rdt210

Love this! This is why taking your measurements periodically is so important.

Surgery weight 247 Current weight 212 5'8"

I took it 4 days after surgery and it worked in a few hours.

I'll be 3 months out this week and mine still grumbles and gurgles every now and then.

You sound just like me... I had no co-morbidities and am perfectly healthy and I had to gain about 8 pounds to be approved. It's beyond ridiculous, but a necessary hoop. I wore the heaviest clothes I had, left my jacket (with car keys in the pocket) and shoes on to get weighed. As soon as they record you at a 40 BMI, you can start losing. I've even heard of people wearing ankle weights on their weigh-in! Do whatever it takes!

I do Omaprazole (generic Prilosec) twice a day. I get them at Costco...it comes 3 packs of 14 pills each (42 pills) for around $16. So that's a 3 week supply.

I drank Diet Snapple tea as my beverage of choice right after surgery. I found it to be a lot sweeter than before surgery, so I watered it down by half with water.

I was 247 on 3/25, and 214 now (down 33 lbs). I'm 44, 5'8" and my initial goal is 175. I may go for 160 as a final goal.

Muscle takes up less space than fat (more dense). It's important to incorporate some strength training while losing so you lose more fat than muscle mass (which you don't want to lose!). Muscle uses more energy so the higher your muscle mass, the more of a fat burning machine you become! I do an interval training class 3 times a week (combo strength and cardio) and straight cardio the other days (elliptical, step, walk) and my weekly losses are usually in the 2-2.5 lb range. Today is my weekly weigh in day and I'm down 3.4. I don't track my food but I would guess I'm around 900-1100 CSL/day.

Start tracking your measurements. You will see differences when the scale doesn't move. I weigh once a week and measure once a month.

I just bought 2 pair of these a couple days ago (15 each). They do a good job smoothing out saddlebags and cottage cheese and I found them to be really comfortable. My biggest fear was wearing fitted pants with a t shirt that didn't cover my butt, but I got over it. Much better than my old, baggy ones....I was starting to look like a Justin Beiber wannabe with the hanging crotch. :-)

My doctor recommends that we take calcium citrate - it has a higher absorption rate, and can be taken on an empty stomach. It's a little harder to find - most products out there are calcium carbonate. Anyway, Citrical is what I have been taking - I started with the gummies (2 twice a day). Some folks don't like those because they add 60 calories to your day. Then I tried the Citrical "petities"... yeah, right. I usually don't have a problem swallowing pills, but those just don't work for me - I think it's the weird shape (they're almost square). Just yesterday at Target I found that Citrical has a sugar free chocolate chew - they are 15 calories and you only have to take 1 to get 500 mg. So that's only 30 calories per day and no sugar. I think I finally found the right product for me. Good luck!

This is what's working for me - I'm not suggesting this is the best way or the only... just my way. :-) It seems to be similar to what you are doing. I stopped logging everything after about 5 weeks when I was cleared for all foods (as tolerated). I am bound and determined not to be "on a diet" the rest of my life. The crazy thing is, when I track my food, I eat more. I know I do. I am so focused on "getting all my calories in" and that's all I think about. I can't even explain the freedom I feel now. I'm aware of the calories/fat/protein in foods by reading the labels, and I will measure out a "serving" to be sure that's exactly what I'm eating. Other than that, I make good choices, eat protein at every meal (and eat it first), I stop eating when I'm satisfied (I "slimed" one time, and that was enough - I definitely listen closely to my body now), and eat when I feel hungry. This means that I eat about every three hours. Just for grins one day I entered what I ate in MFP just to see where I was at - under 1000 calories. I personally think much less than that is not good. I do some sort of exercise mostly every day for 30 - 60 minutes - a class at the gym, a walk with the dog, or use my elliptical at home. I don't feel deprived at all - I have a glass of wine every now and again and some small ice cream treat almost every night. If I've learned anything from all the dieting I've done in my life, it's that depriving yourself of everything for any length of time is a recipe for disaster. I was sleeved on 3/25/13 and am still very much in the losing phase - once I hit maintenance I may go back to tracking for a few weeks just to see "what's what" and what I need to maintain. Right now I weigh myself on Monday morning and take my measurements on the first of the month.

Thanks Laura! That explains a lot. I was sleeved 3/25 and was a big water drinker prior to surgery. I've only been able to start drinking plain water about a week ago...til then it was all crystal light, sobe or vitamin water.

I hear ya... same thing happened to me. I rarely had heartburn pre-sleeve. It started for me right around 2 weeks post-op as well. I would take a Tums and that would settle it down (it would wake me up in the middle of the night). Finally called my surgeon and he put my Prilosec OTC twice a day (I take the generic, Omeprazole and get it at Costco - $15 for 48). Worked like a charm and I have been completely heartburn free ever since. Call your doctor and see what he/she recommends you take.

I was mortified when I moved to CA from MA over 10 years ago and learned about the weight on the drivers license thing! I lied back then and it was only about a 20 pound lie... now, my initial goal weight is what is on my drivers license!

So when someone asks "how are you" and you respond "fine" when you actually have a horrible headache and constipation (and they could possibly be suffering the same) you are being a liar?? I think everyone should see the movie "the invention of lying" with Ricky Gervais for some perspective. :-)

I didn't start B complex until week 3 after surgery. I tried a liquid and a chewable and both were so gross I couldn't do it. I ended up with a pill that wasn't that big and have been able to swallow them no problem. I'm not sure about so soon after surgery though. Trader Joe's has a sublingual B12 that's ok, but my doc wants me to take the complex.

I will be 6 weeks out on Monday and I have not vomited once. I think one thing that helped me immediately post-op was that I continued to take the anti-nausea medicine for almost 2 weeks to prevent getting nauseous and throwing up. I also (and still do) eat really slow (I was always a slow eater anyway) and use a salad fork or teaspoon. Once I started introducing foods back, I would (and still do) chew everything to the consistency of applesauce before swallowing. From what I've read, it seems like people vomit when they eat too fast or too much. when you try a new food, wait a few minutes before taking another bite to see how it goes down and settles. Your microwave will become your new best friend - it takes so long to eat sometimes that you'll need to re-heat your food. A typical meal for me now is about 20 minutes - and that's about 1/2 cup - 1 cup of food, depending on what I'm having. Good luck!!

I agree with Ms. AntiBand... just because I didn't tell everyone about my surgery in no way means I'm ashamed of it. I have told 4 people and other than my husband, and none of them are family members. Now that I'm post op I'm even more happy with my decision to keep it private. I don't want this procedure to define me. I don't want it to be the first thing people ask me about when they see me (no matter how good-intentioned they are). I don't want to see a look of disappointment on someone's face when I tell them I've "only" lost 17.5 pounds in 5 weeks (when I'm not disappointed in it). There are way more interesting things to talk about than my weight.

Great job! To the other posters here...if you haven't started tracking measurements you might consider starting, especially if you plan to exercise. It makes a big difference when the scale doesn't show a lot of movement. I weigh on Monday's and measure on the first of the month. I was sleeved on 3/25 and am down 17.5 lbs but have lost 3" off my waist and 3" off my hips. I also track upper arm, thigh, bra band, and chest. All went down at least an inch since surgery.

Step away from the scale! Try to weigh yourself once a week during the losing phase so you're not putting yourself through this torture. Once you hit goal you might consider weighing every day. I hope this gets better for you. :-)

I can relate to the sugar thing and I feel your pain... "detoxing" from it is brutal. Headaches and super tired (at least that's how it was for me). Thank goodness it only lasted abut 5 days (days 3-4 were the worst). This was my experience prior to surgery - I had cold-turkey cut out all sugar and flour from my diet back in 2010. But once it was out, the only way to keep it out was not to take that first bite. Basically you are forced to do the same thing post-op, but I didn't have that reaction this time. Probably because there's so much other stuff going on after surgery and your body is focused on healing itself. I'm 5 weeks post-op and I can honestly say that I don't want sweets, which is amazing. It's very strange what happens after surgery... I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. I have no cravings - I get hungry, but I have a hard time figuring out what to eat. Nothing sounds good. I wish you the best of luck!!!

I went back to look at the handout, and here's what it says: "One theory related to food tolerance in bariatric patients, is sometimes eating may be a stressful situation and not only do neck muscles tighten, but also esophageal muscles." (Helps to explain why one day a food is tolerated and another day it is not.)

At one of my support groups, our coordinator (she's a nurse) told us that when we get stressed our esophagus restricts - she said this could be the reason why we can eat more some days than others. I had never heard that and though it was very interesting.