To Be Thin 2011

Hi! A friend of mine that also is a sleever told me to get Gax X strips they disolve under your tongue. I have had to use them 3 or 4 times now to help with discomfort of my tummy and the darn hiccups... and typically I get then from eating to fast... old habits are so hard to break I still sometimes forget and eat too fast! Good luck ...

Hi! I went through the Barix Center in Ypsillanti - Dr. Nunn click on here for link: http://barixclinicsstore.com/dr_nunn.html He has 18 years experience, he is awesome! The Barix Center only does WLS - so they are extremely focused on your every need - its all they do! I also have BCBS PPO and Barix took care of all my medical approval. I am severly overweight, no other problems. I have nothing but admiration towards Barix and Dr. Nunn. Good luck with your choice..

Hi Sarah, Oh, I feel bad for you and trust me, I know what you went through! I had the same reaction to some sugar free choc carmel "turtles" candy... of course since its sugar free I thought it would be o.k. to eat like 4 of them! OMG - I was in agony on the bathroom floor, my husband wanted to take me to the ER I was so sick, cold, clamy, sweating, stomach ached horribly, dizzy... until I got rid of what I ate... it was bad... -- Go through it once and it teaches you to follow your diet better huh? Good luck!!

Hi! I had a week that I kept calories under 800, carbs under 35 and kicked in more excersise I thought I was going to really lose weight. Instead, my body went into "starvation mode" - because I was depriving it of food. I talked with the NUT @ my doc office and she said we have to take in small amounts of protien through out the day, to give our bodies fuel... especially since I kicked in with more excersise. So for the next week I did the six small meals of high protien, I got my calories up to 1200 and I lost 3 pounds! I weigh myself once a week, every Tues, I weighed myself today and lost 4 pounds, all with the eating small amounts of protien throughout the day and kicking the exercise into high gear - at least for me its high gear! I am doing 2 miles 6 x a week on the treadmill - 2.5 speed. Some of the posts above mentioned carbs, and food choices... I was really warned about this prior to surgery and so far... I have not introduced any bad food choices, no chips, no potato, no pasta, no breads --- I have totally been following protein first and avoiding the other stuff all together. Good luck,,, keep trying...

Sorry... some of you may think this is "TMI" so dont read any further!! ... The first month post op I did liquid centrim vitimans.. then I switched to high powered Centrim for Women.. they are really big, which you couldnt tell from the dark bottle, and about 15 minutes after taking them my stomach was upset, and I would like "burp" the vitiman taste,,, nasty... The show stopper was... ugh.. so imbarassed to admit this but,,, I had a bowel movement and there was my vitiman pretty much in the same form as when I swallowed it..how sick...so I realized my body must not have been digesting this big pill... and I had noticed being so tired and just not feeling the greatest for the past couple of weeks. I went back to my liquid centrim. Its more $$$, I buy it at Walmart and go through a $7.00 bottle every 4 weeks... but at least I know for sure being liquid the vitiamns are being absorbed in my body....not like the vitimans I was taking!... good luck in finding what works for you...

Hi there, Biotin is from the "B" vitiman's family - you can purchase it anywhere Walgreens, any pharmacy or any store that sells vitimans. I got mine over the internet because I wanted small gel caps that are easy to swallow but with high dose: 5000 mcg.. then I found the same bottle at Meijers! So now I just get it there... I take 2 5000 mcg after my mid morning snack and 2 more after my nitetime meal. For me it works, my hair is great and evey my stylist asked me what am I doing different with my hair she noticed it!!! So no losing hair yet and I am almost 6 months out... OH, at Meijers the bottle is $10.29 for 60 small gel caps 5000mcg

Congratulations to you!!!! How awesome!

Congrats!! and wow, way to go girl, no way I could have went back to work so soon after WLS..!!! How awesome for you to be off the BP meds too!! What a bonus WLS is!!!

Hello, Lots of great advise on protien drinks posted, and I feel so bad for you not being able to tolerate some of the protein drinks... Hang in there, it will get better... I hope you can find something that your body will tolerate or your taste buds will agree with !!! Awww.. I know it can get frustrating, it was for me too when I paid good $$$ for different protein shakes/powders and they all were yucky.... I am totally an atkins girl.. the dark chocolate and milk chocolate but it HAS to be very, very cold... and yes there are times still that is is hard to choke down... I am at 6 months post op... I found the protein tube shots at Costco.. 26 grams of protein in a fruit flavored 2.5 oz shot... I have to mix it with Crystal light in order to drink it and I do one of those every day to help me get my protien in. I honestly cannot see a point in my life that I will not have do a liquid protien shot each day...just a great amount of protein in few ounces! Good luck,, I hope you find something that works for you...

First congrats on the surgery - it will all work out! I too had the discomfort and similiar issues like you have mentioned, even the hot sweats, and nauseous, wow, at the time your going through all this it is really bad,,, mine lasted the first 6 weeks post op... and then it went away! So thankful... each one of us are different in healing, losing weight and small side affects... guess it is all in the learning stage.

How funny! Those food commercials really got to me too! I never noticed them as much until after I had the WLS and sitting around healing watching TV, seemed like every other commercial was about FOOD! I read a post recently and the person talked about losing her best friend of 34 years, her friend had seen her through many bad times, loss of jobs, loss of husband and then she lost her friend and mentally had to prepare for the funeral, etc.. she wrapped up the whole post by saying her best friend was food! If you really give it thougth I bet each one of us could relate to that in some way... food has been a comfort friend for me, never thought about having a funeral for it though!!!

Wow Michelle!!! Way to go - you are doing awesome! The lack of energy hit me pretty good after my WLS too.. something about it but at 3 weeks post op I had less energy that I did at 1 week... My doc kept telling me to hang in there, keep plugging along and as I ate more "real" food my energy would come back. It did, Doc was right as usual! I totally agree it is not a show stopper, and I would not change what I did at all, so very happy for the option of WLS. Just wanted to say congrats - you have an awesome weight loss so far!!!

Hello! I have seen many post that said around the 3 month mark they notice the hair loss. I am almost at 6 month mark - I was assigned 70 grms protein intake daily and I have never once been under that mark, typically getting my protein in around the 90's. I heard the hair loss is common, but if you meet your protien intake and take Biotin you have less chance of losing... so far, I have noticed no difference in loss of hair. Biotin is from the B vitimin family... I ordered soft gel caps over the net 5000mg.. and I take 2 daily...they are very easy to swallow being gel caps Everyone is different in the way their bodys handle WLS, for me, the hair loss is nothing... and I feel my protein intake and Biotin is the reason I am not seeing it yet. - try it

Great post, I can so relate to it! First... I am almost at 6 month mark. 3 weeks ago I decided to kick in my weight loss and I totally stayed uner 800 calories every day for a week, I stepped up my walking each day (adding another mile) and I thought for sure when I stepped on the scale after one week of more excersise and less calories I thought I would see amazing weight loss number...you know what I saw? .08 of a pound.... not even one whole pound loss for the week. I cried. I could not believe it. I called the NUT @ Barix clinic and she told me because I lowered my calorie intake like I did and increased activity, my body went into starvation mode, exactly like other posts above me said.... I actually did more harm by eating less! I was shocked! I still stuggled making sense of it all because I truly felt less calories, more excersise -- I am going to lose, lose, lose,, nope... didnt happen. The NUT also asked me about eating 6 small meals, which I did not do.. pretty much all the advise that others have posted is exactly what the NUT said... with WLS we have to keep protien in us, little at a time to keep the body going....I went back to 1200 calories a day, forcing myself to eat little bits through out the day and last week when I weighed in I lost 3 pounds, which is o.k., my weight is coming off very slow...nothing like the others are posting 7 pounds, 10 pounds in a week... I have been a consistant 2-3 pound loss each week. Try the six little meals for a week and see how you do! Good Luck

Congratulations!!!! yeah!!!!! You have to feel great about your accomplishment, good for you!!!! hair loss... I am almost at 6 months out and I have been very, very faithful to my Protein intake, always exceeding daily goal for requirement. I also take Biotin which is from the B Vitamin family... I bought easy to swallow gel tabs over the net, 5,000 mg - I take 2 daily and have yet to notice any difference in hair loss... my skin and nails are fabulous!!! I actually wear finger nail polish now cause my nails are growing like crazy! Good luck and keep going!!!

You are seriously overweight and cannot deal with losing hair from WLS??? EXCUSES... WLS is a life long committment, not just a quick fix. Any hair loss is not life long and if you take in your daily protein level and biotin you can lessen the hair loss. Seriously, hair loss would keep you from a healthy lifestyle..WOW

Wow, isnt it amazing how we all want 'instant" weight loss! I was sleeved just 1 day apart from you, January 12th and I have not yet hit my 50 lb loss ... and you have lost 62 !!! You are doing great!!!

WOW, thank you for this post! I was sleeved January 12th. I have been bummed all day cause I weighed myself today, as I do each week and I lost....08 of a pound, not even a whole pound. What made it worse is this past week I was the most physically active then I had ever been since surgery so I was anticipating hitting a big number in my weight loss...not even a pound..ridiculous... I read others posting these big numbers - losing 20-30 pounds a month and even more! I felt I was the only sleever that was seeing slow loss. I normally am pretty consistant with a 2-3 pound loss each week - which is not even half as much of a loss as other posts I read. So I truly do appreciate reading posts like yours to keep it all real.

I am really disapointed with my loss... 11 weeks and have only lost 28 pounds.... 2-3 pounds a week... very frustrating when you read others that have the big number weight loss. My husgand keeps encouraging me as well that if I stay on 2-3 pounds a week by October I will be 100 pounds loss... that is great so I made it my new target! Possibly if you think long term goal it will help you as well..... hang in there!

I too told very few people, my husband, kids and my sister. At a weak moment I told my best friend and she reacted exactly the way I did not want people to react... she was like "no, no,dont cut yourself open -- I can help you lose weight, we can do it together" blah,,,blah... She is thin. I am obese. I was seeking the help I needed by having the surgery. I am almost at my 3 month mark and my best friend has been there to knock me down every step of the way....nothing but negative words about me having surgery... we are slowly drifting apart, I dont need to be around the negativeness like that. I have to keep reminding myself that I cannot control other peoples thoughts, words or actions. I only have control of myself and that is a full time job! Thank goodness for this forum so we can all see we are not alone!

Hi! I am "almost" at 3 month mark, I still am with protein shakes, protein bars - LOVE them for the quick easy- grab & go! I buy all (Atkins premixed shakes & bars). I also have high protein (22 grams) beef jerkey 3-4 times a week for snack, I do turkey, chicken, fish and love cottage cheese. I cannot do beef yet, had a bad experience with it, most likely I did not chew it enough. Point is I was very worried how I would do once I returned to work, what would I eat, needed something easy... It has been fine, I grab a Atkins bar, eat a jerkey or have a yogart, etc..... has been very simple! Good Luck, you will find what works for you!

Congrats!!!! 50 lbs in 4.5 months is FANTASTIC!!!! I am almost at my 3 month time and have only lost 28 lbs... I am frustrated not seeing the big numbers that other people on this site post, but its o.k.... I have never lost 28 pounds this quickly before and am looking forward to the next few months!!! Again,,,, congrats to you, and keep it up!!!

Hello, I did not go through U of M.... Instead, I went through Barix Clinics - Forest Health Services (Detroit Bariatrics) - Ypsilanti. Not sure if you are familiar with Ypsilanti or not, it is at 135 S Prospect in Ypsi... it use to be the old Byer Hospital, then it closed and Forest Health Services are there now. My surgeon was Andre Nunn.... Dr. Nunn is awesome, such a totally caring doctor. He himself has had the band and he also did the band on his mom and dad, so this guy knows bariatrics surgery! He said "if" he was having surgery today he would go with the sleeve vs the band, but at the time him and his parents had the surgery the band was not done as a stand alone surgery, it was saved for the morbidaly obease. Anyway - the entire facilty (3 floor hospital) is totally devoted to just Bariatric Surgery... the chairs, beds, wheel chairs, scales --- you name it... all of it is oversized to meet the need of the patients. I went for an informational meeting.. they have them on Wed nites and Sat mornings, you have to call for dates.. and different doctors work out of Foresst Health and they rotate which doctors do the informal meetings...I requested Dr. Nunn because he was referred to me by another WL patient. So I went on a Sat morning that Dr. Nunn was the doc giving the meeting... so worth while! I went in mid-October, was sold on it and started the ball rolling that day! By December I was all approved for surgery. I choose to wait unitl January do to work reasons and the holiday season..etc. I had my surgery Jan 12th... and I am so very happy I chose the sleeve and Dr. Nunn.... the facility and entire staff are just great! This was one of the best decsions I have made, I only wish I would have done it sooner... My Pats... presurgery testing where they do all your vitals, ultra sound, chest exray all that stuff you need prior to surgery, you meet with a nurtrion expert, you get "the bible" a book of do's and donts and guidelines... all of this is called PATS. My Pats was done on Monday, January 3rd... So I go by that date, the fisrt of the year!! I have lost 40 pounds since my Pats, and I never would have done this without the sleeve!! Dr. Nunn is the best! He has two offices, (Ypsi and Wayne County) and is opening a 3rd in Monroe County... They have a web site at " http://www.barixclinics.com/contact_us/michigan.jsp

WOW, it is interesting to see others have the same problem! Sorry... I had my sleeve January 12, 2011... and I have extreme nausea. I describe it as no rhyme or reason, it can occurr before I eat or 3 hours after I eat. There is no connection to the foods that I have ate to when I get nausea attack. I use the word "attack" because it is jus that... I can feel it come on and I run to the bathroom, stomach hurts, I feel like I need to vomit but never have... I am rocking, the room isnt moving it is me rocking motion like I am on a boat. The attacks last anywhere from 15 minutes to 45 minutes...sometimes I even get stomach pains... I notice I burp alot during the attacks... then they pass and I am as good as new.. Very frustrating. I have had this since I was on clear liquid stage an the doc said it would get better. The attacks do not happen as frequently however, 2 months post op and I do still have 1-2 a week. The doc prescribed a medicine to help my body move the food through my stomach... told me to give it a try see if works. I notice no change so I quit taking it. Hopefully in time it will leave me!