FrankyG

Yes, seriously. What? We're not allowed to have an opinion and preference? Don't make me go all crazypants up in here and start spouting off curse words... I know like 5 of them and you'll be amazed and horrified at the spectacle.* I'm a big dog and y'all are just chinchillas... or chinchbugs? or was it Chippewas? No, chihuahuas, right? I am trying to sound like that pottymouth twit that got booted (and is the reason this thread was started). Is it working? I'm not very good at this... *Kidding, don't get mad at me or anything.

That song rocks - it is in my exercise playlist. And f those people. You are better off without them and were too good for them anyway. (and yes, please post the recipe)

I'm just now hitting 100 lbs down at 14 months out. I don't care how long it took me; I'm thrilled. And bonus is that my skin is barely crinkly or saggy right now. I may just come out of this with minimal issues since it will take about a year to see if the skin tightens up any. That would make me super happy to be a slow loser!! I stall out for at least a week every month. Sometimes I don't lose anything for over a month. I still see progress because the tape measure keeps getting better results. And I'm really, really into exercising now (at least compared to old me) and my stamina is amazing me now. I did 9 miles yesterday. Not all at once, but I did it, and I can tell you, old me probably didn't walk/jog 9 miles in 2 weeks let alone 1 day. I still need to lose 30 pounds to hit my personal goal. I know I'll make it eventually. I have no doubt. It might take me 2 years, but I will get there, and I'm going to be in such amazing shape it will have been totally worth the wait.

@@Emmasue53 Good for you for sticking with your water/protein/activity levels! I know it can seem like you shouldn't have to deal with stalls since you went through surgery, but try to think of them as rest breaks for your body to catch up. You couldn't run flat out for 100 miles without a break - you'd need to stop every so often and catch your breath, have a few swigs of water and get revved back up to hit that trail and run fast again. That's exactly what your body is doing - taking a breather in preparation to performing another sprint (drop a few pounds). Sometimes it might need a short rest, sometimes it might need longer (weeks). But if you keep giving it what it needs (water/protein/exercise) you'll start sprinting again. And get out a tape measure and take measurements NOW. Arms, chest, waist, hips and thighs. You'll see during those stalls that you might just be dropping fat (it gets burned off and replaced with muscle). Since a pound of fat and a pound of muscle weigh the same, it might not show up on the scale, but fat is MUCH bulkier than muscle, so you'll see it in the tape measure and how your clothes fit. Stalls are vital. Stalls are GOOD. It means you're hitting a new peak and getting ready for some weight loss coming up.

As long as you work someplace with 50+ employees (in the U.S.), then you can get unpaid leave covered by FMLA. You would need to make sure and discuss ASAP with your HR department. But if you have a job with no lifting or excessive amounts of walking, then you should be okay to go back within 2 weeks. You'll be tired, and you should discuss with your supervisor about how you may need to sit down a bit more often than usual for another week or two. I was just a regular sleeve (no revision) and had a desk job, and went back after 2 weeks. Those 2 weeks off, I slept most of the time, and worked on getting in my fluids and walked the house every hour I was actually awake to prevent blood clots... but yeah, mostly slept. I was tired at work, but I didn't have to interact with people and mostly could sit there and work.

You can drink again, but definitely need to scale back and make it only a special occasion thing really. Be aware that most alcohol has high carbs and/or sugar, so moderation is key. And with a tiny stomach, alcohol may hit you much harder, so one drink may knock you on your butt. I love this aspect, as I love saving money on drinks. Oh! And proceed with caution in general with drinking. It has been known for people that have food addictions to move to other addictions (like alcohol or drugs or sex or shopping) after having weight loss surgery - so monitor your drinking very carefully and make sure to get help if it starts becoming an issue.

I took PPI drugs until about 6 months out and then stopped. Probably could have stopped sooner probably. Doing fine now.

Pedialyte is just sugar and salt Water. I make a homemade version when the family gets sick (there are tons of recipes out there). I would not drink it for after sleeve surgery because like 2goldengirl said, there's a whole lot of sugar in it (sugar can cause you to feel nausea and even trigger a dumping episode in the early days post-op... horrible and to be avoided). There are much better choices. Try regular water, sugar free drink mixes, some teas like chamomile with no calorie sweetener, or Protein drinks.

I'm almost 14 months out now, and I still track every single bite of food, probably will the rest of my life because I like the accountability. I hit my Protein target every day. I might have some days I go over on fat or carbs, but they are rare. I now exercise 6 days a week, walk/jog 5+ miles a day (today I did 9 miles total) and do yoga and bodyweight routines 3x a week as well. In the summer, I'll swim 5+ days a week and go biking. I actually enjoy exercise now, and I get antsy and sad when I can't go out and hit the trail. So weird! I never thought I'd be at the point I'm at now, but I worked hard to get this far. It sounds like you expected your sleeve to all the work for you. That's not how it works. You get a limited amount of time where you don't feel horribly hungry all the time, and the restriction helps you adjust to eating small portions. But the main thing you should be doing after surgery is relearning how and what to eat - healthy stuff - but protein first is the mantra. With the weight loss, you should start feeling more energetic and able to exercise and also feel good enough to get a decent exercise routine established before the honeymoon period of about 12-18 months ends. After that point, the weight loss will stop as your body will have adjusted its metabolism to your smaller portions and activity level, and if you didn't get healthy eating habits and exercise figured out, you will possibly regain weight. And while exercise is great for overall health, it has a small effect on weight loss. The way you lose weight is controlling how much and what you eat. It is the most important thing to figure out and really pay attention to, because while exercise will help build muscle, stamina, increase your bone strength and make you feel better... it is almost impossible to exercise enough to counteract a consistently poor diet. You definitely need to go back to the beginning. Protein first, then veggies, and then if there is any room complex carbs. Find an app to track food and exercise. Log every single bite, and get a food scale and measure the food until you get the hang of it, so you're not guessing. Find out from your NUT what your calorie goal should be at this point. Set up goals to drink 64 ounces of Water, get at least 80 grams of protein (unless your NUT tells you more) and keep your carbs under 100 grams/daily. Try to start a basic exercise of some kind 2X a week that you actually can enjoy and slowly work up to doing more. Once you know what and how much you are eating and see where you might be eating wrong things, you can come back here and get help on food, recipes and other specifics. It will be hard since you will be starting over, but if you can get all of this going and get yourself back on track (and tracking) then you will be well on your way to losing weight and getting, but more importantly staying healthy for the rest of your life. Good luck!

Oh cool! Basically, you can have 960 calories a day. That is main thing to track. You should primarily be drinking 5-6 shakes a day, and have one "snack" of broth (says to prevent muscle cramps, so just make sure you have a cup a day), and if you still have room in your calorie allotment, you can have some Jello or sugar free popsicles as additional Snacks. So just check the calories on everything and track them each day so you know if you have "room" in your diet for like a popsicle at 8pm. Oh, and you can have unlimited Water, sugar free drink mixes. So drink a whole lot of those in between meals or if you run through your calorie allotment for the day - it will help you to feel fuller if you are constantly drinking.

Sort of the same thing as the first post: canned or fresh chicken if I have it (but usually canned) light mayo (usually olive oil version) curry powder (love this in chicken salad!!) red seedless grapes (cut into quarters) green onions (2-3 depending on size) 1/2 stalk celery Tastes best when refrigerated for a minimum of 2 hours to allow the flavors to meld. Eat with raw red pepper strips - super good with it and has a lovely crunch so I don't miss crackers at all now.

Are you tracking every bite, every sip of food and drink? Are you getting in at least 64 ounces of water daily? Meeting your protein goals? Calorie levels? Eating lean meats, veggies, complex carbs in moderation? Avoiding simple carbs and fat/sodium laden foods? How much exercise are you getting now?

The pre-op diet is VERY IMPORTANT to stick closely to. Like BobbyD said, it's not so much about losing weight as it is to shrink your liver. Your liver lies almost covering your stomach area, and when they go in to cut the stomach, they have to use the laproscopic tools to lift and hold the liver out of the way. If your liver is really heavy/fatty, it can bend and flex and even break - that is horrifying and could lead to serious medical complications. The least of which might just be they get in there and insert all the tools and see your liver is too large/fatty to move without serious injury, and they close you back up and your sleeve is cancelled. So you'll get to go through the recovery of surgery (from the stitches and pain from trapped gas they use to inflate your abdomen to allow room to move around) and none of the benefits! Use that fear of having your surgery cancelled or liver damage. Every time you feel weak and want to stuff yourself or eat something really bad... tell yourself that it is too dangerous and you you want to be healthy and have the best possible outcome. Lots of pep talks, lots of visualizing the junk and large amounts of food as nasty and stuff you don't want to eat. Do whatever you can to make it seem like a bad idea. If you can't make it the 2-3 weeks on the pre-op diet while sticking to it at least 95% (most everyone does have one slip while on it) then you need to seriously think hard about this. You have to commit to doing this because your health depends on it. Anyone can make it on a diet for 2-3 weeks. You just have to tell yourself it's only a short time, it is for your health and you are worth the effort and discomfort and push through it. And stop thinking you'll never eat all the foods again. The advantage of the sleeve is you can eat virtually anything after about 8 months to a year. But you must use that time to relearn how to eat and what to eat because that is the secret of this surgery's success. And while you eventually can eat whatever junk food you used to eat... you may not want to any more. Good luck and I hope you can get your head straight and do your absolute best - it is worth the effort and you'll be so glad you made it through!!

My diet was different; no caloric restriction technically, but I was to measure liquids (like one 12 oz Protein shake for Breakfast, same for lunch, and then 3 ounces of chicken or fish with a cup of low carb veggies). So I'd do a shake for breakfast and call them as soon as they are open and ask for specific instructions. Every doctor's practice does seem to have a different pre-op diet, so what we tell you may be wrong as far as they're concerned.

Ooooo that's a good one! Although I still like Dolly's version better Dolly can do no wrong. Dolly wrote it, so her version had so much more depth and feeling in it than anyone else could. Whitney's version was great for her vocal abilities, but she didn't have the heartbreak and sadness that Dolly put into it. She's still a pistol, too.

I think everone has the feeling of making a huge mistake the first week or two. You were unlucky enough to have some complicating factors that made it seem even worse (so sorry you went through that!). But you will start feeling better pretty soon, the pain and discomfort and swelling will go down, you'll get a hang of the eating thing, and 6 months from now, it will all be a distant memory and you'll be in a much better place to decide if it was a mistake... or the best thing you could have done for yourself. Stay strong and know what you're going through is temporary - it will get better!

Definitely sorry! Humor is sometimes the only thing that got me through when I was feeling bad. That's my excuse anyway. What you're describing is just being swollen up from the surgery. If you're just a week out, you must be one of the "lucky" ones that swelled up more from surgery than others (I was one of those). Alternate warm and cold liquids. I could barely get anything down the first 3-4 days and was really worried I would have to go in, but warm broth and cold sugarfree popscicles. The swelling will go down but keep up the fluids so you don't get dehydrated.

I am not done losing and my understanding is that plastic surgery isn't done until you've held a stable weight for at least one year. So hit goal, maintain for 1 year, then get consults. I'm definitely hoping my skin rebounds enough to avoid plastic surgery tho. I am pretty sure many insurance companies will pay for some excess skin surgery in the case of it causing issues. I think mostly it's just the pannus area tho (the hanging apron of fat over your stomach). The area under the skin can get infected due to it being wet from sweat/moisture and cause yeast infections, so document any rashes or infections (bring up with your doctor and make sure they add it to your medical records every time) once you start losing as I believe this is vital for you to prove to your insurance that the surgery is medically necessary and not just cosmetic. I personally will just call them after I hit my goal weight to see what they do and do not cover, along with all the requirements to cover any surgery if they do allow.

Awww. You didn't have to delete it. Totally knew it was autocorrect and just thought it was funny (isn't it always funny when autocorrect goes wonky?). Definitely wasn't making fun of you and hope you didn't take it that way. Hugs? Hugs! Hope someone still comes in that can give you some ideas about strictures. Like I said, never had that issue thank goodness, but my understanding is that it can feel like you can't swallow even liquids (swollen and tight feeling), a sudden reduction in the amount of food you were able to eat, or nausea and vomiting. If you have symptoms like that, do see your doctor so they can check.

Can I just say how goofy happy I am to see this thread still going? Cause y'all are all awesome. And Brown Sugar and the Tennessee Waltz and Every Breath You Take and Big Girls Don't Cry and all the songs so far are super awesome too. Those are some GREAT songs there.

Well, I had my first structure back in 2003. Sstill have it - it's about 1200 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 2 bath. Never had a stricture tho. (sorry, couldn't resist)

Oh goody. It is an ambulance chaser law firm posting the information, so take it with a healthy dose of skepticism. I'd just call my doctor if I was really concerned. I would not freak out.

Sort of? Maybe? I feel sexy again, so I'm taking more time with my hair and makeup. I am buying more clothes because I want to. I don't buy clothes at all usually except every few years as things wear out; got out of the habit of shopping for funzies a long time ago. I think it is more that I'm feeling better about myself and like my real self is slowly emerging from the layers of fat she's been buried under for the last 20 years. I feel better about myself and my appearance and have a wider selection of clothes and looks available since I can fit in normal sized things now. It is an exciting time, but I'm not going to go crazy with it. Oh, but my hair is teal blue. Does that count as crazy? I can't believe you bought a new car! Hope you got a good deal!! ETA: sorry, posted without noticing it was in the guy's room. Ignore me!

Nasty stuff. Nothing but chemicals and high caffeine and sugar. They could hurt you due to the high acid content (your stomach will be much more sensitive and you do not want ulcers in a sleeve!) You really shouldn't try to start drinking them again if you can help it. coffee or tea would be waaaaaay better if you need a caffeine fix.

I love siracha and jalapenos and hot spicy anything now... it's like I got a "spicy" switch turned on as I used to be meh about spicy before surgery...