johnlatte

You will be able to enjoy food, you won't have the hot torrid love affair that you had with it previously, but instead it will be more a casual friendship. All I can tell you about getting things down is to go very slow. Don't use straws, try to stay hydrated and not worry so much about anything else. I was on a 2-2-2 post op plan 2 weeks of liquid, 2 of puree 2 of soft. Just go slow and and be patient. Liquid first, then worry about the food part. Hang in there!

I had to hit 50lbs before anyone noticed, then I got 3 "notices" all in one week...

Eating and drinking together, is something that I would not do. Eating nachos and slush again is something that I would not do. But as I tell a lot of people on this board, your level of success is directly tied to what YOU decide to do. I can't absolve you from what I think is an unwise decision, but you are the one that has to make the call. Eating and drinking together certainly won't be of too much harm, neither will obesity up to a certain point. Enjoy the movie.

As long as you are sipping and not gulping it won't be much of a problem. The liquid doesn't stay in your stomach at this stage it more or less moves on through. As you heal, you'll start feeling the restriction more.

I tried it, not a real fan of it. I just eat the real thing.

You body starts to figure out what's going on and adjusts accordingly. Believe it or not, you probably need to eat more than you are now to get the weight to start coming off. I know that's hard to do, but to get the body to burn more fuel, you have to provide that fuel. Otherwise it will do everything it can to hold on to the energy (fat) that it has stored up. I'm sure that they told you that at this stage you need to eat somewhere where around 800-1200 calories a day. I know how hard that is, because I can't get there my self (almost 4 months), but I am trying to at least keep my protein/carb ration to about 2-1. I'm losing slowly too, but I am not really worried about it too much. It does get frustrating at times, but a 2 pound a week loss, is a good way to make sure that the weight stays off and you aren't losing muscle instead of fat. Hang in there it gets better!

I could debate the answer from your nutritionist. Most nuts are higher in Proteins than carbs. For a short term snack almonds or cashews (both unsalted) would not be a bad thing. Now, they are higher in fats, but not a bad fat (not hydrogenated). So for a cruise, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I eat a handful of nuts pretty much every other day and it is a good snack and give you a crunch factor as well. Bars are okay, but there's so many out there and so much junk in some of them you have to be really careful. I'm not a bar fan, but I'm liking Quest bars right now, and they have about 20g carbs and about 24gs proteins. The other thing to consider is that you have to look at what you eat across the board, not each individual meal. Sometimes in a meal, my carbs are equal to my proteins, but at the end of the day, I adjust and I shoot for about a 2-1 spread. Jealous about you going on a cruise (love cruising) Have fun

The foot surgeon I wouldn't worry about, but your PCP can be a great advocate and assist in your ongoing recovery. Mine is really supportive of my decisions and has helped me a ton. I would mention to him your fears, he may not have to write anything down. On the other side of the coin, I didn't tell anyone either, but I didn't try to hide the fact either. I'm not ashamed of taking the steps I needed to gain back my health and life. I was more ashamed of my weight than I would be for taken the steps I did. I'm not one for putting my business out there, but I won't duck it either. Good luck!

i have recently become single again (since surgery), but I don't think that it had anything to do with the surgery. More about the lack of overall support and communication.

I think that it is natural to fear regaining the weight. We all have been in the endless cycle of losing and gaining and losing and gaining again. I think you have to take a different approach this time with the sleeve. Sure there is a possiblity of gaining weight, IF you fall back into the habits that got you to point of needed the surgery to begin with. Learn those good habits early on in your process and you will have a better chance of success. We are very much like an former alcoholic that is just one drink away from going back to being an alcoholic. We have to focus a little bit more, work a little bit harder. That doesn't mean we can enjoy eating and eat the foods that we love, but use the sleeve as a guide. It will certainly tell you when you've done too much. Getting in the mindset that you will not return to your old ways is also key. I haven't done it yet, but I plan to cleaning out my closets and getting rid of anything that is too big now. I've been up and down the scale so many times, that I have clothes of every size. But no more. I didn't sprawl full out on a cold OR table and let a group of strangers cut out my stomach to go back to where I was. Keep a picture of your former self somewhere and look at it regularly to remind yourself of where you've been. I don't think that you'll go back to that person anytime soon. Hang in there!

johnlatte - same as here. Need my VSG peeps to hit me up on MFP!!!

how about tracking what you eat (maybe with myfitnesspal), eat less of it and exercise more? Knock off the junk food, the empty calories, the alcohol. Get plenty of water and try to walk about 1 mile a day (or 10000) steps. You should be in good shape by the time you have your surgery.

No not really. No real nutritional value, as they are mostly starch -> carbs. There are healthier alternatives to potatoes.

What's done is done. However you really need to focus and do the best you possibly can to reconcile your relationship with food and impulse eating. If you do this pre-op, you will have less problems post op. One of the purposes of the pre-op diet, along with the liver thing, is to help get the mental aspects of this new lifestyle in place. Going off the rails post op could be really problematic and could cause severe complications in your recovery. If possible, you might want to schedule some time with your nutritionist and map out some specifics that will help you along the way. Good luck!

At six weeks I was just getting cleared for solid food. I still really haven't gotten to a full 3oz of any specific food, and I was sleeved almost 4 months ago.

i was sleeved on a Tuesday and was back in the gym the following Monday. Now, I walked on the treadmill, but about 2 weeks later, I was doing more. Your Dr. should give you clearance on when you can start lifting. I had to wait a couple of weeks before I could lift more than 10 pounds.

I didn't want a foreign object in my body and I didn't want to mess around with adjusting it post - op. The sleeve has worked well for me, and yes absolutely I would do it again in a heart beat.

i shop the smiling g all the time, Probably 70% of my clothes come from there. I don't feel bad when they get too big (or to little, pre-sleeve). I just re-donate them back.

It is very typical. If you have been diagnosed with apnea, a second study is done with the cpap machine in place.

Everyone loses at a different rate. It is difficult to say what is "average". People with higher BMIs seem to lose more and at a faster rate initially than those that have lower numbers. It also depends on your post op diet plan. Some Drs. release their patients to go on regular food sooner than others. Some skip the puree portion altogether and start soft foods, like a week after surgery. All of that is going to factor into what your weight loss average is going to be. I would say that 3 weeks out, and down 25 isn't a bad thing at all.

I wish you nothing but success. I hope that you will make the commitment to follow the path to health and life. The next few days are going to suck, and the next few months won't be great either, but if you are truly committed to real change, you have a decent chance of making it through okay. If you think otherwise, you might have not made the best decision to have this surgery. Again - good luck to you.

I stopped posting for a while because I was getting offline critiques about everything I posted. Then some of the vets were accused of thread hijacking and posting inappropriate things. I bowed out for a while and wrote a couple of blogs posts. I really want to help those going through the process, but I will not take crap from people. It's okay to disagree, but don't send me offline messages about what I should or shouldn't say. Anyway, I am posting less frequently, but I do read a fair number of posts when I have time.

In theory there shouldn't be any "cheat" foods. With a sleeve you are only restricting the amount of what you eat, not what you eat. If you are having problems digesting a certain food, after a bit of time, you should be able to eat them. I would never deny myself something that I really wanted, that's the easiest way to fail. Denying yourself then giving in, leads to guilt, guilt leads to more eating, more eating leads to weight gain. Eating healthy 99% with an occasional treat, is just fine and is a sensible approach. Your sleeve will let you know when you've gone overboard.

Good job, glad you are doing well. Now comes the fun part as the weight starts rolling off. See ya over at MFP!

Do you have a gym or Y in your area? They usually know of a nutritionist in your area. You may have to pay out of pocket. Also the local hospitals usually have a nutritionist on site, for wellness care. You might want to call them. They may even take your ins. Good luck finding someone.