mirrim58

Well, I was sleeved this morning at 8am. I woke up in some pain and it took a while to fully wake up. Over all it's been way better than I expected. So far the hardest thing has been the internal gas left from the laparoscopy, gas-x doesn't help, and the cotton mouth. My incisions don't hurt. I've been able to walk 10 laps of the floor in 2-4 lap increments. I'm so excited about the future! Can't wait for Clear liquids tomorrow. Beautiful clear Water sounds wonderful. I'm thankful that it's gone well.

I've never been a size 6. Even back in high school when I weighed 140 I was wearing 14s. Back then I thought I was fat because all my friends were 110. I wore baggy clothes for some reason, so I don't know what size a pair of form-fitting jeans would have been. I would love to wear single digit sizes. My first goal will be to be able to walk without pain. Then to be able to run. I started at 303 and now weigh about 290 pre-surgery. I have my surgery this Thursday and hope to hit somewhere around 140 again by September 2014.

My surgery is Thursday and the liquid diet has been challenging. My nutritionist allows soups and that's been what saved it from being impossible. I've had shakes for breakfast, a soup for lunch and dinner and another shake in the late afternoon. I've been hungry some and we had an annual quilt retreat this last weekend which made it really difficult. I'm glad it was only 2 weeks.

Thanks so much for posting. My surgery's scheduled for next Thursday the 23rd and I'm getting a little nervous. I hope it goes as smoothly as yours. Best wishes for a continued speedy recovery.

Hope it all goes smoothly for you. Best wishes on becoming all you can be.

Dr. McDougall's site has a lot of recipes for tasty vegan food. http://www.drmcdougall.com/newsletter/recipeindex.html

Golf and softball. I can barely hobble right now. I'm looking forward to being able to walk and run without pain. :-)

As far as exercise goes, I've heard it helps with saggy skin. Also as you can build muscle it improves your metabolism, helping you burn more calories at rest.

I start the liquid diet next week. They did say that I could have creamed soups, yogurt and sugar free pudding. Is that on your pre-surgery diet? Might help with satisfaction.

Best of luck. Hope it goes very smoothly.

I'm scheduled for May 23rd. My starting weight was 303. I'm only down a few lbs. I fluctuate between wanting to get used to eating exactly what I should at post-op and thinking 'I'll never be able to eat this again' and eating things I shouldn't. I start full liquids next Friday. Still checking out all the Protein drinks. So far my favorite are the Visalus shakes available online. They taste like cake batter. I'm really not into sweet things, so I'm also looking for something tasteless I can mix into Soup. Getting nervous occasionally. Worried about not waking up. But I'm excited too. I really appreciate all the posts here. Good information

I'm taking about 2 1/2 weeks off, but I'm not on my feet. Best of luck with the ER shifts.

How would you better prepare? What would you have done differently? My surgery date is in 3 weeks and I'm trying to be as prepared as possible. I've had a couple of hernia surgeries and they were pretty painful, but it seems like internal organs might be more so. I do know I should have walked more and sooner, so I'm planning to try and do that. Otherwise, I'm not sure what else to do to prepare.

You've voiced a lot of my fears. I just have to think that this is a move forward. I've gotten to the place where just walking is painful, even though I exercise several times a week. It's somewhat of a gamble, but I have to believe that it will come out in my favor and I'll be able to make a change and eventually have some energy and be able to walk and do things with my family. I think everyone has some fears but we have to weigh the pros and cons and for me the pros are compelling. Thanks all for posting and best of luck with your upcoming surgeries

Best of luck to you all.

I only have 3 weeks of ETO to draw from, so I'll need to go back then. Hopefully I'll be good to go by then. It seems like just learning to get the water and protein in will take some time.

Best of luck. I'm scheduled on May 23rd.

I've thought about this a lot. Whether to tell everyone I'm having surgery or no one. What to say once I've started losing weight. On the one hand, there's often a stigma associated with surgery. Folks discount the hard work that goes into losing weight with a sleeve. The exercise needed and the strict adherence to a way of eating. I also feel that I'm entitled to privacy about my medical information. Like it was said above, not everyone who's had a breast augmentation needs to lead every conversation with that fact. If I'm asked straight out about whether I've had surgery, I will probably say yes, but right now I'm not planning to tell everyone about it beforehand, just my family.

My surgeon said I should have 2 weeks of liquids preop (includes Protein shakes). Something about shrinking the liver. Then post op it's liquids for about 2 weeks., then pureed for 2 weeks, then well-chewed regular food. Checked out the tickers - what handy gadgets! I think I set up one, we'll see if it appears :-)

Thanks for your honesty. Real is always better and I imagine there's a wide variety of experience. It makes me realize that more than figuring out menus, I need to make sure I have things in mind to take the place of the food. The calming, the celebrating effect, the energy boost and general pick me up. There are a lot of things I use food for without thinking. My surgery's May 21st, but I'll start on liquids on the 7th. So I'm trying to switch my current diet to mirror as closely the way I'll need to eat after the sleeve as possible. Not the amount of food, but the types. Thanks for your excellent post. Where did you get the weight ticker? Mirrim58

My surgery is scheduled for May 21st. I've done the psych eval and met with the surgeon. Physical therapy is next week. I'm at the point of researching the eating plan and trying to find Protein sources I'll like and use. I've spent years considering weight loss surgery, but there was always a drawback I didn't think I could live with when thinking about bypass and the lap band. VSG will be challenging, but I think I can work with it. The amount of food eaten doesn't seem to be that much less than my very thin friends eat to maintain their weight. I started adjusting what I eat last week and have already taken off some weight. I hope to lose 20 lbs before surgery to give me a head start. I started out at 303 and hope to eventually get to around 150. I've dieted off and on for the last 30 years with limited success. Mainly I'd just like to improve my health and be able to walk and be active without pain. Just took up golf and playing 9 holes is just on the edge of my ability, walking wise. After 2 hours of pulling my clubs I'm sore, but I enjoy the game and the fresh air. I've been lurking for a few weeks and I'm impressed with the knowledge and good advise that gets posted here. This is a great resource. Mirrim58

I like the Visalus shakes. They are delicious, low in fat and carbs.