PdxMan

Exactly ... I'm afraid of being morbidly obese. I KNOW that will kill me.

From what I understand ... they don't. It is a bypass thing with excess sugar. Perhaps you can share what you experienced?

For most people, I don't think you can. Yes, there are some folks who don't have the internal swelling most of us have the first couple weeks post-op and they are able to drink all their liquids and protein. But for most of us, it is impossible. I wouldn't worry so much about the protein quota as I would the liquid quota. Dehydration will land you in the hospital ... lack of protein won't.

Sorry ... I had to laugh at this one. I'm not expert, but I do know that whey protein is not that volatile. I'm guessing your surgeon also sells Protein shakes out of their office, right? These guys kills me.

Yowsers! Well ... look at it this way ... your post-op diet is going to seem like a buffet!

Yeah, like likasulema said ... I kinda did the same thing ... went to my favorite restaurants, ate my last meals ... You know what, what I thought was a funeral actually is like seeing a controversial friend off on a trip for ... say ... 8 months. They're not dead. They come back. Only, when they do, you have a completely different respect for them and what your relationship was. It is up to you whether or not you allow them to control your life or whether you take the reins in the relationship. I'm a year out and I can eat anything, but I don't. I have a new relationship with food now and I am not going to let it rule me anymore.

I started at 6 months and after 3 months, it started coming back. Now, 3 months after that, I am back to full, thick hair.

It is pretty much accepted that 3,500 calories = 1 pound. Consume 3,500 calories more than you burn, then you gain a pound. Burn 3,500 calories more than you consume, you lose a pound. So, given the # of calories you consume vs what you are burning, do you think you consumed 4 x 3,500 = 14,000 more calories than you burned ... ? Didn't think so Soooo ... Not only for TOM, but there are other reasons why you could gain weight most all of them related to water retention. As long as you are in deficeit, you are not gaining fat, and that is the bottom line ... right?

Yes, that was me. HERE is the thread. Oh no, it isn't just a visual thing. Ask my wife ... and Dr. Oz

Well ... the first week or so you are mainly losing Water weight, so that is most likely most of what you already say. Now, we're moving on to losing actual fat and/or muscle, which will be a little slower. Your body is also in a bit of shock, so, just keep doing what your medical team advised and all will go well. Also, stay off the scale for a month. Your body is going to be going crazy and the scale measures weight, not fat. Measure yourself for the best gauge.

I didn't change the weight thingy over to pounds. In metric, I was heavier than most people in the world! But once I corrected that, it said I was comparible to Brunei, wherever that is ... I'm going to have to go research my weight brethern. Fun site. Thanks!

I'm just so curious as to why people, not just directed at OP, believe stalls are a bad thing. Sure, we want to be skinny in 5 days, but that is not how this works. Having your body try to hold on to reserves really is a good thing. Really. As long as you keep doing the right things, your body will respond as it needs to. It just kills me when people think they are doing something wrong when everything happening is absolutely right. You're doing fine. Just keep following the sleeve rules, get some exercise and everything will be fine. Really. There is absolutely no possible way to gain fat when you are running a calorie deficeit. You have to believe this ... right? Celebrate your stall. It means this is one less stall you have on your journey to what you will ultimately be.

Jessica, are you viewing this with a mobile device or with a web browser? I believe signatures only show if you are viewing from a web browser. I'll copy and paste my signature here: Check out my blog! Sleeved: 07/08/2011 Dr. Thomas Umbach, Las Vegas (Baby!) 07/20/2012 - 178.0 05/20/2012 - 178.0 --- 06/20/2012 - 182.0 03/20/2012 - 183.0 --- 04/20/2012 - 180.0 01/20/2012 - 192.0 --- 02/20/2012 - 184.5 11/20/2011 - 197.0 --- 12/20/2011 - 191.5 09/20/2011 - 211.0 --- 10/20/2011 - 205.0 07/25/2011 - 248.0 --- 08/22/2011 - 226.5 07/08/2011 - 274.5 - Surgery Date 06/24/2011 - 285.0 - Start Pre-Op Diet 03/15/2011 - 295.0 - Pondering WLS And listen to OTR in previous post. His words are wise and to be heeded.

Yes, you can take any meds as directed by your medical team. Early out, you may be restricted, but after a couple months, they will clear you. As far as average weight loss per week, that is a highly individual thing. So many factors. Gender, starting weight, muscle mass, activity level ... on and on. My monthly weigh-ins are in my signature, but I would suggest not trying to compare to others. This is true of RNY, as well. You can still sit on the couch all day long with a tub of ice cream with the sleeve, so ... I did outpatient. In at 7:00 AM, back at my hotel around noon. Had pain meds (flavored liquid loritab). That was on Friday and I was back to work on Wednesday. Worked until 2:00 and headed home for a nap. Did that Thursday and Friday and full time on Monday. But this, too, is highly individual. Overall, pain wasn't too bad. Do a search on the site for csection. There are hundreds of threads discussing the similarities/differences. Keep asking questions, search/read the site and check out the process.

I weigh once a month. Early on, I weighed daily but knew I was going to drive myself crazy. The post that drove me to this was from a girl who said, "I just weighed myself this afternoon and I gained .3 pounds from this morning! What am I doing wrong? I knew I would fail at this!" I was just like, "Woa ... I do not want to turn into that person". So, once a month. I never saw stalls (even though I'm sure I had them) and was always encouraged by what the scale said. I knew down deep with running a calorie deficit, I would lose weight. As far as measuring, you don't need EXACT, specific locations, just be consistent. Upper arms, neck, chest, waist, hips, thighs ought to do. I took pictures every Thursday night in my underwear. A front, side and back. It is wild to look at the progression. As far as your goal weight, yes, I think it is more important to pay attention to how you look and feel versus what the scale says. The scale measures weight, not fat. I wanted to lose fat ... and I did.

Woo Hoo! You are the luckiest person in the WORLD! You know why? You have an intelligent surgeon who is looking out for your best interests. You don't have to have your intestines re-routed and take on all the risks of RNY to have successful WLS. I have a cousin who had RNY 3 years ago and he has so many issues. Yes, he lost a ton of weight, but you know what is funny ... we both started at around 10 pounds of each other ... he now weighs 30 pounds more than I do. I am a couple inches taller than him. My weight stats are in my signature, so I won't go into that, but the sleeve is a great option. I am 13 months out and there is nothing I can't eat. Ask the same question of a group of RNY'ers.

3 days post op ... totally normal. You just had major surgery. Just take it easy and try to get as much liquid as you can. Get up and go for a walk outside at least 3 times today. Just do what you can. Sip, walk, sleep. Sip, walk, sleep.

I asked my NUT about this when I was struggling with fatigue. She suggested I up my carbs. I did this by adding more cooked veggies to my diet and VIOLA! my energy totally returned. I know there are a lot of people out there that think the only way to lose weight is to follow a low carb diet, but I really don't believe that applies to us sleevers. You have to fuel your body in order for it to work efficiently and carbs are a MAJOR part of that. I would suggest upping your carbs ... get at least 80 g in a day for starters. Give it a try for a week and see what happens. Worked for me.

Yeah, when I started to really notice that I was losing muscle mass, I figured I would rather have too much protein intake than not enough. If my body was in the mood to make muscle, I wanted it to have the components it needed readily available. Yes, the excess would most likely be converted to glycogen/fat, but I was OK with that. I just didn't want to lose any more muscle. I tell you what, I am most likely the person NOT to follow, unless you want to work out a ton. When I was running 30 miles a week, doing a race every month, doing HIIT and weight lifting twice a week, I was consuming at least 160 g protein and at least 200 g carbs, daily. My calorie intake got as high as 1,700, on my best days. Not something you would typically see in a sleever. But, I was losing inches. I think in this phase, I went from a 35 waist to a 32, but lost less than 10 pounds. BTW, my excess skin is better, but it is still there. I am going to wait for my 2 year surgiversary for a plastics consult. I figure everything will have settled into place by that point. At a year out, I can still see things firming up in that dept.

My story is about the same as the two above. Terrible reflux for years. I didn't even know I had a hiatal hernia until after the surgery when my Dr mentioned he corrected it so I will have some additional uncomfortable swallowing for a few days. I think since my surgery, 13 months ago today, I have taken two Tums once and I attribute that to laying down too soon after eating. So, for me, VSG was a total cure. But, I would rather have reflux than all of the possible issues of bypass ... no thanks.

So, here is what I know from my experience, FWIW. It was suggested to me that better endurance translates to easier recovery from major surgery. I had a membership to the health club for years, but did not go religiously. However, one month prior to surgery, I started hitting it hard. To increase my endurance, I did elliptical and spinning classes almost daily. 45 minutes minimum. Started low, but after the month, I was able to go for 45 minutes at a pretty high level. I would go over to the weights occassionally when I had time and was able to increase my weights by the end of the month. Day of surgery (I was outpatient in Vegas, baby!) after taking a nap back at the hotel, I walked around downtown Vegas for a couple miles and took the wife out to dinner. Next day, we were all over the strip walking at least 5 miles. Same thing the next day, maybe even more. I felt great. I knew that my cardio workouts played a large role in my being able to do this. At my appt with my surgeon before I left town, I told him all this and he just laughed saying how incredible it was to do what I was doing. He believed it was my preparation that was responsible for this. Now, when I got home, things were definitely reduced that first month or so. As Butter says, you cannot build muscle on a calorie deficeit. For starters, muscle can only be built from Protein, which is just about impossible to meet quota for the first few weeks post-op. Your calorie intake is so low, it can be tough to muster up enough energy just to make it through the day let alone take on a serious workout. Napping took priority over working out. Fast forward two months post-op and I add walking/jogging around the neighborhood to the workout regimen dropping elliptical in favor or high intenstity interval training. As you can see from my signature, I'm dropping weight like crazy during this time. Almost too fast, if truth be told as my excess skin is really starting to show up. I am sagging from places you just don't want to sag. I have definitely lost muscle mass, but I am lifting weights and taking in over 100 g of protein daily. Buuuut ... still only getting about 900 calories a day. It is just difficult to get it all in. 6 months in I run my first 5K and actually do really well. Inspires me to try to be a runner. I basically only run and do HIIT and weight lift about twice a week. I cheat the rules of the sleeve to get extra calories in (drinking while eating) to be able to support my running efforts. I'm still dropping weight, but at this time, I feel pretty confident all of my weight loss is fat as I am able to increase my weights on the lifting side of things. One year out and I've been at goal for several months. My exercise has been sidelined with knee issues, but I follow the sleeve rules pretty tight, so I am able to maintain. In my last 5 races, I have either won or come in 2nd in my division. I had never even ran a mile before in my life. Never had an interest in running, even hated it, to be honest. But, I don't think there are a lot of obese people who like running ... know what I mean? What am I trying to say? This all started with cardio endurance training 1 month prior to my surgery. I know this was the basis for my recovery and transistion to a healthier lifestyle. Weight lifting ... yes, but only after I completed my cardio. Good luck and keep us all posted on how you do.

Congratulations! You look awesome. I can tell from your sharing you were determined to succeed, and you have. Congrats, again!

I replied in your other thread asking you to iterate what your fears are, but I would also like to mention that being cautious is a good thing. This is a big decision and a very personal one at that. You need to be sure that you are ready to make a fundamental change with your relationship with food. If you are not, this hesitation you are feeling could be a signal that you are not ready at this time. I have read so many posts from folks who, IMO, were not ready for this step, yet. Don't jump in blind and make sure you are ready to make the commitment. The sleeve will be there when you are ready.

What are your fears? Fear of surgery? Fear of complications? Fear of failure? Fear of changing your relationship with food? Fear of success (very real, btw)?

My suggestion would be to just buy the wigs and don't worry about it. It will come back. I did the whole Biotin thing big time starting about 3 months out. At the 6 month mark, it started coming out crazy. My solution was to basically shave my head. It has since come back fine and dandy just like it was pre-op. So, the hair loss is a temporary thing and you will stress yourself out (causing hair loss) if you think you can change it.