Kris

Thanks you guys! I'm going to weigh again tomorrow and see if there is still that big a difference. If it is only 1 lb different I won't change anything but if it's two or more I will. I do like my new scale and in the long run a few lbs isn't going to make that much of a difference. My old scale only measured in .5 lb increments and my new one goes to .10 lb. Increments. Now that I'm past the first month post op I am going to cut back from daily weigh ins to once or twice a week. So lesson learned for preops -- buy your nice scale before surgery so you can avoid disappointments down the road!

I HOPE my monthly curse goes away! That would be an unexpected benefit.

Hey MommyTawnie, I am right there with you! Today the scale told me I'm at 203.5 ... SO CLOSE to ONEderland! You have had amazing weight loss so far so I am sure you will beat me into ONEderland, but hopefully I will be not too far behind! Also, I'm so happy to know you are now the picture of health again. You went through a very scary, rough patch and yay you for getting through it so well!

My first week I lost 11. lbs. and was really thrilled with that, but every week thereafter has been less -- 3 lbs lost each of the past two weeks ... today is my one month surgiversary (yay!) and I am officially down 21 lbs. from my last pre-op weigh in the day before surgery. Like MommyTawnie I am SO CLOSE to ONEderland -- was hoping to get there by Valentine's Day but not sure if I will make it. I need to lose more than 3.5 lbs. to make it, so at the rate I'm going I'll miss my goal by a few days. I do find myself comparing my weight loss results to others and I know I shouldn't do it -- I'm not in a race or anything -- but still I do it. I believe my weight loss is on the low end of average for my starting weight/BMI so I'm not really complaining, but I am envious of people who can lose quickly. However, I also know I am not doing EVERYTHING properly ... I still struggle to get all my fluids in daily, and still favor carbs over Protein (which was pretty easy to do in the mushy stage ... now that I'm entering the solid food stage I'm going to up my protein intake for sure), and have only exercised sporadically. And, I cheated yesterday with a carby snack watching the super bowl. So maybe I could be average or high-average, but I've got some work to do.

OK ... I confess, I cheated. Deliberately. I ate some Riceworks Sweet Chili brown rice chips from costco. I had a bit over one serving over the course of the game ... about 12 chips total -- I'll call it 200 calories, nearly all carbs. And here is the ironic thing. I had been in a mini-stall for the past 5 days ... I was getting very frustrated. And then of course, the day I cheat and do absolutely nothing but lay around the house watching TV -- voila, a 1 lb. weight loss showed on the scale this morning. Which actually is NOT A GOOD THING because now there is a little demon in the back of my head saying, "eat Snacks, baby, and you will lose weight!" No, no, no!!!! Actually -- this is straying a little OT but I am wondering if anyone else who cheated yesterday also saw a weight loss today? Over the holidays I read this book called "The Four Hour Body" by Tim Ferriss and he did an experiment on himself where he would be very strict on his diet most days, but one day a week he would go hog wild and eat anything at all that he wanted (pizza, burgers & fries, junk food, etc.) without regard to calories or nutrients. He still lost weight consistently. He has a theory that the body gets used to a certain amount of calories and will reset the metabolism lower if calories consistently stay in the same range, so the body needs to be "confused" by uneven caloric intake so it can't reset the metabolism lower. I have seen a lot of posts here on VST about people going on vacation, visiting relatives, whatever, and eat anything/everything they wanted, and coming home to weigh and find out they had lost weight. (Of course I have seen the opposite, too!). Anyway, I did have that thought today ... maybe it was actually a good thing for my body to up the calories a bit yesterday. I ate just about 900 calories total, the most I've eaten since being sleeved, and about 100 calories over what the doctor recommends for the top end of my range. Maybe my body was saying "thank you, I am finally getting more food, so I don't have to hang on to all this fat so hard!" Anyway, today I am back on plan. I enjoyed the heck out of those chips -- I savored each and every bite (something I would never do pre-sleeve -- before surgery I would pretty much inhale the bag and not really savor the chips) and I know it was a special treat and not something to have every day. So I don't feel too terribly bad about the cheating.

I have a desk job and took 10 days off but had a rough time coming back and ended up working only half days my first week back. in retrospect I would've done better taking two full weeks off, but that was just me. The more active your job the more time off you should take, IMHO.

Hi there, I'm doing way better, thanks! I think day 13 was my low point and things improved from there. But boy those first two weeks post op were no joke! I hope I never experience anything like that again!

AnnaT -- Sweetie, I know exactly what you are going through and trust me it WILL get better SOON. I was in the pit of despair in my second week. Once I got into mushies I felt so, so much better. I am only a couple of weeks ahead of you so I remember my Day 13 meltdown vividly. I have had a couple of mini-stalls in the past couple of weeks and hope that doesn't happen to you, but if it does you at least know you're not the only one! You are doing GREAT so far and this rough patch will soon be just a memory. If you can find things to take your mind off your misery, do that. Go see a movie or get a mani-pedi with a friend get a facial or massage, or just curl up on the sofa and watch some old fave DVDs or trashy tv shows. You should feel no shame in babying yourself right now. Your body went through some major trauma a short time ago, and while you look fine on the outside, your body is working hard to heal up. And wow, you are losing an amazing amount of weight! Yay for you!!!!!

So I am now in my fourth week post-op, On Monday I am officially through with the mushies stage and can start solids. I actually have been happy with mushies and might continue longer especially if I have a hard time with solid meats. Weight loss -- another disappointing week. 2.5 lbs. down from last week and all of that was in the first few days of the week. For the last four days or so I've been bouncing around from a low of 204.0 to a high of 205.5. Exasperating. I am SO CLOSE to ONEderland and feeling like it's not going to happen. I wanted to be there by Valentine's Day but at the rate I've been going it's not going to happen until the middle of February. Two things I know I am not doing right are 1) not getting enough fluids each day and 2) more carbs than I should be eating. I'm mad at myself about both. Oh, add 3) not exercising regularly. As far as fluids goes, most days I am getting around 40 - 44 oz fluids and I know that is not enough! I just have to really buckle down on this and force myself to drink more -- drink almost constantly. I am pretty sure at least part of the reason why I haven't lost more is because I'm not taking in enough fluids. Re 2) carbs -- I have been using club crackers and baked lentil crackers as a mushy delivery system from bowl/plate to mouth -- usually less than a full serving but adds another 80 - 100 calories to each meal when I eat them (but to be fair ... the meat side is usually about 150 calories or less anyway, so most days I am getting 600 calories or less total, even with the crackers. Yes, I am rationalizing!) I also caved and bought some carby snacks from Costco (baked Lays snack bag collection and Riceworks Spicy Chili brown rice crackers). I have had one bag of baked Lays and then yesterday caved and opened the bag of the Riceworks crackers and had a good full serving of those. I KNOW this is bad for my weight loss .... I think it might be a little PMSing. And honestly, I have missed carbs and I this is a bad, slippery slope I'm on! Re 3) exercise, I only exercised once this week (last Sun) but as soon as I finish this blog post I am going with DH to the local fitness center (where we have a membership that we have paid every month for a long time but haven't used in nearly as long) and hop on the treadmill. I'm going to start out taking it easy and hopefully build up back to where I was last spring (when we stopped going). DH and I will have to start going regularly after work a couple of nights a week. If I can exercise 3 days a week for a consistent period of time I'll be happy and then try to gradually bump it up. On the bright side, I did officially get to 20 lbs. weight loss since surgery, and am pretty sure I will be there (or hopefully a little better) on my one month surgiversary. I have about 80 lbs. to lose to get to goal weight ... from where I am today it seems SO far away. I was really hoping to lose 25 lbs. in my first month but it looks like that just is not to be. I am envious of fast losers. And a little mad at myself that I am not doing everything right to help myself get there. Oh -- also it's been quite the challenge to eat meals with DH. Last night we went to our neighborhood Mexican restaurant and I ordered my own dinner (knowing I would only make a small dent in it) -- mole enchiladas filled with ground beef and refried beans on the side. Man it was good, and everything mushed up very nicely, but it was ridiculous looking at the platter when I was done with my 4-5 bites (it was like this tiny divot of food missing out of an otherwise full plate). DH said, "They're going to think you don't like it," but I asked for a to-go box and filled it up and will be eating the same meal for the next 3 days I think. Luckily for me, I don't mind eating leftovers repeatedly! When we are at home, it's just SO WEIRD to eat such a tiny amount and at a snail's pace while DH eats at a normal/fast pace ... I end up abandoning half my dinner at the time he's done, and then waiting an hour or so, and then finishing it off on my own. I am still glad I got this surgery -- 20 lbs. lost in a month is by far the most I've ever lost in such a short time. And I do hope I can maintain a 2.5 lb. weight loss each month from here on out -- that will work out to about 10 lbs. lost per month and at that rate I will be at or near goal by late summer. Gotta go to the gym!

Try going back to mushies for a few days or a week. It sounds like your sleeve is telling you it's not ready for solids yet. Hope you feel better soon!

Well, I survived the liquids stage and on Friday 1/28 started on the mushies stage. I am SO HAPPY to be onto mushies now! I have learned that my new sleeve has more than enough restriction ... a 1/8 cup sized serving is all I can do in a 30 minute time frame ... in order to get enough calories I serve myself a 1/4 cup portion, eat half, take a break, and eat the other half ... takes about an hour or so. I have to remind myself to chew the food to smithereens and that is very different than how I ate before ... as well as put the spoon/fork down between bites and actually pause a bit between bites (never did that in my pre-op days!). I have a feeling I'll be able to stay on mushies for at least 10 days with no trouble. I actually don't mind the consistency of food whizzed thru a blender so it doesn't bother me. I'm just thrilled to be able to CHEW again! It has been a challenge to not drink during mealtimes. I am so used to drinking while I eat that it's a tough habit to break. I find it hard to get all my liquids too. It's something I really need to concentrate on. My first couple of days on mushies were very good scale-wise. I had a tremendous weight loss the first week (nearly 12 lbs, I recall) -- then the second week had a 3 day stall and only lost 3 lbs. Week 3 was even worse -- only a 2.5 lb. weight loss. I was beginning to despair of ever losing 20 - 25 lbs my first month, which was my goal. But since Friday I have dropped a couple of lbs. already and that is exciting. I now only have to lose 1 lb. to be equal to a 20 lb. weight loss since my last pre-op weigh-in and I still have a week to go before my month is up, so barring a horrible stall I should be able to meet my goal for my first month. My second goal is to be below 200 lbs. by Valentines Day -- that's achievable too, I think. I am at 205.5 lbs. today so still have 15 days to go to lose over 5.5 lbs. I also noticed my energy level seems to be improving. It's the weekend so I slept in yesterday and today and that probably helped. I took a good walk today -- first in a couple of weeks, I'm ashamed to admit (but honestly at night after getting home from work, my energy level has been pretty low). I felt like I was walking at a pretty good clip, too, but not too fast. I am starting to notice it's easier to exercise ... I'm down over 25 lbs. since the beginning of December -- hard to believe! My clothes are definitely getting looser. That is cool. Nearly my entire wardrobe is size 22W (2X - 3X -- I have consistently been that size for YEARS). I am hoping just to wear my clothes until they are literally ready to fall off and then hopefully will be able to skip right past size 20W and into size 18W (1X). I've got some good coupons for Macy's and Kohl's and hope to buy a few things in February to tide me over until the spring clothes start coming out in March and April. When I look in the mirror I don't see much of a change. I know the scale and my clothes are telling me I've lost weight, but I can't see it really. I bumped into a friend I used to work with at Costco yesterday and she didn't comment that I looked like I've lost weight, so I think it's not really that apparent yet. Hopefully in a couple of months it will be really noticeable. I have another couple of mini-goals that will come after getting to ONEderland. 1) Weigh less than my mom (she has been doing South Beach for a month and has lost nearly as much weight as me -- amazing!) by March 15th; and 2) weigh less than my non-overweight hubby by April 15th. Let's see how I do!

I am on mushies and have overdone it a couple of times ... both times when I ate too fast. In both cases I had nausea afterwards for 10 - 30 minutes (didn't vomit, thank goodness). It is NOT a good feeling. The second time I did it I was really mad at myself ... I was eating dinner with my husband (who has not been sleeved) and I think subconsciously I was trying to keep up with his pace, even though I deliberately chewed chewed chewed and waited what I thought was a decent time between bites. Note to self, it is probably a bit early to be eating meals with DH until I am used to the new pace of eating. He can eat an entire meal in the time it takes me to eat 3 or 4 little bites. It has been awkward to say the least. It weirds him out that I spend minutes at a time just doing nothing at the table but waiting between bites. This is one thing I never really considered prior to beginning regular meals so it is another new experience to get used to.

Way to go Coops! You look great!!!

I am going through this too ... just started mushies two days ago. I chew as much as I can and swallow, then wait to take a bite, etc. Yesterday I needed to go meet my mom and ate my lunch without taking a long enough break between bites, and within a few minutes I was feeling like I was going to vomit -- thankfully I didn't throw up, but I needed to sit down and keep my eyes closed for a good 10-15 minutes until the nausea passed. At dinner last night I ate with my husband (something I had stopped doing while on full liquids, because I couldn't stand to watch him eat food while I was stuck on liquids). I had pureed takeout chicken curry for me and DH had lamb vindaloo. It was hilarious. I could only eat I think 3 or 4 small bites, chewed to oblivion -- and then my tummy had that feeling like, "don't put anything else in here, girlie, or I am going to punish you!" So in the time it took my husband to eat a big serving of vindaloo, a big piece of naan, and about 10 pieces of chicken pakora (kind of like Indian style chicken nuggets), I had eaten this TINY amount of chicken (less than 1/8 cup) and still had more than half the portion I had measured out for myself (which I never did finish, btw). Of course I remember that before surgery I could put away nearly the same amount of food as DH while eating, and it such a strange and crazy and almost sad experience to eat dinner with him now. I have to eat so slowly and cautiously, and my head/mouth wants to keep eating but my tummy says "don't you dare!" Don't get me wrong, I am so happy to have this tool. But it truly is a new way of eating -- literally I am learning how to eat all over again, like I'm a baby. I intellectually knew this would be happening prior to surgery, but like most other life lessons it's one thing to understand it intellectually and a whole other thing to experience it. And it is challenging and plain old weird!

Well, after 3 LONG weeks of a liquid diet, today is my first day on mushies. I have been reading posts about how much/how little people can eat at various stages after surgery, and quite honestly have always been a little worried I wouldn't be satisfied on the small amounts of food people report eating. So today for lunch was my big test on what my stomach can hold when it comes to semi-solid foods (bfast was a Protein shake so didn't count). I chose to have mashed up smoked oysters. Yes they have a lot of fat (they are preserved in oil) but the entire container is 170 calories and 14g protein, so I figured what the heck with the fat, that's still not many calories even if I could eat the whole container. I measured out 1/4 c. of mashed up oysters and was thinking, gosh that is not a lot of food! Pre-operation I would eat the entire tin for a meal, no problem, and not be really full (the entire tin mashed up is 1/2 cup). So then I started eating. I tried to implement everything I had been told -- take one bite, chew the heck out of it, and wait a few minutes for the next bite. That was kind of hard at first because the first bit was good and I have always been a fast eater. But I went nice and slow, and lo and behold, it turns out 1/4 cup was way more than enough to fill me up. I had to abandon lunch after 30 minutes only eating maybe 1/8 of a cup ... still have at least half of the 1/4 cup portion left, which may or may not get eaten later today. Right now I am stuffed. I am SOOOOO HAPPY to know I have a lot of restriction! Yayyy!!! And so happy to be able to have mushies! (We'll see how long that lasts, LOL!)

That's exactly what DH said. -- oysters, eeewwwww! But I love them. Funny how tastes differ so much. I loathe and refuse to eat anything with mayo on or in it and can't believe how many people love mayo!

That is amazing and I'm so happy for you! I love stories like yours -- they help me get through the days when I get on the scale and am POd because I'm not losing as fast as I think I should be. Right now a size 6 seems like an impossible achievement -- my goal is to be a size 8 too. I hope I can be as successful as you!

Hey there pneal, congrats on your surgery! I hope you had a great experience with Dr. A. and his team ... I just loved Dr. Campos and wish my PCP was as sweet as he is! Dr. A was very nice but kind of like the father figure whereas Dr. C. was like the favorite cousin you like to hang with. If I were 15 years younger and single I would've been in l-o-v-e with Dr. C. You know, a big part of my worry about mushies was that I was able to drink OK, especially Clear Liquids (Protein shakes took a while to get down). I would forget and take a couple of big gulps of my crystal light and then think uh-oh as I was swallowing, but they went down fine. But the restriction is definitely there. I hope your have a great, easy recovery! I have been whining a bit here and people have been very nice. The 2nd week was really hard for me but every day gets better.

Welcome to the losers' bench and thanks for sharing your story!

Hi everyone, I am sure it has been addressed before but I couldn't find a recent discussion on it. My surgeon advised to eat only 3 meals a day while trying to lose -- no Snacks. And to limit meals to 30 minutes. Maybe in a few months that will be feasible, but I'm just finishing up the liquids stage (start mushies tomorrow, hallelujah!!!) and it talkes me a lot longer than 30 minutes to finish my current "meals" (aka Protein shakes/smoothies and blenderized soups). I'm not talking big portions either -- Protein drinks have 8 oz. skim milk and a little ice; Soups are 1/2 a can or less (so about 8 oz -- 1 cup). yogurt is one small container, ditto with Jello sf pudding. I am still having trouble even getting 400 calories a day. So I admit, I have been stretching out many of my "meal times" a lot ... maybe an hour or more. Sometimes I have to reheat the Soup because it gets cold before I'm even halfway through. I have tried on a few occasions to stop after 30 minutes and consider the meal done, but usually within a couple of hours I want to finish my unfinished meal. I really personally don't think extending a meal a long time can be considered grazing (unless of course it was a really huge meal, way more than a normal serving). So, is it wrong to just finish the meal, even if it takes 1 hour or longer? If I truly stopped eating after 30 minutes I don't see how I would be able to get more than 400-500 calories a day in -- my surgeon said shoot for 600 - 800 calories a day. I figure if I'm having trouble finishing meals w/in 30 minutes now, it will only get worse with mushies. My energy level is improving but still not where I want it to be and I think part of that is the ultra low calories I've been having the past 3 weeks since surgery. So basically I want some validation here that as long as I am staying within my daily calorie range and am not giving myself abnormally high serving sizes, there is no problem stretching out mealtimes until my sleeve is more healed up and able to handle a bit more food in a bit less time than currently. What say you? Has anyone else done this and later regretted it?

Hi there Skinnyagain, I will say the ONLY thing that keeps me from cheating is fear of damaging my new sleeve. My surgeon put the fear of god into me about that. He is pretty strict about keeping his patients on liquids for 20 days. Not all surgeons require that, though. Also, I can honestly say I don't really experience physical hunger. It's all head hunger. It's wanting to eat, not actually feeling a physical need to eat. And also, being on this forum helps Tons. People are very kind and supportive, and we've all been through the same surgery so there's understanding and words of wisdom. I know it will be worth it in the long run. But yes, post op is hard. At least for me. I have always been kind of a wuss, though!

Well, today marks my 2nd week surgiversary. I weighed in today at 210.0 -- loss of 3 lbs. from last week and 14.5 lbs. since surgery. I was stalled for 3 days this week and have to say this week overall was MUCH worse than last week, even considering I had a cold most of last week! A big part of it was going back to work. I think I went back to work too soon. I should have taken two full weeks off. I was only able to work about 5 hours each day until today. Today I worked at home and was able to do nearly a full day -- 7 hours. I was practically ready to have a meltdown the past couple of days. My energy was just so low, and I don't know if it was hormones or what but I was SO emotional, and not wanting to see or be around people. Today I actually have not been around people and that was probably a good thing and probably why I don't feel quite as exhausted today as I have been feeling the past few days. TGIF! -- I have two days off to rest (well, tomorrow will be a little busy, but definitely I am doing nothing on Sunday). I am able to drink more fluids every day. I am thirsty quite often and have upped my crystal light intake. I find I don't care for the taste (non-taste) of water so all my water is being gotten through the other beverages I've been consuming. Today I am sure I will get a full 64+ oz in and that is a good feeling. I am sure part of my stall was I just wasn't drinking enough fluids and/or getting enough protein in. I will be SO GLAD to be through the liquids stage ... a week from today I get to start on mushies. I already have a list of things I want to eat in the mushy stage: Trader Joe's masala lentil dip, mashed up smoked oysters, refried beans, mushed up baked beans, mashed potatoes & gravy, egg drop soup, and pureed thicker soups. Now I just know as appealing as all those things sound right now (when I can't have them), I am sure I will quickly tire of mushies, too. But at least it is more variety, and variety is something I really am lacking at this stage in the process. I am still struggling to get more than 400 calories a day in. At least half of that comes through my daily protein shake. One reason I think I have had such low energy is that I've had such a limited amount of calories overall, and not enough protein. I think I was so keen on having VSG that I really didn't give any thought at all to what it would actually be like after the operation. The first week was no walk in the park but the second week .... oy. In a way maybe it's good I didn't know how rough it would be. I am sure if I had taken the week off from work it would not have been quite as bad. Anyway, I am thankful I haven't had any really bad side effects from the surgery. My incisions seem to be healing up pretty well. The adhesive surgical tapes started falling off my incisions yesterday and the incisions look pink and like they are healing up well. I am not trying to force any of the tapes off, just letting them fall off naturally like the dr. said. I am starting to notice changes in how my clothes and underwear are fitting. I definitely am seeing a bit of looseness in my underwear and my bras. I still think my abdomen is still somewhat distended as the waistbands on my clothes aren't noticeably looser, but the legs and arms of my clothes do feel a bit looser. That is a nice feeling. A few more lbs. down and I think my clothes will definitely be on the loose side. i have a few items in the next size down but am hoping to delay buying any new clothes until I can fit into size 18s ... probably not for another month or two. Speaking of clothes, one thing I really, really am looking forward to is cleaning out my closet and getting rid of clothes I can no longer wear. I had accumulated A LOT of clothes over the years and it will be great fun to get rid of them and have a tidy closet that's not crammed with clothes. I think the big closet cleanout will be sometime in March. I will have a better idea in a few weeks, I'm sure.

Hi all, well today is my 2nd week surgiversary and I do feel better than I have all week. Hopefully yesterday was my rock-bottom point and it's going to get better from here on out. I got to work at home today and that definitely helped. Now I have two days off and yay, I intend to keep it very low key and rest a lot this weekend. Also it's helpful to know that one week from today I get to go onto mushies. That's more variety, and there will be other ways to get protein aside from protein shakes and broth. The surgical tape over my incisions has started falling off and I've been happy to see my incisions look like they have healed up nicely. My abdomen is still a bit sore but not painful. I wish I could chew on ice or popsicles, but I have very sensitive teeth and can't tolerate biting anything frozen. Argghh. I did chew a piece of gum and that helped a bit, but the whole time I was paranoid about accidentally swallowing it, so I can't say it was a really enjoyable experience. I appreciate everyone's comments and glad to know it's not uncommon to have a rough patch after surgery. I guess I was so excited about having the surgery it never occurred to me that recovery might actually be harder than the surgery and hospital stay. Live and learn...

I make my Protein shakes in a magic bullet. The first time I forgot to put in ice and yes it got nasty really fast ... I didn't even finish half. Since then I've put ice in before I blend everything up and that definitely helps keep them cold/drinkable longer. I also notice my stomach capacity is increasing at 2 weeks post op. Ii am pretty much able to finish my Protein Shakes in under an hour with no problems. Warm beverages definitely go down faster/better. I can drink a full cup of broth in 30 minutes or less. The first week I was only doing about half the volume. So I am happy about that, as I think that means my sleeve is healing up pretty well. Also, one tip I picked up from theworldaccordingtoeggface.com is to put in a tbsp. of sf pudding mix when making the shakes. It doesn't add much in the way of calories but helps make the shake thicker and a bit tastier. I really don't particularly like protein shakes so now am sneaking teaspoonfuls of Protein Powder into Jello sf pudding. It doesn't affect the flavor that much but I know Im getting a few extra grams of protein. Every bit of protein counts in the early days!