JamieLogical

I don't think that was at all the issue Briardlady was having. She had gotten a breakfast sandwich form McDonald's and ate odd fractions of its various components. If she logged that as half a sandwhich, it would have been very innacurate, because she only ate 1/4 of the biscuit, 1/2 the bacon, etc. MFP doesn't break the nutritional info for that sandwhich down into its individual components. Some restaurants WILL let you "build" your meal on their web site and let you add/remove individual components from the nutritional totals and that gets you a little closer at least. Like if I eat 1/3 of the bacon from a sandwhich, I can add/remove it from the menu, see what difference that makes to the overall value of the sandwhich, and then do the math from there.

I'm sad about the turn this thread has taken. The OP's story is very interesting to me and I am sure to others as well.

Yeah, I got to watch my barium swallow test too. It was so cool!

The scale can be our worst enemy sometimes. I'm glad you put it away and focused on the plan. Now you are seeing the payoff!

Can you define "miserable"? At one week out I was still weak and tired all the time, and had a lot of difficulty getting my water in.

That's amazing! I'm pretty jealous! I know an 8 is not in my future ever, but I am pretty content to fit into a size 10 skinny jean at least!

Since I hit goal of 165 in August the lowest I've gotten was 160.0. This morning I was 160.2. I had a little period in September where I got back up to 167, but it turned out that was because Quest Bars hanged their main ingredient and I was experiencing TERRIBLE bloating. As soon as I switched to a different protein bar, I was back under 165 again.

So glad you posted back with this update! The changes from day to day and week to week in the beginning are so huge. It drags out forever when you are living through it and then you look back and say "I can't believe that was ONLY 4 weeks ago!"

That is exactly the issue I have logging food and why I don't do it long term. I am a perfectionist, so for me it has to be all or nothing. It needs to be perfect and precise, or why bother at all? During the periods of my life I was logging food, I was impossible to be around. I made my in-laws give me a list of not only the ingredients in whatever they made when they had me over for dinner, but the actual BRANDS of ingredients they used! I refused to go to an restaurant that didn't post their nutritional information online. It was a nightmare. One of the main reasons I wanted to have WLS in the first place is that I could NOT live like that long term and that had been the only way for me to successfully lose weight in the past. Now that I have the tool of my sleeve, I don't need to be so anal about tracking. I track a few days here and there as kind of a "spot check" and that's it.

Sorry I can't help you with your specific surgeon, but I will say that you likely have very little to worry about with traveling to Mexico for surgery in general. As long as you are going to a reputable surgeon and have done your research, you should be fine. The level of care that is available in Mexico is outstanding. I've been there twice for surgery and had wonderful experiences both time. The care I received far surpassed what I would have received in the US.

At 4 weeks out, things are VERY different than at 4 years out. Don't panic. I weighed/measured all my food in the beginning, always eating 2 ounces at a time as my nutritionist instructed. I felt overfull A LOT in those early days, because my stomach was still swollen and healing. So the full feeling you are having right now is not the same thing we are talking about in this thread. You need to be measuring your food and eating on a schedule in your early weeks, otherwise you won't eat enough food to sustain you.

Stairs should be fine. Just go slow and use the hand rail. I was literally RUNNING through the airport 4 days post-op after my sleeve because one of my flights was canceled and I had to run from one end of O'hare to the other (0.8 miles, I mapped it after!) in 15 minutes to make a different flight. The only thing I would say about clothes is that you might have some swelling in your feet, so wear shoes you can loosen. You also will likely have a tiny incision just below your breasts, pretty much right where a normal bra strap would hit, so you might want a sports bra with elastic, instead of a normal bra with underwire.

I don't think you have stretched your sleeve. You are just over a year out, so it is normal to be able to eat more than you did in the beginning. I have been eating right on track for 17 months and I could eat a whole apple at one time if I tried (not that I would since that's pure carbs and wouldn't leave room for protein). Your capacity increases naturally over the first year or so and then levels off. Since you're a year out, I think you are probably right where you are supposed to be. As long as you haven't started doing things like eating and drinking at the same time, or grazing, or drinking your calories, it should be easy for you to get back on track just by improving the quality of your food.

Since it's double-walled, it looks bigger than it actually is. My guess would be 16 or 20 oz.

I don't really consider myself a "veteran" yet, as I am only 17 months out as of today. But I do pre-portion my food for the most part. The only times I don't is when I am out to eat or having dinner over at someone's house and then I really just try to eyeball it and hope for the best. I do overeat to the point of fullness that way sometimes, but not often. At home it's easy. I eat a lot of the same things over and over and i know exactly how much of them I can eat. I will either weigh them out or just put them into a bowl or cup or onto a plate and I know how much I can eat, because I've eaten out of that same bowl or cup or off that same plate a million times before. As for eating an hour later, I only do that intentionally sometimes. I have a normal meal/snack schedule, that I stick to 90% of the time and I know I can only "fit in" special treats if I eat between those scheduled snack/meals. So if it's some sort of special occasion or we have brought in some kind of treat to the house or whatever, I know I can only eat that stuff if I squeeze it in between my normal meals and Snacks, otherwise I won't get my 100 grams of Protein for the day. I will never allow myself to REPLACE protein with something carb-y.

liquid passes through your stomach within a matter of seconds, so I don't think it would be possible to get enough in there to stretch, it would just move into your intestines faster than you could drink it. Now, if you eat and drink at the same time, it's a different story, because the food WILL stay in your stomach longer and even though sleeve patients still have their pyloric valve, which can tell the difference between liquids and solids, the liquid will definitely sit in your stomach a little longer because of the food that's in there.

There's a reason people around here say "never trust a fart"! It can be a real issue in those early days!

I didn't really have any muscle or incision pain like some people seem to. My pain was all gas pain and cramps from my drain. Once my drain was removed, the gas pain was the only real pain. I also had tight constriction in my esophagus whenever I sipped my Water and it caused like a spasm in my chest, which was very uncomfortable, if not actually painful. That who deal lasted about two weeks post-op.

Aw, I know exactly how you feel. I think we all go through that in the early days. You will get to sit down and eat a meal with your family again and it will be great. It's a big change, and it will never be the same as it was before. When you sit down and eat a big Holiday meal, it won't be a multi-course affair for you and you'll probably be done eating a good half hour or more before everyone else. But you will get to enjoy the company, get to enjoy SOME of the food, and you will feel pretty normal. Just think, by next year's Holiday season, you'll be almost a year out, probably close to your goal, and able to partake of some of the special treats!

It really is so great to have a supportive PCP. Mine has been great as well. Have my 18 month post-op check up with her on February 29. Can't wait to get my latest round of blood work.

I've watched the BBC Fat Doctors and they talk a lot about how it costs the NHS much less over the life of a patient to provide WLS versus all the long-term care they would need for obesity-related diseases and medications.

You look great! Glad to hear you had such a positive experience and so much success!

Ha! I bet he wishes you had NSVs like that every day!

I'm doing a half marathon in April, which will be about 20 months post-op. So it's not outside the realm of possibility!

Yeah, I can't do quest bars either now that they switched to soluble fiber as their prebiotic fiber. I have the same issues with that as I do chicory root. Hopefully this will help some people though, because everyone tolerates things differently and has different tastes.