Berry78

I have a new NSV! My bath towel closed at the bottom!!!!

Ok, I just figured out my calories are closer to 1000 than 1200, so not such a big gap, after all!

Ok, so all those calculators on the internet suck!!! I've been saying I eat 1200 calories, but in formulating an answer to this post, I found out it's closer to 1000! Sheesh. Ok..so my original post... : <<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Carbs are "fillers", calorie-wise. First, figure out your calorie goal. I like mine at 1200, for example. Then protein: mine is 70g. (280 cals). Then fat: Around 40g. (360 cals). 280+360= 640cals. 1200-640= 560 / 4= 140g carbs... <<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> But I know I don't eat that many carbs! So I went through and retotalled them by hand. My new totals.. 78g net carbohydrate (312 calories) 74g protein (296 calories) 45g fat (405 calories) Total: 1013 calories All those people on the super low carb, keto diets.. if they eat 150g protein and 20g carbs, that's only 680 calories. If they aren't trying to lose weight, they need to eat the equivalent of 10-15 tablespoons of fat. Wowsers..

Make sure you have a friend or family available for support (on call in case they are needed). If one of you has complications, the other may not be able to drive to and from the hospital the first week, etc. Do all the heavy lifting before surgery (like bringing in the big bags of pet food for a 4-6 week supply). 4-6 weeks is a long time where neither of you can pick up more than 10lbs. If you have a big dog that pulls on the leash, who will walk it? Examine your own day to day lifestyle, constantly asking.. if I can't pick up weight or reach my feet, how would this work?

This is exactly what I was going to say to Oompa Lumpa. Oompa... you have a lifetime of being unhappy with your body. Surgery, no surgery..obese, not obese.. it won't make a difference. I recommend putting off plastics until you are finished having children. Don't pile on more guilt by borrowing money from family to do a procedure that won't make you happy anyway. It's time to switch your focus away from how you LOOK to what you can DO. If you are working out, focus on walking a bit farther on the treadmill or lifting a bit more weight. Focus on doing a great job at work, and fixing that thing in your home that's been put off. There are so many other things in life to concentrate on, that it's time to put your body image on the backburner. (Hopefully you've used your post-surgical time to create new eating habits that are now second nature, thus require very little thought).

My meal plan: Breakfast: 4oz cottage cheese and 3-4 oz fruit. Lunch: 1 egg and 4oz black beans Snack: 1oz nuts or seeds Dinner: 4oz meat or fish and veggies Beverages: 1 cup milk and 2 cups coconut water I can't eat that much at each meal so I break it up.

We have virtually identical stats and your surgery was 9 days after mine. Since I seem to be on schedule, you have to be too! If anything, you may want to increase your calories a bit. I eat around 1200 each day... so you can probably increase if you want. Otherwise, stalls happen. Do not decrease your calories. You are doing great!

9/15: 218lbs.

In what freaking world is 800-1000 calories maintenance level???? ? ?????????? ????????? I'm sorry for my language, but for the vast majority of the population, maintenance level is somewhere between 1200 and 2500 calories. This includes sub-5'0 tall, 70 year old women. This thinking that people can and should consume less than 1000 calories for extended periods of time (even beyond weight loss)... where does this come from??

Oh man that suuuccckkkksss.... My hubby is in the army, and was in intensive training for 4 months, back in 2008. Within the first month he developed achilles tendonitis. He pushed through the rest of the 3 months of training, but when he came home it took like 6 months or a year to be pain free. Even now his tendon is thickened and prone to reinjury. Sooo.. moral of the story.. do everything your doc tells you to (including wearing the boot at night if that is part of your recovery) and give that sucker time to heal. My hubby couldn't stay off of it, so made it that much worse. My 17yo daughter just got a diagnosis of a partially torn tendon in her ankle (not achilles). It's been bugging her for 9 months and we finally got news of what the problem is. (She slipped when going down a mountain trail last winter.) She's likely looking at surgical repair. ... Same story... didn't rest it (cuz we didn't know), and it didn't heal.

I saw where you had your surgery in Mexico. So I recommend you talk with your family doctor. You can get a referral to a GI specialist that might help you figure out what is going on. Have you been keeping up with your yearly bloodwork and everything?

Maybe describe your symptoms... Have you spoken with your surgeon?

Oh man, you are going to be sooo bummed when that 3 week stall comes your way! Yes, you're a guy, and guys tend to lose a pound a day at first, but it'll slow down soon enough... just know it's coming so you don't pull your hair out...

Ok, so I converted kilos to pounds for us in the States. You lost 21lbs in the 17 days between the preop diet and the first week postop. That is definitely significant! I find when people drop so much, so quickly, they usually get a nice long stall on the back end of it while their bodies catch up. 3 weeks sounds about right, so as soon as you can increase your water you should start seeing that scale move again. Don't fret, you're doing great!!

I love the swimmer physique.

Oh no!!! What happened?

If it came down to it, I would bring a cheese stick or an ounce of nuts, something along those lines to work or school in my pocket. You can eat those things in just a couple minutes in the hall during a restroom break. (Once those foods are on your plan). A protein bar.. etc. Vitamins are really important. At the very least get some Flintstones or Centrum. They don't have to be bariatric-specific. Something is better than nothing. Your doc can help you figure out more specifics.

It's helpful to look at what happened before surgery to give an idea of what you can expect afterwards. Before I dig into that, how are you doing meeting your fluid and protein goals? So, about how calories were you eating before starting any of your preop diets? What kind of preop diet(s) did you do and how much did you lose?

I set up a dartboard with #s ranging from 150 to 215, and my dart hit 173

Contact Johns Hopkins Bayview Bariatric Center. They can tell you whether they take your insurance and whether your insurance covers the procedure. You don't have to go through Hopkins.. it's just the biggest name in MD (and where I would have gone if I didn't go to Mexico).

Just keep in mind that your journey is YOUR journey. Not everyone makes it all the way down to "thin", but the scale (or even clothing size) shouldn't determine how you feel about yourself and journey. This journey should be one of self-discovery. By the end of the first year or two you *hopefully* will have learned what normal portion sizes look like, your own weaknesses and triggers, and in general, how to navigate the world of food in a healthy way. The only failure possible is if you don't bother trying to learn anything new. Same old habits bring same old results.

Preop, I had SEVERELY cracked heels. When I google images of cracked heels, the images are of heels that are dry around the edges of the heel, but not on the walking surface of the bottom of the foot (for the most part). I had the typical cracked heels like those images, but in addition, I had "fish scale" pattern cracks all over the bottom of my foot pad as well. Some cracks would be deep enough that you could see red/pink in the crack, but they didn't actively bleed. Anyway, I had those heels for the last, I don't know.. 8 years? Nothing made them better or worse. Time of year, lotion, etc. They were just always that way. Now, 5.5 months postop, and they are SOO much better. I haven't done anything different with my feet than I did before. The ONLY difference is the surgery and diet. (And the weight loss, of course). The improvement has been gradual, and it's not 100% yet, but I'd say they are 90% better. Anyone else have skin improvement they weren't expecting?

From what I've seen, about 5% - 10% of people regret their surgery long term.. which means 90-95% DON'T regret it. Short term regret in the first weeks postop is extremely common. The ones with long term regret don't hang out on message boards full of happy patients for long. It seems the majority of regret is fueled by physical complications or unresolved emotional issues. We've seen regret stemming from religious beliefs. Sometimes people find that perfect diet/exercise program that they are sure would have worked without surgery. And the biggie... "he/she wouldn't have left me if I hadn't had the surgery".

The second surgery is a good idea. Not familiar with the timing. 5 years does seem really long. You might want to ask some other surgeons their opinions on your case and go with the one you are most comfortable with. There aren't THAT many places that do DS's. So you won't be overwhelmed by choice. What State are you in?

For the most part, it stems from fear. Fear of complications, fear that YOU'll begin regretting it.. My own family did the same thing.. they just want what's best for us...