SpaceDust

It's crystal clear that your body is changing, even if the scale isn't. Stop worrying about the scale for the moment. It will just frustrate you unnecessarily. You're probably in one of the infamous stalls, where your body is adjusting. Stick with the plan, and it will start coming off again.Did you do measurements before your surgery? I think it's obvious that you would see a difference in inches if you had. And if you didn't, I highly recommend taking measurements now, and if the scale's not moving, compare measurements. Also, do your clothes seem like they're fitting a bit more loosely? I'll bet if you think about it, they are. Hang in there!

Hmm, I think you basically hit my four major criteria in that poll. I would have an easier time saying which of those was least important to me, honestly. I wouldn't choose a surgeon that didn't meet 1, 2 or 4, so they're equally important. 3 is important, but I wouldn't necessarily rule out a surgeon for whom I couldn't find reviews or get personal recommendations, as long as the other three criteria were met.

But I like the lumps! That's it. I'm going to the restaurant supply store and buying a gross of bubble tea straws so I can have my lumps and suck it, too! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using VST

I second this! You have minions - let them do the work! :-P Seriously, though, take care of yourself. You'll get over it more quickly if you allow yourself to get lots of rest and as Fiddleman said, drink your water. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using VST

I did it. I joined a gym again. I also made a gym date with one of my good friends for next Monday morning. I am going into the gym tomorrow for a fitness evaluation and a planning session for my workouts with one of the trainers (whom I will see monthly going forward). Baby steps - my initial goal is to get in twice a week - more is bonus, but it takes the pressure off a bit while I get back into the routine. But get back into it, I will. I want to be as strong as I can be before surgery, and I suspect that building up my muscle mass now won't hurt my weight loss post-surgery, either! The tier I joined has access to most of the group classes, trainer sessions once a month to keep me moving along and make sure my exercise routines don't get stale. They would also do nutritional guidance if I want it, though I think I'll skip that for now - I have a pretty good "playbook" for that already, heh. Wish me luck!

The foam, oh yes. About 2 inches of it if you shake either of those. I have a small whisk that I use for the Unjury and Nectar samples that I have - I whisk fairly slowly, but it does a better job of incorporating the protein powder than just a spoon. However, if you want to do them as a sort of frappe, they work pretty well in a mini-blender with ice and skim milk or water. They don't get foamy because they are too busy getting thick and icy I also like the protein powder I have been using for a while - Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard. I use the Vanilla Ice Cream and the Double Chocolate. They do have a lot of other flavors as well, but since they don't offer their sample pack anymore I haven't tried them yet.

Ugh, Laura, I may not be sleeved yet but I'm trying to stick with an approximation of my pre op diet right now and I'm stumbling a bit the last couple of days. I had a handful of Doritos a couple of days ago because my husband and our friend (eh, might as well call him our honorary family as it's almost always the three of us doing stuff together!) were sitting around munching the last few evenings, and I didn't go chop up a cucumber like I should have if I wanted to munch as part of my evening meal. I did manage to keep it to 5 chips, but it would have been easy to slip into mindlessly munching. Today, I had my Breakfast Protein shake, but I was honestly hungry a couple of hours later. Instead of doing what I should have and having another shake, I broke down and had something with texture. The good thing is I did not head for the chips in the pantry. I decided that if I was going to fall off the wagon, it was going to at least be nutritious and reasonable. I stuck to a small egg white omelet with an ounce of sharp cheddar and sliced up an apple for some crunch. I've decided I'm not beating myself up over it. I minimized the damage, I think, and it's not the actual pre op diet yet. Best thing is to get back up and move forward. I can't change what's done, I can just learn from it and try to avoid the temptations. It's tough, though! That's why I'm testing the waters early, because I'm really afraid of that week of mostly Protein shakes. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using VST

I doubt that would be reason for denial. They want people to have made multiple attempts at losing, it's not really a question of what you've tried. Besides, all Atkins really is is another high protein, low carb diet. Sounds like you've already done similar, since South Beach is a bit like that, too.

The big ones I tried: Atkins, South Beach, Mediterranean, Weight Watchers, the Mayo Clinic diet, and a variety of diets that have fallen out of favor. I've also done liquid diets, taken diet pills, juiced... Low carb high protein types of diets have worked pretty well for me in taking the weight off, but I end up at a plateau where even moving a pound off is difficult, and it becomes pretty hard for me to keep the weight off over time.

Once that thing is outta me, I don't even want to think about it anymore. It's done. Finito. History, baby! (I said the same thing about my uterus a few years ago, too!).

Congratulations!

Outstanding! I hope that having the surgery will have that sort of impact on my diabetes.

My guess is that the girl in question was not tracking her food adequately, and was getting around the sleeve by eating slider foods and/or drinking while eating - that might make her think she had stretched because of the lack of restriction. She just assumed that the issue was the straw. Of course, I don't have any evidence of this, but it seems like a logical assumption.

The idea is that if you gulp with a straw a. you may take in too much and b. you will take in a significant amount of extra air, causing bloat which expands your stomach. The idea is that if you do this regularly your stomach will stretch to accommodate. There is a certain element of truth to this if you still have the fundus, much as a normal stomach will stretch over time if you habitually fill it with too much. Think about a balloon after it's been blown up for awhile. Let the air out and it does not return to its original size; it is stretched out. It has minimal application to most sleevers, as in most cases they have little or no fundus remaining after surgery, and the remaining stomach is not stretchy to anywhere near the same degree. It would be wise to be very careful while you're still healing, though, because you don't want to put a lot of pressure on the staple line. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using VST

First, it's highly unlikely that air or carbonation will cause your sleeve to stretch. The fundus, which is the stretchy part of the stomach, is removed in this surgery, so the amount of stretch that people can get is really negligible. The fallacy of the stomach stretching comes from talking about gastric bypass, where there is still fundus left as part of the pouch, and it can stretch fairly easily. What excess air and carbonation CAN do is result in significant discomfort, especially if your stomach is still healing. Using a straw can be a problem if you tend to gulp with it. However, if you use the straw to pull a small amount of liquid into your mouth before you swallow (not straight into a gulp down your throat) there's really very little difference between that and sipping from a cup. Time to relax and stop squawking at people, folks. It's good to be concerned for each other, but this is an insignificant blip on the "not following doctors orders" radar. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using VST

I don't know about an imitrex shot, but I know there's a nasal spray version.

Butter, while in general I agree that it won't make much, if any, difference in the end, I do think that it can be less traumatic when you lose the weight more slowly (i.e., with a typical diet and weight loss average of 5 lbs./month). By that, I mean you won't suddenly deflate, then wait a year for your skin to catch up - it will have a chance to come closer to keeping up throughout your loss. In the end, you may have the same amount of sagginess, but you don't ever see that extreme state that happens when you lose 80 lbs in 3 months. You're absolutely right about it being rare for people to lose that much weight without assistance from surgery and managing to keep it off. I've watched too many people do the mega yo-yo, and I only know one person that kept almost all of it off (she did gain back about 15 of the original 140 she lost, but she was actually a tad on the too-thin side and was having a tough time maintaining that level of thinness. Apparently 15 lbs more and she had no more issues maintaining and she was still in a healthy BMI range)

It's true that it doesn't ALWAYS get all of the skin back into shape, but the likelihood is that most of it will find itself back in place. Age DOES matter for this. As O.T.R. said, you may be able to point out loose areas, but most if not all of them will not be noticeable to anyone else. At any rate, I agree that if you're exercising so the underlying muscle is strong, you'll probably do just fine as soon as your skin has a chance to catch up

I'm a data geek, so I track calories, protein, carbs, sugars, sodium, fat and water.

Welcome to you! I'm pre-sleeve, with a very tentative July date (tentative because of my personal obligations as well as insurance issues that need to be dealt with). I've been hanging around this site for about a year, and I can tell you that there is an amazing amount of information here, so I suggest searching for answers when you can - you may find lots of different approaches to answering your questions. Don't hesitate to ask if you have a question that you can't find an answer to, though! As buplee said, you'll find some tough love on occasion, but really, it's much like a large family around here. We don't always agree on everything, but we'll support you vehemently in whatever way we can through the whole process and after. You'll have space to vent when it gets a bit tough and you don't want to upset family and friends, or to Celebrate victories both on the scale and off the scale! Best of luck as you move through the process - see you on the losers bench!

It's pretty normal, actually. It's called having a food funeral. Lots of people do it because they know they'll miss their favorites. I'm hoping I won't feel the urge to have a food funeral and hike my weight up before the surgery, but I wouldn't say that it's impossible for me to do it in any way I know that after the first several months, I will likely be able to have a bite or two of the foods I really miss, just not have it in the kind of volume that I indulge now. Because of that, at least at this point I don't have any real urge to have a funeral yet. That said, I do think I'll have a nice steak dinner shortly before my pre-op diet starts, just because I really like a good steak properly prepared. I don't need a huge steak, just one with great flavor Good luck!

I'm assuming you mean submitting an application to the surgeon's office. For that, I'm betting you wouldn't need a new application - usually at that stage it's understood that you're going in for an initial consultation at which you'll discuss which options are best for you (assuming that your surgeon does sleeves - not all do!)

I'm another vote for talking to your doctor about Maxalt. It would do the trick for me, and I got horrid migraines several times a year.