Kindle

Yes. You are going to gain and lose and stall throughout this entire process. Just get in your protein and fluids, take your vitamins, stay away from carbs, enjoy the NSVs and SOTFS.

I increased my Protein intake as I lost weight, too. I was shooting for 60g in the beginning and even that was a struggle because I could eat so little. But as my restriction lessened and my calories increased, I increased them with more protein, then fat, and still keep my carbs low. I'm over two years out, maintaining below goal and get 80-100g protein/day. I have great muscle mass and tone, and I had absolutely no hairloss. I also eat 5-7 meals/snacks a day. There's no way I could get in enough nutrition only eating 3 times/day. BTW, I started at 238 and am now 140. So basically 1/2 your size and getting twice as much protein as your surgeon is recommending. No, his postop diet plan doesnt make sense to me.

No, nothing makes me dump. If I eat a lot of sweets (like a whole piece of cheesecake or several cookies) I might get a bit of a tummy ache. I never had any suggested drinks....just daily Fluid and protein goals. It was up to me how I met them. Had no calorie or carb goals, either As for popscicles, Syntrax Naturals (sweetened with stevia and erythritol) comes in Orange, peach, vanilla and chocolate and made good pops. Mixing orange juice with the vanilla makes a good dreamsicle. Diluted fruit juice (100% juice, no sugar added) makes good pops, too. I couldn't tolerate artificial sweeteners or lactose for 4 months so I had to get creative on what I drank. I was flavoring my protein smoothies and plain Greek yogurt with pureed fruit from the beginning. The carbs actually helped with my energy level. And considering I passed goal at 7 months and have maintained over two years out I'd say real sweeteners have not hindered my progress. Moderation is key.

I was taking Source of Life Gold chewable for years even before surgery. Loved them. But postop everything, including the chewable vitamins, tasted way too sweet to me so I switched to Vitamin Code for Women capsules as soon as the surgeon OK'd capsules/tablets at 3 weeks postop. No sense trying to gag down something you don't like. Finding a vitamin you do like will make it easier to be compliant, especially since you'll be taking them for the rest of your life.

I have not ever had aspartame since surgery. Or pretty much any other artificial sweetener for that matter. (With the exception of Muscle Milk and Premier Proteins which contain sucralose, but my other Protein powders use stevia) No sugar free popscicles, no sugar free Jello, no sugar free pudding, no crystal light, etc. there's no rule that you have to eat that crap. There's plenty of products out there that use stevia and/or erythritol as sweeteners and I they didn't cause the pain that artificial sweeteners did. I made Popsicles from Protein shakes. I drank a lot of decaf herbal tea, both hot and iced. Sweet leaf Water enhancers use stevia. Bai5 and Pact use stevia and erythritol. I use regular Torani syrups instead of sugar free. Diluted Regular sports drinks and fruit juice instead of zero cal drinks. And when I want to manually sweeten something I use real sugar, honey, stevia or monk fruit. I'd rather have the extra calories than the yucky flavor of the artificial stuff.

So all you need to do is drink more, get in more calories, most importantly SOTFS and you're golden.

Oh yeah, I forgot I drank lots of V8! My surgeon OKd raw veggies, nuts and seeds at 3 months but you should double check with your surgeon. Yes, I added unflavored Protein powder to everything. I would add a bit of Water and make a slurry first then stir that into mashed veggies and Soup. I still do that when I make casseroles, pancakes, soup, baked goods, etc.

Not sure what a "long time" is. I made it a point to incorporate veggies into my diet ASAP. I was eating mushy well cooked veggies like cauliflower, carrots, green Beans, and spinach starting in my soft food phase, about six weeks postoperative. I added unflavored Protein powder to mashed potatoes and sweet potatos in my pureed stage. But Like DaisyAmy said, you can't fit in much after trying to meet protein goals. This is one of the other reasons I kept using Protein shakes even now, two years post. By getting a big chunk of my protein in liquid form, that left me with more tummy space to eat fruit, veggies and whole grains. I feel a balanced diet is important. I was eating raw cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, green beans, etc as a regular snack by 3 months out. The only veggies I kind of stay away from are corn, peas, and potatoes.

Just keep working at it. Your sleeve is still swollen. I had to sip from the moment I woke up till the time I went to bed. I had a Water bottle with me at ALL times. If I lost even an hour's worth of sipping I couldn't catch up. It was definitely a full time job. And unlike what someone else mentioned, I counted my Protein drinks as fluid. Also, warm liquids went down better for me, so I drank a lot of decaf herbal tea. It was soothing on my poor swollen tummy. Good luck....it does get better!

Wisconsin -18 years Pennsylvania - 3 years (college -graduated early) Florida - 6 years Colorado - 3 years Wisconsin (again) - 3 years Wyoming - 1 year Idaho (actually just 25 miles from my previous WY address) - 13 years Just took me awhile to find "home", but I had a lot of fun along the way!

Now I know we aren't supposed to encourage people to go against their surgeon's instructions, but you absolutely cannot stretch your sleeve with liquids. Your surgeon is an idiot if he truly thinks this. Unless you have a blockage or stricture fluids run right through your sleeve into your intestines within seconds. Liquids simply do not stay in your sleeve long enough to do any stretching. I've literally seen this with my own eyes by watching my own barium fluoroscopy 3 days postop. The liquid ran down my esophagus, through my sleeve and into my intestines within seconds. I also did a barium swallow on myself several months postop just to compare the size of my sleeve with my previous full size tummy (I did one a couple weeks before surgery). If I didn't shoot the first X-ray within a couple seconds of swallowing the barium, I'd miss seeing it in my sleeve because it was already into my intestines. And like @@cindyw41 mentioned, unless you stay up and drink your 4 ounces for 16 hours every day you will never reach your 64oz minimum. And it sounds like you aren't. Apparently your doctor doesn't mind his patients walking around in a chronically dehydrated state by giving the misinformation he is giving. I hope you figure out a way to get in all your fluids and protein soon.

I'm originally from Wisconsin, but currently live in Idaho by way of Pennsylvania, Florida, Colorado and Wyoming.

What Inner Surfer Girl said. Between pre and postop I was on liquids for 34 days. 2 years and 100 pounds later it is a faraway memory and well worth it. ......Although actually it's not such a faraway memory. I've put myself on the liquid Protein diet a couple times in the last several months in order to drop a few excess pounds when they creep on (as pounds will do when you are in maintenance). Turns out it's just one more effective weapon in our never ending war against obesity. So in @@Inner Surfer Girl 's words, "Embrace the Liquid Preop Diet"

@@CowgirlJane it's funny I seem to be transitioning through the same food weaknesses. Nuts and Peanut Butter used to be my goto Snacks. I made up my own mixed nut variety and ate a handful/day. But eventually I couldn't control portions anymore. Nuts became my crack. Peanut butter is even worse. I could seriously eat a whole jar in 3 days. I can't stop myself. So those things no longer enter my house. But boy, do I still luv em. In fact, I think my favorite part of my recent vacation from hell was allowing myself to eat peanuts on the plane. Protein bars have become an issue for me, too. Since I don't get any breaks all day at work the easiest thing for me to have for lunch is a Quest bar or natures valley Protein Bar. But then I was wanting one (or 2) as snacks in the evening. My compromise is I still have one at work, but I don't keep any at home. So far those have been my two weaknesses that developed somewhere around 18-24 months postop. Maybe let me know what comes up for you next so I can be prepared

@@gowalking it sounds like you are just living life as a "normal" person. Someone who eats healthy most of the time, binges on a few treats on a special occasion and then goes back to eating healthy. Congrats! I always indulge on cocktails and Desserts and very non-bariatric friendly foods when I'm on vacation. I don't deprive myself of any of the yummy traditional foods over holidays. But then I'm right back on track afterwards. In fact, I've even started doing "preemptive strikes" to minimize the weight I have to lose afterwards. I will go back to basic Protein and veggies or even put myself on the liquid preop diet for several days prior to the times I know I'll be eating off plan. This gets me to the bottom (or even under) my bounce range, so any weight I gain isn't so bad. Even if I gain a few pounds I'm usually still in my bounce range and I go on with life as usual. If at any time I'm above my bounce, it's back to basics. As long as you acknowledge those small gains and do something about them, they won't get a chance to become big gains. Remember when all our skinny friends would complain about gaining 5 pounds like it was the end of the world? Well now that's us! And we have the power and tools to do something about it and STAY skinny people!

Well according to that calculator, "You can expect to lose 67 lbs. from gastric sleeve surgery. Your new weight will be 171 lbs. after gastric sleeve surgery." But In fact, I lost 98 pounds and my new weight after 26 months is 140. Which means someone else had to have been extremely non-compliant and only lost 37 pounds in order for them to come up with that "60% loss" statistic. Like @@CowgirlJane said, your individual result is within your control. It's up to you which statistic you want to be.

Scrambled eggs were on my list of purees. I actually added water when I scrambled them to make them super moist and soft....my grandma used to make them that way. Adding the cottage cheese makes them even more moist.

Congrats, You must be one of the lucky ones. I got screwed once the bullshit that is Obamacare kicked in. I used to have a policy with $30office visit copays and a $2400 deductible. I now pay $1800 MORE a year in premiums for a policy with a $6000 deductible and no copays. And my insurance company, that used to be very easy to deal with, now pretty much denies EVERYTHING. I have to appeal to have anything covered. Sometimes I Win, sometimes I don't, so I end up not only paying the deductible, but also out of pocket for all the stuff they deny that doesn't even go towards my deductible. I spent 20% of my annual income on medical expenses last year. For us middle class self employed folks, Obamacare sucks.

I am a vet tech with a very physical job. On my feet all day, bending, squatting, kneeling. Lifting everything from a 1 pound kitten to 60 pound dogs to wrestling goats and wrangling pissed off horses. I am partners in a mobile practice so its just me and the vet. If I don't work, business is closed. No such thing as lunch breaks or time off. I planned to take two weeks, but it's kind of hard to tell our patients not to get sick or hurt so I went back to work after 7 days. I had a 20 pound lifting restriction for 3 weeks so we didn't schedule any large dog surgeries or equine appointments but other than that I Worked my normal 8-10 hour days. Sipped Water and Protein shakes all day in between appointments. Hit the couch as soon as I got home that first week but after that I barely felt like I'd even had surgery. I was back to lifting 40-60 pounds on exactly day 21.

If you find a PCP that isn't familiar with bariatric surgery, Typical bloodwork to ask for is a CBC, electrolytes, Chempanel (to check kidney/liver/pancreatic/cardiac function), Vitamin D, B12, iron/ferritin, folate, zinc and calcium. Those are the nutrients VSG patients are most likely to develop deficiencies in. However, blood calcium level isn't actually a great test for detecting a problem. You'd really need a bone density scan for that. I plan on getting one in the next few years....probably the next time I meet my very high deductible I'll throw it in.

Have you at least had a PCP checking your bloodwork?

Just so you know, all this pizza talk made me want pizza. I made a Tombstone supreme this afternoon and ate the toppings off two pieces. Mmmmm. I'll have the rest over the next 4 days. Thanks a lot . PS my dog got the crust...he thanks you, too.

I would try Prilosec for a couple weeks in case it is acid or even ulcers. Also, when you're done drinking (try to not actually eat the ice) and have those horrible hunger pains, take a couple tums or Rolaids (I actually prefer ultra strength Rolaids) instead of eating something. In case it is acid, this could help a lot. If these things aren't helping, I'd definitely try and find a bariatric center or even a gastroenterologist to try and find out what's going on.

i haven't excercised for even one minute and I lost over 100% of my excess weight. Yes, I have a physical job and active lifestyle, lifting 60-80 pounds regularly and typically logging 12,000 steps on my fit bit. But this is the exact same "excercise" I got for the last 10 years that I was obese, so it certainly didn't contribute to my weight loss. My diet changes did that. Of course excercise will help increase muscle mass, (or minimize muscle loss as you lose weight), leading to a more toned body shape. It will even help with stamina if you are doing cardio, but it typically has a minimum effect on weight loss itself.

That's cause it is! . And FYI, if you are taking phentermine and you get drug tested, you better have an Rx for it because certain testing methods will show up positive for meth if you are taking phentermine.