NinaX

Hi and welcome to the forum, it's a great source of information and feedback! If you don't want to fly all the way to Mexico or if you are not getting positive replies from Czech or Belgian surgeons, I would suggest you contact CFTK here in Stockholm, Sweden. I had my Sleeve done there a month ago and can highly recommend them! Dag Arvidsson who did my sleeve is an experienced and well recommended surgeon within the weight loss surgery community. You can find contact information etc on www.cftk.se The page is in swedish but I'm sure if you contact them via mail they will be happy to guide you. Filosophia Scandinavia is a danish girl on this forum and she has just had her sleeve done in Athens, so there is another option for you. Good luck and best wishes!

Hi, I can understand your worry of becoming the centre of gossip. I always find it amazing that people think it's their business what I eat, how I look, weight etc and have found that answering questions with a question is an effective weapon; - Why do you want to know? - Doesn't my food look tasty? -Don't you think I look healthy? -Are you curious about weightloss because you feel you need to /know someone else who need to loose weight? Etc. etc.... turning it around to the person with a question ususally makes them surprised and then drop the subject. Best wished and good luck!

As the surgeon cut and staple very close to the upper orifice, there will be some swelling in the area. This can cause pain and uncomfort for the first couple of weeks. For me it easied up during week 3. The trick is to chew a lot, take small bites and eat extremely slowly. Best wishes and good luck!

VSGirl, you've lost a lot of weight in a short period of time. Please, be kind to your body and let it catch up. Don't start the "diet" thinking again. Stick to your eating plan and the weight will come off, but your body will stall at times and this is normal and necessary for the body to understand the change. A 2 pound gain for a day is nothing to panic about, try to keep the scale locked away and only use it once a week. :-) Easier said than done, I know! Good luck and best wishes!

Hi When you go from liquids to soft food you will most likely feel a slight pain in your stomach, not major pain but you have to remember that your new stomach hasn't been working out for a while and has gotten a bit lazy. It's just as a muscle after working out or exercising, it can be a bit sore! :-) Take it slow, chew a lot before you swallow and you should be fine. You will absolutely not stop loosing weight, but it should slow down a bit. This is normal och the way it should be for your body to catch up. Loosing it iat the same rate as you do on full liquids isn't healthy in the long run, so don't worry about it. Make sure you only put yourself on the scales once a week to avoid feeling of panic if it hasn't moved for a day or two. :-) I came to a stall week 3, but for the first time in my life I felt completely calm about it, I am so convinced I will succeed this time and if I work it out I have still lost an average of 2,8 kg per week. My first soft foods was a really yummy and soft scrambled egg. Yoghurts and semolina porridge was other things I had. smoothies made from yoghurt, berries and proteinpowder is what I had and still has for Breakfast. Good luck and best wishes!

My husband had the attitude that "all you have to eat less and exercise more, why do you need surgery to loose weight?" I don't!!! I have stopped calling my sleeve a "weight loss surgery", it's not for me. What I needed and what I feel I've got is a "weight maintenance surgery" I've lost weight loads of times, no problem, never managed to maintain it however. My goal with this surgery is to have the tool to remind me to eat like a normal weight person once I shifted the overweight once and for all! I got some statistics (showing successrates with people on diet/exercise regims versus people who had surgery) from my surgeons office which I showed my husband. It gave him an understanding of how difficult it is to loose the weight once you've yo-yo dieted loads of times and your body is struggling against you. Good luck and best wishes!

I wouldn't call it cheating, but I moved from liquids to mushie food earlier than program stated. However, I did this after getting ok from dietician. As I recovered extremely quickly and felt great she was happy for me to move on to something which got my stomach working out again. My plan stated liquid diet (yoghurts, Soups etc) for 10-14 days and I moved to pureed food on day 7. I would suggest you speak to your surgeons office to get personal advice. They give general guidelines to fit everybody, but in most cases it is very individual depending on how you recover, how you feel etc. Good luck!

Hi I'm on day 17 since op, but just wanted to say that you had major surgery only 1 day ago so be kind to yourself and your body. :-) First couple of day the main focus is to stay hydrated, sip, sip, sip your Water to ensure you get enough. Exercising was definitely not on my agenda, but try to move about the house to get rid of the gas. Take it easy and again; sip, sip, sip. Best wishes!

Hi again, Increase Water intake and try to add an extra meal to get enough food in. The pain you feel after 2-3 bites could be due to eathing to fast, that is what happens to me. I've been told that main meals should take about 30 minutes to eat, and wow - I'm struggling with that myself! :-) Another thing to remember is that just as before surgery, your monthy cycle can affect the weight. Best wishes and good luck!

My advice would be to increase your intake. On 5-600 cals your body will think you're starving it and hold on to everything it has. I would think this is what causes you to almost pass out as well. Given our small stomachs I think eating at least 6 times per day i required to get all the nutrion we need. Comparing to others is ususally not a very good idea, try to focus on yourself and your journey. Best of luck! :-)

I had a few comments like that prior to surgery as well, as I managed to loose a lot of weight just 3-4 years ago. My reply was always; yes, I can loose weight, no problem. I've done it loads of times, that isn't the main reason for me to to do this. What I need more than anything is a tool to MAINTAIN, I cannot manage on my own to stay at healty weight once I've reached it. Certainly got the yo-yo track record to show for that. Best wishes for your surgery and good luck!

Hi again, Just now saw that you had your surgery the day after me (I was sleeved 1st Nov) and still in liquids. So, take it easy and rest of course but my advice would still be to increase your Protein drinks to feel better and to heal quicker. I moved from fluids to puré food on tuesday this week, and just getting more calories and more nutrion in has made the world of difference! Feel good!

I've said before on this forum and I'll say it again (and you are saying it yourself aswell); you are putting your body in starvation mode on that amount of calories. That any serious nutritionist can recommend that sort of diet after weight surgery is beyond me. Why? The size of your new stomach will do enough restriction without having to count calories at all. Unless you use the meals to eat icecream, crisps, burgers ans sweets - you WILL loose the weight without silly calorie counting! Assuming you eat sensible food with focus on Proteins, the weight will come off. A normal person uses 1,2 calories per minute while sleeping, so 72 cals per hour, do the math for an 8 hour night. To get out of bed, keep your heart beating and your brain working your body required a minimum of approx 450-500 cals/day. Of course being overweight your body will have some reserves, but on starvation mode it will hold on to every fat cell there is; that is a survival mechanism for the body. I'm sorry if I get all worked up here, but I would love for everybody to have the same experience as I have, with a nutritionist who was very clear; NO MORE DIETS, NO MORE CALORIECOUNTING! EVER! Just really good, tasty, sensible food of good quality, with mostly proteins and obeying to the amount restrictions given by the stomach size! The weight that was lifted off my shoulders when she said that was bigger than the overweight I carry on my body! The diet you are describing sounds like a pre-op diet here in Sweden, where those with BMI +40 have to decrease the fat around the liver quickly. But even then they will be on around 800 cals. So if I were you I would question my nutritionst and defintely increase the daily intake. Best wishes and good luck!

Hi again, Approx 450 cals / day is minimum what your body needs to just get out of bed, keep the heart pumping and the brain working all day, for your body to voluntarily let go of any storage of fat cells you need to give it more. The stomach being so small is exactly the reason why I have been told to eat at least 6 times a day, and that does not include Protein drinks. I.e I'm required to eat a meal or a snack. Right now, as I'm still on puréed food, I'm using drinking yoghurts or fruit/vegetable shots as Snacks, but once I'm on "normal food", the snack should be normal yoghurt + fruit / nuts and a crispbread sandwich with a proteinrich spread for example. It's not easy, I know - I'm only about a week out of surgery and I'm struggling to get all fluids and all six meals in. It feels like a full-time job just preparing and eating food. :-) If I were you I would try to add 2 extra meals in a day, ie eat 5 times. You should feel better and you will allow your body to start letting go of the pounds. Best of luck!

Hi, At less then 500 calories a day you are putting your body into starvation-mode! It will hold on to every pound you have, thinking it might never be fed again. This is your bodys defence mechanism. Is this the food advice you have been given my your doctor / nutritionist? A healthy, normal woman at healthy BMI who exercises moderately and want to maintain weight should be around 1800 cals / day (give or take). My nutrionist has been extremely careful to not use the word "diet" and has more or less forbidden us to count calories etc. I have spent 20 years on diets ruining my body, yo-yo up and down on the scale. The goal now is to get to the stage where we eat as a normalweight person would do, and stick to that. (ie at approx 1800 cals). To first loose the weight however, we should be at about 1200-1400 cals. I'm not trying to be a "know-it-all" here (and apologise if that is how I come across, english is also not my first language) but I don't understand why 500 cals a day is recommended? If you, on top of that, exercise - then you definitely need to increase. The "engine" needs fuel, basically. My advice would be to definitely increase your daily intake, with focus on Proteins. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner and then another snack should be the goal. My nutritionists guidelines are clear; the Snacks are essential to ensure we get all the nutrions, Vitamins and minerals we need as we can eat so little at a time. Best wishes and good luck!

As I keep counting them every other minute, to ensure I actually had the surgery on monday (feeling a bit too good to be true at the moment), I can with certainty say that I have 5! One slightly bigger just by the bellybutton (used to remove the "left-over" stomach), and then another three small ones at about the same level. Last, small one, is higher up. Where I had it done they don't insert any drain, so all the incisions are from the surgical tools.

Great to hear you've made it to the other side and feeling ok. Yes, sip, sip, sip and walk walk walk - it's the name of the game and exactly what I'm spending my days doing as well (was sleeved on the 1st). Best wishes and good luck to you going forward!

Hi all, I hade my surgery at 10 am on Monday and I just got back home from the clinic. Monday is a daze, pain and sickness which was both quickly medicated against. Had trouble finding a comfortable position in the bed, but dozed off everynow and then anyway. Tuesday morning we where moved into our private rooms with extremely comfortable massage-beds and tv - felt like heaven. Tuesday was also a day focused on sipping; Water, juice and drink yoghurts, sip, sip, sip...I had a lot of heartburn and acid reflux, but got both tablets and fluids for that. Had a good nights sleep last night and after a shower this morning, I felt like a whole new person! Apart from acic reflux, I feel great! I'm so relieved that all has gone so well so far, I can only hope it stays this way.

Thanks all, I'f I didn't have the five small bandages on my stomach, I wouldn't know I've had the operation - I feel great! Spending the day drinking, drinking, drinking and then drink some more. My surgeon wanted us to focus on getting the fluids in during the first couple of days, and 1 litre of Water is the minimum goal. Then there is Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner and snack which for the 10 first days consists of drinking yoghurts or Soups, 1,5 - 2 dl each time. For lunch today I made a really nice parsnip soup; just boil with some stock for 15 minutes, a run with the hand blender and then mix in some lactose free milk to make really runny. The trick of course being that it takes about 30 minutes to eat the 2 dl Soup to avoid the cramping pain. Best of luck to all of you having the surgery in front of you, I hope you get through as well as I have so far.