CamarilloCA

Hard-boiled eggs, smoked salmon, 1% milk, sliced deli turkey, and cheese are my favorite protein sources right now.

Thank you, both. I just had some blood work done, and I was low in both iron and Vitamin D, and so I will start there. Thank you!

I had a revision from lap band to sleeve April 3rd, 2012 and have lost about 40 pounds so far. Recently, I noticed that I have a lot of black and blue marks on my legs. Now, I do work hard in the garden and hike, and I'm clumsy and bump into things all the time, but I normally don't have this many on my inner thighs, and they are not really in places that I could have injured myself. Has anyone had this?

Thanks, Mesaucedo. There seems to be 11 on one thigh and 7 on the other, and they are little and spaced close to each other, and so it doesn't seem like I could have bumped into that many things, but who knows. I did some reading on bruises, and it's a possibility that my veins are fragile and that exercise could be causing some minor bleeding. An increase in Vitamin K is supposed to help this, and so I'll try that. Thanks for your reply.

Bemabound, I know there are a lot of people, probably most sleevers, that feel that way about diet now and maintain later, but I think there of some of us too that have to find our own way and follow our own rules. I spent four years with the lap band and was unable to eat heathily and was like Carbgrl. I ran to the trash nearly every meal to throw up. It turns out I had extensive scar tissues and adhesions around my stomach, around my band, and around my port. Anyway, I decided a while ago that I wasn't going to diet anymore. I've dieted for probably 35 years, and I've learned that dieting doesn't work for me because it makes me feel deprived and because I have a wicked rebellious streak in me. (If you want me to do something, tell me I can't do it.) Instead, I just choose to eat healthily for life, forever. The sleeve allows me to do this where I couldn't do it before on my own. Instead of raging hunger demanding something high in calories and fat, I can choose a healthy lowfat alternative, and this is because I am no longer starving and because I no longer have much, if any, ghrelin. I don't ever plan to change the way I eat now. It's not a diet for me. I eat everything that I want, and I make good choices most of the time. For example, if I want a piece of chocolate, I'll have a small piece of dark chocolate, which is actually good for you, but I won't have it every day or even every week. If I eat healthy meals 99% of the time, I'm fine with that. If I want a bite or two of something, I'll have it. I eat now the way I plan to always eat: small portions, healthy choices, no drinking during meals, fruit, vegetables, nuts, lean Protein, etc. This is the way I am managing my life and my health and may not be for everyone. I am happy to report that the scale is still moving at a rate of 2 pounds per week. If I find after I reach goal that I am still losing and when I get to the point that I no longer want to lose weight, I'll address adding in a few more calories at that time, but I'm sure that won't be too much of an adjustment to my current meals. I've written what I do with the hope that it will help you. The word or concept of dieting sounds like it is distressing to you, and so I wanted to let you know that it doesn't have to be a diet. It can just be that you choose to eat healthy foods now that you have the help of your sleeve. You've already lost a huge amount of weight, and you should be very proud of yourself for that. Do you know who Cabernet Queen is on You Tube? She's great. I believe she had Gastric Bypass, but she is still an inspiration to me and other sleevers. Anyway, she wrote this thing about what she learned after having weight loss surgery. Here's a link just in case you are interested: http://barefootandbe...-i-learned.html

With the plan I was put on, I was on full liquids for only the first ten days. Day 11 was mushies, which is what you had, and so I don't see anything wrong with what you ate. The cheese puffs weren't ideal, but those melt in your mouth down to nothing. They don't give you any nutrition, and so you may want to avoid those, but you were probably missing some crunch, and you stopped after six. You will start to feel restriction once you get to solid foods so try not to worry. You will, undoubtedly, overeat at some point, and that will make you feel extremely uncomfortable, and you likely won't do that again.

I would ask about bougie size. (Do a search for "bougie" on the main page to get an idea of what this is about.) I have a 38, and I am so pleased with it because I never have dehydration issues, and I work outside and sweat a lot and have to get rehydrated quickly many times after a job is done. I can also eat fairly normally and can take more than a few bites of something, and yet I am still losing at an average rate of 2 pounds per week. There are smaller bougie sizes, which would limit your food intake and fluid intake more, and so you want to discuss with your surgeon which size is right for you.

Congrats, Beyon Sleeve. Love your enthusiasm and spirit. Can I ask you if you have any skin sagging issues? You don't have to answer, obviously, if you don't want to. I only ask because your numbers of your starting weight look close to mine, but you are about ten years younger than me so perhaps you still have a lot of elasticity in your skin. I am seeing some skin issues already, and I'm only half way to my doctor's goal. I'm just wondering, but I know everyone is different. Congrats again on your tremendous success!

My gall bladder came out during laparoscopic surgery at the same time that my lap band went in four years ago. They took it out as a precaution because apparently you can get more gallstones once you switch to a low fat diet. The bile that is made by the gall bladder is for digestion fat, and if there is less fat to digest, it can build up and turn to sludge and form stones. That is the explanation that they gave me anyway. I noticed no change, and because I could not eat lowfat healthy foods with the band, I opted for higher calorie/higher fat foods just so I could have some food that would stay down and help my hunger. I used to slather mayo on everything as dry anything would come right back up within seconds. I think you are better off without your gallbladder with your weight loss surgery. I experienced some discomfort after they took it out, but the whole recovery for the gall bladder/lap band surgery wasn't more than about a week of taking it easy. If you have a choice, I would highly recommend having it done all at once so you have one surgery instead of two, one anesthesia, one hospital stay, etc.

I agree that people notice, but not everyone is comfortable with mentioning it. The people who are closest to you will probably mention it if they feel comfortable enough to do so, but weight loss is a funny subject with some people. Some people consider it a personal topic and will not want to cause you any embarassment by mentioning it or asking how much you lost, etc., while others who are more open may want to discuss it. One time, Oprah said, "I don't want to talk about my weight anymore. Let's talk about something else." I loved that and adopted it for myself as I was tired of explaining my ups and downs. Now that I've had surgery and lost 35 pounds, I still don't want it to be a topic of conversation with family or friends. This forum is my five minutes in the morning of weight-related discussions.

Weight loss drugs are a temporary solution anyway. You can't take them for life. I took Phentermine and lost 70 pounds, but it would have been bad to keep taking it longer than I did. I actually tried taking it again after I had re-gained some of my weight, but it didn't work as well, and it probably did my Serotonin levels more harm than good. Drugs are not the answer.

The bread example was just an attempt to illustrate my question, but it was a poor choice, and I don't eat bread anyway. I think (and I could be wrong) that volume is more important than weight. Say you could eat one ounce of gold or one ounce of feathers. Even though we wouldn't eat gold or feathers, you can see that the weight is the same but the volume is going to be much different. Volume is how much space an object occupies or, in this case, food. I think three ounces on a scale isn't going to be the same as three ounces in a measuring cup or three ounces in our stomachs. If our stomachs have an eight-ounce capacity, then we wouldn't want to eat more than eight ounces of food. I'm just wondering how the scale and the measuring cup really compare, I guess. My NUT didn't recommend a scale but talked about not eating more than a half a cup at a sitting at least at first. I may try measuring and weighing a few things just to see what I can learn from it.

Weight is not the same as volume. Does your scale measure volume? I'm confused because something small could weigh more than a bigger portion of something else. What about bread, which I don't eat anymore because it is too much volume? But a bread slice is about 1 ounce so, theoretically, you could eat three slices of bread, but I know that I couldn't, but I could eat three ounces of steak. I'm just trying to clarify here if it is the weight that is important or the volume.

LilMissDiva, every time I see your before and after picture, I am just in awe of your success. You've lost more than half of your original body weight. You look terrific and are an inspiration to me and others. MKambalimath, I think it is wonderful that you went. I've been meaning to go to Zumba myself but have been chicken that I will be lost and look ridiculous too, but you know what? Let's not care what anyone else thinks. Let's go and have fun and burn calories. I'm sure we will catch on after a few classes.

I think you are doing great at five and a half months out. Ninety pounds in that time? You should be telling us what to do and what not to do. I think what you ate was fine size-wise, and as long as your stomach didn't hurt after you ate it, then you didn't eat too much. I can eat maybe an ounce more, but I rarely do. I think it is possible that you may have been feeling some residual gas from something you ate that was giving you discomfort the next day. Here's my view of things, but please remember that this is just my opinion for how I want to manage my weight loss. Everybody is different and will have different strategies for weight loss. I choose not to weigh or measure or journal now that I'm past the initial six weeks. I do choose to eat healthy food, stay away from sugar and fried foods, and try to reduce carbs when I can. I eat Protein first and make it a lean protein. I am trying to live now the way I want to live for life. If I make this a "diet," knowing myself as I do, I will feel deprived, and the "diet" will end at some point. I've dieted so much in my life that I don't want to do it anymore. I just want to eat healthily. I put very small amounts of healthy food on my very small plate, and most times, I don't even finish it. And I'm good with that. I honestly think that all of us will lose a tremendous amount of weight as we are only eating a fraction of what we used to eat. Adding exercise and making better choices about the food we eat will keep it off. I wouldn't be worried about what you ate at all. Now if you said that you had reached for a bag of Cheetos, then I would probably tell you to resist that:-)

I just noticed it myself the other day. Here's a link: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/forum/114-self-pay-mexico-vertical-sleeve-surgery-new-forum/

You might check out the new Mexico forum as well:-)

I just replied on your other thread and gave you some meal ideas. You basically want to eat your protein first always.

I'm not counting my calories, but they are easy to find out by going to FitnessPal.com. Other people who keep better track of their calories can probably be more helpful. Also, you may want to do a search on You Tube for "VSG" and "Sleeve" because there are a lot of video bloggers who have kept a video journal of their journey, and many of them include what they eat now on a daily basis. Their journeys can be very helpful. Here are some examples of what I eat: Breakfast: one Premiere Protein shake or one hard-boiled egg or 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt with Splenda and blueberries espresso with Splenda and milk Lunch: Deli turkey meat slice or two with string cheese or 1/4 cup cottage cheese with smoked salmon and two garlic-stuffed green olives or one hard-boiled egg or five shrimp Dinner: Lean Cusine or chicken or turkey meatballs or flounder or shrimp or hamburger meat or filet minion or halibut some other protein with sweet potato fries (2 or 3) or small salad Snack: Cliff Protein Energy bar or 1/2 banana or some cashews or some watermelon Do you have a nutrionist at your doctor's office? What did your doctor tell you to eat? Someone here on this forum attached a meal plan with some food choices and amounts. I've attached it for you. You can save it to your computer for future reference. meal.plan.pdf

Try not to worry about that either. If you just had surgery on 5/9, your body is still healing, and you may still have some swelling and inflammation. Just follow your doctor's eating plan and walk as much as you can, and you will see the weight come off. No, I think I've lost as much as other sleevers who didn't have the revision, and I've seen other revision patients who have lost a lot of weight since their revision. I think, for those who have more weight to lose, it comes off faster at first. For example, someone who has 200 pounds to lose will lose faster than someone who has 100 pounds to lose at first. I started out with having to lose 70 pounds, and so I think it is coming off a little slower for me, but the average weight loss in a month is typically around 10 pounds or 2 pounds per week.

Try not to worry about the 1.5 pound. Lots of things could be causing it from Water retention to an unexpelled bowl movement. Everyone's weight fluctuates by a pound or two daily. I can lose two pounds just by working in the garden and sweating a lot!

Ventura County here and Kaiser too.

I have an espresso mixed with milk from my little Nespresso maker every morning without any problems. It's about 8 ounces of coffee and 8 ounces of milk so it's pretty diluted, and the milk is good protein. I drank this for four years while I had the lap band with no ulcer issues.

I love watching Dr. Oz, but sometimes he has guests that present these diets that are a bit on the strange side. I think he really enjoys presenting alternative medicine and tries to make people believe that they can lose weight and keep it off when, in actuality, it is very difficult to maintain a large amount of weight loss as we all know. I mean you would have to eat that 90%/10% way for life, and I think that would be next to impossible to do for most people. Loved your reality check. Thank you, Lord, for my sleeve.

Also try Amazon.com and Overstock.com. I think they both ship worldwide.