Sydney Susan

Time to spend a LOT of money on some really funky necklaces, Spanish scarves (love them) and for winter some v flattering slimline turtlenecks. Go wild. Have fun!

Sheril, sorry to hear about your radical hysterectomy. I had one nearly 7 years ago, for cancer. Incidentally the cancer was not ovarian although it was ovarian symptoms that got me to the doctors - those turned out to be due to a garden variety ovarian cyst, but in the process of checking all that out a symptomless cancer the size of an egg was found growing in my cervix but below the surface (so not detectable by Pap smear). My sleeve is a lot younger than 7 years so not in the category you were asking about, but I hope I can help out a bit. Firstly, living and living well is THE most important thing. Everything else is a challenge to be addressed as best we can - nothing more. Yes I gained weight. Loads of it. But it's not mandatory! Mine was due to fatigue from the various treatments (eating in the vain hope of finding energy), stress (I'm an emotional eater for sure), post surgery inactivity, hormonal changes (going into menopause suddenly) and some surgical damage to my bowel (causing me to eat huge amounts of fibre and drink litres of Fluid, stretching my stomach and possibly wrecking my hunger/satiated response signals. If I was doing it all again I'd - 1. Go on to HRT immediately and organise a slower "drift" into menopause a few years later 2. Recognise the fatigue for what it is - take more time off work and don't try to be superwoman 3. Get help for dealing with the stress - try to avoid using food 4. Calorie count - it's not hard to do and can alert you to stress eating/drinking you may be unaware of, and 5. Don't eat huge amounts of any type of food or drink. I think using some sort of medical / pharmaceutical solution is better for me. Its a journey all right, but if it was always to be ahead of you, best to start sooner. Good luck with it all - I'll be thinking of you.

Happened to me too once. There are several ways to deal with this - you can be super-b*tchy, grab them in fake desperation and say "No, it's a terrible tumour and I'm yet to find out if its benign or malignant", tell them you overdid the bran flakes at Breakfast but you're expecting it all to "pass" soon, or politely point them in the direction of the nearest optometrist. They didn't mean to hurt you of course, but it would be very nice of you to teach them some manners. On that note looking shocked, opening and closing your mouth a few times and then running away sobbing can be quite effective. I agree with all that everyone else says here - your weight loss pace is good, you've taken control of the situation and you will - in not too long a time - have it all sorted. So why not just gloat inwardly, knowing the next time she sees you, you're going to knock her socks off. Good luck with it all.

My own little sleeve victory this week - running. Not the couch to 5k type, just running for the joy of chasing the dogs at the dog park. They and I thought it a hoot! And then on Saturday at my son's end of season soccer semi-final, the goalie took a nasty boot to the face and blood went everywhere. As team manager I was able to sprint (well, my version of sprint) down the pitch and stem the flow with a tea towel, holler for time out and some medical care. The lad is a trooper and despite breaking the cartilage in his nose wanted to play on (though we didn't let him), and I was able to provide him with care and support in real team manager style. Last year I couldn't have run like that, and what I would have done would have left me breathless and speechless. It felt soooo good to be able to do what I should be able to do. Now I might even give Lissa a "run for her money", so to speak, in the couch to 5k. Which of the apps are you using Lissa?

I remember Rox - she wanted to visit Australia. My thoughts are with her husband and family.

This is a slight aside but perhaps relevant... Are you sure you are measuring correctly? Your amounts sound a lot to me for someone new to the sleeve, as I totted up around 16 teaspoons eaten fairly quickly. In the early weeks you would expect to take 20 mins to half an hour to eat that much. I live in a metric world so am not the most familiar with ounces, but I thought 1 Oz = a bit less than 30g. This would make your half ounce yoghurt a 3 modest (flat) teaspoons, not 9. Hopefully my maths is not wrong here, but my point is that speed matters.

This article makes so much sense to me and I wish I'd read it years ago. I drank litres of Fluid (low cal, caffeine free stuff) and huge meals of really healthy foods, primarily veg. And most of the time I was so hungry I could have eaten my own left arm. So I'd drink and eat more "good stuff", and on the cycle went. I haven't even bothered putting any significant gap between eating and drinking - when i felt i could drink i would, maybe after 10 to 15 mins. Now I get why it's important. I'm going to print this off and tape it to the bathroom wall, just above the scales. Aim to re-read it once a month. Thanks Laura.

Given all that was cut away its hard to imagine restriction being completely removed... That means our 15% stomachs have to stretch 600% (or thereabouts). I can certainly imagine less restriction and more hunger... At 5 months out I am already getting reacquainted with hunger.

You might find the seat belt hurts your tum a bit - put a small cushion or thick towel between you and the belt. You will definitely need rest but you'll also need to avoid picking up your 3 y o for a while. Could you 'brave up' and do the surgery alone, stay in hospital till after child care finishes the next day and have your hubby collect you and your little 'un on the way home and start his leave then? It's good for you not to be completely alone so quickly after surgery - probably not necessary but prudent. The other options are a casual nanny service (supervision for both you and the little one for a few days), or even a responsible teenager. I was still on pain meds until day 5 or 6. Not sure if I could have driven - in an emergency ok, but probably not with such precious cargo onboard.

With the possible exception of fizzy drinks you'll still be able to eat 'everything' after your op, in time and in much smaller amounts. No need for food funerals - though many of us wish there was.

Thanks for that. I wasn't aware that stomach acid was primarily produced in the lower half of the stomach. I love/need to understand things - drove my teachers nuts at school.

It's bizarre how the US insurance companies get between dr and patient - imagine if HCF said "we disagree with your specialist and although we cover that procedure, you're insurance is fully paid and a qualified, registered specialist says you need it, we won't pay for it". There would be an uproar.... by both doctors and insurees. I wonder if insurance is cheaper in the US because of this "get out" ability insurance companies have. Should be because its not a heap of use a lot of the time. And hardly makes insurance the reassurance it should be. Re public hospitals, I believe they do perform this surgery - I recently read a paper about bariatric surgery in WA that claimed about 20% of all bariatric procedures were done in the public system, and that included VSG but didn't separate out the types. There's some evidence that BS is cost effective over the medium to long term but it's still debated hotly. If/when the (financial) arguments for it are firmly grounded in evidence I'm sure it will rise steeply... With some stats saying 60% of adults are obese or overweight, something drastic has to happen to stop the public health system collapsing under the "weight" of obesity comorbidities. Aren't we the clever, responsible ones...

What's your calorie intake? Some of us need to go sub 800 to consistently lose weight. I feel your pain btw, you seem to be doing so much for so little return. Good luck.

I'm in Sydney so a different doctor - I think I had some blood tests but that was all. I think it depends on your overall health and info passed to your surgeon by your GP in the referral letter. US practices seem quite different to ours; v pedantic in some ways and then chucking patients out of hospital far earlier than I've ever heard happening here. Just between us Aussies, I'm glad I'm here!

Never and one of my tablets is quite big. I started taking it again day 2.

Gee, if only I had this problem. More than likely, like most of us, you'll agonise over the last 10kg and trying to give yourself a 2 kg (5 lb) buffer.

After I lost around 20% of my body weight -and over a weekend, it seemed - my boobs seemed to deflate as if someone put a pin in them! They are probably same size overall (lost weight off my back which has decreased band size) as cup size still seems ok but they are much softer (floppier, dare I say, though that's probably TMI). I'm quite pleased as I'm over 50 and in regular mammogram territory - last one was agony and radiologist mentioned my breasts were "unusually firm for a woman of your age" (!?). Hopefully next ones will be easier.

It gets a little better every day and once you've racked up a significant weight loss you'll get very quickly to your "happy place". It gets a little tougher later on, but easier to deal with when you've fully recovered from surgery and have some more energy courtesy of weight loss. Good luck with it all.

Pregnant?

I'm starting to work out why I had trouble losing weight in the past. I'm wondering if - like me - others have been shocked at how low they need to keep their calorie intake over the long term. After being sleeved at the end of April I pretty quickly lost 20kg, being a tad less than 20% of my starting weight. I "only" had a BMI of 36 to start with, but loads of co-morbidities and ongoing sleep problems. It's now 29. I'm 52 and have been gaining weight steadily since I had major surgery for cancer at 46 that also put me into menopause - around 5kg per year. With nearly every older relative I ever had dying at 59 from cancer or heart disease, and my health deteriorating every year, my doctor and I agreed it was time for drastic action. Like most people I started out able to eat very little, worked up to 500 cal/day and then 800. All good for 2 months, with only dog walking as exercise, although as joint pain eased up that's been getting more and more vigorous. Around 6 weeks ago I stopped losing and after a couple of weeks of diligent food and exercise recording I realise I'm eating around 1000 calories per day - still less than half of the "average daily intake", so as an Amazonian-built lass I thought low enough to ensure a regular weight loss.... Yet it just wasn't happening. After discussions with dietician and doctor over the past couple of days it now seems likely that my maintenance intake is a mere 1000 cal per day, with weight loss intake needing to be in the 500-800 range. This is so far below what I'd considered a "normal" intake that I'd assumed I shouldn't stay on such a low calorie diet long term - but both the dr and dietician said "get used to it". This is apparently my reality. I've had thyroid and other autoimmune system problems my entire adult life, but these are monitored and medicated, so probably not having a huge impact. Thank heavens for the sleeve, because there's no way I could be satisfied eating so little without it - I was always ravenous before. The next time someone tells me fat people just need to "exercise a bit of self control" I'm going to do my nut. I'd like to see the majority of people survive on 800 calories - happily - long term. On the up side, come the next famine I will be laughing!!!!

I'm 5 foot 7 and currently weigh 84kg, aiming for 72kg which is a BMI of 24. I started at just short of 104kg (BMI of 36). I walk the dogs for around 40 mins a day, plus do housework and gardening, but mostly studying - so nothing too extreme in the exercise department. I was quite shocked I must admit. I had thought I'd continue to lose weight on 1000 cal but after 6 stationary weeks it seems not. Neither the dietician nor the doctor seemed surprised by this, so I'm assuming it is not uncommon.

There's a few on here that did - you can probably find them using the search engine. Some decided it wasn't right for them, some not feeling certain about their surgeon and others had fear of surgery. Some came back to surgery later, and others are yet to. Unless you have dire health issues there's no reason to rush such a big decision. You'll know when it's right for you.