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You got this! I quit February 25th 2019. I turned 60 this past May. I wish I would have quit long ago. In February I had flu with double pneumonia. I knew my smoking days had to be over. I had already had thoughts about trying to quit and that was it. I have never been that sick in my life nor do I want to be. I didn't use anything to help me I just told myself this has to be it! It really is a mind thing because I know I am going to always want it. That is never going away, I just know I can't have them. With time you do stop thinking about them as much, but you always want them. I know everyone is different but I think once you are a smoker you will always have the desire. Good luck! Just put it in your mind right now I have to be done!

I just started the process for the approval process in December. I have my psyche, nutrition, and surgical consult next week. The lady from the surgeon's office who submits everything to the insurance called today and I ask her what the possible timeframe usually is? She stated after my appointments next week it will be sent to the insurance for approval and we are looking at the 1st or middle of February for surgery. Does it really go that quick and smooth? I have already had my letter from my PCP's office sent. I think the nurse practitioner sent it since she is the one who did a physical on me and I discussed it with her. I am just at the 35-37% BMI for surgery depending on when my weight fluctuates. I have struggled with my weight since I was a kid. My mother sent me to WW when I was 13. I was able to lose weight and with a lot of work pretty much kept it off throughout my adult life until I hit menopause. With menopause, age, and the fact I quit smoking I just can't seem to stay motivated longer than 10lbs worth. I have joined WW many times over the years, and I have taken phentermine for years for which I requested my records be sent to the surgeon to be submitted to insurance. I haven't had a lot of medical problems other than really bad hypertension, but that is mostly because I just didn't go to the doctor's the past 10 years because of my weight. I am really hoping my lack of physician visits doesn't keep me from being approved. I have parents who both had heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension. They both passed in their 60's. I turned 60 this year, I feel blessed I don't have heart disease or diabetes with my genetics, but I am scared it might be right around the corner if I don't do something now. I have Cigna insurance and just wondered what others think my chances of getting approved are?

I don't know my month to month, but in the first 2 months I lost 60lbs. By month 4 I had lost 80lbs. And by month 10 I had lost 146lbs. Now at month 13 I have lost 166lbs.

Hi im Amy. I moved since my wife and divorced after 10 years. I did the surgery for myself because im going to be 50 and wanted to live. I started at 325 down to 258. Dec 6th was surgery 2019. So 2020 watch out world. I have back issues and other health stuff, but you know the weight needs to go first. I will make my first goal at 240 that is the weight i can ride a horse. Its nice to be able to be me on this. Amy

Ok, so fairly new here - or rather, it's been years since I was here Working on a regain - not going to get into politics but my past combined with some stuff in the news created some trauma I was dealing with that I ate my way through, and then I also am in my third year of Seasonal Affective Disorder which, along with the mood issues, makes me crave carbs (known symptom). And on top of all that I hurt my SI joint and the muscle relaxers they prescribed gave me the munchies big time! Took me a while to realize what the issue was, and then I stopped taking them unless it was as I got into bed, but by that point it was like my body was trained to want food in the evenings (when I took them). Still working to break that. I can be good all day but in the evening I want to EAT ALL THE THINGS. I do think sleep deprivation is a huge part of that and the SAD messes with my circadian rhythm and gives me insomnia. Working on that and I think it will help. (I looked back at my fitbit dat and I'd gotten 8 hours of sleep once in the past 4 months that I looked at. Most days were 6 hours or less. Oops.) So, all that explained, I'm ready to stop making excuses and fix this! I did NOT go through that liquid diet and all the emotional roller coasters of hormone release after surgery just to gain it all back. I was not a fast loser - never hit goal - so I can't afford to go up! I even rejoined the gym yesterday, which by the time I pay for that plus kids club for 3 kids is not cheap - but I need to be serious and make this a priority. High weight was 220, low weight (shortly after starting ADHD meds that lower appetite, lol) was 143 I think. Average for the past few years was 248-152,which put me at a BMI of 29. But now I'm up to 162 and that puts me back at 30, which is obese. Nope, not doing obese again! Plus I was in great shape when I was pregnant with my 4th kid - doing Zumba class at 9 months pregnant - and now I'm this weak, out of shape person with a bad back, lol. Not okay. And all the weight I gained was in my belly, so it is just super obvious and makes finding pants hard. Initial goal is to get back down out of the obese category. Then to get back into my size 10 clothes instead of the 12s. I want to get down to 145 again, and would LOVE to get into the 130s. Challenge is night time eating. Yesterday: Exercise: 10 minute warm up on treadmill, lower body workout with machines, crunches and leg lifts on the mat, 5 minute cool down on elliptical. Did 15 minutes in the sauna to help SAD symptoms hopefully. B - coffee with half and half and splenda, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup sautéed peppers/onions Snack - latte made with 1 cup fat free fair life milk and 2 shots espresso L - 2 oz roast beef deli meat, handful or so of spinach, .25 oz feta cheese, light blue cheese dressing, .25 oz peanuts, 4 gluten free pretzel chips S - 1 slice swiss cheese, .25 oz peanuts, coffee with half and half and splenda D - 3 oz shredded chicken, 1/2 cup roasted veggie blend, 4 oz baked potato, 1 tsp butter, 1 tsp olive oil, sugar free jello cup (I ate this over the course of the evening - got full, cleaned up the kitchen, then finished it) S - sugar free pudding, decaf cappuccino made with 3/4 cup skim fair life milk, .25 oz honey roasted peanuts, 10 gluten free pretzel crisps. Was feeling good about all that! Then stayed up too late and ate a bunch more of those pretzel crisps. Then woke up at 1:30am by the dog laying on the TV remote and turning the TV on and off over and over again, and ate a Luna Bar and a cookie and some tortilla chips before going back to bed. ugh. Trying to find will power at 2am is hard. I've attached my MFP stats for yesterday, but that was before the middle of the night eating. I hate adding that in there - but I guess I'll put it on today's page since it was after midnight.

After much controversy out there on CICO and macronutrients, I spoke to my dr. DISCLAIMER: THIS IS ALL OPINION AND NOT FACTS A little background: I have always struggled with my weight since I was a kid. I started dieting as young as 11 years old. After graduating High School I weighed in the 260's and was really unhappy with myself. I had a terrible relationship with food and would go from starving to overeating. I decided to have the sleeve done. I did the sleeve at age 19 in Aug 16, 2017. At first I did great the weight slipped off quickly, but what i didn't realize is that i was losing weight without eating properly. I didn't really track my foods after 6 months and ate whatever I wanted. A little less than 2 years out I realized that I had some regain and again started with yoyo dieting. Instead of dieting I needed to find a new way of living. One of the main things they will tell you out there is to do something you can stick to long term. Otherwise the weight will come back up. What I have decided together with doc: I will aim for 1200-1400 cals a day, minimum 60g of protien and maximum 100g of healthy wholegrain carbs, we discussed carbs for a long time, basically as long as you eat wholegrain healthy carbs and some fruits without going crazy it should not cause me to gain weight. And since I want this to be a lifelong way of living, I have to do something that I can stick too. Although keto in the past has helped me lose weight quickly, I cant stick to it. I will also be adding 1 cheat day every 2 weeks in which I can have up to 1600 cals and must hit my protien goal first.( this is so that there is no food that I can "never have again") Bottom line - I will try to stick to these guidelines and see what happens. I will post weekly updates on how I'm doing. STATS: 5'2" / 28 months PO sleeve / HW 275 / LW since sleeve 165 / CW 176 Sent from my SM-G950U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

12/31/19

Isn't it too early for that if I just had surgery 10/28 of this year? I haven't eaten one bad thing. I think it's just a normal stall. I thought about it, but I was literally just cleared for regular food yesterday. I'll see what happens I guess.

I've gained 23 lbs of an over 200 lb loss. Would like to lose 10 lbs as I felt best at that weight. I'm just going back to basics - not all the way back to liquids and purees, but the "protein first - then veggies - then if there's room, a small serving of fruit or healthy carbs (e.g., whole grain thing))". I've also stepped up my exercise - 4-5 days a week. I've always logged my food, so I'll continue to do that. The issue is I've let too many calories and not-the-greatest-food-choices back into my life, and I'd slacked off on exercise the last few months. I don't know how successful I'll be with this, but this is how a lot of other vets have tackled it. other methods I've heard that vets have had success with are Weight Watchers, Intermittent Fasting, and Keto - so any of those could be worth a try, too.

Hello everyone! I am almost five years past my gastric bypass surgery, but at this point, I have gained back almost half my weight (30 pounds). I'm feeling frustrated, as it seems like all of the problems that I had before surgery are all returning, most specifically, the inability to lose weight due to PCOS. I am getting ready to restart, as much of the weight gain is my own fault. What I'm wondering though is what have you guys done that has worked? Only interested in those who are as far out from the surgery as I am. Ultimate goal is to be able to trigger weight loss again. Not looking to lose 30 pounds, but would love to drop 10. Thank you all in advance!

I think it's not quite as straight forward as CICO and if you eat less than you need, you burn fat. But one of the reasons IF and ADF are so popular is that it can allow you to lose weight without having as large of a metabolic drop as straight up calorie restricting. If you calorie restrict for long in a normal anatomy, you get a metabolic slowdown in as quick as 72 hours and that can be from 10-15%. Which is partly why yo-yo dieting and regain happens. To some extent, the studies show that WLS protects us a little bit from this metabolic **** storm... But ADF with caloric restriction like I do can be used to either maintain or lose weight. I use it now for maintenance. At the end of the week, it's still an average calorie base...from high and low days divided by the days of the week. It allows me to do lean days (where I hope some autophagy happens), along with feast days. So I'm not stuck only eating 1000-1100cals each and every day. This way I get a few days (2-4) at low: 500-800 cals and 2-3 high days (1500-2000) and I'm not gaining and not really losing very much. So I feel like my metabolism might be recovering a bit? Cuz before I was stuck gaining at anything over about 900! But one thing I am noticing is that I'm leaning out. So fat is being replaced with muscle. Which is what we all want, right? I didn't know I was, cuz the scale wasn't budging, but then I took nekkidy photos at the PS and you could clearly see the diff from the last 6 months between photos. Very clear difference and loss of body fat %. So yeah, IF and ADF are really good about being a muscle sparing type of weight loss. The way you are doing IF is the way Dr. Fung suggests. In maintenance he wants you to eat in an abbreviated window with the same amount of cals/macros as normal.

Yesterday, Sunday, Dec. 29 Maintenance : 5'2" / 1yr PO Sleeve / ??? lbs (last weigh in 115.0 lbs on Dec 18th) ---------------------------------------- * TMI Alert * Now that the constipation has passed, I sort of have the opposite issue now. I pooped THREE TIMES yesterday. Not diarrhea poops, but the good S-shaped poops that come out nicely. And not just little S's, I'm talking long-ish snake-like poops. THREE TIMES. I was pretty hungry yesterday I think as a result... ---------------------------------------- 1:00pm - salad w/ vinaigrette + cucumber + 1 grilled shrimp + 1 oz grilled octopus + 4 oz grilled pork chop + 1/4 cup full fat milk 3:30pm - 1 oz beef jerky + 2 french macarons 5:00pm - salad w/ vinaigrette + cucumber + carrots + 1/2 avocado + 1oz cheddar + 1 oz almonds + 3 oz grilled pork chop 7:00pm - 1/2 cup greek yogurt + 1 oz blueberries + 1/2 oz almonds + 1 tsp chia seeds + 1 oz beef jerky + 2 Lindt Lindor Chocolate Truffles 10:00pm - salad w/ vinaigrette + 1 grilled shrimp + 1/2 oz grilled squid + 1.5 oz bbq pork + 1/2 oz roast beef ---------------------------------------- Totals: 1706 cals - 114g Protein - 85g NET carbs - 95g fat

Congratulations to everyone checking in or who has checked in already. Take a few slow deep cleansing breaths and repeat, relax and remember you aren't alone. We are thinking about you today and will be checking for your post whenever you feel ready to post after your graduation ceremony/surgery. We are all super supportive and proud of you, its okay to be nervous. This is your experience, we will be on the other side of the stage waiting for you. Congratulations Class of 2019!!!!

I was able to stand straight at the two week mark. I maybe shouldn’t have though, because it caused a little bleeding in one spot. It didn’t hurt because I am mostly numb. I can do it now with no issues. I am still sore when I get up especially if I have been sitting for a while. I am actually getting a little worried that I am eating to much without exercising. I walked on the treadmill yesterday for a mile, but my watch no longer logs that as exercise. I was pretty tired though. I wish I could walk my dog, but she is 70 lbs of ADHD every time we see a deer, squirrel, or other dog. Her harness works good, but it is still a lot of muscle to hold her back. My youngest son helped me walk her the day after Christmas. My other dog, Bandit, weighs less even though he looks bigger (he is a Great Pyrenees Chow mix which makes him fluffy), but he is 10 and gets to tired to go very far, he also likes to try and lung himself in front of cars. I really miss my daughters dog, I called her my obesity dog because she was leash trained and friendly when she came to stay with us. Unfortunately, she got hemolytic anemia and even though we spent to much on blood transfusions we had to put her to down last year (she was only 3). My 70 lb dog, Sandy, still has her squeaky toy (it is the only toy she hasn’t ripped apart). Maybe I am more emotional after surgery. I am certainly off topic. Now I have to find a pic of my daughters dog Remi to include. My daughter adopted her while she was in College. After graduation she found employment in the Dallas area, housing is more expensive up there and doggie day care is what I used to pay for human day care. My husband grumbled the whole time, saying he told her not to get the dog, but he loved her. It had to be me that said she hasn’t eaten anything in 5 days it’s time to let her go. Remi was a black mouth cur mix she survived parvovirus as a pup. We tell people that Sandy is a lab mix, but I am pretty sure she is mostly pit bull. She has hip dysplasia, but it doesn’t slow her down much (we are both not symmetrical haha). She has stairs for getting in and out of the truck. Also, she was overweight at 77lbs, we had to put her on a diet. She likes carrots, so those are her new treats. She should be 65lbs so we are still working on it, never had an issue with leaving food out for the other dogs, I guess obesity really does have genetic factors. Also, I think my husband was giving to many treats because he ran out of people to feed when our youngest moved out. I have a follow up appointment today, so I will ask about when one should be able to stand up straight.

Bethlehem, PA. Sleeved 12/23/19 Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using BariatricPal mobile app

I ate a blend of fat free refried beans, shredded cheese, reduced sodium taco seasoning, chicken broth, and unflavored protein. I ate 2 ounces and it went down just fine. I want to scramble an egg but haven’t gotten to it yet. I tried unsweetened applesauce on Saturday and it was much sweeter than it did pre op. Today I had Hormel turkey chili with shredded cheese; that’s my favorite thing so far. I’m actually not allowed tomato anything until March and I missed tomatoes in the ingredient list somehow. Bummer. It’s been the easiest thing to go down since I started purées. Also, funny you mention the RTD Unjury shakes. I had a couple in the fridge and tried them post op. The vanilla was still good, but the chocolate tasted bitter to me? Most of my shakes have had the Unjury chocolate classic as the base powder, to the point the tub is almost empty. I loved the Cookies and Cream Premier pre op but have yet to try it post op. Thank you! I haven’t really drank anything added to my water except for decaf tea one time and a MIO electrolyte once. The one time I had infused water, it actually WAS cucumber and lemon! My clinic has a fruit infuser cooler in the lobby along with a regular one. When I visited for my 10 day follow up, that was the blend du jour. Youll get more protein in over time. But yes, definitely get fluids in at least.

I have an ESG (not as a revision) and am very happy with the result. This is a copy and paste from my doctor's ESG FAQ https://bmiclinic.com.au/endoscopic-sleeve-gastroplasty-faq/ Can I have an ESG following a gastric balloon, gastric sleeve or gastric bypass? ESG following gastric balloon: Recent research has revealed that people who’ve had a gastric balloon do less well following ESG in terms of weight loss. For this reason, we do not recommend ESG to anyone who’s has previously had a gastric balloon. ESG following gastric sleeve: Endoscopic revision of a gastric sleeve is possible, however the weight loss that results is only approximately 10% of the baseline weight. There are likely more effective options which you can talk through with your Bariatric Specialist. ESG following gastric bypass: Endoscopic suturing is possible via a procedure called TORe, Transoral Outlet Revision.

Hi all, Does anyone experience a bit of coughing after eating? I’m thinking it might be the pressure from my new pouch? I had VSG surgery on 12/2/19, so almost four weeks post-op. Thanks!

I'm scheduled for the sleeve on January 20th . Pre-op appt with surgeon is 1/9 and pre-op with the hospital is 1/10. I still need to have my pre-op tests done and have had difficulty scheduling appointments because of the holidays. Blood work is no biggie and will be done on New Year's Eve. But EKG, gallbladder ultrasound, and chest xray are all scheduled for 1/6. Would it even be possible to have the results sent that quickly from the lab to primary care and then to the surgeon within 3 days?

Yay for all of us! I’m scheduled for February 4th to have the sleeve done and will be having it done in Puerto Vallarta .. I’m excited as well but am terrified all at once! I have a very supportive husband who has seen my weight fluctuate so much in the past 6 years and has never made me feel unattractive or undesirable. With that said, I want to do this for him as much as it is for myself. I want to feel attractive so I can make him happier! I also have really bad family genes.. my mom died 10 years ago at 60 of heart disease and I don’t want to suffer the same horrible fate she did so I decided to take control and do all I can to live a long and healthy life. Cheers to everyone who has decided to take control as well! We all should be so happy that this option is available:)

I am new here but I am having the sleeve done on 1/7/20. I start my clear liquid diet on 1/31/19. I'm SO ready!!

Spend a lot of money if you need to. You can give yourself a lot of knee problems if you wear the wrong type of shoe. If you are obese, which everyone here here is, or us d to be, you probably have already stressed or damaged your knees. I have hurt my left knee because of the way my weight used to effect my foot. I either was or my weight caused me to supinate. If your feet bend the wrong way, it will directly impact your knees. Loosing 80 or so pounds per knee, has helped alot... Someone posted the chart. Look at your shoes now, and see what the tread wear is. That will say what you need. Before I got neutral support shoes, my outside tread was GONE and my inside tread looked brand new. I was also wearing Dept store cheap shoes probably designed for pronation - opposite of what I needed. . . My advice is to jump the shark. Go see a podiatrist and get custom molded insoles. That has helped me, immensely. I suppinated, and required neutral support shoes, but, suppinating just wears them out anyway. The custom insoles greatly mitigate that. And they can last a decade or more. . . You can't have enough. Running shoes are not walking shoes. The cushioning is designed for different movement. Walking and running have different ways your feet impact the ground. If you jog, get running shoes. Always have a pair of walking shoes for casual use. I have 4 pair. And I switch my insoles between three of them until I get more insoles. One for walking. One for running, and one for sports (cross trainer). It sounds rediculous, but the walking and running are different. When I stress my feet running, I want a shoes for that. My cross trainers are the new balance 672 or 674 or whatever, and they are built tougher and have better build for sideways movement and are just $70. So, when I am fencing or doing odd whatever, I am not wearing down my more expensive casual walkers. Same with running. My 4th pair are just cheap to wear around hous to prevent wear and tear on my walkers, and slip on and off easily (always properly tie and untie your expensive shoes so they last). Sounds insane yes, but as my walkers wear down, it's separate from my running shoes. My running shoes might last me 2-3 years now. Walkers just over one. As my walkers wear down, it's separate from the better support I get for exercising or fencing and when I go running. . . Please do not go cheap, get good quality shoes. The discount shoes you see in malls, are no good really no matter what brand they are. Brand names build separate styles for discount stores (Kohl's, boscovs) and they are cheaper build and quality. They are not on sale, or have a blemish, they are just cheap. No way around it, you need the more expenses shoes. My life turned around when before I had the surgery when I switched my cheap shoes to $120 class walking shoes. Don't learn the hard way and years from now find out you slowly gave yourself problems because of bad footwear choices. The high quality brands also last much longer than their cheap counterparts. Someone posted a link for new balance shoes. Unless they are selling top line shoes that are on the new balance website (and not counterfeit) I'd say to ignore it. I have tried high and low to find cheaper versions, and I do not believe any licensed resellers of new balance or Brooks (the best sub $200) allow anyone to sell more than $10 below MSRP). I hope I am wrong though. . . You one have one pair of feet. Treat them well. Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using BariatricPal mobile app

Ok, so here is a question for everyone...i had my sleeve surgery done Nov.1, 2019. Ever since, not sure if it is weather related or not, but, since i have been eating foods after the surgery i sneeze, like between 3 to 5 times. I dont sneeze during any other part of the day, just after i eat. I have heard about getting the hiccups, but not sneezing. Any other sneezers out there?

Maintenance : 5'2" / 1yr PO Sleeve / ??? lbs (last weigh in 115.0 lbs on Dec 18th) ---------------------------------------- Friday, Dec. 27 ---------------------------------------- 3:30pm - salad w/ vinaigrette + 1/2 oz cheddar cheese + 1/4 avocado + 1 oz honey glazed ham + 4 chocolate covered coffee beans + 5:30pm - 1/2 cup greek yogurt + 1 oz blueberries + 1 tbsp sliced almonds + 1 tbsp dried cranberries 7:30pm - salad w/ vinaigrette + 1 oz roast pork w/ 1 tbsp gravy + 1/4 oz cheddar cheese + 1 oz avacodo + 1/2 white chocolate macadamia cookie + 1/8 Portuguese custard tart 10:30pm - 2 Keto choco-coconut fat bombs Totals: 1202 cals - 51g Protein - 81g NET carbs - 69g fat ---------------------------------------- Yesterday, Saturday, Dec. 28 ---------------------------------------- 2:00pm - 1/2 cup crab & corn chowder + 1 veggie spring roll + 1 cocktail shrimp + 1 oz pork chop + 1 cup Ginataan (a Filipino coconut-milk based desert with sticky rice balls and fruit. 5:30pm - salad w/ vinaigrette + 3.5 oz grilled octopus + 1/2 a pork sui mai + 3 turnip cubes + 2.5 oz pork chop + 1 shot of Amaretto 9:00pm - 3oz pork chop + 1 Keto choc-coconut fat bomb. Totals: 946 cals - 54g Protein - 74g NET carbs - 40g fat ----------------------------------------