JamieLogical

Heh. The pre-op diet is tough! It's hard to eat so little when you still have 100% of your stomach!

@@Andrea Barnes Douglas Glad you are doing so well. Be sure to post any questions and concerns as you go through your recovery. We've all been there!

So happy to have this thread back! I wanted to post a quick update. I had my 5 month surgeversary on Feb.1 and so far I am down 43 pounds post-op. Almost 70 pounds since I started losing pre-op! I feel great and I'm working on increasing the intensity of my workouts. Still trying to figure out how to get in some more calories, as I'm worried that I'm not eating enough to sustain the level of exercise I want to be doing. I want to do Couch to 5k.

What happened to the 80+ page thread on OCC and Ariel Ortiz that Kindle started way back when? I can't find it anywhere and I wanted to post an update in it.

Thank you so much! That thread was so helpful to me when researching surgery in Mexico!

Are you eating enough? It sounds like you might actually be eating too little. What about exercise?

You only drink 8 oz of water a day? That seems dangerously low. Are you incredibly dehydrated? What is it that you experience when trying to drink water that makes it hard for you? For me, I felt like it was sitting my my esophagus and not going down. And I only had that sensation when I tried drinking room-temp water. I don't have that with ice water.

The gist of it is that drinking while eating flushes the food out of your stomach faster. One thing that REALLY struck me post-op was that as soon as I started to feel full while eating, I reached for my water. I realized that all my life I had been drinking while eating so that I could make room for more food. I had never thought about it before, but clearly on some subconscious level, my body had figured out that washing my food down with water allowed me to eat more food, so I was doing that without even thinking about it.

1. IS the sleeve the best way to go...Or is the band the better way to go. I want to lose 100 lbs. No one can answer that question for you. It's something you should discuss with your surgeon. There are pros and cons to both options and only you know your life and your situation, so only you can make the right decision for yourself. Sleeve definitely seems to be more common than band in terms of surgeries currently being performed and a lot of surgeons have stopped doing bands altogether, but that doesn't mean it might not still be the right choice for you. 2. I was thinking about going to Tijuana Mexico and getting it done because it's the cheapest option...Is this a good place to go? I can't afford a 30 k surgery at all. I had my surgery done in TJ with Dr. Ariel Ortiz and it was an incredibly positive experience. There are many excellent surgeons in Mexico. You should do your research and feel free to read and post on the Self-Pay & Mexico sub-forums: http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/486-self-pay-mexico-gastric-sleeve-surgery/ 3. I hear so many people talk about diet for the rest of your life....If that's the case...and you are dieting...why get the surgery? If Diet will work and you'll be dieting anyway...i'm confused about this aspect of it all. Any weight loss surgery is just a tool. You still have to make good and responsible food choices and you need to also ensure that you are getting adequate amounts of the Vitamins, minerals, and nutrients you need to live. There is a LOT of emphasis on getting enough Protein post-op, because protein is vital to your health and, since you can eat less food, you have to make sure it's the right KIND of food. A person who is consuming 3000 calories a day may have no problem getting in 65 grams or more of protein without paying attention. Someone who is only eating 800 calories a day still needs 65 grams of protein. So a much higher percentage of your calories have to come from protein-rich foods. So you still have to have discipline to eat the right things, you just won't need as much discipline to not overeat. I've never had surgery....and am scared to death of it. But is this the best way to go, if i've tried everything else? Obviously, most of us here have decided that WLS is our best option, otherwise we wouldn't be here! And if you ask most of us if we have any regrets, the most common answer you'll receive is that we regret not doing it sooner!

I'm surprised that your surgeon is giving you target dates for your weight loss. A lot of surgeons don't even give goal weights, much less deadlines! Everyone loses at such drastically different paces, it seems unreasonable to try to put a timer on it. If I had your surgeon, I'd be screwed! I'm coming up on 6 months in a couple of weeks and I've "only" lost 43 pounds so far!

You could always ask if you could just postpone starting the new job until after you are recovered.

This is probably leftover diet-mentality from before you had WLS. I don't want to encourage you to eat tons of junk or to snack/graze all the time, but if you completely deprive yourself of the things you love, you will make your self miserable and be more likely to fall off the bandwagon. pizza has been my favorite food my entire life. Before my WLS, I could literally eat pizza every single day and never get tired of it. I could quite easily eat an entire large pizza in a single sitting and my favorite food on the planet was a Red Baron 4 cheese Classic Crust frozen pizza. I had at least one of those a week when I wasn't dieting (and even sometimes when I WAS dieting as my "cheat meal"). Post-op, once I was allowed solids again, I of course wanted to have a Red Baron pizza right away. I bought one. I cooked it. I couldn't even eat two slices. The truth is, it didn't satisfy me the way it had before. Since I couldn't eat much of it, it wasn't the same experience. I tried it maybe one or two more times since then, but now I just have no interest. I'm a little over 5 months post-op and I have accepted that I just can't eat for pleasure the same way I used to. Don't get me wrong, I still have foods that I can and do enjoy post-op, but the bingeing and huge satisfying meals just can't happen anymore. I definitely don't go out of my way to have pizza of any sort anymore. If I were at a party with pizza and limited other food options, then I might go for the pizza toppings at least. But, even just recently at a Super Bowl party, there was pizza galore and I didn't touch it, because there was also chili and that seemed like a much better protein-rich option.

Are you getting your protein in? If so, then I don't see the harm in having some pizza now and then. The real problem would arise if you were sacrificing your protein to make room for pizza. As another poster mentioned, I have eaten the top off of pizza a couple of times post-op, but I can't be bothered with the crust. It takes up too much room and has no protein.

@@Stevehud Dietary cholesterol in foods doesn't matter. Dietary cholesterol in your food does not translate to cholesterol in your blood and arteries. It's saturated and trans fats that increase the cholesterol in your body. This has been know for many years now, but they are finally updating the labeling standards to reflect what has been common knowledge for at least 20 years.

Not yet, but it's on my wish list for once I'm at goal and have maintained for about a year. I already had a tummy tuck and breast lift w/implants back when I lost 90 pounds "on my own" a few years ago, so I won't need those procedures. But it had been my plan to have my thighs done sometime after that first round of plastics and now that I've regained and re-lost the weight, my thighs are in even worse shape than they were back then!

My favorite shakes pre-op were EAS AdvantEDGE Carb Control, rich dark chocolate flavor. They are sold at Walmart and Target and were within the nutrition guidelines my nutritionist set for me.

A little background on me. Back in November of 2009, my sister-in-law (brother's wife) died of a pulmonary embolism at the age of 41. She and my brother had gotten married when I was in the 5th grade and she had lived with us before that, so I honestly couldn't remember a time when she wasn't my "sister". I loved her dearly and she was a huge part of my life. Her death was devastating to my entire family. I can't even put into words.... Anyway, she had been overweight/obese as long as I'd known her, which was maybe from her junior year in high school? It was pretty obvious that her weight had contributed to the blood clot that killed her. And after seeing what her death did to my family, I was determined not to put them through that again. So I really committed to losing weight (I was 270 at the time). Throughout all of 2010 and most of 2011, I worked to lose weight and maintain that loss. I got down to 176. In August of 2011, I had surgery to remove my excess skin and improve my body shape. I had an extended tummy tuck with muscle repair, breast lift with augmentation, and lipo all over. Complications from the tummy tuck had me pretty much bed-bound for months. I had accumulation of Fluid in my lower back that was very painful and meant I could not sit or stand for any period of time. The only relief I got was when lying on my side. Needless to say, I didn't do much exercise. I was very depressed and miserable. And I turned to my old friend, food! Between my plastic surgery in 2011 and this past summer, I gained and re-lost and gained and re-lost and gained to the point that I was back up to 260 pounds. Only 10 pounds under the weight I'd been at when Becky died. I was determined to lose the weight again, but I didn't want to fail the way I had in the past, so I opted to have VSG and I am SO GLAD I made that decision. I know that this time is the real deal and I will be able to lose the weight and keep it off, thanks to my new tool. Anyway, now that you have all that background, let's get to the subject of my post! This weekend I was talking with my husband about my potential need to buy some new clothes for work, now that I'm down almost 70 pounds again (24 pre-op and 43 post-op). I went into my closet to try on some of my old dress pants for work. I was THRILLED to discover that I could fit into the same pants I'd been wearing when I went back to work after my plastic surgery (size 16s) and I was even able to squeeze into some of the pants I'd been wearing before my plastic surgery (size 14s). I added the 16s into my normal rotation and I fully expect to be wearing those 14s regularly in a couple of months. I am so happy about this. In the months before my plastic surgery I was in the best shape of my life! I felt great. I was confident and active. The realization that I am *this close* to being back to that version of myself (but even better because I don't have that loose skin anymore), has me super excited! PS: I hope my story doesn't turn any of you off from plastic surgery. Despite my complications early on, now that I am 3.5 years out, I have NO regrets. My tummy tuck held up incredibly well through my weight fluctuations. Now that I'm getting thinner and started doing strength training again, I'm even starting to see a little ab definition. I think that once I am at goal, it will look amazing! And while it's a little backward to have skin removal surgery BEFORE WLS, I think the end results for me will be very similar and I'll be grateful to not be having surgery right away again once I get to my goal the way many WLS patients choose to.

After my workout today I decided to go back into my closet and try on a dress I haven't worn since before my plastic surgery. I had bought it for my niece's high school graduation. It fit! I couldn't believe it! Zipped all the way up, which is especially impressive in the boob/upper back area, since I bought the dress before my breast implants!

I had the exact same issues for the first few weeks post-op. Tight constriction in my esophagus after ever singly tiny sip, then came the gurgling and burping. It was pretty miserable. I found that marching in place while trying to drink helped a little. You just have to tough it out.

Didn't you get directions from your surgeon/nutritionist about what to start eating when?

Can you try to describe exactly how you are feeling when you eat something?

It's about time. It's been ages since we figured out that dietary cholesterol is meaningless. I remember when I was a kid there was a whole campaign to cut back on eggs and whatnot, but that "conventional wisdom" shifted years and years ago. It's about time labeling caught up.

I had my surgery on Sept.1 and, like you started having some pretty dramatic hairloss. But in the last couple of weeks, it's definitely started growing back. I have tons of little baby hair coming in.

Right after my surgery, I was supposed to be doing 60 minutes a day of "brisk walking" for two months before ramping up to any more intensive cardio or strength training. I stuck with that for about a month and a half and then hurt my hip, so I stopped altogether. Then vacation came... then the Holidays... then the flu... and I just had a whole bunch of excuses about not exercising. Well, I got my butt in gear a few weeks ago and started trying to work out again. I just started with 45 minutes of brisk walking. However, I very quickly realized that I was getting super tired from the increased activity. Not like cardiovascularly tired from the workout, I mean sleepy tired all the time. Plus, I started feeling actual hunger for the first time since my surgery. I was getting hungry during the time between Breakfast and lunch. I figured I simply must not be eating enough calories to afford to be spending 400+ on exercise every day. I decided to add a morning snack to my eating schedule and cut my cardio down to 25 minutes a day and add in strength training instead. So now, I'm doing 25 minutes of cardio and 20 minutes of ST instead of 45 minutes of pure cardio. This seems to be working. I'm not as tired as I was and I'm losing weight at a happy pace. However, looking down the line, I really would like to get back into more intense cardio, specifically running. I've done Couch to 5k a couple of times over the years when I've been in "weight loss" mode and ran in several 5k races. I would like to be able to run in races again starting this spring/summer, which means I should be starting C25k again soon in order to make it through the 9 week program before racing season starts. The problem is, my 25 minutes of cardio per day isn't really going to cut it if I want to start training for racing again and I really don't know how to get enough calories in to sustain that level of activity. For those of you who run or work out intensely, what do you do to get enough calories? What is your energy level like?

@@CowgirlJane I'm holding my own with the exercise routine I'd been doing. I added a TINY bit of running, but I want to ramp up very slowly, so I don't how things will go if/when I increase my intensity. So far, so good, though. I don't feel quite as run down as I was feeling before.