Gabi

Congratulations!

Hello, All. I was sleeved on 2/26. I'm a little discouraged because since about 12 days post-op, I've only lost about a lb or maybe 1.5 lbs. I know that is a bit whiney of me since I lost 15 lbs in the first 12 days post-op, but I need to lose so much and I know these first 6 months are the honeymoon phase of losing. My sleeve was very easy. No nausea and I was up and walking around the hospital almost immediately. I was released the next day and my pain seemed to be almost gone when I started having really bad pain upon getting up and down and eventually even while seated. But the P.A. said it was normal and would get better with movement. Then it was getting better and I could even sleep on my side when I must have aggravated it at work and now it hurts again. But I finally was able to take a nice brisk walk yesterday of about 1.5 miles. Hopefully that will jumpstart my losing again. One thing I noticed and I wanted to see if anyone else has, but my body has always done things differently from the norm. When I was losing fast, I was freezing cold at night. I would have to turn the heater up to what would normally be stifling hot for me, and then sleep under extra covers. I felt that way last night again, so fingers crossed.

Mine especially growls at night when I wake up to go to the bathroom. It even feels a bit like hunger at times.

How much Protein is too much? In the first 12 days I lost 15 pounds. Then I stopped losing. As I moved into Phase 3, I added yogurt to my shakes and cream Soups with unflavored Protein powder or chicken Soup flavored powder. But after a week of losing nothing, I gave up the cream soups. I kept the yogurt because it had no fat, 7g of carbs and 18g of protein. I was having trouble getting my protein in and that allowed me to double it in one meal. However, as I was still having trouble getting all my Proteins in, I have now added a protein bullet which has 42 grams of protein and only takes me about 15 or 20 minutes to complete. My nut says I need 70 to 90 grams of protein. Today, including all my vitamens, my yogurt shake, my protein bullet, chicken soup protein, and a laughing cow light wedge and 1/4 tsp of Peanut Butter, I'm getting 7 grams of fat, 41 grams of carbs, and 113 grams of protein. All together, it is less than 750 calories. Same yesterday. Is it possible to have too much protein? The nut said going over my amount was okay, but I don't know about this much protein.

Thanks to all. I haven't been getting all my Water. I usually only get about 40 ounces plus whatever I can count with my Protein. I'm going to focus on getting that down. I also haven't been able to do any exercise to speak of because I'm still having some pretty bad pain around the main incision site, but I managed to walk 30 minutes today. Now I have to get another 20 or more ounces of water to bring it up to 64 for the day. Don't think I'll make and know for sure I'll be up every 2 hours tonight running to the bathroom, but I'm happy to do that if it means I lose.

I was sleeved on 2/26. I don't really like my Protein drinks but i read here where orange juice and vanilla protien mix was tasty, and it is. I've been having about 4 ounces of orange juice each day, mixed with protien powder. (I use half the liquid so that I can get it all down. Getting 8 ounces 3 or 4 times a day was not going to happen.) Today at work a colleague who was sleeved in July by another doctor in a different state saw me drinking orange juice. She told me she was warned not to have orange juice or any acidic drinks for 3 months because it could dissolve where the stomach has been seamed together, or something like that. Has anyone else been told this. I'm a little worried about what harm I might have done.

I'm 13 days out and I have hunger occasionally, but not really bad hunger. I do want the things I can't have, but it is not an obsessive thing like it used to be when I'd try to diet. I started feeling "hungry" at about 3 or 4 days out, especially in the middle of the night. However, during the day when I feel hunger, it only takes a sip or two of a Protein shake to make it stop. The problem I'm having now is that since yesterday, I don't want to eat or drink anything. I'm still on full liquids and plan to stay on them for another week, though according to my progression, I can start purees tomorrow. However, I travel next week and fulls are easier to carry around with me and prepare in a hotel room. But I woke up with a terrible cold on Friday, and yesterday, I don't know if it was from all the coughing and the subsequent air in my belly, or the fact that my taste is being influenced by the cold, but everything, except chicken soup (unjury), makes me just a little sick to my stomach. Even Water.

Has anyone else experienced this? I finally had my surgery on Tuesday. Everything went well. I came home on Wednesday afternoon. There was some gas pain and soreness around my right side, but nothing Lortab couldn't handle. I would say that I am completely recovered today, Saturday, except for one thing. When I stand up, the site of the major incision is dimpled. It's a little more than that. That square inch and the sag below it are flat while the rest of my stomach still has rolls of fat. The top roll indents down to the incision and then pokes back up to complete itself around my stomach. The same for the giant roll of fat or flap of fat below it. It is like a tailor has taken a tuck in my skin. I have to be very careful when I move or I get a frightening pinching, stinging, burning pain almost like something is ripping. I often press my hand against that area to hold it up and that seems to help a bit. When I lie down, there is no indentation at the site. It looks as normal as a fat stomach with some bloody steristrips on it can look. It only looks strange when I stand up, and I only noticed it when I got home and stood in front of the mirror. I wanted to see if I could tell what was causing such an unsettling sensation. I showed it to my father tonight. He is a retired GYN. He says he has never seen anything like it. He says it might be perfectly normal, but he suggests that I try to see the doctor on Monday. I'm scheduled to see him on Thursday. I plan to call on Monday to see if he can fit me in, but I wanted to reassure myself that while this might not be normal, it is not unheard of. If you've experienced this, how long did it take before the pain went away? It is still very difficult for me to get up or down and I cannot bend over. Putting on my pants is tricky. I looked for a truss today, but I don't think they sell those anymore.

Thank you all! I'm 4 days out, I hope I am a little bit like Sandy. I don't expect it to look like normal tomorrow, but maybe by next Tuesday . . .?

Nurse Grace, I wanted to post a picture, but the battery on my camera is dead. I'll try to post one tomorrow. My plan was to email the picture to my doc's office before I call to see if they think I need to come in sooner. Laura-Ven, Thank you. I feel reassured. I had been telling myself it was normal, but then when the only thing stopping me from feeling 100% was that, and since 4 days out I am so crippled, and then, of course, my dad's reaction, I began to wonder. Would heat or cold make it feel better in the meantime?

No one event except perhaps the birth of my child. That's been a few years, though. I'm all she has and I was old as it was when she was born. I don't want to leave her alone any sooner than I have to. I don't want her to be embarrassed of me. Already, her kindergarten friends have teased her that her mother is fat. She hasn't complained, but I was there when it happened. I want to have the energy to do things with her and to get down on the ground and play with her. I want to be able to hold my head up when I see old friends from highschool, to be fine having my photo taken with my child, to not be embarrassed to meet new people.

I've always wanted to go skydiving, but I don't know if I'll try that now that I have a child depending on me (the reason I'm doing this in the first place.) I think I'll try to run some fun runs, take up gardening semi-seriously, maybe go camping in the Smokies with my little girl, karate?

I have not been obese since childhood, but I have been obese since early adulthood, and I'm w almost 49 years old. I'm 5'7" and weigh 330.6 lbs this morning. I will be having the surgery soon. I'm waiting to hear back when. I was scheduled for 3 weeks from today, but realized I couldn't do it then because of what will be going on at work at that time, so I've asked to reschedule to the day before Mardi Gras, wich will allow me 2 days of recovery before I have to take leave from work. I am certainly hoping to lose more than 1/2 my body fat. When I was 18, I weighed 121 lbls. I hope to get to get down to 150. I hope that isn't an unreasonable expectation. I understand the surgery is just a tool to help reset bad habits and change my lifestyle. I hope even if I don't lose the full 180 in the first 1 and a half, my lifestyle change will see me continue to shed until I get to 150 or below.

5'7" HW - 337 CW - 330.6 Size -26/28 (snug) Surgery - February GW before pre-op visit - 319.5 (<50 BMI or it's 2 weeks of liquid diet before surgery) GW - 150 (25lbs higher than my weight in my 20s.)

Wow! You are amazing! 130 before surgery is an incredible accomplishment!

All my insurance wanted was a receipt for some sort of "supervised" diet. I did Weight Watchers ONLINE for 6 months. I sent in my receipt and a print out of my "weigh-ins." I was approved. May have just been my insurance, but there you go.