Recycled

You've surely heard the question we husbands are always asked......".Hon, is my butt big??"...............trust me, we lie.

I know it must be frustrating to have your weight loss slowed, but you need to keep your priorities front and center. That DVT could have easily ended your life. The fact that it was caught and treated successfully without further, more severe complications, is something to be very thankful for. Your little stomach is not going anywhere. I would suggest changing up your priorities to close adherence to the guidelines set by you Doc. You might not be so lucky a second time. In other words......follow the Doc's instructions and take it easy. The weight will come off in due time. Additional note: I do thank you for your post as I am about 3 months out and didn't figure there was any concerns from DVT's this far out from surgery. Due to your post, I will continue to pay close attention to any symtoms. Thank you.

Any VSG vets out there that happen to be or were on meds for cardiac issues? had a MI a while back and got a stent and have been on Plavix, (anti -coagulant/ thinner ) Lipator, (statin) and Toporal XL (beta blocker) I had my follow up appointment with my cardiologist too soon after my VSG and didn't think to ask about the future status of my routine cardiac meds. Have any of you stopped taking any of your routine cardiac meds due to improvement from you VSG and weight loss? I take the Toporal XL to regulate hearbeat rather than for any blood pressure issue and it really inhibits my ability to reach target heart rate when exercising. Makes losing an extra difficult effort. However, over the years I have become dependent on the meds keeping me alive, so I'm reluctant to pose any suggestions to my cardiologist that maybe I should reduce or come off any of them. What has been your experiences? Anyone?

Well, I'm back. Kinda surreal how quick it was over and I'm back home. Had to have a hietal hernia and a umbilical hernia repaired as well. The surgeon said the belly button one would probably hurt the most afterwards. It does. Was in the hospital for two nights, three days. Clears while in lockup and advanced to full liquids coming home. The hospital was the best I'd ever been to. Everyone was great and things couldn't have gone more smoothly. I had no luck with the gas though, and everyone here was dead on right about gas discomfort. I was only able to eliminate a significant amount just a little while ago. How do you spell relief???? G-A-S release.....!!! I also blew it on that first gulp....yeah, I said gulp of Water after the op. I have now engraved "SIP" in my brain. Been sipping non-stop ever since. Well, just want to follow up.....Not much pain, things seem to be moving along pretty good. Just trying to follow the mantra I gathered here. Can't wait to start scoring some points on the loser's bench.

Full liquids for me was explained as anything with the consistency of a shake. I blended everything I could find. (just strain out the chunks). I used Healthy Choice chicken noodle soup, tuna, fish, shrimp, chili, smoothies....you name it I blended it. What's a week anyway. Puree is not much different, only thicker. I did that one for a couple of days then just chewed everything real good.....(chewed up food is sorta puree anyway)

It's not really to make you lose weight. It's just to clear the bowels. I've had alot of surgeries and trust me. Do it. the more you can empty the pipes, the less issues you will have post. Some pain meds along with surgical trauma to the bod and no real food intake, will play hell with your digestive tract. Constipation is miserable. My doc didn't even require it, but I used mag- cit the day before surgery anyway. Glad I did. No problems after. I even take Colace post surgery for some added assistance in that area as well. After using the Mag-cit, don't wander far from a bathroom. (usually within a couple of hours)

If you feel you have to say anything, then say you eat a big breakfast and dinner and don't really "do" lunch other than just some small Snacks. If they haven't noticed you lost over 100 pounds, they really aren't interested anyway. Don't let it bother you. BTW, fantastic job!

If you are eating alot less people will probably just figure you are on a diet. If the idea of people suspecting you have had WLS bothers you.... there is no way anyone can tell you've had surgery simply by observing you following a diet and eating less. As far as not eating. Why would you not eat? Just choose the correct foods and limit the amount. It they go to places that don't have food for you diet.......take your own or pass on going. Don't be intimidated or concerned about anyone else's perceptions and don't let others actions derail your ability to follow your plan. Relax, you're putting too much thought into feeling uncomfortable. You'll do fine.

Unless the Surgeon is planning on adopting you, I doubt he will spend more than a few minutes reviewing your needs and answering your questions. However, most surgeons have coordinators that will spend time going over all the testing, appointments, pre-op, paperwork, releases, schedules etc, etc. That could take quite a while. And let's not forget the usual endless wait in the waiting room. You might want to compile a list of questions to ask the Surgeon so your mind doesn't go blank during those precious few minutes, only to flood you with "I should have asked him" stuff later. I did a post on a similar thread a while back listing a bunch of typical questions. I'll try to find it and link it here. Whatever the time spent during the consult, you'll have plenty of time to go over any concerns you have with your Surgeons office before surgery. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/301841-starting-my-new-journey-%F0%9F%98/

If your always very thirsty, start by drinking more and see what happens.

There is no normal. Everyone's recovery is different. There is however what is recommended. If that is all you can do now, then it is what it is. As you heal, you ability to do more will likely increase. Just keep trying. The more fluids and Protein, the better.

One of the fun things about being older is we get to experience the results of all the stuff we never heard about or ignored when younger. And the kicker is........now it's too late. No do overs. All thru my youth right up until now....I lived and breathed outdoors and rarely wore a shirt or long pants. The fun of living in Tropical regions, right? Everywhere I went.......everyone seemed to tout...."get some sun" "get a tan".......Where were the routine dermatologists exams and all the warnings then??? The advice about cumulative exposure.??? I wasn't even diligent using precautions with my own kids. Who knew. Now I find out, all the sun exposure is cumulative throughout your life. It adds up. And skin cancer is very real and deadly. And it was easily preventable. So now, I wear UPF50 garments, hats, long sleeves. Neck and face scarf. And loads of sunscreen. (later we'll probably find out sunscreen causes cancer too). ......See a Dermatologist and heed the protection advice about sun exposure. One simple sunburn that ends up blistering and peeling can put you on track to skin cancer. It' no joke. Ok.....rant over. Back to OP's topic.......Pass on the Tanning Bed......You'll thank yourself later.

Didn't realize you already had surgery. deleted my previous post.

Relax, your sleeve is gonna work just fine. For some like us the liquids seem to go right thru. Once I hit the puree and then soft foods.......ehhhhh!!....full stop at 3 ounces.

I just set the timer on my cellphone to 30 minutes and the time seems to fly. No biggie. Plus, I pretty much carry a Water bottle with me everywhere.

One of the biggest contributors I had with my obesity was watching TV. That entailed having to deal with all the commercials during the shows I liked to watch. Of course like many, I would take the opportunity during those commercials to spring up and raid the kitchen for food. (It didn't help that most of the commercials were about food and there were alot of commercials). Enter Tivo. (DVR) Originally the thought was I would be able to record shows when I wasn't home for watching later. However the real benefit is in the time delay with live TV. I can let the TIVO record ahead on live TV and then start watching it about halfway into the program. That way I get to fast forward thru the commercials. No more trigger to jump up and run to the kitchen. Additionally if I feel the urge to go to gym, or take a walk, I can act on it immediately, instead of procrastinating about waiting till a show is over. I just hit record and head to the gym. One more little tool in my box to help me change my past bad eating habits.

It's like Pavlov's dog......stomach growls = eat food. You used to an old habit with a trigger and a response. My stomach growls constantly since I got sleeved. Doesn't mean a thing. You're just responding the the head hunger thing. If you actually get your head busy thinking of something else, then you will find you weren't actually hungry. You're just bored and thinking about eating out of old habits. Probably exactly what you continually did pre-sleeve. Difference was, then you did eat. If I was sitting around with nothing to do, my mind would of course fill in the idle time with the thoughts of needing something to eat......and I obliged every time. It was more of a pattern than hunger. And because I enjoyed the food, I adapted to the pattern easily. Now I just have to fight off the head hunger and change the pattern. When I feel myself randomly thinking about food, I try to go busy myself by doing something to change my concentration. Go to the gym, take a walk, ride my bike, even clean out the garage. Anything. In actuality, I find I am completely satisfied with my routine little 3 ounce meals and my limited 800 calorie daily food intake. No real hunger pangs. Convincing the mind will take longer.

Did you ever see Blah blah blah.......psycho babble from some shinny guy that read it instead of did it..... Did you ever see the Movie with Tom Hanks where he was stranded on that island for a couple of years. He lost a ton of weight. I doubt he was depressed because he failed to grieve for his lost meals. He was more concerned about just staying alive. You just have too much time on your hands worrying about eating. Get out and exercise and do things and forget about every single pound or the meals you're not eating. Food is still there. You're just adjusting to your new pattern of eating. Once it becomes your new normal, you will be fine. The weight loss is gonna take time. You are over anxious now but once you reach your goal, you'll probably feel amazed how quickly you got there. We humans never seem to be satisfied with the here and now. Relax. It ain't about grieving over stuff. Revel in the thought of the new life you have ahead of you.

I went back and read all your posts and there are some harsh realities that you need to face that are frowned upon in a support forum. We are supposed to try to support you and help you with any issues and guide you to achieve success. But, you say you're an adult, so you need to face reality. By your own admission many times over, you already know what you're doing wrong. You aren't following anything closely. You did achieve some loss and then sorta gave up and accepted failure. I think you are just very young and immature and just wanted a quick easy fix. You wanted it done for you.....something where you didn't have to do anything. You keep saying the surgery failed. The surgery did exactly what it was supposed to do. You failed the process. To use the tool parody, I can remember when I was a kid, my Dad would chew me out for ruining his tools while my use of them really didn't fix anything. I now have great respect for my own tools, most over 30 years old in perfect condition and can expertly fix just about anything. Analogy being...- I don't mistreat them and use them correctly for their intended function. The surgery was never about doing for you....it is about helping you accomplish what you need to do. Restriction is the sleeve's only function. The rest is totally up to you. You must choose the proper foods and nutrients to consume and still remain within that restriction. It takes desire and discipline. Your posts sound like you have neither. Everyone on here wants to help all those that run into fearful unknowns with WLS. They need someone to help them thru the rough spots, but that help can only be in the form of comments about what to expect and suggestions of what they might try. No one can do it for you. The statistics quietly suggest that there is less than a 5% chance of long term success with weight loss surgery among most patients. Everyone can't be successful and still result in those type of numbers. I don't care about numbers. I'm only concerned about my effort and success. And unless you accept responsibility and make a devoted effort on your own, then you are destined to be among those that are unsuccessful. Good luck.

I'm gonna give you a number.......and it is the only number you need to concern yourself with............ ."6 months". Day to day is just not going to be important. Keep to your regimen, weigh yourself if you want, exercise. (little at first, more later) and keep focused on at least 6 months out as a general goal. If you get frazzled and start doing the freaking out thing .........just calm down and zone in on 6 months. You may or may not be at your goal by then, but you will have lost a lot of weight and have a real perspective of what you need to do by then. What did you expect......to lose the majority of your weight in a week and then a pound a week after that. You'll get there. Trust me....it will all add up in the long term..

I go by the TAI. (turn around index) When I walk down the street and the women turn around to look after they walk by......then I'm at the correct index

I think I face a 80.31% higher risk of dying from anxiety because I know too much about all the other things that cause greater ricks of dying........

Why would I turn into a loser? As in joining the rest of us on the loser's bench As in "LOSING" weight!! ...... C'mon......your not under anesthesia yet.... Oh well.....I'll just go back to "Good Luck"

OK, looks like you've got plenty of luck, so I'll just say, it's likely after tomorrow you're gonna turn into a real loser......

If you have an adjustable bed, raise the foot. If not put some pillows or wedges under your legs and feet or just stick something in-between the boxspring and mattress to get your feet up. . If it's gas, maybe it will get it to move. Hope it helps.