oliviam

So....my surgery got bumped up to tomorrow and I am excited and nervous all at the same time. Any last words of wisdom before I head out tomorrow?

I am not experiencing morning sickness per se, but what I am experiencing is awful stomach spasms, or cramping every two hours. If I eat a little something it goes away but only for another hour or so. This is happening through the night which is the most bothersome. I went to bed at 9 last night and was up at 11:30, 1:30, 3:30, 4:30, 5:08 and so on. I am so tired and feeling pretty sick and tired of not sleeping. More importantly, I feel concerned that this is a bad sign for my new stomach, is anyone else experiencing this?

I am so freaking out right now, I mean a new life is always precious, but I just spent a lot of money to get back to my pre-mommy weight. I am so scared I won't lose weight or that I will gain a ton of weight. I am so discouraged but trying to be positive. I know there are many people who struggle to have a baby so I don't mean to take it for granted, I just was looking forward to feeling good about myself for the first time in a long time.

Good for you, weight is weight right? I agree with Genepha, the working out and getting plenty of water really helped me be consistent in my weight loss. We'll see how it goes now that I am pregnant!

As always Genepha, your posts are inspirational to those of us behind you! I am so excited that despite being pregnant I am consistently still losing. Hope that keeps up!

Okay so here's my take on the whole "it's just a tool thing"...while I would agree to some degree I'm not completely sold on that philosophy. I think we are all looking for more than just a tool. We have had plenty of "tools" throughout our weight loss journey like fad diets, pre packaged meals etc...this surgery is more than just a tool. I would have considered myself somewhat of a food addict, maybe a full blown one I'm not completely sure, but this surgery has helped me lose weight in ways I never thought possible. It has not been a struggle, I don't find myself dieting. I count my calories and log them daily, but I eat what I want. Luckily my food desires have changed so that certainly helps. I am just over 7 weeks post op and I have lost over 25 lbs. and I have done that PREGNANT! Amw, I too am a worrier and I was so worried that I would be the one statistic that didn't lose weight after WLS. What I learned from that is that the negative feelings alone were what would hold me back. Being positive and telling yourself that THIS WILL WORK FOR ME is what will make all the difference in the world. Don't even let the "what if's" creep in, and when they do, replace that thought with one that says I WILL NOT FAIL. You can do this, and you will not be like the people on that show. Workout, log your daily calories and you will be a total success I just know it!

So, went to the doctor today a month and a half out from surgery aaaaaaand..... I'M PREGNANT! I mean really? I know I should be happy about a new precious little life coming into the world but I just spent good money to get my pre-mommy body back. Please tell me someone has been pregnant shortly after surgery and still lost weight! On a good note, I didn't know I was pregnant until today and I have still lost weight consistently every week so maybe that will continue? This is par for the course, par for the course....

Thanks for the encouragement

Good job Genepha!!!! We are just plugging along aren't we?

Ugh, those gas pains were atrocious and I was almost ready to march right back into that surgery center and have them remove every last stitch! Thank goodness it passed and could stop fretting over my decision! Glad to see you are on the way up girly!

Hey Girl! I TOTALLY started mushies earlier than they recommended and it was the best thing I ever did. My weight loss did not slow at all and I felt a million times better. The liquid diet just takes all the energy out of you. I was miserable.

The same thing happened to me, it was more intense for a few weeks after the surgery and has lessened now. I took the Prilosec and it helped quite a bit and I always had to have a little bit of protein (two bites of cottage cheese, some string cheese) before bed so I could sleep. Protein takes longer to digest so it stays in your stomach longer keeping the hunger pangs at bay for the night usually. Genepha is right, you have to take the prilosec consistently for it to work. It took two to three days for it really to take effect. I am about seven weeks out and I no longer need to take it.

Oh my I felt the same way! Just remember you will be so much happier when you are eating again but for right now it is a temporary pain. Don't give up!!!

Oh and he said to make sure it was a free form amino acid. They release serotonin from the brain.

Melanie, Wanted to first start off by saying that you are NOT a fat cow and you are worth everything good the world has to offer. If you EVER need to be reminded of that, make a pit stop on these boards. Us WLS patients have spent what feels like a lifetime hating ourselves and having others be hard on us for being overweight too. It is time that we band together and shout from the rooftops that overweight or not, we are children of God and are worthy even if we never lost a single pound. That being said, I know that the desire to loose weight is intense and I too have to struggle to find self worth without that skinny body I desire. On another note, my husband recommends taking an amino acid supplement to help with mood. He feels that the aminos can create a similar affect to the carb intake but without the carbs. It has helped me quite a bit!

So after all my pep talks about not having a stall, I HAD ONE! But, I have been working out like a crazy person and I think I gained muscle. I also think that I was really dehydrated which made my body hold onto water. I finally dropped a half a pound in the last ten days. NO BUENO! But, i think that I was still losing inches. I decided I am going to take my body fat and measurments, that way when I am in the middle of a stall I can still be encouraged if my body fat goes down and I am losing inches. Glad to hear you are on the way down Genepha. Missed you! I haven't been on in forever!

I tried Zumba for the first time last week too! Loved it! I am not sure if I looked like I was having a seizure or dancing, but either way I burned lots of calories!!!

I avoided weighing myself for 10 days after surgery because I was terrified of being discouraged. Just don't weigh in for a while, then you can be pleasantly surprised when you do weigh in!

I haven't been on these boards in a while, life took over after my surgery, but I am pretty disenchanted with all the banter on this thread. I have felt for sometime that the sleevers and plication patients seem to have a vendetta against anyone choosing an alternative surgery than their own. It is not encouraging and/or helpful to be told how superior your surgery is and what a bad choice another person's surgery is, especially for those of us who have already made the decision and had the surgery done. We are all WLS patients and this board is supposed to be a place of comfort and support, not a place to create constant second guessing. To be honest, this is a board for GPS patients so while I love the feedback from sleevers and their experiences, I'm not sure that we need the deterrence speeches all the time. Trash plication all you want but please do it on the sleeve board. We obviously have reasons for choosing the surgery that we chose or are choosing and I wouldn't say that a plication patient is any less intelligent than a sleeve patient. We all do our homework, agonize over the decision, and turn to these boards for help. Please do not patronize us by acting like you know better because you chose the sleeve. I think the sleeve has shown tremendous results and I am inspired by the success stories, but the sleeve has also had complications , JUST LIKE PLICATION. I am appreciative that Dr. Watkins chose to reveal his findings, but he is one doctor. My surgeon is certainly NOT a bottom feeder and when I told him of Dr. Watkins post he did not bash him but simply said that the over 300 plications he has done, not one of his patients has had any sort of necrosis or leak. These are good numbers in my opinion. Perhaps it is a difference in technique, either way, the plication has been great for me. And if it isn't, save me the "I told you so's" and just be supportive, enough already!

I saw Dr. Watkin's post on stitches and I emailed all that to my surgeon and asked if he did it this way and he gave me a thorough explanation of his stitching process and what materials he used. I am 22 days out and there is no way I could eat 4 tacos let alone even 1! There must be something up with your stomach size. I would like to be able to eat more actually but I just can't physically do it.

You are totally inspiring me to get my workouts in Genepha! I haven't joined a gym yet but I plan on it this week.

I can't wait to eat salad either! Isn't it so weird how we crave salad now?

I think that those of us who have chosen to have WLS have done so because we have issues with food and over eating and that makes us afraid of food. This tool can help us look at food differently and not be afraid of it. Eating too few calories is really the absolute worst thing you can do to your body. Everyone has a set point in how many calories our bodies require to have the energy to get through the day. In other words we each burn a certain number of calories just in our daily lives. We want to get our bodies to burn more than it currently does so that we can eat more freely without watching everything we eat. Have you ever seen a skinny person who eats whatever they want? Those people have done a great job of revving up their metabolisms. Their bodies burn way more calories than ours do, but we can fix that. When you eat too few calories,Initially you will lose some weight, but eventually your body begins storing the calories and then it starts attacking the muscle. Muscle is what increases your metabolism, so, less muscle means less calories being burned. So now, we have not only NOT increased out daily metabolic burn we have decreased it! It takes the reduction of 3500 calories out of your weekly diet to burn one pound. If we normally ate 3000 calories a day prior to WLS and now we eat 1500 it will take us 2.5 days to get rid of one pound. Make sense? As you can see, it is far easier to eat an extra 3500 calories and gain a pound than it is to not eat 3500 calories and lose a pound! Don't sabotage yourself by eating too few calories. Food does not makes us fat unless we over eat it. Know your danger zones, know what you have the potential to overeat and only eat those foods on special occasions. My husband recommends a weekly or bi weekly fast. He says this can be really good for your body to rest from all the digestion and also act as a resetting point, so on Sundays we typically skip breakfast and lunch (drinking lemon water to cleanse) and eat a small healthy meal that night, then we resume our normal calorie instake the next day. This is the only time that you will want to eat less than your recommended calories. I am totally not a know it all, I struggle with all of this just like you guys, but I always feel so badly for those who are afraid of food and starve themselves thinking this is the answer. Don't be frightened if at first when you start eating a healthy calorie amount if you either gain a little or don't lose, it takes some time to get your metabolism revved up again after all the torture we have put it through. Hope this helps!!!

Isn't it awesome to know we don't have to starve ourselves!!!!??? It does something to your pysche when you only are getting 500 calories of liquids for so long. I feel so much better now that I am eating more and that to me is better than dropping weight fast. You will get past your plateau, don't worry! I mean sheesh, how can you not with that tiny stomach?

How did you do the pics by the way? I can't seem to figure it out.