SerendipityHappens

I'm two weeks out and I ate nearly an entire egg with 3 tablespoons of refried Beans for Breakfast. I ate it in about 10 minutes (which seemed like a long time to me considering that it would have been inhaled in 30 seconds presleeve) For lunch I set a timer for 20 minutes. I ate nearly 1/2 cup of heated cottage cheese and 2T of tomato sauce during that time and again, was satisfied but not "full" no pressure, no sliming, nothing.

I hope this doesn't happen to me! When I was right out of surgery, anything very cold would give me stomach contractions, but this resolved in a few days. Hot things still feel really nice, but cold is fine too. Icy things don't apeal to me though. I haven't had a popcicle or anything yet, it just doesn't sound yummy.. but very cold drinks are fine. When did this start happening to you? Is this something new or has it always been this way for you since being sleeved?

I weigh daily and record losses in MFP, if my weight fluctuates back up, I don't record the gain and then will record the next loss when I see that I am below my last recorded weight. I count my wednesday weight in order to track my weekly progress. I had a three week stall during my preop process.. I gave my scale a bit of a time out during that time because I was getting frustrated, but ordinarily I'm not bothered by fluctuations or up to a week without any loss so I like to weigh daily.

My diet allows nuts at week four but says to wait until after week 7 for seeds. Ground seeds and nut butters are ok earlier, but whole seeds they say to wait until after 7 week.

Most of us fail because we cannot sustain the calorie deficit on our own.. This surgery helps us with this.. I can create a calorie deficit without surgery, but after the weight starts comming off, my body is like "WHAT IS THIS???I'm losing my precious fat.. QUICK, release the hounds of hunger" and then I'm so powerfully hungry I just cannot force myself to eat at that calorie deficit anymore.. With this surgery it helps with that. Now I'll be able to stick with a calorie deficit long enough to lose and maintain my weight. Sure exercise is an important part of that. I also track my calories so that I know for certain that I'm creating a calorie deficit, but for me the whole purpose of this surgery is to make it so that I can COMFORTABLY eat less.

Thanks! No narcotis for me. They gave me some Nalbuphine the day of surgery and I took Ketorolac (an NSAID) sublingually for two days after surgery and I haven't had so much as a tylenol since. The stuff they sent me home with remains untouched.. I'm one of those who tends to "overdo" it physically unless there is pain involved so I liked having a bit of discomfort in my incision sites to remind me that I just had surgery.. My actual sleeve though hasn't felt anything since I was in the hospital and having contractions if it wasn't for the nausea I felt at first and the few days of contractions, I'd swear they hadn't touched my stomach at all!

at 3 days post op I had two cups of broth in one sitting and could have gone on for infinity if it was not for the sodium content.. Anything Fluid just runs straight through my sleeve... which is a good thing, no dehydration for me!

I am following my post op diet.. this is the stage I am on...

About 8 years ago I bought a blouse at Lane Bryant which was my size at the time (22/24) but always was a tad too tight around the hips to wear... Then I gained more and more weight until it couldn't even fit on me at all. Yesterday I was looking through a magazine and noticed that lace inlays in shirts is in style this year (ya know the kind of tops you wear a colored camisole under and the lace parts are see through.. but not in a skanky way) Anyway, I remembered this old blouse from years ago and what do you know, it is in style again AND.. is almost too big! I have to wear it quick so I get the chance! I also found a lovely pair of white slacks. Why on earth did I ever buy those? they never fit and they're WHITE... but I tried them on and they fit perfectly and look AWESOME.. It's a bit early for white pants, but I'm going to wear them anyway now before they get too big! I LOVE closet shopping...

Here's my timeline... May 2012: already eating lots of healthy food but ALSO eating plenty of "naughty foods" as well and craving refined flours and sugar like crazy. Started incorporating vegetable juicing into my life. Added more and more juice daily. August 2012: 30 day juice fast. CHANGED MY LIFE! seriously, I felt better and wanted to feel this way all the time. I discovered that there was something in my diet that was definitely causing inflammation in my body because my joint pains went way while on the juice fast. September 2012: went off the juice fast but continued juicing daily and tried to be careful about adding junk into my diet. October 2012 Joint pain was back in full swing.. gained what little weight I lost on the juice fast and was back up to 335. Still ate primarily home cooked healthy meals heavy on the vegetables and included juicing in my diet, but also gave into my cravings for junk too. November 2012 Joined VST, decided on the sleeve, picked my doctor. December 2012 Began 800 calorie VLCD Had two or three Protein drinks or servings of cottage cheese and a lean and green meal, plus optional snacks: 1 egg, 1/2 piece of fruit, 1 ounce of nuts... as long as I kept my calories around 800. January.. continued VLCD..Took two days off February.. continued the VLCD, took two days off. During theVLCD I didn't consume any Cereal grains, starchy vegetables or legumes. My joint pain again went away completely. I now know that my issues are likely tied to wheat. so Wheat may not be making a reappearance in my post VSG diet! February 27: Started my two week preop, which was almost identical to my VLCD except it did not include the optional Snacks.. which by this point I didn't care about anyway. March10: Start three days of clears, March 13th Surgery day. I definitely think that doing this lengthy preop preparation helped me soooo much mentally prepare for the sleeve. I'm not suggesting that you should do something as drastic as I did... 800 calories on a full size stomach is pretty extreme, but definitely starting some sort of program preop would be helpful.. also getting used to the Protein Drinks takes some time, so it's nice if you can even replace one meal a day with a Protein Drink while your palate gets used to them. Also, I didn't give up soda pre-surgery, but I rarely drink them anyway because they're not good for you. I had maybe 4 sodas during my 3.5 months leading up to surgery.. I also practiced sipping Water and not eating and drinking at the same time. Best of luck!

Congrats on making it past the midway to goal point! It's a huge accomplishment! I've lost 80 but still have 130 to go which just feels like SO MUCH sometimes. Thanks for sharing your accomplishment with us, it really is inspiring to your fellow High BMI'rs to see the success that you're having!

This was actually sounding interesting to me until you added the "and baked" part.. why ruin perfectly good cookie dough and brownie batter by baking it?

I haven't noticed... but then again, I am a foodie to the core.. I still enjoy conversations about food. I still watch food porn. I've been "recuperating" at my sister's house and I've cooked every meal for them...(Asian inspired burritos anyone?) When I'm not cooking, talking about food, or watching food porn, I'm researching healthy recipes to get me through my stages. Now that I will only be having small portions, it's even more important to me to have every flavor right and savor every bite rather than put on the ole feed bag. Talking about food, researching recipes, cooking... all of these things actually make it EASIER for me.. I'm NEVER going to stop being a foodie.. I'm just going to be a healthier one now!

I was admitted the night before surgery and they did all of the preop stuff the night before because my surgery was the first of the next morning. They did my bloodwork, blood pressure, heart rate and an EKG. After my tests I took a shower watched some TV and went to sleep. The nurse woke me up at 5AM and they put in the IV , then the surgeons and anesthesiologist came in and talked to me and by 6ish I was being wheeled down to the operating room. I had cabrera/valenzuela at MiDoctor.

My recovery has been EXCELLENT. I was drinking 80 ounces of fluid the day after surgery feeling almost no restriction for fluids and have had no problem so far progressing through my dietary stages. I did have some stomach contractions and nausea during the first few days but it was not severe. I've also been very fortunate in that I have not had any hunger!!! Seriously, I have been sooo blessed so far with a textbook perfect recovery.

Welcome Amber! I was only sleeved two weeks ago, but I've been around here on this board since November. I started my weight loss journey at a similar BMI as you (I was 360 pounds with a 60 BMI!) and I decided on VSG when I was 335 pounds I am two weeks post op and am so happy with my decision so far. Stick around here and learn as much as you can. I learned soooo much from the folks here at VST and there haven't been any "surprises" during my recovery process.

This is when it all starts getting REAL! I'm two weeks out and I still can't believe that after so many months of waiting, I'm finally sleeved! Enjoy your preop!

Our van was pulled over for further inspection and one of the women with us had to get taken out and fingerprinted and they kept saying that she had a restraining order against her, etc.. She did not have a passport and they were questioning her identity, her address, EVERYTHING. We were held up for over an hour while they did research on her identity. Can't help but wonder if things would have gone smoother if she had a passport or enhanced driver's license.

I'm 41 and I started my preop at 335.. I did two shakes(or cottage cheese) and a lean and green meal plus I could include: an egg, an ounce of nuts, half a piece of fruit as long as my total calories was 800... sometimes I'd have some beef Jerky or a pickle . I'd often juice some vegetables and have a glass of juice and 6 ounces of fish for my dinner as my lean and green.

As long as you have advanced enough post surgery to include nuts then what's the problem.... as long as you don't overdo it.. They have a lot of calories for a very small portion so you just have to be careful that you are not going over your desire calorie threshold.

I started my inital preop on December 3rd. I did an 800 calorie VLCD until I started my actual preop diet which was also 600-800 calories. I lost 45 pounds in three and a half months... on similar calories that I can expect for the first 6 months post sleeve. (once I can eat a bit more.. right now I'm at 600 calories ) Yeah, it's slower than some, but It's REALLY good for me so I'm not going to complain!

OOOOHHHH lovely breastcicles! Me too!

Mine look like deflated flat balloons and I'm only 80 pounds into my 210 pound journey and I was never larger than a C cup even at 360 pounds... Yes, they're gettting nipped, tucked, lifted and stuffed... Small I can handle, but I really don't want spend the rest of my days tucking my boobs into my pants.

We're always going to have to watch what we eat. If you are really struggling with carbs, and by carbs I don't mean the carbs from spinach and cauliflower.... but if you're struggling with starchy carbs and sugar then it might be a good idea to completely cut them out for a month or two.. they try to add them back in moderation.. If you fail, then cut them out again and start the process over. That's what I was doing preoperatively and I was having some success. I can now eat a single piece of candy without going crazy. I hope one day to be able to enjoy all my favorite foods the same way. For me I was never able to simply "cut back" but cutting them out completely for a time and then slowly reintroducing them seems to work better. Yes, I've failed on this.. and had to cut out again and start over, but it's a learning process and I'm determined to learn moderation with my favorite foods before I die.