Bufflehead

vitamins and other supplements Wellesse liquid multivitamins, liquid calcium, and liquid iron for the first four weeks after surgery. Trader Joe's High Potency chewable multi's for after that. Protein shakes Chike, Unjury Chocolate Splendor & Chicken Soup, Syntrax Matrix, Syntrax Nectar Sweets, Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard, Jay Robb Whey Isolate. Almost as important: the right stuff to mix powders with (if you have Kroger stores near you, check out their Carbmaster milk line, the numbers are GREAT), Torani SF syrups, Sweetleaf Sweet Drops, instant coffee granules if you like coffee -- all sorts of calorie-free ways to enhance the flavor of protein shakes and keep things interesting. Skin products for sagging Surgery and weight lifting Hair products for hair loss Time and patience, Toppik or Nanogen to fill things in if your scalp starts showing.

I live alone and managed just fine after surgery. Unless you have complications of some sort I don't see the necessity of having someone there. It will help you be more active anyway, which is good.

It's perfectly normal after surgery. Your body just needs to recuperate. Push yourself to walk and be active, but when you need to rest or nap, do it!

Lol, I always assume that people are looking at the contents of my shopping buggy and judging me. Maybe I should just start imagining running into my dietician when I get tempted by things like pumpkin spice cereal bars or dark chocolate peanut butter cups at Trader Joe's!

It depends on the guidelines from your surgeon. I wasn't allowed any grains for the first six months because my surgeon's plan is low carb, intensely focused on protein. Even after six months I'm only allowed grains on rare occasions.

Sounds like dumping syndrome. You may be sensitive to sugar -- and a lot of commercial peanut butter has sugar added. Or there may have been something else in your protein shake with sugar in it. You would probably want to check with your medical team (particularly if this happens again), don't accept my internet nonprofessional diagnosis Dumping syndrome is much more common among gastric bypass patients but it does happen to a small percent of sleeve patients as well. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dumping-syndrome/basics/definition/con-20028034 http://www.bariatric-surgery-source.com/dumping-syndrome-with-the-gastric-sleeve.html

I use the Wellesse liquid calcium. It tastes fine to me but you can dilute it with water, light juice, milk, etc. if you don't like it. I just do a half serving because I get most of my calcium from food.

Hi Richard, Most people get a lot of their liquid from food. Most solid food actually contains a lot of liquid -- an apple, a carton of yogurt, a nice juicy burger with lettuce and tomatoes -- it all contains lots of liquid and goes towards meeting our bodies' needs for liquid. Plus of course most people who haven't just had 80% of their stomachs removed can and do drink a lot of liquids without much effort. But with surgery, for some amount of time we aren't taking in any food, and it's HARD to get those 64 ounces in. So we have to keep on top of that situation and work at it. The thing is, it's always been important for us to get that 64 ounces of liquid (whether from water, coffee, milk, yogurt, an apple -- any combination of sources) in order to stay hydrated -- we just never had to think about it or worry about it before. But trust me, post-sleevers do get dehydrated and actually end up in the ER if they don't manage to get their liquids in. ETA - my team never told me to drink 8 glasses of water. Just 64 ounces of fluid of some sort.

I could have gone to a wedding, I don't think I would have lasted very long at the reception though. Like probably not longer than 15-20 minutes. If you go, make sure you have an exit strategy -- if you are not feeling up to staying how are you going to get home? Make sure you have someone enlisted who will be perfectly willing to drop everything and take you home the very minute you say you are too tired or nauseous or whatever and want to leave. Honestly, even though I could have gone to a wedding, I wouldn't have wanted to. At that point, I, like most post wls patients, was working on sipping constantly, needed frequent naps, and was still on heavy duty pain meds at night so kind of out of it even during the day.

I know it seems overwhelming, but take it little bits at a time. Set small goals for yourself and get started on your first small goal. I lost a fair amount of weight pre-surgery, mostly by going low carb, high protein, and logging everything on myfitnesspal. I also set up regular weigh-ins and check ups with my doctor - that helped keep me accountable! And I found the book The Beck Diet Solution to be very heplful with changing my behaviors and thought patterns around food. It gave me a lot of great coping skills and I still turn to it and the lessons I learned from it. One thing I will say -- don't waste your emotional energy on being ashamed. You should be proud that you are now working towards the most effective way to lose weight and get healthy. You are not in denial -- you are working towards change. Good luck!

If you haven't, you may want to post this in the Mexico and Self Pay forum, you might get more action on your post there. Good luck!

I can't personally recommend him, as I haven't used him or any other plastic surgeon, but I know that many wls patients go to Dr. Sauceda in Monterrey. I've been researching options and if I go to Mexico, so far, he's my top choice. If you Google him you can get more info, including a gallery of his work and a price list. There is also a message board just for his patients (and potential patients) and a Facebook group.

You'll gain weight right away due to all the IV fluids. As far as weight loss goes, it varies from person to person. My advice is to stay off the scale until at least four weeks after surgery. Learn to focus on getting your Protein and hydration in, and following your team's program, rather than a number on a scale. You can control how well you follow your program but not how much you lose or how fast! So I say focus on what you can control and have faith that good things will follow. eta: if by "see" any weight change you meant, how soon until you see any visible changes, again it varies a lot, depending on how much you have to lose in the first place! People really started to notice for me about three months out.

I wasn't allowed nuts until six months out -- nothing I couldn't cut with a fork until then. Does Dr. Umbach/his team provide any post-surgery guidance with respect to eating stages?

@@Eclectick if I read the OP right she IS losing a half pound a week (.5) not 5 lbs per week. Weight loss does slow eventually. If you have access to a dietician through your surgeon's practice, you may want to see if they have tips for you. Or you may find that eventually your weight loss picks up again on its own -- sometimes there are slow downs and speed ups, and you can't really control them. I was eating under 800 calories per day at that point, but I eventually (about 9 months out) bumped it up to 1000 calories per day and found that my weight loss picked up a little when it did that. There is no one right answer for everyone -- you just need to experiment and find what works for you -- assuming you aren't working with a dietician that you trust. If you are, do what they say

What causes hair loss is controversial. Lack of protein is *not* the generally accepted explanation in the medical community. Most people say telogen effluvium. I can tell you I hit a minimum of 75 grams of protein every single day starting the day after surgery and I still lost most of my hair. Oh and biotin didn't help a bit either, just like my doctor told me it wouldn't!

I take it your surgeon didn't give you any guidance on when you could eat salad or other raw veggies? It really makes me sad to see people who are left to flounder around and seek advice on the internet from strangers because their surgeons don't provide basic information to them. I wasn't cleared for any kind of raw vegetables until six months post-op, but my team is very conservative in this regard.

I would say measure yourself and take pics occasionally to be sure things are working okay. As long as you are confident that you are eating on plan, I think only weighing at the doctor's office is a great idea. That's what I did for the first several months after surgery and it worked great for me. I did come to a place where I had more freedom with eating and at that point I realized that I needed the accountability of stepping on the scale regularly to keep me on track. But that was several months post-surgery, and just my experience any way.

Well, if you are using (just for example) the Premier Protein shakes, 2 shakes will give you 60 grams of protein. Each shake is 11 ounces. Assuming you are awake and able to drink (not showering, going for a walk, etc.) for 12 hours a day, then you need to drink about 2 ounces of protein shake every hour. Does that sound doable?

Here's a plan I learned about for getting carbs and cravings under control, and getting that feeling of restriction back: --if you don't have a myfitnesspal.com (or similar) account, create one and commit to logging everything you eat. Make sure you have a good digital kitchen scale and measuring cups and commit to weighing or measuring everything you eat. --on myfitnesspal, set your calorie limit to what you think is your maintenance amount, but make sure your carbs are no more than 25% of your total calories. --for three days, eat nothing but lean meat that is cooked at home, green veggies, and small amounts of healthy fat. Don't worry about the amount that you eat or whether you are going over your calorie limit -- it is the type of food that you need to restrict. --for the next three days, eat the same foods but lower your calorie limit on MFP by a couple hundred calories per day -- and stick within your limits. --after three days, expand your food choices to include fruit, dairy, beans, nuts etc. as long as you keep within your calorie and carb limits. Eat protein first at all meals and snack ONLY on high protein foods and green veggies. --if you aren't losing weight after a couple of weeks, lower your calorie intake by a couple of hundred calories per day. --exercise is great but don't give yourself too much credit for it -- don't "eat back" more than a couple hundred calories per day. Other options you may want to consider are 5/2 intermittent fasting (check the stickies at the top of the Veterans' board for more info) and the "Five Day Pouch Test" -- just google that one for more info. Good luck to you!

I used Wellesse liquid Vitamins for the first four weeks after surgery. After that I switched to Trader Joe's High Potency chewable multi-vitamins -- one with Breakfast and one with dinner. I have my labs drawn regularly and they have always been great. Lots of people do different things on vitamins and there are frequent posts here about them. If you use the search box in the upper right and search for Vitamins (be sure to change what you are searching from "This Topic" to "Forums") you will get tons more ideas. Good luck!

My boobs are much smaller, which I am happy about -- I hope they continue to shrink! I hate having big breasts! And my butt is basically non-existent, which does make me a little sad. It's hard fo find pants that fit. But still, overall, I am in love with my new body in a way that I never was when I was super morbidly obese. And most importantly, my health is basically perfect now. I'll take perfect health and a missing butt any day! Not to mention all the fun stuff like with a missing butt, I can now fit into one airline seat, restaurant booths, through stadium turnstiles, etc. etc.

I drank V8 and V8 Fusion while on full liquids. Not huge amounts but some. I logged everything religiously in MyFitnessPal so did not go over my calorie and carb limits. They were on my list of approved drinks -- did your team give you a list? Other things on my list were: G2, Powerade Zero, water with Crystal Light or Mio added in, skim milk, light or diluted fruit juice, decaf coffee and tea, broth, and low fat creamed soups (any chunks had to be strained out).

In my mind, sudden changes in how you handle food and drink, especially if they are for the worse, mean call your surgeon for input and advice. It may be nothing, it may resolve itself within a few days, but it could signify a problem and he's the expert who can help you figure it out. Good luck!

I did puree meat but doctored it up a lot. Yes, just tossing some meat into a food processor with water or even broth is gross (IMO) but if you can be a little creative it is quite doable. I would puree meat with some flavorful sauce, then usually heat it up in the microwave in a little ramekin with some cheese to melt on top. It came out tasting like a casserole and I really enjoyed it. Some of my favorite combos: --ground beef with bbq sauce and cheddar cheese --shrimp with buffalo sauce and blue cheese --chicken with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese --turkey with peanut satay sauce and jack cheese --salmon with lemon dill sauce and peccorino cheese --pot roast with curry sauce and Swiss cheese --chicken with hoisin sauce --tuna with olive oil mayo and cheddar cheese I also did a lot of refried beans with hot salsa and pepper jack or cheddar, Shelly's ricotta bake: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1793517 and Greek yogurt with peanut butter stirred in. I had fun with the foods on pureed stage, plus I managed to get all my protein and more in every day. Good luck to you!