BostonGary

Congrat's -- as someone else who's in the "100 pound club", I can say it's life changing. Keep up the good work. Enjoy your new life without having to carry another body around with you... lol.

Sorry to hear that. It's unfortunate, but there's very good reasons why they have a psychological exam for this procedure. This surgery is not a solution. It's a tool... I can't stress that enough. You don't simply have this surgery and be cured of a weight issue, it's a surgery to help you resolve your weight issues, but it's not a complete solution. If people have eating disorders or food addiction, this surgery is quite frankly a waste of time and money. They are making the right decision in making people wait or avoiding the surgery if the result is going to be an expensive surgery that will fail the person in the long run. My suggestion is to focus on the reasons why they suspended your surgery and try and resolve them. You said that you've been struggling "with eating my whole life". If that's something you've recognized, I think you need to ask the question that if tomorrow you woke up and you were at a healthy weight, would you still be "struggling with eating". Meaning, does your attitude about food and how your relationship with food is, would that change? It sounds like it wouldn't. Focus on why you have food issues, try and resolve them. I suggest seeking help and seeing if you can. I wish you luck.

The good news is you recognized your habit as being "old". So take solace in that. Ask yourself the simple question "would you have recognized that before the surgery?" I bet not. I'm not a stress eater, so I can't speak to how to stop that, but with the sleeve, you have a good tool to try and mitigate that the possibility of your stress eating and remind you that you shouldn't. The moment you feel full, that first moment. You know, that tightness, that uncomfortable feeling? Stop. Put it down and walk away -- that's the tool telling you, you've had enough. The good news here is that 500 calories of Ritz crackers is no different than 500 calories of another food (within reason). Your body will burn off those calories and you shouldn't see any impact. However, as you know, do that daily... and you're back to where you were before the sleeve. The prior commenter was right, keep healthy options around -- also water. Feel hungry or stressed. Drink a bottle of water, then have a handful of walnuts, almonds, etc. That should take the urge and the need for eating away. This tool only works if you know how to do use it. It's not a solution for obesity, it's just a great tool to help you. Hope that helps.

I'll be a year out on 11/21, I'm down 110 or so pounds. I'm loosing about 2-3 pounds a month since June, so my weight loss has slowed, But that's still "losing", and my caloric intake has increased as I've become more active and more comfortable with understanding my stomach and diet more. But here's the thing. I've tracked and I'm never above 2500 calories at one given day and I'm usually hovering around 1000-2500 a day. What I found is that I typically eat most of my calories mid-day. Dinner, I try and limit that, but of course if you eat out, that's nearly impossible. But here's the important thing. I stop eating when I feel full. I literally stop -- had enough, and that's usually around 10 oz of food. Which is not a lot of food... calories of course can vary, what you eat can make a difference. If you eat a big piece of chocolate cake, that's going to be 1000 calories, so I stay away from sugar, deserts and things of that nature and try and load up on proteins, grains and "fuel" foods that make me feel good (full) but also are not going to be a negative on my health. I'm feeling great, I'm about 30 pounds away from my "personal" goal. But if I stopped losing now and maintained this weight for the rest of my life, I'd be happy with that. So do calories matter, of course they do. But you should also trust your sleeve. Eat slower, eat better food. Stay with proteins like chicken, fish and lean red meat. Stay off fatty foods like fried foods (I don't eat them) and YES, eat carbs but health ones like brown rice, wheat and grains. Deserts... meh. I tent to have a couple bites to "try" and I'm fine with that. This surgery works if you don't have this massive obsession with food and when you get hungry, you don't binge eat or snack. So for me, it's been a terrific tool for me. If I do snack, it's something like cheese and crackers or yogurt... I haven't had a potato chip in nearly a year in a half. That doesn't mean I don't like potato chips? I've just found other things that I enjoy as much that are better options... Where could I do better? What I have not done is get enough exercise in, that's been something I've been disappointed with personally and I'm working on that by trying to find things which I enjoy vs. treadmill / walking / swimming (which I find to be a time waste and boring). So I've started Tennis and more active "sport" things which can get me a good cardio on a regular basis. So some pointers that I live by now: - Count your calories, but don't obsess. I keep within 2200 (as a male) - Eat healthy calories. Get into better habits, now is the time. "Soup is always better than a sandwich." Common sense. - Stop eating when you feel the slightest bit full - TRUST YOUR SLEEVE - Don't drink when you eat, you'll fill up quicker and be hungry sooner - Get more exercise (a struggle we all face) - Eat only when you're hungry, "don't social eat". Food is energy, but you only need it when you need energy. Your body will tell you when... people tend to just eat to eat for various reasons. Eat only when you feel hungry, then go to the top of this list and obey... LOL

So I'm almost a year out (11/21/2016) and I'm about 105 pounds down. My weight loss has slowed now, probably to about 2-3 pounds a month since June (as expected), but it's still happening and I've now started to be more active -- Tennis, swimming... I feel terrific and as you can see, there's a radical change. I'd like to lose another 20-30 pounds, but I'm going to do that with more exercise. The first picture is a before and after of my face. Then there's some full body shots, or close to full body. Just to give you an idea of how radical this change was, prior to surgery, I was the following: 358 pounds and a 50/52 inch waist size. Today 249 pounds and a 38 waist size For me, personally, I'm back to where I was when I was in my late 20's, I'm 52 years old now. Health? I feel amazing, more energy, more sleep, more life. Hopefully, this will inspire people. I know when I saw the pictures of people who made progress, I got inspired.

You've done great as well. I've been seeing about 2 - 4 pounds a month since about June. I've also not been as active as I'd like to be -- However, have watched what I eat and keep it around 2000 cals a day.

You'll be fine. In 2 weeks you'll be asking why you didn't do this a long time ago... trust me.

Iron and protein!!! You're not getting enough!!!

This is where I think I disagree, not about the idea of eating too much and stretching your sleeve (which is certainly plausible), but about the idea that certain food types and what you eat will cause you to gain your weight back. I for some people who have food issues and are food addicts, food's that trigger unhealthy reactions is something I think you're being specific about. But not everybody who has weight problems are those type of people. I think your example of pizza, beer and pasta is not at all accurate. So yes, I think you can overeat and eat yourself out of your sleeve, but no... I disagree that the types of food is a gating factor to falling off course. Overweight people have many different reasons they are overweight. It's not a black and weight absolute for all VSG people that all patients have food issues that are analogous to an "alcoholic" -- that's just overly simplifying the issues. It's also painting a broad brush towards people who have a genetic disposition of being overweight or people who don't have a relationship with food that can cause them to overeat. It's just not that simple. I think it's always about calories in and calories out. If you eat pizza or drink a beer, and you continue to do that, of course you're going to gain weight and go back to being heavy or fail at the outcome. You can't do that every day of your life and all the time -- but that ALSO goes for people who don't have a VSG. It's just common sense. You have to balance your intake based on your diet and the calories you consume and understand those calories have an impact on your weight -- every day.. The worst thing a person can do decide that they are overweight SOLELY because of the types of food they eat. People fail on diets because they make their lives a compromise and stop eating the things they like in favor of things that they don't like -- "denial diets" don't work because they don't change eating habits. Changing habits and changing your attitude about portions will help you maintain or allow you to lose weight. If you figure out that you can have things you like but in moderation and within the size of the portions that limit them to being acceptable, you'll be fine. The reality is, for the most part, 400 calories of pizza is no different than the 400 calories of soup or salad, but the thing you have to understand is that one piece of pizza at 400 calories is not going to be as healthy for you and needs to be treated as such. You need to change your habits around food so that maybe having half of piece and some salad to make up that 400 calories is the better option. And if you want the wine or beer, that's fine, but maybe you need to consider that the only drink you have during the course of the week and you might need to hit the gym or get more active to offset some empty calories that you've allows yourself to have. You can just consume calories over and increase those daily calories and expect to lose weight -- you'll gain weight and the problem with things like pizza is that for 400 calories you get maybe ONE slice, if you can even eat that much (after having VSG), you're not going to be satisfied and it's not as good for you. Blaming the types of food you eat for gaining back weight is not the way to go. Counting calories and getting protein and respecting your body (and your mind) to tell you when you've eaten enough is the right way to go. For people with VSG, learning what a PROPER portion size is for whatever you're eating is the key. People that push their sleeve and eat until their overly full will continue to be challenged. My strategy has been to always put protein first, and eat until I feel that my stomach is telling me I'm done. After a while, I know that about 8-10 ounces of food total is going to be enough -- if that's a life measurement that I can live with for the rest of my life, even if that feeling goes away, I'm 100% fine with that. I know that in the past I could probably have eaten three times that amount and that's why I gained weight, I know now where my limits are and how to maintain them moving forward even long after the "tools" of a VSG are no longer able to help.

The question I have is if you start feeling full, stop eating. Will you eventually "stretch" out the sleeve. I wasn't aware you could do that but actually what would happen is that you would no longer have that feeling (you get used to it), overeat and it's not that you've stretched you sleeve (which I thought wasn't possible), you're just able to eat more food as you're not bothered by the feeling of being full. Lastly, I do think the idea of Ghrelin (the hormone that makes you feel hungry) does return -- but when does that start growing back? Or is that another per individual thing? So I guess I'm saying / asking two things: 1. Can you really "eat yourself out of your sleeve" and stretch it? 2. When does the Ghrelin start to re-appear and create more hunger?

I'm at 9 months and I still have the feeling of being full and not being able to eat too much. I love it. I love the idea of being able to portion control and not being able to overeat. I hope this feeling never goes away. I'm down 100 lbs.

WLS is not a fix. It's a tool. Sleeve, Band or Bypass. It's just tools. They aren't solutions. They are used to "reset" your body so that you can have a chance to reset your attitude about food, diet and exercise. Tools are there to help not be the only solution in the plan... If you're looking for rationale as to your stall and trying to find excuses or reasons for the stall, look no further than the calories you're consuming and what you're burning. Calories in, Calories out. That concept never changes even if you have WLS. If you eat cake and drink wine, you better offset that with something that's going to burn those calories off (empty calories I might add) or you'll stall, or worse, gain weight. Nobody can tell you what you can eat or not eat, you need to tell yourself what's acceptable. I prefer to eat what I'd like, when I'd like -- but I'm also tuned into the fact that my weight is not going to stay the same or will not lose weight if I don't change my attitudes and my thinking. I didn't get obese because I ate well, i got that way because I had bad habits and didn't care what I put in mouth. Once I had the sleeve, I adjusted my relationship with food. I also adjusted to the feeling of "being full" and know when to stop. I love that I can't fit much into my stomach anymore -- to me, this is the biggest win. As soon as I feel full, i stop. I also make much better food choices. Do I eat things like Pizza? Sure. But I might have one slice and have some salad where as before, I'd have three or slices and maybe an appetizer. I'm not going to deny myself the things that I want, but I'm also not going to fool myself into thinking that the food I want is healthy. So I limit what what is, the size of the portion I have. I think if you stop eating everything that you like, you're going to fail. Why? Because you're not going to be happy and you'll completely go off the course. Denying yourself something is fine as long as you can feel fulfilled, if you can't, you need to find a happy medium. So eat things you like, but make sure you offset that with good healthy choices and if you do eat those things, make sure you track the calories so you can burn them off later with exercise. Good luck,

7g is on the high side if you're looking at a daily intake of not exceeding 20g. Remember, things like milk, yogurt, fruit and anything that you should be eating as well has sugar in it. The most you can do to limit your sugar intake with the GS (or any diet for that matter) is better for you. Sugar really IS the #1 problem in our diets. It's in everything we eat with refined sugars (high fructose corn syrups) and hides in things you'd never think has it like dairy... I try and keep my total daily sugar count below 15g.

The reason why you like it is that it has a lot of sugar and tastes better. 7g is a lot higher than recommended by my team. Both the GNC Lean and Premier Proteins have 1-2g of sugar.

Amazing... Transformational. You can see the glow of happiness on your face...

Fantastic! Great job. You're about 20 days after my surgery date and about 20 pounds ahead of me in total. Wow!!! and I thought I was doing well! Awesome! I'd like to know what you are doing differently than me. Not that everybody's body Is the same, but I'm hoping that I'm not doing something wrong! What have you been doing for diet and working out? also, did you have any stalls?

Are other people struggling with having far less of an appetite for food, not caring as much about food but their family or loved ones haven't adjusted to your changes? After I was sleeved, my diet changed, my desire for food is far less and I want to treat food like a "chore" -- not a desire. In fact, it's not really something I'm trying to do, it's the way I am now and I like it. I feel like when I'm hungry, I'll eat -- and them I'm done. I don't think about food much and when I do, I can eat small meal and I'm done. This is not working well with my family. Because I do all the cooking around here and even the food shopping, my family seems to be the worst support system around because they are constantly concerned about when we're eating, what we're eating and what we're buying for food. I feel like because others have the same appetite around food and that I was the main source of meals and shopping, they haven't adjusted to my changes. Them: "What's for Dinner tonight?" Me: "Who cares, I'm not worried about that." -- I get looks like "what's the matter with Dad?" Anyone else experiencing this?

I don't mean to make my family out to be unsupportive on purpose. But to be clear, I'm the one who had the surgery, not them -- so I can understand that their world hasn't changed much. In fact, they've been supportive and love what they see from me and my weight loss. But for them, their relationship with food hasn't changed. Mine has. What I have been trying to do is tell them, "Yeah, I'm not concerned about eating as much as you are. You're free to cook for yourself to adjust to your schedule or when you want to eat." They don't quite get it. What I want to do is treat it tactically. They want to keep treating it as an "event". If that makes any sense.

My eating habits have always been leaning towards healthy proteins. Chicken, Fish, some red meat (not a lot). Like most, and I'm half Italian, I grew up eating a lot of bad carbs. Pasta and bread were a main part of my childhood -- having an Italian mother that would make her own pasta, well, you get it... Bad carbs have always been an issue for me. When you grow up around homemade pasta, it's hard not to pack on weight. That stuff is just pure evil. Now when and if I eat that? It's maybe 2-3 ounces of it, that's it -- taste it, move on to something better. I never was much for sweets, candy or deserts. Snacking was something I always did when I was working later at night and burning the midnight oil. I never really did snack just to snack. I ate when I was hungry, sure. But to "graze" wasn't something I ever did. I've been reading the comments in this thread from (mostly) women. It's a bit shocking to me to read as I'm learning that the surgery is more a personal and private than I ever approached it. It's interesting to read that women here are almost embarrassed about the surgery, like it's shameful to think you had this surgery and that somehow you failed in life? That really is something I can't quite understand because the approach here really should be about "failure". I feel like the men I've talked to have not had this stigma -- what I'm learning here is that for women, it's a completely different experience and much more about how society treats women. That's been an eye opener to me.

I've always felt that this surgery is much different for men than it is for women. I see a lot of posts on here from women who are having struggles with missing food types or worse, food addiction and emotional eating. Not to say that men aren't emotional eaters or have food issues, but quite frankly, I've met a lot of men with the Gastric Sleeve (or Bypass) and it's quite a different experience for those men as a whole -- it appears to be far less of an issue for men. In the groups I've been in and men seem to be overly open with their issues of health and not at all concerned about appearance. I'm sure there's exceptions to the rule, but it just appears that men think of this as a health issue and the idea of looking better or what they are are perceived as in public is secondary. I do think that it's unfortunate that you can't just "own it" and move on. I don't think that anybody here would disagree that this is really about health more than looks -- if you're carrying over 100 pounds, you're at risk for many health issues. Regardless of being a man or women. But I wonder if men do WLS for different reasons than women? I knew of a woman a few years ago that I know who had Gastric Bypass surgery, she was very heavy before surgery. Attractive woman, but heavy. She was also very body conscious. She lost about 175 pounds and now looks terrific. I mean, stellar -- I saw her recently and was like "that's a different woman." However, she told me recently that she's never told anybody that she had surgery and even friends she knew who she was close with, they don't even know. For me, that was telling. When I pressed her as to why? She said, "Most people knew me when I was skinny, then I moved to another town, lost touch, gained a lot of weight after childbirth and didn't see a lot of these friends for many years, then when I had the surgery, I moved back to that area and those people never even knew I was heavy... It's like nothing ever changed for them so why bother?" For her, it was a choice to keep that part her life behind her and go back to the person she once was. She told me all this before I had the GS and I was like "well, I've been fat since the late 80s... there's no hiding this from people. I'm all in, I'm owning it." She laughed and said, "better you than me. I'm not telling a soul." For guys, it appears, we think about this more about health than vanity. I don't have any issues telling people I had WLS. Why? I love that I look better, but I love more that I feel better and I'm much healthier. For me personally, looks and vanity were the least of my worries. I literally felt like I was dying. I couldn't sleep, I had major acid reflux and couldn't climb a flight of stairs without losing my breathe. I felt like if this kept up, I'd be dead by 60. I'm 80lbs down today, about 70% of my goal and I have to say, I haven't felt this good in 20 years. Yes, I look better and people tell me all the time "Gary, wow, you look great... did you lose weight, are you OK?" I tell them the truth. But it's a personal choice and I get that.

I treat my WLS like it was a life saving operation. I view this surgery no different than having heart surgery or any other high risk surgery to save someones life. I see no embarrassment or issue with telling people "I had weight loss surgery because I was getting far too heavy and unhealthy." The stigma needs to stop -- this surgery should be treated no differently than any other surgery. Remember, this isn't a "solution" it's a tool to help you survive.

That was going to be my point. You don't need to take them in the morning. Try taking them before bedtime. The other thing to do? Switch to Gummies for most of them -- this is what I take now, they seem to not have that "pill" effect when you eat them where nausea can be an issue.

Are you taking them in the morning with breakfast?

It's interesting to read this thread. Before I went through surgery, I read a LOT about how the dark side of this surgery and that it will end up shining a light on relationships that are not strong. Sometimes ending otherwise weaker relationships because one of the partners evolves and the other doesn't like the evolution and change. But there's a pattern here: It appears (and maybe it's because I'm like the ONLY guy posting) that women are finding their male partners aren't very supportive of them and are actually kind of mean. Reading the comments is making me feel like men are really, really mean spirited towards their partners. I don't quite understand it, I would think if I was married or with a woman that wanted to be healthy, look great and feel great, I'd get 100% behind her and support her. How can I not benefit from that as a man?! Seeing the pictures of women and their bodies before and after, come on... that's awesome. If you're a male, you have to love that! I just don't get it... I also find it really interesting that I'm not seeing a lot of men sharing the same issues where their wife or partner was negative or simply mean to them. I'm starting to think now that these men chose women they could control or feed off their insecurity or body issues and now fear the "new person" will be not the person they can continue to hold back because they will have confidence, feel good and probably get more attention. I don't have the same experience. In fact, my own situation, my wife was very supportive and does really supportive things like helps me clothes shop (which you have to do after losing so much weight). Little things that make me feel like what I'm doing is not only good for me, it's good for her -- she says kind things to me like "wow, you look good, how do you feel?" It's troubling that women are in these bad relationships and it took a surgery to finally have them realize this.

First off, you look great. You should be proud and so should your husband. One of the things I've read about WLS is that it puts a lot of strain on marriages and relationships. The divorce and breakup rates of folks who have one of the partners go through a WLS is higher and pretty significant. There are different reasons for this. But it differs between couples. From what I've read, it's usually about acceptance and a denial of the other person "changing". People don't like change, especially when their the ones who have to accept it. At first glance, I highly suggest getting some marital counseling before you go down that path of not coming back. It could just be that your husband is having a hard time seeing you the way you've changed and is feeling a bit intimated. But counseling is something I recommend based on his words to you. Words mean something. Personally, I believe if you've got a healthy and strong relationship, WLS should be no different than getting any other surgery that someone has gone through. I think where people run into trouble is that if their relationship isn't healthy, this surgery can really bring out the ugliness quickly because your changing so fast. I also think there's a dimension to this surgery that doesn't get discussed enough. I've said many times here (on my different posts) that I think that WLS is different for males and females, dramatically so -- I've read a lot of posts, the differences of experiences and the emotional aspects of getting WLS is so incredibly different between men and women, especially ones that are in relationships -- there probably should be a major forum topic for this particular issue. With that, I think your husband is being really unfair. He got on your case about eating unhealthy prior, then tells you that you aren't the one that has to be happy with your looks, he's the only one that does? Yeah... that's not supportive. Anybody who knows anything about being in a relationship knows that you have to love yourself before you can truly (note: the word "truly", it's important) love someone else. Having self-esteem, self-worth and confidence in who you are as a person is the ONLY way that you can respect your mate and treat them the way YOU want to be treated. I think there's some level of "buyers remorse" with the partner when it comes to this surgery. As their partner gets more and more healthy, often times it's hard for them to accept the new person and the new confidence. Men in particular (and I've seen this first hand with a friend of mine) can be hard on their partner for improving their looks or the overall appearance. The reasons for this vary, but often times it has to do more with them than it does with you. I recommend having a long hard conversation with him to ensure he's supportive and if he's unwilling to do that, you might need the next step, which is counseling. Which if he can't fix the situation through that support system, you might be looking at irreconcilable differences.