PdxMan

Why do you think this occurred? Some of my guesses: Too much food Food option difficult to digest, sleeve not ready for it yet Not chewed enough Are you taking PPIs or antacids? I think this can possible cause some harm if it is not *required*. Think about this ... your stomach needs acids to break down the food to get to that pasty consistency to pass smoothly through the pyloric valve and into the intestines where absorption takes place. If the acid has been reduced from PPIs or over-neutralized from antacids, you may not have enough acids to break the food down enough. It passes into the intestines and doesn't feel too good because it is not quite the pasty texture it needs. Anyhew, I am not an expert and that is just my conjecture. Another question ... if it is not feeling right, do you feel you have to push it?

Well, just like a swimming pool, there is going to be trace bacteria in the Water. If you have open sores, that is an easy entry point for that bacteria. So, you have to decide ... are your scars healed up well enough that soaking in water won't allow bacteria to easily enter my body? If they are, then go for it. If they are not, then wait until they are. How can you tell if they are healed enough? The skin should at least be a nice tone of pink, with no red, across the entire scar.

Short answer ... Yes, it was difficult to sever that relationship, but it was something that I knew I had to do. I was irritable, grumpy and not at all possible to maintain a happy attitude. food is no longer my comfort companion, so I have to deal with things head-on. Everything changed for me, post-op. I mean everything. Too deep to go into on a forum posting, for sure. As far as temperment, I had to consciencously make decisions NOT to bite my wife's head off because the toilet paper was hung the wrong direction. Your body gets flooded by hormones stored in your fat. It is a roller coaster, for sure. But the good news is everything balances out. For me, it was about 6 weeks before I felt totally *normal* and I adapted to my new lifestyle. It is not easy, for sure. If you think the surgery is a magic bullet, it isn't. There is a lot of work to be done to do it right. You may have to face some skeletons in the closet and examine your relationship with food and your environment.

Indeed! Let me tell you, that cabbage could power a small city. i make it in the fall and can it in mason jars, so it has been stewing for 10 months now. But it is soooo good.

My lunch is ground turkey meat with german cabbage, zucchini, yellow squash & dinosaur kale. About 1 cup all together. It will take me about an hour to eat it all.

If you're OK with them seeing Mommy look like "Death warmed over", then I would say no problem. My wife took pictures of me post op and I am all kinds of different shades of green and yellow. Scared me to see them. But it passed after a couple hours after I walked and got around.

I would guess you have not caused a leak. This is your body's way of telling you that you are not ready to advance to that level, yet. Whenever you re-introduce any food, it is important to take one bite and assess how it feels before you go for a second bite. You just had 85% of your stomach removed. The stomach is the mechanical part of digestion. It may not be ready to process tuna just yet. It will ... just not today.

I used 1%

What is your recipe?

Yes, I was at Goodwill every couple months exchanging my clothes. Only way to go.

You know, I have to pity people who would do such an act. Their lives are so miserable they must do some act like that to try to elevate themselves. I am happy that you were able to confront this moment and I hope you realize this was her issue, not yours. For whatever reason she was threatened by you ... your intelligence, your relationship with members of the family, your faith ... something ... This is how bullies behave, whether they're 8 or 80.

I wouldn't say I was furry ... as a matter of fact, I kinda like it. I think my wife does, too. It's not long and curly or gross ... it is just more ... I'm going to post some photos of me now that I am a year out here on a thread, so you'll see what I mean.

I just gotta share. I just came back from the Drs office. I walk up the stairs to the third floor. As I get to the second floor, a nice looking 20 something girl comes through the door in front of me also going up to the third floor. She stops, turns and looks me up and down. She smiles at me and says, "I like your shirt." It is a shirt I got from a 5K race I did on the 4th. Nothing special. I smiled and said "Thanks". Again ... NEVER would have happened last year.

I have always been a gentlemen opening doors for women at the mall, office buildings ... wherever. Before, most women would just walk through with a few of them saying, "Thanks". Now, most of the time they look me in the eye, say, "Hello", or "Thank you", or "You are so sweet". Even walking down the street in downtown I have women making eye contact with me and initiating a "Hello" as I walk past them. I can't say that EVER happened to me when I was 300+ pounds. I, too, am a happily married man who only has eyes for my wife, but it is nice getting the attention.

Boy, this is me exactly. Word for word. One year out yesterday. I am at goal and nothing is off limits. Doesn't sit right ... OK ... try it again later. Couldn't eat bread until 6 months out. Lettuce, 4 months out. meat, 7 months out. I tried each of these earlier, but they gave me issues. Pretty much every food had its own "re-introduction" date. I waited, tried them again and each food has come back into the fold. Just because an item doesn't work for you when you try it, doesn't mean that it will never work for you. It just takes time.

For starters, I would address this with your doctor ASAP. You should not be throwing up almost everything you eat on a daily basis. I can understand occassionally, which would usually point to not chewing enough, taking too large of bites or eating too quickly. Don't worry about the scale. If you have read threads from other people posting about slow loss or stalls, the #1 advice is to throw away the scale. IMO, for the first 2 months, the scale is meaningless. Your body is going through a major change and trying to make adjustments. It is going to retain fluids and release them, go into starvation mode ... basically, you have thrown it a HUGE curve-ball. It is going to take some time to adjust, so put the scale away and keep believing in yourself and the program. It will happen. Just keep doing what you are doing. Down deep in your head, you have to know that if you consume 800 calories a day yet burn 2,000 calories a day, eventually, you will lose fat. Just know that you will also lose muscle, so you have to keep with your program at the gym and try to get in your Protein. This will work. Don't give up.

Motochic, I highly recommend you use MyFitnessPal. You will be able to track everything you eat and then review the breakdown of calories, fat, carbs, Protein ... There is a thread HERE where many VST members have posted their MFP names so you can also look at what others are eating. For me, the bottom line is to follow the rules of: Eat protein first, then veggies, then carbs Don't drink before during or immediatly after eating Exercise As long as I do this, I don't worry too much about quantity. The sleeve takes care of that for me.

Oye ... dangerous topic ... chocolate. Did fine until Halloween came around. Total slider food. DANGER!!!! STAY AWAY!!!!

Luck had nothing to do with it. My insurance did not pay. I had to pay for it out of my own pocket. As a matter of fact, I would guess that about 33% of the folks here are self-pay. Perhaps more. Everyone going to Mexico is self-pay. There is a sub-forum here solely on that topic. If you really want the surgery, you have to make some sacrifices, for sure, but you can do it.

I quit a few years ago and used those Nicorette Patches. I got the highest strength one, cut it in half and I would put one on as soon as the craving got unbearable. After a couple hours, I took it off. Rinse, repeat. It did the trick for me. At first, I went through 2 patches a day, then I was able to taper down to the point where I could handle the cravings.

What is your endurance pre-op? Is this something you could have done easily or would you have been huffing and puffing? At 4 weeks post op, you will be fine going for a moderate hike, I would think. Your energy levels will be a bit off, but I would suggest having some orange juice handy or some other quick carbs available.

It can be sensitive to the current screen you are on. For instance, if you are under your profile and select it, it will return *your* new content. If you are at the forum front door where all of the sub-forums are listed and select it, it will behave the way you are expecting.

It is generally accepted that 3,500 calories = 1 pound. So, unless that shot was pure butter equal to 10,500 calories, you did not gain a pound of fat. Isn't that what this is about, anyway? When you see the scale go up and down, it is not a measure of fat gained or lossed. There are many things that go into the complex fluctuation of weight. My money is on fluids, not fat. Don't be frustrated. I'm sorry to say, you are absolutely normal.

You're losing more than 2 pounds a week. I would say that is pretty good. What are you trying to eat? Eggs, which worked for me pre-op, weren't my friend, either until about 6 months out. I can't say I eat many raw veggies at all anymore, except for lettuce, onions and carrots, if they are shredded. My veggies are steamed, which I enjoy. So, surely you did not expect to eat ice cream and have great weight loss, so you know you have to cut that out of your mealplan. At 3 months out, I was eating soups(anything and everything), tuna salad, deli turkey, cheese ... things like that. Lean, high proteins. No ... it wasn't a party and I wasn't *loving* my diet, but it was what my body could tolerate at the time and nutritious. It was what my body needed. Of course I had cravings, but at three months out, I was determined not to sabotage my efforts. I knew that I would not have to do this forever and that is true. Just try to be as compliant to the rules as possible for 6 months. Do that and you will be so close to goal the excitement of it all will drive you the rest of the way. It will work, but only if you work it. Cheat, and, well ... you're results may vary.