JamieLogical

I had wheelchair assistance from the airport/airlines when I came home after my plastics, but it was unnecessary for me after my sleeve. I really felt physically okay after my sleeve, just tired. However, I was wiser about the way I packed when I went for my sleeve as well (having learned from my plastics experience). I packed everything in a wheeled laptop bag that was small enough to fit under my seat, so I didn't have to deal with overhead bins or carrying luggage at all.

Happy for you that you finally have a date you can stick to! You will be joining us on the losers' bench in no time!

The flights themselves were no problem. My issue was that one of my flights was cancelled and I had to run all the way across O'hare airport (0.8 miles) in under 15 minutes to catch the last flight of the day to my hometown! That was rough!

I was told nothing more intense than "brisk walking" for 6 weeks.

Wow really?!?! That makes me sad. I am three weeks out tomorrow (did my first marathon two weeks before surgery) and am missing it so much! Was hoping I could try at four weeks (paperwork says I can "ease back in to exercise plan" then) but when I asked at my appointment last week if I could try gentle/restorative yoga the nurse laughed at me and said NO. I was hoping to be back for a half marathon in October. Maybe not I literally had dreams about running in the months after my plastics. I thought I hated running, but then it turned out I really missed it while I was recovering!

Reassure that THOUSANDS of Americans go to Mexico for surgery every year. Ask her to recall ONE story in the news about an American going to Mexico for surgery and being killed, kidnapped, or having their organs stolen. These are all urban legends and the plots of movies. If she can name ONE instance in the real news, out of the THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of people who go to Mexico for surgery, I'd be impressed.

You shouldn't be that general in your statement. Many Mexico surgeons have nutritionists on staff that will continue to monitor your progress and answer your questions post-op. I am 10 months post-op yesterday and I just emailed my nutritionist with a question about 2 weeks ago and she got back to me within an hour or two and this was on a Sunday night! Not all Mexican surgical teams are created equal. I don't wan't someone to read your post and think they can't get adequate follow-up care if they use a Mexican surgeon. As for weighing food, I did a lot in the first couple of months post-op because I had a hard time "eyeballing" the correct amounts. I was told (by my exellent nutritionist) to start off with no more than 2 ounces once I was on soft/pureed foods. So I weighed out my cottage cheese and such into little 2 ounce plastic containers (meant for baby food I think?). As I progressed and moved onto solid foods, I worked my way up to being able to eat 3-4 ounces of meat. I still weighed my food for a while at that point just to get a really good sense of what 4 oz. looked like. Once I had the hang of it, I didn't weigh my food anymore except when I wanted to "spot-check" and make sure I wasn't misjudging.

You are drinking beer at 2 months post-op?!?!? I'm just going to back away slowly before I say something that will get me flamed.....

Today I am 10 months post-op. Starting Weight: 260 Surgery Weight: 236 Current Weight: 171.6 Goal Weight: 165 I am only 6.6 pounds from my nutritionist's goal weight. Still 16.6 pounds from a "normal" BMI, but I am thinking of that of more of a stretch goal for my second year post-op. The pounds have definitely been coming off more slowly in these past 3 months, but I am still losing. It might be tough to make 165 by September 1. I would need to lose 3.3 pounds each of the next two months and while I managed to lose over four pounds this past month, the two previous months I lost less than three pounds each. I've decided to just keep doing what I am doing and not taking any special/desperate steps to try to make my goal weight by the one year mark. It's really a meaningless deadline in the grand scheme of things. Even if I don't quite make it, I know I'll be close and it will be just a matter of another month or so to get there. I have, however, already met my nutritionist's most important goal for me. She was always much more concerned with body fat percentage than weight or BMI. On my surgery date, my body fat percentage was 48.2%. My nutritionist wanted me to get below 25%. As of this morning, I was at 24.8%!

Does it keep you full?

At four weeks I wasn't even back on solid foods yet (that was 40 days post-op), so I was DEFINITELY questioning my choice to have WLS at that point. I was back at work, fatigued feeling, still uncomfortable and healing. Ugh. Not a great time! That is for sure! I would honestly say that I didn't start feeling "normal" again most of the time until about 2 months out. I still didn't really feel "normal" when it came time to eat, but I felt physically in pretty good shape the rest of the time by then. Eating-wise I was still struggling with figuring out how much to eat, how fast to eat, how often to eat. I was also really coming to terms with not being able to emotionally eat around that time. Once I was allowed solid foods, one of the first things I did was try to eat pizza, of course! I could barely eat one small piece and felt terrible after, so it was tough getting my head around not being able to turn to my favorite foods for comfort and not being able to binge. That was a real struggle for me for a couple of months. By month 4, I really did just feel "normal" 99% of the time. Even around eating.

Girl. Soup fills me up. broth soups are perfect for me, cream based soups often make me dump. If I eat either, I can't eat "real food" after. Interesting.... soups go straight through my sleeve like any other liquid, so I could eat a whole bowl in one sitting with no problem. Even with chunkier soups, the liquid makes the chunks pass through more quickly, same as drinking while eating.

I didn't have a binder for my sleeve. Since it was laproscopic and they only pushed muscle fibers out of the way, not cutting through them, my muscle soreness was minimal. After my tummy tuck though.... that's a whole other story! I couldn't even breath without pain in my abs.

So like Phase 1 Atkins?

Oh, sorry for the confusion. This is what I get for having too many threads open at once while I'm at work!

You should NOT be worrying about carbs 2 days post-op. You should be grateful for any calories you can get and keep down. I was allowed broth days 1 and 2 and then strained cream soups after that. My NUT wasn't concerned at all about calories, carbs, fat, sugar, or anything else at that point. Just that I was eating SOMETHING. Though I was told to stop eating soup once I'd moved onto solid foods, because soup doesn't actually fill you up once your sleeve is healed.

The muscle, lymphatic system, and nerves take a VERY long time to heal. So while incisions can be looking great in just a month or two, everything on the inside takes a lot longer. It's very important for plastic surgery patients to take things slowly and follow their surgeon's plan for compression garments and activity after surgery.

@@MBM1Forever, I can't remember when I crossed over, but sometime between 6 months and 1 year, I became able to drink water very quickly. (Actually, I usually drink watered-down Crystal Light iced tea.) I drink it without ice so it gets to room temperature fairly quickly, and then I'm able to gulp it just like I used to. As for the concern that it will stretch your sleeve/pouch, my doc says that fluids will find the easiest path of escape, and that's straight down into the intestines. So drink away as soon as you're able! I too can gulp water most of the time now. Still have to wait a good 40 minutes after eating, but I rarely have issues beyond that. For me though, I am the opposite. My water has to be ICE COLD... like freezing... for me to be able to drink quickly. Room temp water is like lead and fills me up super fast and sits "heavy" in my stomach.

@@globetrotter I'm sure you've probably tried everything at this point, but it's worth throwing out there. Have you experimented with calorie cycling? Eating low calories one day, high the next, mid-range the next, etc. That way your body doesn't have a chance to adapt to a set amount or any kind of routine?

The barium can cause black stool. Also, if you have taken any bismuth (pepto bismol), it can cause black stools as well.

I still take the Vitaleph multivitamins, but use other brands for my other supplements. I take a generic version of Citrical Maximum for Calcium +D3. I take Insync for my probiotic. And I take a spray B12 I got off Amazon... I think it's called "mykind" or something like that. All of my labs that my PCP has ordered for me post-op have come back perfect, so I am guessing that combo is working. As for protein shakes, I made my own with protein powder and when I needed something ready-to-drink, I used EAS AdvantEDGE Carb Control, which I bought at Walmart and Target. They were a little lower on the protein than the OCC Nutritionist recommended, so I would just add a little extra unflavored whey protein powder to them.

I say it over and over on these forums, because it's a mental hurdle that a LOT of WLS patients seem to struggle with. WLS is not a diet. On a diet, you want to lose weight as fast as possible so you can be "done". But, you'll never be "done" with your WLS, so what's the hurry? I actually had my WLS as a weight MAINTENANCE solution, not a weight LOSS solution. I was a pro at losing weight. I'd lost hundreds of pounds over the years, even losing 90 pounds in one year back in 2010/2011. The problem for me was maintaining the weight loss. As soon as I thought I was "done" dieting, I'd go right back to my old ways of eating and my exercise would drop off and I would start packing the pounds back on. I am hopeful that my sleeve will help me when my REAL journey begins. Once I reach goal and have to start maintaining my weight for the first time in my life. When it comes to weight maintenance, there doesn't seem to be any real data on whether sleeve or RNY is "better".

@@SaintTeresa Definitely try to get back to the post-op food stages your doctor outlined. It's very important to move through them in order and at the correct pace to maximize your healing and minimize your risk. I know it can be hard, especially trying to plan ahead when you aren't going to be home or in your normal routine. Maybe keep a packet of protein powder in your purse or whatever to make sure you at least have that as an option when you are out somewhere, as long as you can get your hands on some bottled water.

@@candy32980 It does seem that the rate of loss is faster with RNY, but I wouldn't necessarily see that as a benefit. There are a lot of benefits to losing more slowly. Your skin has more time to adapt. You don't have to replace your clothes as frequently. You get fewer comments on your rapid weight loss. And you have more time to mentally adapt to your changing body. Meanwhile, losing "fast" doesn't really have any long term benefit. In 5 years, will it matter if it took you a couple more months to lose those pounds? Nope! But, your skin and wallet might be grateful for the extra time!