Introversion

I admit to having spree-watched a couple of seasons of "My 600-Pound Life" on Hulu. Every single super morbidly-obese person on that show has several issues in common: Childhood trauma: each person was either abused, molested, raped, rejected, and/or grew up in a home where domestic violence and substance abuse predominated. Enablers: each super morbidly obese person has poor mobility, so one or more relatives enables the overeating by providing the excessive quantities of fast food and junky groceries. Poor coping skills: these people do not like themselves and are trying to escape their traumatic pasts. Their food addiction is a mechanism to escape themselves and their realities. There's a saying: Addiction is a means of escaping oneself, while recovery is a means of discovering oneself. Essentially, these people are mentally escaping by utilizing food as the main distraction.

Running (it's free and effective as a calorie-torcher) Weightlifting (effectively improves body composition) Cross-country hiking (low-impact and exposes me to beautiful scenery)

I actually started increasing my intake at 4 months out. I chose to increase my intake early in my weight loss phase for a number of reasons: I wanted to preserve my metabolism. Those who keep their intake too low for too long sometimes end up metabolically challenged and easily regain weight if they eat more than 1200 calories daily. Active bodies demand more fuel. A combination of too much exercise and not enough food spells disaster. I decided I wouldn't deprive myself of food. Deprivation leads to intense cravings, binges, and so forth. I prefer to be a sleeved person who can blend into a non-sleeved society.

On surgery day my weight was 218 pounds. It took almost 18 months for me to lose 100 pounds and get to my goal weight. I was a slower loser. I resumed exercise at 3 months post-op. I started with a walk/jog routine and worked my way up to running 30+ miles a week. I've cut back to 20 miles of running weekly because I now lift weights 3 times per week. I increased my calories in an incremental stair-step pattern: 800 calories a day by the 3rd month, 1000 calories daily by the 4th month, 1200 to 1500 calories daily by the 6th month, 1500 calories by the 9th month, and 1700 to 1800 calories a day by 1 year out. I now eat 2000+ calories daily in maintenance.

Yep. I'm 5'1. 130 lbs would have placed me at a 24 BMI, which is the upper limit of normal weight. I currently weigh 118, placing me at a BMI of 22. Someone who's exactly 5 feet tall has a normal BMI range of 98 to 127 pounds. Of course, BMI doesn't take other factors such as muscle mass into account.

Although I no longer work nights, I used to work 12-hour night shift at a hospital from 6:00pm to 6:30am when I was first sleeved. Here's how I ate: 6:30pm: breakfast, right after receiving report. 10:00pm: snack, usually cottage cheese or hard-boiled egg 12:00am: lunch, usually grilled chicken salad or hearty soup 3:00am: snack, usually cottage cheese or protein bar/shake 6:00am: dinner, usually protein bar or shake 8:00am: bedtime snack, usually cottage cheese or yogurt

Chips are a slider food, a.k.a. slurry food. Other sliders include crackers, pretzels, biscuits, mashed potatoes, cookies, and other snacky carb treats. You can eat an unlimited amount of sliders. Sliders turn into a liquid slurry once you chew/swallow and don't stay in your stomach for more than a few seconds, so they'll never challenge your sleeve in a way that produces fullness or satiety. You can eat a 1-pound bag of chips and never feel full. Sliders also promote rapid weight gain because they 'slide' right through the stomach into the small intestine where the calories are readily absorbed and stored as fat. You have an amazing tool in the form of your sleeve. If you continue to sabotage your body's weight loss efforts by eating junk foods and high-glycemic fruits so early in the game, then getting a sleeve may have been an ultimate exercise in futility. Don't waste your tool. You can do this. Good luck to you.

What was your starting weight? Weight loss with a sleeve doesn't occur in a predictable, linear pattern. Most of us didn't post losses daily, so weighing oneself every day can be futile and pointless. With a sleeve we lose some weight, then hold onto some weight, then may stall and plateau on occasion, and may even regain a few water weight pounds before dropping more weight. The only super-rapid losers tend to be males, super-obese people with a BMI greater than 50, and young people in their teens and 20s. Most people don't lose 30+ pounds a month like a house on fire. Realistic expectations are important. Good luck to you.

Nope. I don't engage in any type of shaming as it's not worth expending my energy to do something so negative to others. However, health will always trump curves and I stand by my views. Be mindful that intangible aspects of communication such as tone and facial expression cannot be properly conveyed in written mediums such as message boards.

Good health always takes precedence over curves and looks. Many of the women who receive dialysis three times per week still have their curves and look great, yet they're going to die young. Many women who have had major strokes look great and have curves, but their weight problem placed them at increased risk. Great looks and curves don't mean much when you stick your finger 4 times a day and shoot insulin to prevent blindness, kidney disease, heart problems and nerve damage associated with diabetes. Great looks and a curvy body won't help when one is told she must undergo a bilateral knee replacement and weeks of therapy because the 300+ pound body wore the joints down over the years. It is time to ignore the people in your life who prioritize 'curves' over improved health. I'll bet top dollar that many of them aren't truly concerned...they're envious.

Most protein powders aren't designed to withhold the 120+ degree heat of hot coffee. The protein powder's structure deaminates when exposed to heat, and therefore, the protein won't get properly used up by your body for repair/building catabolic functions. Would you be willing to switch to iced coffee to boost your protein intake?

Yep. You hit the nail on the head. My friend and I were both sleeved and reached our goal weights. However, her family members (most of whom are badly overweight, by the way) have been unsupportive. They tried to discourage her from having surgery in the first place even though she had a heart problem, diabetes, hypothyroidism, and high blood pressure controlled by 5 different medications. Why did they not want her to be sleeved? "You might lose your curves," they all shouted. Now that most of her health problems have resolved and she's at her goal weight, they all holler that she's "too skinny with no curves" although her weight of 145 pounds places her at the upper limits of a normal BMI for her height of 5'5. She's a size 8, which is not too skinny unless your views on body image are warped. Take a look at the people insisting you'll lose your curves: They're all overweight and focus on you instead of their own problems. They fixate on looks and aesthetics rather than improved health. Some of them secretly hope you don't lose enough weight. Some of them even secretly hope you regain the weight. To be honest, I enjoy being normal-weight over having a curvaceous booty and nice-sized breasts any day of the week. Some of my friends' relatives talk behind my back and say I had a better shape when I was heavy, but every single one of these haters needs to look in the mirror at their own ruined overweight bodies. The concern-trolls are not truly concerned. They're insecure and should mind their own business.

You hit the nail on the head. Undergoing bariatric surgery with the hope that all of one's preexisting eating issues will miraculously disappear is unrealistic. People who have WLS must be willing to work in order to succeed. For some, it means addressing serious psychological aspects of why they overeat (e.g., emotional overeating, boredom, food addiction, stress). It might even entail professional help. I conjecture that 90+ percent of success after bariatric surgery is psychological. Essentially, the head of a person who has undergone WLS must be in the right place to succeed. Many WLS patients who don't utilize more adaptive mechanisms to cope with life's stressors often regain weight due to using food for purposes other than intended.

Coffee has sugar and fat only if sugar and fat are added. A cup of black coffee by itself has only 1 whopping calorie. I add a tablespoon of half & half (20 calories) and a few packets of equal (0 calories). My grand total for a cup of coffee? 21 calories. It won't bust the waistline.

Welcome! You are losing at a normal rate as a 'lightweight' with a sleeve. I assume you've been sleeved since this is posted in the gastric sleeve forum. When's the last time you previously lost 15 pounds per month through the old-fashioned way of diet and exercise? I suspect the answer is "Never." You started at 200 pounds. Please realize you'll never be one of those people who loses 30+ pounds monthly like a house on fire because you weren't that morbidly obese to begin with. The bigger the person, the faster they tend to lose. Realistic expectations are important during your weight loss journey. You didn't exactly become 200 pounds overnight and it will not fall off overnight, either. In fact, expect the rate of weight loss to slow the hell down from this point forward. I started at 218 pounds and had lost 27.5 pounds at 2 months out, so you are actually losing at a faster rate than me. After the first 2 months I lost at an average rate of 3 to 6 pounds monthly. However, I'm pleased with the final result: I lost 100 pounds and have kept it off so far. Good luck to you.

It took a year and a half because I was a slower loser. I started at 218 pounds on surgery day and it took 18 months for me to lose 100 pounds. I exercise 6 days per week, usually. I run 20+ miles a week and lift heavy weights 3 times weekly. I also use a stationary bike, elliptical machine, and stair mill at the gym.

I weighed 218 lbs on surgery day. I choose the sleeve because, due to my short height, I had 100 pounds to lose in order to attain a normal BMI. I didn't want a bypass because I didn't want to be left metabolically challenged several years from now. I didn't want a lap band because the maintenance lifestyle of fills and unfills wasn't for me. Good luck with whatever you decide.

If you are having cravings, it's definitely not real hunger...it's head hunger. True hunger isn't associated with food cravings, whereas head hunger is. Sure, you could definitely cheat after a few days post-op. However, the consequences (busted staple line, potential of plateauing or regaining) aren't really worth it.

I consume 100 to 120 grams of protein per day. Higher protein intake enables me to maintain my 118-pound body on 2000+ calories per day. Protein-rich foods provide more satiety. Also, the body must expend considerable energy/calories to digest protein. This is called the thermic effect of food (TEF). The more protein we eat, the more it speeds up our metabolic rates. I lift heavy weights 3 times weekly and run 20+ miles per week, so my protein needs are increased. However, a sedentary person who has undergone bariatric surgery is basically asking for chronic hunger and weight regain by limiting protein intake to 40-60 grams daily.

I had all four wisdom teeth extracted in 2000, when I was 19 years old. The sleeve was slightly worse in terms of recovery, but only slightly. I returned to work the day after my wisdom teeth were extracted, whereas I returned to work 2 weeks after being sleeved.

I work for an insurance company. If your workplace offers health insurance that has a bariatric surgery exclusion clause, it will not be covered under any circumstances, regardless of how skillfully you plead your case. Your best (and speediest) option is paying $2999 all-inclusive to be sleeved in Mexico by a bariatric surgery practice called Long Term VSG: http://longtermvsg.com/gastric-sleeve-surgery-in-tijuana-mexico

I resumed my coffee habit at 2 months post-op. These days I enjoy a minimum of 3 cups per day, usually with half & half and artificial sweetener.

Not me...I've left the dieting mentality behind, including gimmicks such as fat burners and diet pills that aren't a real part of a comprehensive lifestyle change.

Honey roasted peanuts are perfectly safe to eat, but they may or may not lead to a stall/plateau of your weight loss due to the added sugar. A better choice would be unsalted or lightly salted dry roasted peanuts.

I take an over-the-counter multivitamin, usually 1 Centrum or 2 Flintstones complete. I also take ferrous fumarate (a.k.a. iron), calcium citrate, vitamin D 2000 units, vitamin A 2500 units, and a vitamin B complex. The vitamin A and B complex are not usual pillars of bariatric supplementation, but I developed a thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency from excessive coffee drinking, so I take a vitamin B complex to address that. I also had a pre-existing vitamin A deficiency prior to surgery due to hypothyroidism, so I take vitamin A. Since I'm a female of childbearing age who menstruates, I take iron.