joatsaint

I can only give you the perspective from a guy. I decided at the beginning that I'd rather have loose skin and a flappy belly hanging down that be fat and have tight skin. And I do have loose skin, but I don't have the problems with pain and sleep apnea I had a year ago. The only regrets I have are that I didn't have this done 20 years ago and on the rare occasion, I miss not being able to eat as much as I could in the past - but that is really rare. If I had to do it all over again knowing what I know now - how much it hurt, how much I'd have to work at exercising and my eating habits - there's no question in my mind that I'd do it all over again in a second! It really has been a 2nd chance at life for me.

I too had a fever for about 5 days post-op. It felt like I was catching the flu, but it faded by the end of the week. It was probably just my body working overtime to repair the damage from surgery.

When people ask me about the weight loss, I just keep it simple. I tell them that I walk more and eat less. And leave it at that. I have one lady at work that swears I'm on some magic diet pill. I know it's hard to let it slide off your back when someone especially annoying keeps at you. When I don't want to answer a question, I just bring up some topic that is completely unexpected. I find that mentioning stories about workplace shootings and conspiracy theories gets them to stop talking to me. :-P Or just mention that you've noticed how she's gained 10 pounds.

I would definitely go with your doctors plan. He knows what works for his patients. My doc had me on a 7 day pre-op liquid diet, but only because I was fast-tracked for surgery - 3 weeks from initial visit to being sleeved. I'm sure if time had permitted, I would have been on a 2 week liquid diet. For me, the diet was a waste of time, not that I didn't lose weight, but that if I could have stayed on a diet in the past, I wouldn't have needed the surgery. From what I understand, the pre-op diet is to shrink your liver to make it easier for the doctor to navigate around it during surgery. Your doc may be very experienced doing this surgery and doesn't feel you need to diet. So go with his plan, or call his office to be sure.

If you can find a low carb pudding option, I don't see why you couldn't add it to your diet.

To be honest, I didn't try to take my meds for the 1st few days post-op. I was barely able to sip water and take a bite of a Popsicle. So I focused on staying hydrated. After about day 7, I was able to swallow my meds. You might contact your doctor and find out if there are liquid versions of your meds he can substitute.

At 5 months, I was allowed any food I wanted, but Frankensleeve did not tolerate lettuce very well. I could eat it, but it felt like food going down the disposal - with all the grinding and complaining Frankensleeve did. If you are ready to try salad, do what I did. Take a small bite - like teaspoon size - wait 3 to 5 minutes and if all goes well, take a 2nd bite, wait 3 to 5 minutes. If my stomach tolerated a new food after the 2nd bite, I knew it was okay to eat bigger bites.

I was curious about the possiblilty of stretching my sleeve too. I did some Googling and ran across a medical site that said IF you worked hard enough at overeating you could stretch your sleeve, but occasionally overeating would not permanently stretch it. But I'm not going to push my luck. :-) I've paid too much cash and gone through too much pain to waste this life changing opportunity. I did freak out a little when I realized I could eat more than 1/2 cup per meal. At about 6 months, I started being able to eat around 1 full cup - depending on the density of the food. I could eat more of vegetables and fruits (stuff that can be mashed down) than dense Protein like chicken, steak and pork, chicken being the most filling. Now at 12 months, I can eat 1 to 1 1/2 cups of food per meal, but I can still maintain my weight or loose more depending on how much I let myself eat and exercise. If it helps, I have found that drinking warm fluids, like coffee and chicken broth keep my head hunger at bay pretty well. As well, I try to get plenty of rest. I've noticed that I stay hungry all the time when I'm sleep deprived. I guess my body knows it will get a little boost of energy if I eat something and it's trying to get out of the slump.

Congrats!

I'm about 2 hours away from you in Beaumont. I had my surgery in Kema - that's the nearest hospital that my ins. would approve.

I could do something like that, but it would just be picture after picture of my black beans and ground turkey meat. I tend to make a big batch and just eat the same thing day after day. I love that the sleeve has made me very blase about food. No cravings for certain flavors, when I get hungry, I just eat whatever I've precooked. :-P

I'm not going to tell you to do it or not. After all it is major surgery and people do have complications - no matter how much the media makes it sound like there's nothing to it. I make my major decisions by asking myself 2 questions: 1. Do I want to be in this situation or worse a year from now? 2. What am I willing to do about it? I had to really hit rock bottom before I finally went through with VSG surgery. I'm the type that does not go to doctors - just slap some duct tape on it and cowboy up! But I could not lose the weight without help. Recovery was painful, but it has really given my life back to me.

Congrats! Now just wait till you roll over in bed and feel a hard spot on your side, reach down to find out what you're laying on only to realize it's your RIBS!!!!!!!! I can feel my ribs, I can feel my ribs! :-)

When I was doing the pre-op diet, I lasted about 2 days before I had to eat some solid food. I stuck to eating only meat and drinking the shakes and drinking Crystal Light lemonade. I was able to live with the diet after that, and still lost 10lbs before surgery.

I was fast tracked for surgery - less than 30 days from my 1st dr.'s appointment till sugery, so I was only on a 1 week pre-op liquid diet. I wasn't able to stay completely on liquids. I drank the shakes and only ate Protein - no carbs. I lost 10lbs in 7 days by staying low carb.

If you like chocolate, I can't recommend Premier Protein enough. A good runner up is EAS carb control chocolate. I think Premier costs about $1.50/shake and EAS is about $1.25/shake. I liked them so much I never tried another brand.

Every surgeon goes with the system that works for them. Plus, it's kind of a catch 22 - I couldn't lose weight because I couldn't stick to a diet, but I have to go on a diet to lose weight so I can have the surgery to lose weight?????????!!!!!!!!!

Congrats on having such a good recovery. Now start Pimpin' that Sleeve! :-)

Did you tell them that on advice from you council, you could not answer that portion of the questionaire? :-)

My surgeon said as long as there were no "chuncks" in my full liquids meals, it was okay. So I would not be worried about adding spices or sweetners. I guess I had a mixed blessing during my 1st month. I really didn't want to eat anything and my stomach took a long time to return to it's normal levels of foods it would tolerate. I was only eating about 3/4 can of cream of mushrooms soup/day for the 1st month. With the occasional spoon of creamy Peanut Butter. Other than those two main things, I was eating sugar free Jell-O and sugar free popsicles. I never really cared about eating a variety of flavors and only change to a different food once I was burned out on the current one. At 12 months post-op, I'm still pretty much eating the same thing day after day - pork loin or chicken breast or turkey hamburger mixed with black Beans or lentils or refried beans.

I was back at work on day 10, with no issues. Having said that, my job is a desk job - so I wasn't required to do any lifting, bending or squatting. But I have read posts claiming they went back to work 3 days post-op. I think the amount of time off from work has as much to do with letting the pain meds get out of your system - so you can safely drive - as how much you will have to exert yourself at work.

Stop that! You're making me hungry. :-P On second thought, go ahead and post your food porn pics.

Good luck on your surgery. I've seen posts and videos from people that were just hours post-op, I wasn't that energetic post-op.

I don't think you messed up. It sounds like the test I took. From what I've read, the test is to determine your mental outlook on life. They just want to see if you're going to be able to understand, be realistic, and live with changes that come with bariatric surgery. They are not out to disqualify you, only to make sure you are mentally fit for surgery.

Anyone that asked me about how I was losing weight was told that I was eating a whole lot less and doing lots of walking. They could see me going out for walks during lunch and I ate only a small bowl of food at lunch. No one really asked any more than that. It's been 11 months and I've only had one person ask if I had WLS and I told him that I did - but that was at month 10, I probably would have lied to him if he had asked that question in the 1st 6 months. I wasn't comfortable telling anyone for a long time.