JamieLogical

You should try educating your husband about Mexico as an option. There are many AMAZING surgeons in Mexico. As they say, you get what you pay for. If you go with the cheapest in the US, you aren't going to be getting a world class surgeon. If you are willing to spend about the same amount in Mexico, you WILL be getting a world class surgeon.

Yay! HUGE congrats to you! Always a huge milestone!

I imagine homemade will be awesome. Good for you!

Solids at 4 weeks seems pretty early, but I guess every plan is different. I'm pretty impressed you got veggies in there already. I'm over 6 months out and still can't figure out how to get veggies in without sacrificing protein.

I went to college when I was 14!

Hang in there. It really does get easier every single day. The Protein shakes definitely get OLD. I counted down the days until I could eat solids (40 days post-op) so I could switch to Protein Bars. I am 6 months post op and just had my first Protein shake since that day last night. I was FINALLY ready to give Protein Shakes a try again after a few months off from them! If you are on full liquids now, try LOTS of varieties of strained cream Soups. They break up the monotony. Once you are allowed soft foods, I highly recommend Shelly's Baked Ricotta (google the recipe).

I was allowed my tiny pills (birth control, anti-nausea, and pain pills) immediately post-op. I was allowed full-sized capsules and tablets of all my other supplements at 7 days post-op.

I bought every singly cream-type soup my grocery store sold, since I was allowed strained creamed soups in my full liquid phase. The variety helped keep me sane.

@@Hertsukfem31 The others are right. Some people have trouble with liquids immediately post-op just due to swelling, but liquids won't fill your sleeve for long if you aren't swollen. Liquids pass through the sleeve in a matter of seconds. Trust and believe that you WILL feel restriction when you move on to more solid foods!

I took 2 weeks off work. It was definitely rough for me going back. I was very very fatigued. It was a challenge making it through the day and I just have a desk job! Things got much better once I was allowed solid foods and started getting my calorie intake up.

You should be prioritizing liquids and protein over everything else. Especially over the scale. You had major surgery and need water and protein to LIVE. Your health and life are a stake. If you are sacrificing water and protein to see the numbers on the scale go down faster, you are going to pay for that long term when you end up in the hospital for dehydration or become very ill due to low protein intake.

37 pounds in under 2 months and you're complaining?!?!?! I'm over 6 months out and have only lost 10 pounds more than you!

If 42 pounds in under 11 weeks is slow then I don't even know what to think about my 48 pounds in over 6 months!

If you head over the the Self-Pay and Mexico forums, you will read about hundreds and hundreds of people who flew within days of surgery. I live in Rochester, NY and flew to San Diego and back to have my surgery in NY. My return trip was 4 days post-op. I did just fine, even when one of my flights was cancelled and I had to run the full length of O'hare in order to make the only other flight returning to Rochester that day. Edit the longer of my two flights was a little over 4 hours, so not the 12 you are talking about. But a month out is a lot different than 4 days out. I don't see why a 12 hour flight would be any issue at all.

Your loose skin may tighten up a bit with time. They say to wait at least 3 months after you reach goal to consider plastics. Some people even say wait a year! You can also try doing some weight training to see if areas of loose skin fill in with a bit of muscle. Then it's really just up to you what you can live with in terms of the loose skin, unless it's really impeding your mobility or causing you a lot of discomfort due to chafing or rashes. I lost 90 pounds "on my own" a few years ago and had a tummy tuck to remove loose skin. I am INCREDIBLY happy with that decision and love love love having a flat, tight stomach. But you have to decide what's best for you in your situation. Obviously surgery comes with risks, a TOUGH recovery (tummy tuck is NO JOKE when it comes to pain and recovery!), and costs a fair amount of money. For me it was worth it. For others, it may not be. Just depends on your priorities.

It will get better. I had this whole process that happened every time I took the TINIEST of sips. I would feel a constriction/spasm in my esophagus, right in the middle of my chest. Then there would be a ton of gurgling. Then I would have to burp. Every single sip... not matter how small. It got much better about 2 weeks out, after the swelling had gone down. Now I'm 6 months out and have no issues drinking at all. One thing that helped me get my water in back when it was a real issue was marching in place while sipping. That really seemed to help some, so give that a try.

It doesn't have to change the way your husband eats. The way my husband and I cook now, I just have the Protein from whatever meal he's having. chicken and rice? I have just chicken. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes? I have the meatloaf. Shrimp and Pasta? I have the shrimp. It works out great, because he still gets to eat as much as he was eating before and we still eat mostly the same "regular" meals as before, I just skip the carbs. Plus, I only eat about half as much meat as I did before, so I save the other half of my meat as leftovers to have for lunch later in the week. It works out pretty great! Edit: As for eating out and attending parties and such, the great news is there is ALWAYS meat! When eating out, get a meat-based appetizer like chicken or shrimp. Eat half and get the other half to-go for a lunch later. Or if there are no good app options, share a meal with your husband. Have him order an entree with a couple of sides and just have him give you a portion of the meat. Most restaurants will bring you an extra plate if you ask nicely. For pot-lucks and parties, there's usually various meat options. The Super Bowl party I went to had chili and buffalo chicken dip. Pretty easy! Worst case, bring something you KNOW you can eat as your dish-to-pass!

Took me more like 2-3 weeks to get to that point, but yes, once the swelling went down in my stomach and esophagus, it became much easier to take full sips.

It sounds to me like you are doing great! I was told to try to get 100 grams of protein in as soon as possible, but there was no real expectation that I would be doing so within the first couple of weeks. Also, at 8 days post-op, I was proud to get over 450 calories a day. Prioritize water, then protein. Don't worry too much about your exact calorie totals. And remember all your vitamins/meds. You are doing really really well!

Does your Multivitamin not have Iron? You aren't supposed to take iron and calcium at the same time because they compete for absorption, so I would be surprised if the make of your Vitamin included both in the same pill. If your multivitamin doesn't include iron, have you had any issues with anemia?

You CAN do it! Don't give up. It does get easier, though never easy. It will suck, but it's only temporary. Dig deep and make it happen!

Makes sense. Still sucks Well, the good news is the weight gain is temporary. And once you are working out regularly, even if your weight loss slows, your body composition will be changing. A scale that measures body fat percentage can be encouraging. Even if the percentage itself isn't highly accurate, it works for comparing against itself and you can still see it drop over time, even if your weight doesn't. Edit: Also be sure to take your measurements regularly!

That's only for chain restaurants, which I don't eat at often. We like to support local businesses. Also, pretty sure my mother-in-law's lasagna... or my father-in-law's Cincinnati chili aren't in there... or the myriad things I might take a bite of at a cookout aren't on MFP. During the times that I have tracked my food on past diets, I would avoid those situations like the plague rather than track inaccurately. I sat through entire parties without taking a single bite of food. I said no to many invitations out to eat. I made my family and my in-laws write down all the ingredients they used in the dinners they made whenever they had us over. I was totally OCD about it and I don't know how to be anything else. It's either track every single bite of everything or don't track. I admit I am not a normal person!

There's actually a sub-forum on the subject of pregnancy after sleeve, where you might be able to get a lot of great answers and advice: http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/427-pregnancy-with-gastric-sleeve-surgery/ Definitely be sure to talk to your nutritionist right away to find out about Vitamins and supplements and what your new nutritional requirements should be. I was informed about the increased fertility, so my husband and I used back-up birth control the first couple months (had to use it the first couple of weeks anyway because of the antibiotic). I hope this isn't an unwelcome event for you and if it is, I hope it will eventually work out to be a blessing.

Here's a great article that will help explain what's happening: http://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=why_the_scale_goes_up_when_you_start_a_new_workout_plan