Foxbins

I say, do what makes you happy. If you are happy with the way you look and feel now, and "dieting" and missing your goals is getting in the way of being happy, then stop worrying about a number. if, however, there is a part of you that will always wonder , "Could I have gotten to goal if I had stuck it out a little longer?" and that part will nag at you and make you feel like a failure, then I say stick with it, no matter how slow the loss. Which way will make you happier in the end?

I hate water, always have. I asked the nutritionist why there was a requirement for so much water and she said that when we had our full-size stomachs, we could easily drink and hold a quart of water if we needed to rehydrate fast. With the sleeve, there's no storage, and a few gulps fills us up, so we have to keep drinking all day.

You have the rest of your life to eat whatever you wish but for now you have to recover from your surgery. That means drink water, boullion, crystal lite, isopure, sf jello this week and next, drink your protein shakes next, eat your purees after that. After your food progression, you can decide what you want to eat. Due to the band, parts of your new stomach are more at risk and need to be treated with care. It sounds as though you have had a rough two years. but your body is not crying out for some milk or something--that's your mind. Be strong and follow your surgeon's instructions, please.

I doubt it. Your stomach heals. The cases I have heard of leaks late (after a month or so), there were subtle symptoms of a leak all along that were ignored or misdiagnosed. I am five 1/2 months out and I think my new stomach has the same chance of a leak as my old one did, which is to say slim to none.

First off, I don't think you can call what you are doing grazing--you are at soft foods and there is no way to meet your protein goals without eating about six times a day. Try measuring your food--if you know you can eat 3-4 bites, try eating 1/4 cup, or if that's too big, 1/8 cup. Eat slow, chew well and pay attention to your tummy. Stop after 20 minutes. If it all goes in, that's your meal size, if not, stop when you feel it's enough. Different foods may fill you up differently. Then wait 30 min. and start drinking your water. Drink about 2 hours, then eat again. Repeat until bedtime. This won't last long, you will be able to eat larger portions soon. I still measure everything and eat about 1/2 cup of food at a meal, less if it's steak or ham. and I still have 4 meals a day to get the protein in. If you can get a protein shake in, that will give you a boost toward your daily goal.

Considering that when I was fat I thought about what I was going to eat and drink ALL THE TIME I feel that I devote less time now. I freeze single-serving portions of fish, seafood, or meat and pull one or two out in the morning and that's lunch and dinner. I keep a Water bottle in the car and next to my desk and just sip whenever. I take my Vitamins with Breakfast, my Calcium with lunch, dinner, and before bed. It's all just routine now, and I suppose I got it down to a routine about 3 months out. I am losing hair but no one has noticed but me. Please don't worry about these things--start living your life! If you follow your plan, you will lose weight. Gym time--well, it's hard to make time in the beginning, but once you start to feel better, and it's a little easier to move your smaller body, just pick something you think you'd like to do and go for it. I am a runner and I feel great when I'm running, but I tried those dance revolution things and I cannot do them. It's just a matter of finding something you like. I am 5 1/2 months out from surgery and feel normal again, and have felt like that since about month 3 when the routine kind of established itself.

Right after surgery, you have to chew to mush and beyond because your stomach is swollen from surgery. After you are healed, not so much. I eat pretty much normally now, except that I don't swallow big hunks of unchewed food anymore--like if I get a gristle in a piece of steak, I used to be able to swallow the whole chunk. Now I either chew it up small or spit it out. Still no drinking after meals, but I eat oatmeal sometimes and it's fine. Because I don't get hungry anymore I am less focussed on dense Protein to keep me full than some others and I mostly have to remind myself that it's time to eat. People here eat bread, Pasta, and rice--I don't yet, I am low-carbing until goal and the bread I had didn't sit well so I'll see. I have had a Lean Cuisine spaghetti dinner and it gave me no problems and I am planning on eating sushi when I'm at goal. I have vomited three times and I am five and a half months out, all the episodes occurred within the first two months. Once I ate salmon that didn't agree with my sleeve in the first week of solid food, and up it came. Once I ate pork rinds too fast and up THEY came, almost immediately. Once I had the flu and everything came up. I measure everything now, partly to keep track of calories and partly because with the pork rinds I didn't measure and just kept dipping into the bag and look what happened! It's pretty easy to pay attention to a full signal now.

It was my first surgery and I was afraid of the pain, too. My stomach was sore and I was tired but I didn't take any pain meds after the 4th post-op night. Turning from side to side in bed was uncomfortable but not painful and I was grateful I'm primarily a back sleeper. I seem to remember spending most of my days sipping, burping, and walking around the house the first week or so.

My surgeon said straws are fine. I didn't notice any difference using a straw or not, still burped after every sip either way.

The bubbly,hurting, icky feeling is because your stomach is still swollen and sore from surgery. You may be interpreting the growling as a cue for hunger but it's probably just stuff churning around in there post-op. Your surgeon must have his reasons for his diet restrictions. If you want to advance more quickly, I'd call the office and see if you can get the okay. You have gone through a lot to get a sleeve and I'm sure you don't want to mess it up. If it makes you feel any better, my surgeon requires a month of liquids post-op and it was difficult to comply, but I did. You are burning fat for fuel and will never lose as quickly as this month. Make the most of it!

Yep, normal. I couldn't see my feet for about a week my stomach was out so far, not that I had such a good view before surgery, but I could spot my toes...

I definitely have felt nausea. I had the flu about 8 weeks out and uck!

My masseuse never goes near my stomach, so I guess it depends on how soon you can lay on your stomach comfortably. I shouldn't think there's any medical reason not to have one as soon as you feel up to it.

I started at day 10 and it was a struggle. If I had it to do over again I'd wait another week.

Breakfast: premier Protein shake Lunch: 2.5 oz sauteed shrimp with thai chili sauce Dinner: 4 giant scallops and a tablespoonful of green giant cauliflower w/cheese sauce Snack: SF popsicle Evening snack: Turkey deli meat The Vitamins and Calcium are in but my Water is way low for the day at 28 oz. Have to sip all evening long.

Psychologists get a kick out of those MMPI questions, too. There is a spoof of the MMPI in a book called "The Journal of Polymorphous Perversity" that has such memorable T/F statements as : " I salivate at the sight of mittens." "I try to steal people's thoughts and ideas when they are not looking." "I am easily awakened by the firing of cannons." and my personal favorite, "Sometimes I feel that things are real."

$8750 with Dr. Aceves in Mexicali, Mexico. One night pre-op in a hotel, three nights in the hospital. He's done thousands of them. Also, I agree with a previous poster who said appeal your insurance decision. It sounds to me like they will pay for the sleeve as part of the duodenal switch surgery which is usually for higher BMI patients. If your innards aren't rearranged it's a much easier surgery, certainly less complex that bypass.

I take thyroid hormone as a pill and I could swallow it at 5 days post-op. I use Centrum Chewable vitamins and wash them down with water as they are pretty gritty. I take a liquid calcium citrate that tastes like a blueberry smoothie and my Nexium was dissolved in water and swallowed until day 14 when I could swallow the pill. Capsules still seem to stick someplace on the way down so I try to stay with pill forms.

I envy you! I have a sewing machine but can just barely sew a straight line if I go reaaaallly slow. I donated my larger clothes to Goodwill...

If you had heparin shots after surgery it will only take a very small bump (maybe just brushing a countertop or something) to make a very big bruise. And your mom is right about the symptoms of a blood clot--you don't have one if all you have is a bruise.

Chicken doesn't sit well in my stomach but I buy pretty much all apple-saucy's proteins plus shrimp, scallops, pork rinds (my crunch food), tilapia, ground beef for chili, canned tomatoes, mushrooms and whatever berry is in season.

Are you somewhere Southwest Airlines flies? They usually have the cheapest flights to San Diego that I've found, but I'm on the west coast.

Lots of people who opt for surgery in the US travel out of state to get their surgery, so although "aftercare" may be included, you'd have to travel to get it. Because my health insurance has a BMI requirement for surgery that I didn't meet, although I was obese and heading toward morbid obesity, my PCP was delighted to do my post-surgery labs and referred me to a nutritionist (who was an idiot, but I did get a referral). Since I had no complications after surgery, the need for follow-up is minimal. My surgeon didn't leave any stitches to remove and if I had a question about anything he was an email or phone call away.

Thanks--your intake appears to be on track. How much do you have to lose? "Lightweights" (those who have less than 100 lbs to lose) lose about the same percentage of weight as bigger people, but because they are smaller the pounds are fewer--does that make sense? Someone with 100 lbs to lose who loses 27 lbs has lost 27% of their excess weight, whereas someone with 200 lbs to lose who loses 54 lbs has still lost only 27% of their excess weight. If I were you, I would not compare myself to others. I figured out early on that I would not be losing 75 lbs in three months like some people. However, I kept at it, haven't become discouraged because the scale keeps moving down, and I'm 26 lbs. from goal. Keep plugging along and don't lose heart!

Drink your liquids for now. The Protein can wait a little.