joatsaint

The world loves an overweight Santa becasue he's like Oprah - unlimited weath and gives away free stuff once a year!

I was losing about 20lbs/month for the first few months, then it tapered down to about 12lbs. After 6 months, I was losing at 10lbs/month. We all lose at different rates depending on stomach size, recovery rate, exercise and diet. As long as your doctor says you're doing okay, you're fine. He's in the best positon to judge.

I live alone and was able to get around and take care of myslef from the moment I got home. The only help I needed was getting my meds picked up - I wasn't cleared for driving. Other than that, I had everything I needed at home - Crystal Light, sugar free popsicles, cream of mushroom soup, the interent and my TV. :-)

I'm with laura, you will fill up very fast - especially during the first month. Your new stomach will still be swollen and you won't be able to hold very much at one sitting. Other than the amount I could eat, I didn't notice my missing stomach. It was like a dream come true for me. Swapping from eating 1lb or more of food per meal to eating only a couple of teaspoons to make me feel full gave me a lot of joy. Although as my new stomach healed I could eat more at a meal, at 12 months, I only eat 1 to 1 1/2 cups per meal. Oh, and you won't get that gradual "oooh I'm getting full" feeling. I go from, "I can eat one more bite" to "Too full!" in just one bite. So I had to eat small bites until I learned how much I could safely eat before getting too full. I quickly learned, after a few "one bite too many" meals, to pay attention to how much and how fast I was eating. :-P You might check out my blog post about it: http://www.bariatricpal.com/blog/9018/entry-31139-5-weeks-post-op-still-teaching-myself-to-eat-slowly/

My doc wanted me walking for an hour a day pre-op and post-op. It was 30 days post-op that I was cleared for weight lifting.

When you look for whey Protein, there are 2 basic types: whey protein isolate and whey protein concentrate. Your body will absorb more "isolate" protein as compared to "concentrate". Both types of protein are equally good, but you'll need to eat more concentrate. As well, you'll see that "isolate" is more expensive. If you go with premixed shakes like Premier Protein (which I use), they use both isolate and concentrate in the ingredients. This link will take you to a more indepth explaination: http://www.bariatricpal.com/blog/9018/entry-31531-whats-in-the-bowl-b-i-t-c-h-or-why-whey-protein-isolate/

Congrats! I had to spend $5k out of pocket, and it was worth every penny!

You'll have a hard time causing any permanent stretching - according to what my doc told me. Just eat slowly and wait between bites, don't want to stretch your staple line. I was only eating a teaspoon full about every 10 minutes during the 2nd week. The first week post-op, I wasn't able to eat anything but popsicles.

I stuck with cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup. A can of condensed soup is about 200 cals in total, but I wasn't eating but 1 can per day for my total caloric intake for at least the 1st two weeks. Frankensleeve wouldn't tolerate much else in any quantity. :-)

My stomach made noises all day long for weeks and weeks. And for the longest time, any time I ate, it sounded and felt like there was a garbage disposable in my gut instead of a stomach. It will go away, but it takes a long time - at least it did for me.

As you can tell from all the replies, you are not alone. We all go through this phase. After all, it's a major decision, not to mention the social stigma that some may feel. I'm one of those people that always has a backup plan for everything. So having the sleeve was the hardest decision I've ever made, because there's no going back and having my stomach put back in. :-) All I can say is the stress, pain and lifestyle changes I've gone through are completely worth it.

Bad Santa is the one for me. I like all the others, it's just that I've seen them too many times.

I'm right there with you on the "legendary burp". It felt like an alien was trying to burst out of my chest for the 1st week post-op. :-) Fortunately/unfortunately, my 1st week post-op, I was in so much pain that I didn't even want to think about eating.

I never tried any "regular" beef jerky in the 1st 6 months. I figured it was too dry and tough for my new stomach. I did try some Umberto bacon jerkey after I was on full foods for a few weeks. It was soft and chewy like soft cooked bacon (cause that's all it really is - smoked bacon). Frankensleeve had no trouble digesting it. :-)

I noticed that as well. I seem to be able to eat abut 1 cup of my normal homemade food, but last night I had 2 big stuffed mushrooms (which was about half of what I normally eat) and I felt bloated. It could be all the extra salt that is added.

At first, I wasn't drinking with meals because there just wasn't enough room for the food and water. Plus, drinking with meals is supposed to wash the food out of your stomach faster - so you get hungry again sooner. Now it's just a habit. I normally take sips - just enough to wet my tongue during a meal if I need them.

I didn't want anything to eat the first week either. I wasn't worried about it. I had plenty of food reserves stashed around my waist! :-P Just stay hydrated.

Thanks for posting your story.

If you're like me, you'll know when you've gotten full. The pressure will be pretty bad. It's very difficult to stretch your sleeve, so I wouldn't worry about how much you're drinking. Just take it slow until you learn what your limits are.

I passed on the band after seeing a friend get banded and then have complications from his body rejecting the band, plus he learned to eat around his band and gained back the 150lbs he had lost.

I have kept my diet pretty simple. I wasn't able to eat during the clear/full liquids stage. Once I hit purees, I started eating cream of mushroom soup and stuck with that for a few weeks. I was trying other things during that time, but it was literally only a teaspoon full at a time. When I hit soft foods, it was still cream of mushroom soup and I added in scrambled eggs, refried beans and very well ground chicken or turkey hamburger. By the 6 month mark, I could pretty much eat anything I wanted, but I'm still satisfied with my beans and turkey meat mixture for the majority of my meals.

I got a bad case of the hiccups on the 2nd day post-op. I think I stretched the staple line on my sleeve. It happened a few hours after they took me off the pain meds - preparing me for release. I was in a lot of pain for a few days post-op, because I couldn't stand the taste of the liquid pain meds... they literally made me wretch. But it will get better, good luck.

Congratulations on you NSV, may you have many more in 2014. :-)

Yes, it is completely normal. I went through that stage too. My toilet bowl looked like someone had thrown a Water balloon filled with chocolate pudding in it! After I got on purees, (week 3 post-op), it stopped. Keep Pimpin' that Sleeve!