SpartanMaker

Medical questions should really go to your surgical team.

Give yourself time! When you press the brake in your car, it takes time to come to a complete stop. The same is true when you try to go from losing to maintaining. It's hard to know immediately if you are eating the right amount, especially with a significant amount of exercise like you're doing. As you are learning, you've got to EAT to fuel that level of activity and it can be stressful for us formerly fat people to eat at levels that at one time would have led to weight gain. Track things for a month or so and see where you end up. If you continue to lose, then you obviously need to eat even more. If you seem to be maintaining within a few pounds (keeping in mind normal fluctuations), you're probably where you need to be. If, heaven forbid, you do start to gain again, just ease off a tiny bit on the calories and you'll stabilize. Whatever you do, don't stress it, because you now have all the knowledge and tools to stay at the weight you want!

You've gotten some good advice already, but reading your post, a few things stood out to me. These are in no particular order: 1200 calories sounds high for 15 weeks post-op, but if that's what your plan calls for, who am I to question it? I think the bigger question is does this 1200 number include all the alcohol? One of the reasons alcohol is not recommended post bariatric surgery is that it's got a ton of calories and will definitely slow weight loss. The other huge concern on alcohol is that a substantial number of post-op patients develop alcohol use disorder. (Some estimates are as high as 20% or even 30%.) You didn't actually specify how much you drink, but when I see "active social life", I interpret that as "I drink a lot". Maybe try drinking non-alcoholic drinks when you are socializing? If you find that you can't give it up the alcohol, this is a major red flag and you really need to seek help. Taking another approach here, I noticed that you are being more active, which is fantastic! I did want to make sure you knew that changing your activity levels like that (starting a couch to 5k plan), will cause your body to retain more water. This means you may not see the results you are expecting on the scale, even if you are still losing fat. Keep in mind that the your weight is made up of lots of things other than just fat, so variations are normal and are just part of the process. If you are eating less than you burn in a day, then you are 100% burning off fat reserves, even if the scale does not show it. Best of luck.

Just finished a Half Marathon in ~2:10. Not too shabby for an old man that had a total knee replacement and open heart surgery, and that used to weight >330 lbs a couple of years ago. That's all, thanks for indulging me! 😀

Well, great is sort of relative isn't it? 😁 For me it's much better than I expected this week, all things considered. I'm sure for some it's pretty slow. Consider that the world record half marathon time is about 58 minutes. This means I'm running twice as slow as those folks. On the flip side, this time would probably put me in about the 55th to 60th percentile world-wide for my age group. This means I'm probably a little faster than average, but I'm sure not winning any races! I've got another Half Marathon race scheduled in November and hope to break 2:05 in that one. I haven't fully decided yet, but may do one in April or May and if so, will be shooting for a sub 2:00. I guess my point is I don't think too much about how I compare to others. My real goal is to continue to beat myself!

Are you logging your food? If you end up working with a dietitian, I can almost guarantee they are going to ask you to do so. You might as well start ASAP so they have something to work with. Specific amounts matter, so be sure to weight and measure everything. The reality is we just aren't good at determining how many calories we actually eat. Most people underestimate calories, but overestimating isn't unheard of either. You mention a couple of times that you're eating a lot. What you need to understand is that the amount of calories you are currently eating just IS NOT ENOUGH for you. You need to be consuming eating even more calories and logging your current intake will often be the first step. Once a baseline is established, a dietitian can help you find ways to increase your caloric intake to where it needs to be, even if you feel like you can't physically fit any more food in.

Have you tried smoothies? I find even with my restriction, I can down 500-600 calories in smoothie form, vs maybe 300-400 cals of most other things before I'm full. You can load it up with fruit, peanut butter, protein powder, etc. to suit your tastes.

I don't know if this is your issue or not, but one thing I've seen from others in a similar situation is that they still eat like fat people trying to diet. If that's you, you need to completely change your mindset. Your job at this point is to GAIN weight, so dietary fat and carbs are your friends. A key change would be to look for and eat more calorie dense foods like rice, potatoes, peanut butter, full fat dairy, etc. If you eat meat, look for fatty meat, not lean cuts. Calories are your friends right now. Just my .02.

A few things to think about here: It's not all fats that raise cholesterol, it's primarily saturated fats and trans fats. While people often think about the saturated fats found in meat and dairy, they aren't the only sources. Also, trans fats are found in lots of processed foods, so these can sneak in to your diet from things like store-bought baked goods. Stress can raise both LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, so actively working on stress reduction can have a positive impact on total cholesterol. Moderate to high-intensity aerobic exercise can lower cholesterol levels quite a bit Some research also indicates that low- to moderate-intensity resistance training can help reduce total cholesterol, but the link here is not as strong as it is for aerobic exercise

Rocking it! I love that your "after" photos are all in the gym. You're obviously working hard and it shows!

While it's probably fine to have, I get the impression your surgical team told you no caffeine at your current stage. (Otherwise why would you even ask this is question?) If my assumption is correct, you really should first talk to your surgical team about it. They probably had a reason to tell you to avoid it. Following their guidelines is best, even if they differ from what others have done or were allowed to do.

This is good advice. Not everyone knows this, but calorie estimates in food, even prepackaged ones are not super accurate for a couple of reasons: The USDA allows manufactured foods a 10% variance. In other words, if a packaged food states the calorie content is 500 kcal, it can be anywhere between 450 and 550 and still be within the allowed variance. The USDA simply does not have the staff to check that every pre-packaged food even meets that 10% standard, so manufacturers are given wide latitude here. They can be a lot further off and it's extremely unlikely anyone would know. It's even less likely anything would be done about it. Setting aside processed foods for now (those with nutrition labels), it's not all roses for unprocessed or minimally processed foods. Even these calorie counts can be way off due to the simplistic way we estimate calories. I'm simplifying a bit here, but to get calorie counts, we traditionally use something called a bomb calorimeter. Basically we burn the food in an enclosed space and measure how much heat is given off. Obviously, this is not how our bodies process food, so saying a particular amount of a food has "200 calories" as measured by a bomb calorimeter does not equal how many calories our bodies actually get from that food. Obviously I'm being a little US specific here, but I'd guess most of the above applies to other countries as well. In short, don't get in the habit of thinking calorie counts are as accurate as they might seem. They just aren't. Use the calories as a tool if you need to, but don't get overly dependent on them.

My point is you're probably looking in vain. You're hoping that there must be something out there that won't suck and that once you find it, that alone will be enough to motivate you to continue to do it. I'm just being honest here, but even if you do find something, I doubt that alone will be sufficient to keep you motivated to continue. You need other things that motivate you to exercise and if you can find and latch on to those, they can overcome all the objections you have even for things that are not as tolerable to you. I suggest looking back through all your replies in this thread. The are full of reasons why every single suggestion won't work. This absolutely screams to me that you just have not found sufficient reasons to exercise that can overcome the myriad of objections you have. Let's take walking, as an example. You stated you can't walk, because it's dangerous to walk in your neighborhood, but didn't address why you can't either drive (if you drive), or take public transportation to somewhere safer. You also stated you have a treadmill, but don't use it. I get it, it's boring. So is doing the dishes, but I bet you still do that? I believe if you were sufficiently motivated to exercise, you'd find a way to get past all the objections. I guess what I'm saying is maybe it's time to stop looking for reasons why you can't exercise and start looking for reasons why you can. I'll also recommend the Atomic Habits book again. I really think it's what you need to address what's keeping you from exercising. Best of luck.

This might be beneficial: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/ This is the official USDA nutritional data for foods. Compare the Baritastic numbers to the USDA numbers. This should help you to know if it's raw or cooked.

Me! I love that feeling of accomplishment, especially after doing something hard. It truly is addictive (in a good way).

This is so true and the effect gets even greater the more you exercise! I linked some studies below for those of you that are interested. The first one is particularly interesting to me because it had over 750k participants in the study. If you follow exercise science at all, you'll know this is almost unpresidented. Many studies are on just a handful of people (mostly college age male athletes), so a study with this many participants is really compelling. Here's the most important part: Said differently, people that are not fit are 4 times more likely to die of any cause vs those in the most fit category. Note that it's not just cardiovascular risk, but all risk. This includes things like cancer, kidney disease, respiratory diseases, and even accidents. While it's not entirely clear why fitness impacts survival rates for seemingly unrelated causes, I suspect it has to do with the fact that the fitter you are, the more likely your body can recover from injury and illness. Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Mortality Risk Across the Spectra of Age, Race, and Sex (Journal of the American College of Cardiology) Physical Fitness and All-Cause Mortality: A Prospective Study of Healthy Men and Women (JAMA Network) Association of Cardiorespiratory Fitness With Long-term Mortality Among Adults Undergoing Exercise Treadmill Testing (JAMA Network Open)

Based on your responses, I'd say the biggest challenge you have is overcoming your expectation that exercise should be fun. Don't get me wrong, it certainly can be fun at times, but that most likely will never be your main motivation for exercise. Frankly sometimes it may even be decidedly "un fun", yet you still CAN do it if you find a way to overcome your "hate". Simply put, you need one or more things that will motivate you that are stronger than the distaste you feel. Think about it: I bet you do a lot of things currently that you don't consider fun. You still do them because you know that not doing them will just make things worse. Activities like laundry, dishes, or brushing your teeth are likely some simple examples. I can't tell you what those motivators to exercise will be for you. You have to find those yourself. What I will suggest is reading a book that might help: Atomic Habits by James Clear. P.S. We don't call them "Aerobics Classes" anymore, so that may be why you're not finding anything? There should still be tons of Group Fitness Classes near you if you're looking for that type of structured class. Some that come to mind are Barre, Pilates, TRX, Yoga or any of the various Les Mills Classes like BodyPump, BodyAttack, etc. Best of luck.

Whatever app you're using to log should specify if it's raw or cooked weight.

Have you talked to the Mediaid people? They should have a list of surgeons.

It's probably best to discuss your dietary needs with your surgical team as every plan is different. Also, believe it or not, the size surgeons make pouches after surgery is not standardized. The point is they know best what's appropriate for you. I'll add that weight is not really a good way to measure your food this soon after surgery and most plans will provide amounts by volume (such as 1/2 a cup). The reason is that your stomach does not care how much something weighs, all it knows is if the amount of food you ate will fit inside or not. Later, there will come a time when you might start weighing food, but that's not something you really need to worry about yet.

I wanted to point out that many insurance plans will cover dietitian visits if you have certain health conditions, so it's possible that you can find someone to help without having to pay everything out of pocket. I'd start with your insurance company to see what's covered.

Lot's of good advice in your post! I wanted to comment on the above issue regarding proteins that seem like they just don't want to digest properly. I was advised by my surgical team to try papain (also known as papaya proteinase I). It was like a miracle in quickly easing that really horrible feeling and getting the food to digest. It might not be for everyone (I hear some people can react to it), but it worked so well for me I tend to carry some with me when I'm traveling or know I'll be eating out.

You didn't provide a lot of detail regarding your diet or activity level, but I'd be willing to put money on a couple of things: A relatively large percentage of your diet is made up of highly processed foods. You are not very active. Let's start with diet. You need to understand that it's not just about calories in vs calories out. Diet quality can be a huge factor in whether or not you can successfully maintain your weight at a lower level. If you do eat a lot of processed foods, start making really small changes and focus on just one sustainable change at a time until that change becomes the new normal for you. You can then move on to another sustainable change. Slow sustainable changes are the key, not quick-fix diets. As far as physical activity is concerned, there is significant body of evidence now that the vast majority of successful "weight loss maintainers" get an average of 60 minutes of physical activity per day. Yes, this is more than the typical recommended amount, but it's probably needed. (Discussing why is too big a topic for this reply). More detail would help. I hope you get it figured out.

You don't really have to worry about food safety if the food is frozen at 0°F (-18°C?) or lower. It technically can keep indefinitely. The problem is the quality will degrade over time and this is made worse if there is air in contact with the food. From my experience, freezer burn is the biggest problem. After a while in the freezer things will start to dehydrate and oxidize if exposed to air. That's why you want to get rid of as much air as possible. You'll know if it's freezer burned when it gets kind of a grey or white surface to any parts exposed to air. This will cause an off flavor that's not particularly pleasant. This may be happen in a few months, or much, much longer if stored properly. I once tried to grind up a ~5 year old roast that I "rescued" from the bottom of my freezer. I knew it was freezer burned, but I was hoping that if I made chili from if, the strong flavors of the spices would mask the freezer burned taste. It didn't. ☹️ 0/10, wouldn't recommend.

Wow, hunger signals could be a whole forum by itself! I suspect most of us understand being full, or even over full (I know I do!), but I think most of us as obese or formerly obese people just don't have a good grip on what true hunger feels like. I also think it's not the same for everyone. I'm almost 2 years post-op and I still struggle with this some. What I am learning is that hunger is not always the grumbling tummy sensation we tend to think of. Sometimes it's feeling weak or rundown, sometimes it may be a bit of a headache, other times shakiness or even an inability to concentrate. We all have to learn this for ourselves and it does take time.