ShrinkingBiker

I am one of the asshats that didn't quit smoking for surgery.. I know the lectures so you can save your fingertips. My doc knew that I was a smoker, and I told him I wasn't ready to quit. One day I will hopefully. It's something I don't care to do right now. I will tell you that I have am just shy of 2 weeks out, and my incisions are healed on the outside. I am having no problems with pain at all, and other then feeling tired and not being able to stuff my fat face (oh yea and the 30 missing pounds) I wouldn't even know I had been under the knife just 12 days ago. I also smoke cigars from time to time.. I'm sure you are better off waiting, but it's your choice. I'm not encouraging anyone to smoke, or egging people on to their former bad habits, I just wanted to share my experience so far. I do realize smoking in any form is bad for you. I haven't had a cigar for a while now.. I forgot to charge my humidor and they all dried out and I'm a bit bummed that I lost a lot of good cigars. Mainly I enjoy having one when I am out riding the motorcycle with my boys, and sometimes relaxing at home watching the fights with my wife.(she's one of the few women who enjoy the smell of a good cigar) What is your favorite cigars? I get a store blend from a local shop that is so much like the Romeo y julietta con. wraps. Last new years I have a Gherka assassin that I was surprised by. I usually don't go for full bodied cigars, but that one was actually really good. I may pick some of those up over the summer.

heh.. I was thinking about this the other day. I am kinda clueless as to where I will really end up. I want to hit 185ish. I have 2 brothers who are both average. My one brother is 6'1 or 6'2 and the other is pretty much the same height as me (5'9ish), and we look a lot alike. I think he wears 32 or 34. and sits between 170 to 190. I never really talked about it with him, but I probably should ask because I am guessing that is where I will end up. I wore 36 in high school (90-94) then went up to a 38 at some point and stayed there until about 2008. Pre-pre-op (is that a thing?) diet, I was a 42-44 with jeans. Since my surgery 2 weeks ago, I haven't tried on jeans. I'm out of work at the current time, so I either don't get dressed, or if I go out I have been wearing my sweats because it has been to go walking with my wife, or mother. I kinda wonder if they will be loose now.. I'm down a decent amount since surgery. That would kinda be a nice feeling for once. lol I do have a question.. When you where dropping weight so quick, did you just buy a pair of jeans at a time, or was it constantly replacing your wardrobe? How quickly where you needing to get new jeans and stuff? Shirts can last longer in my eyes but pants are hard to wear once you shrink out of them. I can't wait to get to a point where I can get nice clothes that will last me a while

Can't say from experience, but I would think if you are on full solids it would be ok? Maybe make it really chopped up like they do at KFC?

It seems like you realize that you did wrong, so just throw out the remaining rolls and move along. I would be more concerned with doing physical damage to yourself that far out over screwing up on a food item. You are a day ahead of me, and while I do crave breads I fear what I might do if it where to get stuck. From that I can imagine the inside of your stomach looks like a zipper of sorts right now, that's a lot of little areas that something might lodge and cause issues. Just tough it out and remember why you did this, and how good it makes you feel when you step onto the scale and see that number smaller each time. Now, this is something that I am kinda speaking out of my ass with, but maybe you should look into a support group.. I know my Doc offers one, but I don't partake in it right now because I chose a doc that is over an hour from my house. Just some thoughts that may help.

I'd try as many different schools as you could before committing to one. I spent a year trying to find a new BJJ school before I settled on one after we moved. I wound up just deciding to make the 45 min. drive to my old school because it's the only one I really liked. Sadly so many instructors in MMA just view you as a $$$ and do not care about your improvement. I don't know that yoga is the same.

I used to do a class that incorporated yoga into the warm up / cool down. It was a MMA fit class. I really loved the yoga aspect to it. Especially because I am overly flexible for a fat guy. lol I'm sure the same thing that my trainer told me would apply to this.. It is recommended that you do 2 a week to start and then progress to 3 days as you are less sore between sessions. When I first started my arms where so sore I would walk around the house looking like a T-Rex because I just couldn't straiten them haha. Keep it up though. It is awesome. for the past 3 years now I have trained MMA (I take classes in Brazilian Jui Jitsu, Boxing, wrestling and Kick Boxing) Right now I am on a medical leave due to just having the surgery, but I can't wait to get back in 5 weeks (or so) My school also offers full on Hot Yoga, so I might do that for a while to get conditioned before I move back into the combat sports.

That is awesome, and encouraging. I am only 9 days out now. Had my first follow up today and I broke the under 300 mark! I am actually able to be on the scale and not see it go past 0 lol. 28mbs down since pre-op diet. It's almost hard to believe.

I was told no carbonation.

I didn't ask. I was pretty doped up though. I see him tomorrow for my followup I'll ask then.

Must have been Biker day for DR. Chau. I had mine done same day by him lol

I was sleeved on 3/20 and I had my first on 3/25 then another today. They are no solid by any means. I think at this stage for us, it is pretty common. We're really not putting much into our bodies, and what we are is much less junk so the body is using a majority of it. For sure, bring it up with your doc. From what I have heard (I was worried at day 4 and asked the chat room) it seems to be the norm.

I'm on the shore. Toms River.

It is a decision I'm sure all of us have battled with. For me, I was sick of the yo-yo effect. I would lose 40 gain 50.. This wasn't always the issue for me though. I was 185 My Jr. year of HS, then my senior year, having a car, working at a fast food place, I ballooned up to 230.. I went back down to 200 and stayed there for about 5-6 years.. not trying or anything.. It just maintained. Then I hit my 30's and it seemed like I slowly got bigger and bigger each year. I topped out at 326.. I knew I needed to make a change or it was going to continue. I think you have to figure out where your "bottom" is. Do you think you can do it without the tool of surgery, or is this something that you may need to get you back into a healthy direction. None of us can say for sure that it is the right choice for you.. I can say that it was for me, and it's already working less then a week out.

Oh yea, and I don't think this is the right section for this.. should this be moved to the My sleeve story section? Is that something I can do, or does an admin need to do it for me?

Yea, I'll spare the verbal painting on how it looked, but wow.. I feel 100 times better. I think the gas is starting to subside a bit too. Still get grumbled in my stomach which are hard to ID as gas or hunger. That, I can deal with. I'm a little worried about my Protein intake. I wasn't given an amount to get in. Yesterday I did get in 2 sugar free carnation instant breakfasts. One is not a lot of protein. Today so far I have had 1 carnation, 4oz V8, 8oz Apple juice (no sugar) 8oz Gatorade, 1 bottle of Water (working on the second one now) Thinking about maybe trying some sort of "liquid" Soup tomorrow. Should I just wait until my appointment on Thursday, or should I actively look for ways to add protein now?

OMG.. First poop! It was awesome. lol I feel so much better after that.

Yea, since I started MMA I haven't had a single outside "fight" BJJ is a good combat art, but to be totally affective it needs to be combined with other forms. I Study Judo along side BJJ, and I also take boxing, Mua Thai, and submission wrestling. Honestly, unless you are out asking for it, most of the time you won't get into situation that resort to fists. I'm a biker, and hang with some pretty rough guys and manage to keep myself out of trouble by simply giving respect where it's due, and presenting myself with confidence and calm in situations that are getting heated. I'd rather "fight" with my friends at the gym and others in the game because they aren't out to hurt you, just to win the match. The ones that aren't don't usually last very long in the game.

Today was so much better. The pain is not too bad except the far left incision. That is the only thing that is really hurting me. Gas is still a bit of an issue, but over all it's really not that bad. I haven't taken any pain meds. I will probably take a dose before bed just to help me sleep. I did much better with the Water and Protein today. I've had 3 bottles of water, 8 oz of cran-grape juice and 16oz of carnation instant breakfast (sugar free) I have learned to keep a water on my night stand now.. So when I wake in the night I take a couple of sips. I really worry about hydration. That is my #1 thing right now. I try my best to get as much other stuff into my body as I can, but water first.. I don't know if that's good or not, but it's what I am comfortable with right now. Tomorrow my wife and I are going to take a walk around the block to try and work out some more of this gas. Pacing from the kitchen through the dining room, living room and down the hallway to the bedroom just isn't enough for me to get enough out I guess. The farts are coming out easier now too. Still now Bowel movement though. My mother is a nurse and has helped me a lot with strange questions I might have. I am really excited about my appointment on Thursday. I really want to remove these sticker things and lounge in a warm tub. (I almost never take a bath, but it's something I have been craving for some reason) I also want to say to anyone thinking about this surgery that it is worth it. I had minor complications, but nothing that I didn't get through. When I went in for surgery (this was my first ever) I had a horrible feeling that I might not make it through it. I did, and so will you. Is there pain? yes.. you just had your stomach cut out and pulled through a small hole in your belly.. It's not going to be pain free, but I look at it as a reminder that I went through this pain to make sure that I will be around to Celebrate many anniversaries with my wife and not eat myself to an early grave. My father, and both his parents had issues with health. My grandmother was obese, had high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart issues.. She didn't make it out of her 50's. My grandfather died of heart issues in his 50's. My father has diabetes, high blood pressure, has had numerous stents implanted, and a quadruple bypass. He hasn't changed at all even after the bypass and sadly, I doubt he will be around another decade, if that. I was told by my general practitioner that I was showing signs of being borderline "pre" diabetic luckily my blood pressure was always fairly ok, and usually normal. I saw the warning signs and knew I had to do something now before I was the next one on the table having some guy pulling veins out of my legs and putting then onto my heart. I realize that it is still possible that this could be my fate, but this is my first step towards averting the family curse.

I realize this post is a little old, but I wanted to chime in. In 2009 I started training in MMA / Brazilian Jui Jitsu. I was 300lbs at 5"9. I've always been able to handle myself physically and have great flexibility even for people of normal size. I am worried about some parts of this weight loss.. Right now, I hit like a truck, and rarely get taken down. I am worried that without the weight I might be much easier to be taken down, but that just means I will work more on my wrestling. I also won't be paired up with guys that are 6"3 anymore for the most part because I plan want to get down to 185 which would give me the ability to cut down to 170 for fights. What the less weight will do for us, is give us much more speed, stamina, and the ability to do many of the moves that fat restricts. Honestly, you will NOT get a better workout then BJJ class. I was active all my life. HS wrestling, football, and gym workouts, but I never sweat so much as I did in BJJ class. It's also not just a workout of your body, but of your mind. I would suggest to anyone interest in martial arts to look up a FEW schools in your area. Most will offer at least one free class. Some even offer a free month. Try it, see if it's for you, try other schools, and find one that fits. I went to a school in middletown, NJ after we had a house fire and had to move in with my father for a year, and it was an amazing school. The instructor was and is one of the best I know. When we moved ot Toms River, I had to leave that school due to distance, and I shopped schools all over, and even some with guys that are in the UFC and I didn't care for any of them. Find one that believes in you as a person, now a dollar sign. Those are the ones that you will succeed the most with.

I was also sleeved on 3/20. I left the hospital on 3/21. Yesterday was really bad with pain. Today seems better. I'm able to get some of the gas out of the bottom end better which seems to have helped me with feeling bloated and uncomfortable. My incisions are less painful. I will feel a million times better after my follow up on Thursday and I get these sticker things off that they put over the incisions. I really would love to just sit in a warm tub. The strangest thing I have been dealing with is being freezing. I am one of those always warm people. I liked having the room at 68 at all times. Since coming home, I am always shivering, and always feel cold.

I don't know that it was related to smoking but I was tachy.. My heart rate was at a steady 100-120 and jumped to 150 the entire night after the surgery. The nurse said it was due to pain level which was VERY high for me. Other then that no other complications that have shown up. My Dr. said he did not want to give me the patch because nicotine and caffine cause blood vessles to restrict too much and can cause issues.

My wife is going to go to the store tomorrow and get me some things to drink. I really like Oceanspray no sugar added cranberry / grape or raspberry. She's also going to pick up some ice pops. Now, my doctor told me not to worry about sugar free stuff for the first stage. Also, something that kind of surprising was he said he only left 10% of my stomach. I'm not really having any trouble with the milk, it's just the consistency that is kind of turning me off.. pre-surgery I loved it that way. I will try to avoid it though if that seems to be an issue. I wasn't told anything about the gasx. I guess I should look into that too. Thanks for all of your comments. It really helps having people who know what I am going through.

Hi, I am new here, and had my surgery on 3/20/13. I was a pack a day smoker and told my doctor this. While he suggested that I quit, I just wasn't ready to do so. I have had little complications, but I would assume it would be better to not have smoked. I will tell you this.. I had a 10am appt. for surgery lastcigg was about 9:30. After the surgery I was very worried about withdrawel, but smoking was the LAST thing on my mind. They had me extremely doped up on Dulaudin (spelling?) and since the surgery I really haven't had huge craving to smoke. I did not quit, but I may in the coming days if this lack of urge continues. I am going to make a post on everything shortly to go into more detail.. As soon as I find that forum.