SerendipityHappens

Can you describe the location and nature of the pain?

I've been drinking 12 ounces of coffee a day since 3 days post op. I was told not to overdo it but one or two cups was fine. I actually put a scoop of protein powder in my morning coffee since I'm not a "breakfast person" so two birds with one stone.. I get my morning jolt.. AND 25 grams of protein!

Walking, walking, walking, walking, walking.... and time. Short frequent walks are best.

Just something for all you grazers out there.. BERRY FLAVORED LISTERINE STRIPS... I hate chewing gum because I can't chew it lady like (I always look like a cow chewing her cud) but when I'm cooking or passing by food, I pop a listerine strip in my mouth and my palate is ruined for at least 15 minutes so I'm not tempted to pop anything into my mouth. I buy the strips in a three pack and they last a really long time and I can carry them very discretely in my pocket.

Yeah it stinks but I'm learning to adapt. I try to include something moist such as a dollop of greek yogurt with my meal. I do "drink" with my meal just enough to take my Vitamins.. about two tablespoons of Water.. I don't suppose that's enough to even count. A lot of people are raised to never drink with their meals... but I always drank a LOT with mine so it's been quite an adjustment

And people wonder why so many of us go to Mexico....$4,500 covered everything except airfare and gratuities. I'd have stayed home if I could have found comparable care for even TWICE the cost but the price I was quoted locally was over $20K and who knows about additional fees.

Great routine.,. Staying compliant with Vitamins is really hard for some people so having a regular routine is really important! Here's mine: Wake up. pop my synthroid. hit snooze..... 20 minutes later get out of bed and do my morning hygene routine and get dresed etc.. Take out six calcium citrate pills, four multi Vitamin capules, one Iron capsule, one b-12 sublingual, and two probiotic beads. Pop two of the multi vitimins into my mouth and toss the rest in my pill box, Toss all the other pills into my pillbox EXCEPT the iron which gets left on my nightstand.. Then I take the pills in my pillbox throughout the day.. When the pillbox is empty.. I'm done... When I get into bed at night, I pop the iron pill. Done.

Did your doctor tell you you have to crush them? If so, then follow his orders, if not then perhaps you don't need to? I've been swallowing all my pills including my tablets and they go down great.

I lost 13 pounds in the first two weeks then STALLED for three weeks.. then lost three more pounds.. then another week of nothing.. This week so far I have lost three more pounds. Stalls happen. For me, I have one of those super fancy body composition scales so it was interesting that I could see my body Water percentage climbing.. It actually increased by the equivalent of 10 pounds..So If I hadn't been gaining water weight.. I wouldn't have been in the stall! My BF% was actually going down during this time sooo REEEEEAAAALY it wasn't a stall, it just looked like one because the pounds weren't moving. The reason my body water percentage went up is because I went from being in ketosis, to increasing my carbs as I introduced new foods into my diet. When you go out of ketosis, you gain water. Stalls happen... they are NORMAL. If you are eating how your are supposed to and getting a reasonable amount of exercise. (and my doctor told me nothing more than light walking for SIX WEEKS post op) then it's not your fault, it's just your body adjusting.

You also have to remember that you lost a lot preop as well! Assuming your preop was 2 weeks long, that's 24 pounds in a month... Average of SIX POUNDS a week. Sounds good to me!!!! At two weeks out I was down 13 pounds from my surgery date... Then I didn't lose another stinking pound for three weeks (actually I gained four pounds then slowly shed them over the three weeks timeframe).. Then I lost three more pounds then nothing for another week... Then this week I'm already down three more pounds! I did 3.5 MONTHS of preop and my average loss was 3.5 pounds a week. Since my surgery my average loss is 2.5 pounds a week.

I don't know the answer to this question, but I can tell you that you can have IV fluids outside of a hospital. When I was in Lebanon I contracted Ecoli and the village doctor sent me home with an IV bag to rehydrate me. He gave me an extra bag and showed me how to change it... My uncle in the US needed IV antibiotics and he was hooked up in his home as well..

OK Ladies, Is this more your speed??? I'm actually going to be getting something similar.. Basically a long swim shirt and swim tights.. No hood for me though.. I'm so risque!

I am almost 8 weeks out and I'd say it's about 85% easier...I do have some hunger which is easily satisfied when I consume my small meal. I mean SOME hunger is good... the "want to gnaw my own arm off hunger" that I used to experience pre-sleeve is not so good. Mentally I've had some cravings and I've given in a few times but NOTHING as serious as pre-sleeve.. Pre-sleeve, giving into a craving ran the risk of setting off a full on binge, but now If I eat a few bites it is enough to satisfy even without feeling that "sick overstuffed" feeling that I USED to need to feel before I felt satisfied. Don't get me wrong, I still WANT junk.. I want it often.. but saying "no" is SO MUCH EASIER now!

Why is it that this always seems to happen at the milestone weights.. When I was struggling to get under 300 I stalled at 301 FOR EVER!!! Like THREE WEEKS! Then one day I was magically 297. I think the scale is a very sadistic instrument!

I had a problem with my IV blowing through my veins and I only received a small portion of the fluids they wanted to give me and I still managed to gain 10 pounds in the hospital! Took me a week to lose it too! I don't count those ten pounds.. I consider my post surgery loss to be from my weigh in on the day of surgery.

Awwwe, I totally feel your pain, there were times on my preop diet that I had to go have a cry in the bathroom because I NEEDED Doritos.. I work in a convenience store and I am confronted with them.. but a customer opened up her pack right in the store and I swear I could smell the radioactive cheesy goodness... so there I am a 40 year old grown woman crying over a bag of chips. I felt so stupid and crazy.

Aussie, I recognize your experience as valid. Some people do have perhaps too much restriction after the surgery.. that does not mean that this is everyone's experience. I am only 7 weeks out and I still enjoy food immensely. I progressed through all my phases of the post op diet easily and was eating at near the "maximum" ammounts suggested by my doctor. I had a longer than average stomach.. so even with a sleeve that is done properly.. and mine was done properly with a 32 bougie triple line staple AND an oversew.. entire fundus removed, my sleeve is still going to be bigger than many other people becuase my stomach is LONGER so it can hold more volume! I eat around 3/4 of a cup of food and feel "satified" If I wanted I could eat more until I'm "full" but I try to avoid that. I was told that I can expect to eat around 6-8 and at times up to 12 ounces of food once my sleeve has matured completely... that's TWICE what you can eat. Now if I threw in some Snacks like say a handful of my beloved cashews.. some ice cream while watching tv at night, a bag of chips on my way home from work... well you can see where I'm going with this.. I HAVE to log everything carefully and pay attention to what I'm eating or I will not lose this weight. I recognize that your experience is different... but please recognize that your experience is YOUR experience, and there are many MANY of us out here who have to work really hard to realize our weight loss goals.

I spend my first week losing my Water weight. At the start of week 2 I was back down to my surgery weight. I lost a crazy amount of weight during week 2.. something like 12 pounds making my total for the month of march 24 pounds... which included what I lost for the two weeks of preop. WOO HOOO... Then the next week.. nothing.. the week after that NOTHING.. and after that STILL NOTHING... For the entire month of april I lost a whopping THREE POUNDS!!!! Now in in the first week of may, I've already lost three pounds-the same amount that I lost during the entire month of April and I expect this to be a good month for me. I also expect other "bad" months in my future. Stalls are normal! Even stalls of several weeks are normal... so sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride!

BROTHS saved my life during liquid phase. Unflavored Protein powder in some chicken broth was such a nice break from all the sweet stuff I was drinking. just don't add too much powder.. unflavored does not mean tasteless... it HAS a taste so go easy with it. For puree... my favorite meal was curried lentils (lentils cooked in tomoes, garlic, ginger, indian spices) topped with cheese and greek yogurt.... don't knock it till you try it. Also eggs were on my puree list. scrambled eggs with a bit of refried Beans and Frank's red hot sauce.. yummm Oh and hummus is yummus all by itself! Cottage cheese(use 1% or at least try to drain some of the whey off) topped with spaghetti sauce and Parmesan cheese and a few shreds of mozzarella. microwave.. enjoy For me meats were not allowed on my puree phase, even if they were pureed so I didn't have any, but if you are allowed pureed meats during this time, people have been raving about puree'd chili

Me too... but I love the whole egg.... Eat the whole egg!

I like to think in terms of good, better, best... it's GOOD to take your vitamins all at once.. but it's better to try to divide them if you can.... if you can't, then settle for the good, at least you know you're getting them in.. but do remember about the not combining iron and calcium... I take my iron just before bed that way I know there's no conflict.

Myfitness pal allows you to do that.. click on goals and then choose the manual entry.. you can adjust your percentages until it's giving you the appropriate number of protein grams.

Right you are! If you make your own yogurt, you actually get less lactose than store bought because you control how long the yogurt processes and the yogurt cultures eat up a good portion of lactose.. Store bought yogurt processes for less time and also frequently has added starches for thickness so more sugars. Straining the whey off of yogurt to make greek style yogurt will also reduce the lactose in your yogurt because the whey has a higher proportion of lactose in it than the rest of the yogurt... Oh my gosh, I'm such a nerd.. why do I know this stuff?

I was required to take an acid blocker for the first month following surgery and then play it by ear from there.. I haven't had any acid problems since I stopped taking it three weeks ago. If I do have any issues, I just need to take a 14 day course of omeprezole (sp?) from walgreens and go from there. There ARE certain foods that for me do trigger reflux.. or at least they did in the pre-sleeve world, fortunately it was all food that I'm avoiding now anyway so no problems for me!

I'm 7 weeks out and I log all my food and yes, I stick to a set amount of calories/protein grams etc.. but OMG it's SO MUCH EASIER than in the pre-sleeve world..