SKCUNNINGHAM

My nutritionist and surgeon's PA told me the reason for the no drinking after eating is that it washes the food out of your stomach into the intestions (where the nutrients are absorbed). BUT, it takes 20 minutes for your brain to register you are full, once you start putting food in your stomach. If you drink while you are eating, the food will be washed out of your stomach prior to you feeling full, and you will want more food. So the no drinking rule is to help you lose the most weight, by controlling the amount you need to eat to feel satisfied. I drink up to the point I start eating. I have always broken that rule - and in fact my NUT told me I could do it with no problems

Foxbins advice is right on point. The only other thing you might try is a GASX dissolving strip when you are experiencing the issue. I use them off and on. Your symptoms sound like acid to me. Although since you are female and have lost a bunch of weight, you are a prime candidate for gallbladder problems. I think if it was gallbladder, you would get a more severe signal. When my gallbladder issues arose after rapid weight loss - it wasn't churning, it was definate pain. Hope you get it resolved - you are doing great with your sleeve - <5 pounds to go! YEA for you!

I reached normal BMI today - on my 10 month surgiversary. I am now down 108 pounds and only 10 more pounds to go. I have set my goal of losing those last 10 pounds by my 1 year mark. I know these last 10 will be the hardest. I had my family (husband, son, daughter in law and 2 granddaughters) go for a portrait sitting last Saturday. Attached is a picture of my husband and I, and one from last Chistmas for comparison.

I guess my shape stayed basically the same. I am a short (5'4") broad shouldered, small breasted (at my highest weight, I barely fit a D - now I barely fit a C) woman with a relatively thick waist, small hipps, and and the FLATTEST butt around. Other than my droopy skin on my thighs (which kind of look like they are melting) I have nice muscles in my thighs and calves. When I stand with my legs together, I have the triangle opening at the top of my thighs and then two diamond openings lower down. Take that same shape and spread 100 pounds of fat over it, and that is what I was before. I am hoping the skin on my thighs responds to exercise - in a year - if the skin hasn't snapped back, it may get snipped - I don't like the wicked witch melting look. OregonDaisy is right - exercise with weights throughout to minimize droopy skin - I didn't do this and wish I had. Not only do you lose the fat pad in your "lady area", but you will no longer have the issue of having to move a belly out of the way to find the promised land. :-) Much more fun!

I am so proud of you! You are a wise woman! That is a great attitude to have. Don't let others pull you down with their bad attitudes. I love taking the easy way - automatic washers and dryers for my clothes, refrigerators and freezers for food storage, buying soap rather than making ot over the fire, and all the wonderful ways we have of communicating with each other rather than writing letters with fountain pen. I tried all of the "hard ways" to lose weight before - and they didn't work. That is a great answer - not only are you a wise woman, but witty, too! I may steal that when people tell me I am too thin! Good luck with the rest of your journey - you are bound to be successfull with your attitude.

I did this too! My husband said he thought I might need an intervention:-) I talked about this at support group in December, and a bunch of the WLS patients there did the same thing after surgery. If not the food network, they were buying cookbooks or reading recipes online - doing something to scratch the itch to interact with food in some way.

I found out in October of 2009 my insurance was going to include bariatric surgery coverage in January of 2010. I called the insurer the first week of January to find out the requirements. I found Doctor Nick (as an approved center of excellence) and attended his informational seminar in January. He does all 3 surgeries, so I found out about all of them. I liked the sleeve the best. Then, life interfered. My company was sold right before I went to the informational seminar, but the buying company also covered WLS, and Dr. Nick was still approved as a center of excellence. I started going to the required 6 month dietician visits. Then, the buying company had a lay-off which affected me. I went back to another division of my original company (same insurance I started with) and continued meeting the requirements for WLS. Then, the new business I was working for (a joint venture of two companies) sold out to one of the partners - and my insurance changed again (4th one in 8 months). I kept attending the dietician visits throughout because I didn't want to have a break in attendence. Dr. Nick was still a Center of Excellence provider with the 4th insurance provider. His employee that worked with me was wonderful about keeping track of what all of my different insurance providers required. And, with the delay, my final insurance had changed there coverage to include the sleeve - so it worked out the way I wanted it to. I got my approval (with one denial before the approval - they decided they wanted 5 years of weight history) on December 29th of 2010. I scheduled my appointment with Dr. Nick to schedule surgery in mid January and had surgery for February 22, 2011. The 12 months of time allowed me to research quite a bit. I'm glad it took that long, or I wouldn't have been able to have the sleeve covered.

The hunger I felt early on was really acid. When I felt hunger, I would take a GASX strip, let it dissolve, and drink either warm tea or broth. I also took Famotadine (Pepcid) morning and evening and Prilosec before bed. Now at 10 months out, I only take Pepcid in the am and occasional prilosec at night if I've eaten spicy food. The hint about drinking all your fluids to keep from feeling hungry is a good one. Warm stuff worked better for me than cold. Your stomach (sleeved or not) takes 20 minutes to register to your brain you are full. Spread out your eating over 20 minutes - I don't care if it is 4 bites of plain yogurt. I support your desire to work with a professional on your emotional issues with eating. If you can't find a shrink, look for a counselor or a hypnotist. I have had great results working with one to get control of my addictions to food. Like someone else on this forum says, "they operated on our stomachs, not our brains". There is also a shrink that works with the support group I go to. I am going to schedule an appointment with him to work with me one on one. Even though I have lost most of the weight I intend to lose, now comes the part that makes me nervous - keeping it off. This is where I have failed before. That is why I am really focusing on working on my brain to fix the problems there. Good luck.

MeginNOLA - that is great for you. I agreee with your theory that our sleeves get more tolerant - mine did too about the same time from surgery. There are still things I don't do well with (too much raw salad or celery, or meat cooked dry, or too spicy foods, or bread) but I no longer worry if I am at a business function of not being able to find something that my sleeve tolerates well.

Congratulations! That is outstanding. What a wonderful Christmas gift. Good Luck on the rest of your sleeve journey.

No eggs from me. I think those that are slow losers have a very eficient metabolism. Their bodies go into starvation mode and figure out how to survive on the limited amount of calories they are ingesting. It is a survival mechanism from way back when humans experienced times of real famine. If you could survive on fewer calories, you lived longer. Back when I did Modifast- I ingested 450 calories for 9 months. At some point, my body stopped losing weight. I figured my Irish ancestors would have been ones that would have survived the potatoe famines, if they hadn't decided to decamp to the USA.

Another benefit of exercising while losing is it helps your skin retract. When I have lost a large amount of weight previously I exercised throughout. My skin retracted back much better than this time - although I am 8 years older, so that my be as much of a reason for the droopier skin this time. I haven't been doing much exercise this time around. Some elliptical, some walking and occasional Zumba classes. Back when I worked out with a trainer, he was a fan of using your own body weight to exercise. For abs, his favorite was the plank. He also was a great fan of squats and lunges. If you don't know how to do these, look them up on the internet. You can do them while you have the TV on. Good luck!

Congratulations! Welcome to the century club. You are doing wonderful with your sleeve. Best of luck on the rest of your journey to a normal BMI.

Glad to hear you and Tatum are doing well. Welcome to Texas - I really enjoy living here.

Twice during the past 10 months I had happen what is happening to you. My BP was about 90 / 55. Both times I called my doctor and my BP meds were lowered. Each time, it took me around 3 days to start feeling better and my BP to stabilize at the 120/80 level. I would recommend calling your doctor, ASAP. Other things that compounded my feeling week during the past 10 months was low B12 and low Iron (I was anemic). But neither of those would cause your BP to register this low. I hope you get this resolved quickly. Hang in there, it is worth it.

I have had other surgeries besides the sleeve (gallbladder the old fashioned way, and an abdominal hysterectomy). The sleeve was much less painful than either one of those. It is more like other laparoscopic procedures I have had. The only really sore spot is the incision where they pull out the stomach. I took some pain meds in the hospital, and one pill the first night I was home. (I was only in the hospital one night). Haven't taken a pain pill since in the 10 months since surgery. I wore an abdominal support belt when I got home, and used a heating pad. Those helped the discomfort of getting up and down from the bed or the recliner.

I chose the sleeve over the other two procedures because I thought it gave me the best shot at leading a normal life. No foreign object in me (like the band) to cause problems later - no rerouting of my internal plumbing (like the bypass) and no dumping syndrome. I travel for my work, and thought living with a bypass and having to travel would be awful. I loved sweets pre-sleeve. Now, if I want a sweet, I get one-two bites and I am satisfied. During my Christmas celebrations, I had two bites of pecan pie and gave the last bite on the plate to my husband. I couldn't eat a third bite - it was too sweet and rich. Later in the day, I had a tiny morsel of fudge (1/2" square) and gave the rest of the piece to my husband. Tasted wonderful - but couldn't handle more than a taste. The sleeve is the right choice for me. I love the lack of appetite and the fact that I get full with just small amounts of food. Having a small stomach is wonderful. And, with the sleeve, I don't worry about what problems may be lurking in the part of the stomach that is closed off. I know too many people that have regained weight with the bypass, or never successfully lost it with the band. The sleeve is not a "magic bullet" - you have to follow the guidelines on how to be successfull with it.It is posible to cheat your sleeve and gain weight. And, they operate on our stomachs, not our heads - so you will need to address whatever demons you have in your head that caused you to abuse food - we all have to do this. Good luck on your decision.

My first resolution is to achieve my goal weight by my 1 year anniversary of 2/22/12. My second resolution is to stay within a +/- 3 pound range of my goal weight for the rest of the year. My third resolution is to exercise more - 3 times per week.

I have been using Natrol brand of Biotin, 1000 mcg tablets that dissolve sublingually. I take three each morning. I started using them about 3-4 weeks post surgery. My already thinninsh hair did thin, but by 6 months I had a healthy regrowth all over my scalp (so said my hairdresser). So I think the Biotin has definately helped. I am continuing to use it, and will probably continue at some level forever. After 18 months I might slack off to 3 times per week. Next time I am close to a GNC, I will try the brand that Lilmiss Diva recomends!

I am 107 pounds down since last Christmas. This inspired me to schedule a family photo shoot for last Saturday with my husband, son, daughter in law and 2 granddaughters. I would never have done that previously. And yesterday, at the family gathering of my extended family (siblings, mom, etc.) I wasn't hiding from camera-holding relatives. In fact, in the group shot, my husband grabbed me around the waist and placed me more prominently in front of him. He said -"you don't need to try to hide in the photo this year - you are skinny". The food at the celebrations wasn't a problem at all. I ate until my sleeve was full then stopped.It tasted wonderful, but I didn't want to just gorge like previous holidays. I had three bites of a sweet in mid afternoon. Wasn't tempted to over-eat at all. I was having way to much fun playing on the floor with the kids and talking to the adults.

I have been wearing shapewear throughout my losing period. I really helps hold the jiggly, droopy parts in place. I am trying several different brands. I like Flexees support briefs and a couple of different camisole brands. No way am I wearing an all-over one piece. I drink way too much Water and go to the ladies room way too ofen to have to fight getting in and out of one of those. Rhond Shear (of the Aah Bra) makes a shapewear cami that is great - but hard to find. I also like a brand called Paris Pink (found on ebay). I like Barely There Smooth toners collection cami's, too. I don't like the Sonic Slimmers brand - even though it does the job - I don't like the feel of the material. I agree with the comments on Spanx. I by a Large size cami, even though I now wear Medium tops. The large is an effort to get into, but I like the way I look with it on. I told my husband I think the military could should buy SPANX - put the soldiers in a couple of layers of SPANX, and bullets would probably bounce off of them.

I will be 10 months post surgery on 12/22, and I still don't eat bread hardly at all. I have had a couple of hush puppies twice, and 3 bites of dressing at Thanksgiving, and a small serving of bread pudding. Bread (even dressing) swells in my stomach and I am uncomfortable. I eat the flatbread crisps with toasted cheese as a Protein sometimes for lunch or dinner. I may try nachos in the future. I am going to try to avoid corn chips (fritos and cheetos) for as long as I can. That is a dangerous path for me to even begin to walk down. I eat the dried snap peas if I want that kind of crunch. I did eat half a toasted tortilla once with fajita fixing. Stuffed to the gills!

Ocean-Ophelia - you are right - gallbladder problems can happen after any kind of weight loss - whether as a result of WLS or an extreme diet. Back in 1987, after having loss 100 pounds on Modi-fast in 9 months, I had a severe gallbladder attack - I was early in my maintenance phase. I had the gallbladder removed the old fashioned way - this was pre-laparoscopy. My surgeon said I must have had gallbladder problems for years, because of the size of the stones. I hadn't recognized the symptoms as gallbladder - I thought I just got stomach pains after I ate because I was overeating. I think other heavy people may have existing minor gallbladder problems and don't know it. During the weight loss phase the symptoms go away due to the great diet that this being followed. The problems recurr when the person is trying to eat a diet that includes a normal amount of fat (or whatever trigger food sets off the acute response). So the gallbladder issues "suddently" appear. Getting your gallbladder out isn't normally a bad surgery now. If you show symptoms, go to the doctor. Don't ignore it like Oregon Daisy did. Bad things can happen. Good Luck. Sharon

Take chapstick or some other kind of lip balm. Warm houseshoes and socks. Something comfy to walk the halls in (PJ's or sweats - loose around your middle). A comfy bra to wear under your top while you are walking. Moisturizer for your face and hand creme for your hands. My favorite Protein during the clear liquid stage was isopure plus. I ordered it from Amazon.com. Good Luck! Sharon

Congratulations! I went to your profile, and noticed your birthday is on 12/24. I'll bet you get to onederland for your birthday present! You are doing great - I will do a little happy dance here in my office for you.