lark60

I had my surgery May 2013. The last few months have been VERY slow so I will not meet my goal by the 1 year mark. I am still happy with the weight loss that I have achieved thus far and am still loosing (about 1/2 lb a week)

I find that I experience "head hunger" when I am bored. I do not get hungry as a general rule but if I am bored, I find I cannot stop munching. I try to choose Protein (cheese or cottage cheese with yogurt, nuts or jerky) when this happens and then I look for something to do so I will not keep eating. There have been times (usually in the evening) when I realize I have eaten several hundred calories of food and still feel "hungry". Then I get anxious that I am not feeling the full feeling and may be stretching my sleeve. This just feeds my anxiety which frustrates me and I try drinking Water to "fill me up" till I feel that full feeling. I know what the problem is but still struggle with the emotions and boredom. Trying to avoid boredom is hard, just as hard as avoiding food.

My reply to the question about eating out is: I go with friends or family. I have discussed beforehand that I do not eat much so I prefer to share a meal with someone (so I am a cheap date!) Usually there is someone willing to share part of their meal with me and always comment on how little I take from their meal. I pick Protein first then veggies. If there is fruit, I will try to get one or two bites as my "dessert". The only place I avoid is the "all you can eat buffet" since I eat less than a 2 yr old and refuse to pay full price for such small amount of food.

I am surprised your Nut recommends potatoes in your diet at this stage. Also the amount of food at a meal seems a lot. If I eat 1 egg, I am not able to eat anything else for that meal. I realize every surgeon and Nut have different recommendations. My surgeon encouraged me to stick to Protein shakes 3 times a day when I hit a stall. I have a Protein shake for breakfast every day, 1/2 cup of food (mainly protein with low starch veggies) for lunch, 1/4 cup cottage cheese/yogurt for a snack and another protein shake for evening meal. I add fruit to the AM shake 3 times a week. It takes me about an hour to drink the shake with fruit so I don't do this every day. I have avoided bread, Pasta, rice, Cereal, potatoes and corn since the surgery. I do not plan on adding these back into my diet until I hit my goal weight.

Well I received good news and bad news today. I finally broke the weight loss stall from St Pattys day when I stood on the scale (yay!!!) Then I went to the docs to review my labs. My A1c was 5.9!!! so my diabetes is under control with metformin alone. My total cholesterol was 170 so no medication needed for cholesterol. My blood pressure was 116/72 so no blood pressure medication needed (thats a total of 3 old medication stopped!) Now the bad news: My potassium was low again (even though I am taking a perscrition potassium supplement) My thyroid tests were low so I will have to increase the synthroid dose (I know I will never get off this one). Finnaly, My Protein is low. I am going to have to up my protein intake more. I worry I am getting malnourished. It has been almost a year on this diet (no grains, bread, rice, Pasta, cereal) and I don't seem to be absorbing the Vitamins despite taking double daily required multivit and prescription potassium, magnesium, zinc, Vit A, Vit D. I am so close to my goal weight but I don't want to sacrifice my health to get there. The surgeon says to continue the diet, my PCP is concerned that I am malnourished and wants me to add grains & cereals into my diet to get the vitamins I am not absorbing from the supplements. I am frustrated.

I have been low thyroid for over 20 years. I chose WLS because my weight would not come off despite taking medication for hypothyroid. I just had my annual labs and though my doc lowered my dose (on the presumption that weight loss required the decreased dose) my T4 and Free T4 were low so I will be going back on my previous dose of thyroid medication. I am hoping this will help with the stall I have been dealing with since the medication was lowered.

My surgeon calculated the daily protein intake based on what my goal BMI would be, not what my starting BMI was so I have stayed with 55-60 gm a day.

I love the coconut Quest bars. I also have eaten dried coconut without any problem. Haven't tried fresh coconut yet. I think the concern is that shredded coconut doesn't get chewed enough before swallowing which can be a problem if your system cannot break down the fibers. The reality is, what you can swallow will travel through. How much is digested is related to how well the food is chewed.

I am 11 months out from sleeve procedure and have avoided bread, Pasta, rice, cereals (though I did eat rice while traveling to Korea this month). I limit potatoes, corn and other starchy veggies to 1 or 2 times a week. My routine is Protein shakes, lean meat for lunch with a veggie, cheese, yogurt and cottage cheese. I add fruit to a shake 3 times a week. I average 800-1000 cal a day. I have a very slow metabolism and my weight loss slowed to 1/2 lb a week since 6 months. There has been several stalls and currently I am again experiencing a stall since St Patty's day challenge. When I stopped loosing weight the first time (about 6 weeks out) I was in a panic and feared I would fail at weigh loss. Now that I have lost 100+ lbs, I know the stalls happen when my body is "rearranging" because though the scale doesn't move, I notice clothing fits differently week from week. I do not plan on adding the starchy foods (breads, pasta, rice, cereal) back into my daily routine until I hit my goal. I am hoping then I will be able to drop some of the Vitamins since I should be able to get them from these food items.

I didn't try salad till 6 months. Even now I fill up on the Protein before I could really enjoy a salad so I rarely eat one. Also my taste for the dressings have changed and I haven't found one that I really like yet.

I was diagnosed with hashimotos thyroid after my second child was born (back in 1979). I have been on synthyroid ever since the diagnosis. I also had endometriosis (hysterectomy at 25 to cure the pain and anemia). YES this condition affects your weight. I would gain weight every time a new PCP would mess with the dose. This is one of the reasons I went for WLS. I had been working on loosing weight with low carb/high Protein diet and managed to loose 65 lbs (3 years ago). When I moved to a new town and of course a new PCP he said I needed to lower my thyroid dose because my labs were off. I did and gained the 65 lbs back within 3 months. When I went back to the doc and was bawling from my frustration, he suggested WSL (and raised my thyroid dose back to the original level) Since I have lost 100 lbs with the sleeve, I have been able to decrease my thyroid medication to 1/2 the dose of pre surgery but have lowered this VERY slowly. The medication comes in over 12 different doses and each is micrograms (very small difference between doses) Also, I recommend you make sure the doc write DAW (dispense as written) on the script to make sure you get the real synthyroid, not generic. If you have to take generic, make sure the pharmacy gives you medication from the same manufacture company each fill. Again since this is in micrograms, the quality controls are different company to company and you will be on a different dose even though the bottle seems the same but the company is different.

I made up the SF Jello with the clear Protein shots from walmart so the protein content was higher. I could only get a few bites in at a time so I wanted to get the most protein in that I could and the protein shots were VERY sweet to me. If I diluted one 3 oz shot in 16 oz of Water, I could sip on it over 4-5 hours. By adding the same 3 oz to the jello, I would get the needed protein in over an hour instead. (I still sipped the protein water to get the fluids and more protein since I wasn't hitting my goal during the clear liquid phase) Even now at almost a year out, I will make up the SF jello with the protein shot to have as a snack (now I add mixed fruit chunks so I get a serving of fruit in my day)

I am almost a year out from surgery (6 weeks to go) and I still drink a Protein shake for Breakfast. I have several of the protein powders and premixed shakes already listed. I also add fruit to the vanilla (or fruit nectar) to change the flavor as well as get a serving of fruit in a couple times a week. This is my routine and I plan on continuing this even when I am on maintenance. When I am stalling on weight loss, I drink a shake for breakfast and another for my evening meal. lunch and an afternoon snack are the only "real food" when I am trying to get the weight to come off. I try to keep my protein intake at 60 gms a day and calories around 1000. I avoid the shakes that have more than 10 carbs per serving.

Until I have the money for the surgery, I wear 3/4 sleeved shirts that are tight around my upper arm. That seems to work to minimize the flapping. The problem is I don't like to wear them all the time and occasionally forget that I will be out in public. That is when I get the worst stares and hide my arms as much as I can. I thought being fat made me self conscience, these flappy things are the worst embarrassment yet.

I have been told several times that I am "too skinny". The same person will then tell me I look great and she is jealous. I try to take the comments as a compliment. The other day I was showing her a project I want to do at my house and was pointing up at the roof. She grabbed the flabby underarm hanging from my arm and said "you should draw a nipple on these and tell everyone you have extra boobs". THAT HURT MY FEELINGS. I will be getting the arm surgery as soon as I can afford it.

The form of Vitamin is more related to what you can swallow. Chewable and gummy forms are designed to be absorbed easier and so they are recommended for the most WLS patients. You can try the tablet form and if able to swallow them without any stomach upset, your next step is to see if your labs show you are absorbing them (it takes a few months to see any change in the labs) As always, check with your physician.

I finally believed I had lost weight when I could wear MY daughters clothes. She was donating clothes that were too big for her since she lost weight (she is now in a size 3-4) and I went through the bags. I found several size 10 clothes that fit!!!. I also selected several size 8 clothes to "shrink into".

not to burst your bubbles but realize that part of the reason your A1c's are back in the normal range is because you are so soon post op and your diet is not "normal". I too am diabetic and my first A1c post sleeve was 5.1 I had been off all medication since the day before the surgery. By the second lab test (at 6 months post sleeve) my A1c went up to 6.7 so I started back on Metformin. As you start to eat more regular food your body will again need medication to help manage the glucose metabolism. Granted I am on 1/2 the pre surgery dose and only meformin instead of 2 oral medications, but I am still diabetic so medication is back on the daily routine. WLS is not a cure for diabetes. Many find they can manage the condition with diet and exercise but with time you will need medication. How much time before medication is needed will depend on factors such as genetics, diet and activity. You can control 2 of the 3 but not all three.

Just wanted to share an experience with everyone. I recently went on a trip to Korea to see my daughter and 5 of my 9 grandkids. I am 10 months post sleeve and this was my first LONG distance trip. I had traveled by plane after the surgery (short flight of 2 hours) before and was prepared to only drink Water on the flight (though the soda was a temptation I resisted). Well...... the flight from San Francisco to Korea was 15 hours long. I had brought a shaker bottle and prepackaged samples of Protein shakes to get through the TSA thrill (no way was I going to hassle with getting pre made/packaged Protein Shakes through the screening). The flight out went as I had planned. I asked for water every time they brought around the tray. The meals provided were pretty good! I skipped the high carb foods (bread, potatoes, rice) and took my time eating (I tried to keep the meal under an hour though). I also skipped the iceberg lettuce salad since I was trying to eat the other veggies provided with the meal. Again, water after the meal. For "breakfast" I made my shake. All in all the trip up was a success in regards to traveling and dealing with meals/water intake. The trip back was a different beast. Maybe I had become over confident or maybe the 2 week vacation of being off my regular routine were the problem but I seemed to have a harder time with the return flight. I started out ok and made sure to ask for water frequently (I also had my water bottle that I purchased preflight) dinner was beef with rice (I had been eating rice every day for the past 2 weeks and knew to limit the amount to a tablespoon), spinach, roll and salad. I ate the beef, small amount of rice and the spinach. Skipped the roll and salad. After the meal I tried a glass of orange juice (the first time since the surgery. Hindsight being 20/20 I should have NEVER tried something new on a plane) The OJ did not sit well on my stomach. I started having heart burn almost immediately and knew the beverage choice was a mistake. Trying to get water down when my stomach was upset was a nightmare and I spent the remainder of the flight (about 10 hours) fearing I would throw up on the plane. I didn't dare eat anything else and stuck to sipping water as much as I could. I tried a sprite zero (mixed with water to get rid of the bubbles but it didn't seem to help. Of course I couldn't sleep because of the upset stomach (and the drunk man behind me who kept pulling on my chair to move around) so when I arrived in San Fran I was very jet lagged, sick and just wanted to sleep. I had a 6 hour layover to endure till I could get home to my bed. I spent the time in the lounge closest to the bathroom. Lets just say the OJ finally completed the trip before me. My fear of vomiting on the plane was not realized but I did have 1 episode at the airport (not sure why since I hadn't eaten for over 10 hours). My bum was sore from the diarrhea by the time I got on the plane again. Lessons learned: Don't try new things on a 15 hour international flight. BRING anti nausea medication (I forgot to pack my zofran and regretted this error) Stick to water, frequently, while flying.

I made popsicles out of my chocolate protein shakes last summer and they were a great way to get the protein needed.

Well I am 10 months post Sleeve and just came back from a 2 week vacation to see 5 of my grandchildren. I was worried about the 15 hour flight (they live in Korea), eating strange foods and the challenge of bringing Protein to make sure I keep on tract. I knew I wouldn't be able to stay on my weight loss diet (2 shakes, small meal and 1 snack) but I was able to work around the meals the family were eating. I brought individual packets of Protein powder shakes and stuck with a shake for Breakfast each day. I learned several things on this trip. Rice can get stuck just as easy as bread (every meal in Korea has rice). I cannot let myself get caught up in the moment when eating (I over eat when the food is so good and the company engaging). Walking is the main way to get around and I was able to get in 8-10k steps a day (which is why I believe I kept my weight stable) Now I just have to get in the habit to walk more every day. Well, now I am home and it is time to get back to loosing the last 30 lbs to hit my goal.

I used extra lotion when my skin bothered me. Not so much "crawly" as itchy.

I am surprised your surgeon did not give you a list! Most NUT (nutritionists) also make sure you have all the needed Proteins, foods and drinks for the first and second phases of reintroduction to food after the procedure. I made Jello in 1 oz condiment cups to have in the fridge (actually made too many and after a couple of months I threw out the left over when I discovered mold growing on the sugar-free jello). I also had chicken broth (the nut recommended beef and chicken but I couldn't handle the beef taste post surgery) My Protein was Profect clear protein (20 gm in 3 oz) and a similar clear protein shot from walmart (can't remember the name). I stocked up on sugar free Water flavor packets, Vitamin water and power aide zero. For the full liquid phase, I added Protein shakes (adkins and Premier Protein to start) Some people would add cream based Soups but I tried to stay away from carbs as long as I could. Buying food for the soft food phase should be postponed till you are ready since most of the soft foods spoil and you don't need them for the first month post surgery. Good luck with the surgery.

My routine is usually the same everyday. AM: Protein shake. I have over 15 different flavors and have added fruit to several for a change. I try to add fruit 3 times a week. Lunch: 1/2 cup of "food" Protein first (min 25 gms) and then add veggies. Usually a Soup or stew. Occasionally a salad with meat, egg and cheese. 3 PM: snack of yogurt with cottage cheese or a cheese stick. Dinner: Protein Shake. I usually get 900 calories, 65 gm of protein.

I had reflux before the sleeve and was taking Prevacid daily. I do not have as much reflux symptoms post sleeve and continue to take Prevacid daily.