Pepper Paul

I was sleeved on 3/11, 12 days ago. It seems I have a steel-belted sleeve. I can drink 32 ounces of water in half an hour. Today I ate 1/2 cup of sloppy joe with turkey (puréed) and a tablespoon of sour cream without any issue. When I was done I did not feel stuffed like a lot of people describe. I can eat 6 oz of yogurt easily and pretty quickly. Nothing seems to bother my sleeve, no matter how fast or slow I eat. Being only 12 days out, am I going to have issues with not having restriction when I'm further out? It doesn't seem like I have a whole lot now. It's making me really concerned.

When you say low carb, how many carbs a day is considered low? I have been eating some puréed meat and cottage cheese the last couple days and have been feeling more restriction, so there is hope!

Thanks for the suggestion. I drank a lot of tea before the surgery, but haven't had any after. I'll try that!

This is even more encouraging!

Thanks Fiddleman. I plan to do a lot more hiking this summer, so I'll definitely be hitting you up for some hiking suggestions later this summer. I will not be hiking with you however. When I saw you did the Mt. Si hike in 45 minutes I figured it had to be a typo, either with the time or with the elevation/ distance of the hike. I even looked up the hike online. Then I read some of your other posts and saw your 5k and 10k times. I realized you're just a beast! Maybe next summer, but thanks for the inspiration.

Thanks for all the responses. I'm not sure that I'm happy that there are others in the same boat as me, but at least I know I'm not a lone case. I guess we'll just have to work through this together and hopefully as we move through to regular food, we'll start feeling more restriction. The good news is that I am losing. I'm down 16 pounds since surgery and 31 pounds since starting the pre-op diet. 16 pounds in 13 days, I figure I'm doing something right! Mokee, I'm not sure exactly what constitutes low carbs, but here's what mine have been for the last 5 days. Wed - 87 carbs, 16 from sugar. Thurs - 75 carbs, 27 from sugar. Fri - 97 carbs, 33 from sugar. Sat - 56 carbs, 23 from sugar. Sun - 57 carbs, 22 from sugar. Where should I be with carbs? Susmcmur, I am taking a PPI and having meals 3 hours apart. Shoshshe13, I am not drinking for at least half an hour before/after a meal. I do appreciate the suggestions from everyone! It's pretty fantastic having a pace to come with any questions and for support! I'm also walking everyday. Today I walked 2.75 miles. Yesterday I mowed my lawn (self-propelled mower, and I emptied the bag at half full so it wasn't over 15 pounds), and the day before I walked 3.75 miles. I'm feeling really good and getting stronger everyday. Today for about the last 1/4 mile I had a pain in my stomach right below the big incision. I'm guessing (hoping) that its just pulling on that deeper stitch, as I've read that can sometimes happen. I was walking at a pretty brisk pace when it started hurting so I slowed down. After I was home for awhile it went away.

I am following the instructions for what I was told to eat. In fact I was given a sample menu for each week, and am following that. I haven't deviated from it yet. It says in the pureed stage that I can have 1/2 cup of pureed sloppy joe. That's what I had tonight. I took probably 20-30 minutes to eat it. As for fluids, it says to take it slow at first, and as your sleeve swelling goes down, you can drink faster. I'm having no issues with restriction for drinking so I'm drinking faster. Is there an upper limit on how fast I should be drinking? I have seen lots of posts from people who say that their drinking is now back to what it was pre-op. Should I give it more time before I drink this fast? Currently I'm tracking everything I eat and am getting 600-800 calories per day. But I often feel hungry. Tonight after I ate my 1/2 cup of sloppy joe I felt like I was still hungry. I didn't eat anything more for a couple hours, because that's what the plan says to do, but it's not how I feel. Rarely do I get an actual satiated feeling. That's what worries me. Did anyone else have a bottomless sleeve in purees and then do fine once they got to real solid foods? Hoping so! But fearing that this is just another in a long line of broken dreams.

Sounds like a great hike! I may have to check it out later this summer after I'm in a bit better shape. Last summer we did the Mt. Pilchuck hike. It's 2425 vertical feet and it took most of the day and nearly killed me. I'm going to do it again this summer but hoping to cut the hike time in half. I highly recommend it if you haven't done it before. The views from the fire tower at the top are spectacular!

I'm taking Lyrica for nerve pain, and it is terrible to take out of the capsule. It's good to hear that others aren't having issues taking whole pills. Seems my sleeve can tolerate anything so I guess I'll start taking it whole again. Happy about that!

Surgery on 3/11. Down 11 pounds since surgery and 26 pounds since pre-op diet. Feeling great!

After all those comments I zoomed in to look more closely, then said WTF am I doing??? Thanks for that.

Pdxman, where do you get them for men?

Just a note about blood clots. They're a possibility of this surgery. So are other complications. A lot of people are second guessing having this surgery because someone on this forum died. Well guess what. Being fat has a lot of complications too. People die every day from heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and sleep apnea. It's terrible what happened to lifesaveremt, and my heart is heavy for his family. But I personally know three different people who died in the last two years, who were younger than 50, and all three were a result of being obese. Don't let hearing about one person's misfortune sway you from getting healthy, ~especially~ if you have a high BMI. I don't have any statistics, but I'd venture to guess that my 5 year mortality rate as a guy with a bmi of 47.5 is worse than my mortality rate as a guy having this surgery and significantly lowering my bmi, even factoring in death as a possible complication of surgery. My bmi is now already down to 44.5. It will keep going down month after month as I get healthier. As my bmi goes down, so does my risk for all of those fat-person co-morbidities that would eventually kill me. It's something to keep in perspective when we hear of a fatality due to surgery. Good luck to all the March sleevers!

Just a note about blood clots. They're a possibility of this surgery. So are other complications. A lot of people are second guessing having this surgery because someone on this forum died. Well guess what. Being fat has a lot of complications too. People die every day from heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and sleep apnea. It's terrible what happened to lifesaveremt, and my heart is heavy for his family. But I personally know three different people who died in the last two years, who were younger than 50, and all three were a result of being obese. Don't let hearing about one person's misfortune sway you from getting healthy, ~especially~ if you have a high BMI. I don't have any statistics, but I'd venture to guess that my 5 year mortality rate as a guy with a bmi of 47.5 is worse than my mortality rate as a guy having this surgery and significantly lowering my bmi, even factoring in death as a possible complication of surgery. My bmi is now already down to 44.5. It will keep going down month after month as I get healthier. As my bmi goes down, so does my risk for all of those fat-person co-morbidities that would eventually kill me. It's something to keep in perspective when we hear of a fatality due to surgery. Good luck to all the March sleevers!

Today is my first day back at work. I was sleeved Monday so was off work for 6 days. Feeling good and glad to be back. I put on my work clothes and had my first NSV. I was able to button the top button on my dress shirt. Normally I just use my tie to hold my shirt closed but today the button gets to do its own job. That was exciting! Looking forward to lots more of these discoveries.

I POOPED! Sorry for the TMI, but I was excited. I was sleeved on Monday, had my last BM on the previous Saturday and nothing since. I took milk of magnesia on Wed and Thursday and nothing. I took Miralax yesterday and today and finally got some results tonight. I'm also down 4 pounds in surgery, and 19 pounds since starting my pre-op diet. Yay for the new me starting to rear his sexy head!

If its from gas try Gas-X strips. They helped me. I got mine at Walgreens.

My surgeon takes pics of the surgery and offers to let you see them. The last one of my photos was my removed stomach laying on the table. That's when it really hit home what I had done, and how irreversible it is. Definitely surreal for sure!

Great job!I walked a mile today for the first time post-surgery. I'm 4 days post-op so I can relate to how you felt. Keep up the great work!

I was sleeved first thing Monday morning. When I weighed on Tuesday I was up 13 pounds. Today when I weighed I was still up 6 pounds. How far out from surgery were you when you finally showed a net loss after surgery? I know it's just water weight from all the saline but its still frustrating.

Just an update. I am 4 days post-op and I am finally down a pound. Hoping for lots more in the coming weeks and months!

It's a calibration tube that's used as a guide for the surgeon so that they make your sleeved stomach the correct size. They put it down your throat and into your stomach and then the surgeon cuts the stomach around it. The bigger the bougie, the more of your stomach that is left. Here's a YouTube link that explains it in detail.

I took my resting heart rate today and noticed it was about 15 bpm lower than below surgery. I was sleeved on Monday. I'm feeling fine so I wasn't too worried about it.

I was sleeved on Monday, and am going to Arizona with my kids for spring break. I was told I couldn't swim until my incisions were fully healed. How long was it until your incisions were fully healed? I have 24 days from surgery until my trip. Hoping its enough time!