JamieLogical

Your sleeve is forever. This isn't a diet where you will be "done" one day. If you can't track your food for 2 weeks, it's not the end of the world. Try to make smart decisions, but also make sure you don't ruin an amazing trip by being super stressed out! You have your ENTIRE LIFE with the sleeve. Even if you stop losing or (HORROR!) even GAIN weight in these two weeks, what will it matter in the grand scheme of things? Certainly don't let it be an excuse to fall back into unhealthy habits, but you should enjoy yourself and not worry so much! Edit: Oops, I see you had bypass, not sleeve. Anyway, the point still stands. Your pouch isn't going to just flip off like a switch at the one year mark. You have it forever as long as you treat it well and work to maintain it.

Even without the complications you've had, I was still feeling pretty rough at 4 weeks out. This is major surgery and you are running on a seriously reduced caloric intake. Of course you are going to feel exhausted!

Are you allowed sugar-free Jello or popsicles? I was allowed both of those during my Clear liquids phase and they helped a little. For the flight home, DO NOT hesitate to ask strangers for help with your bags and whatnot. People are generally really really nice. You'll be surprised. Make sure you get up and walk on the plane as well. Don't sit still for more than about 2 hours at a time. The flight attendance will give you separate cups of Water and apple juice so you can mix them together if you ask (I was supposed to drink 1/2 juice and 1/2 water, not sure if your plan is the same). Just take it as easy as possible. Ask for help when you need it. Walk around when you can. You will be okay. The first few days are ROUGH for most of us. My only real tip is to walk in place while you are sipping. For some reason that made it a little easier for me to get my fluids in.

I agree with @Graciesmom04. Getting up and moving around, though counter-intuitive, can help some with the fatigue. Just don't overdo it. Walk slowly and for short amounts of time (10-15 minutes). Don't try to do any intense exercise for a bit. It really will get better once you are eating more and fully healed up. I promise! I remember those mornings post-op where just lifting my arms up to my head to wash my hair was too much!

Didn't know that. Yep! While we don't have the potential malabsorbtion issues that bypass patients have, we are still very restricted in how much we can eat and therefor are unlikely to get all the needed Vitamins and minerals from food alone. Obviously, the vitamins I listed are the starting point. Blood work can help us fine-tune as needed.

Most people don't fly directly to Mexico. They fly to San Diego and take a shuttle across the border.

My scars aren't hideous. I mean you can see them, but they are WAY better than the bulging fat or loose skin was. Besides, they are only in places you would see if I were naked. Only my husband and my doctors see m naked and I am confident none of those people care. Posted some pics of them a while back here: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/349852-tt-scar-pics/

@@James Marusek Sleeve patients are supposed to be on bariatric mulitivitamins, calcium citrate, and b12 for life.

There are so many factors that feed into whether you will have loose skin and how much. Age, genetics, ethnicity, rate of loss.... There are a few things you can do that *might* help *some*, but there are no guarantees. Make sure you drink all your Water, moisturize daily, make sure you take your Vitamins (C & E especially), and do some toning/strength training. All of those things can potentially help, but the truth is, if you lose 100 pounds or more in a year or less, you are going to have excess skin. There is no way around it. But remember, excess skin won't kill you, excess weight literally will.

If you are 2.5 months out, then you should be on solids, right? Have you tried any Protein bars? I started with Quest Bars, but they changed one of the main ingredients and they don't agree with me anymore, so I now eat Combat Crunch bars. If you are having trouble eating very much at one time, then I agree with @@Inner Surfer Girl that you should try maybe eating lots of snacks/mini meals throughout the day. I eat 6 times a day usually.

That is scary. Maybe you should see a psychologist? I am farily certain that no sane person eats fruit cake.

I too watched that episode of "Skin Tight" and cried right along with her, but for a different reason. I know the joy of a post-skin removal body and it is WONDERFUL! I knew how she felt about herself with all the extra skin and I knew how awesome she felt once it was gone, because I've been on both ends of that journey as well. That moment when the surgeon lifted her arm skin out of the way, revealing her shapely arm and she saw what she might look like post-op got me crying too! One thing my husband pointed out after that show has me a little worried though. He said he was afraid that people might see that show and decide they are better off not losing weight in the first place so they don't have to deal with the excess skin. I immediately said "excess skin won't kill you, but an extra hundred pounds will!" I worry that he is right, though. Some people really find vanity to be a major motivator for weight loss and if they see that show and realize that losing weight alone won't be enough to get them looking fantastic, they may lose their motivation to lose weight in the first place.

Ah! I see! Thank you for sharing. I appreciate that. Either way, if I could get your tummy and arms, I'd be beyond happy. Lol. Congrats, girl! I actually didn't have to have brachioplasty (arm lift). I was pretty lucky there. I did a lot of strength training throughout my weight loss, and I think that helped. Plus I just never carried all that much excess weight in my arms to begin with. I have a little bit of wobbly skin there, but nothing requiring surgical intervention. My stomach on the other hand, there was just no amount of exercising or moisturizing that was going to take care of THAT much loose skin, so I had a tummy tuck and could not be more thrilled with the results! But for anyone considering a tummy tuck, understand that it is SERIOUS surgery. The recovery time and pain are a million times worse than WLS.

My surgeon prescribed 2 months of omeprazole post-op. You should discuss with your surgeon before-hand beforeyou just buy it over the counter. It can be cheaper with a prescription, plus I was prescribed 40mg and the OTC version is only 20mg.

I would definitely hear your surgeon out about all of your options, but it will ultimately be your choice.

The good news is, your sleeve is still there. So if you make good choices moving forward, you can still use this wonderful tool to lose more weight. Go back to the basics. Put protein first. Make sure you are getting a good 80-100 grams of protein per day. Make sure you are taking all of your vitamins. Make sure you are drinking all of your water. Make sure you AREN'T drinking your calories or eating and drinking at the same time. And increase your activity level.

This early out, you are likely not getting proper "full" signals from your stomach. Remember, all of the nerves are severed when your stomach is cut. Do NOT rely on your stomach to give you proper signals of fullness and hunger only 3 weeks out. You should be measuring/weighing all of your food and eating on a schedule until you are healed and back on solid foods. PS: 99.99% of people's weight loss stalls in the third week. It's called the Week 3 Stall.

There is a lot of research that indicates that long-term, the size of the bougie used is irrelevant. A bigger or smaller bougie will not produce much of a difference in overall weight loss or maintenance, but small bougies have been shown to increase the risks of stricture and other complications. You have to understand that the differences in bougie size are a matter of millimeters and the bougie is just a "guide" for the surgeon. The may staple your stomach very close to the bougie or with a little more slack, so even the bougie size isn't necessarily a strong indicator of how large you stomach will actually be in the end. Here's a nice visual reference so you can see how little difference there actually is in bougie size.

I had to stay the night in San Diego before my flight home from surgery because all of the flights that would have gotten me home the same day left by like 9:00 am and the OCC shuttle wouldn't have been able to get me to the airport that early. I stayed at the Holiday Inn express right near the airport. The OCC shuttle dropped me off there, instead of the airport no problem. And then the Holiday Inn Express had a free shuttle to the airport for me the next day.

The price will definitely be higher with a last-minute booking like that. You may also not have an ideal choice of routes and might be stuck with some weird flight times or long layovers. Good luck to you!

First of all, don't worry about your exercise. You will make yourself worse if you don't give your body a chance to fight off the illness. Second of all, I was just sick this past week and I too was missing warm, comfort foods. I ended up drinking a lot of hot green tea with soy milk mixed in and I went to the store and checked every soup in the soup aisle until I found the one with the most Protein (15 grams per cup). It was a white bean chicken chili in a bag, not a can. I had that for a couple of meals (though I couldn't actually eat a full cup, it's very chunky). But I mostly lived on my Protein Bars just to make sure I was getting my minimums in.

Plastic surgery.

The fat storing hormones thing is real. The good news is, it's only temporary, since eventually you won't be losing fat so quickly anymore. One thing I have also noticed about myself post-op is that I get "hangry" if I go more than about three hours without eating. I don't necessarily feel hunger like I did pre-op, but if I don't eat regularly, I start to get super irritable without realizing it. My husband and I went on vacation with my parents and my mom started carrying around turkey sticks in her purse and forcing me to eat them when the hangry started happening. It was very obvious while we were on vacation, because we weren't in our normal routine and I wasn't eating on my usual schedule. But I have noticed it other times as well, when I get busy and lose track of time and don't eat when I should.

@@Tanika81 Thanks! To be fair, there was some plastic surgery in there!

6 oz. of meat plus veggies at one meal does seem like a LOT to me, but you are losing weight, so you can't argue with results. Everyone is different and as long as your sleeve is working for you, then that's all that matters. Out of curiosity, how long does it take you to eat a meal of that size. I eat much less in one sitting, but I actually tend to eat pretty fast. I think if I ate more slowly, I could drag it our longer and eat more. Also, do you eat and drink at the same time? I think if I were to do that, I could also probably eat a lot more than I do.