Rainbow_Warrior

Mmmm ... I was not so disciplined. On Sunday night, one of my long-time friends turned up with his wife, his birthday cake and a tub of ice-cream. He cut everyone a piece of cake and dished it up with a scoop of ice-cream. I had two teaspoons of cake and about a half scoop of ice-cream and explained that I was not going to attempt to eat more. Said to my wife later that a real test would have been to not have eaten any. - - - Power to you, @I AM WORTH IT.

I'm three months free of them. I am 40 years free of sugary soda drinks and soft drinks and 91 days past diet drinks and beer. I might have a beer or two on a future special occasion but I have no interest any more for "fizzy" lolly-water drinks.

That would be a massive pain-in-the-arse ... i.e. dealing with the fall-out from that. Essentially not your daughter's fault but makes it hard to maintain privacy. I have three siblings. I'm 61, 'old' sister is 57, brother 56 and 'young' sister 52. My younger sister and I have a great rapport ... and we both swear our middle siblings were switched by aliens before their teens. The middle two are church-addicted and intolerant souls. They phone up to lecture on lifestyle issues, internal family matters and parenting/grand-parenting issues. I will pretend to be asleep if they come to my house for no acceptable reason ... it is just too tedious to deal with their ongoing issues and BS. The 'old' sister blames me and her sister that her kids (32, 30 & 29) don't talk (by choice) to her and her husband any more.

Monday 20th NOV ... I arrived at the pool at 5:05am ... I love the earlier week-day opening. 3rd day back at the pool ... 111 minutes [60 laps/1500m] of ambling (very pedestrian) breaststroke followed by 33 minutes [26 laps/650m] chest-deep medium-speed wading ... I had EASILY cleared 15000 steps/strokes on my Vivofit 3 fitness band before 8am today. It's now 10:46am on the east coast and my fitness band says 16300 steps/strokes for the day thus far.

SUNDAY 19th at the pool ... 84 minutes of ambling breaststroke (56 laps/1400m) and 12 minutes of chest-deep mid-speed wading (16 laps/400m). Vivofit 3 passed 11000 steps/strokes before 10am. Feeling nice and tight in my upper body. Well due for an afternoon nap! 12311 steps/strokes by Sunday bedtime.

The price seems extreme. My wife has had two balloons now ... totalling 14.5 months and has lost 33kg. Her total spend has been $AUD2800 (equivalent to $USD2100). But that comes with a follow up program that re-educates you on diet and lifestyle. (There's no point losing the weight if you don't alter your eating habits very seriously.) My wife has not cleared all of her food triggers and emotional eating problems but her trend is good. Did your $USD7900 not buy you additional support and training and contact with a dietitian?

Seriously, you are at what is PROBABLY the best hospital it the world when it comes to weight loss surgery. Sunderland Hospital (ENGLAND) is home to the doctors and staff of the world-famous documentary series "WEIGHT LOSS WARD". It (the hospital) and they (the staff) are responsible for making it clear to the National Health Service that 8000 pounds spent on gastric sleeve surgery PER PATIENT is a smart solution ... because the 8000 pounds is way less than the ongoing medication for diabetes 2 and other interventions that will other wise consume the health budget. I hope you get the great service and support ... you are in the best part of the world to get it.

Impressive. In awe that you can get it to sub-400 calories.

Impressive weight loss, @Rose400491 ... I am stunned hat you can do gym on just 250-300 calories. I do 90+ minutes swimming and 25-35 minutes of other exercise and I am consuming 1300-1550 calories daily. Your 34 pounds well outdoes my 8.3kg [18 pounds] since my gastric sleeve five-and-a-half weeks ago. Maybe you need to speak to a dietitian/nutritionist and/or an exercise physiologist rather than asking us well-meaning amateurs.

Thank you ... Large parts of this were MY STORY ... as I suspect so many others also found. Self-advocacy and 'fighting off the naysayers' are the key skills I developed between June and November, 2017.

That was the day before me. You are making very good progress. I was 174.6 kg [385 pounds] when I met surgeon (late July) and 160.4 kg [353.6 pounds] on the day of surgery (Thur, 12th Oct). Scale said 152.1 kg after my shower before breakfast. [335.3 pounds]. TOTAL LOSS: 24.5 kg (54 pounds) POST OP LOSS (38 days): 8.3 kg (18.3 pounds) Your rate of loss is great. 30 pounds is 60% better than me! I went back to the gym on Wednesday (15th) and the pool yesterday (Saturday 18th) so I expect some acceleration now.

Mmmm ... my biggest impediment was that I had a serious MULTIPLE health complication a week after my 32yo son was killed at work on March 1st. I kept up my swimming until about the 6th or 7th of March then became absorbed with the funeral and the attitude of relatives and in-laws. Now that I have returned (TWO DAYS IN A ROW), my head is okay about continuing. Between March 10th (my son's funeral) and yesterday, I had four operations (including the gastric sleeve) and about 18 or 19 visits to health specialists ... combination of obesity and stress mucked me around badly. Anyway, I am in good hands now. The pool is low impact on joints and I had gone down almost 40kg (87 pounds) in the 17 months prior to my son's unfortunate construction accident.

I was okay to return to the pool Day 11 or Day 12 post-op (i.e. OCT 23rd/24th) but I dawdled and fart-arsed around until the exercise physiologist pressured me last Wednesday 15th NOV to nominate a day I would be back in the pool. Under his steely gaze, I answered, "I'll be back in the water knocking out laps before sunset Saturday ... maybe even tomorrow (i.e. 16th)." Mmmm ... painted myself into a corner by way of this promise. It actually was a lot easier once I got there and started.

Well, 8:08am by the time the covers were off the main pool ... Sunday swimming was 84 minutes of ambling breaststroke (56 laps/1400m) and 12 minutes of chest-deep mid-speed wading (16 laps/400m). My Vivofit 3 passed 11000 steps/strokes before 10am. Feeling nice and tight in my upper body. My body and mind say I am hungry after the energy expenditure but I'm sticking to a big coffee and two eggs. 11:25am Sunday 19th NOV right now in eastern Australia.

Go back to square one. Re-educate yourself with protein shakes and liquids for 10-20 days then go onto purees for 2-3 weeks. Re-establish your beach-head for future weight loss. Get back to your clinic or the paper advice they provided. Talk to your family doctor.

Sip. Sip your yoghurts and your soups from a teaspoon. Only 2 to 3 partial level teaspoons per minute. Savour the taste and flavour. Eat mindfully. Slow right down or stop when you feel part full. Take 15-25 minutes off. Drink some of your water allowance in small sips. Don't pour. Don't gulp.

11pm Saturday ... I went to the pool ... first time since my son's funeral on March 10th. Swam steadily (slow breaststroke) for 36 laps (900 metres) then put in 24 laps (600 metres) of medium-slow chest-deep wading. The first time in nine months that my fitness band has recorded 10000 steps and strokes in a day. (I used to average 17000 before March this year.) So I impressed myself with my pool restart. It had a huge effect ... I slept for 2.5 hours once I got home. I NEEDED THE REST. I will be back at the pool at 8am Sunday when it opens.

I'm wondering how much reading and research you have done before this battery of questions. You will be buying into a lifestyle change that will, HOPEFULLY, end problems with diabetes and hypertension and the medications (and the expense) that they entail. You will be feeding a body that will be set at your goal (or within a few pounds or kilos of it). You'll probably need only 1350 calories or so to feed a 115 pound body mass. You will need to drop the old trigger foods or SEVERELY CURTAIL THEIR CONSUMPTION if you want to stay at goal. My surgeon and his clinic have said that, for my future, expect to eat very few fried foods and to consume zero or very little soda (soft drinks) including the diet or zero sugar varieties. He also said that I'll be having next to no french fries, chips, packaged snack foods. I will have to curtail at least 75% of my former bread consumption. There'll be next to no crumbed foods. There'll be very few, if any processed foods. I'll be eating leaner meats or proteins. I'll be eating more green vegetables. (This one is NOT a problem for me as I already am a big veggie consumer.) Fewer potatoes, lesser amounts of carrots and corn. Once I get from 174.6 kilograms to 74.6 kilograms (385 pounds to 164.5 pounds), I don't aim to go back to the life of yo-yo dieting ever again. This gastric sleeve is a big investment in $$$ ... and I don't want to waste any of m spending. The sleeve has been my opportunity to sidestep all the heartache I have had over 25+ years fighting to stay a reasonable size and failing diet after diet. I want to reset my willpower SO THERE WILL BE SACRIFICES. Fewer sandwiches and smaller ones! Meals that fit on a side plate rather than a dinner plate. Meals with more protein and more good fats and fewer simple carbohydrates and sugars. Would you like some links to what my clinic and surgeon have told me?

Only if you have a fleet of ships nearby! <GRIN> Navel [sic] ...

The neck is an interesting indicator. Also watching my best friend (sleeved 24 days before me) as his double chin and jowls shrink. Lots of NSVs to savour! :-)

MFP (www.myfitnesspal.com) suggests that this is the set: Hope this works to assist you!

First balloon was "new and challenging" and took some adjustments to chewing what she ate until it was all ground pulp. Second balloon was an easy adjustment.

And wear it around the house in the daytime to really get used to having it on. Don't leave it until bedtime to start the familiarisation/acclimatisation process.

If you have a smartphone, install one of the sleeping sounds apps or a white noise app. It really does work.

Passed the five week post op mark two days ago. Have been walking 20-35 minutes per day and doing 10-15 minutes with my stretch bands. When I saw the exercise physiologist on Wednesday 15th Nov he asked I was not doing more walking. I told him that, despite being 23kg less, I was really wanting to get back to the pool because of the low impact on my joints (knees and ankles). I promised him I'd be back in the water by Saturday. It's 2:10pm Saturday afternoon here and the pool shuts at 4pm today ... so I am about to get my arse into gear and go. (I did dress and pack earlier. I arrived at the pool to find that the therapy pool was full, the learners pool was full and the exercise pool has a kid's birthday event set up ... that was 11:40am.) This time, I'm sure that the kiddy lessons will be over and the 'big' exercise pool will be fairly clear. It's 23C (73F) here today ... NOT hot enough to attract the big crowds of a hot day. So, I'm about to leave. Will report back this evening.