Creekimp13

I ate 1000 calories at three weeks, I eat 1200 per day now. Never feel hungry, tons of energy, and almost to goal. Have lost pretty steadily:) Jess is right....ideas about diet among surgeons are all over the map. I'm part of a study with a major research hospital assessing the effect of higher calories sooner impacting sustained loss at five years post surgery. The theory is that eating closer to normal calories sooner gives you a better metabolic reset long-term. Previous small studies support this, and I'm part of a broader study hoping to confirm and support these findings with a bigger population of patients. That said...I know plenty of people who have been VERY successful long term eating low calories through their loss phase. Ultimately, it's so individual. People who are hell bent to make it work....make it work. I really did not consider myself an "ideal" bariatric patient. I'm not overly type A. I refuse to be hungry. I hoped to improve my health conditions, but vanity wasn't a huge motivator. My biggest hope going into this was to get the average result....50-60% excess weight loss. I've done so much better than that, I'm just stunned. I'm not far from goal, and I've got a year of trickle loss left. It's pretty exciting:) I really like my forever diet. It's healthy and balance with lots of good carbs. (lots of fruit, whole grains, beans...very little sugar or refined) I don't feel like I'm "dieting" and that's huge for me long term. I do get 75 naughty calories a day....I can use them or bank them, so nothing is forbidden. I don't crave anything I can't have....I plan for it...eat a legal amount...and am usually puzzled about why it sounded so good. My tastes have changed a lot. My whole life I was either starving and obsessing like a maniac.... or throwing all concerns to the wind and overindulging. I don't want to live this way anymore....both extremes just suck for me. This is the first time in my life I've felt like I have a truly healthy relationship with food. It's been a crazy ride, but I feel like I've finally found a sane way to deal with food.

1) Will I ever be able to eat normal things like everyone else down the road at some point? With restriction of course? For some reason this is worrying me as my surgery date approaches. Yes. You'll be able to eat nearly everything. The only food I've found that I'm remotely sensitive to six months out...is corn on the cob. This varies by individual, but I can eat most things in small quantities. 2) Will I be starving or feel starving after the surgery? I did. A lot of people don't have hunger after surgery. I had horrible hunger....but it went away by week three when I started eating 1000 calories a day. 3) Will I be able to take all of my medications still? Prozac, bp, uric acid pills? Talk to your doctor about your meds. (but yes, most meds will be fine..and you might even get off your bp meds) 4) Is it unsafe to live on such low calories? People who have bariatric surgery generally have lots of calories stored as fat...so can manufacture their own fuel from fat. You do have to pay attention to eating your protein, because you don't want your body to consume muscle. And you need to take your vitamins. My program had us eating 1000-1200 calories 3 weeks after surgery. This is an extremely safe level of calories to live on. You can live short term safely on less. If you run into hypoglycemia or malabsorptive issues, this can be problematic, but most people don't. if you eat 60+grams of protein a day, your muscles should be safe.

Refried beans are a good early food. I like them with melted reduced fat cheese, a few slices of avacado, and a big glop of salsa. I'm not Latino, but I love Mexican food. I you do rice, switch to brown rice. Lower glycemic index will give you less rebound hunger and it has more protein. Good luck!

Tip: if you get the option of taking Emend (an anti-nausea drug that costs about a hundred bucks for the one pill you take)...it's worth every penny. I had no nausea. None at all. Emend is usually used for people taking chemotherapy. It's AMAZING at controlling nausea.

Man.....medical experiences are just too different to tell much. I had my gallbladder out ages ago. Did it laparoscopically, outpatient. Had surgery at 8am and was home on the couch eating a Subway turkey sandwich at 1pm. Almost no pain, felt great, piece of cake. No pain meds after. Back to work in three days. My sleeve surgery was a breeze, too. Was up walking the halls within hours of my surgery. Walked literally miles the same day as surgery...slowly and carefully...but it made me feel better, so I kept walking. Asked for as few pain meds as they'd allow. (I think I had a shot of narcotics in recovery, and another one before bed...but I opted out of a LOT of pain meds that were offered because I simple felt comfortable and wanted to poop someday) Went home the next day. Never did any pain meds except regular Tylenol for a few days. Different people have such different experience. I will say my C-section was much worse than sleeve. That one slowed me up for a few days.

If the person is the same gender....they probably like the cut and fit of your jeans and think they're flattering. If the person is the opposite gender.....it's a nice way to say your butt and legs are attractive.

Ask a pharmacist or your doctor, proper.

Woot! awesome tip, Ash! Thanks:)

My hair...that was bone straight before my daughter was born....became very wavy after my C-section twenty years ago. It's still very wavy. No clue why this happens to some folks.

Call your doctor right away and keep walking every hour you're awake. Also, cut back on salt. Cut out broth and salty drinks. If your house is very hot, move to air conditioning until you get it figured out. Drink lots of water.

1. Endoscopy is a piece of cake. You go in..get prepped. It takes about 20 minutes and you're done. You get a drug that gives you amnesia about the whole thing, and you rapidly feel normal. You do have to have someone drive you that day....but hubby and I went in the morning, and were done in time to go to lunch. Had no problem enjoying a restaurant and shopping that afternoon. It's not bad at all. A little sore throat:) Some people don't have to do endoscopy. My surgeon has us do barium x-rays first. If they look normal, we can skip the endoscopy. Mine looked abnormal so I had to have the endoscopy......I had a little gastritis, probably due to a hiatal hernia and NSAID use...but it wasn't bad enough to stop me from getting sleeve. Have not had any problems with GERD since my surgery:) Please don't worry about the endoscopy, it's super easy.

I was so hungry after my sleeve I could have chewed my leg off. I was more physically hungry than I've ever been in my life. (something about eating starvation level calories that did not meet basal body requirements and a massive surgery that required massive calories for repairs) I didn't stop feeling hungry until about week three after when I started eating around 1000 calories per day. I eat 1200 calories per day now, and never feel hungry:) Some people get relief from hunger. Some do not.

Hydrostatic is the way to go. See if your fitness center has an underwater scale. http://www.instructables.com/id/Measure-Body-Fat-via-Underwater-Weighing/

Lookin sharp! Great work!

I'm gonna be a Mom here and post this..... please don't think I'm criticizing anyone's choices....just putting information out there. TOBACCO AND WEIGHT LOSS Tobacco use is actually more prevalent among obese people than it is across the general population, with up to 38 percent of obese individuals being regular users of tobacco products. When you are making the choice to undergo weight loss surgery, it is time to put the tobacco products away for good. Aside from the standard health issues that smoking causes, from increasing risk of heart and lung disease to damaging the skin and posing an increased risk of cancer, smoking is a surgical risk factor. Bariatric surgery has a rather low risk factor, with under a one percent mortality risk. Among smokers, however, that risk doubles. This means that you are twice as likely to experience serious surgical complications leading to death if you are a smoker. Smokers are 1.5 times more likely to experience non-fatal surgical risks, too. This is just part of the reason why so many weight loss surgeons mandate that smoking cessation happens at least one year prior to surgery. Smoking increases your risk of experiencing the following surgical complications: Blood clots Pneumonia Marginal ulcers Surgical wound infection Smokers have almost a 30 percent complication rate after weight loss surgery, which is astoundingly higher than the surgical complication rate for non-smokers.

Nicotine use is highly correlated with very dangerous complications after weight loss surgery. (even years after weight loss surgery) I know ya'll don't need me to say that...you're adults. Fact is, I miss nicotine dreadfully. I was never a smoker, but I was addicted to the gum for 10+ years. My doctor cautioned me never to do the gum again. I miss it. But I'm better off without it. Haven't touched it in over a year. I feel your pain. But I'm hell bent not to endanger myself. My years of self abuse, are hopefully...behind me.

Stuff you can do that might help prevent them: Lower fat diet Lower oxalate diet Take your calcium CITRATE as prescribed Vitamin B6 Probiotics Low salt diet More plant protein, less animal protein (nuts are a bad idea cause they're high oxalate) Drink lots of water Pull your protein back to 60g per day....avoid massive protein intake Avoid spinach Do not take over 500mg of Vitamin C

Yes, stones are VERY common after surgery...even for people who drink enough. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5361755/

LD....I had a weird Chinese food craving and my family likes to do celebration Friday night, too... Confession...I picked up a little wonton soup. I let my puppy eat the wontons and drank just the clear broth...and it was delicious. Got the rest of my family some Chinese and I didn't feel deprived. It wasn't exactly a cheat...but it was something special and hit the spot. For me...this helped. Other folks might find the other temptations kinda overwhelming and not worth it. But it worked for me.

Congrats and best wishes! Sip, sip, sip, walk, walk, walk:) Keep us posted on the other side.

Go shopping and look for future outfits:)

Husbands who act like they don't notice.... I've heard this from several of the gals at support group. I promise your husband has noticed bigtime:) He might not say so, cause it probably freaks him out a little. One of the husbands at group actually piped up and addressed this... he was like....Yes, of course I notice, but I don't want to freak you out by focusing on it. And it's weird to see other guys notice. And it's a little scary to think you're more attractive now and maybe you have more options. Sometimes it's easier not to talk about it, but yes, I notice. I notice a lot. And I'm really proud of you, but it freaks me out a little, too. You really do look amazing and I love that you're healthier, but change is just weird. The guy seems like an incredibly dedicated husband....young couple in their early 30's. I thought his answer was really honest and awesome.

Are you speaking from personal experience, Matt?

Might as well just enjoy the compliments...as compliments. If the person has more to say to you of substance...give them a chance. If all they want to talk about is superficial bs...let it roll off. I've had more doors held for me by middle aged gawky men in the past thee months than in the past ten years. I feel your irritation. Here's the problem Ash....you're freaking gorgeous and maybe you're realizing that more than you used to. Mortal men cannot resist. Can you really blame them? Yep, it's dopey.... but, meh...it's largely harmless.

I dunno...I think sometimes people are just misguided. Maybe they figure....well, shite, she's gone through all the touble of surgery to look hot, it must be important to her...I'd better acknowledge it? Wheels within wheels. People and communication are an imperfect pairing sometimes. That said....there is no shortage of stupid or shallow people on the planet. The good news...is that there's no shortage of brilliant and deep and introspective and compassionate and fun and wonderful either:)