MyGastricSleeveLife

Congrats on your loss so far!! As far as slowing it down goes, I really think it depends on how much you have to lose. I know a lot of people on here who lose more than 2 lbs a week for the first 3-6 months after surgery. I know for non-WLS people the goal is usually 2 lbs a week, but I haven't heard a limit like that before this with WLS patients, especially at the beginning. It kind of seems odd to purposely try to slow it down as long as you don't have a medical issue with losing. The only thing I can think of to slow it would be increasing your intake and/or decreasing your exercise, but again it seems odd to me at this point in the process.

Do you use MyFitnessPal or SparkPeople or some other way of tracking exactly what you're eating & burning with exercise? That helps a lot with accountability. Even if you're tracking things, you just need to be patient with your body. We throw a lot of things at our bodies during pre-op & post-op times & they need time to adjust. The other thing is - are you weighing first thing in the morning, after going to the bathroom & without clothes (or with the same clothes)?? If you're weighing at your doctor's office and you're wearing different clothes and your appointment is at a different time of day and you've eaten different foods, then you can't just go by what their scale says! There are SO many things that influence our weight! I recently wrote about this on my blog - the direct link to that particular post is http://mygastricsleevelife.blogspot.com/2012/05/my-thoughts-about-dreaded-scale.html - if you want to read it. The other thing is - are you doing measurements? Sometimes the scale doesn't move, but the inches do. Basically, keep doing the best you can & have patience! It is much easier after surgery than before, but you can still have success before surgery too. Even if the scale doesn't cooperate, you're learning great skills now that will help you after surgery too! Keep up the good work & don't stress, especially since stress makes us hold on to weight too!!

Mine didn't give me any sort of breakdown of costs. I just paid it all to the doctor & he divides it up where it needs to go, so I don't know how much is for each thing. I do know it was going to be about $600 extra if I had to stay in the hospital an extra night. I actually got mine financed, so because of finance charges & fees, I'll end up paying almost $25,000 over the next 4 years unless we can pay it off ahead of time. However, for me it was worth it & worth the peace of mind. I know some people are fine going to Mexico & they get aftercare here if needed, but I didn't want to do that & it wasn't really an option because of my family situation & other things right now anyway. I had surgery just after Mother's Day & my husband joked & said he's never buying me a $15,000 Mother's Day present again! :-) I said this wasn't really for Mother's Day, but it is the best money I've ever spent on myself to benefit the rest of my life!

I had to stop them for 30 days before & after. I was lucky that I had only taken one pill in my new pack when I stopped. I would actually ask your surgeon or gynecologist if it's okay to stop in the middle or not. As far as after, I just talked to my gynecologist yesterday & he said to wait until my next period & then start the pills again (which should be around my 30 day mark anyway) and also to make sure we use condoms for the first month back on the pills again since they've been out of my system for 60 days.

Many doctors charge te insurance companies $45,000 - $60,000, but they have special rates for self-pay patients. I'm in Austin, TX, and ended up paying $15,100 for self-pay. Mexico is cheaper, but I wanted a local surgeon in case of problems & because of easier followup care.

I like Chike & Unjury the best.

I'm only 3 weeks out, but just wanted to chime in that I was given guidelines to be between 800-1000 calories by the time I'm back on all regular food at 12 weeks out & was told to stay at that range through my whole losing phase. I'm actually getting that many now because of being on full liquids & having more Soups & such, but I know as I start more solid food it'll go down again because of being able to eat less solid stuff than liquids. Oh, and I was told to always aim for 70-100 g of Protein & less than 60 g of carbs.

Someone made one for the May Sleevers, which I'm part of. It's nice to have a place to go that is easy to find since it's not always easy to keep up with threads here. They made it completely private so nothing we post there is seen by other people on FB & you have to be a friend of the owner or a member to be added to the group. I'm not sure exactly how it was set up, but it is nice. Hopefully, someone in the June set can set something up for y'all!! :-)

new blog post - http://mygastricsleevelife.blogspot.com/2012/06/learning-to-love-myself-again.html

Are you doing measurements too? I gained weight last week, although I know it wasn't really a gain, and then did lose 1.4 lbs when all was said & done this week. However, I've lost 5 inches this week! We need to be patient as our bodies adjust to everything! Major surgery, different kinds of food, different activities - our bodies need time to adjust! I've written a few posts on my blog about this recently & about looking at the NSVs too. Stressing about it doesn't help weight loss either, so it's important just to let our bodies take the time they need to adjust. :-)

The plain or vanilla flavors have less sugar than the fruit flavors. I was told to stay away from the fruit ones, and be sure to get the fat free kind. Greek yogurt definitely has more protein than regular yogurt.

The problem with these is that the main source of protein is collagen, which is not what our bodies can really use. Therefore, even though it says it's 42 g of protein, we can only use a fraction of that - I think I read someone else's post that said only 10 g or so actually count, although I haven't researched it myself. My dietitian said to stay away from collagen protein sources & only stick with whey or soy isolate sources.

Welcome! I had my sleeve done 3 weeks ago tomorrow & couldn't be happier with my decision!! Feel free to check out my blog (listed in my signature) of you want to see more about my journey. Good luck with everything moving forward! Feel free to ask any questions here & don't be afraid to use the search feature on here! There is a ton of info here!

My dr said V8 is fine, but said to use the regular stuff & not V8 Fusion because of the fruits/carbs in it.

Ribbing alcohol can work. However, be really careful with it. The Bariatric Coordinator at my hospital said just to keep doing soap & water & it will eventually come off. He said they've seen many people come back to the hospital with infections because of trying to use various things to get the residue off. Therefore, if you try something else, be very careful!

It's only about 2% of all the surgeries done from what I've seen published before.

I have an outside blog, but wanted to post about it here too, so I'll try to remember to post here too when I do a new post there. Feel free to follow me. I have email, FB, Networked Blogs, and Google+ ways to follow. http://mygastricsleevelife.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-new-four-letter-word-compare.html

My Bariatric Coordinator said that as long as I wasn't getting nauseous drinking, then I wasn't drinking too fast. I never measured exactly how much I was drinking, but I normally take about 2-3 hours to drink a whole water bottle full (I always forget if the one I use is 24 or 28 ounces). As I've progressed a little in my food, I've noticed that plain liquid goes down much easier & faster than the thicker liquids/foods.

My doctor said just to do walking until 4-6 weeks out. He said I could get in the pool at 2-3 weeks once my incisions healed, but said to still be careful. I was also told not to lift anything over 10 lbs until 4-6 weeks out. I've been to the gym a few times to use the treadmill, but went a lot slower than I did before surgery & listened to my body when I got tired after about 25 minutes & stopped. I will be 3 weeks out on Monday. (had surgery on 5/14) I went in the pool once for about 40 minutes last week, but didn't really do much. I went in again today for an hour & did more, but was still careful not to do a lot with my abdominal muscles. I know everyone heals at different rates, but it seems like everything I've seen from most people the 4-6 week timeline is standard.

I would think that any of the Mio flavorings would be considered clear liquid, although I'm not 100% sure.

the trackers are under the Tools tab & then click on Tickers and/or Badges depending on what you want. It will give you the code to put into your signature. As far as the notification thing goes, I'm not sure. I know sometimes mine gives me problems, but if I go back later or the next day I'm able to hit "accept" again and then it goes away from the notification page. i hope that helps some.

Ditto to what Pevette said - most doctors have special rates for sel-pay patients. Mine was $15,100 in Austin. Doctors charge a lot more to insurance companies!

Many doctors have special rates for self-pay patients that are significantly less than what they charge insurance companies. I paid $15,100 for mine here in Austin, TX. I would suggest taking to a surgeon and seeing what their self-pay rate actually is first.

Yes. It's normal as our bodies adjust to what we're eating & also because of the shock of surgery & healing. Are you doing measurements too? Last week I was at the same week for 4 days, but lost 7 inches throughout my body. This week I went up in weight & then down again, but have only lost 1/2 a pound so far. I haven't done my measurements yet this week, but I'm hoping I lost some more inches. You just need to give your body time. Just stick to your plan & your body will respond at some point!

wow! Sorry she's like that! That's terrible!! My primary care wasn't all "gung-ho" about me doing it either, but she knows I've struggled with weight for the last 2 years I've been seeing her & when all my tests were cleared, she gave her "clearance" to my surgeon. I haven't been back to see her yet, but need to go in a few months. It'll be interesting to see what she says then. Her biggest thing w/ the sleeve is that it's not reversible! I thought that was funny b/c of all the issues with the bypass & also because no matter what I ended up doing I wouldn't have a plan to reverse it in the future anyway! Good for you for not letting her completely get to you!! Keep up the good work!!