CowgirlJane

Hope everybody took measurements at the beginning of the journey, when you hit the stalls often the inches are coming off instead of pounds.

That is exactly the message I get too, right after hitting "join group" button

This is my first challenge - but I am game to give it a try! I really don't know what my rate of loss will be as I start transitioning to pureed, soft and then regular foods, but i am setting an aggressive target. Surgery weight: 300 Current weight: 279 Valentines goal weight: 255 Final goal weight: 160

Okay, I now realize that the group you mean is on the verticalsleevetalk. When I tried to join, I got an error message. I do have a skype account and would be very interested in participating.

I would love to join - how do I add myself to the skype sleevers group? I am pretty new to skype....

Hope everybody had a nice peaceful Christmas! I was sleeved 12/12 - weighed 300 on the morning I headed out for surgery and this morning - exactly 2 weeks later, I weighed 279.6. 20 pounds I plan to never see again!!!! Best wishes for an easy surgery and quick recoveries to the last of the December sleevers.

I haven't done circuit training in years - but in my 20s I got into it. At the time it really helped me work off the last 15 pounds kind of thing. It can be very high energy/high calorie burning. Water aerobics is awesome, but I don't think burns fat as effectively as high intensity circuit training.

I think it is worth a try. I went to a therapist over a year ago who was supposed to be an expert in eating and food issues. What became obvious is that she was experieinced with bulimia and anerexia - and I just didn't fit into any of the catagories she had. I knew that I wasn't getting anywhere when she loaned me a book about a woman who named her eating disorder "Ed". I really couldn't relate at all. She was really opposed to weight loss surgery as she didn't seem to believe that people overeat because they have an insatiable appetite combined with a lifetime of bad habits. I am thinking there are better ones out there, I intend to start seeing a different counselor as soon as the food deprivation anxiety kicks in. I was sleeved 12/12 and so far, so good, no big anxiety or food mourning or anything like that yet.

Ask your surgeon for his practice's stats. What I was told is that the general info out there is that revisions don't lose as well. The theory is that they have become accustomed to feeling overful and are more likely to stretch the pouch. My surgeon's office is however reporting similiar/same results for revisions as for "virgin" sleevers. I think it is because they focus heavily on education and follow up, but that is just a theory.

You sound like me - I feel that I had an irrationally high fear of the surgery. I don't like medical procedures of any kind, and the anthesthsia scared me alot. So, here is what i did.... I broke my fears down and really investigated and learned about them. Due to the band, I had this small persistant cough, caused by the mild and ever persistant reflux (slipped band). I had this idea that my lungs and stuff couldn't hold up to the anesthesia. Well, I talked to my doctor about it and they really checked and helped me understand that people with truly impaired lungs get through surgery just fine. I did that with my major fears. Then, I had the band removed before I was really ready to be sleeved. I did that because the doctor suggested it might be lower risk and most importantly he wanted that slipped band OUT before further problems developed and I just wasn't ready to be sleeved. That was the smartest decision ever. Even though my band had been emptied, I had regained all my lost weight etc etc, i apparently still had some restriction. Once that band came out I was so hungry. I started gaining weight. I tried to diet, i tried to not eat so much but the hungry drive was enormous. One day, it really hit me - I needed the help that the sleeve procedure provides and that without it I would just keep gaining. The dreams and ambitions I have for the rest of my life would be cut short by increased obesity. Of course, some of the concerns I had - risk of leak etc still remained, but were in much healthier perspective. This is major surgery, it is a big deal - but - it isn't THAT bad. Compared to the terrible things obesity is doing to my body, compared to the risk of just dropping dead (middle age and high BMI is a deadly combination), compared to me missing out on stuff i want to do surgery started looking pretty good. It was a long process for me to get there, but by the time my sleeve was done, I was pretty excited and looking forward to it, with a little bit of fear as opposed to being dominated by the fear and anxiety. BTW, my surgery was 12/12. I lost 8 pounds on the preop diet (really, just lost what I had gained since having he band removed) and have lost another 20 pounds since my surgery! Woo hoo - feeling like a great start.

My blood pressure went high after the surgery too. Scared me, but they said it wasn't high enough for them to medicate me for it. It was more like 160-170/95 or something like that which was very high for me. Today I checked it and it is a much more civilized 123/80. I don't take blood pressure meds but because I have had borderline BP in the past, I have a machine at home.

I felt all that in the first week too, not sure why, but it is much better now. I was sleeved 12/12

She posted in the band to sleeve revision forum, gets a little less traffic but I am guessing after Christmas you will get more people piping up. Okay, for me, I don't consider the sleeve to be more drastic then the band. I can understand why you do, as I used to think that way - but after having a band for 10 years, I do NOT consider it to be a simple, reversible, benign procedure. It does alot of damage to your stomach tissue - scar tissue, adhesions. It also did other damage, although in my case it was fairly minor, luckily. I think if you are having problems with the band you should get that thing OUT. I think you are also at very high risk of regaining everything. I regained all my lost weight and then some before I had the band removed. After I had the band removed, even though it had been "empty" for years I started gaining more weight. I was very very hungry 24/7. I am still a new sleever, so I guess I can't really do a fair comparison yet. Even less then 2 weeks out I don't have any of the negatives that I remember from the band. I don't feel restricted (hey, I am still on liquids and not consuming much so may be early to compare) but I don't feel hungry either! (I did have a few days of some hunger about a week out but I figured out why and was able to solve it) Wow, what a difference as with the band I often felt restricted but still hungry. What I will say is that recovering from the revision has been harder then original band implant surgery.

Losermama, your post sounded similiar to me. I am not really missing food too much, but the smells... omg... I thought I might faint over some of the yummy dinners other people have been eating around here. Christmas day is going to be hard - i am still on protein/liquids so can't even puree things up and eat them....lol However, it is worth it - my surgery was 12/12 and this morning i stepped on the scale - 20# gone since the morning of surgery, 28# if you count the 2 week preop. My goal has been to lose 30# in the first month, so I am very optimistic I will make this goal (take into account almost everyone hits a stall at 3 weeks out from surgery according to my nutritionalist). I too had alot of vivid dreams, I think from the pain meds. Mine tended to be more along the lines that I had never had the surgery or other strange things. I have luckily not had food dreams (no visions of sugar plums dancing in my head).

I am less then two weeks out, feeling good but unbelievably tired. I was warned about this... first 2-3 weeks would be like that. Are you sure you are getting enough fluids? That is the most obvious reason for exetreme fatigue. I hope you find a good solution - it is pretty miserable being so tired.

I don't consider it the "easy way" but really the "only way out". I say this because once you have reached a certain level of overweight, it is pretty much shown that most people can't keep the weight off. Even if they diet and get some off... it eventually comes back on. I have experienced that myself repeatedly so I know it it to be true for me personally. Weight loss surgery... the only way out, my last chance to get my weight under control.

Not all surgeons recommend the 3 times a day. Mine recommends 3 small meals of 100-200 calories each plus 2 100 calorie snacks (approx). One of those snacks might be a protein drink.

I have an android and have tried 3 different ones - myfitnesspal, dailyplate and I forgot the name of the 3rd one. Myfitnesspal works best both on the Android and on the computer. What i like is that it is very fast, some of them are much more tedious to enter information.

Especially in the evenings. any tips to get through this? I am consuming Protein drinks, plain greek yogurt, sugar free popsicles, Water lots of herbal tea, etc - so far losing weight just fine, but i am getting increasingly hungry especially after about 5pm. I feel like I don't have that much restriction (swelling has gone down) but I go another week before I am allowed pureed food.

Wow, that is rough to be on clear liquids for a full week after surgery. I only had to do that for 2 days, then have been on protein liquids since then. I am 10 days out from surgery now, feeling pretty good... but still pretty low energy. Went shopping, need a nap now.

Walking is good exercise. I have knee problems so cant jog or do certain other things, but I can walk up and down hills which gives me a good heart pounding workout,. I haven't gotten back up to my preop levels, but i will....

What is hot coco Protein rich? Is that a chcolocloate protein mix made up as hot chocolate? I tried making a hot coco out of a protein mix and it wasn't good. I am taking PPI, I am getting plenty of protein. The liquids are harder, but if i count the Protein drinks etc I am getting enough fluids. I wasn't hungry my first week, but now in the evenings I am hungry and liquids don't seem to be cutting it. I have lost 16# since surgery on 12/12 (plus 8 preop diet) so I feel like I am losing weight fine, just hungrier then I expected.

Cheese is not high carb, but it is calorie dense. I suggest you use one of the tracking tools to see what you are really eating.

I second the suggestion to demand this information from your surgeon/support team. Did they have you progress to pureed, then mushies and then onto solid food? The general guidelines I have are that you should eat your Proteins first, then green/low carb veggies and then complex carbs (like fruit and higher carb veggies). Most surgeons call for eating 3 mini meals and 2 Snacks per day. Do not drink for 30 minutes before the start till 30 minutes after the end of the meal. The food should be premeasured to limit volume. Really, small, quantities - like maybe 1/2 cup or so for the total meal. Don't forget your Vitamins.

The first few days after surgery, I was targeting one ounce every fifteen minutes and sometimes that was too fast. To me this sounds normal from drinking a bit too much too fast while you are still swollen.