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1. When you are dehydrated.. your urine smells BAD! I almost gagged the first time I went to the restroom and couldn't believe what I was smelling.. (yeah so I make sure to get those liquids in!) 2. You don't use the restroom as much.. I only go maybe twice a day. 3. Acid Reflux! I've noticed when I swallow something too quickly or if I eat that soup too fast! I get hiccups or I burp a lot. (Never had this issue before). 4. I am always cold! This drives me crazy! (I'm a little dramatic) BUT!.. I literally have to sleep with my pajamas, snuggie with the covers over my head to keep warm. (And yes I take all my vitamins). I am freezing as I am typing this now 5. Waiters/Waitresses will assume you think their is something wrong with the food when you ask for a TO-GO box. I went to BJ's the other night and ordered a soup and had just a few bites and I became full. I asked our waitress for a TO-GO box and she went into apologetic mode and asked if she could offer me another dish and so on and so on.. very nice of her.. but long story short and lesson learned.. stay away from restaurants as much as possible.. it can be quite annoying dealing with the pressure of not eating your meal. 6. Do not purchase a new wardrobe after you lose those first few pounds. You are losing weight every single day and if you buy jeans today, I promise.. they will be too baggy just a couple weeks later. 7. My advice is to not tell people you are getting/ or had the gastric sleeve surgery. I made the mistake by telling my friends and I get asked a lot of questions such as; "So are you happy now?" "Well.. when are you going to stop losing weight?", "Are you going to act different when you lose all the weight?" It's pretty annoying and people act weird for some reason when you lose weight. I swear people weren't sweatin' me at 330 pounds. 8. I still have cravings! I thought my cravings would go away.. but nope! Still there! The sleeve is really a tool to help you lose weight and it doesn't solve all your problems. I almost had a nervous breakdown because I was craving Taco Bell and I couldn't do nothing about it. But the Good News is.. once you put something in your tummy.. you are full after a few bites and the cravings goes away. But it's a struggle everyday. 9. It takes people awhile to get used to the new you! So in my case.. a lot of friends were still inviting me out to Wine Festivals, Clubs, Brunch and Pop Up Bars. Just recently, my friend invited me to go with her to a Star Wars themed restaurant and I couldn't go because I can't have alcoholic drinks and all they offered were fried comfort foods. My new phrase is "no, sorry I can't go.. I can't eat that stuff remember?" Then it's "ohhh yeahh.. I forgot.. so when will you be able to eat/drink again?". Listen. I have come too far to let ANYBODY sabotage my weight loss journey so I am quick to distance myself from ANYBODY who will sabotage my journey and my advice is to anyone reading this is to stay CONSISTENT. People will catch on and know you mean business. 10. Regret. I did experience some regret after having the sleeve because I would use food to cope with issues I dealt with. And when that was taken away, I had to deal with my issues head on. That was difficult and I wanted to reverse the surgery (which you can't) but now that I'm over that hurtle, I have no regrets at all. I have my good days and bad days. My food addiction was real. And I take it one day at a time like I am in a12 Step Program. I used to socially drink every weekend, I was a heavy marijuana smoker, I DJ on the weekends- so I would get free drinks while I'm at the club. And I stopped everything cold turkey. It's tough, but I can't deny the way I feel. I have more energy w/o caffeine, I get 8 hours of sleep, before I was only getting 4 hours, I am in a much better mood, my skin is glowing, my depression is gone, before I was taking anxiety medication and I have completely stopped that. I look and feel like a new person.. and I never want to back to my old habits. Good luck to everyone that is on this journey. You will go through physical and mental challenges but stick to it! You will never have to start over again, if you never give up. Keep at it!

I like to call it the winners bench. As you lose weight you become more healthier. That's a win.

So my surgery (sleeve) is on nov 21st and liquid diet started on Monday. There hasn’t been a day that I went with out cheating it’s so hard when you still have to cook and prepare food for everyone in the house. I have 8 days to get it together! Boyfriend keeps coming home with take out like his tempting me on purpose

I'm pretty much eating similar to what I have been. I'm 7 weeks tomorrow. I have a shake with double protein in the morning, then throughout the day, I'll eat a few ounces of deli turkey, some kind of 2% cheese, a crunchy protein snack, soup or a little bit of something I make for dinner for family. Ground turkey, beans, cheese goes down okay. Maybe an egg. Usually some SF popsicles

Try not to worry about the weight loss right now. Stay off the scale. You need to concentrate on relaxing and getting well. Your body is fighting illness AND healing from major surgery. You no doubt have lots of inflammation and are retaining fluid too. Even people not ill usually stall around 3 weeks post-op. Binge watch some netflix, do crossword puzzles, anything to keep your mind occupied. I hope you get the medical issues resolved and then can continue your journey. Good luck.

My surgeon said it was fine to have a cup of coffee a day, as long as you drink an equal amount of extra water. Everyone has a different opinion.

Wow, you sound defeatist. If you believe nothing will ever help you lose weight, you'll be right. However, if you think this time will be different, you'll also be right!

Do your best. I used a free app called Baritastic to track my food. The pre-op is mainly to make you aware of your food choices, to examine your relationship with food, teach you nutrition, and for you to gradually stop bad habits. You have to look at how you use food - are you hungry or bored, anxious, stressed, etc so you can change from using food to solving those issues to solving them without food. It's hard, but your head needs fixing first or you will resort to these behaviors after the surgery. Stopping junk carbs will keep the cravings down, if you keep going back to them it just starts all over again. Give up one thing each week and build on that - I quit soda 1st thing - none, not even diet. Then - no fast food - none, zero. Then gradually let go of starchy carbs - no rice, etc. You may lose a few pounds, or stay the same. The most important thing is to realize food is just food, it will always be there, there is plenty of it, you will have a bite or two of your favorite foods during maintenance. This diligence is forever. You can do it.

I'm four years out, does that count?

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