PdxMan

Well ... hate to say it, but in a way, he is absolutely correct. He may be a little more clued in than you think, or are willing to admit. Why don't you think you will be able to go out afterwards? I go out to dinner all the time. Went to a restaurant the day after surgery, as a matter of fact. Had the broth from French Onion Soup. When I go out with my wife now, we split a meal and usually have a doggy bag. You will still be able to do the things you used to do. Your breakup from restaurants won't last long.

It also depends on how active you are or want to be. You need carbs for energy and folks who do low carb often complain about not having energy. As Sonya suggests, talk to your NUT. They are going to know you best.

Woo Hoo! Congrats!

To the OP and everybody else wondering about not following this guideline, I just have one more nugget to add. Again, I am only speaking from my personal experience. Pre-surgery, I always drank with my meals. My stomach was quite accustomed to this and settled quite well. Related to drinking with my meals or not, I was able to eat large amount of food. I didn't have to chew well and I could eat rapidly, no problem. Now, post sleeve, food didn't go down quite as easily. It was difficult to learn to slow down ... chew well ... take smaller bites. I was not accustomed to this. When I ate, often it felt odd, sometimes like a lump in my throat. Drinking made everything slide on through. Ah ... that feels better. I don't have that icky feeling anymore. The pressure is off of my throat and my stomach doesn't feel weird anymore. Well ... being full after a few bites is new to us. Of course I can have a third bite, right? I haven't eaten hardly anything! Take a drink ... everything feels better ... I can have another bite. No problem! I can eat and drink at the same time! Woo hoo! I forced myself to not drink and what was true for me was that I began to understand what the new full feeling was and that the pressure I was feeling was the restriction my new sleeve was giving me. This is a good thing and exactly what I wanted. I don't want to find ways around my sleeve. I want the restriction and to eat few calories. I have to give my stomach time to heal and work my hiney off to reach my personal goals. Sometimes, the issue with residue left in the throat is because I didn't chew well enough or I took too large of a bite or didn't wait long enough before I took another bite. This whole eating thing is a multi-headed monster. I had to work against all of them, not just pick and choose. I knew the sleeve was not an easy journey. I love the naysayers who say that I took the easy way out by getting the sleeve. Ya ... right. It isn't easy. It takes work. As I like to say, nothing changes unless I make a change. If I keep doing the same thing and expect a different result, well ... who's fault is that? I had to make a change and I am so glad I did.

I did forget to add that I also eat it with a cheese and a cracker, so ... I love a Trader Joes Social Cracker with tuna and a piece of sharp cheddar. mmmm ...

I referred to myself as a being somewhere between scooting and jogging.

I had a filet mignon the other night. It was a five oz piece and I was able eat about four oz. Tilapia, I can do about 6 oz. Canned tuna fish, about a third of a can. 28 months post surgery.

Also, know that as you get closer to goal, weight loss slows, which makes sense, if you think about it. You are not going to lose 10 pounds a month every month. At best, it would be a percentage of your excess body fat, which, as you lost fat, as a percentage of the remaining fat, the weight would be less and less each month. One last point, as a relatively low BMI VSG patient, your monthly weight loss amount will not be the same as someone with a higher starting BMI who was sleeved at the same time as you. Higher BMI folks initially lose more faster. Not saying you won't lose, but your loss curve will not be as steep.

BTW, everybody is going to be able to drink and eat together. If you don't chew well enough, you may experience pain as the food may pass into the intestines before it has been mushed up, but everybody is going to be able to drink and eat. That is not the issue ... I just don't have a glass in front of me when I eat. That way, I have to get up and go get a drink if I really need it.

Changing this habit was difficult for me. Today, when I have something stuck in the throat, I do take a small sip, but for the most part, I try not to. I know that I can consume way more food, therefore, way more calories when I drink with my meals. When I was training hard for running races, I would drink with my meals to carb load. It was the only way I could prevent bonking when I ran at race pace for longer distances. I could easily eat twice the amount when I drank with my meals and could easily eat more half an hour after a meal. video has been posted often here and it is from a bypass patient, but it is still relevant, I think. As I said, I know it is true for me, your milage may vary. And, of course, we all have our own reasons for WLS and it is up to each of us to decide what we are willing to do to accomplish the goals we set out for ourselves.

Weight loss in week 1 is usually not fat loss ... sorry to say. What is lost in the first week is usually Water weight. During surgery, you are pumped with IV fluids. Also, your body is chalk-full of glycogen which is going to be the first thing your body burns for energy. Glycogen stored in muscle is bonded in a 4 to 1 ratio with water, so, when the body burns 1 pound of glycogen, it is also releasing 4 pounds of water. This is why, during the Atkins diet, people got so excited to drop 10 pounds the first week ... then, the glycogen stores are depleted and now the body has to convert fat and/or muscle to glycogen for energy and things slow down ... Of course, everyone is different, but this is generally true. The first week will not be indicative of future weight loss. Commitment to the guidelines is, though.

I'm sorry to hear you have struggled. Just curious if you have tracked your intake with MyFitnessPal or the like? Do you know how many calories a day you consume? How compliant with the guidelines would you say you were? Were you strict or did you find ways to eat around your sleeve? Do you know the bougie size used for your sleeve? I know, for me, crackers a slider food. I could eat them all day long. They feel good going down, but I am ready to eat more 5 minutes later. Now, put a bag of Turkey Jerky in front of me and I'm full. It takes my stomach longer to digest the lean Proteins, so I don't feel the need to eat like I do when I am binging on crackers. But that is me ...

No, I wouldn't tell ... yet. I would order a Soup and just explain that somebody brought some [fill in the blank] at work and you couldn't resist, so you just aren't that hungry right now. Or just say that your stomach has been feeling a little different today so you want to have something lighter. To me, WLS is a highly personal thing that I don't feel I have to share with someone I am going on a first date with. After a couple dates, if I decide this might go somewhere, then I would explain, but you don't know if you are going to see this person ever again, so what good would it do to tell them on the first date?

For the first month, I pretty much rolled with either a protein drink or a bottle of water in my hand. Sipped all day long. Just do your best to get your liquids in first, then worry about protein. You can end up in the ER due to dehydration.

How much was it, if you don't mind me asking, for self-pay options in the UK?

The first month is the hardest. Sipping gets to driving you crazy, but just slow down and try to stop before you get to the point of pain. If you started feeling pain after 4 bites of soup, next time, stop at 3. You can eat several times a day, so don't think you have to be back to a "normal" routing of eating 3 times a day. It just doesn't work like that early out. Take your time. You're doing great. It will get better, I promise.

Does this happen While you are eating? 15 minutes after ... an hour after? Is there a certain food that triggers it? Any lactose issues? Talk to your Dr about doing and endoscopy. I have heard of VSG patients with bougie size 30 having issues with their stomach's twisting, but I don't think that would cause pain, especially on the left side ...

What do you think their motivation is? It isn't $$. Perhaps for the Drs on the border of Mexico, but what about the other 99%. You have to remember that in most foreign countries, health care is pretty much paid for by the Gov. From my experience talking with many foreign nationals, prevention is a large part of their motivation.

From my reading here as well as what my surgeon suggested, I think you find your answer along the same lines as, "When is it OK to work-out?" When I asked my surgeon this, he said 6 weeks. He said this because of the possible risk of injury ... falling off the treadmill ... crashing your bike ... tripping while running. He told me the suture line takes 6 weeks to scar over the staple line. Until then, you don't want to risk a leak. So, I took that as my answer to your question. According to my surgeon, the staple line will be scared over in 6 weeks, but of course, everyone is different. For some, it will be sooner, for others, later, as Endless80 suggests.

With Gastric Bypass, I have heard of several people regaining back to their original weight. I have heard of one person with VSG who re-gained back to original weight, but as I understand it, they had a much larger bougie (80, I think) which may have resulted with some of their fundus (stretchy part) being left. I can see where if you had a non-standard (> 40fr) bougie, there would be more risk of stretching your sleeve and re-gain, but with a standard size, I have not heard of this. I'm not saying I know more than your Dr, but I have been researching WLS for over 3 years now and have been sleeved for over 2 years myself. I still have excellent restriction and can easily maintain my weight at goal. As far as the deaths, I believe VSG has < 1% mortality rate. Of course, you need to get your Dr's rate, which may be higher. If it is, I would suggest finding another Dr. Depending on your own health history, you may have a higher or lower risk in surgery. Have you had other surgeries? How was your recovery? Did you get any infections? How did you handle the anesthesia? How did you handle the pain meds? Myself, I was made to be cut open. I have had several surgeries and fly right through them and my recoveries have always been smooth. For me, my risk of mortality due to surgery would be way low. But for folks who struggle with surgeries ... As far as his approach, for me, that works. I would rather have a Dr who tells me straight out what the risks and complications are rather than (meow)-foot around the elephant in the room. But that is me. ^^ (It wouldn't allow me to use the other word for cats) ^^

I would definitely suggest baby steps with starting any exercise routine. A lot of people, including myself, have the same mentality when they commit to something, they feel they have to be awesome and over the top from the first day. While the commitment is admirable, do know that exercising above where your fitness level is can result in injury, and then you can't exercise at all. Your endurance will increase as you lightly progress. Take it easy. It will happen.

Do you have a self-pay option in the UK?

cpeycke is correct. Minimum BMI requirements only come into play with insurance. I was self pay with a BMI of 39. I believe there is a forum here for low BMI'ers. I have seen them as low as 30.

I don't doubt that for a second. As I mentioned, I am not a Dr and am certainly not a specialist in Bariatric medicine. I only have my own personal experience. Did you ask her about stretching the sleeve overall? Is it even possible since the stretchy part of the stomach has been removed? How much could the sleeve stretch? She said not to "eat a lot" of lettuce, right? I think that is true of any food, not just lettuce. Eat the food, just don't eat a lot of it. From my experience, that is true one month, one year and even 27 months post-op.

Uh ... I'm not a Dr, but I am quite confident that lettuce will not stretch the sleeve. The issue with lettuce is that it is quite fibrous. You must remember you just had 85% of you stomach removed. The stomach is the mechanical part of digestion ... the part that makes complete mush out of everything you have eaten. With 85% of it's capacity removed, it is going to have a wee bit of a harder time performing it's normal function for a little while. At 4 months out, I introduced iceberg lettuce. I then slowly added more and more romain until I was eating romain exclusively. Then, I started adding spinach, then added kale. I would say it was at least 6 months before I reached this stage. That is my story, other's will be different.