Miriam

Here's another vote for ice cream - and I wasn't even much of an ice cream person pre-op, but now I find myself craving it way too often

My fantasy is being a petite size, flat stomach (my most problematic area!), and above all: getting married in my dream wedding dress which will only work with a certain type of figure, if you know what I mean. Don't know if any of it will ever happen (without a tummy tuck!) but a gal can dream...

Oh, definitely normal - at least for me - to have those thoughts, and I still have quite a way to go. I just keep telling myself that if others have reached the goal I want to reach, I can do it, too. And then continue to worry until the next time I see a loss on the scale :-)

High school teacher and teacher trainer here, almost 5 months post-op. I didn't tell anyone, just the administration that I was taking off to have surgery but not which kind of surgery. My colleagues definitely noticed the changes within a month or two - I think one or two are afraid that I'm becoming anorexic :-) but yeah, I hope they'll be shocked in a good way when they see me after the summer break. My principal did at some point ask me point-blank what kind of surgery I had had done - band or gastric bypass (see - no one knows about the sleeve!). I would have told her about the sleeve (even though I've only told the people I'm closest to) had she not done so in a booming voice in full earshot of a secretary and who knows who else - she's not very strong in the tact / diplomacy department - so instead just said neither and left it at that. I'm sure that at least some people will suspect that I've had some sort of WLS, but I really don't feel the need to confirm that for them...

After most proteins I find that 30-40 minutes between eating and drinking is not enough - I need at least an hour, sometimes even more, or else it all comes up. (And yes, I'm still taking Prilosec, 4.5 months out.)

I don't think it's protein because the last time I seriously dieted and lost about 35 lbs. in six months, my hair also started falling out at around the 4 month mark (just like now - somehow was hoping that it wouldn't happen this time) and believe me that I was getting in PLENTY of protein. I was on a low-carb, high-protein diet, and since I suffered from a huge appetite pre-op, among other things that to certain meds I take, I could eat half a chicken in one meal without a problem, and I tended to do this at least two out of three meals a day. So there's no question that I was NOT lacking protein, and yet my hair started falling out just like it is now. (I do think the hair loss is going faster now, but then again, I've lost a lot more weight this time around.) I did have good results with Biotin last time, so am hoping it'll work again this time. It's definitely a concern, but hey, still a small price to pay for the weight loss.

Well, I'm 5'2", have just gotten under 150, and am FAR from ready to stop losing - I know that on my frame (small to medium), even at 130 I'm not going to be anywhere near thin (I know because I was there about a million years ago). The truth is that a few years ago I lost quite a bit of weight dieting and almost reached 150, but was a bit smaller than I am now (I can't fit into all the clothes that I could fit into them, but I'm almost there). So it seems like even something simple like basing your goal weight on a weight you've previously been at doesn't always work. I'm actually aiming for - dare I say it aloud? - 105, of course have no idea if I'll actually make it there. But that's the whole point - everyone has a different body, different frame, different bone density, etc. so a weight that works fine for one person at a specific height might be totally wrong for someone else. I'm not going to mourn if I don't reach my personal goal since it's particularly ambitious, but I don't think it's a totally crazy goal either, based on what I know of my own body. Only time will tell...

Really enjoyed reading this. Just wondering: Do you think that there was anything specific that made your weight loss a bit slower than that of others, or was that just your "luck of the draw?" Not meaning to pry, just trying to learn as much as possible so as to accelerate my own weight loss...

Sorry to chime in here, but your house is GORGEOUS! I have to admit to some serious house envy in terms of both beauty and size - where I live nowadays (outside the U.S.), housing prices are insane and not a single square inch is taken for granted - and we're all hoarders... Sigh.

I was told that the first 15 days are the most leak-prone, but that leaks can occur even a year post-op - it's just not very likely to happen, so I'm not going to spend any time worrying about that one.

OMG! So glad I came across this thread - here's another closet food porn addict coming out! My family hasn't stopped commenting about how many new recipes I've cooked for them since my surgery (foods that I can't even eat, mind you) - I thought I was the only weirdo getting some kind of sick enjoyment out of watching Top Chef (the Australian version - it's great) and doing tons of online recipe searches. So far, my family's favorite has been mini pizzas with lots of different toppings to choose from (e.g., homemade pizza sauce, roasted veggies, tomato and basil, caramelized onions, etc.) - and I can't even eat any hot cheese any more! But I just get a kick out of making the stuff - glad to know this is somewhat normal :-)

In many ways I was a lot like you a few months ago (I'm now four and a half months post-op): I vomitted a LOT (there were days when I literally got in no food or drink because it all came up and I realized that I'd better stop eating and drinking till the morning) and this was with prilosec, could not get in my protein (the difference is that my NUT, strange but true, does not feel that it's so important to get in the full amounts of protein at this stage), had no energy, couldn't get down vitamins, etc., etc. And yes, it was very hard for me to cope with not being able to eat - I LOVE food (yes, even now, but in much smaller portions), and as much as I had tried to prepare myself for the change in eating habits, it's impossible to understand what it's like until you're actually going through it. BUT things did improve - and improve a lot. At around week six post-op, my energy returned. That was already a huge relief. At around the four-month mark, my vomiting decreased from an average of ten times a week to almost zero. (I did make a conscious effort to slow down my eating and be careful of overeating, but it also helped that my capacity for food got slightly bigger at that point.) I can usually get down vitamins without a problem (but I'll admit that I'm not 100% with that yet - that's just my own issue with pills stemming from a long-ago bout with cancer when I had to swallow so many pills that the very sight of pills psyches me out). And since I can eat a little more, and pretty much eat any food I want (other than hot cheese) as long as I'm careful not to eat too fast, I don't really mourn the loss of food. In short, it really, really, really does get better for most if not all. So I do understand where you're coming from - at four weeks out, I was happy that I had done it because my weight was such a big issue for me, but I was definitely struggling on a lot of fronts. Now, at four plus months out, it's so much easier. Take heart - it will get better! P.S. I'm also 33 :-)

I had like ten chins before surgery, now it's down to three or so... and I still have a way to go, so here's hoping the rest comes off! The thing is that the grandfather I most resemble always had a bit of a double chin, even when he was very thin, so I figure I'll probably have the same, but it's still a LOT better than it was.

Another fast eater here - and yes, learning to eat slowly is one of the biggest challenges that I've had post-op. I find that putting down my utensils is not quite enough. What I do is actually move my plate a couple of feet away from me - when it's not in front of me, it's much easier to wait a minute or two till the next bite.

Oh, I had a few regrets right after the surgery when I was in considerable pain and wondering just that: Why couldn't I just have more will power and lose weight the regular way? The same in the first two or three weeks, since it is a time of MAJOR adjustment - as much as I had read about everything beforehand, I still wasn't prepared for the emotional impact of not being able to eat. But now, four months post-op? Not a single regret!!! I now know that I could NEVER have done this on my own, and certainly never maintained on my own. I am feeling great, still have a way to go but looking a lot better than I was a few months ago, and I know that this is something I can stick to for the rest of my life. I think that the best part for me is my changing relationship with food - my head is in a much healthier place, and that makes all the difference.

I think it's connected to all the estrogen that's released into the body - to the best of my knowledge, high estrogen is linked to higher cholesterol.

Hey, just had an appointment with my surgeon and NUT this week and voiced my concern about my cholesterol - my NUT told me something very interesting that may make you feel better: According to her, it's normal for cholesterol to go UP after surgery for around 6-9 months, and then start going down again. The reason for this is all the fat being released or something of the sort. That made me feel a lot better, as my cholesterol was actually not too bad before surgery (yes, with statins, but with a major family history of cholesterol and heart disease, I've been on cholesterol medication since I was a child - that's the only way all of us can control it) and now it's pretty high. So I will continue to monitor it, but hope to see an improvement within a few months.

I remember that happening to me when I started a weight lifting plan after not having exercised basically ever ... even though I only managed about half the reps that first time, I was so sore afterwards that it took me about a week to get my muscles moving normally again. I would ask the PT to go a little easier on you the next few sessions, and eventually you'll be able to move into higher intensity training.

Definitely NOT psychological - it took me six weeks after surgery till I regained my energy, and I've heard of others whose bodies only bounced back after three months. Your body has just undergone a huge shock (major surgery) and is continuing to be shocked by the drastic reduction in food intake. It WILL get better, but it might take some time. Then, I can assure you, you will have no regrets whatsoever.

Hi, sleeve twin! I also underwent surgery on Feb 29 and started off at 225 lbs. My pain was pretty bad at the beginning but didn't last nearly as long as yours did, and I still found it pretty hard to cope at first, so I can only imagine how hard the whole experience must have been for you. I'm so happy that you're doing well now, with no regrets - I feel the same way and wish you much continued success with your weight loss journey.

Terrific list - I'm about a month behind you and can relate to about 80% of it, especially #2, 4, 5, and 11. I find it amazing that despite doing lots of research and reading tons of first-person stories of people who underwent WLS, the sleeve has brought about such massive changes in my life that I am left open-mouthed. You just don't realize what it's like until you undergo it.

Unfortunately, at four months post-op (and quite a bit of weight down), I haven't really seen any difference - still hoping for the best, but not too optimistic at this point.

Wonderful! So happy for you! I'm also really impressed with the thoughtful way you went about making your decision to undergo surgery, but am surprised that your endocrinologist didn't have any other patients who underwent WLS that cured diabetes. I do hope that this make him more willing to recommend, or at least mention, the surgery to other patients. As you said, it could save their lives.

So far I'm still working on the clothes that I had stored away (sizes 12-22!) but I've found that past the first size or two, I really couldn't get away with not moving into the next size of clothes every 3-6 weeks. Everything just looks huge on me otherwise - sometimes the same thing that fit perfectly a week or two earlier, literally. On the other hand, I can't how I would have managed to keep up with my changing sizes if I hadn't had all those clothes - OK, truth is that there's no way I would have bought all those clothes. As it is there are things that I only managed to wear 2 or 3 times before I moved on to the next size or even half size. So it's really hard for me to tell you what to do - I will say that if you're anything like me, you will feel much better in clothes that fit properly.

Amazing! You sound like you're in a great mindset and look terrific! Can't wait to get there myself - thanks so much for sharing!