RJ'S/beginning

With the sleeve you are able to get some nutrients where as with the bypass you only absorb some nutrients in your bowels..Your bowels are designed to take the last bit of good out of what you eat and then waste. Your stomach is small but it is still there and your stomach acids still break down food and use it for your body. We need a certain amount of Protein to be successful and i don't see how the bypass can get enough good out of what we eat....The pouch is as small as the sleeve.. Eating junk or grazing only leads to dumping with the bypass....Not healthy and not nice.....When I learned about this I switched to the sleeve... How ever that said I am among a very tiny percentage that has both due to complications with the sleeve....But I look at it as if I only have the sleeve because that was the one that made the most sense to me..

the surgery is only the beginning...You are going to deal with a lot of other emotions as you go along....Some good , some bad....The start is here on this forum where you can be encouraged to be yourself making your way to a better healthier you.... I am 10 months out and I deal with a lot of issues that I never thought would come my way.......This is all part of the process... I only told a few in my family...most don't know about it all. I need people who are positive so I can make my way through this journey...DON'T let anyone make you feel bad about wanting to feel and be healthy..... One more thing...I was not like all the rest of the folks on here..I looked forward to my surgery with baited breath....After I was the.001% who had a rough time with it..Spent 5 months in the hospital due to complications from the sleeve... Would I do it all again...YES.... I no longer take blood pressure pills or stomach medication...I can walk now easily and I am a new improved me...All benefits of my choice..... Go girl....Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are getting head hunger girl.....Your not really hungry all the time....We revert back to our old way of thinking when things get a little rough...That is normal...Eat the way you have been eating through your journey. Keep up the Water intake and that will help with the head hunger... You look awesome! Stay with it.......

Get some G2 into your system or you will end up dehydrated and on a drip at the hospital...Try some yogurt and cottage cheese ( creamed )...If that is still too hard...switch to some pudding for a bit.....not the best idea but your not getting any nutrients by dumping......

It takes 3 months for the sleeve to heal....Longer for the incisions....Just go slow K....Don't want to do any damage.

This is not a race.....We are going to have set backs and trouble with maintaining the slimmer us.....There is no reason why you can't get back up on the horse and ride again.....The sleeve is still there...The tools you need are still there... Plus the fact that you came on here and told the truth about how you are doing.....I give you a lot of credit for that one..... You can turn things around...You have a lot of people here backing you and what you are doing...Use the forum to express yourself..... I personally think you have already decided to work on yourself again....Good for you!!!

Last night was my first melt down since I had this surgery.....I told my husband I did not want to do this anymore...I felt so under pressure this past week.....4 times I went places that have dealt with me as a customer and no one recognized me...It was fun the first couple of times but then it started to get annoying. Then I was in a shop with my daughter and she lost me, I was almost standing right in front of her and she did not recognize me.... This past week, my daughter would not stop staring at me....She kept making comments about how proud she is of me....That's okay....But everyone watched how much I ate and watched me eat....I was made to try on clothes which I hate doing and found that some of them I can't wear because I missed them..oops... My husband said oh, I can't believe you ate that much fish..Would not have thought you could fit it in your sleeve.....I looked at him and asked if he thought I was eating too much...He said no..I am just surprised!....This set me off....As that night I decided I was only eating fish for dinner. Last night I told him that the pressure is getting too much that people who are supporting me are smothering me and watching everything I do! This is all strange to me as well as it is for them....I am not used to becoming a smaller me..... I just want to do this for me and it is like what ever they say or do is driving me up the wall......

Thank you for all your comments...I am in therapy.....For the real reasons I became addicted to food.....This was out of the ordinary for me......I looked up at the dinner table and everyone was watching me eat my dinner.....They were not eating theirs....It made me feel like I did something wrong.....My hubby sees every inch or lb gone and my daughter is beside herself with pride in me.. Like the person said before.....What if I screw this up like so many other things in my life......I just get really scared!!!!!!!!

I was just the opposite. I went in thinking I would be one of those easy recoveries and since I had had a lot of surgeries before hand I did not worry.....I was that .001 % that things went bad.... Maybe if I had worried like all of you I would not have spent 5 months in the hospital.... Look...once you are done and things progress you will be really really happy you made this decision....I know for a fact that I am! Go girl go!!!!!

My surgeon told me that I will be able to drink fluids like I used to once everything heals up....And I do...I try not to gulp though as it takes longer for it to enter the sleeve..but I can drink Water at a really good rate now.... Your doing great!

The industry has also changed sizing.....Clothes are sized bigger now then they were 20 years ago.....We are in a world where people are much bigger then they used to be...And so manufacturers have upped the sizes so that they can continue selling their products....Example of this is France....They as a country are getting bigger due to the influence of the USA and CANADA.... What was a 0 is now a 2.....This may have something to do with the difference for you... It is only a few companies that have kept the original charts of sizing.....

I went cold turkey off of refined sugar....If you crave sugar it is bad for you...you are actually allergic to it.... What I have done is replaced the sugar with maple syrup, agave or coconut sugar...all natural and no Hexane in any of them..... So far so good...I bake my own things so it is easier to replace the sugary things with healthier choices.....

soon you won't be watching the clock..it will become second nature to you...Your post was encouraging..I feel the same way..10 months out I no longer look at the clock!

Karen Congratulations on your easy surgery experience....Not everyone gets to have that for their beginning..I know I was one of those horror stories....10 months out now I am doing better... The crossed the finished line..Sorry girl you have your work cut out for you...This is where the work begins....The struggles, learning a new way of eating. Dealing with why you had to have this in the first place and why you had a food addiction.. I am glad you have a good support system.. But this is a life long change for you and you will find it hard at times...You did this for the right reasons...We all did...But this is not for the faint at heart...This completely changes the way you view almost everything.... So happy for you girl......onward and upward to the new and improved and healthier you!!!!!!!!!

I suggest you add Biotin to your bunch of pills....After 5 months of not eating except by a tube while in the hospital for complications with my sleeve surgery...I came home to no hair at all...Right away I started to take Biotin and upped my protein. I am happy to report that 5 months later my hair is coming back..It is very short but it is back.......

650 calories a day is not enough..Add some more protein and what ever you lose is better then a gain in my books!!!

I detoxed from everything while I was in the hospital for 5 months due to complications with the sleeve....I can sit and watch people eat sweets and it does not bother me at all... I drink 2 cups of tea a day...I talked to my dietitian and she said it was nothing to drink that..It helps with my Water intake and I am a Brit....Can't live without tea..LOL 1 cup of coffee a day...that does not sound unreasonable to me...You will have to stop drinking it for the pre-op but then after you heal you can go back to the coffee if you want..... Sugar....I have no desire to eat it...And you know what there is a chance that once you are done that you won't like the taste of coffee...Stranger things have happened......

Notice in the commercial how they said it was recommended to people who only needed to lose 30 lbs....Then the woman comes on and quickly says the possible problems with this surgery..... I have never read one story that the band did not slip or infection happened or they could not find the part that they sew to your side.... Sleeve all the way for me....

Yes it does count!! Don't worry about the sipping part...in no time you will be able to drink Water almost like you used to... I too was a hardy water drinker...until I had the sleeve..then for some reason I could not stand the taste of it...I added 1/2 and 1/2 G2 Gatorade in case of hydration issues and only now after 9 months am I drinking water again alone without anything added to it.... She's right...keep A bottle of water with you at all times and sip..... Hope after the surgery you are still in love with water..I now am having a good relationship with it again!!!!!!

It is not just the loss of weight that is the goal...But how you feel...Do you feel better with some weight off? Are you able to do more things? Are you sleeping better and happier with your life in general? These are amazing goals and worth it all in my books.....No other diet or program has ever given me this much energy or spunk.....If it takes me 2 years..FINE..that is the way it is..Took me almost 3 decades to get as big as I was..Through every diet I could think of.... Now for the first time I know I am succeeding. I look at things differently now.....There is no panic....I use my tool and my body will respond!

All this is normal...Big changes ahead for you......Looks to me like you have made the decision .... Go forward to a better and healthier you. And all the best!

I got the sleeve because it is a tool to help me control the amount of food I eat and it helps monitor me by helping me deal with my food addiction...by limiting the amount of food I am able to take in... Eating a slice of pizza is not a bad thing...We can all make better choices and for the most part we do....I can think of way worse stuff to eat then a slice of pizza...I know I can eat a 1/8th of a 12 in. pizza/ but that is it.... I did this not to become obsessed with food in a different way but to eat what I need to survive....I am not doing this to be an all natural, all organic girl. I want to not have to think about it all the time and find special food for me to eat. I want to be normal in size and thinking.... I personally have decided for myself that I will not eat refined sugar in any form...That is about it....I will eat a little of what ever I feel like eating that day.... Since my surgery there are foods that I no longer find appealing.....so I don't eat them.....I eat what I want in a 1 cup size..So far it is working for me.... It could have been a huge fudge sundae...but it was pizza......the best junk food you can eat because it has everything in it. I was told this by a dietitian when I was pregnant with my first child.... I am so happy with my new way of looking at food......Most of the time I don't think about it at all..Before it was a constant thought as to what I was going to eat.......And making sure I made enough so I would be full....How I have changed!

I am almost 10 months out and still can not eat pork or beef....It makes me feel sick and sometimes I have thrown it up..... I mostly eat chicken...brown meat and fish....so much fish I think I might be growing gills...lol Love the fish...light and not heavy on my stomach.... I can also eat a very small portion of lamb....I watch that too because it turns on me so fast!

No one is here to be nasty...We all know the struggles with food addiction....You know what you are doing wrong and now you must focus to get back on track.....Knowing what the areas are that you have trouble with is 1/2 the battle.... We all need a treat now and then... I think you have something there when you talk about the fear of getting under 200.....I know where you are coming from....I too fear success..... But.....work through it and see how it goes..... Your still here and working at it...Be kind to yourself and stop sabotaging yourself.....Get your hair done and nails too......Be good to yourself....you deserve to replace food with things that will last..... Go, go, go....you would not have gone through the surgery if something deep inside of you was ready.....remember that okay.....

To me it is no wonder you are having difficulties with the whole food issue. I don't know if I could do as well as you if I was facing what you are....if you must eat a bagel.....Eat a 1/2....Too many worries on your plate now...I am not making an excuse for you...I just wonder if I were in your place would I be doing as well as you...... I think you know your triggers and why you are doing this....Switch your intake of things to the Kirkland nuts or seeds at night...At least it is Protein.... Please take care of you because.......well you have enough on in your life to make you slide.....