PdxMan

So, there is a school of thought that says it is better to work on distance early out ... not worry about pace. Once you are able to get distance, you can increase your pace. Think of it this way. If you are able to consistently run 6K without stopping, you will be able to run 5K faster. When you are able to run 10K without stopping, you will be able to run your 5K even faster. You should be mixing up your pace as you run your distances as well. This will help your body to NOT have muscle memory. If you run at the same pace for every run, you will find that you cannot run any faster. Muscle memory is great for tennis, golf ... many sports, but not running. We don't want to train our bodies to run at the same pace, else we will never run faster. That is why one of your workouts each week should be short distance sprints. This will teach your body how to rotate your hips/legs/feet faster.

I was in the same boat at 6 months. At about 8 is when I could handle Pasta. I've tried rice since as well, but have opted for quinoa, since rice is so nutritionally void whereas quinoa has everything I look for in rice, plus some Protein. Needless to say, the quantity is a mere fraction of what I could do. Went to Spag Factory couple weeks ago. I could finish a hearty portion before. Now, my wife and I split a hearty portion and I eat about an eighth. We get two more meals out of the leftovers. Gotta love it.

It will be different for everyone, for sure. For me, it was about a week, I think. It was shortly after this that I stopped weighing myself daily as I could see it was going to quickly make me crazy. When you weigh yourself monthly, you don't see the stalls and it was easy for me to keep a positive attitude. I would suggest ditching the scale. It really does you no good early out. There is no meaning behind what it says. Your body is still healing.

Search the site for 3 week stall. This is very common and just one of the stages your body goes through post surgery. Don't worry. Very normal.

I just want to re-iterate one point made above. When we're talking about gas pain being normal, we're not talking about intestinal gas (but there is some), but surgical gas. When they are in there working, some air does go into the body cavity. They do try to 'squeeze' it out, but there is no way they are going to get it all. This air is trapped inside your body. The only way to get rid of it is for the body to absorb it. To aid in this effort, they recommend moving. Walking or whatever. It is painful and it will absorb eventually. How long will it take? It depends on the amount of air that was left. If the surgeon didn't do a good job of squeezing it out, then you may have more, hence, more pain longer. Try to get walking and get your liquids in to help transport the air out of your system. Let us know how it goes and good luck. I know you've heard it, but it will get better.

I am a big fan of running and training for races. I can really see progress and that is fun. For my cross-training, I do Tabata (high intensity interval aerobics) or spinning. Both get my heart rate up, but nearly as much as running. I do hit the weights, but not as often as I used to as Spring has started putting demands on my time and the first thing I have had to sacrifice is weight room time. I pretty much do all my running outdoors, even in the rain. So much better than a treadmill, for me, as where ever I run to, I have to run back. On a treadmill, I can rationalize shortening a run.

Well, we definately shouldn't be eating anything remotely like relish in the first week. That is liquid stage. I think we're talking several weeks out, right?

I know there are folks who like the Isopure, but I have never met them! I have tried a couple and couldn't finish them, either. Didn't like them at all. I settled on Premier brand from Costco. Soooo much easier to drink.

Yup, used relish in mine. Where did you read no relish? It's a pretty soft food.

For starters, you are WAAAAY too early to be weighing every day and worrying about weight loss. Your body is still healing. Let's take a look at this objectively. You just had 85% of your stomach removed. You are eating between 300-500 calories a day. What does it mean if you lose 1 or 2 pounds? That you lost fat? What about the swelling in your stomach and your incisions? That is basically Water and it is reducing ... right? What if you don't lose at all? Does this mean you are a failure and you won't lose any weight at all? What if you gain? Does this mean you are gaining fat? Really? It is so easy to get your head spinning around during these early days, but you have to remember your body is healing. It just went through major surgery. It is no longer being fed the way it was. There are some adjustments that it has to make. Give it room to do this without worrying. Again, you just had 85% of your stomach removed. You have read the postings on the forum. Do you really think you are not going to lose? Stop weighing yourself. It does yourself no good and sound like it may be giving an unsupportive husband ammunition to help sabotage your self esteem. Just don't do it yourself. No good can come of it. Wait a couple weeks. Weigh yourself monthly. You will see losses and it will do wonders for your self esteem. (Plus disarm any non-supporters in your life) If people ask, "How much did you lose today?", tell them that you are not going to be a slave to scale and that you don't know. It is non of their business, anyway.

I had one ... undiagnosed. When the surgeon was doing my sleeve, he corrected the hernia. Because of it, there was some additional pain when swallowing right afterwards, but by no means was it something I couldn't deal with. Before surgery, I had reflux issues all the time. Hated it. Since surgery, none ... zippo. It has been awesome! Don't worry about it and know that it is a good thing to have it corrected.

Do a search on the site for 3 week stall. It is quite common.

Yes, I just came off of a 4 day birthday bender for my 7 year old to be followed up by an Easter Egg hunt. Cupcakes, ice cream, chocolate ... oye! I did give in and I physically felt like cr@p afterwards. I think with our new sleeves we are more nutritionally sensitive to these swings. More likely, this is how "normal" people react and it is just new to us. It is what keeps them from going on these sweets benders ... I'm learning ... sometimes you have to hit me over the head ... but I learn ...

You're moving on to more solid foods, so you are going to feel the restriction more. This is one of the reasons why we are not supposed to drink before, during or shortly after eating. The pyloric valve sits towards the bottom of the stomach and opens up to let digested food pass into the intestines to be absorbed. This food must be in a somewhat liquid stage which signals the pyloric valve to open and food begins to drain out of the stomach. When you are in the liquid and mushy stages, this occurs much quicker. When you move to solids, the stomach acids provide the liquids and the food is broken down. This takes longer, so you feel fuller longer. Proteins take longer to digest, so that is why we eat them first, so we get the restriction longer and ensure we get the proteins we need.

Well, I think you're in luck! You have a simple solution and already know what you need to do. I would recommend going back to square one. You've done it before, you have to do it again. It's like the person who goes into the Dr and says my arm hurts when I do this, and the Dr replies, well then, don't do that. You crave sweets and eat them ... feel like crap and don't lose weight ... well ... guess what my advice is going to be? Get rid of all the sweets in your house. Don't buy them and if someone gives you a box of chocolates, say thanks and give them to someone else. Make their day and yours as well. Don't give into the mindset of, "If I eat just one, it won't kill me" ... it will. Just get rid of all the trigger foods. There's another old saying ... sit in a barber shop long enough, you're going to get your hair cut. Best way to avoid getting a hair cut is to not walk into barber shops. Don't think I'm immune to this, by any means. I know these demons as well and battle them daily. But, I exercise a lot and when a chocolate bar is staring me down, I know I am going to have to run a mile to balance that bar ... then I grab an apple instead ... (sometimes )

July 8th, 2011

Ah ... see my post to your other question.

Can you go into more detail? You don't post your surgery date, but by your join date and the fact that you are posting in the Success Stories forum, I am guessing you are post sleeve. Are you not feeling restriction? What percentage of excess weight did you lose? As far as a second part ... I'm guessing they could go back in and make the sleeve smaller if you original sleeve wasn't sewn tight to the bougie. But, I'm going to guess that isn't the problem ... If your issue is not feeling the restriction, then I would try to figure out why not. Are you drinking liquids with your meal or right before/after? Are you starting with Proteins first? In other words ... are you doing what you are supposed to be doing and not doing the things you aren't supposed to be doing? When I do what I am supposed to do, I feel the restriction, sooo ... don't know why there would be a second part to the surgery.

No problem. Perhaps I have been a little more sensitive. The phrase Tongue in Cheek is used to note a joke. As you spend more time on the forum, you will read posts from people who write things like, "I have my sister's wedding in 4 months and I need to lose 100 pounds", or ,"I was sleeved 2 months ago and have only lost 50 pounds". Some folks think it is a race. Perhaps they have heard about folks who opt for GBP have a window of opportunity for loss and think that applies to the sleeve as well. I don't know, but I do know a lot of folks here, including myself, either have or have had issues with food and may take things to the extreme. Just know my comments are based in love and concern. I want us all to achieve our goals and be healthy.

I was at least two months out. Spinach is a more fiberous leaf than, say, ice burg or even romain. I started with the ice burg, then added romain, then added spinach and all the other fu fu lettuces. But, I started at about two months with severly blended tuna added. It was delicious. Oh yeah, blue cheese crumbles, too. Yum I can do the shredded carrots, but whole, raw carrots have to be chewed to a shredded form, so ... as long as you chew the raw veggies well, you'll be fine.

The ads are based on your search habits as they are stored in Cookies on your computer. I got pizza ads for a while after I searched for locations of Papa Murphy's. Yesterday, I searched for running shoes, so now that is what my ads are focused on. That and The Golden Nugget. Made reservations there a week ago. Clear your cookies and they will be reset to the site defaults.

In the upper right hand corner of the site is a search box. Do a search for Protein bar. There are a lot of good threads. I'm a big fan of the Premier bars at costco as well as the shakes.

I think my top piece of advice for NOT having the surgery would be: If you are not mentally ready to change your relationship with food and believe the surgery is a magic bullet which will magically make you lose weight, then don't have the surgery. You will be sadly disappointed in yourself and the surgery. But, I was ready to change my relationship with food and this has been one of the greatest things I have ever done for myself and my family.

Wow guys (Crystal, Ken) ... back off. Did you see the part in bold? Holy cow ...

Here is me before my last race: