Foxbins

Boniva is fine in your small tummy, I asked my surgeon and my PCP both. Just take it with a lot of water and stay upright for an hour or more afterwards. Esophagus problems with Boniva and Fosamax occur in people with regular-sized stomachs, too, usually those who don't take it with enough water to get it in the stomach or who lie down after taking it. I take it and have no problems at all.

Yay! Feels great, doesn't it?

I had my hernia fixed with my sleeve surgery and when I had the flu, I vomited just like before. Did your surgeon tell you this??

My surgery was January 13, 2011. I reached a normal BMI in 7 months, 3 weeks. I am 9.5 lbs from my own personal weight loss goal (Dr. Aceves doesn't assign you a goal, although he will give his opinion if you ask). So I have lost 100% of my excess weight so far and will exceed that by 10-20 lbs by the time I'm finished.

He fixed mine for free, too. I think he automatically looks for it because he has to fix it before he can do the sleeve. I asked him about burping and he said when I was burping pre-op it was because of the hernia.

Keep track of your fluids. Some people use the same-sized glass and fill it up the same each time and count the glassfuls, others fill a big container and when it's empty they know how much they have drunk. Dehydration will be reflected in your urine color--you want it to be straw-colored or lighter. If it's yellow, drink more. Insofar as "getting enough of what you need" you are living off your fat stores right now. Yes, your caloric intake is low, but you have thousands and maybe tens of thousands of calories stored in your fat. Your body is going to use that to supplement the calories you take in from food for a long time. I began taking vitamins and calcium citrate at 2 weeks after surgery. I found a liquid calcium citrate at Costco.com that tastes good and fits with my low-carb plan, it's called Reviva. Chewy calcium citrate can be gotten from baratric websites like Celebrate but I think they are expensive and full of sugar. I am taking Centrum chewables for vitamins and they are okay if you wash them down with water after you chew.

You are doing great! I could not hit my protein or water targets until about a month after surgery. Keep sipping your fluids, if you have to choose between protein and water, choose the water. Pretty soon you will be able to get it all in, but for now do the best you can. 12 oz every 4 hours is probably 6 oz more than I managed on day 3. Sip, walk, burp, repeat. If you are foaming, take smaller sips and wait longer between sips.

Yes, you can chop them or crush them. Just be aware that my Calcium had a coating that masked the chalky taste when it was whole. When I cut it in half, I could really taste it. I never did get used to it so switched to a liquid calcium citrate.

No. I don't want malabsorption and I am perfectly happy with my weight loss with the sleeve. I eat like a normal thin person now.

I had a terrific sweet tooth--it wasn't a meal unless it had dessert after and breakfast was donuts, pancakes, or waffles. Now, no. Head hunger, yes, I see cakes and ice cream and candy and think, well, I could eat just a little bit, but I had a cake sample at Costco and threw it away after one bite. I had flan at a party and threw it away, too. I still love chocolate but I don't keep it in the house and I would rather be thin than eat it daily as I used to. Now the sugar I eat is in fruit and I am happy. BTW, not all bypassers dump on sugar so that's not guaranteed.

I gave blood twice during the six months after surgery. My hemoglobin tested fine before each donation. After donating, I felt fine, maybe didn't bounce back as quickly as I usually do, but thought nothing of it. I had 6 month labs done and my iron stores (ferretin levels) were really low (7 when they should be above 30 at least, and in the hundreds is better). My PCP prescribed iron supplements which I have been taking and the level is coming up but still not back to normal yet. I got a big ol' lecture, too, about how I can't eat enough now to replace the iron as quickly as I used to. The doc said I might be able to donate once or twice a year if I kept taking the iron, not every 12 weeks the way I had been before surgery. Too bad--I've donated gallons and gallons over the years.

All of my hunger went away right after surgery but it doesn't happen for everyone. Some have to wait a few weeks and some never lose it. For me, there is a kind of disconnect between wanting food (head hunger) and eating food. If I gave into the head hunger, I would be eating candy and ice cream at every meal, but I just don't keep them in the house anymore and so far I have been able to stop myself from eating them when I am out. On the few occasions I have had cake, I took one bite and I was done--it doesn't taste good anymore, dry and kind of grainy in my mouth. I weigh or measure all my food and yes, you will be satisfied on so much less. The first time I tried an egg and couldn't eat the whole thing I was amazed. I used to think about food all the time--at Breakfast I would be thinking about what to eat a lunch and dinner and what Snacks were on hand. Now I eat by the clock, because if I am out and about I will just keep going through mealtimes. It is wonderful but I still haven't really gotten used to it--it's unreal how little food means to me now when before it meant everything. Good luck with your surgery!

Good to hear that things went well. As the anesthesia leaves your body, you will be able to pee--I ran water in the sink and sat there for the longest but eventually was able to. Keep walking and napping!

Your stomach muscles aren't cut. There's holes poked to get the instruments in using an instrument called a trocar, which is a hollow tube with a pointy end. A massage therapist won't feel anything, but I'm 8 months out and my scars still show. My GYN thought it was from gallbladder removal before she read my chart.

Yes, I agree. When I was fat, my life revolved around food. While I was eating breakfast, I was thinking about what to have for lunch and dinner. Now I don't. My biggest surprise is how happy I am. I never knew how much my weight preyed on my mind. Now that I am not fat, I wake up happy and I smile for no reason other than I am happy! I certainly didn't expect surgery to make such a difference in my mood.

Yes, we are all different! I am 5'8" too, and weigh 159. I am a size 12 and look like I could stand to lose another 15-20 lbs. I am small-boned I think (my wrists are SO TINY now) and carry my weight in my hips and thighs. Go by how you look and feel and not by the number on the scale.

I am 8 months out and bought the Citracal petites but it is iffy if I can get them down even now. Some days I have no problem, other days...up they come. Plus, each pill is only 200 mg so I have to take seven of them spread out over the day and most days I don't fit them in. I have a liquid that has 500 mg in 1 tablespoon and chewables that have 250 mg in each, so I'm chewing 2 two times a day and taking the liquid once. Still looking for a better way.

Just one more thing to add here--when we could eat a lot, we got quite a lot of water from food. Now that the quantites we can eat are limited, we're not getting so much water from that source any more. I never drank water when I was fat and I wasn't dehydrated, but I ate vast quantites of fruits, melon, veggies, creamed things, etc., all containing water. Now I have to drink good ol' H2O to keep from getting thirsty.

Re: feeling cold. I was FREEZING the first six months. Now, I'm not! Somehow, the thermal regulation switch got reset and I'm not bundled up like Nanook of the North anymore. I am waiting for ski season to find out if I am going to get colder than I did when I was fat. As far as the rest of your list, I only have the hair loss that grows back so far. I am taking calcium supplements because osteoporosis runs in my family and I'm post-menopausal, but I took them before surgery. I am taking Iron supplements because I gave blood twice after surgery (the Red Cross had me on speed dial, I think) and I can't eat enough to bring my iron stores back up through food. My GP scolded me and said no more blood donations...

I don't wait more than five minutes. Even if water sits at the bottom of my stomach, since I eat protein first the protein is pretty much going to sit on top of it but I don't think the water's in there more than a minute or two. Thanks, pylorus valve!

Congratulations! You should be very proud of yourself!

What a great milestone! keep up the good work!

Pork rinds and hot sauce Low-sodium V-8 (packed with potassium!)

I, too, am a seafood lover. I buy the biggest scallops and shrimp I can find (Costco). Three of the scallops are about 3 oz, and I find scallops very filling. I also eat 4 jumbo shrimp (the 16-20 to a lb kind) as a meal. I can eat 3 oz of soft fish, like tilapia, but only about 2 oz of salmon or mahi-mahi. Lobster--about 3 oz. Crab---well, I haven't bought any recently, and I used to eat pounds of it. It might be too much of a trigger food for me even with a sleeve, but I'll give it a try when the season starts again this fall. I only like the King crab.

I stay between 600-800 calories by eating mostly lean protein and less than 30 carbs. I eat 3 oz of fish or shrimp for breakfast, snack on a slice of turkey, have scallops or tuna for lunch with 1/4 cup spinach or broccoli, have 7 or 8 almonds for afternoon snack, 2 oz steak for dinner with a veg side, and a low-sodium V-8, a few red grapes, or half a protein shake for bedtime snack. I usually get in between 70-85 gms of protein and around 685 or so calories. I don't eat pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, junk food, fast food, or sweets unless it's a special occasion and those come around infrequently. I don't drink alcohol either. I am 56 and tired of being fat so I wanted to get to goal as quickly as possible and this way is working for me.