SMO

I am 3 months out and cannot tolerate either bread or salad. Lettuce is the only food that makes me feel like I am going to vomit. Bread is just too heavy. I was cleared to eat raw veggies at 3 months.

Brain chemistry. I read a study that indicated that our brains are quite crafty at getting us to ingest sufficient calories to avoid perceived starvation. You need to be very careful about withdrawal. If you are using that much alcohol every day, you will need doctor supervised detox. Cold turkey without medical attention can be deadly to a heavy drinker. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Are you taking a PPI at all? I saw you mentioned pepcid, but I think that is just an antacid.

Not all PPI medicine works for every person. You may just need a different kind. I can use just about anything, but only Protonix works for my husband. Also, how close to bedtime are you eating? I have never been able to eat and lay down without having reflux. Also, acidic foods give me heartburn now. Are you drinking lemonade or eating tomatoes or anything else high in acid?

This is the part I strggle with, too. Whatever I decide to do with regard to deviation (cheating sounds so ridiculous to me) from stage, I would never suggest to anyone - especially a newbie - that they follow my example. I could not live with myself if someone ate something because I said I did it and was fine only to learn that they suffered some complication later. Even if the two were totally unrelated I would feel terrible. I also don't jump on anyone for their choice. They make the choice - as do I - and they alone live with the consequences. That being said, God really does seem to take care of fools. A woman in my office had the bypass and ate fried cabbage and steak 8 days out from surgery. She also commenced smoking immediately and has returned to her regular Coke habit. She lives. And has lost at least 60 pounds. But I know that had I done any of those things, there would have been dire consequences. That is just the way it goes.

I have the same pain. It is slightly to the left of center. I am 3 months out and have had it since a couple of weeks out.

I don't know about the OP, but I was ravenous on the pre-op diet. But after surgery, no hunger at all. It was not the same for me at all.

Are you taking a PPI? If you are, you may need a different one. Hunger at that stage can be acid rather than true hunger. There is also great variation in the recommended diet at your stage. What are you allowed to eat right now? Many people advance their diets but not usually at 6 days. You are in a dangerous place to do that. Your stomach is raw on the inside and your nerves have not really healed. You have a lot of inflammation. You should not do anything without checking with your doctor.

I can eat a lot of different things at this point. I am nearly 12 weeks out. I cannot tolerate lettuce. The only time I have felt like I might vomit - I have not done that at all since surgery - was when I ate lettuce. I also cannot eat bread. I can eat any kind of meat or cheese or beans. I can eat crackers and pretzels - anything dry. I cannot eat pasta or rice. I can eat fruit and nuts. By 3 months, your eating options will be much more expanded.

I am 5'2" also. My high weight was 257. My surgery weight was 241 on 2/4/13. Today I weigh 211. The doctor has not mentioned a goal weight by number to me, but it is obviously 135 because she talks to me about being a percentage toward an unstated goal and 135 is around the top end of normal BMI for someone of my height. I can remember weighing that much in my twenties so I know that would be an appropriate weight for me.

As if to illustrate what I posted last night: I have been stalled for at least a week and posted last night that I was 214. I got up this morning and weighed and I am at 211. I love my sleeve.

I am 11 weeks out. My highest weight was 257. I lost 16 pounds in 8 months while awaiting approval. My surgery weight was 241. Today, I am 214. That is about 2.5 pounds per week. Of course, I did not lose it like that. I lost 18 pounds in 15 days and then stalled for two weeks. Then I would lose for a couple of days and stall for a few days. That being said, I am on track and content that the scale keeps heading down. I have not been exercising as much as I should and I bet if I did, I would be losing faster, but I am thrilled to be losing.

I craved dill pickles during my post -op liquid phase. I finally decided that I was sodium deficient. Sure enough, once I was able to eat food, the craving faded. I cannot eat bread but I was craving a corned beef sandwich so I got some corned beef and drizzled some dill pickle juice on it. It satisfied my sandwich craving.

I would think the path of least resistance would be back up and out of your mouth, not through a triple row of titanium staples.

I ate a bit of cupcake and it was awful! The cake was fine, I think. It was the frosting. It turned my stomach. I ate a bit of chocolate a couple of weeks ago and it just tasted different. Not as good as it used to. Sugar free popsicles seem to be the only sweet I can tolerate anymore. I just wish potato chips and French fries were as repugnant. I would be set for life!

I was very busy yesterday and sometime in the afternoon realized I had not had even 20 oz of water. I also had not had to urinate all day. I had a headache and a dull pain in my lower back. When I did go, my urine was very dark. It scared me a bit because I felt unwell. So I made a real effort to start drinking early this morning and by noon, I was feeling fine. I think I is possible to begin to feel poorly rather quickly, but you could also have had something else going on. Dehydration will cause low blood pressure which can make you dizzy or faint. Low blood sugar can do the same. Did you call the doc? Blacking out is nothing to mess with.

I struggle with the crunchy stuff too. I don't crave sugar but I miss chips and other starches. My brain seems to be the enemy because my stomach does not really experience hunger. Sometimes I think I must be an addict and the only answer is total abstinence. You are so not alone.

I was sleeved on a Monday at 7am and released the next day about 2pm. You will have to rest when you get home and concentrate on getting your fluids in. Some help will really be needed with your little ones.

My surgeon expresses his expectations in terms of percentage of excess weight at certain points. I am about 9 weeks out and have lost 43 pounds- 27 since surgery or about 25% of my excess weight. She wants me to be at 30% at 12 weeks. That is 4 more pounds. Some doctors are just jerks. 50 pounds is huge. How much of your excess weight is that? I bet it is significant.

My coverage has a $250 hospital co-pay and a $35 doctor co-pay. I have a $1500 maximum out of pocket which does not include co-pays and 20% co-insurance. That 20% is what comprises the $1500. So I had to pay the surgeon $450 which included my $35 co-pay and a $75 fee to pay NUT fees for one year. Then I had to pay the hospital a $250 co-pay and the balance of the $1500 for a total of $1860 out of pocket. The surgeon required his part up front. The hospital would have taken the $250 up front and let me pay out the rest, but I paid it all up front the day of surgery.

Promethazine. Anti-nausea medicine.

I am still not sure what "toasts" means. Regular white bread, Melba toast? I am 8 weeks out and cannot eat bread. Maybe half a slice of very toasted toast, but the one egg would fill me up and then the toast would not fit. Bread is not a slider food for me. It is a painful food to avoid. I guess it just goes to show how different each person is. But, I am intrigued and interested to know what "toasts" means.

Take it from those among you with a few more miles, you will regret the tanning. It is going to make you age faster. You will spend a lot of money trying to undo this. There will be no undoing it. There, lecture over.

This is my first Easter in years without Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs. I made my parents an Easter basket and then made one for my mother in law and I wasn't even tempted. I ate a Hershey's kiss a week or so ago and realized that chocolate does not taste the same. Bummer. RIP peanut butter eggs.

They freak me out a little, I confess. I asked the doctor to take mine out before I woke up in recovery. He said he needed it for 24 hours to check urine output. It was not painful, but it bothered me. I started bugging the nurses first thing the next morning to get it out and finally refused to walk anymore until it was out. As I suspected, it was way more importent to them that I walk so out it came. I prefer to pee on my own. But my experience is, this is just me. They don't generally bother most people. I am weird about my bellybutton, too. I can't stand to have the inside of my bellybutton touched. Hmm, it seems it is just me..........