Pepper Paul

Hi all. I haven't been posting much here, I've been crazy busy. I just wanted to check in. I've been riding my bike a lot for exercise. On Saturday, I rode my first century. It was 104 miles and about 4,000 feet of elevation gain. I was pretty proud of myself! Before the surgery, I had trouble riding 10 miles. So far this year I've ridden almost 1200 miles and have a goal of 2000 by the end of the riding season. None of this would have been possible without my sleeve. It has taken a lot of dedication to put in the miles on the bike, but the sleeve sure helped! My biggest issue with the century was getting adequate food and hydration during the ride. According to Strava I burned about 4,500 calories during the ride. It was 6.5 hours of actual pedal time. But I was able to do it. Next year I am going to do the Seattle to Portland ride (203 miles in 2 days). So don't think they because you are sleeved you can't do endurance sports because I'm here to tell you that you can! For anyone interested, I was sleeved in March 2013. My high was 360 and I'm now at 232. My diabetes is gone. High blood pressure is gone. sleep apnea is gone. Cholesterol went from elevated to normal. And I feel amazing.

The more you do it, the easier it gets. That combined with the fact that you'll be pushing less weight as time goes by, and it will get exponentially easier the longer from surgery you get. I starred riding before my surgery, and it was tough at 360 pounds. I started again about a month after surgery. I was sleeved a year ago March. I have ridden 1200 miles so far this year. Just keep with it, and within a few weeks to a month it will start getting a lot easier. Good job!

I clicked on the article and started reading, "A witch doctor was arrested and booked..." Got my attention until I realized it said Wichita!

1. Wife won't leave me alone now! 2. Rarely watch tv anymore. I always want to go outside and do something. 3. Getting comments literally daily about how great I look now. 4. Saving money because I'm biking to work now instead of driving. It's 20 miles round trip and at 12 mpg, it's saving me $6 each day. 5. I fit into movie theater and airline seats and restaurant booths now without having to shoehorn my fat into them. It's fantastic!

Is this private FB page? I'm interested in joining but a lot of people don't know I've been sleeved. I was sleeved 3/11 and am down 82 pounds so far. Feeling fantastic and tons of energy.

So holy crap! It's been quite a 3 months for me. My surgery was uneventful. No complications to speak of. I haven't had any issues with any foods not agreeing with me. I'm just over 3 months out and I'm down 75 pounds! I started at 360 and today I'm 285. I can't remember the last time I was below 300. I've been exercising a lot and have more energy than I've had in years. I mow the lawn twice a week and have even started to mow other people's lawns just because I enjoy the exercise. People comment literally every day how great I look. I was in 22" shirts and now I'm in 18.5". Before surgery I was in size 54 jeans and now I'm in size 42. Like I said, its been quite a 3 months for me. Best decision I ever made for myself! The photo is in the same shirt, just with 75 less pounds packed into it! I hated taking the first photo, I loved taking the second!

I am starting week two of C25K today. Week one went better than expected. My daughters, who are 10 and 8, decided they are going to donut with me. Of course, week one was ridiculously easy for them. To be young and in shape again! I can't wait to run a 5k with them later this summer though!

Here's a coupon for a free single serving of Panda Express Surf & Turf. We went today and it was a perfect size portion for me. It had three shrimp, three pieces of beef, and some veggies. I couldn't finish it and it was pretty good. Of course I wouldn't suggest going there all the time but it was a nice treat and it had protein and veggies. There were a few potatoes mixed in too if you wanted carbs, but I skipped it. You can also just show the coupon on your mobile device instead of printing it. The wife and I also rode our bikes there and back, which was about 7 miles round trip. http://www.pandaexpress.com/coupon/full/Free-SST-Coupon?utm_source=web&utm_medium=mobile&utm_campaign=Samurai%2BSurf%2B%26%2BTurf&noredirect

Sleeved 3/11. I've lost 43 pounds including pre-op diet. I had a stall but luckily I was out of town and wasn't weighing every day so I didn't know I was stalling. When I returned home after being gone for 11 days I was only down 4 pounds. Not knowing I was stalling sure made it easier to deal with! I've been home for three days and I'm down another 3 pounds in those three days. Perfectly timed stall!

It took awhile but I read through this whole thread tonight. I remembered it from when I saw it a month or so ago and thought it would be a good read. I wasn't disappointed. I did week 1 day 1 earlier today. It's amazing how much easier it is jogging now than before the sleeve. I've "only" lost 41 pounds so far, and am still a hefty 319, but I felt great. I am 5 weeks out on Monday and haven't had any issues getting in protein or water, and am feeling great so I figured I was close enough to start doing more than just walking. I started at 3.0mph for the 5 min warmup and then 4.0 for the jog. After a couple cycles of that, I increased to 3.2 walk and 4.2 jog. My last jog I did at 5.0 and then did my cool down at 3.4. I felt really accomplished, and am going to attempt day 2 at 3.4 and 5.0 for the walk and jog, respectively. I just wanted to thank everyone for contributing to this thread and giving me the encouragement to try to work up to a 5k.

Can you drink during the meetings? Have a couple protein drinks during the meeting and then you won't need to eat as much on your breaks. Good luck!

I'm with wlq. We took a trip to Arizona for spring break and for the first time in years I didn't need to get a seat belt extender for the plane. I made sure to point it out to my family!

I had my surgery on March 11th. Until tonight I have been feeling fantastic. Eating and drinking well. Walking 2-3 miles per day. Today when I was walking I got a sharp pain under my big incision on my right side. I slowed down and it changed to a full ache. I took it easy for the rest of the walk. It still ached when I got home so I took some of my liquid pain meds. That did the trick. I ate dinner without any issues. I work nights so I went to work at 9pm. I was feeling fine, and at 12:30 I drank a Protein shake. Shortly after I started sweating and my heart was pounding. I took my pulse and it was 120 bpm. After half hour it settled down to 80. Through the rest of the night I had no appetite which hasn't happened to me since surgery day. I had some discomfort in my left shoulder and in my back A couple hours later my heart rate went back up to 110 bpm and has been there for an hour or so. I called my surgeon when I got off at 5:30 And he suggested I go to the ER. So here I sit hoping and praying it isn't a leak. Please send positive thoughts my way.

We're flying to Phoenix and then driving from there. Thanks for the reminder though. It's about a 4 hour drive so we'll be sure to make a few stops.

Thanks everyone for the support. It was pretty unnerving but I'm glad it turned out to not be something serious. My big incision hurts a lot today, more than it has since surgery. I'm thinking I've been overdoing the walking this last week, as I've been walking 2-4 miles per day. I'll take the next couple days off since we hit the Grand Canyon on Tuesday and I'm sure ill be doing a lot of waking there. As a side note, I'm down 35 pounds since starting the pre-op diet on February 25th!

Well they just did a barium swallow and didn't find a leak. They are discharging me. I'm hoping its just an isolated incident! I was sure glad to hear they didn't find a leak or a blood clot though! Trip to Arizona is still on for now. That's great news because I wasn't looking forward to telling my 8 and 10 year old girls that daddy ruined spring break.

I ate a lot of puréed chili with a little bit of melted cheese on top. Tasted delicious. I'm in soft foods and I've had it a few times this week too because its so good.

They have a doctor from a (somewhat) nearby hospital on his way here to do the barium swallow. The ER doc here feels pretty confident it isn't a leak because he said he could see part of my abdomen in the CT scan he did and didn't see any pockets of fluids, and the fact that I don't have severe pain in my abdomen. I figure better safe than sorry. I'm wondering if maybe it was some sort of dumping syndrome? I've had those shakes lots of times before but maybe I drank it too fast? Anyone have any ideas?

CT scan and blood draw were negative for blood clot. I asked him about a barium swallow and he looked confused and said he would call over to radiology and ask about it. This hospital has no bariatric program so I fear if it is a leak in in the wrong place to get it diagnosed.

Sitting in a room. They did an EKG which came back normal. They drew blood (after poking me 4 times) to do a lab panel and now I'm waiting for a CT scan. He said he is more concerned about a clot than a leak. I need to convince him to look for both during the CT. Ugh this is not fun. We are supposed to leave for the Grand Canyon for Spring Break in two days. Praying it isn't anything serious.

Yep, I was up 13 pounds the day after surgery. Showed my first actual loss 4 days after surgery and it has been good ever since. You'll be fine if you stick to plan.

I am two weeks and two days post-op and am walking 3-4 miles per day. I feel like I could easily start jogging except that I was told to wait 4 weeks to start exercising again and I don't want to chance it. So there is definitely a possibility that you will feel up to it by three weeks. Whether you should or not, that's a personal decision. Good luck!

I'm sorry to hear of your leak Sanna. I'm glad you are doing better. How far out we're you when the leak was discovered?