marymoon

I felt the same way the entire time I was on liquids and I took a sublingual B12 every day, too. Once I started mushies I was a bit perkier, but didn't really feel like myself again until I could eat regular foods again and I upped my carb intake a bit. You've just put your body thru a tremendous change & it needs to to recover from the shock. Don't make the mistake of thinking you need to eat more calories - you have plenty of stored energy for your body to use that you don't need to add any extra than you're already getting. This first month is the hardest - I promise it gets easier!

At my heaviest - 260lbs - I wore a 2x or 3x shirt and size 22W pants. Now, 4 months out and weighing 173, I wear a size medium top and size 12 pants. I still have a hard time looking at my pants and believing that I can actually not only pull them on over my hips, but zip them up & wear them comfortably! Love my sleeve!

Welcome to the other side! So glad to hear you're doing well. I woudnt worry too much about the lack of urination. The body tends to hold on to fluids after a trauma - I don't think I urinated until halfway thru day 2. Congrats!

Bravo! I need to copy and paste this to my Facebook page because I DEFINITELY have some friends who fit the description...

Just checking in looking for an update. Hope everything went well today! Rest up & touch base with us when you feel up to it!

It's water retention. When you suddenly increase activity, muscles are injured and they retain water to help during the repair phase. My body does this whenever I start a new, strenuous exercise. Stay on the right path and you'll see a big drop as your muscles release the fluid.

(((hugs))) Your feelings and anxiety are completely normal. It's a huge change to your anatomy and phyche, but like many of us here, it's a required step to help you get off the crazy train of food addiction and obesity. I was actually very calm and sure of my decision until the plane was somewhere over Colorado. I clearly remember looking out at the Rockies wondering just what the crap I was doing flying to Mexico to let a surgeon I'd never met rip my stomach out. Once I landed in San Diego & headed to Mexicali I was fine. My surgery sister was a bit of a hot mess of nerves, tho, so don't feel like you're alone in the trepidation. I had more food issues than I realized which slapped me inn the face the days immediately following surgery. The 20 days of liquids is a bit of a pain in the ass, but I'm just shy of being 4 months out and can eat whatever I want, just in smaller quantities. The end result of better health through losing weight is so worth it! I'm extremely happy with my sleeve and am thankful every single day that I had the opportunity to have it done. I finally feel free of the chains of food cravings and the guilt of binging when I couldn't control it.

Weight/strength training and cardio are 2 different types of exercise. Cardio is for burning fat and strengthening your heart/lungs while weight training is solely to increase muscle mass which will, in turn, help you burn more calories at rest. I cant speak it's effectiveness in raising metabolism, but I do a cardio work out 5 to 6 days a week and add weight training 2 days/week for double exercise on those days. Have you looked into burst training (interval training)? My trainer has me do this when I use the elliptical to help speed up my metabolism and keep it elevated for a longer period after I'm done working out. http://www.draxe.com/burst-training/

Good luck with your surgery tomorrow!

Parsonse Looking forward to having yet another place for support!

This is a big problem area for me, too. My trainer said that the absolute best cardio that will burn fat and tone this area at the same time is 1) running and 2) walking on a treadmill at a steep incline. You don't have to walk fast at all, but set the incline as high as you can without having to hold onto the front or side rails. If you hold on to support yourself, you are negating the effect of the whole workout. I haven't started back running yet but I can tell a huge difference in how my body lost weight with diet/running vs post-surgery with restricted calories and zumba. My butt and abs are way saggier because they aren't getting the same workout as with running.

Congrats! So glad everything worked out for you. You'll be on the other side before you know it!

Yup. I'm being waited on faster, being asked if I need assistance (when I was practically invisible 80lbs ago) and just today at the children's museum the guy didn't charge me for the 2 extra kids I brought along though our membership clearly states 2 children & all extras are supposed to be $10/each. More attention and saving money? Jackpot! Sometimes I get really irked at the change - I'm still the same person just in a smaller, better dressed package - but mostly I just chalk it up to human nature & move on.

In the beginning your body will let you know if you're overdoing it. We went camping with my son's Cub Scout den when I was 2 weeks out and stupidly tried to pack our gear myself, including our 30lb tent. Didn't really feel comfortable lifting objects or weights at the gym until I was 2.5 to 3 months out.

I paid $8750 for the surgery, $450 for my flight from Nashville to San Diego, around $200 on the passport (I had to pay extra to have it fast tracked) and I brought $200 spending cash with me. All in all it was under $10k which was about half of what the local docs were quoting. I don't regret a single dime! HDub, I don't recall exactly how much the Nexium was in pesos and I only came home with a 2 month's supply, but I did buy 2 boxes of supradol (sublingual pain med) and 3 boxes of Nexium Mups (Aceves sends you home with 1 box and each box is a 2-week supply) paid for my 'last supper' at the hotel which included a margarita and appetizer, bought water/coffee at the airport both ways, a trip to the GNC in Mexicali for lip balm and a tip for the driver and hotel bell hop and I still came home with cash in my pocket. Not bad for only taking $200! My understanding is the Nexium Mups in Mexico isn't available in the US. It's easily dissolvable and the first 3 months you're supposed to dissolve a pill in a little bit of Water and drink it that way. I couldn't stand the taste/texture and on day 21 when I was allowed to eat soft foods, I started swapping the pill whole with absolutely zero problems. I figured it dissolved so quickly in the shot glass of water that it'd do the same in my tummy.

Glad you heard back from Nina so quickly! Everyone's pain threshold is different, and though the first 24 hours were rough, it wasn't intolerable. The pains I had from the gas they inflate the chest cavity with hurt much more than any incision pain and every day I saw great improvement. I was up walking a few hours after surgery and took my mom out shopping just 4 days out. I only had slight nausea the first post operative day and none since. They will tell you up front that most of the shift nurses speak no to little English and naturally, all signage is in Spanish. You will be given a sheet with common Eng to Spa phrases to help you communicate but I needed assistance from the nurses so little I mostly winged it. Dr. Aceves & his staff all speak fluent English, just heavily accented, of course, so there was absolutely no problem communicating with them at all.

Congrats! I was so pleased to see that Dr. Aceves, his team and the hospital were just as efficient and clean as other posters claimed when I had my surgery. I hope you have a great & uneventful recovery!

Dr. Aceves uses that week to proctor, lecture & teach in locations around the world. Dr. Campos, his assistant, practically lives at the hospital when WLS patients are on the floor so I image he needs that week to rest up, recharge & see his own family. Dr. Aceves' team is the most hard-working group of medical professionals I've ever seen & this was my 8th surgery.

I loathe talking on the phone to strangers so I communicated with Dr. Aceves' office strictly via email, both before & after surgery. I believe their office closes down for 1 week each month so if you haven't received a quick reply, they may be off. Nina is Dr. Aceves' patient coordinator and I've never had to wait longer than 30 minutes for a reply.

Good luck!

I can totally empathize with you. I had been thinking about having WLS for the past 4 or 5 years but was apprehensive about taking such a 'drastic' step. It wasn't until I gave it one last, full-out effort shot using a NUT & exercising my butt off to realize that I needed more help than I could give myself. Dr. Aceves created my sleeve 4/15/11 and I couldn't be happier with the results! At first I endured a bit of regret at never again being able to eat the quantities of food that I so enjoyed before, but I got over it & absolutely love the restriction the sleeve provides. I've been very fortunate that the weight has steady been coming off without stalls and my clothing sizes has dropped from a 20W pant/2x shirt to size 12 pant/medium shirt and I'm not even 4 months out yet. I have 2 young children, 8 and 10, as well as an elderly mother and disabled brother that I assist so I took a huge risk in disrupting the lives of several by having surgery. I knew, however, that I couldn't continue to care for everyone else unless I took care of my health first. I have so much more energy and I have a much better emotional outlook and increased self-esteem now that I look & feel more 'normal.' Congrats to you on taking that first step! I hope your journey to health progresses easily and quickly!

Awesome!!!

Bravo! The naturally skinny & those without a major weight problem simply have NO IDEA what life is like on our side of the fence. I have friends that eat more junk in larger quantities than I did pre-sleeve but are still at a normal BMI in middle age, no less. They supported my decision to have surgery but even now cant understand why I couldn't just eat less without having to resort to such a drastic measure. Bless their hearts...

Whatever Michael Jackson used seemed to work wonders... Seriously though, you can buy fade cream at the grocery/drug store. I have a few sun spots on my face and it has helped quite a bit. I imagine it would work on thighs just as well.

The decision to have surgery was very easy for me to make. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, on my Dad's side of the family is obese and has heart disease or is heading toward it. My grandparents, my aunt & my dad all died before their time because of congestive heart failure. My oldest brother dropped dead at the age of 44 from a massive heart attack and just yesterday a 1st cousin died at 52 from a heart attack. I decided that I was facing an early death with the path I was on and if I died from complications of surgery then it was better than sitting around getting sicker every year waiting for death to come to me. My remaining brothers are both well over 300lbs and several of my other cousins on my Dad's side are 400lbs or more. I love my sleeve and am thankful every. single. day. for having this chance at a healthy life.