FrankyG

Call them or go in and politely but firmly tell your doctor to give you something (prescription) for nausea/vomiting. That's not right to let that go on for weeks and just tell you to push through it! I can't imagine how awful that feels and I'm so sorry you're dealing with this.

Thrift stores are your friend! If you need clothes that fit but know you're only going to be wearing them for a few months, Goodwill and other thrift shops are the best. They're just all around better in my opinion since the prices can't be beat and the selection is always changing and there are some amazing bargains. I'll be shopping there even after my weight stabilizes because I love saving money and still get quality items that will last. I find awesome stuff all the time. Just picked up a few vintage tee-shirts including a favorite band licensed tee and a beloved music group's anniversary tee that is selling for like $50 (if you can even find one now - sooo happy!). Got a gorgeous pair of name brand jeans and two dressy wool sweaters and a hoodie jacket in a wicking fabric - all were $6 each, the jeans were $7. I tried on some really cute dresses but decided I didn't need them, but they have a super selection usually and if not, I check out one of the others in the area next time I'm out running errands and usually score something great. The secret is to check out several in different locations and if you're looking for dressy stuff, go to the fancier neighborhoods' thrift stores. Goodwill has discounts on their clothes on Wednesdays in my area, and I never fail to find something amazing and get complements. And nobody judges you in there. I've seen people of all types and sizes and frankly it's a comfortable place for me. Like visiting a good friend's basement garage sale.

I'm so sorry you're going through that! I never experienced any of the trapped gas pain from my sleeve, but I had gallbladder surgery many years ago and can still remember how bad that hurts. If you're experiencing anything close to that level of pain, that is your body telling you something is wrong and you need to see a doctor about it. I can't imagine how it could be trapped gas by this point, but if you're in that much pain, please go get a professional opinion.

Oh wow, I like that... my song is I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash Totally agree with the initial posting. I am shocked (but sadly, not surprised) when someone is so nasty and abusive to any one without reason. I get that the format of text/posting like this - written communication - is sometimes difficult read tone and can be misinterpreted and it's easy to misread things sometimes. But maybe take a moment and think if this thing you're getting offended about might have been meant as advice, help, commiseration, encouragement, or even tough love? Cause that's primarily what I've seen on this forum. And if you don't like what someone has to say, ignore them. How hard is that? Outright attacks and abusive language, or vulgarity for vulgarity's sake doesn't make a person sound tough and cool; it just makes them sound idiotic, and makes me wonder if they flunked out of middle school - clearly a case of arrested development in the brain category. For sure just makes me pity those types of people because they lack intelligence, and will always wallow with in the mud and attempt to drag everyone else down to their ignorant level. I hate seeing that kind of thing happen here, as I really like this place and feel like it should be a safe, supportive environment, and I'm very thankful for all of the wonderful posters that reach out to a bunch of perfect strangers to offer some help or comfort or just a slap up side the head (when needed!). So I'm super glad that most of those @#!$ jerkfaces get booted out after showing their true colors. We don't need that type of negativity and nasty here.

I agree with Inner Surfer Girl; 60 grams of Protein is low. I was told 80 grams ASAP and should be shooting for closer to 100 now that I'm exercising and moving so much. Protein is a Really Big Deal. I adore eating salad, but if your lunch regularly consists of salad (and just a small garnish of protein) you might want to switch that around, so you're not filling up on leafy greens and eat more protein. The largest portion of every meal should be protein and the veggies should be secondary.

I was this person just over a year ago. I joined gyms and would stop going after a month or two. I'd buy equipment and use it maybe once or twice a month if that. I hated sweating, I hated the trying and seeing absolutely nothing for my efforts. But after the sleeve and getting used to eating better and dropping weight regularly, I realized I was feeling a bit better and started having a tiny bit more energy. That coincided with my neighborhood pool opening and I remembered how much I loved swimming, so I started going when I could. I'd drive there, go splash and dive and float and end up exercising without even meaning to because it was fun. I started going regularly throughout the summer, and eventually worked up to riding my bike there and back instead of driving (it is just over a mile round trip). Because I also remembered when I was a kid, how much I loved riding a bike. And it was also fun! And the really amazing part is that I started seeing real progress - I wasn't huffing and puffing riding a half mile or swimming the length of the pool. I noticed muscle definition in my arms and legs. I was measuring each month, and I would see definite inches lost in addition to seeing the scale slowly moving downwards. It was never smooth steady progress, but it was happening pretty often and I was even more encouraged to keep going, push myself a little more and enjoyed it even more knowing I was going to get actual, visual/measurable benefits. If you hate gym exercises, don't force yourself to do them. There are hundreds of other things you could be doing that you'd actually look forward to. The point being, you have to give yourself time to adjust to seeing real actual progress for one thing, and you also have to find something that won't seem like exercise because you enjoy doing it just for fun. Think back to when you were a kid - did you love riding your bike all over the neighborhood? Playing frisbee or catch or some sport in the park? Swimming? Climbing or hiking out in the woods? Or maybe just walking through a pretty park and bird watching (or people watching)? Even stuff like bowling is going to be fun but still gets you up and down, lifting weights, swinging your arms and concentrating on moving correctly and could be a gateway activity that might lead to others that will push you further along (as long as you're not eating the bowling alley food!) Open your mind to the possibilities and you'll never feel mad or stressed about exercise again... because it will just be you out having fun and moving your body! You should be able to find something that you used to love and it can be picked back up and re-purposed into regular exercise. Or at least find something now as an adult that you can grow to enjoy. Good luck!!

I wouldn't. It has Salicylates (aspirin is derived from salicylic acid and it is prohibited after sleeves). Immodium and/or Tums would be safest. I think you can take GasX strips as well. If you are having ongoing issues you might also want to look into taking a PPI (proton pump inhibitor) like omeprazole for a few months to see if that helps. It is one of those drugs you can get over the counter, and take it daily. If none of those help, check with your doctor to see what they recommend.

Sometimes in the early days, but usually it was when I was not getting in enough Protein or mistaking thirst for Water. Try drinking a few glasses of water, and if that doesn't help after a little while, get something protein-y (meat/dairy/beans/eggs) and see if that helps. Oh and if you are only a month or two out or less, it could also be stomach acid/GERD simulating hunger. Might try taking a ppi (proton pump inhibitor). I was on omeprazole for around 6 months after my surgery and you can buy it over the counter at any store.

I slid into eating too many carbs once I started baking again. Homemade bread is sooo tasty. I had to do a hard reset and went on the 5 day pouch test to detox from the carbs. It worked really well and now when the carbs start taking over, I go do that reset again and it kills the cravings (and I'm tracking the foods that end up triggering the carb craving cycle; some I can eat one time and not feel anything about them and won't eat the again for weeks or even months, some I can eat once and end up craving them for every single meal) http://5daypouchtest.com/ When I'm desperately craving crunchy, I indulge in a serving of pork rinds (Aldi's hot and spicy). One half ounce, 7 grams Protein, zero carbs, 5 grams fat. The sodium is awful, so I make sure to drink extra Water that day, but the crunch and spicy are so satisfying and at least it is carb free! My go to crunch is usually raw red pepper strips with chicken salad or carrots with side of hummus or tzatziki with greek yogurt. Very good!!

Just in case you have trouble with the search functions: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/347700-what-was-the-final-straw-to-decide-this/

I think you're misinterpreting the comments completely. People are not telling you how to feel as much as trying to help you reframe the negative connotations you're posting about - it is support and attempts to help you, not telling you what to do or how to feel. And taking things meant to be helpful as offensive speaks to your inability to hear and process other viewpoints and begs the question of whether you are closing your mind off instead of being open and accepting of what is out there. If you don't want advice or opinions, I'd suggest you post your thoughts in a personal blog instead of a public forum that is specifically here for support and back-and-forth commentary. Not that you're not perfectly welcome to do whatever you'd like, but you should expect others to post their own thoughts on what you post about here unless you specifically tell everyone that you don't want any comments or are at all interested in what anyone else has to say. Something to think about anyway, but I have a feeling you will just find this offensive as well even though I'm trying to help you. Good luck, and I will try to remember not to comment on any more of your posts going forward.

Another thing that most folks don't realize about the sleeve surgery - it removes such a large portion of the stomach that it reduces the amount of the hunger hormone (called ghrelin) that is produced in the stomach. Studies have recently posited that the hormone is over-produced in some people and that absolutely can cause obesity since if you are constantly feeling hungry, you're going to eat more to try to feel sated. Without that hormone overproduction, you get normal feelings of hunger and feel full faster and stay feeling full for longer. The lack of overwhelming hunger is usually a long range effect; some people never regain the need to overeat due to perceived hunger, but most people do redevelop a normal hunger response after a certain period of time (roughly a year). Two other ways the sleeve works: The most obvious is the size and portion control/restriction. You have a stomach that will hold at most 5-7 ounces of food after about one year (it is much less for the first 6-8 months, but will relax (not stretch) after a time. In its natural state, the stomach can hold up to 6 cups, so that is a HUGE reduction of tummy real estate! The portion control/restriction coupled with the lack of overwhelming hunger means you finally have real control over what and how you eat. You get the optimum effect for roughly 12-18 months, and during this time you have to teach yourself how to eat healthy and make smarter choices. The best measure of long term success is how well you do to relearn how to eat - Protein first, veggies next and then complex carbs in small portions. My doctor said that anyone could lose a significant amount of weight for the first year or so even if they ate absolute crap the entire time due to the restriction. But they will eventually have major issues (since most bad for you food is also lacking in nutrition and high in fat, sodium and bad carbs) and regain if they don't completely revamp their diet to eat correctly - protein/veggies/complex carbs. And of course eating "slider" foods - things that break down easily like cake, breads, Cookies, ice cream or basically anything that turns to mush easily - that slide right through your sleeve and never really trigger that feeling of fullness. There are many ways to eat around your sleeve and consume to many calories. These are the people that get fat again and then complain about how their sleeved failed; but it didn't fail - they failed due to poor eating habits and not taking advantage of the time to really get serious about getting healthy. You can eventually eat the junk again - there won't be anything you can't technically eat. But you should cut out all of the garbage foods and only eat them rarely and in small portions. If you take the time to plan meals, revamp recipes to remove the high carb/sugar/sodium, eat healthy small portions of good protein like fish and chicken and get some nice veggies... and you eat that way 90% of the time, in addition to exercise and getting in your Vitamins and Water, you probably will be successful for life. It is a total lifestyle change - ditching the bad habits and excuses and embracing the healthy. If you get your head straight and are able to do this, it will work for you or anyone.

Could make a time/day schedule to officially chat - then at least it wouldn't be just random wandering through.

I'm seeing the crepe paper wrinkling with the lovely stretch marks on my tummy now, but in certain light - the lamp in my bedroom - it isn't so bad. Guess I'll just have to carry that lamp with me every where I plan on exposing my stomach from now on. As far as the hair loss.... I ate my Protein like it was going out of style and had very little - like my hairdresser didn't even notice. I was taking Biotin in my bariatric Vitamin, and they said don't bother taking more as it just gets peed out if you take too much (wasting money). The big deal is protein, and also make sure to eat lots of jello/gelatin when cleared for those. Gelatin is excellent for hair and nails (it's basically a protein similar to collagen, which is one of the building blocks hair, skin and nails need). So get your protein in ASAP and the hair loss might not be super bad! But honestly, I think it's probably genetic how your body will respond - but at least the hair loss thing should be temporary! I wish the stretch marks were too.

You don't say what your goal weight is, or where you started so it is hard to tell details about whether you still have a very long way to go or not... but I'm going off of your stats on the side that you are around 2 ish months out (if it's three, your progress is still awesome). But in any case, 50 pounds in 2 months is AMAZING. I would have been over the moon happy at that level of progress at 2 months out, and you totally should use that awesome progress to really focus your energy and motivation on. You should be proud and psyched up about how well your body is responding already - not depressed that it isn't 10 times better! At 2 months, you're probably eating so little calories that just puttering around the house would exhaust you; but you're out working and doing assemblies and field trips in addition to your regular job in there, and still managed to exercise once too? Girl, that is mind blowing! You have nothing to be ashamed about. I was not exercising at all at 2 months out and I don't regret it one minute. It took me until about 6 months out to have the energy and motivation to establish a real exercise routine. It is HARD to start from morbidly obese with very sedentary habits and hit the ground eating perfectly and exercising 3X or more a week. I think you are being waaaay too hard on yourself. You need to forgive yourself and definitely not set such crazy high standards and goals! This is not a race. You have the rest of your life to get and stay healthy. To discover fun exercise and find joy in eating healthy foods and being active because you enjoy it and not because you're forcing yourself to go through the motions. Your sleeve will not fail you if you work at it - get in your Water, eating Protein first, good veggies and complex carbs in moderation and slowly get moving and find ways to stay active. But you absolutely should banish the shame. You are working hard at changing your entire life. That is going to take time, and life also gets in the way - job, family, home obligations - they are all going to slow you down while you figure out how to put the pieces for this new puzzle together. But you'll figure it out - even if it takes you a few months or a year - and it will be GLORIOUS. You are doing fabulously and will be successful if you focus on the happy and the amazing and toss the shame and guilt and depression. Good luck!!

There are so many points where you could stop yourself from going out to buy fast food - before you stand up and walk to your car keys, as you are gathering your wallet, stepping out the door and locking it, getting into your car... at every point, you have an opportunity to tell yourself HELL NO and go do something else. I could even understand one time (because many of us have cheated once on a pre op diet) ... but if you are doing this over and over again, then you are definitely not ready because you are sabotaging yourself. You have to distract yourself from this sort of eating. And you really aren't even eating real food - all that fast food crap is fat, sodium and carbs. Nothing at those places is good for you and it is hurting you every time you put it in your mouth. I'd even try picturing eating broken, dirty glass every time I craved that stuff if it was me to reframe how you think about it. It is not healthy food; you're craving it because you're addicted to fat/carbs/sodium and you use food to comfort/reward yourself. You need to speak with your doctor/nutritionist before surgery if you can't get this stopped ASAP, because if you go into your surgery eating that crap right up until time (I'm assuming at some point they'll have put you on a pre-op diet) then your liver is going to be a very possible cause to cancel your surgery due to it being too large or fatty to perform it safely. That could mean you make it to the operating table and they cut you open and get in there and see your liver is too poor a shape to continue. You could have serious, life threatening complications if your liver is damaged during surgery, and that is why they want you eating healthy, low fat foods (or even a liquid diet) before surgery to shrink your liver to make it easier to move around (it overlaps your stomach and they have to move it with the laproscopic tools). It is not about losing a ton of weight before surgery, it is to make sure your liver is as small as possible. If this is scary sounding I mean it to be, because sometimes it takes scaring someone to finally get through to them - USE THAT FEAR. Every time you get up to go out the door to buy fast food... tell yourself that you may end up very sick, or have your surgery cancelled, or injure your liver if you step a foot out that door! And I would not lie about your eating to them either, because all you'd be doing is risking your life and health to hide the fact that you have an addiction to food - which they already know since you're having this surgery. You need to commit to doing your absolute best - this surgery will change your life and you will be so very, very happy if you can make it through successfully. It is only a few weeks and anyone can be strong for that short of time if they work hard enough. Tell yourself that you are worth the work. You ARE going to be awesome and in control and you don't need some nasty fast food crud to make you feel better. Taco Bell and all those nasty sandwich shops are NOT your friends and you're dumping them right now. You have better things to do with your time and energy - and you deserve to have a super outcome. You can do this!!

The main issue with the pre-op diet is that they want to shrink your liver. The liver sits overlapping the stomach area, so to do the surgery, they have to move it out of the way. They want it small as possible so that when they use the tools to shift it around, the liver isn't so heavy that it bends or breaks, as that is a really serious complication. You do NOT want your liver damaged! You have a few days left until Tuesday. Get super serious right now that you're going to stick to the liquid diet for the rest of this time. It is only 3 days - you can totally avoid eating off your diet for 3 days! And chances are good that if you can hold on for this time and you've been doing okay otherwise, this will still be enough to have your liver not be an issue. As long as you weren't stuffing yourself silly with really fatty stuff when you were cheating for dinners, things should work out okay. Good luck!!

One surprising comfort thing I do now is go out for a long walk. Like an hour or more. I can cover close to 5 miles in that time and I blast music and feel a whole lot better when I'm done. I think it is a combo of distracting myself from whatever got me down, and the endorphins from exercise that make me feel better. I find myself going out walking much more often now when I'm feeling down or depressed or angry. It's become a bit of an addiction, but I find it an excellent replacement. Another super thing is I have some awesome perfume-y bath gels (bath and body works stuff) and I go take a hot bubble bath and maybe put on a face mask and do the foot scrubby thing and feel much better after. If I'm really craving something "awful" I eat a piece of dark chocolate with hazelnuts. I buy large bars of them from Aldi, and they are lower carb than most chocolate (net carbs for one serving size/piece is 9 grams due to the higher fiber) and dark chocolate is supposed to be good for you in small doses. And that one serving size does the trick every time, as I don't want to eat the whole thing at all now.

I walk mostly. I have great sidewalks in my neighborhood, but also a marked 1 mile trail about a block from my front door. I also found a free yoga class at my local library that rocks. There's some skinny mini ladies in there, and there's some older guys, but we're all comfortable and I'm not the fattest or the most out of shape and don't care even if I was - yoga is fun and it's great exercise. I also do a beginner's bodyweight routine at home; all you need is a yoga mat and some dumbbells (and you could use a milk jug filled with Water really). This is the one I do, but there are tons of bodyweight routines that require very little in the way of equipment and work as well or better than a gym machine routine: http://skinnyms.com/beginners-total-body-fat-blasting-routine/ I have never liked gyms and think it would be a waste of money to me, so I don't bother. If you're not going to use them, don't waste your money. Get some good walking shoes and just go outside and walk - it's easy, it's free and you'll feel just fine doing it and can start working up to walking longer distances over time. Oh, and I swim in the summer. I ride my bike to the neighborhood pool and splash around and swim for hours. I had a blast last year, and am really looking forward to the pool opening later this year. Something to keep in mind. If you are embarrassed to be seen exercising - why? You might be fat, but you're out there working on it. You're doing something healthy and getting up and out the door and you should be PROUD of yourself, and most folks aren't judging you for that; they're probably secretly rooting for you like - "well, she's trying - good for her!" And really, if anyone says a word that is negative... that's on them being a small minded jerkface; do you really care what asshats like that think? Hell no!! YOU are awesome, and you don't need to give away your own power and let some dumb jerk mess with your head or bring you down because you are going to be fabulous!

I took two weeks off and probably could have returned to work in a week, but I also had a desk job to come back to. I can't imagine doing a physical job that soon after. And one of my biggest issues wasn't pain, it was exhaustion. At two weeks out, I was still on a liquid diet and barely getting 300 calories a day in. I was dragging myself around to get water/food and go to the bathroom and make a feeble attempt to walk every few hours (to prevent blood clots), but otherwise I slept most of that time. But the time I got to work, I was really glad I could sit most of the day as I just had no energy at all. And I was lucky enough to experience zero pain; others on here have had pain for weeks after. If you're in pain and exhausted for weeks, you'll have a real issue trying to go back to work too soon, doing what you do. I'd recommend speaking to your doctor to discuss when he would want to clear you to work due to the nature of your job - and make sure to tell them how much lifting/walking/moving you do. I honestly wonder if they'll expect you to not be doing any lifting/strenuous activity for at minimum 2 weeks, but it might be longer, and you need to find out ASAP so you can get something figured out. Your job may have the ability to put you on an alternate workload that is lighter for a few weeks to ensure you don't hurt yourself while you are healing if you have a medically necessary reason.

Oh hun, I'm so sorry you're in this situation. Having someone belittle and control you is a horrible place to be in. You should definitely discuss this all with your therapist and ask for help getting out of there and getting your father out of your life and bank accounts. If you didn't have him, they'd assign a court appointed neutral party, so maybe that's what you should be pursuing right now. Ask for help as soon as you can, as what you're describing sounds like an abusive situation (verbal abuse for sure, and the fact that he stole money from your accounts means he is definitely not the right person to be helping you). Family is supposed to help and lift you up, if they aren't doing that, then you cut them out of your life, or at the very least you distance yourself and remove any possible control they have over you. Just because you're related, doesn't mean you should put up with poor treatment. Getting out of that living situation and removing your father from your accounts would probably go a long way to making you feel better about yourself and make it a bit easier to work on your own progress. Lots of hugs and good thoughts your way. Take care of yourself!!

I had a similar incident in a store - vasovagal response brought on by pain (starting my period always is super painful) and a combo of being dehydrated and having not eaten in around 6 hours. I used up my reserve sugars fighting through the vasovagal response and that dropped me right into a low blood sugar episode. I was lucky that I recognized what was happening fast enough to do something about it - I ate about 4 mints out of my purse and then was able to hobble to the front desk to ask for help. The store almost called an ambulance but I begged them not to and told them just get me a soda and I'd be fine - so I laid on their floor behind their service desk sipping a soda. Turns out I was right. I didn't actually pass out, but it was close for a while there. The joys of weight loss surgery side effects, huh? I would not drink alcohol on an empty stomach, and I would not drink more than one or two over the whole night either since alcohol is pretty much empty sugar calories. It will really screw you up.

This bit (the pre-op diet) is just a very tiny amount of time compared to the rest of your life that is to come. You absolutely can make it through this time and just need to concentrate one the next goalpost coming up. 6 months from now - I guarantee you won't even remember how you feel right at this moment except as a foggy memory. And you'll be doing so wonderfully you'll know that it was all worth it anyway. You can do this!!