NMJG

Listen to the sleeve. So now I'm going to give you some tough love. WTH were you thinking, tasting that rich sauce 9 days out? Stick to your nutritional plan Seriously, we all want you to succeed. You will have to give up tasting your cooking for a while. And you need to take care of yourself so you don't end up in the hospital. The baby sleeve needs babying. Don't overwhelm it. OK, I'm done lecturing now

I don't think you are doing anything wrong and I think your calories are where they need to be this early out. Not everyone loses super fast, I certainly did not. You may also be in the 3 week stall, considering the timing here, as others have mentioned. I certainly would not increase calories or carbs, but that is just my opinion, and I am not a dietician. Going super low carb now is not only a good way to lose weight but is a great way to cleanse your system of carb addictions and make it easier for you in the long run. Stick with it, follow your nut & doctor's recommendations, and tough it out. Your progress is not bad, really it isn't. I'm sure you are disappointed, but it could be a lot worse.

I did for the first few months. My dr had me come back in and did another barium swallow, but didn't really find anything. He did prescribe Reglin, which I took when it bothered me the most, and that helped. I got over it, but honestly, my throat is still not the same as before surgery and I have no idea why.

It gets better, but you'll have it for a while. I always carried spare panties with me for the first few months until I was on solid food 100%. Sneezes, coughs, those are the worst, but sometimes just walking would encourage it. Yecch.

Took me a good month after surgery to get past the exhaustion.

Spaz, the best of luck to you in this journey. Hope you will post often. This site has been a life saver for me. Only this group of people can understand what life is like now.

I would wait at least 3 months until you are well healed, that's just my opinion for playing it safe. I have a glass of wine or a cocktail once a week. More than that at a time is too much for me now, gets me wasted. For cocktails I tend to go for low carb or sugar free versions like whiskey and Water or margaritas made with sugar free syrups (Monin sugar free triple sec syrup) and lime juice or bloody marys. I still can't do the carbonation in beer, but beer has lots of carbs. Good drink while losing weight if you are determined to drink: 1 oz Jack Daniels and a couple of oz of water over ice = 60 calories and 0 carbs. Stay away from these (high calories): fruit juice cocktails (daquiris, mai-tais, screwdrivers, pina coladas), regular margaritas, drinks containing sweet liqueurs (Kahlua, Baileys, etc.)

Egg, I second the suggestion that you see your doctor. 17 lbs in 3 months isn't normal, even for slow losers. Make sure you take a print out of your food tracking and exercise so they can drill down. So, tell us about yourself. Age? Gender? Going through menopause? These things can all contribute to slow loss. I am a slow loser so my doctor recommended that I take up strength training since I have no muscle (101 lbs. lean body mass when I started - out of 211 lbs of weight). I've since gained 10-15 lbs. of muscle. The muscle increases your metabolism, so you lose fat a bit faster (not a tremendous amount, but it does help). I've been doing it since the beginning of January. Lost almost nothing all of January, then a bit more in February, and now it's beginning to be 2-3 lbs. a week (before I lost 1-2 lbs. a week max). Good luck.

This one is interesting http://asmbs.org/2012/06/new-studies-weigh-in-on-safety-and-effectiveness-of-newer-bariatric-and-metabolic-procedure-sleeve-gastrectomy-demonstrates-weight-loss-and-safety-comparable-to-more-established-procedures/ Another http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3339264/ Another http://www.ethicon.com/obesity/efficacy-and-safety You can ask your doctor for the stats for their practice. They usually display them when they have their big informational meetings for people interested in WLS. Did not see anything for Mexico.

Revs said it well. A party is about the people (or it should be....lots of us here are learning that a lot of events aren't actually just opportunities to eat). Eat before you go. Sip on something appropriate during the party (maybe stick a water bottle or zero calorie flavored water in your bag before you go in case there are are only poor drink choices available). Good luck and have a good time.

3 months is when I started adding more veggies back in and that helped me. Still couldn't do salad or raw until 4 months and beyond.

You are such an inspiration. Thank you for coming back to tell your story.

Heather, I'm with you. I have the occasional half slice of whole grain toast or cracker, but heavy carbs just don't sound appealing to me anymore. The exception is tortilla chips/salsa and pizza. I rarely eat pizza, but it does still call my name (at least my favorite NY style pizzeria does - the others do not tempt me at all). I am relieved, to say the least, because refined carbs were a real problem for me pre-sleeve. Loved rice, potatoes, bread, etc.

Where did you find your info? There is also a wide range of statistics between Centers of Excellence and those that are not in the US.

How on earth would you band after bypass??? Just asking....

I drink up until I eat, but find I don't want to drink again until an hour afterwards. It just feels gross most of the time and eating/drinking at the same time is unpleasant. Soup isn't fun anymore either (have to drink the liquid first then eat the solids). I would have thought this would be gone by now (6 1/2 months out), but it's not. Oh well, maybe that's a good thing.

I have hair loss, started around 5 months out and is still going on. I got in all my Protein, too. It really varies person to person.

Karen, tell us more about yourself. You may not lose as fast as others. Your loss rate is similar to mine. Age, starting BMI and gender play a big role.

hahah, love this thread. Some things I have heard that worked for others I've talked to at my clinic: Make a bead necklace out of silver lead fishing weights, the oval kind. You can add 3 lbs. with that. Fishing weights in your pockets or attached with safety pin to the inside of your clothes. When they get your height, don't stand straight. You can take off 1/2 to one inch easily, which can be the difference between making the cutoff or no. Right before you go in, drink Water. A 16oz bottle of water is 1 lb. A few days before you go in make yourself constipated - no Fiber and lots of cheese and potatoes. You can hold onto several pounds of poop when you are constipated. Eat Chinese food the night before and drink lots of fluids but no caffeine. The sodium content will make you hold water. Caffeine is a diuretic - makes you pee, and that will get rid of all the water you are trying to hold onto. Now if there were just a way to take off weight that easily!

Breakfast: protein shake Morning snack: 1/2 oz of almonds or soynuts or dry roasted pumpkin seeds, roasted chickpeas, or similar Lunch: 3 oz deli meat, usually rolled up with mustard, sometimes with cheese, occasionally with a whole grain cracker but usually not, with a few bites of salad or other veg Afternoon snack: sugar free frozen yogurt bar or sugar free jello or jerky or greek yogurt or fruit Dinner: 3 oz cooked beans or meat or tofu (carne adovada, roast chicken, meatballs, that sort of thing), 1/4 veg

Personally i have trouble with bread and pasta. They don't agree with Sleevette. Do have half a slice of toast occasionally, but I am just plain scared of pasta. I used to be a real carb whore. Loved pasta and bread. Over that now, which is a good thing.

Maybe try Tramadol? You'll need a prescription for it.

You are still very early for raw fruit. I had a horrible strawberry incident at 2 months. I'm thinking applesauce and bananas at one month, but I'd check with your dr first. Took me a long time to be able to tolerate fresh fruit, but everyone is different.

Just my opinion, but I would shoot for a BMI under 25, and 175 is pretty far above that. I think you can aim lower and still be successful. Don't be afraid

I recently tried some low carb/high Protein breads from netrition.com. Today I had half of a sesame bagel from Mirico. They make other bread products, too. You can also get it on Amazon. Fiber that offsets the carbs, as well. Anyway, thought I would share. I've been missing bread. Anyone else have similar stuff to share?