MinaT

I love you!!!! You made my day, nothing goes as planned. I was like you, I thought I'd be out doing the trails and I'm 22 days out and I spend more time in nightgowns than clothes. The complications I had weren't something I planned on, but I'm taking it all in great stride. I learned the hard way never to trust a fart. Sending my thoughts and prayers that you start feeling better soon. Work will always be there, take care of you

gaye, I did a little more sleeping on my side last night and now my big incision (the one above my belly button to the right is more sore). I hate sleeping on my back but I am getting used to it and my back is hurting less. Tomorrow is my Dr.'s appointment and I have a few stitches that need to be removed. I wish I could exercise more, but it is what it is. I am hoping I hit 199 before my birthday in August and I'm sure I'll be hitting that stall sooner than later, so here's hoping.

BTW, Amy, congrats on 37 and congrats on the weight loss. You are doing amazing!!!!!!

I want a pickle so darn bad. It's one of my biggest cravings. We have a few jars of them here and I get it. It started for me about 8 days out and now at 22 it's still here. I am going to relish that pickle when I do get it.

I know the feeling you are talking about. You are seeing it as being hungry, but it could very well be gas, acid or your tummy healing. I can't tell the difference between gas pains, hunger pains, being full, the feeling is exactly the same. Try something relaxing for your tummy like decaff peppermint tea with your favorite artificial sweetener. Sip slowly. Try not to get in so much air when you drink. I know what you are talking about with the hunger pains, but that is more likely acid reflux or even your stomach healing. Maybe change the way you are perceiving the wave, pain, etc. If you think of it has your stomach slowly healing, much like a wound heals, and less like hunger, sometimes it's all in the way you perceive things. Crying, is very natural. There have been many that said that the act of burning fat stores, releases hormones, which cause us to be more emotional is a very valid point. I'm sorry you are having such a hard time, and I hope that maybe others can add something to help you.

Congrats!!! I'm glad you are doing well. I love to hear that. I am 3 weeks out yesterday also. My surgeon & nutritionist are strict. (very) I still have a few stitches (I thought mine were dissolvable) so ugh. I am still on full liquids. I am waiting to get to the pureed stage. I see surgeon tomorrow and I hope they will say yes to pureed tomorrow, but I wrote somewhere in my wls journal that it's not until week 5. My next appt. with nurse & nutritionist is July 9th. That would = 5 weeks. I really hope I don't have 2 more weeks of just full liquids. I'm not really hungry, I just really am having issues with shakes. I try to spend an hour walking around out in the yard or I do laps in the house still. I have walked outside too. Every other day I use 8 pound weights and work each arm, triceps, biceps, lats, shoulders etc. and I do it in a seated position so I do not use my stomach muscles. My stomach is still sore, I still can't sleep on my stomach, I am able to get to my side, but I don't try it until about 5:00 am and I spent the next two hours taking turns sleeping on each side. I am looking forward to blended tuna, though I am not suppose to try mashed potatoes yet, I have tried it, with unjury 'unflavored' skim milk and ff sour cream. It is almost to the point of liquid consistency and I was able to get a few teaspoons down. I also have tried 1% cottage cheese and I did better with it yesterday than last week when I tried. Chewing cottage cheese is a very strange sensation to me. I still use the med cups to drink. I hate drinking out of a Water bottle. I am very conscious of every sip I take and I try not to take in air, but if I drink out of a water bottle, I take in air often times it is uncomfortable still. Most of all, I want to go swimming, though I know that putting a swimming suit on would probably still bug me. I'm hoping I get released to swim in the next 2 weeks. It's my favorite thing to do and I feel like summer is slipping away, but there is always next summer. I can't wait until shrimp is doable. I love shrimp. I bought a frozen package of Tilapia and some fat free tartar sauce. I have it on my list for pureed phase, where you blend it and eat it. Things I miss the most right now, salad, pickles, tabasco, steak. Knowing steak will be hard down the road kind of sucks, because I am not a sweet eater, I'm more of the savory eater. Things like summer squash, steak, lobster are my deal. I spent 6 months pre-approval working had and I lost 70 pounds pre-surgery so I was doing quite well before surgery, I wish I could get back to my old ways because I had a good handle on getting in high Protein, low carbs. Today once again I suffered with the shake and it went down like elmer glue mud and for every sip, it was fighting the last sip that wanted to come up. I really hope I can eventually find a shake that I approve of. It's a shame things I loved in the past, are so disgusting to me at the moment.

Sometimes it hits hard. I have a small brain tumor, lupus and had pleurisy at the 5 month pre-approval stage, worried my butt off about getting denied. I had surgery June 4th. June 9th I found out my father is in jeopardy of going paralyzed and needs a cervical spine operation. My mother needs an operation on her legs, my husband has a serious bunion that needs operated on. Yesterday, my best friend lost her 55 year old husband to cancer and she lives clear across the United States and I'm not going to be cleared to travel to be with her. I didn't get to say goodbye to her husband, one of my best friendsThe stress is palatable and my heart aches. One of my 13 year old cats is suffering and in pain, and there really is nothing that can be done, and we brought her in Saturday to the doctors we decided to keep her home a few more days to say our goodbyes and I have to bring her in this week to put to sleep. Both my in laws are experiencing serious health issues and live in another state. We are seriously low on funds right now to the point, I can't afford to try try different shakes, because I am not tolerating well the shakes I am on and I have been on nothing but liquids for 5 solid weeks and tomorrow when I see surgeon, he's probably going to keep me on full liquids another 2 weeks. After I heal up enough my parents get surgery, and my husband gets surgery, I will need to go back in for cervical spine surgery myself. Same 3 as my father. The stress is something we will have to deal with the rest of our lives. It's a constant and it's called life. I am just trying so hard to suck it up and turning to food hasn't worked for me. I used to smoke, not much, but I did during times of stress and all that got me was weak lungs and now I get pneumonia often. I now rely on my strength and Gods to get me through. Other vices just made things worse. Good luck and I hope things get better soon.

http://www.ewg.org/reports/BottledWater/Bottled-Water-Quality-Investigation Walmart brand contained carcinogens, and event traces of things like tylenol? I have read several reports that ranks Nestle Pure Life one of the top including this one http://shine.yahoo.com/green/best-and-worst-bottled-water-brands-2436818.html 1. Pure Life Purified Water (Nestle), EWG grade = B 2. Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = C 3. Aquafina Purified Drinking Water (Pepsi), EWG grade = D 4. Dasani Purified Water (Coca-Cola), EWG grade = D 5. Deer Park Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D 6. Ice Mountain Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D 7. Ozarka Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D 8. Poland Spring Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D 9. Zephyrhills Natural Spring Water (Nestle), EWG grade = D 10. Crystal Geyser Natural Alpine Spring Water (CG Roxane), EWG grade = F Here's another site that tells you a lot about different brands and more information regarding "spring water" http://www.myspringwater.com/SpringWaterInformation/LeadingWaterBrands.aspx

Wow, 6 weeks getting salad in!!! I can't even imagine it at this time. I'm 3 weeks still on full liquids and will find out tomorrow when I get to move on to pureed. I have it written in my book somewhere that I move on to pureed at 5 weeks, and I'm hoping against hope that I wrote it down wrong. My next appt. is July 9th with the nurse & nutritionist, so it makes sense that the surgeon will see me and I may have written it down correctly that I am on full liquids 5 full weeks before I get to move on to pureed, then goes soft then goes regular food. Wow. Doctors are so darn different. At this rate I'm hoping I get mushy Tuna in 6 weeks. Salads and pickles are probably the things I miss most right now. It gives me hope for the future

I'm 22 days out and I'm at 350-400 calories and I'm on full liquids. AT 12 days out I would definitely not be going higher in calories. I'm just trying to work my way up to 80 grams of Protein a day and I'm not there and that is perfect fine. I take my four optisure Vitamins a day so I am getting all my vitamins and minerals. My sleeve is healing nicely because I'm not forcing in too much at this time, but I am getting all 64 ounces of Water in. In my pre-approval phase, before I was sleeved for 6 months I was at 800-850 calories and that was with my full stomach pre-sleeve. 800-900 is the max of what you should be doing before you hit the maintenance phase after being sleeved and that's like a few months out, not weeks. Of course if you are extremely athletic, you would be able to incorporate more calories and carbohydrates. 1000-1200 is usually maintenance, again unless you are extremely athletic. You definitely are NOT going to slow your metabolism at 600 calories a day during the first month or so with the new sleeve. All you will be doing is giving your sleeve time to heal and maybe 600 is not too much at 12 days, but that's what my two week pre-op shake was....again with a full stomach and not an 85% reduction. I would definitely speak with your nutritionist and get their opinion. Edited to add, you are not going to slow your metabolism down, your body will process all your carbs first for energy to sit, stand, move, walk, breath, etc. after it is done processing your carbs it then moves on to the fat, this is how you lose you weight. My surgeon assured me that I have enough protein stores that even if I am only getting 40 grams of protein to begin with, that I have enough fat and protein stores for quite some time before it starts working on muscles. Go slow and talk to your doctor. Each phase up isn't meant to go from 600 - 800 - 1000 - 1200 calories, each one is to learn to convert the liquid to a form a protein while only increasing the calories a little bit. It's not as much about the calories as it is the quality of the food for our bodies to be run efficiently and be healthy.

You look awesome. It's true with hard work, dedication and effort we all can work the sleeve. Great Job!

I never thought of the stomach growling as hunger, I think of it as healing. Gas pains, being full, being hungry all feel the same in my opinion. Maybe that's what you guys are dealing with "head hunger". Maybe try realizing that the growling and the flipping weird tightening feeling is healing and not hunger and perhaps it will be easier to deal with. I seriously can't tell the difference. It makes the same growly, tightening weird thing when I eat, when I think I may be hungry and sometimes because I have some gas and it means I need to walk around some because I been sitting in the same position too much and my muscles are tightening up. Sometimes it's all in the perspective.

Sending my thoughts and prayers to all the June 26, 2012 Sleever's!! Good luck and see you on the other side! locoladi Trista1975 -- Dr. Almanza-reyes, Mexico JTmoas s.ledbetter17 -- Dr. Edwards and Lane – mcg. Nardelkn cherryseven chuckles -- Dr. Keith Gersin Misslorlor MsPerry 1920-Zeta tumblersmom glocks90 suzilouise rudekitty ShrinkingBellyKelly loulou123

I had steri-strips but I am still surprised 3 weeks later that I actually have stitches. I hope it doesn't hurt to take out. My stomach is weirdly sensitive to a light touch or clothing.

I'm 3 weeks out and I'm hitting 350-400 calories. I don't think you are going to mess up at your metabolism at this point. I spent my six month pre-approval doing 800 calories a day and hitting 80 grams of Protein and staying about 45 -60 grams of carbs a day and I lost weight, gained muscle tone during that time. That's pre-surgery with a regular sized stomach. I think you would be pushing it to try to get in more calories. I'm still on liquids. The body will use up the carbs you are using for energy and there are plenty of fat stores for the body to have to burn through before you start messing up your metabolism and blowing through your protein stores. This should not even be a concern at this time. ps I think most people stay at about 800 calories a day until they are in maintenance and those that are extremely athletic may go up 1200, but on a whole, maintenance is about 1100.

I used Pure Protein 100% Whey Frosty Chocolate from Target. Whatever it is that you buy, don't buy too much of it for after surgery. Taste buds change. What you like now, you may hate after surgery. It's weird, but true. I'm tolerating the Pure Protein again, when it made me gag after surgery. For the Clear stage (after surgery) Isopure from GNC is 40 grams a bottle. At first you won't be getting that much protein in, the most important thing you will need is waters.

I'm 3 weeks out and my incisions are sore. I have stitches still inside my belly button and on my right one. My large one doesn't look to bad but it still hurts. I am losing nicely and I lost a ton of inches all over but my belly is 2 inches bigger than it was on May 25th. I had surgery on June 4th. I hope it starts feeling better soon.

I was told 4 - 6 weeks and not to do it unless your doctor releases you. I am just dying to get in the pool. I am a swimmer. I swim all winter long and I have my own pool. My family has been holding off swimming and today my son went swimming and I sat outside with him and I just wanted to be in there. Today is my 3 week out and I see surgeon Wed. I really hope 5 weeks will be it. I still have a few stitches that I noticed after the steri-tapes fell off, ugh, thinking about getting them out makes me a bit queezy to my tummy but I am sure it will be easier than the drain. lol

added loulou123 to the Update June Sleevers http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/42535-updated-new-june-sleeve-compilation/

Best of luck to you! I added you to the updated June Sleevers list located in the June Section. http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/topic/42535-updated-new-june-sleeve-compilation/

Well I had surgery June 4th and I'm still on liquids. You are saying you hope you have not gone through all of this for nothing...Are you keeping track on myfitnesspal.com of how many calories and how much Protein, carbs & liquid you are getting in? Are you eating as much as you would before surgery? Have you lost anything at all? I imagine you have lost some weight, so any pounds lost is not a failure. It is up to you to not put the wrong food in your mouth still and by looking at what you are eating, you are doing what you are suppose to be doing. The sleeve is a tool. You are lucky you aren't feeling sick or restrictions by eating those foods. But you are mentioning 2 ounces of tuna. That's not a lot. A Greek Yogurt, again not a lot. If you ate a scrambled egg, a hardboiled egg 2 ounces of tuna and a greek yogurt, all at once, then you got some sort of issue there to worry about and then you should be worrying about the restriction issue. Eating one of these at a time without drinking for at least 1/2 hour afterwards, and you are doing great is wonderful. Take this time while you are just learning to eat to chew your food and maybe stop worrying about what restrictions you should be feeling. After being on the diet roller coaster for as long as you have been, you know what you should and shouldn't be eating, and you know how much is too much. Trust me, try eating 2 hardboiled eggs and cottage cheese and the restriction will hit you like a two ton heavy thing and you will realize the truth of the sleeve. (don't try to eat 2 hardboiled eggs at once..I was being facetious. I think you are doing well. I went from 330-128 and then gained it back. We both know what the issues is, we need to keep on moving....a lot and we need to up our protein, keep lower carbs and most of this is still mental. Try some positive thoughts and maybe someone else will have more advise for you. Good luck

Honestly, each day is getting better and if you look at the success stories here, the sleeve is not really the one commonality, it really seems to be the attitude of the person sleeved. A positive attitude and outlook, and like you said, working the sleeve so the sleeve can work for you is so important. So many think the sleeve is all it takes, when it honestly does take you to make the sleeve work, not the other way around. Good for you, and thank you, every day is better, and I feel very confident and positive that I will be successful

Sending you hugs, my thoughts and prayers and thanks for blessings that it was caught before the surgery. I know you are disappointed but I think you are handling this very well. It's a good thing this was caught and I will keep you in my prayers.

3 weeks out today. Every day is better than the last. Somes ups and downs. I'm still on liquid, I want to swim, I am just now able to get on my side, but flipping back to my back hurts. I am walking even more and I can sit on a couch and lift weights with my arms but I can't stand and lift because it strains my tummy too much. I am drinking plenty of fluids, I still can't get in 80 grams of Protein and that's okay too. I take my Vitamins 4 x's a day and I remember the first day trying to chew this big thing that was so chalky. It felt like it would take me an hour to get that pill down. For a while I hated my Protein shakes that I used to love, I'm tolerating them now, but I'm not loving them. Sipping is more important than you realize. Taking in a lot of air when you drink can be painful. The most important thing to remember is to stay positive and every day is better than the day before. Hopefully you have used your pre-op time wisely to get your mind set for what is ahead and you FULLY realize that the sleeve is only a tool and it's still up to you. Know that not everyone loses a ton of weight really quick. Everyone's body is different. People that didn't lose a lot pre-op may lose more Water weight. Know that right after surgery, when you come home you may weigh MORE than the day you had surgery. Don't freak, it happens. You are swollen, you have IV Fluid to get rid of, your stomach is swollen inside and out from the surgery. It will eventually go away. Try to avoid - I'm a failure posts here. If you try to stay positive it will make some of the negative things less hurtful. Realize stalls happen and it's how you deal with them that is important. About a week after surgery or two you may have one or two days that you are emotional, that is very normal. Each day does get better. My stomach is 2 inches bigger today than it was on May 25th. The sides are smaller but larger portion of my tummy is still swollen 3 weeks out. I have lost about 30 pounds give or take 5 since then but I have lost a WHOLE lot of inches all over the place. Your stomach will take time to heal. Sip, sip, sip, walk, walk, walk, gas-x and smile cause it gets better are the most important words you need to know going into this and coming out.

Pre-approval phase 6 months I tried to stay at 800-900. I'm still on the liquid phase 3 weeks out and I'm hitting 300-350 just on liquids and luckily my one Pure Protein with skim milk consists of most of it in the am. I will try to stay at 800-850 until I reach goal, going up only when I stall I will most likely up my carbs a bit, or when I'm doing heavy exercises, I will up my calories a tad, for energy.