aSleeveStory

I had just mentioned this in another thread a few days ago, but chose not to call out the brand. I ordered those SAME vitamins at the suggestion of my Nutritionist, but they did the same to me. The nausea usually only lasted 5-6 minutes after each vitamin, but I hated the feeling and ditched them. Like others have suggested, switch up to something else and keep trying things until you can find the one you tolerate the best. Good luck!

I live in Las Vegas, the undisputed buffet capital of the universe! It's strange, but I think I may enjoy buffets more now than before... with the exception of the price, perhaps. Now, I make sure to grab a few small bites of Protein and veggies before sampling other things. It's almost liberating that I can't over-do it, and thus my choices are more intelligent. I know I can only try so much, so I'm more choosy and get healthier options than I would in the past.

In many ways, I do feel like a stranger. I'm down to 5XLT shirts from 7XLT and now a few of the 5's are starting to get baggy. I'm very fortunate in that my wife secretly kept ALL of my older shirts over the years. I had asked her a few times to get rid of them all, figuring I'd never need them again... but she hid them... and now I get to bring back all kinds of old favorites. My pants were a 52 waist... I'm wearing 44's now and also probably ordering the 42's in a few more weeks. It's incredible, really. My first weight goal was 383 from 484 for two reasons... one-time when I dieted very hard in 2007, I remember writing 383 on a chart... so I figured if I could be 383 again, I'd have rolled back the clock nearly eight years! And also because that would be 100 lbs down from my highest, which is also an incredible leap in the right direction. My next goal is 325 -- which I'm closing in on. That took on more significance when my VSG surgeon agreed to do my umbilical hernia repair when I can get down to 325 as well... so I'm gunning for it!

Thanks for your earlier compliments. You are doing great! Only 50 lbs... that's a lot of weight. You'll get there soon enough, and it sounds like you're doing all the right things. Just keep at it.

I was going to say the same thing in my reply... I felt many years past my 36 and now I'm slowly feeling like my mid-20s again.

Hey gang though I'd check in... 10/10 sleever here... Things are going fantastic for me. I've hit a few stalls, the longest was a week... that sucked, but I kept doing what I do and fell out of it. I have an umbilical hernia, so I can't do much exercise at all... but I have been walking more, and just in general having more energy to not sit around. I go into the grocery store again with my wife and kids... something I'd fallen out of the last few years. That's always a good workout. We have a pool here... just waiting for the Water to get warm enough to swim and I'll be doing plenty of that. The loss is happening though, and I'm thrilled. I've had no complications to speak of, and I do feel very fortunate for that. I get "tired" days here and there, but some recent changes to my Vitamins seems to have eliminated those. Keep on keepin' on guys... by next October, we'll all be strange looking skinny people!

My first stall was 3-4 days... my next closer to a week... and my longest so far has been 10 days. Stalls are super-frustrating for sure, but don't let it bother you. You can search around on this site and see it as a frequent topic, and probably one of the most common things that happens post-op. Knowing that its normal, and not your own doing... shouldn't let it get you down. Having said that, though, I know what it feels like and I hate my stalls too. I've tried to just ignore them, keep on doing my thing, and then I skip the scale for 3-4 days at a time and get pleasantly surprised when I find out I'm back on the losing wagon. A tip I got from support group is to cheat a tad to help reboot things... if I find I'm on a 4-5 day stall, I eat something I normally wouldn't. Granted, cheating for me means a half cookie, or a spoonful of ice cream, or a Venti coffee instead of a Grande one... but I do try to do something a little different and more "naughty" to help spark some movement. Can't say the results are 100% effective... but it feels good to be naughty once in awhile anyway...

I was 36 on surgery day

Thanks! I'm not there yet... but the goal is in sight... few more months! Can't wait until my pool is warm enough to swim... I'll get loads of exercise then.

I'm definitely colder than I used to be. While I never felt overly hot, I was one of those guys who was perfectly happy in cooler temps... and now, not so much. I've noticed myself feeling colder quite a bit!

You don't have to look too hard to find my first post here... which was a few nights before the surgery, in which I admitted to crying my eyes out, and wanting to write emotional letters to my wife and kids "just in case." Easy to blame the caffeine... But I think its natural to get emotional over this. Its a major life decision... it's not minor in any way, shape, or form. You're gonna be okay... and you're gonna come out on the other end of this so much happier, healthier, and ready for what life throws your way. Very best of luck to you!

A lot of tough love in this forum... but do try to take it all in and figure out what's gonna be best for you going forward. If you're having serious issues with self-control, I'd be very worried about your post-op life. On the one hand, restriction WILL help you from over-eating, at least... but it won't stop you from eating entirely, and it won't stop you from eating the wrong things. Best of luck in your journey. I hope you succeed!

That might be a first for the Internet.

Congrats... that's exciting to see the pounds melting away. What do we call the 200s? Because from the 400s... that's still an accomplishment... and I'm feverishly chasing it...

While I did NOT have a hernia going into the surgery, I did have semi-frequent bouts with acid reflux. Maybe 1-2 times a week. I'd been taking 1/2 Omeprazole pill per day for a few years. Some days I'd skip and be okay... some days I'd regret not taking it. Since the surgery, I've only had acid issues once, and I suspect it was because of what I ate. I quit taking the Omep during my pre-surgery diet, and haven't needed it since. Best of luck OP.... I hope yours goes away!!

Why would I be unable to take bariatric Vitamins? On the advise of my nutritionist, I ordered a particular brand of chewable bariatric fomulated vitamins. They make me feel pretty queasy right after chewing one up. It only lasts for 5-10 minutes or so, and then goes away... but I almost wonder if I'm absorbing too much, too quickly. I tried to hang on, and took them for nearly a week... but I just couldn't hack it. To answer the OP's question... I take a small handful of stuff: a costco (Kirkland Signature) multivitamin, Vitamin D3, a B-12 Complex, and a few times a week I add a Vitamin C liquid-cap. I'm starting to add-in 2x a day Perfect food Super Green Caplets (a plant-based whole food type supplement). The suggested daily is 5x a day... but I'm starting small. My grandfather took something like this daily, and he made it to 91. Hope that helps. I know I should also be taking a Kill Oil supplement, but haven't gotten back to that yet.

While I don't wear sexy shoes being a guy and all (though there's nothing wrong with the guys that do...) ... I can relate to the print marks. They get SOO itchy, and I think I got a perms-bruise of some sort on my waist line from that. There's a splotch of darker skin right where my tight pants would always be bunched-up some.

There's a fantastic thread here on what folks will NOT miss about being fat. It's an incredible collection of so many things I'd been dealing with leading up to the surgery, and continues to be a great read: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/319355-what-is-everyone-not-going-to-miss-after-sleeve/ So here's a twist... is there anything you'll miss about being fat? I'm not trying to spark a riot or anything, but we all change so much in this process, I thought a look in the other direction might be interesting... I'll go first: at 6' 4" I'm "big" no matter what my weight is. But at 475 highest weight, I was a force to be reckoned with. I recall an incident in traffic once where the car in front of me was braking hard, and rather erratically. I made a decision to put more space between us, but I made it a split second too late, because he braked hard again and I almost rear-ended him. This time he stopped, slammed it in Park and jumped out of his car to yell at me. So I got out of mine, and tried to say something... but he got one look at me, and walked quickly back to his car and sped off. I'm a gentle giant, but it was kind of funny that I was deemed too big to mess with. Soon I'll be far less large, and the basketball jokes from my teen years will resume.

First... congrats on your loss so far... you're doing great! Some things I relied on a lot not so long ago... Individual servings cups of hummus, thin cut deli meats, salami, and something I still love and use quite a bit... Justin's Nut Butter packets. I eat the Honey-flavored one (the sugar and calorie counts are about the same as the regular, so no big deal.) I also enjoy Lean Body brand Protein shakes. They're of the ready-to-drink variety, you can get them on Amazon, and they have ZERO sugar. The vanilla and banana are my faves, but the chocolate one isn't so bad either. I'm just not a big chocolate guy to begin with. There are two sizes... a smaller one with 25 grams of protein, and a bigger one with 40. Especially in the earlier days when I still couldn't eat some foods, these helped me quite a bit.

I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you when you were younger. Not sorry to see that you're doing great now! I love your attitude and outlook towards things, and think your advice is dead-on. Congrats on two years of maintenance. That's inspiring!

A lot of folks here have talked about the invisibility factor... I hadn't though of it much before now. I'm sixteen years married this month, so I guess my mind just didn't go there. Congrats on your recent surgery! Looks like you're on your way!

Mostly lucky, considering some of the things I've read on here. I'm on the lucky train too haven't vomited or had any serious discomfort. Only two things have bothered me... a cheeseburger (no bun) which was pretty greasy... caused a pretty nasty run to the bathroom, and just yesterday, some icing from my wife's birthday cake. It was too sweet, and again today I had the bathroom run. But other than that -- nada.

Another benefit to being fat, now that I think of it... is that nobody would ask me for help moving. I HATE doing that no matter what size I am... but people quit asking after awhile. My usefulness in the process has dwindled.

Heh... hadn't thought about that! I guess there is some added personal security in size. Guess we all need some self-defense classes at the end of our journeys.

Good one... I hadn't though about that, but its great to hear your confidence is up and that you're diggin' your new appearance. 112 lbs down is amazing! I think there's a positive to everything... even being fat. My wife had a birthday party yesterday and some folks we know were complimenting me on the weight loss. Afterwards, I was thinking about it some more... and realized that I've definitely improved my overall eatings habits tremendously because of all this. I wasn't a terrible eater before, my weight gain was a 15 year journey with undiagnosed insulin resistance... but by NO MEANS did I eat a healthy diet, or was some picture of perfection. I've really learned to study what's in my food, and even if I put some of this weight back on... I know that I've gained something from all this.