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Hi, I'm 9 days out and having a problem that is starting to freak me out. Everything was going well until yesterday afternoon when the abdominal cramps after drinking began. Now every time I take a drink, weather it be Water or a Protein drink, when the liquid gets to my stomach I have these weird, painful, abdominal cramps that come in waves. I tried taking gas x strips, phillips milk of magnesia, and reglan but nothing has helped. Has anyone else had this? Could it be a leak? I'm not nauseated nor do I have a fever. thanks

Hey March sleevers, I hit the 100 pound mark today! From 295 on 3/16 to 195 on 9/24. I have 60 more pounds to goal, but I'm over the moon to be under 200 pounds. Glad to see that everyone else is doing great too!

Hi everyone, I haven't checked out the board in a while, I've been out living the life I was too fat to live before surgery. On 8/30 I had my 5 month anniversary. I started the pre op diet on 3/26 at 295 lbs and 5 months later I'm at 200 lbs. It's actually hard to believe that I weighed 95 lbs more just 5 months ago! So until about a month ago I followed a very strict post op diet that was 600-800 calories, 60+ grams of Protein, and 30 carbs or less. I wasn't even exercising and I consistently lost around 3 to 3.5 pounds a week. Most days I only ate 650-700 calories because I just wasn't that hungry. The problem was that I started getting bored with the food choices I had available to keep under 30 carbs. So I paid a visit to my nutritionist about a month ago and she told me to forget about counting carbs altogether and just worry about getting 800 calories and 60g protein. I got really excited about the carb liberation and went out and bought a bunch of low-cal, high-carb foods. Everything went great for the first couple of days, but then I noticed that I was hungry a lot. I was eating all of my 800 calories and still feeling hungry at the end of the day. This kind of freaked me out so I attempted to revert back to my carb controlled diet, but found that I wasn't as satiating as it was before my high carb experiment. Now I don't know what to do. Even though I've lost 95 lbs I still have 65 to go, so I'm nowhere near done. The worst part is that I'm starting to get that panicky anxiety feeling like I'm out of control of my eating; something I never wanted to feel again. I'm so scared that I'm back in the world of dieting and struggling, and that my weight loss will stop at this 200 pound range, and that I'll never get to my goal weight. I just want to go back to the feeling that I had before I stopped counting carbs. I'm sorry for this rant, I'm just scared that I jumped to a maintenance type diet too soon, and now I've ruined my tool. Any advice or suggestions are very very appericated. Thank you !!!

Thanks, the weight loss thus far has been almost effortless! I had my surgery through St. John hospital. Have you checked out the St. John program yet? I highly recommend it. I went to seminars at Beaumont and Henry Ford too, but in the end I picked St. John because it seemed like they had the most experience with the sleeve, and the program was organized very nicely. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Hey there! I live in Ferndale.

Congrats to all of us March sleevers! Everyone has done so well, it's so exciting! I'm down 85 pounds as of today. Things have slowed a little bit, but it's totally my fault; I've been more lax about going over a little my carb allowance and I haven't really begun exercising yet. I've started an exercise program today and I'm so close to "onederland" that I can't believe it!

I take Synthroid, and for the first month and a half I crushed and put it in apple sauce. At about 2 months post-op I started swallowing pills again. I was told before surgery that I would never be able to swallow a pill larger than an m&m again, but I've been talking pills of all sizes, even big oval fish oil capsules, with no problems.

Hey March sleevers! I hope everyone is still doing well. I just wanted to check in. I can't believe that it's been just over 3 months since surgery for me. It feels like a lifetime ago, but probably because I feel like a different person now. I'm down 78 pounds and have 82 left to lose to get to my goal weight of 135. Thinking about how much more I have to lose is kind of discouraging, but then I think about how I'm basically half way to goal in only 3 and a half months! I love my sleeve!

I'm almost 3 months post-op now, and my husband is totally happy with my decision. My surgery has given him newfound freedoms as well. I've lost almost 70 pounds at this point and our lives no longer revolve around me being really fat, what diet of the week I'm on, or my anxiety about having to lose weight. Also, he's happy with the fact that he can have candy/sweets in the house now without me eating all of them before he can even get a taste. My husband has said that I'm like a somewhat "normal" person now, no longer obsessed with food, and he always talks about how glad he is that I had surgery.

Without insurance they totalled around $3500-$4000. The charges were from pathology and anstesia departments of the hospital, and then from the actual pathology and anstesia doctors. I submitted the charges to my insurance and they paid them, even though the code number used was the 43775 sleeve code. I don't know why they paid, my insurance denied the sleeve.... If my insurance hadn't of paid the extra charges I would have been really mad. I was never told that the $12,000 wasn't all inclusive. Dr. Meguid did a great job and I think he is a great surgen, but the insurance coordinator, nutritionist, and post-op care aren't so hot. I hate going to his office for follow up visits because everytime I end up sitting in the waiting room about one and a half hours past my appointment time.

I totally understand your frustration. My insurance denied me for the surgery and I had to pay $12,000 up front to have my surgery scheduled. I thought it was a flat fee because I was never told otherwise, but then I started getting bills from pathology and anesthesia. I actually submitted those bills to my insurance company, and they paid for them (I don't know why) so you might want to try that.

I thought the unjury chicken Soup tasted like a salty chemical brine, so you might want to buy a sample of that first. You could buy some unflavored whey Protein powder and add it to chicken or beef broth, or soup. The GNC brand is barley noticeable in soup and smoothies.

Congrats! Glad to see that you and all the March sleevers are doing so well! I just hit the 60 pound mark today!!

I use Silk brand unsweetened soy milk and there are only 80 calories and 4 carbs per cup as opposed to fat free milk which has like 13 carbs and 90 calories per cup. I only use it to save on carbs.

I know what you mean, I feel like I'm eating the same things over and over again too. Here are some of my usual foods: Oh Yeah! Protein Wafer Bars, string cheese, Mama Lupe's low carb tortilla with scrambled egg and tomato inside or deli meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayo inside, Isopure rtd clear Protein drinks, Isopure zero carb Cookies and cream powder mixed with unsweetened Silk soy milk, low sodium v8 juice (only on occasion for it's high potassium content), Big Mac with no bun, Wendy's grilled chicken sandwich with no bun, Wendy's chili, an occasional piece of dark chocolate, Only 8 frozen yogurt, "pizza" made on a low carb tortilla with a small amount of pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese, tuna salad, chicken salad, Whole Foods Mahi Mahi frozen burger patties, strawberries (occasionally), cherries (occasionally).... I also have a ton of diet foods and products from places like dietdirect.com that I'm using up. Some of these foods, like the pretzels and the milk chocolate crunchies, make good high protein, lower carb Snacks and have been lifesavers. If you don't mind spending some money you should check out their website. I haven't had any breads, cereals, grains, pastas, fruits (except the ones mentioned above), or starchy veggies in ages. I'd like to eat some for variety, but these foods have slowed my weight loss down in the past.

I have Premera BC. I was denied the VSG surgery because Premera considers it "investigational". I appealed their decision 3 times, including one appeal that was done by my surgeon. I also appealed to an Independent Review Organization (IRO). Unfortunately, all my appeals were in vain and Premera's "investigational" VSG policy held up. I ended up having to pay for the surgery myself. I was not a band to sleeve revision patient though, so maybe there is a difference. I was also told by Premera that as long as I met the BMI qualifications (which I did) and had a letter of medical necessity (which I also did) the surgery would be covered. When my surgeons office submitted the paperwork though it came back denied with the reason being the investigational bs. They totally got my hopes up and then broke my heart. Anyway, I hope you get approved but I just wanted to let you know that Premera is pretty firm with their policy regarding VSG. :thumbdown:

My only regret is not having the surgery 2 years earlier!

Yes, yea for all of us March 2010 sleevers! I had my surgery on 3/30. As of today I'm 2 pounds away from a 50 pound loss since beginning the pre-op diet on 3/16! I'm so glad I did this!

Hi all, I'm about to enter the mushey food stage, and I came across this website that had some good ideas. recipes for pureed Foods - Entrees, Vegetables, and Salads

Hey all, I got on the scale tonight to find I'm down 42 pounds from the day I started my pre-op diet on 3/16! I almost can't believe it! Tomorrow will be 6 weeks post-op for me and I have not one regret on getting this surgery. Compared to all of the diets I've tried and failed on in the past, the last 6 weeks with the sleeve have been so easy! I finally feel like a normal person who doesn't think about food all of the time. I have been very diligent on tracking every calorie, carb, and gram of Protein since surgery, but I've been so-so with exercising. My goal for the next 6 weeks is to work out six days a week so I can keep this downward scale momentum going!

I had a stall that lasted 15 days. It started right after the second week post-op. I didn't lose as much as an ounce in those 15 days and I was following the rules 100%; carbs under 30, 60+ grams of Protein. I was only getting about 400-450 calories at that time and folks on this board suggested I up my calories to 600-800 and start exercising. I increased my calories and started exercising with a 15min DVD, and the next day my weight was down 2 pounds. I haven't stalled since. I didn't think my stall would ever end either. Don't worry, you'll start dropping weight again soon.

I count a carb as a carb. When I did Atkins a few years ago I did the whole net carb thing and it slowed my weight loss waaaay down and kicked me out of ketosis. I think that some people are sensitive to the net carbs and some aren't. Right now I'm keeping my total carb count under 30 and it's been working pretty well.

Hi all, I'm in tears right now because the scale hasn't moved an ounce since April 12th, thirteen days! I'm at a loss because I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I track all my food on myfitnesspal.com and I've been averaging 450-550 calories, 60-70 grams of Protein, and I'm keeping my carbs at 30 or under. Pretty much all I'm eating is zero carb Isopure powder mixed with low carb soy milk, tuna and chicken salad, and somedays the occasional yogurt or Soup. I really haven't been exercising because I'm so damn tired, but I figure that I've been eating so little that there should be some movement on the scale even without exercise. I started on this journey with the pre-op diet on March 16th at 295lbs. On surgery day, March 30th, I was down 15 pounds at 280. On April 12th I weighed myself for the first time post op and was 261, for a total of 34 pounds lost... and that's it. Not an ounce since. For the last week every time I weigh myself I've been trying to keep a positive attitude even though the scale didn't move, but tonight seeing 261 again made me lose it. Is this it? Am I going to be 261 forever? I'm not expecting another huge loss, but 2 or 3 pounds at least?? I had my stomach cut out for god's sake, is a couple pounds a week too much to ask for? So now I don't know what to do. Should I go back to full liquids for a while? I don't see my nutritionist until the last week of May, so it's a while before I can ask her what to do... Has anyone else had this happen? I'm so depressed and anxious about this, I really believed the sleeve would help me finally be thin and now I'm afraid it's just another failure. :sad0:

I would also be curious to know why some of us can't tolerate plain water post-op and others can. I am one of the lucky ones who hasn't had a problem, water tastes and goes down just the same as pre-op. I bought a ton of Crystal Light pre-op anticipating the water problem and I haven't used any of it. Do you guys have the same problem with ice chips?

It's normal, just shake (or stir with a spoon) more and the floaty chunks go away. These are my favorite protein drinks by far.