Jonathan Blue

I am not sure how far out from surgery, but air trapped in your abdomen from the surgery could very well be causing it. That is something every post op patient deals with for a week or two after surgery. The feeling full after drinking will just take some getting used to. This will be the case for a long time. You will get to a point where you have to physically force yourself to eat, not because you are hungry at all, but because you have to in order to get the caloric energy to keep going. It will pass after a while and things will become normal, but relish the fact that you are never hungry and have no desire for food. For me it was a blessing not feeling so tied to food and in some respects even loathing having to deal with it. It made letting go so much easier.

I actually had surgery the beginning of November last year and had to miss Thanksgiving entirely. During the time leading up to my liquid diet prior to surgery, my family was very helpful and we all got together to do a fake Thanksgiving. We had turkey with all the trimming and everything else I loved about the holiday and knew I would miss. This really helped me deal with not being able to eat anything when the real holiday rolled around. I spoke with my family and made a consious decision to miss Thanksgiving last year. I had to do the same thing with Christmas. I just knew that there would be too many triggers and tempations to deal with and I didn't want to open myself up to making a mistake. Everyone is different. That is what worked well for me in my journey, but you may find something that works better for you. If you need any help or encouragement, feel free to contact me at one of the links below.

Thanks for the heads up. I was thinking about giving it a try.

I agree with cooking with flax seed oil, other good cooking oil alternatives could also be coconut oil and olive oil. Another thing to try is to just put flax seeds in with your morning protein smoothy and blend it up perhaps.You may have to stop taking or using the flax seed oil for a bit until your stomach can handle it better. I know there are a lot of good skin cream and shampoo alternatives to the pill to use temporarily.

Amazing article!

The first meeting varies from surgeon to surgeon. Mine was a general physical exam and going over the surgical options. He provided his recommendations as far as how he would like to see things proceed, but that the choices were ultimately mine. I later had to schedule appointments with the dietitian, phsycologist, and exercise physiologist to cover all the pre and post workout information and evaluations. I would honestly recommend going prepared for anything. That way you are not surprised by what is asked of you. Best of luck! I am so excited for you. This is an amazing journey of dicovery and reclaiming your body. The next year or so will change your life!

Great job! I know it will be worth it to get your full body back after such an amazing weight loss.

They sound really good. I am always on the lookout for new protein bars and am constantly trying out new products. I will have to try them a post a review on my blog. Thanks for the heads up!

Congratulations! I know the decision was kind of made for you, but it is one you wont regret. You are about to embark on an amazing journey that few will fully understand other than those on message boards like this one. I am so excited for you. As you prepare for surgery, I urge you to check out my blog at the link below. I have a great series of posts on how I prepared for my surgery. I think you will find the very helpful. I say to reference those because there is just too much information to post on here. Keep up the amazing work. I know you will do awesome!

Congratulations! I am glad you are feeling well. Keep us updated on your progress.

I would say that sounds about right. Keep up the great work! Your almost there!

The bypass does decrease the hunger as well. I cannot say for sure if it is more or less than a sleeve, but it was definitely more than I had anticipated it would be. I still find myself wanting to snack a lot, but in terms of that knawing feeling of being hungry, it hasn't happened but maybe once in the last year. It has been amazing. The times where I get the hungriest are after really intense workouts. Other than that there is no real hunger so to speak. It has been nice to not be hungry. The cravings eventually work their way back, but that I think is true of the sleeve as well. It is more of a psycological thing as apposed to a hunger thing.

I think you both are in for an amazing journey. The next year will be one of the most rewarding and life changing experiences of your lives. You will be rediscovering your bodies and all of the truly amazing things they are capable of. This forum will be an amazing place for you to seek help and advice from others who have done the exact same thing as you. It will be one of your biggest resources. One thing I want to encourage both of you to do in the next year is to set goals; from the mundane to the insane. Think of all the things you have wanted to do, but couldn't because of your weight and make a plan to begin pursuing them. I am so excited for what the next year holds for you both. If you have any questions or I can help in any way, feel free to contact me at the links below.

It does sound like you are dealing with gas pain and all the Vicodin in the world won't get rid of it. You are on a pretty decent narcotic for pain with the Norco which is just another brand of Vicodin. I used the generic Simethicone, which is available over the counter as a chewable to help reduce gas pain. I would also agree that walking will help get the gas moving out of your body. I would say the bad gas for me lasted about a week. It will pass.

That sucks. At least you can still have them done albeit it more expensively. Congratulations on the weight loss. I always love seeing people who I haven't seen in awhile. I can never wait to see and hear their reactions to my new body. Keep up the amazing work!

Ranting is a great thing. It will help you remember in the weeks leading up to surgery why you are going through with it. It will especially help during the hellacious weeks before when you are on the liquid only diet. You are about to experience one of the most amazing things. You will get to rediscover your body and what it is capable of. Before too long, you will be able to get your blood preassure taken on a normal cuff. It will be amazing. I highly recommend you check out my blog. The link is below. There is a series of posts on there about how I prepare for my surgery that I think would be very helpful for you. If there is anything else I can do to help or any questions I can answer, please let me know.

That is some great advice and an even better story. I wish you well as you recover. Before too long you'll be doing amazing things you never thought you would be able to do. I am so excited for you. Quick Healing,

This early in the game, I would definitely say you are right in needing to focus on you. There will be plenty of people knocking down your door to get to know you soon enough. If you are looking for people to get to know and hong out with, I cannot say enough about getting involved in local surgery support groups. Your doctors office should have one. Once you are several months out, you have progressed well, and your routines are in place, feel free to start testing the dating waters, until then just make a bunch of new friends and have a great time doing active things. This will be an amazing time of discover your new body and what it is fully capable of. I am so excited for you. If you have any additional questions or I can help out in any way, links to contact me are below.

It sounds like you are probably on the right track if your surgery was back in July. You should be looking to take in about 3/4 cup of food at each meal 5 to 6 times a day. Eating more frequently will help you avoid stretching out your pouch. If you have any other questions or I can help in any way, please let me know. Links to contact me are below.

It takes a lot of guts to come back after a bad experience and try again. I know you want to regain your health bad enough that you will be successful. Good luck on the surgery. It is a ton safer now so I know you will be just fine. Best of Luck,

I agree, you should definitely speak with your doctor about this. My doctor didn't want me lifting more than ten pounds the first two weeks after surgery and then twenty pounds the first two months. After that it was at my discretion, but I was told to be mindful of how I was doing and to be careful. I needed to listen to my body. Be careful not to do too much too fast. This is an extended journey and I know you want to do crazy doing everything right away. Lifting weights is a great way to build muscle and by extension burn fat, but you don't want to risk injury right off the bat. Once your doctor gives you the go ahead be ready to hit the ground running. Best of luck and if you have any additional questions please let me know.

Firstly, you are making the right choice by pursing this option. I know you are ready to begin the process because you are so nervous about it. I would honestly be more concerned if you were not. Your nervousness tells me that you know how big a step this is and you are not taking it lightly or looking at it as a quick fix. You understand the work that will be involved. The biggest piece of advice I can give you and your nerves right now is to research. No one is completely posative this is the right choice for them directly out of the gate. There are different procedures to consider for one. In this instance knowledge is power. The more that you know about the procedures and the process, both pre and post surgery, the calmer you will become. You will know what to expect and what is expected of you. There is comfort in that. The unknown is scary. Know at the end of the day you are doing something amazing for your health. You are taking back your life and that is commendable. I have a blog, the link is below. I just recently finished posting a series of articles about how I prepared for my surgery a year ago. I think this would be very helpful for you to look over. If you have any additional questions at all, or need someone to talk with about the processes, you can contact me at one of the sites below. I would be more than happy to help you out in any way that I can.

A couple of things I would like to note. I agree with everyone on taking a whole bunch of Protein bars and protein powders that can be mixed with Water. I really like the Isopure mango peach or pineapple orange banana. Right now, if you are still on soft foods, I would not recommend almonds though they are great for Snacks. I would however suggest getting together an emergency snack bag you can carry in a purse or something. Fill it full of the snacks you know are portable that you have been able to handle well. Also be sure to take plenty of bottled water. As far as restaurants go, this is a little more difficult. A couple recommendations. First would be to just share a meal with your husband. Since you wont probably be eating very much, you would be able to nibble off of his and he might not even notice anything is missing. That way there are not many leftovers to try to figure out taking back to the hotel room. If this is not enough food, I would recommend splitting an appetizer too or just getting an extra side dish. The other thought would be, if you wanted leftovers, to order a meal or an appetizer. Go ahead and get a box in the beginning of the meal and as soon as the food gets there, divide out into the box everything but the appropriate meal size for you. DO NOT GO TO A BUFFET! I know this is difficult in Vegas, but the best thing for you is to avoid these places like the plague. These restaurants probably helped us get to the point we needed the surgery, best to just avoid the temptation even if our stomachs couldn't handle it. I think if you follow those few simple rules, you will be just fine on your vacation. Best of luck!

I can honestly say that everyone handles this different. I have lost almost 210lbs in the last year and am doing some absolutely incredible things. To this day there are times that I still feel like the fat dude from a year ago. There are times I look in the mirror and just don't see it. Don't get me wrong, physically I feel amazing, like I could take on the whole world. It is something that we all struggle with. To help you along your way I highly recommend taking a full set of clothed and optionally for fitting clothing pictures of yourself as well as a full set of measurements. I know this is embarrassing and it really sucks. I hated getting my pictures taken, but it will help you. On those days when your just not feeling it and having a rough self image day, just pull out those pictures and you can see just how far you have come. I also recommend keeping a full set of your largest clothing to keep around as a comparison and a reminder. There are a lot of tips and tricks to getting past those feelings, but I am pretty positive they happen for all of us. You are about to embark on an amazing journey that very few get to experience. You have the opportunity to discover your body and what it is fully capable of at a time when you can understand and enjoy the learning process. The last time you went through this when you were a child, you probably do not remember. I feel sorry for those not going through this process that don't get to experience this amazing gift. Congratulations on your decision to take your life back. I am so happy for you. Feel free to check out my blog for lots of stories and articles about my process and topics such as the one you are asking about. Also feel free to contact me at the links below if you have any other questions or if there is anything at all I can do for you.

Good luck with the surgery coming up. I strongly suggest you check out my blog. The link is below. I have a series of posts on there that I just finished up about how I prepared for surgery. There are posts dedicated specifically to how I prepared my body, my mind, and my soul. This is an amazing journey you are going through and I think those stories will help you tremendously. It is a good thing you are nervous too. That is how I know you are ready to handle the surgery. Honestly, I would be more concerned if you weren't nervous at all. That tells me that you fully understand what you are about to do. The experiences, both good and bad, and you are ready for them. I commend you on being that ready. I did not have anything other than the bypass done. However I would love to help you out in any way that I can. Links on how to get in touch with me are below. If you have any questions at all, I urge you to let me know. I am an open book and will do whatever I can to help you through this amazing journey. I am so excited for you!