joatsaint

Congrats, I am hoping to say one day that I've hit twoderland or is it twohundrederland?

I confess .. I wish I could eat a double Whataburger, large fries and a drink one last time. I get an evil thrill when I see my thin friends eating plate after plate at the buffet. And I only eat 1/3 of a plate. I am finally "getting back" at the foods that made my life miserable, by leaving them on the shelf at the grocery store. I really enjoy being able to bring my lunch in a Cool Whip bowl and making 3 - 4 meals out of it. I run to the scales to see how much I weigh after taking a poop.

I know where you're coming from. I woke up from recovery thinking, "My God! What have I done to myself!!!!!!!!!??????????" I read so many posters saying, This was so easy - I had no pain or nausea - Only 3 days and back at work. I was hoping for the same easy path, but I was in real pain for about 6 days. I couldn't eat much more than a couple of nibbles of a popsicle or a bite or 2 of sugar free Jell-O. My stomach gurgled almost constantly - all day and all night. Sleeping more than an hour or two was the limit before the pain would wake me up. But things kept getting better and by day 8 I was doing MUCH better and on day 10, I was back at work with no pain or discomfort. It's day 31 for me, and I would do it all over again - as long as I didn't know about the pain thing Things will get better, I promise. Just hang in there.

Congrats on your weight loss. I'm hoping to be down over 50 lbs at my 2 month mark. I could live with losing 20+ lbs per month for a few months.

As long as your eating toothpaste, throw in a scoop of unflavored protein. :-P

You might want to break down the types of calories you are taking in. Whether they are primarily carbs from things that are converted into sugar easily - like breads and pastas. Or your calories are primarily from protein - which requires more effort to convert to sugars. I know that my body will hold onto weight more easily if I am eating breads and pastas. Eating protein, on the other hand, requires my body to take longer to break down and is only partially converted to sugars.

I bought the EAS low carb dutch chocolate shakes (4 for $5 at Wal-mart), they taste like chocolate milk, but were too watery for me, so I bought a bag of powdered chocolate meal replacement and put one scoop of the mix in the shake. Made it taste like a thick chocolate milkshake. You might try something similar. Be sure and get one of the shaker bottles with the spring in it. Best $7 I have ever spent.

There may or may not be any pain, but I can guarantee you will lose weight post-op.

I am only a month post-op and had a rough recovery, but I would do it all over again. I had anxiety right up to the point they put me under. I laid in the pre-op room, surrounded by other patients and nurses, thinking, "What if I just got up and walked out of her right now?" But fortunately I had firmly committed in my mind that I was going through with it because I needed to improve my health and life. I realized that I couldn't do it on my own and just like someone with a heart problem, depression, or a serious disease, sometimes you can't get better on your own.

The one puree food that has kept me going is re-fried beans and salsa.

The net carbs refers to the carbs your body can actually digest and absorb. The undigestible carbs can be things like fiber, sugar alcohols, and artificial sweeteners. As far as the truth behind any one product being true to the label, I got nothin. But I can tell you I've read that if a product contains 1.9 digestible carbs, the manufacturer can round the carbs down to 1. So just be aware that even if it says 2 net carbs, it may actually be almost 3 net carbs.

I was hurting for about 6 days after surgery, but only took meds for 1 day after I was home. My doc gave me some liquid pain meds and it tasted so horrible I would rather deal with the pain. I kept the big elastic pressure wrap on my belly for 9 days to protect my incisions from being stretched. My doc didn't suggest any sleep aids, but I was able to take Melatonin and the Walmart brand sleep aid gel pills as I needed them.

Congrats, I'm hoping to see a long lost friend in the near future as well.

I haven't had any problems, so far. But things have slowed down, from once a day to once every 2 days.

I felt the same way pre surgery. I think the feeling comes from is seeing all those get rich/make money/weight loss infomercials on late night tv. They tell you that you too can learn their secret for 3 easy payments of $19.99. I know it sounds too good to be true, but I get the product anyway hoping this one is gonna work for me, only to find out that it's not the easy/quick answer that is touted on the show. So yea, I was scared of being a failure at WLS as well. But so far (1 month), I feel like it has changed my life for the better. I don't have those constant thoughts about, "What am I going to eat next?" And for me, that was the biggest battle. And as far as people around you giving advice, just refer them to your doctor's instructions or find some way to irritate the crap out of them - so they leave you alone. I recommend a spray bottle filled with Water. Each time they start in on you, spritz them 3 or 4 times.

Hang in there, things will keep improving. I had a rough recovery, but the gas pains were gone about day 7.

My main mushy food right now is refried beans mixed with salsa and blenderized chicken. I can't eat but a tablespoon or 2 and I'm full.

I had those gurgles for about 2 weeks. It wasn't hunger pains, they were caused by the things I was eating. Sugar free Jell-O and sugar free popsicles would and still do cause it after just a few bites.

I didn't try Beans (refried) until the 3rd week when I was cleared for the puree portion of my post-op diet. But I didn't think to try them until then either. I have not had a problem with refried beans mixed with some pureed beef or chicken and salsa. I played it safe though when I tried them (or any food), I eat 1/2 teaspoon, wait 5 minutes and see how my stomach feels. Then I eat another 1/2 tsp, wait 5 minutes. If everything feels okay after 10 minutes I am pretty sure I can eat more. I am just getting to the point where I can eat small bites of chicken that hasn't been run through the blender.

I only told my immediate family and my best friend. Not that it's any big secret, I just don't want to be barraged with questions. If anyone ever sees the surgery scars, I'm going to tell'em it's a gunshot wound I got in a drive-by. Original Gangsta in the house!

Welcome HJMc1963, I think I had a very rough recovery, but was back to work after 9 days off - that includes 2 weekends. But I have read about people that were back to work after only 3 days. As long as you don't have to do a lot of bending over, squatting, or lifting over 10lbs, you will be back at work quicker than someone with a job that requires a lot of activity. And yes, walking does make you feel better - it gets the gas to move out of your system. I didn't feel like walking the day after surgery, but it did make me feel better once I started moving.

I was sleeved on 12/28. It took about 4 days for the majority of the pain to go away. Three days later I was back at work with no pain. Be careful about what you eat. I didn't know it, but I was causing myself gas pains by eating sugar free popsicles (they contain sugar alcohols that my stomach didn't like) and sugar free Jell-O (don't know what sugar substitute they use, but my stomach didn't like it either). The only thing I could safely eat for the 1st 2 weeks was low carb protein shakes, cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup.

Hollyrock100, thanks for the advice. I am not lactose intolerant, that I know of. I've never had gas like this before, but it seems to have stopped as of last night.

Yea, their approval process is pretty fast. As long as you have one of the qualifers like sleep Apena. I got approved within a week. But thier co-pays are pretty high. Between the doctor and hosptial, I've spent just under $5000.00 for the surgery and pre-surgery tests. PS - I have not regretted spending one penny of the money. PPS - Looking at the monetary side, I expect it to take about 3 - 4 years to break even on the cost of WLS - If you take into consideration the amount of money I won't be spending on food each week.