cinward2001

That's pretty normal. Remember, too, that when you're first out of surgery, you probably have a lot of meds in you, plus I think (don't know this for sure) that the anesthesia still provides from "numbing" effects. So as all those "good" surgery meds wear off, you're likely to start feeling worse for a while!

I think you might have mis-understood what I was trying to say? I wasn't blaming the OP for her stall. I was saying that our mindset DOES impact our bodies and that by being worried and stressed, it actually can make it HARDER to lose weight. Obviously, scales will fluctuate. Water retention, swelling, building muscle, TOM for women...all affect those numbers on the scale. But WE still choose how to react to all of that, WE still choose to weigh too often or not, WE still choose what we eat, how much we exercise, etc.

Your body doesn't get to make any decisions. LOL Seriously! I know we tend to say "our body wants this, our body wants that," but, in most cases, WE choose. Our minds have a much bigger impact on what we do and what we feel than our bodies do. There have been studies that show it's harder to lose weight when we're stressed...whether it's due to serotonin or cortisol levels or other hormones, what we THINK (and then feel) CAN impact how our body's work. So first, take a look at what you're eating. Are your pureed foods on the lower calorie range? How much salt is in them (you might be retaining fluids if they're too salty)? How many calories/day are you eating? Are you drinking enough Water? I know you said you stand on your feet all day, but if that's normal for you, then you still need to find a way to add in some exercise. 30 minutes of strength work, some cardio, etc. If all that is where it should be, then put away the scales and try to relax. ~2.5 lbs/week STILL means 60 lbs in 6 months. Nothing to sneeze at there.

You know, I remember first posting in this thread and feeling like "Darn, I wish I'd been sleeved sooner!" As in, wishing I was at the beginning of May instead of the middle! LOL Hard to believe the month is almost over. I'm about 2.5 weeks post-op, eating soft foods, and feeling pretty good! Hope everyone is mending well!

Yes, that's normal! They can't stitch it because that would simply "trap" any bacteria in the wound. Mine is still a bit open and I'm 16 days post-op. It was a pretty large drain tube. :\ I just leave it alone unless I'm going out...then, it's right under my bra strap so I put either gauze or a Band-Aid on it with some antibiotic ointment.

Quit testing your limits. Seriously. It sounds, to me, like you're finding "excuses" to eat what you really shouldn't be eating. Subway sandwiches might *advertise* being healthy, but they're really NOT. Better to eat grilled chicken and some veggies than the processed stuff they call chicken. And the bread is pretty much just empty calories. Think of it this way...if someone said "Hey, I can drink an entire milkshake...I'm so bummed that my sleeve isn't working any more!" What would you think? For the sleeve to be effective, you have to avoid "fluff" foods. That said, even IF you're eating 6" subs, if that keeps you satisfied for 3-4 hrs (until next meal time), then it's probably FINE. The key is your overall calories/nutrition throughout the day. I'm not trying to sound harsh and critical, but I AM trying to get you to take responsibility for your actions instead of "blaming" it on the sleeve. As I'm typing this, there's a pan of homemade brownies in my kitchen. And they're not the "from the box" homemade but true homemade. I could easily eat a brownie right now. I know some sleevers lose their taste for sweets and/or sweets make them nauseous. Not me!! So I could complain that the sleeve just isn't working that well for me, but in truth, it is what it is and *I* have to be the one to avoid the brownies.

Eh, I talk a good game. I think you should weigh, at the most, once/week. Better yet, weigh monthly or even wait longer. The scales fluctuate too much and too easily and it WILL drive you crazy! Right now, though, I'll admit to doing exactly what I know I shouldn't do...and I'm weighing daily. Part of it, I think, is the novelty of the sleeve. With the LapBand, I was told to NOT really expect any weight loss that first 6 weeks (because you have to wait at least that long for a fill), so I put the scales away and tried to rely on clothing to tell me how I was doing. But with the sleeve, the scales have already dropped 12-15 lbs. Part of me doesn't believe it's "real," even though my clothes are looser. Part of me just wants to see...will the numbers go down again today? They definitely don't drop daily...it's been about every 3rd day, I guess, before I see a change. At some point, I'll take my own advice and put them away for a month.

I don't think the "liquid" part is hard...for me, it was finding low calorie liquids! I don't like any of the artificial sweetners, so I did a lot of watered down juice, Gatorade, etc.

199.8 this morning. LOL scales definitely aren't "flying" downward like I hear with some new sleevers, but that's (mostly) ok. I think we all want to lose weight as quickly as possible, even when it's not realistic. If I weren't still trying to stick to full liquids/puree (essentially the same thing with my docs office), I wouldn't feel like I had a sleeve at all. No difficulty drinking, haven't had trouble with anything that I've tried, no nausea, soreness, etc. I'm hungry, too, but I'm hoping that will change once I start eating solids. On the NSV side of things, my pants have definitely gotten looser! I worked a big bike race yesterday and although it sucked to be in full police uniform directing traffic for 12 hrs, it was nice to have loose pants while doing it. No complaints (so far and knock on wood!) about the sleeve! I didn't weigh at home before going to MX, but I'm guessing I've lost 12-15 lbs since surgery (2 weeks ago). I've NEVER lost an average of 6 lbs in one week before and now, the scales will be going back in the closet! LOL I'll weigh again in 2 weeks, maybe a month, or, if I can stand it , 6 weeks. Until then, I'll try to make the best choices I can with soft foods (start those tomorrow) and keeping the calories down, but emotionally, I do better without those scale numbers. Cindy

Oh, man, I'm only a day further along and I'm having the opposite problem! I don't even feel like I've had surgery! Ok, well, maybe a little bit, but not much! I've had a Protein shake, 4 or 5 bottles of Water, a small Gatorade, a Vitamin Water (we worked a bike race so I was in body armor/uniform for 12 hrs in the sun), a very small piece of grilled fish, grits and an egg...and I want something else! I'm hungry...just trying to keep the calories down. I sure do hope that solid foods feel differently...

I only had to do 1 day of clear liquids pre-op , so I can pretty much say that I lost ZERO prior to surgery.

I will be drinking up to the meal, when I get to start having meals. In fact, if I'm particularly hungry, I'll be drinking COLD water up until meal time. It's a "trick" I learned with the band...drinking cold water seems to "tighten" things up so that I feel full sooner.

Thanks! It's gotten better. I know what you mean about being able to eat so much. Especially with liquids...anything that tastes good, like juice, is just about pure sugar water! LOL While on liquids, I just try to not stress too much. I still try to make good choices, as in, limit the juice and such, but when it's a choice between drinking something I like and wanting very much to eat something solid, I choose the "lesser evil" and drink the juice. That's why I tell people to focus on HEALING at this stage. You WILL lose weight if you're trying to make those good choices, but if you slip up, it should be about the calories and NOT stressing your stomach. Does that make sense?

YES! I was just showing my husband how the vein along my wrist feels hard...and it's sore to the touch. It also infiltrated. And honestly, pushing meds and antibiotics through an IV WILL cause some irritation to the vein, even when it doesn't infiltrate. It will heal. It just takes time!

My dr didn't put me on anything after the first 5 days post-op. No Vitamins, no acid reducers, etc...and I'm glad! I sometimes wonder if all that stuff isn't like medication for the elderly...as you take more and more things, interactions occur and sometimes, they cause problems. Or, you take acid reducers to cut down on heartburn, but then your stomach becomes more sensitive, so you take more acid reducer, and just get into a vicious cycle. It sounds to me like you're putting quite a bit into your stomach. Multi-Vitamin, Calcium, antacids, Protein shakes...all have "fillers," artificial flavorings and colors, artificial this and that...have you thought about stopping *everything* for a few days? If you've been tolerating most foods pretty well, maybe switch to very "clean" eating (and real food only) for a few days? For example, eat scrambled eggs for protein vs a Protein shake. Natural Peanut Butter, a banana...that sort of thing. I only suggest this because I'm really sensitive to artificial sweetners, vitamins, etc. They make me feel worse, not better. Most Protein Shakes send me to the bathroom with diarrhea. Good luck! It sounds like you're feeling pretty miserable , so I hope you find the answer soon!

I think you should focus on the fact that you weigh 195 now instead of 240. Put thoughts like "But I should weigh 185..." out of your head. It's just negativity and it takes away from what you HAVE accomplished. Losing weight, I think, is all about the little goals. Don't focus on how far you need to go, or where you think you "should" be, but Celebrate the successes you've had so far.

Nope, you're not starving! You have calories in STORAGE. This early post-op, you're probably experiencing head hunger and the desire/habit to eat.

Oh, and please don't take my above rant as a personal criticism! It's not meant to be...I have a headache today, which tends to make it more difficult for me to phrase things nicely. Ok, I'll admit it...having a nagging headache just turns me into a grumpy, bitchy person. sigh

I hate the starvation mode "myth." I really, really do. I'm not sure that there's ANY true scientific study that shows that this happens. If it did, people wouldn't starve to death. We just don't have an "alternate" biochemical mechanism, feedback loop, etc, that suddenly "turns on" with reduced calories. Personally, I think "starvation mode" is more about us, as dieters, getting frustrated with slow weight loss and then giving ourselves a reason to eat more. Or the plateau is due to "sneaky" calories getting in. I do agree, though, that you need to eat enough calories to heal and to be able to exercise. But right now, you have plenty of calories in storage. If you can drink some Protein and stay hydrated, you'll do fine! For me, I'm using this post-op time...time when I can't really exercise hard anyway, to keep my calories as low as I can to get a jumpstart on weight loss. I'm probably bouncing between 500 one day, to maybe 800-900 the next...just depends on how hungry I feel and what I'm doing. I'm not about to "make" myself eat a certain number of calories at this point. When I start exercising again (personal trainer and working on my 3rd degree black belt), I'll have to increase them...otherwise, I get light-headed.

Yup, me too! And it's accompanied by a bad taste in my mouth. I just brush my teeth, then periodically chew a piece of gum if it gets really bad.

It's not something I'm worried about and I'm a bit closer to that age than many here. But since eating too much or too fast can cause nausea and vomiting, I don't think anyone would be feeding me too much too fast after the first couple of times I threw up on them.

For me, it helps to make a plan. For example, one night, I had a small snack cup pudding. Throughout the day, when I felt "deprived," I just told myself I was having that pudding later. On Thursday, I told myself I was going to Starbucks for a skinny latte on Friday...made it easier to do well on Thurs because I had that "treat" planned. Other than that, I'm trying to stay busy. Since we've been home, I've had a ton of work to do to get caught up, but we've also cleaned the garage and other stuff...just to be away from the food and out of the house helps.

A shoestring or lanyard to hold up your drains while taking a shower. Safety pins to pin your drains to either your binder or pjs when dressed. Other than that, I don't remember anything "special" about the tt. Obviously, using those abdominals hurts at first, so if you have someone to help you into and out of bed, that's great. But it's about like any surgery...you have to give it time, take care of yourself, and move as much as you can.

I dreamed about food and eating the wrong thing for a couple of nights, too. Funny how that works! As for randomly going by and putting something in your mouth...well, one step would be to NOT walk by random junk. My kids made trail mix on the 2nd day I was home. I asked them to take it to their rooms because I knew it'd be hard to walk by and NOT pick up a few pieces of it. But also, you HAVE to focus on what you're doing right now. Post-op, you're really having to make some changes to your eating...from drinking liquids, to thinking about how much protein you're getting in, paying attention to the "full" signals, sipping instead of gulping, etc. So it's not like you're going to be on auto-pilot with what goes into your mouth...and that'll include NOT eating the wrong things.

Notime, if those were my incisions, I don't think I'd be too worried. The redness is just right around the incision edges, where it does look like they've opened a bit. But nothing bad! In my opinion, of course...not a doctor or anything. But I've had something like 7 surgeries now, including a tummy tuck from hip bone to hip bone. I'm used to seeing incisions that are in the process of healing. Pick up some triple antibiotic ointment at the store, put some on the 2 spots and cover with a Band-Aid. I bet it looks better in a day or two. Of course, if you start running a temp, that's a different story, but for incisions, after they've opened a bit, they need to heal from the inside out...plus, you have internal sutures holding things together.