msdenali

I felt that I was hungry all the time until I started eating "real" food. Are you getting all the Protein in? That helps. And enough liquid. I am 5 months out and looking back I feel that I was having more acid issues. Not hungry issues. I also found that taking my anti acid meds at same time every day helped and they do take a few days to get into my system. I only was eating 400-500 cals at 3 weeks out. It also took me a while to settle into a comfortable routine. I find that I can't "eat" in the morning. I do better with a cup of coffe and my 2 scoops of protien in my coffee. Get my protein over with pretty much. That keeps me full with drinking my liquids. hang in there you will keep trying different things and find the one that works best for you!

5 months out!! 63 pounds gone!! I'm feeling so good! I can walk, get on the floor(and back up), no back pain, no knee pain...I could go on and on. I have more to lose, but these pounds off have made a huge difference in my quality of life! Let's see. my typical day goes like this: Breakfast: 12 oz coffee with 2 scoops of protein powder, blue agave sugar, and on Sunday's I add an almond joy creamer. 48 grams of protein out the way! Lunch: if I eat any it is usually something very small. I don't usually get to feeling like I need something until around 3-4pm. I can have a lettuce wrap. Turkey, cheese w/ ranch in a lettuce leaf. (I like the butter lettuce b/c it rolls well and w/o tearing up) OR a piece of fruit/cheese or yogurt with healthy granola i found and flax seed. Supper: I don't eat any white bread, rice, potatoe, pasta. (I have found black bean tortilla at sams that I love.) Whatever I cook for my family is what I eat just altered to exclude the above. I feed them quinoa, fresh veggies.... and they pretty much eat whatever sides fit my diet better. I adjust my meat to their tastes. Which I'm very lucky and don't have picky kids or hubby!! I do have sugar free snacks and make sugar free stuff to snack on but usually I'm so busy I don't need it. My goal is to lose 10 pounds a month. I still have a hard time getting in all the water but it is getting better. water on an empty stomach makes me very nauseas! I still add lemon and that helps a lot! All suppliments are still the same. Only thing is I find my hair is falling out A LOT!!! hopefully it's from surgery and will slow down. kinda scary!! sure don't want to be skinny and BALD.. I do excercise. I walk outside with my boys and have an eliptical. 45 minutes on that is all I can handle! Minnie has given me quite the fright a couple of times. I went to have some dungenous crabs on a date night. DELISH! Minnie loved them!! And I loved them a little to much! On the "last" bite I swallowed some spicy juices and had to drink something. Just a sip to quit choking. OH MY WORLD!! it was a horrible time. lol I foamed and spit till I had a puddle beside my car! NEVER again will I ever push Minnie to that point!! I ALWAYS leave room for a small sip just in case I should need it!! And I have to be very carefull of vinegar. Very little vinegrette on my salad!! Or there will be a foamy mess! Haven't actually thrown up food, ever! Just the foamy stuff. THANKS GOD! I def. respect the "last" bite warning!! And I've learned to be content with whatever that amount is. lol No eating more later just cause it was good!! NO GRAZING! Well, that's about it for now. I hope ur journey has been as successful as mine. I get so many compliments now on my weight loss. People can really tell that I look smaller. For a while only the close friends that saw me realized. Now even the not so close friends look twice and make a comment! Feels good to be working hard and people can see the results...Finally! Used to aggrivate me how some "skinny" people can lose 10 pounds and it look like they lost 30 and went down 2 dress sizes!! Now I'm finally making headway! And I can celebrate in action instead of just a "celebration dinner"!!! I am determined to do a color run! I may walk it but I will do it!! Enjoy your VS journey!

Happy New Years! I am very excited about this new year! Especially since I'll be well on my way to a happier and skinner me! Let's see, I am 4 weeks out! WOW, ONE MONTH!! :wub: At times it seemed like I would never get a grip on this new way of eating and drinking, thinking, cooking, coping, and whatever else I can add that I thought would be normal and isn't... LOL And now that I'm at one month, I can honestly say I do feel some normality emerging. I believe that my brain has finally cought up with the proper portion that I can actually eat and that I no longer suffer from "big eye" as it is known in my family. You know, where your eyes are bigger than your stomach and you serve yourself to much food while absolutely certain that you would eat it AAAAalllll! hehe I have found that all animal protien doesn't work for me! I have to have both plant based protein, (beans and such) and animal protein to help my body. So I found that a low gi diet works well and has some good substitutions. I am very much enjoying my cucumbers again! Yes, I finally feel as though my mind, body and Minnie are all pulling together instead of in 4 different directions!! Yes, I'm still discovering that certain foods just don't go down as well as others. Yes, I can get in all my water IF I add some lemon(real lemon) without nausea!! AND the big one, YES! I can EXCERCISE!! on my elliptical for 20 min!! The protien bars and shakes are not my favorite things but I feel for now I must endure them for the protien count to get close to what it should be! I found that stringy chicken is difficult for Minnie but if I chop it up it is much better! I can not skip my anti acid pills! NO MATTER WHAT! The most amazing thing.... I have lost 30lbs!! This is the most I have ever lost with any weight loss effort!! So this is just starting to sink in that this will work!! My body is not an exception to the rule and I have invested into a fanatastic tool that WILL work with me!! That realization is worth it all and will bring the ultimate break through of reaching my goal weight! I go back to the dr in 2 weeks. I'll let you know how it goes! Reach the stars by setting goals and take it one day at a time. Blessings for the new year! Kris

hey Err122! I don't think I was prepared for the emotional battle either! It has been quite surprising for me to realize how much food dictated my life! You can do it though! Just focus on one moment at a time and eventually it will become second nature to you.

It is 2 weeks post-op and all is well!! I feel good. My incisions are healing up nicely and the soreness is pretty much gone. (unless I bend over to far) I'm not drinking enough water yet. Getting about 32 ounces in most days. I know it should be more but I get so nauseated with it!! I find that in the morning I can get more down easier. I can drink without the squeezing feeling now. I can't wait till I can get more water down though 'cause it is causing some bathroom issues!! hard ones!! if you know what I mean. I'm still trying to keep a sensitive awareness for Minnie to tell me when she's full. I do good and sometimes when I let myself get to hungry, I don't listen as soon as I should. Bad habits take over and I have to re-organize my thoughts. I honestly wasn't prepared for the emotional struggle being so strong. I knew it would be here and head hunger is real! Food plays/ed such and important part of my life. I truly thought that learning new recipies and balancing a healthy diet that my family as well as myself can eat would be the bigger challenge. I felt that if I could just put enough energy into cooking recipes that were tasty and fitting for us all I would be fine. And for the most part I am. BUT there are times when the emotions get all fired up and what I used to sooth them in the past just doesn't work anymore. It's like someone changed the passcode and I can't get to my feel good area!! Frustrating and It's definitaly a work in progress. Thank God I have great support of family and friends. I will take this time to warn everyone about having a love affair with the bathroom scale!! I loved my scale from the moment I got home from the hospital!! I made sure we saw each other frequently and the feeling was mutal. Until day 5!! Not sure what happened on day 5 BUT our relationship took a dive!! It said I gained a pound and then on day 6 it said I gained another!!! FREAK! Not sure why, I was doing everything by the book!! I was already on the break of the emotional reality of having to change my coping mechanisms and then this!!!! WHY? WHY?? Alas, I went through this torture for 2 days only to realize at 11pm on day 7 that my scale was playing cruel jokes on me!! Yes, I could stand on different areas of the scale and the weight changed each time. it went down 3 pounds or up 3 pounds!! just depended on where I stood!! LOL I could have died! All that turmoil for nothing!! So I ended my love affair with my scale. We have broken up for good! I don't know what I've really lost since surgery and won't know until tomorrow when I go for my check up with my doctor!! hrmph! I start my mushie food tomorrow and am very excited!! I did have an egg scrambled today and I can't say enough how good that was!! I know, I know, it was a day early and now I'm little nervous that I did something bad. BUT Minnie did just fine and didnt' hurt or anything soo I'm praying that means all is well. Will blog tomorrow to let you know the results. Oh and ALL I could get in was 1 egg.... Merry Christmas Oh and I can't wait to drive again!! I need to do some secret christmas shopping!!

Totally! I'm 8 days out and I lost 13 pounds by day 4. Now nothing!! Now the scale has gone UP 2 pounds!! What gives??? I'm soooo frustrated!! everyone says they stick to the instructions strictly as I've done. they have pounds pouring off. mee. nooo. I pray I haven't poured all this money in to this and now ti's over. 11lbs!! Seriously

Congratulations!! I am 1 wk post op as well. Sleeved 12/4. I have not ahad a problem with pain or general feeling bad so much as I was tired. Perhaps from lack of food..lol I have lost 12 pounds so far which I'm very thank ful for. But now 2 day and nothing!! I thought I would still be seeing a pound a day or something. I'm am really starting to worry!! I'm eating pretty much like you. No carbs unless it's bean soup. But nothing white. Which I can't eat anything yet still on full liquids. Another thing, that is kinda gross but I don't know who else to ask... I had diarreah for a couple of days after starting my shakes then nothing...No poops! I'm not hurting but I feel like I need to go and nothing...Maybe this is where my lost pounds are being held up at?? *sigh

Hello and Welcome to my very first Blog! I feel we have so much to catch up on, and at first I didn't really know where to start our first adventure. But I think I'll just begin with how Minnie and I met. December 4th, 2012. (Yes, just 7 short days ago!!) I had a Vertical Sleeve done at 12:30pm in Gonzales, La. My Doctor, Dr. Andrew Hargroder, and the hospital staff were wonderful! I met Minnie about 2 hours later! She was very uncomfortable and was letting me know it! After moving around and getting some gas out of my abdomen we both felt sooo much better. My son, Dominick, actually named "MINNIE". He said I have a "new" mini stomach! And from then on, Minnie, stuck! *smile* Now, Minnie, is very bossy about everything that goes in. No matter what I would like to her to have, she has the ultimate say on EVERYTHING! What time, how much, how big/small, cold/hot, ummm, yea, I'm not in control at this point! LOL However much I would like to think that I am... I'm NOT! We tried ice chips for our first taste test. That worked for about 1 day! Then it was broth! That is still her favorite thing so far! Our next adventure was a move up to "full liquids" per Dr. requirements. And have found that Greek Yogurt has taken 2nd place. It's a good thing Minnie knows what she wants because I find myself wrapped up entirely in a mind war! Keeping up with what I can offer for food and when, remembering to log all food into my fitness pal, worrying if I have enough protein and water, excercising enough and for Goodness sake don't even mention a plateau!!! I'll freak! I just want the maximum benefit from my adventures with, Minnie! It can be very frustrating. But friends and fellow VSG'rs all say just calm down do your best and it will be the best thing ever! So for now I'll have to take their word for it. Which is hard because everything I've ever tried failed. *sigh* It's almost to good to be true amd I find myself not allowing for high hopes for fear they wont' be realized. BUT Minnie has held true and taken me on an adventure I couldn't do by myself ever before. I actually WON a 'mind battle' yesterday and discovered something new about myself! I realized that I need to go to sleep earlier than I always do. (1am or later) Not just for obvious reasons, but because that is when my "munchies" start! I actually won to not eat anything, (shake/broth/jello all of which I could have legally had) just because it sounded fun and comforting. A great feat!! The boys and I were watching a christmas movie and I wanted something to munch. I could just taste something, anything, sliding down and filling my minnie to capacity. But I was NOT hungry! I was just fine. So I didn't eat anything. I did drink some flavored water, finished the movie and went to bed. I can't tell you how many times today, I found myself reaching for my sons red hots that he left on the table, or something else, just out of habit!! It looked good so I wanted it 'cause I just knew it would make me feel good to have something for me. A treat maybe? I really dont' understand why I have conditioned myself to this way of thinking but it truly must end!! I have purposed to find a more productive way of "treating" myself......Quilting and I make bows for our Dog Spa. AND when I remind myself that I have something better to do, I'm fine. I have purpose. so simple and I can't help but wonder, Have I traided boredom for food?? For immediate satisfaction?? What more could I have been doing all these years?? HMMMM.....well, it's something to work on and I really pray that a new habit can be formed in 30 days 'cause this is one that will be a benefit of MINNIE!! Thanks for reading and if you have any questions make a post and I'll answer the best I can. In the mean time blogging may end up on my "treat" list too.. hehehe

I had my surgery on Dec. 4th. I have done the light progresso soup strained to take out the chicken and noodles (which I fed my dog) then put carrots and cellery in mini blender. It made a broth but oh so tasty! :tongue2: Doc said I can have soft meats and very cooked veggies and such on day 15 which is on the 19th! Can't wait!! However I do like the greek yogurt and I can have low fat cottage cheese now. So that's something different. Also my creamy soups have done very well. I just don't do creamy potatoe and starchy stuff. And I watch to make sure the calories aren't over 500. My personal goal..I usually hit 250-450. Depending on the day. Hang in there, you are going to be a totally different looking n no time and you will be so proud of yourself!!