MeanSleevedMachine

14 months out, I am eating 2650 calories a day which is still 187 calories below my BMR. So I am still losing, just slowing it down because I want to cruise into 250 and stay there.

Ice cream. Without question.

I am not quite to the one year mark, that will be May 10th of this year. My life has changed so much for the better that I wish I had done this years ago. First, it is a lot of hard work. I log everything I eat. I light weighs 3-5 times a week religiously. I walk 5-10 miles a day religiously. That said, I do occasionally eat foods I shouldn’t. I eat cake on my birthday. I eat ice cream once a week with my daughters. I still eat a bun with my hamburger and if I go watch a movie in theaters I will eat popcorn because life is too good to pass up and I want to experience it. I’m not perfect by any means but I’ve worked hard and 90% of the time I do exactly what I should be doing. I’ve dropped a ton of weight. Before I had the surgery I took 11 pills a day for various health issues. Today, I take zero prescribed medications and haven’t for the last three months. The only medicine I take now are vitamins. I was super worried before the surgery — it is a massive surgery when you think about someone cutting out large chunks of a vital organ. I had two little kids, a 1 year old and a 3 year old at the time. All I could think of was what if it went wrong and I left them without a dad. That said, at the weight I was at, I was going to eventually eat myself into an early grave and leave them without a father anyway. I’m glad I took the plunge. I lost the majority of my weight in the first six months. It started to slow down around the 9th month and the last three I’ve lost about 6 lbs a month. I’ve already hit my goal. I’m about 22lbs away from my vanity goal that I never thought I would hit before surgery. I tried to be realistic but I think I might surpass my vanity goal at this rate. Here are pictures.

If you need any help on your journey let me know. I don’t check this website often but I usually check it a couple times a month. So I may not respond right away but I will respond to any questions you send my way.

Good luck on your journey and if you need any help on what to eat, how much and any exercise programs just let me know. Since we have similar starting stats I probably have more to share with you than the average person on here since you will no doubt be eating more protein and calories earlier on than the rest of the folks having the surgery to avoid stalls.

I would say never but that is not technically true. 99.9% of the time it is true. Sometimes if I am somewhere amazing food exists and i mean truly amazing, it really bothers me I can only eat a small amount and I am done. At those times and only those times, I think of how amazing it would be to eat as much as I wanted. But that is a small sacrifice for the other 99.9% of the time I feel absolutely amazing and the extra 25 years I’ll live to see my babies grow up. A trade I would make 1000 times out of 1000.

I often feel this way too. I honestly think some of it is we do not see ourselves the way others do. I constantly lament to my wife about my “big belly” after losing over 240 pounds... I stand in disbelief that I still have a belly. A belly that looks huge to me now. She always shoots back “boy, you don’t have a belly anymore.” I look at my clothes... my new clothes, and think there is no way this will fit me. Then it not only does, it is loose. I honestly have the hardest time seeing myself as a non-fat person no matter how many people I love and trust that tell me otherwise. Logically and rationally I know I am smaller. You don’t lose as much as I do and not look smaller. So I know people aren’t lying to me. It’s just... I was fat for so long and I still see myself as fat. So man, I understand where you are coming from. I’m just now getting to where I look at my photos and see real progress. Unless you were morbidly obese it is really difficult to understand this. I get that. But it just goes to show that being morbidly obese affects more than just your physical health. It really damages you mentally too.

Here is a recent photo at 13.5 months out. All of the working out is starting to pay off. I was telling my wife (who has been telling me this for months now) that I can finally tell how muscular I am getting in photos. It is really amazing considering the blob I had become after a decade of inactivity.

I had zero loose skin and zero hair loss. My wife, who also had the surgery, has some loose skin on her arms but had zero hair loss. Our surgeon told us to eat tons of protein 140 for her and 200 for me to prevent hair loss. We did that along with starting a workout routine. My advice, prioritize protein and start working out if you want to minimize these issues.

Before WLS I took 9 pills a day for high blood pressure, I had severe sleep apnea and I had to take medicine to keep fluid off my legs because of lymphedema. As of 10 months post surgery I take zero pills, no longer have sleep apnea and have zero fluid issues.

Still working on adding muscle but I am happy with my current weight. I have surpassed my goal weight. Now it is all about body composition.

I set 3 goals. Only two were weight related. #1 was to be off all medication and my c-pap. I hit that goal at month 9. #2 was my realistic weight goal which was to be the same weight I was when I was at the peak of my physical fitness as a college football player — that was 310 lbs. I hit thar goal at month 7-ish. #3 was my vanity goal that I doubted I would hit. I wanted to weight 265 and finally be a normal BMI. I hit that goal in month 13.

My issue with what was said is what is directly in the quote. That weight lifting only burns a couple hundred calories an hour as if that were the only benefit to doing it. It isn’t. If we take the example of converting 20 lbs of fat to 20 lbs of muscle. The cumulative effects of that in a year without any extra effort is over 70,000 extra calories burned at rest. So that is 15 lbs of weight lost or 15 lbs of weight not gained (however you want to look at it depending on where you are in your weight loss) from no extra effort. Just carrying muscle instead of fat. The benefits to weight lifting go far beyond the calories burned while weight lifting.

Yeah, no. That guy has zero credentials to make him an authority on that. It is a scientific fact that 1 pound of muscle burns 7-10 calories a day and 1 pound of fat burns 2-3 calories a day. If you replace 20 pounds of fat with 20 pounds of muscle, the muscle will burn 140-200 calories a day just existing compared to the fat burning 40-60. This doesn't account for activity level and other things in which engaged muscles expend more energy, too. This is also in addition to the activity burn when building the muscle which is probably 4-600 calories a week. Muscle just burns more energy. I find it unlikely he is burning 4500-5500 calories a day, too. Although, if he were taller it is possible. Not everyone fits into the little boxes everyone wants to put people in on this site. Some of us DO burn a lot of calories because we are large, have a low body fat % and are active. I'd put this guy in that category. He is probably burning ~3500 calories a day. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less. My advice to him is to take the money (only costs me about $300 every six months) to get his BMR and body composition tested so he knows exactly what his body is made up of and how many calories he burns a day just existing, and with varied levels of exercise. I wouldn't listen to anyone on this forum -- and yes, that includes me -- I'd see what the numbers say from people that specialize in doing this.

The difference between lifting and walking (I do both) is that the calorie burn benefit to lifting doesn't stop and end during the activity. Increased muscle mass has a calorie burn effect that goes 24/7/365. So while you may only burn 200 calories during an hour of lifting weights, added muscle will consume more kCals than the fat it replaces. Which in turn ups your caloric daily burn. If this guy is 20% body fat as he claims and he is working out like this, he is probably burning 3700 calories a day or more.

I think your caloric intake is too low to promote weight loss and muscle gain. Your regimen seems very similar to mine as far as exercise. Granted, I am 6'7" but I consistently eat 2300-2500 calories a day and I still lose weight. In order to build muscles you have to feed them. I had a BMR test done and just sitting on my butt I burn 2947 calories a day. That is if I don't move out of bed. So don't listen to people saying 1400 calories is 'too much.' Go see an actual dietician if you want an educated opinion on the matter. What I can tell you is that I'd bet my bottom dollar if you did they'd tell you to eat more.

I used it before and after surgery until this last February when I was finally cleared to no longer use it. The months after sleeve surgery seem like a blur but from what I remember, it was difficult to use the CPAP immediately after surgery just because of how much it stretches your midsection with the forced air. I remember it being uncomfortable but I soldiered through it. You can too. Ultimately, the reason I had sleeve surgery was for my health and it'd be stupid to go through the effort of having the sleeve surgery and then self-diagnose yourself off a CPap machine which literally is like playing russian roulette with your life. Use your C-Pap until you are told not to. You will get there. I did.

It is certainly better as far as positions and things just because of how much flexibility and mobility I have now. As a 400 pound man it was difficult to do much because I was barely flexible enough to tie my shoes at times and I always had bad lower back pain when I was heavy. All of that is gone now. The growth is very real too. Although, that has pleased me more than my wife. She isn't as excited about the uncovered inches.

Congrats! You look great.

Congrats! Looking great.

Left - May 10, 2018. Right - April 20, 2019.

My wife and I used to keep the house thermostat at 66 year round. Everyone that would come to our house would complain it was like a meat locker. Now I freeze to death at anything lower than 71.

Depends on the work you do. Honestly I took two weeks off. I probably only needed a week but I have over a year of time off banked up. I never take time off work other than a yearly vacation. I figured this was a justifiable reason to burn some of that time. I guess it depends on your personal situation in regards to type of work and how much time you have banked.

Just an update. Went to my one year on Thursday. I was 271 lbs. I am almost to my vanity goal. Most amazing was my body fat % had went from 44% to 17% in a year. Even better, this time a year ago I took 9 pills a day for issues related to weight. Today, I take zero. Nada. Amazing journey. I wish everyone that wants to start it the best. If you invest into it heavily you will have wonderful results!

My goal was to be off every medication and be healthy. In that respect I’ve been at goal for awhile. My weight goal starting out was 315 which I thought was realistic given I weight 489 to start. I smashed through that and I’m almost to my vanity goal of 265.