JamieLogical

@@jeaniebobeanie This is one of the hotly debated issues of sleeve patients and surgeons. I was never told that carbonation would stretch my sleeve (I was never told a sleeve COULD stretch), but I was told to avoid carbonation because it can cause gas and discomfort. Probably some patients have more trouble with that than others. I also think it's because surgeons and nutritionists don't want us drinking our calories and most carbonated beverages have calories. Even if it's diet soda, artificial sweeteners have their own host of potential problems. So a blanket "no carbonation" rule is probably just the easiest way for surgeons and nutritionist to avoid the potential issues of gas, discomfort, liquid calories, and artificial sweeteners all at one time.

I carry all my weight in my hips and thighs (see my gallery). I can literally see my ribs above my boobs now and yet I am BARELY squeezing into SOME size 10 pants. Usually it's a 12.

You should be physically capable of eating pretty much anything eventually. Some people do develop sensitivities to some foods post-op, but that's not the norm. However, you obviously want to be smart about what you eat in order to lose weight and maintain that loss. Can you have pizza and cake every once in a while? Sure! Should you eat it every day? Obviously not. You should forever be putting Protein first and striving to meet your protein goal every single day, whether you are a month post op or 10 years post-op. Doing so will leave little room for the crappy, carby stuff. I'm 17 months out. Have been maintaining at goal for 5 months. I eat pizza fairly often (maybe 2-3 times a month?). I can usually eat one whole small piece with the crust and then the cheese and toppings from another piece or two. Crust (or anything with yeast) fills me right up, so I usually can't do more than one piece with crust. I'll certainly never be sitting down and eating a whole large pizza at one time! Last weekend was my mom's birthday and I had white cake with white frosting. It was delicious! But only after I'd eaten my chicken at dinner and waited a good 45 minutes to an hour. So, yes, you can have treats on occasion in the future. You just have to be smart about it like any normal non-WLS patient does. Think of yourself as a skinny woman trying to maintain her weight. She can have the occasional indulgence, but doing it every day will lead to weight gain.

This reminds me of the time I was tracking all my food intake on one of my long ago diets and I asked my doctor whether snot had calories in it, because I had terrible post nasal drip!

You didn't mention in your OP that you were having trouble keeping some types of foods down. It's a little worrying that you are still having regular issues with keeping foods down at 3 months post-op. Have you discussed that with your surgeon? 50 grams of protein is about half of where you should be. You should be aiming for 100 grams a day.

I am going to have my husband take pics tonight to send to Dra. Cardenas and see what my options are for my thigh lift and a possible revision to my breasts. I had planned to wait until the fall, so I could run more races over the summer, but this thread has got me all anxious to do it sooner!

I agree. It could just be a lack of understanding on her part. In any case, you need to make the best decision for YOURSELF and not let others' opinions and ignorance influence you. For some of us WLS is an excellent option (maybe the only option) for long term success.

I think tracking your food and maybe going back to shakes for a bit would be a good start. Focus on getting your protein in for this first little bit. If you truly meet your protein goal every day, there shouldn't be much room left for the carbs.

What is your Protein intake at. That's the number that really matters here. 800 calories seems on the low side, but you aren't exercising so it might be okay? I know that I pushed hard to get up over 1000 calories a day ASAP, but I was working out pretty regularly by that point. What's up with crackers and cereal? That CANNOT be sanctioned by your nutritionist at this point, can it? Have you tried flavoring your Water with Mio or Crystal Light? G2 is too much sugar. Or if G2 really is ALL you can drink, try diluting it with water for a 50/50 mix? I was instructed not to eat soup after the liquid phases of my post-op diet, because it is low protein and is essentially drinking your calories. I would suggest finding a high protein, solid food to have for lunch. Tuna or chicken salad maybe? For my lunches I either have leftover meat from a previous dinner or cheese and turkey pepperoni or peanuts. I think you might want to steer clear of the cheese and peanuts though, since you are still losing. I didn't introduce those until I was in maintenance and needed more calorie-dense foods to stop losing weight.

Has her blood sugar been tested? Unquenchable thirst can be a symptom of diabetes. Definitely make sure she is taking her vitamins. And try to find out for us how much water she is actually drinking.

I think it is very wise to be keeping track of the behaviors that are leading you to be successful now so you can readjust down the road if other behaviors start creeping back in.

Don't eat anything you aren't cleared to eat. But I've had Taco Bell a bunch of times since I was sleeved 17 months ago. You don't have to give it up forever, just be smart about it. And don't risk damaging your healing sleeve!!!

I didn't experience that issue myself (I'm on Seasonale, so only have periods once every 3 months), but I have read posts from others about having heavier or longer periods than normal post-op, so I don't think it's that unusual. Don't panic, but I do think it's good you have an appointment with your OB/GYN coming up.

*WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME* I did an experiment yesterday partly inspired by this thread and partly inspired by my half marathon training. I was curious to see how much food I *could* eat in a day if I truly tried. I set my goal at 3000 calories. I wanted to see how easy it would be to eat around my sleeve and also wanted to know how many calories I could get in if I forced the issue, since I've really been worrying about how to eat ENOUGH calories before my long runs and my half marathon. I almost made it to 3000 calories. I finished the day at 2918. Close enough! Now, in order to get in that many calories, I had to eat 10 separate times and eat some truly outrageous stuff. Here is a list of everything I ate: Three Protein Bars (breakfast and two snacks), Pork Queso Chowder for lunch (so much fat!), pizza (one whole small slice and the cheese and toppings from two other slices), a Milky Way bar, two Pop Tarts, half a piece of cake, two servings of BBQ potato chips, and two oz. of reduced fat cheese. So, it can be done. You can definitely eat enough to gain weight. Yesterday was my rest day for my half marathon training, so I had about a 1200 calorie surplus for the day. That's certainly plenty to gain weight if I kept it up every day. But I will tell you this, I felt like ABSOLUTE CRAP. I mean really really terrible. I had a horrible headache from all the sugar. The inside of my mouth had this gross coating around it (I think from the sugar and carbs?). I had no energy. I felt like a big fat slug. And I was up two pounds on the scale (I assume the sugar is causing Water retention) this morning. I definitely do NOT recommend this to anyone ever. Just don't do it. You would think it sounds great getting to eat all this junk you hardly ever eat anymore, but it was not pleasurable. I didn't risk eating and drinking at the same time or drinking my calories, but those would have been a couple of ways for me to potentially get more calories in. Eating 10 times in one day was truly ridiculous. Still not sure what I am going to do to "load up" on fuel for my long training runs or the half marathon itself, but it won't be this again. I don't think I need to be going into a long run feeling that crappy!

PS: I "only" lost 14 pounds my first month and 8 the month after that. Not everyone loses insanely quickly. Comparing yourself to others is a recipe for frustration and disappointment.

It's pretty common for people to experience a stall at 2 or 3 weeks out. Your body is adapting to all of the trauma it's just experienced. Stick to the plan, meet your protein and water goals, take your vitamins, walk as much as you can (not too intensely yet, you're still healing) and the scale will move again. Try not to concentrate on the scale right now. Instead concentrate on your healing and recovery.

There's a pretty active thread about this topic going on right now: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/359916-stretched-sleeve/ Had you asked me a couple of weeks ago, I would have said "no way". But the OP of that thread has had it verified by a radiologist that her sleeve has indeed stretched. The working theory right now is that something was done incorrectly in her initial surgery that allowed the stretchy part of her stomach to remain and that part has now stretched. But no one knows for certain yet. Hopefully her surgeon will provide her with more information soon.

If you are having this type of reaction to the first "stall" (I'd hardly call it a stall if it's only been one week), you need to put your scale away. It's doing you more harm than good. You are going to have many weeks, possibly even months, during this journey when the scale won't budge (or might even go up!). If you can't deal with that reality, then put the scale away, step on it once a month or not at all, and just stick to your plan. You will lose weight if you stick to the plan. How quickly you lose weight is irrelevant in the long run. Ten years from now when you are happy, healthy, and enjoying life, are you really going to be looking back and saying "if only I'd lost weight that one week!" Nope. If it takes you 6 months or 16 months to get to goal, once you are there, how long it took won't matter one bit.

The pain from a TT is significantly more than a c-section because of the muscle repair component. It's dozens (possibly hundreds) of stitches in your ab muscles. With a c-section, the muscle is just separated, which is painful and causes soreness for sure, but not the kind of trauma that all the stitches from a muscle repair cause.

Welcome to the losers' bench! I hope your recovery goes smoothly, but even when things get rough, just hang in there. With sleeve you will experience drastic improvement from one day to the next so you will feel whole and human again soon.

Thank you for such a thorough write up. I think it's great for people both pre and post-op to see all this and know that it is an ongoing journey. Just a point I want to throw out there, because my surgery was Sept. 1, 2014. We are only 17 months post-op, not 18!

So glad you are working to get your health under control. It sounds you have very good reasons for perusing WLS. I hope you are able to get your surgery very soon. Since you have been hanging around this site for a while, I am sure you already know what a great resource it is for information, support, community, tough love, and sometimes a good laugh. Feel free to post any specific questions or concerns you have and just join in any of the ongoing conversations.

So sorry you went through all that! I suspect most people think they are "out of the woods" for a potential leak by 3-5 weeks out, so this is great info for people still awaiting their sleeves or just recently sleeved. It's important to listen to your body and if you experience any of these symptoms, better to get them checked out sooner than later. Thank you for sharing and I hope you feel better soon!

It took me a full year to lose the 71 pounds to go from my surgery day weight (236) to my goal weight (165). The rate of loss is so irrelevant in the long term. I'm at goal (a little below actually) and have been maintaining for 5 months. Who cares how long it took me to get here?!?!

For a desk job, it's common to only take 2 weeks. But for a physical job, I would think 4-6 weeks. Perhaps ask your surgeon's office? They are the ones that will have to clear you to return to work anyway.