BlackBerryJuice

LOL, neat! I've run into other VSG pts before, but never someone who I knew to post on this board. All of my encounters have been in a healthcare setting, so I didn't wanna get extra-creepy and be like, "Hey, post on VST? I'm BBJ!" LOL.

I'm nearing 2 years out, so obviously I eat a fair bit compared to people just out of surgery, but I still only eat maybe 1/3 of what a normal person consumes in one sitting. For what it's worth, I go every single day, up to 3x daily now that I've upped my fiber intake. Raspberries, blackberries, and dragonfruit - if you are not on the crapper 2 hours after consuming one of those, I owe you $50.

I stopped worrying about Fiber the second I stopped eating grains (Paleo diet). It's amazing how little nutrition - including fiber - they have compared to fruits and vegetables. I hit 30-50 grams of fiber a day, no supplements needed. A pint of blackberries will give you more fiber (12 grams!) and nutrients than all these supplements.

I wouldn't worry about it now, get sleeved first, get through the first few months, and then think about feats of athleticism. But to assuage your fears, it's totally possible to do intense workouts post-sleeve. I myself haven't done any endurance stuff (5K runs, that's it), just because I simply don't like those types of workouts, but I do a lot of high-intensity stuff instead. I know several posters on here have done half-marathons and marathons, and I'm sure triathlons, as well. I remember PdxMan off the top of my head, but there are more, I just have trouble remembering the screennames.

I'm 5'5", starting weight was 208. Highest weight ever was 218.

1) Aug. 9, 2010 2) My goal weight was 145 lbs....got there on January 31, 2011. Went down a few pounds, then back up, eventually leveled out around 140 lbs. Recently changed my diet and now I'm 135 - the lowest I've been since surgery. 3) I exercised pre-surgery, so I got back into it fairly quickly. I started swimming after 2 weeks, as per my doctor's instructions, lifting light weights about 1.5 months out, and doing strenuous exercise (e.g. Bootcamps) about 2-2.5 months out. I've been doing Crossfit since Aug. 2011. 4) I lost like 25 lbs the first month....then it was more like 15, then 10 lbs a month, then it slowed down to like 5. 5) I don't think so....

Yeah, it's not bad by any means, the stomach doesn't bother me at all - outside of me squeezing it all on purpose, it's only noticeable when I'm doing a plank or something and it sags a tiny bit. If anything, I think it will help me avoid awful stretch marks during pregnancy by making it easy to accommodate a bigger belly in the future. The thighs are a little more cumbersome, but I think some of it is also fat, as it's improved since I started the paleo/primal thing and lost 6 lbs. It's certainly not bad enough to warrant trading it for thigh lift scars, IMO.

You drink more throughout the day and during your workout, so you don't let yourself get crazy thirsty in the first place. Also, trust me, you'll be sweating an awful lot less once you are not hauling an entire extra person on you 24/7.

Oh, no! I hope you get over it quickly....I'm kind of glad I got back into dating practically right away, instead of dwelling on being alone/bored. Instead of moping around, I've been MOPPING around....my house is the cleanest it's ever been, it's so organized now that he moved all his stuff out, and I just got started on some decorating projects (wallpapering my living room and painting the bathroom). I'm looking forward to having a feminine abode - and bringing new guys home, lmao. So I'd definitely recommend doing that as therapy.

Took me a week before I didn't feel exhausted walking 3-4 blocks. Took me about 2 weeks to be able to get through a busy day of school without feeling like I was gonna pass out at the end. After 2 weeks, it was pretty much back to normal.

Yeah, you'd have to have that balloon forever. And then I wonder what happens if you get punched in the stomach or get into a car accident or something. I'd hate for it to burst and rupture my innards or something.

Well, I haven't tried it yet, BUT I did buy an all-natural protein powder from Whey Gourmet - who I know makes very good shakes, I have their regular protein powders. http://www.wheygourmet.com/products/wheygourmetnaturelle.php It has a minimal list of ingredients, it's basically just whey isolate, flavor, and stevia for a sweetener - so about as natural as it gets for artificial sweeteners. I haven't tasted it yet, but someone rated it 8/10 on this one website, and given how good their other shakes are, I'm assuming it's above average.

What about nuts and seeds? They are sugar-free and add good fats. I'm also doing the no sugar thing now and I've been throwing a handful of trail mix in my yogurt overnight (with fruit in it, but of course you can skip that). The nuts soften up a bit in the yogurt overnight and it provides some nice variety and texture.

I got to my goal weight (and below) by eating more or less whatever I wanted. Sure, I made an effort to get a good amount of protein first and I generally picked healthy snacks over candy, etc, but I certainly never felt deprived. I never weighed my food or anything like that. Recently, I totally changed my diet around to do the paleo/primal thing, which means no processed foods/grains (even "healthy" ones like quinoa)/legumes (including peanuts!)/sugar/vegetable oils. I stick to it about 90-95%, leaving room for an occasional Lindt peanut butter truffle or something similarly delectable. It's been remarkably easy, because you can eat as much fat as you'd like, so I enjoy things like berries with heavy cream, omelets with cream and cheese, veggies roasted in duck fat, etc. I also lost 5 lbs in 3 weeks even though I did not really have any weight to lose to begin with - I just carry a small amount of fat around my butt/inner thighs, like most of us women do. It's the first time that area has budged for me. When I tried to get down to this weight before, by simply watching calories and portion sizes but not really cutting out any foods, I'd always get overwhelmed with cravings, but now I have ZERO cravings. Remarkably, my calories are not lower than they were before, yet I've lost all that fat. Give it a shot if you are interested!

I feel that way, too....I never really got so big that I was noticeably handicapped, but I certainly lead a different lifestyle now. My sleeve resulted in many more changes than simply reducing my portion sizes. I work out way more - even though I was an exerciser pre-sleeve! - I'm more active on a day-to-day basis, and date ideas such as playing badminton or renting bikes together sound way more fun now than they did 2 years ago, I'm a lot more health-conscious, so it feels more organic for me to date someone who won't be pushing me to drink alcohol or split desserts with him at every meal.....one of the reasons I dumped my ex was because he just spent all his time off lying on the couch with his comic books and complaining about how bored he was, yet never offering any ideas for what to do together and refusing all of my suggestions. All he wanted to do was just lie around and eat crap. I used to be like that, too, but happily, I've left that in the past.

Bwahahaha! Awesome! I went to a guy's place last night and because we are both Protein junkies, we boiled some eggs and had them with some cheddar for our late night snack....he was gonna boil like a dozen for both of us, I said it was gonna be too much. I ate two eggs and he kept telling me to eat more, and was flabbergasted when I said I was full. "Full already?!" I just laughed it off. If this were in a restaurant setting and I got a massive steak or something, it would've been more challenging. Oh yeah, and then later he told me my abs made him feel embarrassed about his, whereas before seeing mine he considered himself to be in pretty good shape, haha.

I think it's great! Organic produce can be quite affordable if it's in season. For example, a month ago conventional strawberries at a store near me were $2.99 and organic $5.99.....now it's $1.99 and $2.99, respectively. That's only a dollar difference, and yet strawberries are some of the worst fruit in terms of pesticides. I'd say if money is an issue, go organic for fruits and veggies that you wouldn't normally peel before you eat. Organic bananas - not worth it, IMO. I find that conventional strawberries and peaches leave my mouth and throat feeling kind of tingly, but with organic, I don't notice anything, so I'm pretty sure I have a mild sensitivity to pesticides. Organic meat costs a fortune, BUT if you have a large freezer, you can find an organic/grass-fed butcher's shop in your area and put in an order for a large amount of meat, e.g. whole pig or half a cow, and save a ton of cash. You can also find other people online to split an entire animal with.

Damn, ladies, I may or may not have spent the night at a very good-looking gentleman's place last night, quite possibly in a horizontal position, and let me tell you, I'm ALREADY looking back and saying "WHEW"! I forgot things could be so much....um...fun, if you know what I mean. Hehehehe. BRB, responding to a bunch of texts from guys, lol.

Hey, thanks! And yes, I'm Crossfitting, been for about 9 months now. It's definitely a tough program if you are very heavy, but even so, we have some folks at my gym who are 50+ lbs overweight, and they are still able to do 90% of the stuff and modify the rest (mostly things like pull-ups that are extra-tough if you are obese). On the upside, those of us who used to be fat are usually pretty strong, haha. I've followed the diet about 95% this week, I had 3 squares of Ritter Sport chocolate on Monday. I also had some 86% dark chocolate, but considering the nutritional value, I don't really think it qualifies as a cheat. I'm down 5 lbs in 3 weeks, which is crazy considering I'm not eating fewer calories than I did before this - I'm still in the 1800-2300 range. I just splurged on a large freezer from Kijiji so I could buy meat in bulk for less....excited! I threw out a lot of my grain-based groceries because now that I've been at it for 3 weeks, I don't think I'll be going back to my old eating habits any time soon. I'm just keeping a few things in case I have a friend over or something, and that's it.

Oh gosh, I was just at Starbucks and they had a little sign there saying "Don't forget your sleeve!".....right above the coffee cup sleeves. LOL!

LOL!