CraftyChristie

Elly, I want to say one more thing and I hope you dont' take any offense at this, I say it because I care... so listen to your elder LOL jk... Alright so here is how I feel. We have been dieting for years yes? The sleeve is supposed to free us from that. To be a real way to lose weight and keep it off. While we do have to follow nutrition guidelines already of high protein, low carb, a certian amount of calories etc... I view this as the change in lifestyle and not a diet. BUT, it is already an "eating plan" so to speak. I don't understand why you want to try diet pills, or south beach, or weight watchers, etc. I don't know if your story is different than mine, but I've been dieting since age 7. If it is more recent for you and with as young as you are I can understand why you might still be thinking about these things. But they DON'T work long term and that's why so many of us are here. I think if you hit a stall when you are losing, doing south beach for a week or something and changing things up is acceptable. But, I feel like you are already selling yourself short by assuming you are going to still need to diet after the sleeve. You need to FREE yourself from this way of thinking. Give this a chance and follow the guidelines and do it right and you WILL be successful. NO MORE DIETS babe!

Firstly, my surgeon said you should be off birth control for 4 weeks prior to surgery! As well as 6 weeks after. Has to do with risk of blood clots. Have you asked him about that? If you do need to go off of it, it might fix the prob for you. When I went off mine, I have my period 3-4 days later like I always do when I stop my pill even though it was a week and a half earlier than I would have done so normally. So if you stopped it now maybe you'd be all done with your period before surgery.

Elly I've heard similar fears from MANY people. But it just won't be true. We will both be successful. :thumbup:

I hit on this in your other thread... but we are being told at our surgeon that we will be between 600-800 cals a day the first year (regardless male/female/weight/etc) once on solid foods... and that by around 1.5 to 2 years out we will be at 1200-1500 per day. So being on 1200 a day now when you are still doing liquids is probably not recommended. Did your surgeon give you any guidelines? I've seen other threads on here where people say to google nutrition guidelines vertical sleeve and that there is a lot of information out there. I hope this is helpful. :thumbup:

I bet at least 7lbs of that was the poo :thumbup:

I think it would really help if you cut down the calories in your smoothies. Make it with water instead of milk and maybe 2 scoops protein instead of 3? From what I understand we'll be on 600 cals or less until 6months out or so and you are getting that much from just the smoothie in the morning, what is your calorie count for the whole day? I thought it's supposed to be 600-800 cals for the first year and working up to 1200-1500 by 1.5 - 2 yrs out. I know every surgeon has different guidelines though!

I have ALWAYS wanted to donate blood but they won't let me due to my severe anemia.

Elly... You are NOT going to need this babe!

Andrea, same here, excited but a little nervous :thumbup: Soon we'll be on the other side!

Thanks for the shout out Jerry!!! I am feeling the opposite of you - that these days are going by FAST! I guess because I have felt like I've had so much to do. Today I bought my protein powder from Max Muscle, did some other shopping, had lunch with my sister in law, went to coffee with my dad, got a bunch of stuff from my parents' basement (found some smaller clothes there too which will really come in handy!) oh yeah AND I had to be at the court house this morning for jury duty, which thankfully I got out of. It's been a long day. Tomorrow is my pulmonary testing, my preop tests at the hospital and then my preop appt with the surgeon so I know tomorrow is going to go by fast too! Eeee! Can't wait to talk to you on the other side!! :eek:

PS I am 27 too!

WOW good luck! Mine is Thursday! So I will be right behind you!!! I have a blog about my journey too... Health & Happiness ... I am gonna go check out your blog!

Congrats, you are doing awesome!!!

Hiya! Good luck tomorrow! In addition to what's already been said I am also taking wisps (those toothbrush thingies that don't need water) for my breath, my face lotion, my nintendo ds and a book (in case I feel good enough to occupy myself), beano meltaways (for the gas everyone says I will have lol), slipper socks (i prefer these over full slippers because they aren't as hot, that's just me), hair ties for putting my hair up, my camera and phone, my ipod. I think I am overprepared lol. I'm also taking the other things mentioned - chapstick, lotion, my own pillow. I'm also taking travel toiletries like my shampoo and body wash, since whatever they have at the hospital probably sucks. Hope your day goes great tomorrow!

Congrats!!! I really think this is one of the hardest parts for people. Somehow, I managed to start thinking this way even over 300lbs and I truly believe it will help me see all the positives as I am losing weight. I'm so happy for you that you have found this positive way of looking at yourself and I hope you feel wonderful!

I don't know you but I am so proud of you :tongue_smilie: That is wonderful! If you can do that now, just think what you will be able to do as the weight comes off. You might be a marathon runner! Whooo hooo!

That doesn't sound right to me. Day two sure but halfway through your second week I would think you could take in a lot more. Definitely call your doctor and good luck. Let us know what you find out.

Congrats! You guys are doing great! You men are infuriating though, you lose weight faster :tongue_smilie: My hubby will be 2 weeks behind me but I'm sure he will still lose weight faster. Grrr

Yes that's normal for his patients. I was surprised too! I was expecting 1-2 weeks full liquid diet based on what I've heard, but I've also heard of a few surgeons doing it this way. I might even do 2 days clears if I'm up to it just to make sure there's nothing in my stomach.

Hehe... looks like it worked, Elly! :thumbup1:

Anxiety is MORE than normal :thumbup1: I am already feeling it, I'm 5 days away from my sleeve eek! You will do awesome, I'm sure of it. Look forward to hearing from you on the other side :biggrin2:

I just bought them today, in 4 flavors. I want to try each of them before buying a whole case of a flavor, see what I like best (same for my husband.) I think it's great to have for when on the clear liquid diet since you can't really do the Protein shakes yet. I will let ya know what I think of the taste! I got mine at Vitamin Shoppe. They are pricey, 3.79 per bottle. I'm sure the per bottle cost will be less when buying a whole case but I didn't check the price of the whole case yet.

I second what ouroborous said. The scale fluctuates all the time and you just can't waste your energy worrying about it. It's the TREND you have to worry about over the long term. If you didn't lose or kept gaining for a couple months I might be concerned but there are so many things jumping out to me. Water retention - your legs were swelling... also did you fly? Flying can make you swell and retain water too. You don't gain 2 lbs of fat in a day, especially 2 days in a row so in all liklihood it is water weight and will go away on it's own in a few days to a week. Another possibility, sounds like you walked a LOT, and you of course at this stage are eating very little, so your body might be going whoa, we really need to hang on to these calories for all this activity. That will iron itself out too. A third possiblity, everyone seems to experience stalls either at 2-3 weeks out, or about 20 lbs out. We all lose at different rates and since you are talking about onederland I'm guessing you started out not that too far above 200? As a smaller sleever, you may just be experiencing that stall slightly sooner because of the ratio of what you've lost compared to what you need to lose. OUr bodies are so complex... don't worry about trying to figure this stuff out unless it persists for at least a couple of WEEKS. The day to day you just need to ignore!! Hugs and I Hope this helps some

If you are exercising it's possible you actually need a little more carbohydrates, experiment with adding in more complex ones like fruits and veggies and see if it helps!