Rootman

Yeah, pretty much, most of us struggled to get a few fractions of an ounce down in one sitting let alone 5-6 ozs. I would not worry about it, perhaps you're just ahead of the curve, bring it up with your Dr. on the next visit though.

I vote for the chia seeds, being a lifelong constipation sufferer they really got me moving. The same benefits of "other" fiber too.

I am 6' 1/2" (up from 5' 11 3/4" 2 years ago) started out at 375+ pounds, lost at least 170 lbs. For some people it hangs down in big bat wings and a pendulous stomach , some - like me - it's just a general droopiness all over and some lucky devils skin is tight again after weight lose. There are too many factors to tell if you'll have it or not, age, skin type, genetics and prior damage are all factors. 5-10 pounds is a total WAG, there is no reliable way to tell unless you have it surgically removed and weighed. Along with the skin there is usually some dub-dermal fat that refuses to go away too. I'll live with it as it doesn't look THAT bad and does not inhibit my activities at all.

Funny! And you'll see more of the same as time goes on too. I remember pulling a pair of underwear out of the drier wondering how the heck a pair of kids underwear ended up in our laundry (we have no kids) then it dawned on me - they were MINE

Yea, I had it too. But try and FORCE yourself to drink enough. I go by the color of my urine. Kidney stones can form when dehydrated and taking Calcium supplements and they are VERY painful and scary. NO urine - EMERGENCY drink something now! Dark urine - drink more Light yellow to clear - enough Run to the restroom every 30 minutes - too much, back off.

In about a month and a half I'll be 2 years out. I can eat a NORMAL portion of food, however that NORMAL portion is just that - what SHOULD be normal. Portion sizes are out of control in the first world countries. We eat out at least once a week. Last Friday night we went to a nice Italian restaurant.. The entree I had came with soup or salad. I had them put the soup in a to-go cup and ate 1/2 the entree as well as a few small pieces of bread in olive oil dipping. We also ordered 2 pieces of tiramisu to GO and I ate 1/2 of it a few hours later. So out of that ONE meal I got THREE, two of which I had with desert. I have always drunk with straws. I do not see the issue and I think the "no straw" rule is BS. I also drink before, during and after my meals. I eat controlled portions and NO MORE. I have an issue with kidney stones so I MUST drink a LOT of liquids all day. Cutting out 3 to 4 hours of a day without drinking is impractical, especially with my exercise routine of swimming and biking so much. I have absolutely ZERO issues with any food. Nothing upsets me and I do not "dump" because of sweets. I pretty much avoid bread and baked goods just because they fill me up too fast. I try to concentrate on Protein but eat carbs to finish the meal out. I feel I keep a good balance. Eating out is when really get too man carbs but it's just one meal a week, or two if you count th leftovers. After I eat I feel satisfied and am rarely ever really hungry. When I am hungry it's NOTHING compared to the feelings I USED to have pre-sleeve. Now it just bothers me a bit, it used to feel like my stomach was eating away at my backbone. I tend to get hungry at times like when I rush home after work, hop on my bicycle and ride for 20 miles, by the time I get home I am pretty hungry and ready to eat. I am NOT shaky and weak feeling the way I USED to be pre-op, just ready to eat. I weigh 200-205 and have been that weight for about a year now. That's technically still a tad overweight for a 6' 1" male I suspect I carry about 5-10 pounds of excess saggy skin which is damn near impossible to get rid of so that narrows the "overweight" category a bit. Getting sleeved is the BEST thing I have ever done for myself health wise. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Prime example of our societies screwed up views of itself. I just love the recent articles about "plus sized" models who in my opinion are perfectly normal sized. Our society is so polarized, we have a growing majority that are obese and it seems what's left are fixated on being underweight and unhealthy looking. My wife asked me once if I thought a particular skinny starlet was attractive, I answered "Nope, what would I do with here, floss my teeth?".

It's hard to tell, this did not happen to me and quite the opposite did, as I dropped weight moving became easier and my knees bothered me less. See the doc, they should be able to help diagnose you and you want to make sure that it's not something coincidental to the WLS.

Yep, exactly what CLK said. And BTW you shoud NEVER just quit this suff cold turkey, it can cause acid issues to come back with a vengence, you should slack off maybe take one every other day for a month, then maybe one every 3 days for another, then see about stopping.

Seems like a lot but I would not worry about a precise amount. I would suggest gaging it on how you urine looks. If you are NOT urinating then you are not getting enough Water. If it's dark yeallow or heaven forbid BROWN then again your are not getting enough water. If your urine is clear to mildly yellow then you are hydrated and doing OK. If you are urinating every hour on the hour or so then you are probably getting more than enough and can perhaps slack off a bit. Wish you well friend!

They don't call 'em BAT WINGS for nuthin'

Oh, and here I thought it was everyone here at VST, maybe it's just that we ARE NUTS WooHoo!

No ANYONE can dump, even those without WLS. Everyone probably has already too, remember that food you ate and you immediately got stomach cramps and diarrhea? If you felt OK afterwards then it was probably NOT bad food but dumping. It literally happens to most everyone once in a while, the stomach just dumps the unprocessed food into the intestinal tract, the small intestine doesn't like it and puts it on the fast tract to the exit and BAM! You've become a victim of dumping. Bypass patients are VERY prone to it but we VSG'ers can be too. Certain foods can trigger it, too rich, too oily, too greasy.

Well I have been drinking (Water and diet soda's) since like 4 months post-op (now about 2 years out) because I just can't eat without moisture. I drink before during and after I eat and have not had any detrimental effects like "stretching" or dumping. I'e had 3 bouts of kidney stones due to dehydration and do NOT want to repeat that EVERY again, so I constantly drink, even while I eat. Pre-op I drank probably twice as much, so the issue with Fluid intake might very well be due to some physical need I have. It's my experience that as long as you monitor your food intake and put a strict limit on your consumption (this much and NO more) the drinking is irrelevant AND if it does not cause you to dump then go for it. I've lost down to 205 and have stayed there for months. I've recently upped my exercise routine to try for 195 and have also limited my calories again from my maintenance mode diet. I'm right at 200-202 now. My wife complains that I look terribly gaunt and she does not like it, so I may back off a little.

Welcome to the land of Ketosis (further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketosis ). Your body is now burning its fat reserves in earnest and producing keytones as a byproduct. It will lessen after a while and completely disappear too, how long is determined by your own body, diet and weight loss and varies a lot from person to person, it may be weeks or months. Get a tongue scraper and pleasant tasting mouthwash, I like the orange flavored stuff myself. Use both a few times a day and it lessens it to a tolerable level.

Nicee pics of you and your mother Good work gurl!

It's like I used to say - pre-op - "I'm so fat that I have 2 maybe 3 skinny people inside of me just aching to bust out".

Exercise is a VITAL part of overall health, not just weight loss. Being thinner and not obsessed with food can help you in being motivated in starting an exercise plan. I NEVER used to exercise and now I ride bike and swim a lot. I've NEVER been in this good a condition before. It is possible to lose it just by diet but is a bit harder to do so. The benefits to your joints and overall health are important too.

How about 375+ pounds? I refused to weigh myself for like the last 6 months pre-op and didn't weigh again till the day of my operation. Last PCP visit preop I hit the scale at 375, and my clothes got a LOT tighter the few month afterward. I lost 150 pounds in about 10 months, took another 3 or 4 months to lose another 20 and I sit at 205, which for a 6' 1" frame isn't bad. Some of the extra weight is excess skin and I DO carry my weight well, I LOOK like I weigh about 180-190. People say I look younger. I certainly feel physically better and ALL my health issues have improved or disappeared.

I for one take NOTHING for energy, the mere fact that I am not totally obsessed with food eating all the time and toting around 170+ extra pounds of fat are all the energy I need. Now some supplements may be in order but they don't necessarily "give you energy". B Vitamins to name one.

Man if anything needs standardization it's the psych evals. They can range from a Spanish Inquisition to a pointless exercise of multiple questions with no one even "grading" you. And YES, the insurance companies use them to weed out people, mostly for the RIGHT reasons but sometimes for the WRONG reason. Every once in a while we hear of stories like this with some shrink wanting to make either a "point" or just a name for themselves. This is another reason I wanted to go self pay - not only was my out of pocket cost going to be about the same I completely avoided these (say this in Joe Biden's voice) shenanigans.

I'd check in with the doc, 2 weeks and a lot of pain is too long. Everyone varies but the "real" pain should subside in days. You will be sore and may experience some stinging as cut nerve endings fire off but the intense pain (if any) should be gone, certainly by 2 weeks. The above mention pacreatitus is a very real issue and should be addressed IMMEDIATELY.

Yes, ask the doc, typical wait can be 6 to 8 weeks. Strain is one thing to watch out for and if you were to take a tumble it could be pretty detrimental. Ask the doc on your next visit.

My dream is to not be fat anymore - ZOUNDS, I'M NOT! I must be livin' my dream then, I guess I aim low What I'd REALLY like to have happen is to win Publishers Clearing House and never have to work again, either that or about $10 million in the lottery.

In reality any WLS is MAJOR and RADICAL surgery and should be approached as such. For the vast majority the surgery is successful and produces the desired results. And for a few, like those who posted to this thread already, it has dire even deadly consequences. It is NOT something to pursue lightly. Nearly everyone knows someone or other that went in for some minor procedure and lost or nearly lost their life. My brother went in for bunion surgery, something my wife and I both had with ZERO complications. He got a MRSA infection and nearly died. My sister had WLS and nearly died because her stomach simply stopped working, it would not pass food or liquid, she also had sever problems with surgical adhesions. Someone I know lost a daughter when she went in to get a tooth extracted, she got an infection, it spread to her heart and in a matter of days she was dead. As with nearly EVERYTHING, bad results CAN and DO happen to a FEW people. Now, having said that I was sleeved almost 2 years ago, and after being obese and morbidly obese nearly my entire adult life I am finally at a normal weight. I had very few issues post-op. The worst was 3 bouts of kidney stones caused by excess Calcium and not enough hydration. I was also nauseas and felt generally crappy for 2 months post-op, then again I felt crappy PRE-OP too my weight was really affecting me. I now am very active, almost perfectly healthy and always have GREAT lab results when I get a checkup. The one remaining health issue I have is low testosterone, I still have to take replacement shots for it, but now take 1/8 the dosage I started out with (started long before my WLS). I would do it again. It has transformed my life.