minniekitty

I'm curious- how long did you take to eat/drink the soup? I can take in a lot of liquids/solids if I do so over an extended period of time.

Congrats on your new sleeve It's great to hear that you've recovered well!!! It's always exciting to start a new chapter in our lives!

I picked 145 lbs as my goal weight. It's right at a 24.9 BMI, so I would be "almost overweight" at 145. That doesn't bother me, though. I, like you, just want to be healthy. I don't care to be a skinny minny, but instead want to be average sized for once in my life. I have a large body frame, too, so my goal weight should fall in the higher range of a normal BMI for my height. My aunt, who has the same body frame and height as me, went down to 139 lbs and looked sickly and frail. It of course may be different for me, so I'd like to keep an open mind. So, while I picked 145 as my goal weight, I really have a "goal weight range" of 135-155 lbs. I also agree with Rootman about BMI- it's not a perfect indicator of health.

I think it's swelling. I had the same problem at first, but after a couple of weeks I can swallow with no problem. Just make sure you're making tiny baby sips; our new stomachs can't handle gulps anymore, and can't handle normal sips until our swelling has gone down from surgery.

I think I've reached the other end of my 3 week stall, but my weight loss definitely has slowed down. It makes me want to strangle the people who say it's all "calories in - calories out". Well, if that were the case I'd have lost A LOT more weight by eating only 600-800 calories a day.

http://fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/olive-garden/zuppa-toscana I hope that helps Overall, it doesn't look too bad. It's a bit high in carbs, but it's also high in Protein. And at 170 calories per bowl, I don't think you necessarily doomed yourself.

My doctor told me to eat 600-800 calories a day until I reach my goal weight, and then I can increase it to 1200 calories a day to maintain my weight. You may want to consult your doctor or nutritionist, though, because it varies for everyone.

I know what you mean. I ate 2 Oreos last night (granted, much less than I used to eat) and had no problems. I still am having issues with protein-dense foods, though. I don't feel terrible for eating the 2 Oreos, but it probably is something I should avoid in the future. Unfortunately, my family loves the junk food so temptation surrounds me! As long as we make wise choices most of the time, an occasional slip-up isn't worth the anguish.

I'm 6 weeks post op and I don't do any high impact exercises yet. I swim laps almost daily and take my dogs out for walks as much as I can. Just today I took my dogs out for an 80 minute walk down the bike trail In a couple weeks I'd like to step up my workouts to include the elliptical and weight lifting!

I've been sleeved for almost 6 weeks, and I eat on average 500-800 calories a day.

I think it's definitely possible. I lost over 20lbs my first month with the sleeve, and I started at the same weight you are now.

I'm changing my goal weight from 180 to 185, so my goal will be 15 lbs lost. I don't want to set myself up for disappointment. My weight loss has slowed (still lingering from that dreaded 3 week stall), but I of course will be thrilled to reach 180 lbs . I haven't been in the 180's in 4 years, and I'd be sooo happy regardless. So, here's my modified Halloween goal... SN..............Starting Wt........Current.......Goal.......Lbs to Goal Kala.................200.2.............196.8...........185.............11.8

I look forward to: -Actually enjoying getting my picture taken, and not having to "check" the picture right after it's taken to make sure I don't look like a fat blob. To tie into that, also not feeling awful and embarrassed when someone tags my picture on Facebook. -Not feeling like I'm being watched while eating. -Being hit on by guys MY OWN AGE. I get hit on by mostly older guys (I guess they're into fat young chicks?) and it creeps me out -Not worrying about weight limits and fitting into an amusement park ride. I can just *barely* fit into them. -Fitting comfortably in an airplane seat. I am not at the point of seatbelt extenders, but on my plane ride to San Diego for my surgery with Dr. Aceves I was very uncomfortable. I felt guilty for spilling into the other person's seat next to me so I leaned over to the side the whole trip and kept my arms crossed. I want to be able to relax! -Buying ALL my clothes in the Misses department and normal stores! I can fit into XL's in the "normal" section, but am mostly banished to the Plus Size/Women's clothes for my pants. At my heaviest, I fit into the size 14/16 shirts at Lane Bryant without them sagging on me. I didn't like that. -Going out and being the social butterfly I was meant to be! I've been obese since I was 10, and I strongly feel that messed up my adolescence when I was supposed to be learning to be a more independent and social person. I'm shy because of my self consciousness about my size. I want to be carefree and go out and make some friends! I only have one "real friend" (since we were 11- I'm 23 now) and a boyfriend. -Seeing people who knew me when I was fatter, and shocking them! -(This one's really shallow). Showing my exboyfriend how skinny I've become. He was a jerk who gave me a hard time about my weight. He'd call me a fat loser and disgusting, saying I made him nauseous. He always made me feel guilty about eating. I haven't talked to him in forever, so I doubt I'll see him. It would be nice to casually run into him though :devil:. Of course, part of me has a feeling he'd just find something else to make me feel bad about (like sagging skin or bones sticking out). Negative people have no place in my life, so I'm conflicted on this one. -And this isn't something I don't have to worry about for awhile, but not worrying about getting diabetes or heart disease (both run in my family). I'm at HIGH risk for both of them. My paternal grandma and uncle both died from complications of their Type II Diabetes, and my dad has it now. The scary part is that they were/are all at a healthy weight, so I'm at risk no matter what. At least soon I won't have obesity as a contributing risk factor. On my mom's side, most people of have high blood pressure and they're all obese- so I am dodging that bullet at least

I haven't seen the episode, but I'm looking it up online to watch it. There was a woman similar to her whowas famous last year- Donna Simpson. I'm sure a lot of you have heard about her. She weighed 600 lbs and wanted to weigh 1000 lbs, but later backed down from her announcement when she started getting death threats. She had a toddler and a 15 year old son- she actually set the world record for the fattest woman to give birth. She has her own website where people would pay her to eat food- and she uses that money to buy more food. It's a sad and vicious cycles. I guess some people just reach a point where they give up. I know from Donna Simpson's story, she used to struggle with her weight and came to the point where she "realized" her body was simply meant to be fat. I hope these people get the help they need. I guess in theory one can be "fat and healthy", but consciously trying to gain weight when that person's already super morbidly obese!?!? I know the "gainers" are outcasts even in the Size Acceptance movement. It's sick that these people (mainly women) endanger themselves for the sexual entertainment of some fetishists.

I'm 6 weeks post-op and lost 26 lbs. My clothes are baggier, but when I went to TJ Maxx today and tried on smaller clothes they didn't quite fit. Disappointed The day will come... I read on this forum that the smaller you get, the faster the clothes sizes change as you lose weight.

I was scared too. You made a permanent change to your body- it's normal to feel this way. "Buyer's remorse" is common. I felt it for the first few weeks. What helped me is reading the success stories. We had the sleeve done for many reasons- so focus on those. There's no turning back, but we can go forward and conquer our obesity

I was sleeved on August 12, and I've lost 23 lbs (from when last I weighed myself on 9/17). I can eat anything I want now. I know I'm supposed to be watching my carbs, but I'm not doing a good job of limiting them (60g/day on average). I am having difficulty reaching my daily liquid intake, and on most days I can reach my Protein level but it's difficult because Protein drinks make me sick. My weight loss so far has been good, even with my (relatively) high carb intake. 23 lbs lost is almost 30% of my excess weight from the day of my surgery. Each day I tolerate foods better, so I hope there comes a time when I can tolerate a high protein/low carb diet better. I did Atkins for 9 days before my surgery, and I had an easy time with it (also lost 3 lbs). Protein just is difficult for my sleeve to handle. It's annoying that carbs are so concentrated in foods, while "high protein" foods require a larger intake. I can't eat much (well, duh). My friends/family love to go out to eat, and I don't want to be an antisocial hermit so I of course go out with them. I have to really actively think about the food I'm eating, because eating is such a social activity. I'm sitting here nibbling on 2 oz of whatever and I take longer than they do to finish off an entire entree! I still mentally want to eat at the same pace as them, so I am training myself to not feel guilty for eating slower and "wasting" their time. I swim almost daily (while the weather is still OK). It's low impact, but any activity is better than no activity. I plan on stepping up to the elliptical once I am allowed at the 8 weeks post-op point. I still experience nausea from time to time, usually when I drink or eat too fast. My nausea is accompanied by profuse salivating, and I run to the bathroom to spit it all out. It's really uncomfortable. Oh, and I'm at Onederland now!!! Not that I had a long way to reach it, but it still feels good to no longer be in the 200's

I was sleeved by Dr. Aceves on August 12, so It's been over 5 weeks for me. I've lost 22 lbs since the day of surgery, which is 29% of my excess weight. I still have a ways to go (53 lbs), but overall I think I'm going at a good rate. From seeing the success of his other patients, I have no doubt I'll reach my goal weight soon. My aunt had Dr. Aceves for her sleeve in October 2009, and went from 209 to 139 lbs in 6 months.

What the other poster said. Focus on your liquids. The first few weeks I got too hung up on getting my Protein in, and I didn't get adequate hydration. I drank mostly fruit juice for calories before I could drink full liquids. The full Protein drinks are a lot more palatable than the clear ones for me. Fruit juice is high in sugar and carbs and isn't recommended, but I needed to get some calories or I would have nothing. I kind of was curious to see what my stomach looked like after they took it out. I'm glad I didn't ask though, I probably would have fainted if I saw it lol. Congrats on your new sleeve I hope you have a speedy recovery.

The people who know I had surgery could tell I was losing weight 2 weeks post-op. My face was the first place to thin out (pretty common from what I can tell). Today I got my first compliment from someone who didn't know I had surgery. My neighbor noticed I looked smaller. It's been a little over a month post-op and I've lost 25 lbs.

I'm 5'4" and weighed 221.75 lbs on the day of surgery. The first month I lost 21.5 lbs. Now I'm just on the border of Onederland, and I want to cross!!!!

This is a good post. My experience was a little different than yours, but we all have our own little varieties. I'll share mine, so people have an idea of what can/cannot happen. I didn't have a catheter, so I kept on going to the bathroom with the IV. I had a bruise on my left wrist for a couple weeks from the IV, and the back of my right hand is still sore from it (one month post-op). The nausea was the worst. I threw up foamy diluted blood on the first and second days (which is normal). The barium swallow for the x-ray made me vomit. I was so afraid of ripping my staple line from all that vomiting, but I was OK in the end. My pain was actually quite manageable, so I'm lucky in that regard. The first 2 nights I woke up from pain, but the nurses promptly treated it. The first day I was in very little pain (in fact I felt pretty good) because I was high on anesthesia; I started to feel uncomfortable on the second day (mainly from the nausea and drainage site). I asked the nurse and doctor to take out the drainage tube by then, but they had to keep it in for the leak test on day 3. TAKING OUT the drain and the stitch holding it was probably the most painful/uncomfortable part of the ordeal, but it only lasted a minute. After the nurse took it out, I was freaked out mentally by the idea that there was an open hole on my tummy that would heal from the inside-out. In the hospital I was actually lying on my stomach by the second evening (trying to relieve the gas pain). My doctor (Dr. Aceves) came in and saw me lying on my stomach on the 3rd day and said I was the second person he ever saw lying on his/her stomach after surgery! He said it was a good sign that I was healing well and had little pain . I only used 2 of the pills the doctor sent me home with, and they were for things completely unrelated to the surgery. I used them for menstrual cramps, lol. I really didn't have any pain by the third day. I still have the pills and I'm just keeping them "in case". I'm not sure how to properly dispose of them (i.e. I don't want to throw them in the trash). Gas can feel impossible to get rid of. I walked around the hospital on an hourly basis, and I still had lots of gas. It completely went away by day 4 or 5. It particularly annoyed me because I had to fly across the country (San Diego to Cleveland, OH) after the hospital discharged me. Gas-X strips helped relieve the pressure, but I still had to toot. The head hunger IS real, especially while I was on the liquids-only phase. TV food commercials seemed evil to me, how they zoomed in on the food in slow motion. pizza was always my "drug of choice", so those commercials were the hardest to watch. I often found myself changing the channel or walking away from the TV. While on liquids I would put food in my mouth, chew it, and then spit it out. It was gross, but it gave me that little taste I desired. I did cheat once and eat a couple potato chips (that went down well). My mom always has 2-3 bags of potato chips out, and it drives me nuts. WLS also changes your perspective on things. I'm a lot more attuned to food and the way it affects me. Another "side effect" (that I don't really like) is that I pay attention to other people and what they eat. My mom is very large, and eats a lot of crap. I want her to have WLS too, because I don't want her to die from her obesity (she already has hypertension). My dad has cancer, and I don't want my mom to be sick too! At 53 she's still young enough to make a change. But, then I remember how I would get p*ssed at people who told ME to lose weight. It's a decision she has to make for herself, but I am concerned for her. Maybe once I'm successful, she'll see that and go get WLS too.

I agree, although I have largely remained silent about it. Since I had the surgery so recently, I guess part of me is afraid "jinxing" myself. I mean, imagine how embarrassing it would be to tell the world I had WLS and then barely lose any weight. What if I gained the weight back? As fat or formerly fat people, we all know how mean people can be. We all have heard the snickering of people gossiping about "that person" who had the RNY (or other WLS) and gained back all the weight. I think a lot of the fear of sharing our WLS story is a fear of failure. I had no idea when my aunt had the sleeve 2 years ago. She lost weight so fast, I actually thought she was starving herself because all she would do is drink Isopure. She only told me about her surgery earlier this year. I didn't even know what the sleeve was until then. Would her being more honest than "I had a hiatial hernia removed" have helped me sooner? Possibly.

I wish I practiced sipping Water beforehand. I "knew" I had to sip and wouldn't be able to chug a bottle of water anymore, but I guess I didn't really realize it until it happened. I'm having a hard time reaching my liquids level, especially since I'm eating (soft foods) now. I'm probably at risk for dehydration :/ I also wish I didn't order a 3lb tub of vanilla Protein powder off the internet, thinking "How can you mess up vanilla?". It tastes like thick milk and makes me gag. It's important to be prepared before surgery, but get small samples to try after you have your sleeve. Then make the big purchases. Your taste buds really do change.

I'm a little late to jump on the bandwagon here, but I want to join!!! I hope that 20 lbs is doable in 7 weeks. Even to get into the 180s would make me happy! SN..............Starting Wt........Current.......Goal.......Lbs to Goal Kala.................225..................200.2............180.............20.2