LoserMama

AWESOME!! Its amazing how these things resolve. I haven't had any official bloodwork, but I was told not to take my metformin until my 6 week appt and when i've been spotchecking my blood sugars, they are all nicely in the normal range, so I'm hopeful I'm done with diabetes meds too! So great to see your progress. keep it going!

thank goodness. Glad you are being taken care of.

Ridiculous I say. I am so sorry for your loss, pookeyism. But yeah, I'd take the extra step and get the PCP to help out. Nothing you've described sounds out of the ordinary for where you at. When you get to a month you'll hopefully not be in pain anymore...about 3.5 weeks is when it all pretty much went away for me. I have a sedentary job that most of the time Iwork from home. i had planned on take two weeks off, went back for two days, and then decided I need another week. It wasn't pain so much as it was fatigue! So I understand. As far as other options, do you work at a place that also has a policy for bereavement leave? Many companies offer anywhere from a day to a couple of weeks off just for the loss of a close family member. Hugs.

You have to wait for pre-authorization to go to the ER? Honey, are there any 24 hour urgent care places near you, at a minimum? Please get in and see someone ASAP, we're worried!

I've been hearing a lot about paleo too, and just thought it sounded like a more extreme form of low carb, primarily. Interesting. Keep us posted on your results if you start!

This is interesting! I think my body must be really strangely shaped. I am 5'7", and I was 278 at my highestweight (apart from pregnancy) in Aug 2011, wearing size 24/26 pants and 3x/4x tops. Day of surgery I was at 242-243, and was still wearing 24s, though I'd been able to buy a pair of 22 pants that fit prior to surgery. Still 3x on top. Now I'm 224 lbs, and I have one pair of size 20 pants that fit and some new 2x shirts. So for me, despite 54 lbs, not nearly as dramatic a change in size as some. It will come!

Yeah, I think that is what I am thinking about. I have struggled with this a lot over the last year, thinking about this. I guess i've found that I react a lot better with encouragement rather than bluntness, and that is me. I don't need someone to sugar coat it for me, I just dont' need someone judging me, because I already do it a lot worse to myself. A lot of people got here through denial, very true and no doubt. Denial probably plays a role in most emotional eating issues. but it may not be the biggest issue for all of us. I got here not by denial as my primary problem, I've always been painfully aware of how bad what I was doing was, but unable to stop. I've spent years continually beating myself up and being way more blunt and over critical with myself than anyone else could ever be. For me, using language that represents a judgement on an action, is very black and white when I talk to myself or someone else, and is something I'm really trying to change. So a word like "cheating" is just a super loaded word to me. Which for those of us who have this particular flaw in thinking, cheating leads to feeling I'm a failure, and then that leads to thinking why bother and more failure. But saying I made a mistake, helps me know I can do better next time. Think of it this way....if you forget to take a dose of a medication you need to take, do you consider that you have cheated? I don't. I don't think I'm a failure or that I've completely blown it. Taking the emotions and judgement out of things is helping me a lot in getting to a new normal. The other thing that is interesting is how we define cheating. The original poster, Indymom, said: which is a way different definition of cheating than I have. I think that if I have eaten one more bite than I should have, or a type of food I shouldn't have, that I have cheated. And I'm trying to beat that kind of judgemental feeling out of myself, because when I feel that way I feel like a failure. I'm encouraged by this kind of discussion about what works for us. If useful, here is a coverage on this from Beck Diet Solution, which is the cognitive behavioral based therapy approach to eating issues developed by Judith Beck, who's father actually developed CBT. The other thing that I think about, is in post-op diet, what really IS cheating? I mean with the super wide variation of advice on the post-op diet, those of us who research and see all this variation, you realize that there is a WIDE definition of what is considered ok during the immediate post-op diet phase. My single surgeon and his plan is not the definitive be-all end-all of advice. I don't take one person's plan and advice as my absolute truth. If there were a gold standard out there, or if all of their advice was remarkably similar, then I'd say the choices i've made since surgery that deviated from my doc's handout would be something to think more about why I've made other choices. Example there -- the Cornell VSG post op guidelines say we can have oatmeal, grits, farina. My doc's guidelines say no. Am I cheating if I have thinned oatmeal? All very interesting. I *think* the original post was targeted at folks that are blatantly doing really major things that are not good for them in the post-op phase, which I support, but where is the line? This really triggered me to do a lot of thinking! Thanks!

Major bummer? I am curious since I have worries about my sleeve capacity, what has eating been like for you since your sleeve? Do you feel restriction?

Snoopy, this has been my experience. It was really funny going out to lunch with a friend who asked, shouldn't you be eating salad or something and I told her that protein was what I had to eat first. I'm doing ok with eating out, similar,either eating from others plates or ordering something ala carte. At first I was kind of pissy*, but now as I look to starting regular diet this week, I realize how freaking cool it I that I can still enjoy eating out and eat soooooo little.

This is an interesting thread. The immediate post op time period isn't a time for cheating for sure. But I know I have made choices in the past month that were mistakes. This may be a bunny trail, but, the word cheating is one I have issues with. Anyone reading or read Beck Diet Solution? It talks about mistakes versus cheating. I think the majority of folks in here who talk about cheating on their post op diets make mistakes, they don't cheat. In all likelihood, a few bites too much or the wrong thing are not going to be the undoing of our sleeve. But when we attach words like cheating to it, there is such a message of immorality and failure to it..I dunno. I guess apart from the extreme posts like eating a burger and popcorn a couple of days post op, I'd rather see us encourage each other in getting back to doing the right thing. Many many of us got here because of emotional eating and black and white thinking, so I'd rather us offer each other support to do the right behaviors. While we did have extreme surgery, for many of us the ability to be perfectly compliant doesn't magically occur just because we had the surgery. Maybe I shouldn't have been approved, dunno, but I think I am doing a helluva lot better, even with mistakes, now, than preop!! But by my former harsh use of the word cheating , I definitely have done so many times in the past month. But each time I eat I have a chance to do it better. Eta--not upset by original post, just challenging us to think about what cheating really is and encourage us to help each other out of black and white thinking!!!!

Great news from both of you on healed leaks. Continued improved health to all of you.

I don't think it's so much about nutrients sliding through...is it?? Dont the nutrients get absorbed in the intestines? I think it's more about the liquids letting foods slide thru faster, so you don't feel full long enough??

Yeah felt this way too. Had 3 past csections though so wasn't too worried, knew it would pass. I use a little travel pillow to press against my belly when getting up for a couple of days and also used my old Bella band. Worked well. It was looser on me than it used to be so not too tight, just a little support.

I took 2 small sips of diet Pepsi last night and it was uncomfortable. Amazing such a small amount could cause me to notice, so I think better for me to stay away.

I like Clinique moisture surge!!

have to revisit this to ask how its going now? I'm in a stall and wodnering how long its going to last! I even gained a bit, but I also factor in the fact that I switched to soft diet AND didn't poop for a week, so a girls gotta gain some weight from that alone. I'm back down to what i was a week ago now, so I'm hoping the scale will start to descend again....of course AF should hit later this week...booo...that'll probably be another hit to the scale.

Holy crap I'd be thrilled to have lost as much as you. I was sleeved 12/21, and post op I've lost about 17 pounds and I've been stalled here for about a week (guess that is the lovely 3 week stall) but hey, I'm 4 weeks now, so can we move on?

These are all reassuring responses. I am glad to hear others think that there is still a fair amount of liquid content in the soft food stages so it may pass through easier too, with chewing so well its almost liquid. Not drinking before or after meals so good there. I do hope I start to feel it with more solid foods, for sure! Pammie, my sleeve twin! when do you get to start eating 'real" solids? I get to start regular bariatric diet next Wednesday. Which is just in time, because i have to take my first business trip post surgery next week, its looking like.