mountain_lover

Many good comments have been made on this thread. So true, the new stomach lets you know right away what is good or bad for your situation. My head tells me one thing and my stomach can tell me a totally different thing. I learned real quick that anything too sweet or too greasy is very hard for my new stomach to tolerate. Also if I overeat I have to stop eating right away or it really feels uncomfortable and I feel like I am going to vomit. I try to get in 3 meals and I have some snacks. I try to eat healthier snacks such as Nuts, Sun Chips, frozen lowfat Yogurt ect... If I have too much to eat at a meal, I save part of it and wait until the feeling of being too full goes away then I eat the rest when I feel better. I can only eat about 1 1/2 oz. then I start feeling uncomfortable, stop eating and in about 15-30 minutes I can finish another 1 1/2 oz. or so for a total of about 3 oz. for one meal. For an example, the diet menu Fresco Ranchero chicken soft taco at Taco Bell is one of my favorite and I can only eat half of it and then I can eat the rest of it in 15-30 minutes. That is a big change from my usual 3-5 tacos before the surgery. The surgery sure took away my stomach hunger. I eat now because I know that I need to eat or I am trying to get more protein. Before surgery I felt hungry most of each day. I wanted to eat and wanted to really eat alot of what tasted real good. But now that I have had the sleeve everything is so different. I do still have my moments, but they are less than before and I am learning more and more everyday. I wish you all the best. It all does get easier as time goes by, especially when you can eat regular foods instead of the milkshakes and liquids.

I started out wanting to have the band and nothing else. I didn't want to have any drastic surgery, but the more I learned about all the procedures the more I leaned towards the sleeve. I had the sleeve done on Dec. 2 and I have no regrets. I lost 34 pounds before the surgery and I have lost 28 pounds after surgery. The only pain I had after surgery from the gas pains and nausea. I only had one 2 inch incision above my belly button. I was Dr. Husted's second patient that had only one incision instead of the normal 5 incisions for the laprascopic procedure. He did not perform any leak tests. He has a very good reputation for sucessful surgeries. I am very happy that the sleeve helps by cutting down on the hunger by getting rid of the part of the stomach which produces alot of ghrellin. I eat now because I know I need to eat something or because I am trying to get in enough Protein. Sometimes I do get the head hunger, but I usually find out that my new stomach cannot handle the item as well as my head told me it would. I have a hard time eating real sweet or real greasy fatty foods, which is a very big difference than before surgery. Also overeating at one meal is out of the question. I do not like the feeling of getting ready to vomit, so now I really try hard not to overeat and I wait a little while before finishing my meal. I try to eat three meals and I try to eat healtier Snacks such as nuts, Sun chips, frozen yogurt, ect. I sure hope your insurance covers the sleeve procedure. When I first started my journey, the sleeve was not covered by Medicaid here in Kentucky, but the month before my surgery it became a covered procedure. The sleeve is the first part of the Dueodenal Switch. Many insurance companies do cover the Dueodenal Switch but not the Sleeve. There are many good comments about insurance coverage in other threads on this forum. I wish you all the best, and it sounds like you have been doing alot of research on the procedures and I do believe that you are making good decisions based on your knowledge. Please keep us posted with your story and your progress. Thank you for posting!!

On Friday 1/22/10 my weight was 204.2 pounds. I am now more than half way to my goal weight of 145 pounds. Recently I bought me a pair of Rider Jeans size 16 M, and I had been looking for size 18, because the size 20 were getting loose on me. Well I tried them on and they fit me real nice, only a little snug around the waist. It has been many years since I was in a size 16. I was so happy. Before surgery I was wearing 22-24 jeans and some of them were tight on me at times. I am so grateful that I had the sleeve, I do not regret having it done. I still have a long way to go to my goal weight, but I am very positive that one day I will see the scales at 145 pounds. Many people on here have been a great inspiration to me, and I want to give a special thank you to Tiffykins for all the comments and photo updates. She incourages me to hang in there and keep looking towards my goal, even when I have my ups and downs. I haven't posted any new photos yet, but I am planning on doing so real soon. I look at my profile picture and I am so happy for the results from my sleeve. I am thankful to God and my surgeon Dr. Husted for helping me to change my life. I never want to go back to where I was. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, and I was ready for a change. I am changing a little bit at a time, but I do believe that I will reach my goal and be able to maintain my weight with God's Help and all the help I receive on this forum from all the sleevers. I wish everyone all the best!!

The therapy swimming pool at the Y was shut down for almost 3 weeks to be repainted. I really am glad that now it is open. I have went 2 times this week. I really need the exercise. It helps in so many ways. I have lost some weight and I need to do some firming and toning. This morning my weight was 207.6 pounds. The night before surgery on Dec. 2 I weighed 232 so that is a loss of 24 1/2 lbs in 6 weeks. I know that the exercising will help me to lose some more and will help to tighten up some of this loose skin. July 2009 I weighed 266, so I am almost half-way to my goal of 145 pounds. I am so happy that I had the sleeve.

I have been wondering about the taste thing. Sometimes my head tells me something is going to taste so good, just like it did pre-op, but then when I try it I can't believe how different it tastes. I use to love those hot fudge sundaes at McDonald's, and so one day I just had to buy one. I only ate part of it and I had a hard time getting that down. It was way too sweet. Sweets were one of my weaknesses. But now when I eat them I start to get nauseous and I can't eat very much. I hope that stays the same, but with other healthy foods, I hope it changes. I don't feel hungry, but I know that I need to eat, so I try to eat 3 meals and a snack. I can only eat 3-4 ounces in 30-45 minutes. So I usually eat 1/2 and save the other half for later. I have not been counting calories. I am having a hard time with the taste of Water, but I try to drink it anyway so that I don't get dehydrated. The Powerade 0 drinks were too sweet tasting to me. I am glad that you put this on here, now I am hoping my taste buds will change with time. Thank you for your comments.

Have you tried those Vegetable chips? My daughter is trying to get off of eating potatoe chips and cheetos ect. so she bought a bag of those. I looked at the saturated fats and they are really low and no trans fat. I think the brand name might have been TERRA. They had like 9 grams of fat, so I am thinking that they have some of the fats that are better for you. They tasted really good, they had alot of the root vegetables. They also were not real high in sodium. Maybe those would be a healthier snack, if you are having a hard time with the chips. A serving size was 1 oz. about 14 chips. It was enough to make me feel full. Very satisfying!!

Hello Rachel, I have wondered the same things. I have been able to eat more than a few bites. I am 5 weeks out and now I can have regular foods. I still chew, chew and chew because I am afraid that I am eating things that will be too hard on my stomach. I try not to drink anything with the meals, but I have been keeping a glass with some 1 % milk and a piece of ice in it so that it will stay cold through my meal. If I feel the need to take a drink, I try to just take a little sip. Sometimes I start to feel nauseous or either the food feels like it is getting stuck in my throat, so that is when I take a little sip. I found out real quick that if I drink too much liquid then I don't have much room for the food, so I finally stopped drinking alot of Fluid with the meal. I am still having a problem with trying to wait 30-60 minutes after eating to drink fluids. Maybe it will get easier as time goes along, I hope!!

I went to my heart doctor and he reduced my meds down to half of what I was taking before surgery. I go back to him in 6 months and he will decide to leave me like it is now or take me off of it entirely. I don't have a monitor, so I don't know how high it is during the day. When I was in the hospital Dec. 24 and 25, my BP went up and down, but it was usually very low. I guess with time and more weight to lose, maybe it will even out more. I didn't think too much about the high blood pressure being genetic and having high blood pressure even if a person has low weight. My family has a history of high BP. Some are overweight and some are not. Very interesting topic!!

Thank you for all of your comments, I am really trying to stay away from the sweets. When I was visiting out of state, my sister bought some chocolate covered cherries and those were my favorite at christmas time before surgery. I usually always ate the whole box over 1-2 days, but I only ate 2 and didn't eat any more. They tasted very good, but the sweetness made me nauseous. I have tried cake 2 times and both times I couldn't eat all of it, I became very sick to my stomach. It really seems so weird being like this, because I have never in my life been this way. Not complaining, don't get me wrong. I am very happy that it is this way and That is why I said I hope it stays this way. Sweets use to be my biggest weakness. My head still tells me that I want cookies, cake or ice cream, but my body tells me I should not eat it or very little if it does go down ok. I decided to buy some low-fat frozen chocolate yogurt, because I had a hard time getting a hot fudge sundae from McDonald's down. I use to eat them all the time, but when I tried it, it was too sweet and tasted very different and I could not eat it all. I thought that the frozen yogurt would be healthier and taste better, but for some reason it did not taste very good like it did before. Is there anyone that has been like this before and after surgery? Have you stayed like this or has it changed? I know that it is important to get in lots of protein, so I try to eat meals high in protein. I always try to remember that most all sweet foods contain very little protein if any at all. Sometimes I just have a little bowl of cereal for a snack, I tell myself that sounds like a healthier snack. I even get a little bit nauseous eating cereal. I am sure that I am not alone in feeling like this, but I sure would like to hear from others about this. I weighed 210.4 this morning, since July I have lost a total of 56.4 pounds. (The night before my surgery, Dec. 1, I weighed 232.)

I thought that I had better update my story of my journey. Soon I will also put on some new photos. I have really been busy with christmas and I had to go into the hospital on Dec. 24 and the 25. I was having chest pains for 2 days and I had read that it could possibly be a blood clot in the lungs. The information said to call 911, which I did and I stayed in the ER for about 8 hours while they done tests on my heart, blood work and a CT scan. Thank God!! No heart attack, No blood clot in the lungs!! But I did find out that I have a hematoma on my spleen. As long as it does not burst or become infected, I guess all will be OK. I was given the OK to travel, so I traveled out of state the day after Christmas. I weighed myself on Dec. 30, the morning after I came back and I had a hard time believing that I had lost some weight. I had gained 3 pounds the two days I was in the hospital, I guess it might have been from the fluids they put in my IV. So I have lost almost 5 pounds while I was on my trip. I now weigh 214.4, only 15 more pounds and I will be in onederland!! I have not been at this weight for approximately 20 years. I hope the pounds keep coming off. For about a week I was stalled and gained that 3 lbs. I was a little discouraged, but I have read that is common for people to get stalled at 3 weeks out, and that was my situation also. I am getting ready to start eating regular foods. I have been on the soft foods for 2 weeks. I know that I was eating things that are not considered soft, but when I did I chewed, chewed and chewed some more so that it would be easier for my stomach to digest. I still have problems with some nausea, but I am doing OK. I just try not to overeat and I try to go slow and chew my food real good. While I was visiting for the holidays, I did have a few things that were sweet, but they were hard to tolerate with my nausea. I don't know if I will not be able to tolerate sweets or if it will go away. I hope I stay more like this, because before surgery, I was so addicted to sweets and I ate way too much of them. Whenever I do have sweets now, I will limit my intake. I do have bouts of head hunger, but no hunger like before surgery. I really am so happy that I had the Sleeve done. I do not regret having it at all. I did not have any pain from the incision. I only had the pain from the gas pains and bad nausea for one week after surgery. Now I am ready to get started on some serious exercising to try to firm and tone my body after losing some weight. I am looking forward to this journey and reaching my goal!!

Hello JudyJudyJudy, You are doing so good, I am so happy for you. You had your surgery the day before me and we were almost at the same weight. I was 232 the night before surgery and it looks like you were at 235. Now you are only 12 pounds away from being back in the one hundreds. I have 15 more pounds to lose to be in the one hundreds. I recently had to go into the hospital the morning of Dec.24 and got out on Christmas Day. I found out that I have a hematoma on my spleen. When I came out of the hospital I weighed 3 more pounds than I did before I went in. I was hoping it was because they put all those fluids into my IV. I made a trip out of state and just got back late last night. I got up this morning and weighed myself and I couldn't believe it, I only weighed 214.4, I had lost 5 pounds while I was gone those 4 days. I hope I am back on track. I had a stall with weight gain and even though I have read that it happens, it is still discouraging. Now my hope has been restored, especially after reading your post. It is so good to read what others are going through and to know that we are not alone. The concern, support and prayers from all the sleevers really help me alot on my journey. I am anxious to see some pictures of you soon, you are very beautiful on your profile picture. Good luck on reaching your goal!!

Hello kteacher, I was doing just fine until Dec.23. I woke up with some chest pains that continued throughout that day and I could not get to sleep. I called 911 at 3:30AM on Dec.24 and had to go to the ER. I was concerned about my heart or a blood clot in my lungs. They took some blood tests and one (D-DIMAR) came back positive so they had to do a CT skan. My heart test all came back OK and there was NO blood clot in my lungs. But they did find a large Hematoma on my spleen. I had to stay in the hospital until christmas day about noon. They said it could be causing the pain in my chest area. The spleen could have been bumped and bruised during surgery, but I am going to be ok as far as I know. It will be absorbed by the body. The only time it usually causes problems is when it is infected or if it bursts inside the body. The doctor said that it doesn't appear to be infected. I had plans to leave on christmas day, to go out of state to visit family for Christmas. I ask the surgeon if it was OK to travel and he said it would be OK. So I went to visit Family and I just now arrived back home from the visit. Other than that, I am doing Ok. I am on my three week stall or either things got messed up from me being in the hospital. Dr. Husted told me that I would only have 1 incision instead of 5. I found out that I was the 2nd patient that he had performed the one incision surgery on. You must have been his first one because you had surgery on 11/20 and I had surgery on Dec.2. I am so thankful that I only had one that had to heal. I do not regret having had the sleeve done. I am hoping that after this stall, I will get back to losing so I will be on my way to my goal weight. I hope that you had a Merry Christmas and that you are doing ok from your surgery. I only have lost 16 pounds since Dec.2. I am going to go back to the Y soon so that it will help to burn some calories. I went to the support group on Dec.14 and I hope I get to go in Jan. I hope to meet you at one of the support group meetings. I will be posting more in a few days after I rest up from my trip. Thank you for your reply and have a nice day!!

Hello Heftynetty, I am so glad to hear that you are doing better. I am really having a hard time post-op with the Milkshakes. Before surgery I was drinking 4 over a 24 hour period, but now I have a hard time getting 1 down in 24 hours. I finally got a liquid Protein down after not having one for 2-3 days. It was really difficult, I wish I could say the same thing about some of the things I have been eating. I am almost 3 weeks out and I can eat alot of different foods but I am trying not to eat alot of them. I am sure I am getting at least 3-5 ounces down in about 45 minutes-1 hour. The only thing that I make sure that I do is to eat slowly and chew, chew and chew some more before I try to swallow. If I swallow too fast or don't chew enough, I can tell real quick. I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year

Hello FrankMan, I read the title of this thread and when I did it took me back in time right before my surgery. If you read all of my postings, you will see that the closer I got to my surgery date the more nervous, anxious or whatever feelings it was, was really messing up my previous sanity. I said I felt like I was on an emotional rollercoaster ride!! I think because of all the risks that we are told that the surgerys have, we tend to get really scared about not making it through the surgery. I have had several major surgeries including a total knee replacement last year and this surgery still made me somewhat fearful of maybe dying on the operating table or dying from complications after surgery. I was so unhealthy before my surgery on Dec.2 and I was hoping and praying that God and My surgeon would help me get through it ok. I had alot of people on here supporting and praying for me. Now that I have had the surgery I cannot believe how well I came through it without hardly any pain. The only pain I had after surgery was some gas pain and some nausea. I only had one small incision about 2 inches long. It healed up in 2 weeks, and now I have the ok to go back to swim exercise classes. I feel so much better than I did before surgery. I know I still have a long way to go, but it was nothing that I expected. But I did go into it knowing what could be the worst to expect and HOPING for the best. I cannot tell you how your surgery will go, because we are all different and we all go by different but similar diets. I can ONLY tell you what my experience was and hope that you and others will also have a good recovery. Just don't back out, hang in there and hope for BIG changes to happen real soon. The most important thing is try to take good care of yourself and if you mess up as most of us do, just get right back on track and go ahead with a positive attitude to do better. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Hello JudyJudyJudy, I went through the same thing recently, at first I was losing real fast then it started going real slow. I was only losing about a half pound each day for the last few days. I finally reached 216.8 which was 50 pounds lost since my July weight of 266. Since the day before surgery at 232, I have now lost 16 pounds. It doesn't sound like much, but my pants are getting loose on me, so I can tell it is working. I hope to try some chili soon, it sounds good. You said you like shrimp, well I tried some Shrimp Scampi from Long John Silvers and I took them out of the sauce because it was so oily and I have not been able to handle greasy foods very well. They tasted so good, I am going to try to get me some more on Wednesday. It was only $1.99 for a side order of 4 shrimp scampi but the small cup had several shrimp in it, and it was very filling. The only thing I had to chew, chew and chew some more before I could swallow them. I had some after I was put on soft foods, which is suppose to be anything I can mash up with a fork. I too am having problems doing everything exactly right, but I am really trying to pay close attention to what is going on with my stomach. I read where if the stomach gets too full, you will start burping, belching or vomiting. I am still having a hard time knowing how much to put in at once, but I am trying to eat very slow and chew very well before swallowing. If I start having signs of fullness I stop eating for a few minutes and then continue when I feel better. I know all of this is not easy, but I am so sure it will all be worth it in the end. I don't feel much hunger at all. I have more head hunger than stomach hunger. I am so happy for you that you are losing the weight now. I can't wait to see some new pictures of you. Please post some new ones soon. I am going to try to post some new ones myself soon. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

I am so happy to see that you have made it to Onederland!! I have been reading several of posts and looking at your photos. You have been a great inspiration for me and I am now looking foward to reaching Onederland myself. I have a ways to go yet, I have 17 more pounds to lose before I get there, but after reading your post I feel that it will be a big event. I can feel your excitement. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!