DropWt4Life

I think that guys pant sizes are smaller now that they were even 15 years ago. Every pair of pants that I owned was baggy fit. Now, everything is slim fit, straight fit or regular fit. If you are lucky, you can find a relaxed fit. Anyway, I wore a 44 baggy fit loosely or a 44 straight fit snugly at 6'2" and 326 pounds. This was in my old jeans. I refused to purchase new jeans, because new 44s were too tight on me, and I wasn't going to shop at the big and tall store. Now, at 244 pounds, I wear a 36 straight fit or 38 slim fit comfortably. I started out with a 3X shirt, and now I wear a 2X shirt.

Clear liquids for 1 week...Full liquids for 1 week...Pureed foods for 2 weeks...Soft foods for 4 weeks. I was then allowed whatever I wanted. The soft foods stage was progressive. Each week, I was allowed to have new foods.

A loss of 42 pounds is excellent progress in 3 months, especially since your starting weight was only 197. I don't know your height, so I don't know where you should be. Protein is important, and if you can't find a protein shake that you like, you should try to get more from your food sources. I like premier protein shakes myself. My favorite flavors are chocolate and bananas and cream. I tend to mix them both up to make a different flavor. If you haven't tried premier protein, then pick up a 4 pack from the store. Costco sells an 18 pack for $24.99, which is a great deal. Every quarter or so, they give you $5.00 off as well. As far as your One A Day Petites go, they appear to have a good mix of vitamins at 100% of your RDA. I would probably take double the amount myself by dividing up 2 in the morning and 2 at night. You don't absorb all of it, so this will help you get a lot more in. I suspect that hair loss is a direct result of a lack of vitamins, protein and overall calorie deficiency. Continue to take the Biotin, as that helps. Try to hit your macros as well. Once you are able to eat a bit more, it will get easier. You are doing well. Keep up the hard work. Make sure that you get enough nourishment from your diet, continue to supplement, and you will be fine.

Congratulations! You look great! Keep up the hard work!

I didn't tell any co-workers or friends about my surgery, so they don't know. I still get asked how much I've lost every few days though? I just say "I don't know". That is a signal for them to stop asking. I have 100 co-workers, so eventually it will stop. I feel flattered by the complements, but it does get old really quick. With most of America being overweight or obese, people just gravitate to others that have found that magic pill or formula for weight loss. They are fascinated by it. I understand that. You can give subtle cues that you are over it without just coming out and telling people to leave you alone. One word answers or an "I don't know" will convey that you don't want to talk about it. Don't elaborate on it. The next time someone asks how you are feeling...Just say, "Fine." That's it.

LOL! Now that is funny!

Don't worry about it. If they have moved on, well, it is their loss. You just need to take care of you right now. It would be nice to have their support, but you don't need it. People grow apart and move on. It happens to the best of friends. If you were the "token" fat friend, as you stated, you always deserved better anyway. You are going to do amazing, but stay the same on the inside. You will definitely meet new people that will be a healthy addition to your new lifestyle if you put yourself out there. As other posters stated, support groups are great for meeting people that are experiencing things that you have, are or will experience in the future. Good luck, and keep up the hard work!

Awesome! I am thinking about doing a few 5ks next year if the knees can take it.

Good Luck, and welcome to the Losers Club!

I am sure that the average will increase over time as my caloric needs change. I do tend to be on the low end some days as I just crave more veggies and grains, and less meat. I suppose I could add in more avocado and/or EVOO on those days as I already add in a protein shake or two.

I am consistently at around 60-80g of Carbs per day. I started out under 20g, but have gradually increased that over the past couple of months. I also get about 80g of protein, and 25-50g of fat in daily. I don't feel that I need more than that. I just eat whatever I want, but try to keep my meals under 200 calories, and snacks under 160 calories. This one constraint keeps me away from processed foods and bread for the most part.

I am almost 3 months out, and have had no complications as of now. I did have issues with constipation, but remedied that by leaving low carb for a more natural diet. I also had issues with acid reflux, but I got rid of that several weeks ago by going on a regimen of good old APPLE CIDER VINEGAR. Gassygurl, perhaps this will help you as well. I take 2 Tbsp per day. It is really good for you as well. Before the ACV, I was taking Prilosec...didn't want the side effects of long term usage. Lainey, having second thoughts is completely normal. We all have them. I was ready for surgery after decades of battling weight gains (and losing), but I still had thoughts of backing out. I am happy that I didn't give into them. I will say that you must get your snacking under control if you intend to be successful long-term. This surgery helps you to eat less, but does not stop you from eating sweets and salty snacks. You can still eat just as much as you did before surgery. I go out to eat with family and friends every Thursday after my daughter's volleyball game. I eat well. I can find a salad or protein and veggies anywhere, so it isn't an issue.

Careful Berry...You are making me hungry! I haven't craved sweets in 2 1/2 months until you brought up baked apples! Now, I am secretly plotting a way to make them. What is your recipe? I know they sell Splenda brown sugar, but don't know if that is a good thing or not. As far as I can tell, your diet is on point, and your health should definitely show it! In response to your comment about the amount we can eat in a day, I will say that I don't think that we were meant to eat 20 cups of food (or more in my case) in a day. We consume way more, and are way less active than our forefathers/mothers. I never thought that I could be healthy eating as little as I do, but as you stated, it all comes down to planning.

I think that we call food by its macro content just for convenience sake. Much easier to say # of carbs, fat or protein than to say X# of chicken breasts, X# of cups of rice, and X# of avocados, etc. i do agree though that there is just too much emphasis on looking at macros as a measure of what is healthy. The entire time that we have been doing that, we have gotten fatter and more unhealthy as a society.

With a BMI over 50, you'd definitely be better off with a sleeve or bypass. A gastric balloon isn't going to allow you to lose enough weight, and will need to come out in 6 months. I have read tons of complaints where people lost only a few pounds with it. It sounds like you aren't ready for a major surgery, so these might not be options yet. If you have bad knees, then you should still be able to swim, work on abs, or lift weights. You don't have to exercise to lose weight though. It is mostly all about what you are eating. My personal experience is that exercising 6-7X per week only allowed me to maintain, and never helped me to lose weight long term. It was the massive amounts of food that I could consume in a sitting that caused the issue with my weight. This is why I think that exercise can help you drop a bit, but you are going to have to get the eating under control if you are going to be successful in getting your weight under control. I hope that everything works out for you!

Okay, I get it. So y'all are speaking on IF after being out at least a year, and preferably when your calorie load is higher than 1,000. I will go ahead and revisit IF at a much later date then. I have done 2 week juice fasts before, but never tried IF. Interesting stuff.

Jess...So do you eat 250 calories on the 2 fasting days of a 5:2 diet since you should only eat a quarter of your calories on those days? I have read a bit on it, but don't know how that would work with someone that can only eat 1,000 calories per day. Do you wait until a certain time of day to consume calories on fasting days? Should you consume, for example, a 160 calorie protein shake at 1pm, and a small meal or another protein shake at 6pm, and then resume your regular way of eating the next day? Excuse me, I'm just a bit confused about it.

Yeah, I loved to smoke as well. I think that everyone that is addicted to something, loves it. We all eventually quit because of outside pressure, cost or health reasons. If it was socially acceptable, cheap, and didn't cause health problems, I would definitely be smoking right now. It helped me to relieve stress, and curbed my appetite. Not to mention, I was allowed to take smoke breaks at work. Our managers would frown upon people that were at other's desks talking, but didn't care if you went outside every few hours for 5-10 minutes to have a cigarette. My family and friends would always tell me that I smelled like an ashtray, but I didn't believe them. Now, I can smell smokers all the way down the hall at work. It is a strong smell. I also started saving the $4.00 that I was spending on cigarettes every day for my daughter's college fund. Ten years later, there is over $15,000 in that account. She is 13 now, so I still have 5 years to go. It isn't a whole lot considering the cost of attending college these days, but it will definitely help.

I do think that my ghrelin levels are lower than they were before surgery. I ate 4X per day before, and had an enormous appetite. After I ate, I would get hungry again within 3 hours. I don't eat much now, and can still last 2 1/2 to 3 hours before I start feeling that I should probably eat something. it is a subtle hunger, though. Maybe a stomach growl or something. After surgery, one of my surgery buddies was seriously hungry. She kept complaining that she felt that she was starving. I had no hunger at all. The IV was fine for me. I thought the difference was because I did a 2 week real liquid diet, and she ate up until the day before surgery. Now, I don't know if that was the reason or not. There are people in this forum that are not eating more than 4 ounces of food per sitting at well over a year out. I am fine with 4 ounces of dense protein, but other than that, I can eat up to 7 ounces or so. I am only 2 1/2 months out, so that scares me a bit. All I can do is follow my guidelines though. If I end up eating 16 ounces of food in the end, that is okay. I was able to eat up to 3 pounds of food per sitting before. I can maintain with 16 ounces. I guess the thing to remember is that since we are all different, we will all respond differently to surgery. I would assume that none of us had the same ghrelin levels to begin with. I know a few obese people that don't really eat that much. They just eat the wrong things. I would guess that if they had the surgery, they would probably not experience hunger like I do. That doesn't mean that they will experience more success though. They still have to stay away from the wrong things, as they will not get full on a bag of m&ms, but they will gain weight nonetheless.

As HB76356 said, there are many factors that determine the amount of excess skin you will have. I'm 6'2", and my high weight was 326. I am down to 247, and don't really have any loose skin. Of course, that is only a 79 pound difference. I am 27 pounds away from my goal weight, and hope that it stays that way. If I do end up with lose skin, I will take that over being 300+ pounds. With any luck, you will be fine. Even if you do end up with excess skin, maybe it will either not be noticeable or located somewhere that is easier to hide (upper thighs and stomach). Either way, it will be worth it in the end. Good luck bro!

I also work a desk job. I had two weeks off, so it was a breeze once I had to return. I just planned ahead, and made sure that I had purees, protein shakes, etc. on hand at all times. This is something new, but you will get used to it in a hurry.

I would stay away from gummy vitamins, and just take regular vitamins. They just contain too much sugar, and don't have enough vitamins and minerals to make them worth it. I can't stand chewable vitamins either. I had to throw all of mine away as soon as I could swallow regular vitamins (one week out). It felt like I was chewing on two or three Tums a few times per day. There are some good bariatric vitamins out there though. Look for the 100%s. I overlook any vitamin that doesn't have a lot of them.

I'm 45 now, and I wish that I made the decision to have surgery in my 20's. I have spent decades struggling to lose weight, only to always gain it back and more. I am sorry that you have had miscarriages. That is a tough thing to go through even once. Everyone is scared, and everyone has doubts. It is a big decision. This surgery is truly life changing, but it isn't for everybody. You've got to be ready for it. My two biggest fears were that: 1) I would have complications from surgery. 2) I would have to change my lifestyle. No more snacking, eating out or drinking socially...At least in the way I was accustomed. 3) If I gained the weight back or didn't lose after surgery, it was final. I would just have to live with the failure. My doubts stemmed from my fears. I kept telling myself that I could do it on my own, and didn't need surgery...But realized that this was my brain telling me what I needed to hear so that I didn't have to conquer my fears...Especially, my fears of lifestyle change, and being a failure. The brain is a powerful thing. It has a way of making you rationalize the irrational. Only a very small percentage of people have been able to lose and keep off a hundred or more pounds without surgery, but somehow, we keep telling ourselves that we can be in that small percentage...And maybe we can, but at some point, we must accept reality and do what must be done to get us there before we succumb to health problems. I had never spent a night in the hospital until I had my surgery. I had never had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or high blood sugar....until I did...Developed all three in the last year at age 44. All three are normal now, thanks to my decision. I wish you the best of luck in your journey!

Great Transformation! Congratulations! You look great!