eyhornmom

I had surgery on March 23. Starting weight: 261 Surgery weight: 221 Current weight: 200.2 Pre surgery size-20 Size now- between 18 and 16 Joys: Wearing a smaller size. Being able to wear my wedding ring again. Not sweating profusely everytime I walk somewhere at work. Exercise: It's kind of hit and miss right now. I'm averaging about 3 times a week. I'm still dealing with some depression, so it's making it a little hard to get motivated.

I use chewable vitamins, Optisource bariatric. Those are just the vitamins recommended by my NUT. They don't taste too bad, so i have no trouble taking them.

Ok, I know this is going to sound like a really stupid question, but what's wrong with eating bread or having potatoes? My NUT never talked to us about carbs, except sugar in things like sweets. Can eating bread really cause problems with weight loss? And aren't potatoes a vegetable, which is good for you? I do know that right now bread makes me feel terrible, like my stomach is full of concrete, but I thought I may be able to have it someday. Part of the reason I chose surgery is that I don't want to spend the rest of my life counting every bite I take. Now I'm just really confused about what is ok to eat and isn't.

I'm a little over 6 weeks out from surgery. I've been doing pretty well lately. My average daily calories are 600-700. Today I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with work, so I'm stressed, and I'm starving. I don't know if i'm reverting back to my old stress eating habit, or I'm just getting hungrier. Today I'm at 800 calories, and I haven't had dinner yet. I have eaten healthy food; eggs with cheese, protein chips, turkey and cheese, protein bar, and 2 slices of cheese. Is it normal to start reading more calories now?

The morning after surgery I did an xray where you drink barium and they watch it pass through on the xray. When that was clear they gave me ice with blue food coloring in it. They checked the drain to make sure there was no blue in the drain.

In 4 days I will be 6 weeks out from surgery. I'm feeling very discouraged right now and feeling some regret. I have struggled a lot with letting go of old habits. I feel like it has gotten better as I am able to eat a greater variety of foods, but I haven't lost any weight for 2 weeks now. I know a stall is normal, but it's becoming more difficult to stay away from bad foods when I'm not seeing any results from eating the good foods. I hlget my protein and fluids everyday, I eat between 600 and 700 calories a day (that's really all I can manage), but I'm still not losing. This feels very much like the same weight loss problems I had before the surgery, so I'm beginning to feel like the sleeve hasn't been beneficial for me.

I'm at a college day with my daughter today, and they provided a sandwich bar for lunch. As I got to the bread, I realized the bread didn't even look good to me. It all looked very "heavy." I just got a couple pieces of cheese and meat and moved on. My husband and daughter both got dessert, when I looked at the dessert I felt the same way. It looked so dense that I could practically feel how awful it would feel to eat it. Since surgery I've been waiting for those kind of cravings to go away, so it's encouraging that I'm finally starting to not want those things!

I'm curious about everyone's carb intake. My NUT never really said anything about limiting carbs, other watching out for sugar. I'm craving tortillas and subway sandwiches, but after reading everyone's posts I'm really confused about whether those things are ok. I can't even try bread for another week and a half, but i want to be prepared. What kind of guidelines does everyone follow for carbs?

I used a big pillow to stay a little elevated when I went to bed. It wasn't that laying flat hurt, but sitting up from a flat position was really painful. Once my JP drain was removed I was right back to sleeping on my side.

I am 4 weeks post-op today. I feel pretty good except, no matter what I eat, and no matter how much, I always feel a sick to my stomach. I make sure I eat slow (I use a timer), I don't drink 30 minutes before or after eating, but I always feel a little upset to my stomach. I have never thrown anything up, even though I thought I was going to a few times, but I just want to be able to eat my 1/4 cup of food and feel normal. Is this just part of the healing process? This is not what I expected.

I am really having a hard time adjusting to my new lifestyle. I know why I made the decision to have this surgery, but I'm struggling with not being able to eat what I want to anymore. I'm tired of my pureed foods, and I want some pizza, or chicken wings, or orange chicken. I seem to have lost all the resolve I had before surgery for a healthy lifestyle. I want to be able to go out to eat and enjoy eating with my family. It makes me a little sad that those are all things that I can no longer have, probably ever. I knew I was giving all those things ups when I decided to have the surgery, but for some reason now I'm very depressed about it. This is making very unhappy in general. I no longer enjoy going to work, I'm having trouble motivating myself to workout, and I'm sure I'm unpleasant to be around. I'm already on an anti-depressant, so meds won't help, because they aren't helping. Has anyone else dealt with this?

In my nutrition classes before surgery we were taught to eat low fat. Low fat means, 3 grams of fat/100 calories. Things like cheese don't usually follow that same rule though.

I also had this problem. I remember waking up repeatedly the first night in the hospital and counting the hours until I could have my leak test. The blue ice they give you after your leak test will help a lot. Once they give you actual Water to sip on, be careful that you don't go to fast because it might upset your new tummy. This will pass soon. Congratulations on your surgery!

Last night I had to go to the ER because of a severe rash and nausea. They determined it was a reaction to the antibiotic I was on for my UTI. They gave me IV fluids, steroids, benadryl, and anti nausea meds. They also gave me a shot of epinephrine. Amazingly, I feel better today than I have since surgery. I don't know if it was getting the right amount of fluids for the first time since surgery, or what, but I feel like myself for the first time in 3 weeks!

Thank you so much for all of the words of encouragement everyone. I know I'm going through breaking my addiction to food right now. I guess anything that's a great reward doesn't come easy. If anyone ever tries to tell me that WLS is the easy way out, they will definetly get an hear full from me!

I am able to wear my wedding ring again. I haven't been able to wear it for about 3 years.

I am almost 3 weeks out from surgery. This morning I started developing a rash. It started on my arms, by this afternoon my legs and back are covered too. Then I started getting a headache, and I'm feeling very nauseous. I took my temperature and I have a low grade fever (99.9) I don't know if this is even anything tied to the surgery or if I just have some sort of bug. I don't want to take benedryl because I don't think I would be able to keep it down. Should I call my doc, or wait a day or two?

I am 15 days out from surgery. I am still struggling to get my Protein and Fluid goals. I don't think I have met either goal a single days since surgery. I have a really hard time with Protein shakes, most of them are just gross to me. I've tried adding protein to food, and again is just gross. For my fluids, I sip on Water all day, but I usually only manage about 40 oz. I need tips on increasing both. I worry about this everyday because I know both are important for me.

I had my vsg on 3/23. 2 days ago I had severe pain in my pelvis. It feels like a lot of pressure pushing down. This pain is worse than any of my incisions have ever felt. It was so bad I couldn't move. I took some pain meds and it passed. Yesterday afternoon it suddenly came back. One second I was just standing there, the next I was doubled over with pain. It has not gone away since then. Pain meds dull the pain and make it tolerable, but it doesn't go away. Sometimes going to the bathroom makes the pain flare up again. Laying down also seems to make it easier to handle. I have my 1 week follow up today, otherwise I may have already gone to the ER. Has anyone else had anything like this?

I have moved on to pureed foods, but I feel like I might be eating too much. For lunch I had 1/4 c. of chicken salad. At dinner I felt like I might be able to have a little more, so I had 1/2 c. of refried beans. They were so good! Anyway I didn't feel good after dinner. I kept everything down, but it was just a general not feeling good. My NUT just said 1/4 c. to 1/2 c. So, i don't know when I'm full. I'm frustrated because how can I be successful if I don't know when to stop eating?

My doctor just gave me a protein goal this week. Today was my first day, and it has not gone well. I've tried 2 protein shakes today, and they were both much to sweet. So I made some cream soup with milk and added a scoop of unjury. It was good, but I couldn't eat much of it before I had to stop because I was full. How am I supposed to get all my protein this way? Even if I find a protein shake I like, how am I supposed to drink the whole thing?

My doctor cleared me for full liquids yesterday. This morning I had a shake that I drank quite a bit before surgery. It has 4g of carbs and 3 grams of sugar. About 20 minutes after starting to drink it I felt really sick, had cold sweats, and ended up having diarrhea. When I went back and looked at the shake label. It's not excessivly high in fat, but it's a little higher than the 3 grams of fat per 100 calories rule that my NUT taught me. It is 9 grams of fat for 220 calories. Is that really high enough to cause dumping syndrome? Or does my sleeve just not like that shake?

In my nutrition classes they told us it used to be thought to be only a bypass thing, but they are finding that people with the sleeve have it also. Our want just the diarrhea that concerned me, it was the way I felt before that. It is a lactose free shake, so it couldn't have been a lactose sensitivity. I know I won't be drinking that shake anymore!

I'm 1 week post-op today. I feel like I should be feeling better than I am. I got on my treadmill today to walk 30 minutes. It was a very slow (2 mi/hr) walk and I was only able to last 10 minutes. Now I'm exhausted and my back hurts like I've been working out crazy hard. I feel like a slow 30 minute walk should be no big deal, but now I need a nap! Am I expecting too much, or should I be pushing myself harder?

I am still on a clear liquid diet. My dr doesn't give me any protein goals until next week. Including my clear liquid diet the day before surgery, I have only had clear liquids for 7 days now. I am hungry. It's not head hunger, it's stomach hurting hungry. I still have 3 days until I go for my first post-op checkup, and I don't know how I can make it 3 more days. Honestly the thought of pureed foods sounds so good to me right now, but I know I have at least another week for that. Any ideas how I can survive the next few days?