MuffinsMom

I do the low-carb thing, and at 23 mos. out (and in maintenance) I've had pizza several times - I just eat the toppings, cheese and all, and leave the crust. Totally satisfactory! You'll be able to enjoy the flavors of pizza again if you do it that way.

Are you on a PPI (acid reducer)? Gastric acid is a very common side effect of VSG surgery, and most surgeons put their patients on a PPI (proton pump inhibitor, prevents acid from forming). Stomach acid feels very much like hunger.

I went through four different PPIs before I found one that works fairly well, Dexilant by prescription. I take one in the morning, and Prevacid OTC 30 mg in the evenings. I still get acid attacks on occasion, which for me present as huge volumes of gas, belching non-stop for hours, and very intense diaphragm pain. I've had about three of these "attacks" over about 6 weeks, and I'm learning what foods to avoid (so far, coffee, spinach and Diet Snapple), and to recognize the earlly symptoms so that I can take a Pepcid, which helps avoid them. I had heartburn and occasional reflux before surgery, and I knew that the gastric acid situation could get worse, better, or stay the same afterwards, and went ahead anyway. Would I do it all over again, knowing what I know now? Absolutely. I'm down 89 lbs. and feel great. You just have to find the right combination of medications to treat it, and I'm also hoping eventually my system will start producing less.

I find that eating carbs (in the form of breads, pasta, rice, potatoes, not those found in vegs and fruit) slows down my weight loss - even when I'm within my calorie limit. I went thru a phase where I wanted grilled cheese sandwiches, and had probably 4-5 over the course of a couple weeks, always accounting for the calories in my food log. Weight loss slowed down. Another time I decided that 100 calorie snack packs would fit into my food plan, again staying within my calorie limit, and again the weight loss slowed to a crawl. So while I can tolerate these things, I don't eat much at all. Strange how this process teaches us so much about our bodies and what they respond to, even though I had 60 years to learn and never did until now!

-When you can cross your legs - AND you can touch the floor with the toes of the top leg! -When you can't sit for more than 10 minutes without wiggling around to get a better position for your ass-bone. -When you realize you've exchanged fat rolls for teeny tiny wrinkles, all a row. -When your inner thighs look like tied-back drapes, LOL! -When you learn to eat hot food cold, and cold food room temp. -When you could take off if you flap your arms too fast! -When people you knew before you lost weight, but haven't seen in a long time, walk right past you with absolutely no recognition in their faces.

no.

Mine's a 36, and my surgeon oversewed so I understand it 's probably closer to a 32. As others have posted, though, the bougie size isn't necessarily a predictor of weight loss success. For one thing, the bougie determines the width, but our own anatomy determines the length of our stomach from esophagus to pylorus, which will be a big factor in capacity. Plus, once we've fully healed we'll be able to eat a bit more than we can early out. That's why the support system, food plan, exercise, and follow-up doctor appts are so important. It's not only how much we eat, but what and when.

Sugar alcohols are sweeteners that don't affect tooth decay (so you'll find them in SF gum & mints). Sorbitol, manitol, a bunch of others - they've been around for ages. But some people have gastrointestinal reactions - gas, bloating, rumbling, etc. Nasty! I chew SF gum now and again, but I found out the hard way not to eat a whole roll of SF mints!

I have to say, the pneumonia likely put a major hitch in your weight loss get-along, and your body may still be recovering, even though as far as you and your doc are concerned it's behind you. Pneumonia is extremely serious, and the body needs every ounce of energy to fight it, even in the presence of antibiotics. So all bets are off as far as weight loss is concerned - the body can't afford to allow weight loss when it's fighting a big infection. Combine that with a naturally-occurring stall, and you have a crazy-making several weeks. Keep doing all the right things - and make sure you're getting AT LEAST 64 oz of water a day, which helps break down glucogen - focus your mind on other things for now, and the weight loss will start back up again.

From your description, it sounds like you are married to a child. You'll need to decide what, if anything, you will do about this self-absorbed, manipulative behavior. Understand that it will not change, however.

Kerri, have you pooped yet? If not try a glycerin bulb. At about 2 weeks out I got so badly backed up I went to the ER. They examined me, took X-rays, and sent me home without treatment, apparently it wasn't as bad as I thought, but it was as bad as I have ever experienced! I had been taking X-Lax and Miralax but nothing helped that one big blockage that wouldn't budge! (Sorry, TMI I know.) On the way home I stopped at CVS and picked up a couple things - magnesium citrate (which is what they ask you to take if you're going to get a colonoscopy, cleans you out rather violently!) and glycerin bulbs. I tried a glycerin bulb first, and that worked. (Didn't really want to use the magnesium citrate if I didn't have to....) Ever since, I take Miralax every day in my morning coffee, to prevent that from ever happening again, and that works just fine, especially with the Calcium and PPIs we take, which I guess can be a little constipating. Then really start pushing the Water. Your body needs water to release the fat. Many times on this board and on OH, people who stall end up breaking the stall by upping Protein and water.

First advice is to check with your doctor's office about protein/carbs/calories during the puree / mushy stage; that said though, the objective IMO is to very gently re-introduce food to your new tummy, which has suffered a major injury. And you're in this phase for such a short period and eating so little, that the foods won't affect your weight loss success. Once you move to regular foods, then start paying attention to carbs, calories, protein, water, and so forth. Right now just get that new sleeve used to accepting different types of mushy and pureed foods.

I read on an RNY "grads" Yahoo group, that one calcium supplement should be taken at bedtime, because calcium works best when bones aren't supporting weight, i.e. lying down. I haven't done any independent research on whether that's true, but it did occur to me that bedtime would be a convenient time to get in my last one. I take BA lozenges, 400 mg per lozenge, and I take three a day because post-menopausal women are supposed to get even MORE calcium, sheesh! :-)

So my experience was that the shoulder pain and the belching are different types of gas. The shoulder pain is from the inert gas they introduced into your torso during surgery to expand the area so they could see what they were doing. I read that when you sit up/stand up it creates upward pressure which is expressed as shoulder pain. Gas-X strips will not help this pain. Only walking seems to dissipate it, and it should be gone by about 10 days or so. Belching, on the other hand, for me was a symptom of uncontrolled gastric acid, which started about 10 days out, when I started taking full fluids. Took me several days to figure it out - the Nexium my doctor recommended wasn't doing a thing for me, and EVERYTHING I put in my stomach produced belching so bad (like large belches every few seconds) that I couldn't continue to eat, or talk, or do anything. It would go on like that for 30 minutes at a time. I was scheduled to go back to the office after 2 weeks, and was concerned about whether I would be able to go back, if it continued. Before I had to deal with that, though, I finally realized what it was, and changed to Prevacid, along with a Zantac here and there when I felt like I needed it. Problem solved! So a question, at least about the belching - are you on a PPI?

I know what you mean about mourning eating. For a while after surgery I constantly romanced the carbs mentally - slavering after every commercial on TV, catalog that came in the mail (DAMN those Williams Sonoma catalogs!), and bakery section in the grocery store. But I kept to protein-first (usually protein-only, LOL, because I couldn't get anything else in) and gradually the craving for sugar and flour went away. For me it seems to be a physical thing, where if I gorge on sugar/flour it sets me up to want more, and it takes WEEKS for that particular beast to quiet down. My advice would be to surf the net for low carb ideas (and Tiffykins is right, try theworldaccordingtoeggface.com), and all meals protein first. I get hungry about every three hours, so I eat five times a day (usually around 9:00-12-3-6-9), always a protein thing. But they consist of meatballs, tuna salad, egg salad, eggface's bites, crockpot chicken, bacon, sausages, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, string cheese, scrambled egg, etc. I include protein drinks in my daily menu as well, both powders and ready-to-drink. I'm always on the hunt for things that will be enjoyable and give me a varied diet. So don't limit yourself to just a few things. Make an eating plan, follow it as best you can (no one's perfect, BTW). This tool you've been blessed with WILL work.

LOL, you will be healing for several months, and you WILL need protein to heal, and to lose weight. But by far the most important factor early out is to stay hydrated, MUCH more important that getting protein this early. Dehydration can land you in the hospital within a few days. Tomorrow morning you might want to just call your doctor's office, and always the first advice is to go with what they say, but it sounds about right to me.

It seems a lot of people lose all their excess weight, and then some (my hope for myself). The stats are for five years out from surgery and probably include bounce-back weight, the 10-30% that people regain, which seems to be a factor at about the three-year mark. I think a lot of the bounce-back occurs in the RNY community, but is reported among sleevers too. Some people have even said they want to get under goal so that when/if the bounce-back occurs they'll still be at goal. It worries me a lot, but there are many, many long-timers on this board and OH who have NOT experienced bounce-back. I think we have to be vigilant, aware of what we're eating, avoid allowing old eating habits (refined carbs, anyone?) from creeping back in, and remember where we came from and why we did this in the first place.

Often stomach acid disguises itself as hunger. Did your doctor put you on a PPI (acid reducer)? If not, you might check to see if there's one they recommend. The first couple weeks can be a challenge, just follow your doctor's instructions and get thru it one day at a time, and soon you'll look back on these days and say "Well thank God THAT's over!" LOL! Welcome to the loser's bench!

Right now, at about 9 days out, and restricted to liquids, it would be difficult to get more calories in anyway. Your body should be OK for a little while at this calorie level. The starvation reaction sets in after several weeks of severe calorie restriction, but by then you will probably be up quite a bit. Many successful post-ops report that they maintain a calorie level of 600-900 (depending on what works for their bodies) thru their weight-loss phase. At 13 weeks out, or thereabouts, I'm at about 700-900 calories a day, which helps me feel healthy and energized but keeps the weight coming off. Also, you just had major surgery! You may also still be feeling the effects of anesthesia, which can take up to a month to wear off, surprisingly. Also healing from the surgery uses quite a bit of energy, which will also make you feel tired early out. I'd say relax and go with it. Don't try to do all the things you did pre-op, give yourself time to recover from the surgery itself, rest as much as you can - I know work and family sometimes get in the way, LOL! After you're 4-6 weeks out, reassess your energy level and feeling of general health and discuss with your nut then.

I echo the others - tuna or egg salad with no bread, chicken, deli meat, eggs, cheese, Eggface's egg bites for breakfast. (Just recently I'm up to three of those, for the longest time I could only eat 2.) Canned fruit (packed in Water or pear juice), Peanut Butter, or Dannon Lite & Fit or Greek yogurt for Snacks. You have to fix up the Greek yogurt, add honey or powdered SF Jello or Crystal Lite or something. I'll have nuts when I feel like something crunchy. That's the hardest part about post-op eating, the lack of crunch. I do cook, and prefer to eat homemade things so I know what's in them, but if you cook a regular-size recipe, even a low-carb one, be prepared to either eat it for days on end, or freeze some of it. Actually both, LOL! So I'll do crockpot chicken or meatballs (I use almond meal instead of breadcrumbs), or pot roast, etc., and I freeze it in 6 oz covered glass containers to take to work. I eat so little these days that I only have to cook about every couple weeks to get lots of mini-containers for work or a quick meal after work. If you cook, here are some sites: www.theworldaccordingtoeggface.com http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ ("A year of crockpot cooking") http://sushifabush.tumblr.com/ ("Low carb food porn") http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/recipes/u/lowcarbrecipes.htm (About.com: Low carb diets, which has recipes) Good luck! You'll do fine.

It's the exact same feeling for me, only it comes a whole lot sooner! I agree with a previous poster, too, that you can get that over-stuffed feeling, very uncomfortable! So I've also developed an eye for how much will fill me up. Although some days I can eat a bite or two more, and some days a bite or two less. No idea what that's all about, and I'm not used to "listening" to my body. (I'm used to listening to my cravings, LOL!) So sometimes i over or underestimate a meal. It's a learning process.....

I'm only 10 weeks out, but can pass along what I've read here and on the OH board. People seem to kick-start their weight loss by upping protein (not necessarily overall calories) and water. See if you can't get your protein into the 100 gm per day range, maybe by protein drinks/shakes, and increase water intake? It's something I've stored in my back pocket for that inevitable day a really long stall happens to me.

I'm 9 weeks out. Thankfully I never experienced nausea, never threw up, never got depressed. I did have very serious acid issues when I moved to mushies - refluxed only once up into my throat but that was enough! Mostly it caused major belching no matter what I ate, like every 10 seconds for hours. Very serious quality-of-life thing, and I got to where I was afraid to eat, and was my one "what have I done" moment. It took me a few weeks to, first, figure out what it was (acid) - the reflux experience helped with that, LOL! - then figure out, with the help of my surgeon's patient coordinator, the right combination of things that work for me to get it under control. Once I did that it's been pretty smooth sailing. The other major issue is re-learning how to eat. Not what to eat, but literally HOW. Small small bites, chewed to dust, and a bite about every 2 minutes is what works for me, a 180 from my old eating habits. Takes me about a half hour or so to each 1-2 oz. of food. Hardest thing I've ever done, and would I do it again? In a New York second.

I'm 8 weeks out. I had major stomach acid once I started on the mushie stage, and it continued into my regular food stage. The acid refluxed up my throat once, but aside from that it was a roil-y, slightly nauseated feeling in my stomach, caused huge burping/belching/upward pressure issues no matter what I ate (and prevented me from eating much because there wasn't any room from the gas!), and often felt like hunger. Nexium, which my surgeon recommended, didn't touch it, and my old standby Prilosec, which I took twice a day before surgery for heartburn, was a little better. I started taking Pepcid every so often (as much as twice a day, some days), along with a Tums at bedtime and avoiding eating up to 3 hours before bedtime, and that made another good difference. And then switching to Prevacid 24 put me over the top. I'm now pretty much past it. All together I guess I went through maybe 4 weeks of figuring it out, getting a little better with each thing I tried. I will say that the burping/belching/pressure was a major reduction in quality of life, and I had a moment or two of "what have I done", but then I just pulled myself up, decided it was a problem with a solution (which it was), and went about figuring out how to solve it. No regrets at all now - and I still burp a little while eating or when I get full. In fact, it's my "signal" that I should either slow down or stop eating altogether.

I developed a case of concrete bowels during week 2. I think it was mostly from Lortab, which, like an idiot, I took to help me sleep, not for pain. I will never take morphine-based meds again (knock on wood)! I even went to the ER, but apparently I thought it was worse than they did, they sent me home without any treatment other than advice. Eventually Metamucil did the trick, and now I take about a half-capful every day in my morning tea. That was so traumatic I never want to go thru anything like it again! Metamucil works wonders.