JackieOMonroe

I'm 3 weeks out and I can eat a 5oz yogurt with no problems or feelings of restriction in about 30-40 minutes. Usually when I feel what I think is faint hunger (it doesn't feel like the old hunger), I can just drink some gatorade or water or something and the feeling goes away. If I drink and I feel it again a short time later, I assume that it must be time to eat something. I eat on a very loose schedule. My body always seems to want to be fed at around the same times. The only time that changes is if I slack off on my fluids.

I'm feeling great. I'm over halfway through week three and I'm on mushies. My sleeve is slow to warm up to new foods, but most of the time that's fine with me. I know that I'm not getting enough protein in though, because I'm craving a cheeseburger. I haven't eaten beef in 3 years and I only ever crave meat when I'm protein deficient. I'm still trying to find a protein shake that works for me. Wish me luck!

Wonderful!

I'm pretty much eating greek yogurt, cream of wheat, or mashed potatoes. My sleeve is still iffy on refried beans so I only eat them when I'm dying for the flavor (beans are a favorite food of mine). My sleeve isn't sure about applesauce so I've only had a couple of spoonfuls. Greek yogurt is my sleeve's absolute favorite. Luckily it's a favorite of mine too.

Added Hubie.

I chose Dr. Ortiz to do my sleeve surgery. I felt like I was bucking the trend by using a surgeon with a glowing track record for lap band surgeries, but who had very little information online about his sleeve work. The reason I chose Dr. Ortiz was because I had an opportunity to meet him, question him and his staff, and tour his facilities before scheduling my surgery. There was no pressure from him, he was honest and frank in all of his answers to me, and he and his staff were extremely knowledgable. While I was there I was also able to speak with other patients who'd had sleeve surgery and were doing very well. While I was having my own sleeve surgery, I met 4-5 other women who'd had the same surgery days before or on the same day as my surgery. Everyone did extremely well. In fact, out of everyone I met I was the patient with the roughest recovery and even I'm doing wonderfully now. It came down to this. I felt safe. I felt an immediate sense of trust when I met my surgeon, the staff NUT, and the other physicians and nurses on staff. I had no troubles with communication and everyone in the waiting room when I came in looked perfectly healthy. Since my surgery, I've had a barium swallow and CT scan at my local hospital (I went in because I was feeling dehydrated). My doctors all remarked on how beautiful my incisions were and how well everything looked on my scan. Yesterday I went to my primary care physician and informed him of the decision I made and set a schedule for follow up blood work in three months. He examined me, asked me a lot of questions about where and who I'd had the surgery with, and then he praised me and told me he thought I'd made a very good decision. I know he doesn't have a lot of feedback here for sleeve surgeries, but I can't recommend Dr. Ortiz enough.

My stomach removal incision is my most painful one too. I have an incision on either side of my navel. The one on the left (when I look down) is my big incision. No dents anywhere though!

Yay! It caught on! GO FIRECRACKERS!

Updated! Thanks.

You're very welcome.

I can't usually tell when I'm full. The feeling is so different than the old feeling of full that I feel compelled to keep eating. I take 30-45 minutes to eat a meal. Usually that consists of a cup of greek yogurt, or a packet of cream of wheat. I'm hoping that when I ear foods that are more solid, the full feeling will be more obvious. Right now, I just stop eating when i decide that I should probably be done. It's kind of frustrating for me. I'm worried that I'm doomed to overeat even though my stomach is smaller.

I have yet to find a Protein shake that sits well with me. They're all so cloyingly sweet that they make me gag or they make my stomach feels off. I ordered an unjury sample kit, so I'll try their unflavored and "chicken" Soup flavored varieties when they get here, but otherwise how can I get my protein in? Just to make matters harder on myself, I've been a vegetarian for three years. I started incorporating fish back into my diet a few weeks before my surgery, but I just cannot bring myself to eat any other meat. I'm getting worried. I didn't think the Protein shakes would be so hard to take since I didn't have a problem with diet and protein shakes prior to my surgery. Help!

I was allowed to start mushies/purees 2 weeks after my surgery. I can only have things that are blended to the consistency of applesauce. I can start trying to introduce regular food very slowly in 2 more weeks. I'll probably wait longer than that. I'm in no hurry to get back to regular food, I just want off these awful shakes.

oh my gosh, thank you all so much for the advice! SuperMom - Will do! haha MegInNOLA - I'm not vegan (not even veg anymore since I started easting fish again), but I am lactose intolerant. I have been since before the surgery so that makes it tougher. I'm on mushies now though. I'll try to incorporate eggs into my diet. jay9mal - mixing unflavored powder into other things is a really good idea. I hope my samples come soon. sasicas - i've been slowly, slowly munching on refried Beans, but they don't sit super well with me yet. I think i'll try some eggs and see how I do with those. GreginMI - Thanks for the link! I'll try it out. I love hot chocolate. kellyw74 - At 35g of Protein, I might have to learn to love it even if I don't think it's good. That's a ton of protein!

Thanks for the advice. I don't drink coffee anymore, but I can experiment with mixing the shake powders with almond milk and things like that. I'll keep working on finding a Protein Drink or two that I like.

Me too!!! Although since I started on mushies the other day, I'm expecting a stall.

Everyone has been adjusted and updated. Thanks for your input. I'm happy to see that I share a sleeve date with more people than I thought!

I started them about 6 days out, but they were too hard on my stomach so I'm holding off until I'm eating more substantial food.

I just ate most of a greek yogurt and half of an Atkins protein shake over the past 3-4 hours and I'm SO FULL. I can't express how happy this makes me. I feel like I'll actually be able to lose weight and keep it off this time and it's the most hopeful I've been since I got fat in the first place. I could cry. This feeling is worth giving up burritos and lasagna. I'm shocked to feel so good today when I was so miserable just a few days ago. Now if I could just get rid of this dizziness. Haha.

There is so much good advice in this thread already, so I have nothing to add to that. If it does come down to lap band surgery, try not to be too disheartened. Many people have had a great deal of success with the band, most notably in my life would be my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. Things will work out for you, even if the path you take to get there is changing.

I'm super late to the thread, but I'm also a married female San Diegan with no kids. I've been sleeved for 2 weeks.

Aww, looks like I was sleeved to late to be at the meet-up. I live in San Diego and I'm 2 weeks out.