joatsaint

And your 1st "like".

Old habits die hard, but I can tell you that for the 1st week post-op, I didn't ever feel hungry or want to eat. It was a real chore to do. And I was never happier about anything in my life! I'm still working on my old habit of eating when bored, but now, I don't have "head hunger" or stomach hunger pushing me to eat.

I told only 3 people. Would have only told 1, but it would have been hard to explain to my parents why I suddenly disappeared for a week and when I returned, wasn't able to eat as much as my dad (and he eats like a bird - literally, he sits on a perch and pecks on the plate).

I'd have to say the biggest plus is the increasing energy levels. Pre-op I spent every waking moment (when not a work) doing nothing. I was overwhelmed by exhaustion. Skip to 5 months post op and I am walking 3.5 to 5 miles 5 to 6 days a week. The biggest hurdle is getting over my habit of eating out of boredom. At work it's not a problem. But in the evenings, I have nothing to occupy my time and I used to cook and eat just to have something to do.

I've had no problems with sugar, white or brown. No problems with BBQ sauce, or beans. I think it is no problem for the vertical sleeve, unlike the RNY'ers. No dumping problems. Now, salsa, for me, is a problem. Any vegetable or fruit that is very fibrous, (strawberries, grape skins, pineapple, broccoli, cauliflower) makes my stomach grumble.

Here ya go!

I am assuming that this is Pace: PACE (Pre-operative Assessment, Consultation, and Education) is a program designed to make it easy and convenient for you to have all your pre-operative tests conducted at one time and place. You will also receive all the information you will need to help hasten the healing process. Simply come to the PACE Center at your scheduled time and a team of health professionals will begin the process for preparing you for your procedure. http://schneckmed.org/FindAService/SurgicalServices/Pace.aspx

Congrats.

Congrats on joining the "half-fast" losers club. You're in good company. I am just starting month 6 and I can testify that my weight loss happens in a similar pattern to yours. I'll be stuck at a certain weight for a week or 3 (or, eeeek! actually gain 3 to 5 lbs!), then over night I'll drop a pound or 2. This has happened at lest 4 times in the past 3 months. The 1st couple of times, it freaked me out. I'm thinking, "Is this it? Is this all the weight I'm gonna lose?" (insert modified stationary panic) Then I get over myself and just keep on doing the program. And the weight resumes it's downward march. It just takes time and patience. Keep Pimpin that Sleeve!

Exactly! People are practically chicken. Really tall, really dumb chickens! And contrary to what the movies say, people do not make good Soylent Green crackers! Too many carbs.

Sorry but I am impervious to pastries and donuts. Buuuuttttt.... if there was a beef tips and rice shop, I might be in trouble.

Hey, it's too late to start sucking up to me now. You've already proven that you two can think for yourselves and therefore disqualify yourself from being one of the select few I choose to be a minion.

So, does your reply mean you've never heard of a smiley face w/tongue sticking out? " " Or do you just have a dry sense of humor like me?

Oh great! Another slam at me! And after I put up the Flame Shields! Fine, now you've gone too far. I'm going to post an angry rant on my Facebook page. Where my minions agree with everything I say. Ohhhh....Pizza grease, yuuuummmmmm. That's almost a clear liquid, right? Would you two settle for a cronut? I hear they're all the rage in NY city now - and a real delicacy. Apparently the bakery only makes a few hundred per day and people are now selling them in the classifieds for as much as $40 each.

I can't believe you would say such a thing. And I take it as a personal insult (the fact that you didn't address me by name in this thread is irrelevant, I knew you were talking about me!) And NO, I am not being sensitive. I didn't go out looking to be insulted. I just happened upon your thread by accident - after continuously trolling the forum for new threads every 5 minutes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Flame shields up, Captain. P.S. I'm only 24 hours post-op. Is it okay to order Domino's? After all, pizza does have Protein.

Ok, I got nothin to add to this.......... But it is interesting. But I think the stomach pump thingy still beats this weight loss technique! :-) http://shine.yahoo.c...-192804298.html There is a dangerous weight loss fad in Beverly Hills, and it's not pretty. In order to lose as many as 30 pounds in a single month, patients are having postage-stamp size pieces of rough plastic sewn onto their tongues, making it impossible for them to eat. The plastic is attached with six stitches and left in place for up to one month. It makes eating solid food so painful that the patient is forced to drink only liquids, which which causes rapid weight loss. The procedure was developed by Dr. Nikolas Chugay, whose California clinic is the only place in the United States that offers the surgery, which has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. "I see no harm in a minimally invasive procedure to help that overweight/obese patient," wrote Dr. Chugay, who calls it a "Miracle Patch" in response to critics . "This procedure is not the solution to the person's problems but a way in which we can create a pattern to interrupt and help that patient get back on course." He pairs the procedure with a special 800-calorie liquid diet to maximize weight loss. He may call it minimally invasive, but the plastic patch is still plenty risky. On his website, Dr. Chugay warns that patients may experience tongue swelling for one to two days after the operation, and that "speech may be affected during this time." The patch is made of marlex, a material usually used during hernia repair, and must be removed after a month otherwise the tongue starts to grow around and into it. Dangerous weight loss trends are nothing new -- and they don't really help you lose much weight. When people wired their mouths shut in order to avoid eating solid foods, they ended up drinking milkshakes and other high-calorie foods anyway. juice fasts are popular right now, but you lose out on Fiber, can end up undernourished, and your metabolism slows down, which makes it harder to fight the fat. Ultra-low calorie diets that focus on just one type of food (think the Cabbage Diet and the Grapefruit Diet) and pretty much any diet followed by Victoria's Secret models is almost certain to be dangerous in the long run. Dr. Richard Chaffoo, plastic surgeon in La Jolla, California, who holds certifications from the American Board of Plastic Surgery, American Board of Otolaryngology, and American Board of Facial and Plastic Reconstructive Surgery, called the tongue patch procedure dangerous, flawed, and unethical. "Basically, this is a sham, an unethical procedure," he told Yahoo! Shine in a telephone interview. "You're swallowing all the time, every day. Every time you yawn, you move, you open your mouth. Your tongue doesn't just sit there until you eat something. So I think the basic theory is flawed." The potential problems from such a surgery go beyond what Dr. Chugay discloses on his website, Dr. Chaffoo told Yahoo! Shine. "With any kind of thing you put in there and suture into the tongue, you run the risk of getting an infection," Dr. Chaffoo explained. "You're going to be drooling a lot, it's going to be really painful. Anything that's in there that shouldn't be there s going to rub the surface raw. You could get an ulcer, an infection. It could dislodge and go down your throat and cause an airway obstruction." The 800-calorie-a-day liquid diet that goes with the tongue patch is also problematic, Dr. Chaffoo told Yahoo! Shine. "What will happen is the body will actually begin to eat it's own tissue," he explained. "You'll have muscle loss. You'll starve yourself to death." Dr. Chugay says he's consulted with about 100 people and performed the procedure on about 60 of them since 2009. Chuguy's procedure is becoming a craze in Venezuela. Ana Maria Parra of Obesiesbel, a clinic in Caracas, Venezuela, told Time that she has seen about 900 potential patients each month since she started offering the patch in 2011. There, the surgery is much less expensive—just $150, compared to $2,000 at Dr. Chugay's clinic in California. Time points out that the cheap cost could encourage plastic surgery tourism for the dicey operation. Yomaira Zamora of Charallave, Venezuela, confirmed that the patch is as painful as it looks. "At the start you can’t even move your tongue for the pain. I’ve tried to eat solid food but it’s impossible," she told Time. "It’s a huge inconvenience, but I’m doing it to feel better about myself. I was very fat." Her aunt, Vilmaris Ojeda, got the tongue patch surgery at the same time. "It seems extreme," she admits. "But the challenge is going to come once they take it out. Not eating is easy when you physically can't." Experts like Dr. Chaffoo agree. "Weight loss is really a change in your lifestyle," he told Yahoo! Shine. "You really have to decide how being overweight or eating the incorrect foods impacts you and impacts yourself. If you don't change your lifestyle, you're going to go back to eating that way anyway."

I was where you're at. My 1st 7 days it felt like an alien was trying to burst out of my chest. I ate about 1/2 sugar free popsicle each day and sipped on Crystal Light Lemonade. It all got better as the days passed. By day 9 I was almost normal and was back at work on day 10. Hang in there, it will get easier.

Ok, get your minds out of the gutter! This is just to show anyone that cares what the scars from surgery can look like at 8 weeks. The biggest scar is where they pulled the stomach leftovers out during surgery and it's about 2 inches long, the rest could be covered with a dime. You'd think after 12 years of experience, my doctor could put the scars in a more creative layout! At least he could have tried to make a happy face or something.

I don't watch the shows, it just makes me "head hungry". Plus, that Rachel Ray is so naughty! She's a food tease.

When I hit the puree stage, I let myself eat up to 2 tablespoons of pb per day. It has a lot of calories and sugar. But I was seriously craving the flavor. I dropped it from my diet as soon as I moved onto full foods. Now, I don't miss it.

I think you nailed it with the above quote. I wouldn't feel uncomfortable about doing a testimonial around that statement. But you must feel comfortable with yourself and do what you think is right.

Yes, it happens to me about every 2 weeks. Don't know where it comes from, but I do continue to lose weight eventually. I sometimes think it is caused by eating carbs. I read that when you're on a high Protein diet like we are, your glycogen stores get depleted. And when you eat carbs your body tries to convert the carbs into glycogen and replenish the stores. The article said that the body stores 4 ounces of Water for every 1 ounce of glycogen stored. That could explain a sudden weight increase.

I didn't notice it myself, but some people have posted about having bad breath or having bad tastes post-op. It might be your body going into ketoisis. I have noticed that many foods don't have as much flavor anymore and I sometimes have to double up on my Crystal Light mix to keep it from tasting "watered down".

Me too. Fattest in the family, at work, at the movies, in the grocery store. Pretty much anywhere except Wal-Mart. Somehow I don't get that feeling in there. :-P