OutsideMatchInside

Don't do a hardship withdrawal. Do a loan and pay yourself back with interest. Last I checked a hardship loan required proof of eviction or something like that.

You have not dumped. I dumped once and it feels like you are going through a week of having the flu all speed up in 2-4 hours. It is pure hell with fever, chills and an all over pain. You are on liquids, so liquids in, liquids out. Once you get on solid food your stools will firm. I would avoid fiber at all costs. That is probably one of the few mistakes I made post op. I went from loose stools to constipation and I feel like fiber set me back a lot physically and emotionally. Also just because you don't feel like you are dying, doesn't mean that you didn't have major surgery, because you did. Your body needs time to adjust. Think about it, you had 85% of a major organ removed, your body is trying to figure out how to work with this new configuration.

My Dr told me the goal of the first 6 weeks was healing not weight loss.

If you are a foodie, like you actually have good taste in food not just eating lots of crap, you are going to LOVE foodie life post op. Most of the time for myself I have the same simple things all the time. So when I go out, it is a real treat, especially since it is fairly rare I go to a real restaurant now, compared to the past ( I used to eat out a lot, now just a couple times a week maybe). After going through the food stages and adjusting your relationship with food. You learn to love food as fuel. Then when you do eat delicious things out, you can totally be satisfied with a taste. Food to me tastes far better now than it ever did before because since I know I can only have a "little" (and that isn't really true anymore, depending on what it is, I can have a almost normal portions of things that are not dense protein), and what I have has to be good. I won't waste room or calories on bad food. I went somewhere last week, had half a bite of food, decided it was rubbish and walked out (I had already paid my tab before the food came). At least that is my experience. I can have a little bit of everything and just enjoy the taste and the flavors and not try to eat to be full. So all the fancy restaurants that I used to feel starved after I ate there, are completely satisfying now. It is really hard to explain to someone that hasn't experienced it but some of the other vets that used to post here have expressed the same kinds of feelings. I went from first visit to surgery in 8 weeks. No time to get cold feet, plus my BFF bought a plane ticket to be with me and spent her own money so I couldn't back it. I purposely did it all very fast so I wouldn't have the option of talking myself out of it. No regrets about surgery not one second.

Long term they are almost exactly the same. RNY people will lose more in the first year, but in the 2nd year they tend to really taper off, while Sleevers will still keep losing (this applies to high BMIers). So Long term at the 3 year mark, the WLS is almost exactly the same. or close enough that you can really make the choice of having your intestines rerouted is worth it. Choosing RNY hoping that sweets will make you dump is a real roll of the dice. The majority of people with RNY don't dump long term. If you are young and active, there is pretty much no reason to choose RNY over the sleeve unless GERD is a real concern. I had my surgery as a youngish person and since the sleeve surgery has the most long term data (they have been cutting stomachs for ulcers for over 100 years), I decided long term it was the safest for a normal life.

My situation is pretty unique. Most people never get as large as I was and stay that way for long. They also usually never lose as low as I have. I had to accept that my situation is unique and stop expecting other people to understand it. It is something I am still working on. Thanks for your kind words.

They knock you out before they put it in, and take it out before you wake up. I never saw or felt it. The only thing the did pre-op was start my IV.

@LACRACRA2 Well the benefit of the Sleeve over RNY is that a properly formed sleeve, can't stretch. Virtually all of the stretchy part of the stomach is removed. The pouches that RNY patients have are still made of part of the stretchy part of the stomach, they can and do stretch. The sleeve and RNY are not the same surgery but people like to give advise to Sleevers and RNY patients like they are the same thing. There are some big differences. Not just in the surgeries but there seems to be a lot of other long term eating differences.

It is basically impossible for you to feel physically hungry because the nerves have been cut. So you either have acid issues or you have head hunger. Either way consult your team.

When your nerves reconnect issue going to vary. You can tell, you will be able to feel it. I would say they start around 6 weeks and definitely are reconnected by 12. Early on you really should not feel restriction. The whole point of the post op diet and portions is to not stress your staple line and allow you to heal. Feeling restriction is not the goal. Hitting your protein and fluids is.

Water in water out.

Walmart, Amazon, GNC, quest

Once you have surgery it won't seem like a little food. It will be a lot or just enough. The amount of time you can only eat a little food is very short. I am 20 months post op and if you saw me eating out you would not know I had surgery. That doesn't mean I eat a lot, but I do not eat very little. If your main concern is how much food you will or will not be able to eat, you are not ready for surgery yet.

Your nutritionist is bad. They told me to try soft scrambled eggs first. Also check the forum for puree recipes. You do not want to reintroduce carbs this easy. All of the ones you are eating are things you can easily eat in large amounts. Setting you up for over eating.

Try a collagen supplement.

You can't stretch your pouch. I was sleeved on 7/15/2015 and my restriction has been the same since the 1 year mark. Eat dense protein only. Steak. Chicken breast. Pork chops. Cod. Salmon. Dense protein. Do not fad diet with these pouch resets and other nonsense. Liquids go right through a sleeve and you will still be hungry. 4 ounces of dense protein will have you full for a couple hours, your stomach has to work harder to process it a day move it to the intestines. DO NOT FAD DIET. If you can't live off liquids for the rest of your life it is just a fad diet. Dense protein is what we are supposed to be eating for the rest of our lives and if people ate dense protein the whole time instead of sliders, carbs and other junk food, they wouldn't be in the position of regaining.

I love them. The BBQ have a nasty fake sweetener after taste but the salt and vinegar are perfection.

You were in ketosis with your liver shrunk. Then as soon as you could eat purees you went on a carb binge, beans and potatoes and expanded your liver and knocked yourself out ketosis. That is why you gained weight. Try low carb purees. If you keep eating carbs like that you are going to have a hard time losing long term.

Scale. I weigh everthing. Mayo, salad dressing (even though it is calorie free) and the cream for my coffee. Measuring cups and spoons are not accurate.

I set my protein goals at 1 gram of protein per pound of lean mass. You can't have too much protein as long as you have healthy kidneys. You can only absorb 30 grams or less at a time according to the ASMBS and most Doctors. I usually have 20 to 30 grams 5 times a day.

I think bio oil is great on scars. It helped with my surgery scars. Did nothing for my loose skin at all.

I'm almost 2 years post op and I can still feel my sleeve. I can point on my body and tell you exactly where it is. Depending on what I eat and drink I can feel every inch of it. The only time it is painful is if I overeat or eat too fast. Your body is telling you to slow down or ease up. Early on right after surgery I could not tolerate cold liquids. That eased up over the first month. Cold was ok but ice cold or too cold was like daggers.

The good thing is, you can mask most of it with clothes. I have come to accept I will never look perfect naked. Even plastics won't help because there will still be scars. I'm okay with it. People that start under 300 have no idea what it is like to be 300 plus, what it does to you. You won't find too many people here that start over 300 and lose anywhere close to a normal BMI. Most people start in the 200s or they start in the 300 plus and just bottom out in the 200s. Losing a whole entire grown man like I have there are very few people that post here in that situation. You have 3 inches on me so that is to your advantage your skin might not be stretched as bad. You were right in your assumptions about the areas with stretch marks. My areas with the really bad deep dark stretch marks have the most loose skin. The areas with light stretch marks or no stretch marks have snapped back the best.

Make sure you really have your eating disorder in check before you have surgery. WLS makes it very easy to fall into eating disorders or have old issues resurface. I suggest you start working with a counselor and continue to do so through the whole process and for up to 2 years post op. WLS is basically a person with an eating disorder dream. You can go hours and even days without eating or feeling hungry and you can make yourself vomit very easily. If you feel depressed and worthless now, the hormone dump from rapid fast loss and the rapid changes to your body will only make you more depressed. You need to get to a good place mentally before you are ready for surgery. Losing weight won't solve all your problems, you will just trade them for different problems.

Nothing but plastic surgery is going to really help. With that dismal outlook. There are lots of things you can do that are low cost and even if they don't help, won't hurt. Over 100 grams of protein per day Collagen supplements pick any good one A super moisturising lotion with aha and Collagen enhancements Massages Fascia Blasting Lots of hydration A few months ago I almost had a nervous breakdown about my skin. Nothing is going to fill the skin from losing literally half your body size. Each month I am under 200 lbs, it gets better, it is adjusting and shrinking. Also continuing to lose helps too. There is a worse before better stage.