My Bariatric Surgery Journey

[dcbc 14,472]

On 3/4/2023 at 6:13 PM, Aqua Buddha said:

 

You can't outrun a bad diet.

This right here.  Good on you @Wulaw Horn.  Best of luck to you in sticking with the plan and losing the weight.

[Jiggy-Z 3,432]

Wulaw, 

Good on you for sharing your journey.

Down the road when you start choosing different forms of exercise, recognize that just going an working out can get kind of boring, so seek out activities that have some kind of game component to them and also be on the lookout for possible opportunities for joint injury.

Back when I was 45, I was up around 200lbs and made some changes, and pretty quickly got down to 175lbs and looked great.  I was kind of reveling in all sorts of rediscovered physical abilities that had been dormant since my early 30's.  I don't want to say I overdid it, because I was never really pushing myself all that hard, but some garden variety ailments cropped up. Stuff like Achilles tendinitis, pulled calf muscles etc.  So I would rest and rehab and wait it out and focus on other body parts that I could work on safely.  Thus began a never ending cycle and rotation of injuries that really made things frustrating.

Fast forward to my early 50's and I was slowly gaining the weight back almost entirely because I could not find the extra motivation to go play and have fun due to some mild depression because of my injuries and fear of re-injury.  So over time my normal weight went from 180lbs for a year or so, then 185 then 190, until you see the 200lb man I am today at age 56.

Because you are only in your mid 40's you have time get his right.  You really don't need to work out all that hard, so follow your Drs advice on all of that but definitely mix in a lot of flexibility and mobility work, think I wish i had done that would have saved me a lot of trouble.  I think rediscovering what your body can do all over again is going to be a huge motivating factor for you.  Good luck.

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

2 hours ago, next2naus said:

Are we gonna get a speedo picture this summer? You got stones for doing this and sharing it, Hook'Em

I can't imagine ever wearing a speedo at any size, but sure, bathing suit at a minimum. 

[BearSchlong 8,087]

what the fuck does gum chewing have to do with snuff/dip? 

Nicotine’s effect on blood vessels might not be good for me in the long run.

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

Ok- so, last sort of catch up post then we will get to Daily stuff starting tomorrow

6 weeks ago I decided to do the deal and pulled the trigger (7 weeks ago now I guess).  I paid, and had to wait that long so I could quit smoking and dipping and drinking for them to be able to do the surgery.  Did I drink a bit and smoke a pack of cigs during the super bowl?  yes.  When I went to the Casino 1 night?  Yes.  But other than that it was booze/smoke/snuff free for 6 weeks (They test you-but it's a spit test- if I'd have known that I might have smoked/dipped more). I weighted 322 pounds at that time. I decided to do a last meal tour of all the places I love to eat and eat what I wanted at all those places.  You are supposed to diet, but that was suggested not madatory. I chose not to. So- Fajitas at Papasitos, Chinese Buffet, a lot of Chuys and Gringos, Prime rib and cheese fries at Outback- shit like that.  The 3 things I wish I'd have done on that tour b/c I can never do again- All you can eat meat at Fogo, Try to beat the 72 OZ steak up in Abilene, eat a triple meat triple cheese whataburger 1 last time (My wife was so horrified when she saw this the first time we started dating she made me swear I would never do it again- a promise I have kept.  So- I did all my fat person things that's I'd never be able to do with 80% of a stomach again.  

Interestingly enough- after that 5 weeks I had gone from 322 pounds to 305 pounds. I have no idea how that happened. I didn't exactly skimp anywhere I went and I went somewhere different every single day for all 5 weeks. The only thing I think I can figure is that I typically did not eat more than 1 meal a day while I was looking forward to my fat guy farewell tour.  Did I have an occasional donut or something like that on a couple of those 35 days?  Sure, but not as a general rule.  It was generally something I ate at work on a late lunch at like 1:30 or 2:00 and that was probably all I ate.  And I'm not a snacks/sweets fatty- I'm a portion control fatty.  Not drinking any alcohol might have helped but I'm not a heavy drinker- more a binge guy- 6-10 drinks at a sitting- 1 to 3 times a month- depending upon if it's football season or not.  And yes- I know I won't be able to drink like that ever again.  

So- after my fat guy farewell tour ended on Monday 2/20 at 7:15 PM (last bite of food I had from then to now- with a 16 OZ prime rib at Outback) Tuesday 2/21-Sunday 2/25 at midnight all I had was 4 protein shakes a day, every day, along with 150 OZ of water.  The goal was 120g of protein a day on milky liquid.  All that was allowed was premier protein shakes.  They are 160 calories, no sugar/carbs and 30g of protein (more or less).  so- basically 10, 1, 4 and 7 mixed in with 150 OZ of water around it.  I could have got by with 100oz but I wanted to express myself with extra flair. I'm not typically the kind of guy to limit myself to 15 pieces of flair when I could wear 37 instead.  

Sunday the 26th at midnight to 2:00 pm Monday fast with no liquids at all.  Had the scope and then got to drink only clear liquids until Midnight (that is protein water, not even the shakes) which was 15g of protein and 70 calories.  Then, fast again Monday midnight until surgery time on Tuesday at 8:00 am.  After waking up and having 3 or 4 IV bags during the surgery and during rehab I got sent back to my hotel room across the street and had nothing more to eat or drink as every time I did I got sick to my stomach.  

Starting Wednesday-today (3/1-3/6) I had a clear liquid only diet.  That means Jello, bone broth, protein water and Gatorade 0. I'm normally a big water drinker (love water- only thing healthy I've ever done for my body) but it just made me sick to my stomach. The dietician said that was super common and to drink the Gatorade zero or Crystal light.

Wednesday I probably got down about 20 OZ of water/gatorade only. Thursday 50 OZ of fluids (started with a little Jello and bone broth) plus a protein waters (these don't count toward my fluid intake.   Friday- Today I've gotten down 2 protein waters, some broth, some jello and about 80- 100 OZ of fluid.  It's very hard to get he fluid down b/c you have to take tiny little sips. It takes like 60-80 minutes to drink a 20 OZ Gatorade 0 bottle or a 16 OZ protein water bottle.  

 

For the TL/DR crowd- this is the sum total of what I've eaten for the last two weeks.  Shake week 1 when my calories were 600 a day, other stuff week 2 when my calories dripped down to less than 200 a day:

 

 

Edited March 6, 2023 by Wulaw Horn

[Jiggy-Z 3,432]

On 3/4/2023 at 12:12 AM, tx 3 putt said:

After death substantial weight loss occurs.

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

280.4. Predicted 270’s on Thursday but was hoping to see it this morning. I get to go make a shake. Super excited. Still not all that hungry. So weird. 

[CleverNickname 1,308]

I got married in Big Bend NP (vows by the second bemches up in the Basin, by the hotel). Met up with a Brewster justice of the peace. He was happy to do it but he told us if someone dies, his official duties for a inquest took precedent. No worries, my buddy is gregarious and would humor us. Already had the minister of life care in his wallet, mail order from the back of Rolling Stone! It didn't have to be official, just something for the family and friends who made it out. 

Two months before said buddy got bariatric surgery. While he's out in BBNP with us he begins to feel sick. Park people can't really do anything.  Ends up driving in the middle of the night all the way to Alpine. Boom, our backup plan out of the picture. Turns out he had scar tissue blocking his guts, and would have died if not for emergency surgery. Side effect. So our backup plan nearly took out our primary plan. 

Got hitched. Crazy biker woman without phone catered fajitas. It was great. The end.

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

1 hour ago, CleverNickname said:

I got married in Big Bend NP (vows by the second bemches up in the Basin, by the hotel). Met up with a Brewster justice of the peace. He was happy to do it but he told us if someone dies, his official duties for a inquest took precedent. No worries, my buddy is gregarious and would humor us. Already had the minister of life care in his wallet, mail order from the back of Rolling Stone! It didn't have to be official, just something for the family and friends who made it out. 

Two months before said buddy got bariatric surgery. While he's out in BBNP with us he begins to feel sick. Park people can't really do anything.  Ends up driving in the middle of the night all the way to Alpine. Boom, our backup plan out of the picture. Turns out he had scar tissue blocking his guts, and would have died if not for emergency surgery. Side effect. So our backup plan nearly took out our primary plan. 

Got hitched. Crazy biker woman without phone catered fajitas. It was great. The end.

And you tell it so well.

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

Well, my first "meal" in 2+ weeks.  Get to do 3 of these today

Double fudge Chocolate Shake

150 Calories, 1 G Fat, 20 G protein, 18 G Carb, 3G Fiber, 8G Sodium, 156 MG of fat.  

Put all these in the blende and look at what you get afterwards.  I know, I know, how is 1 man supposed to drink 3 of those in an entire day and get down 80oz of fluid and some Jello and bone broth.  Seems like a lot, doesn't it?

Stomach is gargling.  Not sure if that's b/c I ate too fast (I sipped and it took 10 minutes but maybe it should have taken longer?), body isn't super excited about having food yet on a healing stomach or if its merely because I'm hungry.  No idea what those rumblings and noises mean for sure right now as I'm in pretty uncharted territory.  

 

Edited March 7, 2023 by Wulaw Horn

[SurlyGator 865]

Prepare your anus.

 

Oh, and your esophagus.

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

7 minutes ago, SurlyGator said:

Prepare your anus.

 

Oh, and your esophagus.

I haven’t had anything but diarrhea since my surgery. I’d like I think it can’t get worse but I’m not going to swear to this or anything. 

[naija 2,854]

…. about that trip to Mexico for a medical procedure….

[Lat22 4,011]

If you need anything, give me a call.

[Spankytoes 1,739]

3 hours ago, naija said:

…. about that trip to Mexico for a medical procedure….

Put me down for $20 for a kidney

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

So, I always listen to my wife and never fight her b/c she is usually right (and no- she could not possibly care less about reading this website).  Was sort of irritated by this one.  Maybe I shouldn't have been. 

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

279.6

Today I’m eating an apple pie vanilla shake all day. 
cinnamon , nutmeg, vanilla, apple, 2% milk, ice and protein powder. 
yesterday my 3 shakes kept me stuffed all day and I had to struggle to get in my Oz. We shall see how today goes. 
scars starting to heal up. Will spare the pictures on that for now. 
also first BM that wasn’t pure liquid. It wasn’t solid but it wasn’t all liquid. Baby steps. 

Edited March 8, 2023 by Wulaw Horn

[gyroprotagonist 2,592]

35 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

also first BM that wasn’t pure liquid. It wasn’t solid but it wasn’t all liquid. Baby steps shits

FIFY

Keep it up!  real food around the corner.  

I continue to sabotage my vague notion of eating well.  Discovering that my work place has Twix ice cream bars in the snack court has not helped. 

[High Plains Drifter 11,042]

On 3/4/2023 at 8:02 AM, Helobious said:

All I got from this thread: this motherfucker is an astro fan from california and has given me shit about the Yankee fan/Texas thing for years. Jesus.

 

Oh yeah, that's right, I had almost forgotten, you are a Yankees fan.

Be sure and tell us again in the next thread, because we will probably have forgotten by then.

 

 

[High Plains Drifter 11,042]

 

Thanks for the thread, Wu. Very interesting stuff in here.

 

[Gatorubet 30,219]

On 3/7/2023 at 2:55 PM, Wulaw Horn said:

So, I always listen to my wife and never fight her b/c she is usually right (and no- she could not possibly care less about reading this website).  Was sort of irritated by this one.  Maybe I shouldn't have been. 

[Eastside 10]

Admire your bravery and openness. Thanks for posting, and hope to be following this thread for years. Best of luck Wu!

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

7 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

Reference to the kidnappings and killings in Mexico for people who went down there for a medical procedure. 

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

21 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

279.6

Today I’m eating an apple pie vanilla shake all day. 
cinnamon , nutmeg, vanilla, apple, 2% milk, ice and protein powder. 
yesterday my 3 shakes kept me stuffed all day and I had to struggle to get in my Oz. We shall see how today goes. 
scars starting to heal up. Will spare the pictures on that for now. 
also first BM that wasn’t pure liquid. It wasn’t solid but it wasn’t all liquid. Baby steps. 

279.2 today- definitely leveled off. Feeling skinny right now. “Fat” jeans falling off. “Skinny” clothes a little loose. I know I’m not actually skinny and size 42 waist isn’t skinny clothes but it feels good. Big hope is for under 250 by 5/1. That would make me very happy with the first 3 months of the process (1 month pre surgery 2 months post surgery). 

[Gatorubet 30,219]

Wulaw, I am very happy it is going so well. You have quite literally added years to your life.  Already 40 f’n pounds! 

Why, if you live long enough, you may one day see a 4% mortgage loan again.

[Gladeite 375]

Congrats.  You are doing well and appear to be having similar(great) results as my friend.  He is 3 weeks out today and down 30 lbs.  Already on the 4 week diet and adjusting to a new lifestyle.  New clothes are just around the corner!

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

My wife just brought me a cup of chicken broth.  I'd like to say this might be the tastiest thing I've ever had.  

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

Todays 4 shakes I made- chocolate peanut butter cup. 30G of protein 225 calories. Didn’t love it. Probably should have just stuck with storage version of this. 
 

 

[Da Fino 2,780]

I'm interested to see how your wife handles this. I challenged myself at Christmas to lose 30lbs bc I weighed in at my highest that day (215). I'm 2lbs away, and my wife is fucking sick of me because she lost her dining partner. We had always been the type to split our apps and entree's, now she's kind of on her own when we are out to eat. 

[SimonBolivar 10,958]

Have you tried any Ghost brand protein? It isn't the best protein/calorie and it's expensive, but they taste good especially in milk.

 

 

 

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

4 hours ago, Da Fino said:

I'm interested to see how your wife handles this. I challenged myself at Christmas to lose 30lbs bc I weighed in at my highest that day (215). I'm 2lbs away, and my wife is fucking sick of me because she lost her dining partner. We had always been the type to split our apps and entree's, now she's kind of on her own when we are out to eat. 

She isn't going to start a journal on here or anything, but she's 6 weeks behind me if she wanted to start a journal. 
That was a huge part of the thing I worried about- we'd always been eaters and drinkers and smokers.  That's what we hung out and did- so if all of a sudden I was 0-3 I was really worried it would mess with our relationship.  She saw the weight start to fly off of me and decided she wanted to do the same.  She didn't need it as much as me or anything but she also isn't not a candidate if that makes sense. 

This thing has 2 huge consequences from it happening- divorce and alcoholism.  I'm not going to mess with alcohol (I'm not afraid of the alcoholism it's just everyone says one drink and you are drunk and that's not what I like- I like the buzz and the build up and the putting away a 12 pack during a college football saturday but still being coherent.  I have zero desire to drink 2 scotches and be incoherent.  I don't think I was a target for divorce or anything but yeah- if you change your lifestyle it's going to affect your partner- and not every affect is necessarily positive for the relationship.  

2 hours ago, SimonBolivar said:

Have you tried any Ghost brand protein? It isn't the best protein/calorie and it's expensive, but they taste good especially in milk.

 

 

 

I've not.  Thanks for the tip. 

[Homercles 10,205]

14 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

279.2 today- definitely leveled off. Feeling skinny right now. “Fat” jeans falling off. “Skinny” clothes a little loose. I know I’m not actually skinny and size 42 waist isn’t skinny clothes but it feels good. Big hope is for under 250 by 5/1. That would make me very happy with the first 3 months of the process (1 month pre surgery 2 months post surgery). 

Dude it’s all relative.  I fee skinny at 205 which I’m not. 

[Homercles 10,205]

Well that didn’t work out

https://theoatmeal.com/comics/gym

Edited March 10, 2023 by Homercles

[Da Fino 2,780]

4 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

She isn't going to start a journal on here or anything, but she's 6 weeks behind me if she wanted to start a journal. 
That was a huge part of the thing I worried about- we'd always been eaters and drinkers and smokers.  That's what we hung out and did- so if all of a sudden I was 0-3 I was really worried it would mess with our relationship.  She saw the weight start to fly off of me and decided she wanted to do the same.  She didn't need it as much as me or anything but she also isn't not a candidate if that makes sense. 

This thing has 2 huge consequences from it happening- divorce and alcoholism.  I'm not going to mess with alcohol (I'm not afraid of the alcoholism it's just everyone says one drink and you are drunk and that's not what I like- I like the buzz and the build up and the putting away a 12 pack during a college football saturday but still being coherent.  I have zero desire to drink 2 scotches and be incoherent.  I don't think I was a target for divorce or anything but yeah- if you change your lifestyle it's going to affect your partner- and not every affect is necessarily positive for the relationship.  

I've not.  Thanks for the tip. 

Ahh. I didn’t realize that she was doing it with you. That might be even better to have a partner doing it with you. Good job giving up the smokes. I hated giving up late night cigarettes. Even when I smell them now I get nostalgic. I don’t miss the cough or hangover they gave me. I sneak in a dip when I need a fix. My wife hates that shit but it helps with cravings.  Thanks for sharing. I lost my father due to his weight and eating habits, I don’t want my kids to worry about that.  

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

44 minutes ago, Homercles said:

Well that didn’t work out

https://theoatmeal.com/comics/gym

That’s funny because of the fact that there’s a lot of truth to it in most circumstances but it really wasn’t me. I’ve not been excited about this or super pumped up bc I don’t really care about Looking good. I’d rather eat a whole pizza and drink 12 beers next Thursday watching the tournament than loom skinny. I just couldn’t chance it anymore with the weight. 
It’s funny- I was catching up with an old friend and he reminded me about the time I got back from the doctor grinning ear to ear because all my blood work was perfect and I was completely healthy with no worries. Alas, it doesn’t stay that way. There’s probably something fucked up in my brain with my relationship with food, being more important than appearances or ability to do some stuff, but it’s not more important than wife, kids and breathing/sleeping. 

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

20 minutes ago, Da Fino said:

Ahh. I didn’t realize that she was doing it with you. That might be even better to have a partner doing it with you. Good job giving up the smokes. I hated giving up late night cigarettes. Even when I smell them now I get nostalgic. I don’t miss the cough or hangover they gave me. I sneak in a dip when I need a fix. My wife hates that shit but it helps with cravings.  Thanks for sharing. I lost my father due to his weight and eating habits, I don’t want my kids to worry about that.  

She didn’t decide to do it until the next day. That made me happy and sad at the same time. Happy we get to do it together. Sad she felt like she couldn’t do it without surgery. 

[Jerry Callo 8,700]

10 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

She didn’t decide to do it until the next day. That made me happy and sad at the same time. Happy we get to do it together. Sad she felt like she couldn’t do it without surgery. 

That's a serious commitment.  I probably would have asked the wife to wait six months and see my results and troubles.

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

9 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said:

That's a serious commitment.  I probably would have asked the wife to wait six months and see my results and troubles.

She made the decision on her own. I suggested that but she didn’t really want to have any of that. Shrugs. She’s always wanted to do it but didn’t think she could get there. She saw me make it look easy I guess (it wasn’t l) and got over the fear. 

[SydneyCarton 48,081]

11 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

She didn’t decide to do it until the next day. That made me happy and sad at the same time. Happy we get to do it together. Sad she felt like she couldn’t do it without surgery. 

So this brings up an interesting topic, which is tangential to an issue that will be creeping up in our house soon: kids and meals. With both you and your wife having this surgery and changing your lifestyle, do you have any concerns or plans for how to feed your kiddos? My son is 5, and right now basically every person in our house has different meals and diets. I'm eating low carb, my wife is a pescatarian, so family meals are challenging, or will be when we want to sit down and have family meal with our kiddo. Do you have any thoughts about that, or are you basically just going to cut your cooking down by 80% and you and your wife just eat a few bites once your bodies are done healing and adjusting? 

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

20 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

So this brings up an interesting topic, which is tangential to an issue that will be creeping up in our house soon: kids and meals. With both you and your wife having this surgery and changing your lifestyle, do you have any concerns or plans for how to feed your kiddos? My son is 5, and right now basically every person in our house has different meals and diets. I'm eating low carb, my wife is a pescatarian, so family meals are challenging, or will be when we want to sit down and have family meal with our kiddo. Do you have any thoughts about that, or are you basically just going to cut your cooking down by 80% and you and your wife just eat a few bites once your bodies are done healing and adjusting? 

I have a couple bariatric cook books and we are committing to cook out of those for 1 year (basically every meal almost exclusively.  All the recipes are healthy and look like they taste really good.  Kids are 12, 10 and 7.  12 year old could probably lose 10 or 12 pounds.  She's 5'5, in cheerleading and tumble, not fat at all but has to stay on top of it.  She wants to live on Ramen noodles. She's going to be living, instead, on bariatric just like everyone else.  

In the cookbook there is a lot of crock pot stuff (apparently digestion is easiest/best if the protein is a little moist).  So, during the week (mon-thur) wife is responsible for dinner for us and it will probably be crock pot type stuff.  Lunch the next day will be left over dinner for the adults and will be school or PBJ type for the kids.  Breakfast stuff like eggs and turkey bacon or chicken sausage.  On weekends I'm cooking.  That will be stuff like black bean hummus and chicken enchiladas, eggplant pizza, Chicken "nachos" (that's with veggies instead of chips), a couple fish dinners, anything else that sort of looks fun. There's about 20 recipes I want to try that look really good.  I need 12 to make it through a month that we all like.  Then I can just recycle.  We've decided no Ramen or processed stuff in the house- we are cooking- if the kids don't like it then they will always have the opportunity to eat again tomorrow. 
The little two eat pretty clean and healthy.  They can live on greek yogurt parfaits and shit like that if they don't like dinner.  We aren't going to be monsters in that regard but they are going to eat relatively clean or they aren't going to eat.  Part of the reason for this is trying to model good  behavior rather than bad.  WE've never been the family that lived out of the McDonalds drive thru with their kids but we've also never fully committed to cooking a real meal everyday either. Now we will for a year and see where it goes. 

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

Today's weight- 280.0.  First day to go backwards.  I ate 800 calories in shakes yesterday and 60 in bone broth- so it wasn't like that was the problem.  Ton of sodium in the chicken broth my wife gave me- pretty sure I'm retaining fluids pretty massively.  Got 11,000 steps in.  Did my 30 minutes of walk at one time (44 minutes in the exercise zone per my fit bit) and then walked for 5 minutes or so every hour like I'm supposed to to stave off blood clots.  Sleep number was a shitty 78 at only 6.1 hours (8.5 hours in actual bed time). Hoping that starts to improve but thankful the insomnia is gone.  

I'm having a Vanilla pro-biotic shake today (4 servings).  Per serving size it's 150 calories, 22G of protein, 8 carbs 7 sugars and 160MG of sodium.  This is what made that yummyness:

 

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Wulaw Horn

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12,301]

My aunt did this several years ago. She always struggled with food, it was how she comforted herself.

Both her and my dad are the types of people that haven’t spent a minute of their lives comfortable in their own skin. Both have some pretty severe underlying mental/psychological issues that they’ve suppressed and never sought help for.

My aunt seeks comfort/relief from food.

Long story short, after a year or so she went back to her old habits, but now has such severe indigestion (which I guess has caused her asthma to flare up?) she sleeps in a chair sitting up to find relief.

I have no idea if your struggles with food are the physical manifestation of something else psychological, but if so, hopefully you can focus on the root cause while treating the symptoms.

Regardless, I wish you luck in getting to a healthier, more balanced place.

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

2 minutes ago, DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt said:

My aunt did this several years ago. She always struggled with food, it was how she comforted herself.

Both her and my dad are the types of people that haven’t spent a minute of their lives comfortable in their own skin. Both have some pretty severe underlying mental/psychological issues that they’ve suppressed and never sought help for.

My aunt seeks comfort/relief from food.

Long story short, after a year or so she went back to her old habits, but now has such severe indigestion (which I guess has caused her asthma to flare up?) she sleeps in a chair sitting up to find relief.

I have no idea if your struggles with food are the physical manifestation of something else psychological, but if so, hopefully you can focus on the root cause while treating the symptoms.

Regardless, I wish you luck in getting to a healthier, more balanced place.

I like to eat and I like to feel full. This will help me feel full without eating a ton. I think it's a no brainer for me.  The biggest thing is going to be retraining that I don't have to eat a whole pizza and drink 12 beers while I watch football on saturdays in the fall.  After this surgery I won't be able to do either anymore, so in that regards I think I'm fine. More than 50% of the people lose more than 50% of their excess weight and keep it off. I know people personally in both categories.  I'm not for one moment worried that I will be in the group of people that this doesn't work for. Just from knowing myself, my personality, what my struggles are, how I deal with life etc. I'm a bit concerned about my wife.  Her problem is she loves chips and other just crap.  Craves it.  You can consume a lot of calories with shit food that changing the volume of your stomach doesn't help.  I think it will be beneficial for her that we are doing this together. 

[Scary Stranger 1,714]

20 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

She isn't going to start a journal on here or anything, but she's 6 weeks behind me if she wanted to start a journal. 
That was a huge part of the thing I worried about- we'd always been eaters and drinkers and smokers.  That's what we hung out and did- so if all of a sudden I was 0-3 I was really worried it would mess with our relationship.  She saw the weight start to fly off of me and decided she wanted to do the same.  She didn't need it as much as me or anything but she also isn't not a candidate if that makes sense. 

This thing has 2 huge consequences from it happening- divorce and alcoholism.  I'm not going to mess with alcohol (I'm not afraid of the alcoholism it's just everyone says one drink and you are drunk and that's not what I like- I like the buzz and the build up and the putting away a 12 pack during a college football saturday but still being coherent.  I have zero desire to drink 2 scotches and be incoherent.  I don't think I was a target for divorce or anything but yeah- if you change your lifestyle it's going to affect your partner- and not every affect is necessarily positive for the relationship.  

I've not.  Thanks for the tip. 

Edibles.

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

1 hour ago, Scary Stranger said:

Edibles.

That’s going to be probably what her go to is. I’m not sure that THC is completely safe, in light of not being able to even dip for example,  but that will be her mind altering. I don’t need to do that I don’t think, but will see 

[Guadaloopy 10,962]

Just finding this thread and sending my good wishes your way.  As another guy who has struggled with liking to eat and managing weight for my entire adult life, this thread is an inspiration for me to get on top of my struggle.  For most of my adult life, I had Navy physical fitness standards keeping me in check.  I have put on 60 lbs since retiring from active duty in 2014 - I was at the high end of healthy body weight at the time.  At 51, I'm within 5 lbs of my heaviest weight ever and had to start blood pressure meds last fall.  You're motivating me, so keep it up!

[Pescado_Rojo 19,416]

3 hours ago, Scary Stranger said:

Edibles.

Man I get the fucking munchies something fierce from edibles. More so than smoking weed. 

[Homercles 10,205]

1 hour ago, Wulaw Horn said:

That’s going to be probably what her go to is. I’m not sure that THC is completely safe, in light of not being able to even dip for example,  but that will be her mind altering. I don’t need to do that I don’t think, but will see 

My wife had the sleeve done and edibles are fine.  Constant nicotine narrows your arteries as you know, occasional THC won’t be an issue.  I like to have a couple drinks, pop an edible then ‘coast’ that way…fun, relaxing, no hangover and so long as you don’t keep drinking it won’t be wild.  
 

Also, weighing yourself everyday may be counterproductive.  Water, shit, etc will have it wiggling up/down driving yourself mad.  

[Wulaw Horn 19,069]

31 minutes ago, Homercles said:

My wife had the sleeve done and edibles are fine.  Constant nicotine narrows your arteries as you know, occasional THC won’t be an issue.  I like to have a couple drinks, pop an edible then ‘coast’ that way…fun, relaxing, no hangover and so long as you don’t keep drinking it won’t be wild.  
 

Also, weighing yourself everyday may be counterproductive.  Water, shit, etc will have it wiggling up/down driving yourself mad.  

The weighing is just part of my routine, I'm good with it and don't stress about it. I know I'm retaining some fluids today- no big deal.  I might back off to weekly after the first couple months.  

[Homercles 10,205]

2 hours ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Man I get the fucking munchies something fierce from edibles. More so than smoking weed. 

Yeah that’s a great point, our man here may not be wise to get stoned then try drinking four shakes while everything heals.  
 

Weirdly I don’t get super munchies until I’m coming down…my progression goes:  cold/shaky (coming up) -> silly -> horny -> hungry.  I also tend to stay up late whereas my wife straight passes out after we (usually) get busy.  
 

But when I do get munchies I go insane.  Shits the next day are like

Edited March 11, 2023 by Homercles