Sunnybaby

Hi OrangeAwareness. I would refrain from watching some of the you-tube videos. There seem to be a lot of negative ones out there and they could end up leaving you feeling discouraged. If you do watch some of the videos make sure they are ones that are positive. While each person has the same journey we don't all feel/taste/whatever the same after surgery. It will definitely change your life. I know it changed mine in a wonderful way. Some easy things to eat (more of a grab and go) would be: Danon light and fit yogurt mixed with a tiny bit of fruit. (I mix vanilla yogurt with cottage cheese and add fruit. you can't taste the cottage cheese at all, just the yogurt. It's high in protein) Boca burgers are pretty soft and I like to melt a piece of cheese over the top of it I like the already mixed tuna packets (the deli style ones) cheese sticks/string cheese unsweetened applesauce Right after surgery I really liked this potato leek Soup my mom made and pureed for me. It was thick and I froze it in an ice cube tray so I could just pop one out and heat that up and eat it. I unfortunately don't have the recipe but I am sure you could find one online. I also choked down Protein drinks (I haven't been able to do sweets since surgery) but they proved WAY too sweet for me. I also ate sugar free Jello and sugar free pudding. I hope this helps a little bit at least!

I have no regrets whatsoever about having surgery but I was surprised how much my tastes changed. I used to LOVE the sweets. Any type of sweet. Now I can't stand it, not at all. I think I was also surprised because I had it in my head that this was going to be an easy journey.....it is not by any means easy. There is a lot of hard work involved and I have had to really stay on top of things.

I was sleeved 3/25. I'm going through boredom in the couch. Every time I see food I want it I'm sick of shakes I am having hard time with Water too I barely walk two blocks and I'm tired. My throat hurts. I'm wondering what did I do to myself. It will get better! I was in and out of it the first week after surgery but after the first week things were a LOT better. I kind of had the same feeling of, "OMG what did I just do to myself and WHY?" But deep down I knew I did the right thing for health and for myself in general. I was tired after walking short distances but it's just because our bodies went through a lot and still need time to process everything. That will get better with time, just keep walking however long you can. Don't overdo it though. I personally had to stop drinking the shakes because I could no longer handle sweets after my surgery and the shakes made me gag something fierce! My doctor told me to discontinue them. Have you tried doing the unflavored Protein powder? You can put it in anything and you are still getting your protein in. As for the water, take it slow. I was told in my classes to take a sip every 10-15 minutes. Just a sip. Doing that throughout the day should get you the water you need. Hope this helps a little. If you need more help feel free to PM me.

Thanks everyone! I really needed to hear a lot of what you all had to say and it helps a lot. Banishing carbs from my house is not going to be the easiest though because my husband loves them too (I think he could live off of them and them alone if he could). I am going to talk to him about it tonight though and see what he has to say. I know he REALLY wants me to succeed, just as much as I want to so hopefully it well.

So I am a year out from surgery and I have been having the HARDEST time with carbs! I still crave them and I still want them all. the. time. I am starting to have a problem getting in all of my Protein because all I want is carbs. Does anyone have any sound advice as to how to get my mouth (and head) out of carbs and dig into the protein? I want to do the right thing, I want to succeed at this and right now I am scared to death of failing. I have 30 more pounds to lose to get to goal and they seem like they are going to be impossible to lose if I don't straighten out.

He was a GREAT surgeon. Couldn't have asked for a better one imo.

My NUT gave us little to no cooking meal plans which have been a total lifesaver for me! The on the go cottage cheese cups are great. Also try hard boiling some eggs for the week ahead of time and that helps as a grab and go food. Deli meat is easy to grab a few slices of and so are pre-sliced cheeses or cheese sticks. Yogurt is also easy to grab and go.

If I eat too much this happens to me too. Feels like the food is sitting in my esophagus. I then have to make myself throw up for any sort of relief. If I can't throw up I lay down curled up and wait for it to pass. It sucks!

For me the day of and a couple of days after I was in an out of it. Slept a LOT. During my hospital stay (2 days) my stomach hurt pretty badly. Felt like I had done a 1,000 crunches. When I got home I slept a lot the first few days and stayed on pain meds but after those first few days the pain went away quickly and I was able to be up and about by the end of the first week. By the end of week two I was out looking for a job again. I never had a drain or a compression wrap or anything. My experience went smoother and was a lot better than I had built it up in my mind.

I didn't have a problem with the drinking because I started using that rule at least a month before surgery so that I could get used to it. Sometimes it frustrates me that I can't drink when I have eaten something spicy but I live with it. As for the eating, I am STILL getting used to the smaller bites, more chewing, slowing down, etc. It will be a year for me at the end of April. I have been having a really hard time with the eating changes and if I don't do those things (smaller bites, more chewing, slowing down) I throw up. Sometimes I get so excited over my food (sounds odd but...) that I wolf it down then throw it right back up too. That isn't a whole lot of fun. There are things I have heard that can help like a bite counter app you can put on your phone that will count down how long you should be chewing for. Using a scale to weigh/measure foods can help with how much you are eating too if you tend to overeat.

I have gone out twice in the last year and drank. We were told it was a bad idea because the drinks are super high in calories and sugar. When I drank I got drunk fast and sobered up fast but the calories weren't worth it to me.

Here are a couple of my before and afters. I am still working on losing and the "after" pics were taken in November so I have lost weight since then. In the "after" pics here though I was down 75 lbs I believe. Now I am down 97 lbs. I still have 30 more to go.

I have a few on hand and have them once a week for lunch. Can't finish the whole thing though so it's sort of a waste.

I tried the Isopure drinks and thought they were NASTY. I really liked the shakes from Costco. Those were good. Unfortunately I can no longer tolerate anything sweet since surgery so I can't drink them anymore.

I Hi bikrchk Would you mind posting the cookie recipe? I'd love to try making them. Do you have the nutritional info on them?

I am not a vegetarian or vegan but in our pre-op classes the dietitian told us that it would definitely be possible to be a vegetarian and have the sleeve however it would be harder to get all of your protein in. She said that as for vegan that it would be impossible to do after having any type of gastric surgery.

I was sleeved about a year ago. I started losing my hair around 6 months. I had a lot fall out but now I am getting regrowth with very little hair falling out. I take biotin and eat my protein but I did notice that the days that I didn't get all of my protein in I seemed to lose more hair than the days where my protein intake was where it should be. Even with the hair falling out getting the sleeve done was the best decision I have EVER made for myself. Don't let a little hair deter you away from getting the procedure.

There are a bunch of good recipes on Pintrest: https://www.pinterest.com/afroneberger/gastric-sleeve-recipes/ The things I like are simple. I like the Boca burgers topped with a slice of cheese. I like to have 2 poached eggs or for lunch I will take the packets of deli style already put together tuna salad (100 cal) and put that on a piece of toast with some cheese and make a little tuna melt.

I am from San Jose but had my surgery up at Kaiser in South San Francisco.

I am addicted to my 600 lb life! It makes me feel so many emotions and I can relate to a lot of them. I think it also helps me to think about a few things. 1) That could have been me if I didn't have surgery when I did. 2) It scares the hell out of me seeing those that fail. While it is heartbreaking it shows the reality that it CAN happen if you don't work towards your goals everyday. 3) I can empathize with the way they feel about food and eating, it's like a drug.

I weigh myself and log it every Saturday morning. In the beginning right after surgery I was weighing everyday but I started to drive myself insane with getting on the scale. It became an obsession. I still obsess over getting on the scale but it definitely isn't as bad as it was since I am only weight once a week.

Queenwendy - we have about the same stats. I was sleeved 4/30. My starting weight was 272 and my current weight is 186.

I have been struggling over the past few weeks. A LOT! I have been under a lot of stress and emotional stuff so I find I have been doing what I always do which is eat. My food choices have been crap to say the least and I haven't been getting all of my protein in either. My hair is falling out like CRAZY for at least 2 months now. I have been going over my alotted 1000 calories a day and I really haven't been excersizing at all. I have still been losing between 1-3 pounds a week but I am really disappointed with myself. I decided today to just start over, from stage 1 and work on keeping my food clean and try to process the stress/emotional stuff in a different way other than eating over it. I am committed to change actions, work on correcting my bad habits, and keep working towards my goal.

I can now proudly say that I am part of the onederland club. I am so freaking excited!! HW: 272 SW: 252 CW: 198.7

It means I am in the 100's somewhere. I am Excited for you just starting your journey. It's a lot of work but totally worth it!