never do.) Listen for the body signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry. (Being morbidly obese, I have had a lot of success in this area...) When you eat what you really want, in an environment that is inviting and conducive, the pleasure you derive will be a powerful force in helping you feel satisfied and content. (See Roseanne comment from earlier...) Find ways to comfort , nurture, distract, and resolve your issues without using food. (Again, great for people who have re-defined their relationship with food. But none of the people mentioned have done that, or are even close to doing that.) Accept your genetic blueprint. Just as a person with a shoe size of eight would not expect to realistically squeeze into a size six, it is equally as futile (and uncomfortable) to have the same expectation with body size. But mostly, respect your body, so you can feel better about who you are. It’s hard to reject the diet mentality if you are unrealistic and overly critical about your body shape. (How many posts a day on here from people freaked out because they have "only" lost 60 pounds in 6 months. Again, consider the audience.) Forget militant exercise. Just get active and feel the difference. Shift your focus to how it feels to move your body, rather than the calorie burning effect of exercise. If you focus on how you feel from working out, such as energized, it can make the difference between rolling out of bed for a brisk morning walk or hitting the snooze alarm. If when you wake up, your only goal is to lose weight, it’s usually not a motivating factor in that moment of time. (Great for those that are exercising. How many posts say -- I know I need to exercise, but...) Again, these are great for people who are at a certain place in their journey. But that isn't the majority of people that post on here. They will read and hear what they want to read and hear.

I don't see anything wrong with any of them, either. If this was an audience of healthy teenagers in a wellness course, I'd definitely see it included in the curriculum. If this was an audience of adults at a healthy weight and who had a healthy relationship with food, I'd say it is awesome. But for an audience of morbidly obese people, formerly morbidly obese people, people with unhealthy relationships with food, food addicts, people struggling with their weight, etc., etc., etc., it leaves too much room to open up a Pandora's box of issues. Think about Miss I Ate A Whole Pizza (how did I do that), Miss Chicken Fingers and Fries During the Pre-Op Diet, Mr. Peeps and Filet Mignon, Miss Ice Cream During the First Week Post-Op, Mr. Swedish Fish, Miss Milkshake and Mashed Potatoes. This isn't going to be a good thing for them. It's like offering a mimosa to an alcoholic. It looks harmless enough, but 2 hours later, there will be lampshades on the head, screaming and yelling, and almost a guarantee of a blackout.

Great post!

And that is probably how a vast majority of people who read this post will be, hence my thoughts...

Who contradicted her? Challenging someone and contradicting someone are different things. It is important to present multiple perspectives because people read things, misapply it to their situation, and suffer in the end for it. I think the whole idea is absurd for an audience of morbidly obese (or formerly morbidly obese) people, those struggling with weight, and those who are largely losing weight or need to lose weight. But she, you, and anyone else is welcome to do whatever you want to do. We'll see how it all shakes out down the road.

My post wasn't that people shouldn't aim to eat this way; it was that many people can't eat this way. But I do appreciate the fact that you said that in shouldn't be attempted in the weight loss phase. That's why I posted to begin with. People who are already posting about making reckless decisions regarding what they eat and drink in the days and weeks post-op are going to read this "listen to my body" stuff, and go out, listen to their body, eat a bunch of crap, and come back on here whining about why they haven't lost any weight. If people are going to conquer their food demons and get their head right, yea, this could work. But what percentage of posters on here are doing that based on the things that they write every day?

@bellabloom -- if this approach to living is working for you, then that's fantastic. The issue is that for probably 90% of the people posting on this forum, that won't work. It is more or less how they have always lived their life and ended up morbidly obese for it. The problem is, people will read what you write, take it to heart, and then watch everything fall apart. It is like the people that talk about needing carbs for intense exercise. That's true, but what happens on the days that the exercise, for one reason or another, doesn't happen, and you eat the carbs anyway? Pretty soon, you're just eating a bunch of carbs again like you did before and the weight starts coming on. To each his own. Anyone who engages with this forum often knows the beliefs of certain people because they say the same thing all the time. (I count myself in that camp. People who have read my posts know exactly what I have done to be successful.) The problem is that people read and hear what they want to read and hear. I remember an old Roseanne episode where Dan and Roseanne were trying to lose weight. Some of her co-workers commented that if she would just walk every morning, she could eat anything that she wants. All she heard was "eat anything that she wants." The walks happened for about a week, then they stopped, but the "eat anything that she wants" never did...

You have just gotten started. You're not going to lose all of your weight in a few months. You should be making lifestyle changes that you plan on keeping to for the rest of your life. If you stick to your plan, meet your protein and water goals, and get up and exercise, you will lose weight. But it all won't come off tomorrow, or this month, or maybe even this year. Google "three week stall." That is your issue right now.

My partner and I went on a 3.5 week tour of SE Asia (Singapore, Mayalysia, Thailand, and Vietnam) at about 3 months post-op for me (mid December to mid January). I lost 13 pounds on the trip. I felt the same way as you!

When you drink right after you eat, you flush the food through your small stomach and nutrients don't have time to absorb into the body. It's almost like wasted food, but the calories still count. You'll be hungry faster and want to eat again. Like anything else, you have to work at it to make it a routine.

Even though it wasn't the route I took, I get not telling people about your surgery. But how do you not tell your husband? I would feel so betrayed if my partner made a life decision like surgery without talking with me. And more than that, how do you justify how you have to eat and all of the follow-up that this journey requires? I'm not trying to be judgmental. I'm just trying to understand how one pulls something like this off. The guilt would crush me, personally...

Great attitude. Congratulations on your accomplishment!!