scootergirl

I had my sleeve surgery in August 2013. It was the best thing I have have ever done for myself. The knee surgery I thought I would need....I did not. The fatigue and inability to move....gone. My poor blood sugar, blood fats, lymphadema, etc....all better. I can buy clothes off the rack. This has been a dream for me. Alas, I have had a rough stretch. A significant family crisis has taken me away from my “year of me”. I stopped tracking my protein. I let my weekly exercise quota slip away. I no longer commit to my good, post-surgery habits. I have slipped into naughty “slider food” habits (chips, crackers, wine.....too little protein, too many carbs, basically not following any of the recommendations of my program). None of these choices is ok. None of these is recommended....by anyone. I post this only as a cautionary tale. I have regained 30 pounds (1/3 of my total weight loss) since my minimum. I am, again, in the “morbidly obese” category (not even a little bit ok with me). I struggle to climb stairs. My knees are hurting again. I will learn how bad my metabolic numbers are soon (when I see my doc for my annual physical). This was not why I underwent major surgery and worked so hard for several years at my good health and weight loss. i tell all you all this to warn you to stay vigilant. Take your surgery seriously. Keep up with your good, new, healthy habits. Don’t let life’s events derail your hard work. Surgery was a life changer for me and I have not been able to make a lasting success of it. I am still better off than I was pre-surgery but not where I should/could be. My surgeon is frustrated with my weight slide. I am mad at how my life circumstances have derailed this “miracle” in my life. My weight is up. My health is down. Not good. i plan to return to good habits....eventually (once my life settles down). I hope it helps me. Time will tell. I choose to believe that my bad habits will be reversible. Fingers crossed I am correct. Stay strong, sleevers. Don’t follow in my footsteps.

Goodness. You are looking great. Do you feel as transformed as your silhouette? Way to go!!! Keep up the good work

Great idea! I look forward to your sample packs. I have wasted a lot of money buying (and throwing out!) lots of brands of Protein powders because I was not able to try a sample first. Will you also be creating food/liquid tracking apps for post surgery folks? I use MyFitness Pal to track but it is not perfect for my post surgical life. It is not easy to log Fluid intake and it automatically subtracts exercise calories. I would love an app that really works with my goals and needs.

Greek yogurt or cottage cheese! These are my best sources of relatively low calorie high protein foods that also sit well on my sometimes tender tummy. I carry a yogurt with me almost all the time (in a small lunch sack on a freezer block). I have easy access at any time and at the first sign of hunger. They fill me up and keep hunger at bay. Try them.

I am about a year out from surgery. The area around my largest incision is often tender even now. If my belt should bind me near the old incision or I get poked by the dog, etc. it can be quite uncomfortable. I feel like I may have a small hernia. Check with your doctor at one of your follow up appointments. My pain is less frequent and less intense now than just after surgery but it has never gone away completely. I would call it tolerable discomfort as long as I protect the incision site from irritations.

I am happy to hear that your hair loss is getting better. My hair loss got shockingly bad. I have always had a thick head of hair. Now it is so sparse that it is hard to hold in a ponytail. My scalp shows a good deal. I did not realize this would be such an extreme issue for me. Watch your high biotin intake. I found that I developed bilateral numbness in my little fingers (ulnar nerve pattern) from taking only 2000mg/day. After I stopped taking it the numbness has decreased. Now if my hair would just start growing in again!

Started a little over a year ago at 313. Currently at 221. Have not lost any weight in nearly three months but feel so good and have so much energy I am not as upset as I thought I'd be. I'd still like to lose ~50 pounds more. Doesn't seem likely at this rate. I won't give up but would love to see the scale change again.

I find my restriction (amount eaten until feeling a sense of fullness) is variable. I wish I could say it was related to my good food choices. It seems more variable than that. I have days where even a few bits fills me to the brim (can't eat even a half of a sandwich). Other days I feel like I never had my surgery (can eat the entire sandwich and wish I had more). It is not just food choice related; there is something else involved that I can't put my finger on. I have, though, found that my feeling of fullness is faster to pass that it was closer to my surgery. If I am not careful I could eat 6-10 small meals a day.

Expired! What a perfect description of my feelings as well. I am 15 months out from surgery and 90 pounds down. All good for sure but I have now bounced around the same five pounds for the past 4 months. No real loss, no real gain, but no real change. I still am hopeful that following the advice here (track my intake following protein and calorie guidelines, exercise - my fitbit is my favorite encourager and motivator, drink plenty of low cal fluids, keep unnecessary carbs at bay, take my Miralax, weigh every day, take my measurements ~once a month). If I do all these things with good commitment, I feel like I may still have success with additional weight loss. I sure hope so as I want to (need to) lose another 70 pounds. It feels daunting and oh so distant.

Do you have seasonal allergies? I am now ~15 months post surgery. Last fall and again this fall I found myself with unexplained and insatiably hungry. I now recognize what I experienced as untreated allergies and it's post nasal drip that can seem like hunger. Once I treated my allergies (Claritin was all I needed) and the patience for my allergy season to pass and my hunger is back to normal and controllable. Good luck

Are you willing to give your "sagging" face/neck a little more time? I have found that my terrible chicken neck and sagging face have recovered a bit as my weight loss has (unfortunately) slowed down. I looked really scary/droopy for several months. I figured it was just going to be the "new" me (though I did not like the look of it...I was happy to see my cheekbones again but not happy to see soooo much sag). With time everything has smoothed out. A little patience? PS I am a 56yo female with very dry and sun damaged skin. Nothing "miracle" about my chances for skin recovery. Just allowing time for my body to adjust to my new self

I have asked my nutritionist several times to weigh in on the 5-2 diet. She is not familiar with it but has been very reluctant to learn more. Has anyone out there asked their nutritionist about it? What do nutritionists say? The most mine would say is that she thought it would be OK for a jump start of weight loss but not for any kind of sustained diet plan. I have yet to try the 5-2 but want to keep it in mind as my weight loss has slowed to the crawl. I am inspired by the numerous success stories I have read about the 5-2 reboot for dropping pounds post-long-stall.

Thank you for posting this. I think you address an important but sensitive issue. I would not have expected myself to be plagued by "cross-addiction" issues. I did not think I was "addicted" to food. Ha! I was very under-aware of the degree to which food soothed my stress of life. Now that I don't have food for comfort or calming, I face my stress alone. I have allowed myself to relax and socialize with friends by enjoying a drink in the evenings (I could not eat the foods they ate so I joined them with liquid). I can see that it would be easy for alcohol replace my old reliance on foods. Thank you for reminding me of this.

Cowgirl, you have been a voice of reason and sanity to me through this past year of my VSG journey. I wish I could be there for you right now. I'd stay up all night to listen to your stories about your recently lost loved ones. Know I am with you in spirit.

Wow! I can't believe I am now a year out from surgery. Does that make me a veteran? So many of you have done so well. Thanks for posting your before and after photos. Your results are amazing and wonderful. I have done fine (~90 pounds down) but may be a cautionary tale for those who think that not following the recommended plan carefully is OK. I have been a tad lax with some guidelines (liquid with meals, regular sugar in my coffee/tea, slider foods -like popcorn- when hungry and in a pinch). Perhaps my weight loss would be much better if I had been more adherent to directions. Don't be like me all you new VSG folks! Follow the guidelines. Good luck.

I am not certain what I had was dumping syndrome. On several occasions I have eaten too much or the wrong things. I have felt really awful until I vomited. The vomiting was not painful. I felt much better once it was done. I think the sleeve may handle foods and getting overfilled a bit more kindly than the bypass or band

Good luck. I am a July '13 sleever. I can't believe it has been a year for me. I am down nearly 84 pounds. Not where I want to be as a final weight but less than I have weighed in 25 years. I couldn't be happier with my sleeve. I bet you will be too

Don't give up! I am with you. Four months without a pound lost for me. I have kept up or increased my exercise and finally the weight is moving again. Keep your fluids up and your exercise vigorous. Your weight will move again. Also check the veterans page and look for posts about the 5:2 diet. Many of the veteran sleeves swear it was their secret to getting the scales moving again

Don't fret too much about your mom'a reaction. Sometimes it is scary to the folks around us who need to adjust to our changes. The good news is that you will very likely to not have any desire for any of those food right after your surgery. As your weight starts falling off your family may have a change of feelings and choose to leave those foods at the store

I feel your frustration. It has taken me over 3 months to lose the past ~8 pounds. Talk about frustrating. Just when I thought I'd never lose another pound the scale started moving again. I am not doing anything different. Stay with it and keep taking your measurements. Mine kept getting smaller even when the scale wouldn't budge

Fret not. You may not feel like eating much at all for a bit. It will get better. I once heard someone say that post surgery eating becomes like a full time job. You will put lots of time, thought, and activity into doing it. Like any job, you get better and better at it with experience. The learning curve may be steep and rocky but if you stay with it, and get support from this site, you will become very skillful and successful at it. Good luck.

Thanks for posting your stat everyone. I am starting to feel a bit "on my own" in the sleeve world. It is nice to hear how others are doing. I have lost less than 60% of my excess weight. I hope I am not done with my journey but my body is stubbornly happy at this weight. Rats!

I wish I had advice for better energy. I have been fortunate that as the pounds come off my energy goes up. Wish I were so lucky with hair loss. I have been taking Biotin (1000mg, 2x per day). For the first ~4 months I really thought it was helping. My hair seemed to be getting thicker (?) than it had been before biotin. Starting at ~5months post surgery my hair started coming out in handfuls. I have such thin hair now that my scalp shows through. I don't love it but feel like it may get better as my weight loss slows down and I get closer to my goal.

I feel your pain. I have lost only ~5 pounds in the past four months. I am exercising like crazy and getting into pretty good shape/fitness. I would be crazy discouraged by now if I had not been keeping track of my measurements. I continue to lose inches even when my weight seems stuck. I hope you are tracking inches as well as pounds. There may be good (if still frustrating) news in what otherwise feels like a l-o-n-g stall. If hunger is still a big problem for you be sure it is not your under treated allergies. I could not understand my post surgical hunger until I realized I was not treating my post nasal drip and it was creating the same "hunger pangs" I had had for years before. An antihistamine later and my hunger was back under control. I would never recommend violating your doctors orders but I have safely taken ibuprofen from time to time since my surgery. My intensive exercising has left me in pain which only goes away with a dose or two of ibuprofen. So far it has not been a problem for me. And, by the way, I have to take a daily aspirin, in addition, due to cardiac issues. I have not tummy trouble with it either. Good luck.

I had terrible constipation problem as soon as I came out of surgery. It did not resolve with any prunes, Fluid increase, teas, etc. I finally started Miralax. I need to use it daily or I back up again. Good luck to you.