Megdelyn

Good to know! I've been using the patch on most days for a month now. I go for my labs in mid November. It's so much easier to put on the sticker than chew up those awful Vitamins. I've had a lot of hair loss, but no memory loss. Well, I don't attribute my poor memory to the surgery. I attribute it to 3 kids, full time job, and being over 30.

Are you going to ask what kind of scalpel and clamps s/he'll use too? mb

I started getting The Worst headaches after my surgery - worse than migraines. Turns out they were cluster headaches and I was given tramedol for pain and a pb medicine for a couple of weeks. I had some leftover pain medicine from my surgery and I was taking that before I went to the doctor and got the prescriptions.

Ha! If I found a scale that said I was 10 pounds less than I thought I was, I sure wouldn't complain!

Lots of great suggestions here. I use a lot of them to control my desire to overeat (still, even with the surgery the desire is there). I also recorded a whole bunch of episodes of My 600 Pound Life. It keeps me motivated, much the same way that watching Hoarders motivates me to clean up my house! It reminds me that I'm not alone, that my struggle isn't unique, and that success or failure is in my hands.

@@Mulepick everyone I've talked to swears the hair starts to grow back at about 8-12 months after surgery. I got my hair cut last week because I couldn't stand the long tendrils tickling my arms and flying everywhere!

@@Sara51692 I could have written your post about food and anxiety and therapists word for word! I've been seeing a psychiatrist for several years and he has helped a lot, but I still feel like I need something more when it comes to eating. Five years ago I was regularly attending OA meetings and I think that helped me feel freedom from food like nothing else has. OA doesn't appeal to everyone but having a group of peers who understood everything I said was the biggest draw for me. I ought to go back....

I know a couple of women who got sleeved and then got pregnant right away, but I'm not sure how old they are. We keep toying with the idea. But I'm 43 now and our youngest is 2 and I'm so much more tired now than I was with our oldest, who is 11. I have an appt with my obeys to discuss more long term bc because the part of me that wants another baby is a little bit crazy!

Wow! I love reading all this. Congratulations to us!

Welcome to the club! You'll find lots of support here.

Eating pre-surgery was a lot easier than post surgery. I did not like the liquid broths, I preferred the cubes that dissolve in Water. I could not tolerate the cream soups after surgery, but they were fine before. I also did a lot better with the ready to drink Protein shakes. They are quite portable and taste better. My shopping list: greek yogurt (lots) sf pudding ff cream soups diet v8 splash sf popsicles sf Jello (although I didn't eat much of these) I notice little things about my body, and I'm 4 months out. My tummy looks different although it doesn't look smaller to me. I've lost 50 pounds or so and I'm firmly in a new size. None of my pre clothes fit anymore. People started noticing way before I did. I have taken a picture every month and the first time I saw a difference between my before and after picture was at 3 months.

From what I hear, there's a six month physician supervised weight loss period required. Which actually involves 7 monthly visits. Your surgeon's office should be very well informed on all the hoops bcbsal requires!

Oh gosh yes. I am not always making the best choices. I still can't eat a lot which helps, but the behavior worries me. Last night we made a frozen pizza for the kids and I had a small slice. I ate the whole slice despite the fact that I was full just a little past halfway done. And it made my tummy hurt. Worse, an hour later my son was eating the rest of it and I took a few bites. Even though my tummy still hurt. That's the kind of thing I need to stop.

Still have reflux with the sleeve. Mine is worse now, but it wasn't that bad to start with. Controlled with omiprazole.

I have to take omiprazole every day to keep the acid in check. But mine isn't that bad.

I'm sure "doctors" used to say the same thing about alcoholics. Just don't drink. Be strong! Replace the bad behavior with good behavior. Being an alcoholic doesn't excuse the individuals, but it does explain the behavior. Being a food addict (or an eating addict really) doesn't excuse my behavior. I own it, and I treat it daily. One of those treatments is WLS. One of those treatments is regular exercise. One of those treatments is a regimented eating plan. I am addicted to eating. Yes, I can overeat carrots and broccoli. I can overeat salad. WLS will not make that addiction go away. Not everyone who is fat has an addiction. Not every food addict is fat. I smoked for 15 years but I was never addicted to nicotine. I just stopped smoking one day. Never jonesed for a cigarette after. Could always take it or leave it. But I don't have the audacity to say that nobody is truly addicted to smoking. I'm lucky. When it comes to food, I'm not so lucky.

I've weighed less and I've weighed more, though I never weighed what I wanted to weigh. When I weighed less, I felt better about myself, had more interest in shopping and wearing nice clothes. But I still struggled with the same feelings of unworthiness. The symptoms of my depression are a bit different when I weigh less, but it is still there. Honestly, I think depression is a cause or at least a factor in being overweight. Not the other way around. It makes my outside reflect how I feel on the inside.

I agree! Physicians as a whole tend to be dismissive of the mental aspects of our health. Not just bariatric surgeons, although one would think that doctors performing wls would be more in tune with the mental aspect of weight gain and loss. I'm disappointed with the lack of follow-up care with my surgeon. It's not bad, the center has monthly support groups, required visits with a nutritionist, and a patient coordinator who is available to answer questions. However, I find that the support group is more like a pep rally and doesn't give me much support. And my 3 month f/u was scheduled for 4 months, and I'm told by other patients that I won't even see the doctor. I'm ready to cancel it and wait for my 6 month f/u. Why pay the copay just to get weighed on their scale and tell them I have no questions? I've looked for support outside the wls community as well. I talk to a therapist and I've gone to oa meetings. It helps a lot.

I have been losing weight since I am 16. More than half my life I have spent on the yo-yo. Sometimes I lost a lot of weight, sometimes I lost only 20 pounds. Sometimes I kept it off for a year, sometimes just a month. But every single time my weight eventually began to creep up. Back to its set point. For me, the hardest part was accepting the fact that I could not do it alone. Diets just don't work for me. Not for long-term weight management. Now that I'm 43, the risks of staying obese far outweigh the risks of surgery. But at 33, I don't think I would have made that decision.

Sleeved on May 26, down 48 pounds as of this weekend. Just took out a bunch of clothes from the "doesn't fit" closet and put it in my official closet! A few pairs of pants are still a teeny weeny bit tight in the tummy, but a week or two should fix that. It's such an amazing feeling to bring out the clothes I saved but haven't actually worn in years!

Your doctor would know better than anyone on here. I think they'd need to u fill it before they remove it.

If you were still losing weight while eating every two hours, then I'd stick to that since it works for you. Everyone has a slightly different experience. I can eat more in the morning, but then I tend to have yogurt or cottage cheese which is softer. Today for lunch I had a tuna-to-go type lunchable with crackers, 3 oz of tuna, mayo and relish. I was able to eat it all (wasn't when I first started solids) but I'm extremely full. Dinners tend to be smaller for me. Last night I made country ribs (the boneless kind) and I ate one and was satisfied (along with two bites of cornbread and 1/8 cup canned green beans). I also drink coffee every morning and that keeps me full for a couple of hours. I don't find that I am "hungry" the way I used to be. I still have urges to eat which have nothing to do with hunger. Then there's the feeling my stomach gets when it is empty. But my hunger is just not the same. The physical hunger, that is. My head hunger is still there. Boo.