IncredibleShrinkingMan

It's a very safe procedure...you'll be back with your kids in no time. I experienced only one tough day on which I thought I wouldn't leave the hospital on time, but that was gone in no time. Just start living like you've already had it...it will make it so much easier for you physically to do the early post-op stages and to process it in your head. Start liquids now even if your surgeon didn't say you had to...he obviously wouldn't object. Start moving around so that exercise comes more quickly after surgery. Good luck!

Best of luck everybody. Wish I was still there. Go Blue.

I only told four people plus my boss. I didn't choose them based on what their likely reactions would be (one of them even questioned me). Rather, I chose them because I knew they would not ask me 100s of questions a day about it or offer to take over my life for me or start enlisting a giant group of unwanted support from tons of people. They were people who I could contact if I just needed to talk about it and who would be there right before and right after with the best words. I gather you aren't a fan of attention, so just don't tell people who like making spectacles of things, no matter how benign the intent.

Awesomeness. Just ducked under 250 lbs for the first time in this decade of life. 48 to go to onederland, but I can't imagine what kind of psychological bonuses that will pay. Also came down one obesity category with the passing of the 2-5-0! I went to the gym this morning and the best part was weighing myself with the bottom bar one notch lower (albeit starting over at the top with the smaller upper one). Congrats y'all.

Wow, that's an average of ~45 lbs per month! Make sure you are nourishing yourself and getting your protein...you still want to make sure you lose the right kind of weight and hold onto as much of the hard-earned muscle as possible.

Do something you enjoy tonight! Don't stay up reading Bariatric Pal. You know everything there is to know about this surgery and you are ready. Begin the rest of your life tonight...not tomorrow. You have already done it, and all there is left to do is turn your tassel. If you need to think about it a little bit, try making a list of everything that is already different since the day you made your decision. You may run out of time! It's a lot! Good luck.

While physicians might not always have the greatest etiquette and bedside manner, dieticians can be infinitely worse. I agree, you had no reason to see that designation. A lot of them follow procedures exactly as they are trained, and don't leave much room to think outside the box about how a patient might end up feeling. If the physician himself did that, I would be extremely bewildered. However, your visit summary and other documents like that would have probably listed it as well, so I there were multiple ways you might end up seeing that. Think of it this way too...if you are a healthy visit coming in for a visit, you might not even have a diagnosis, but that field can't be left blank. Therefore, they need to dig into a past condition to link the visit to something about your health, past or present. If it was malnutrition, that would be the reason, and obesity would never even be mentioned.

It's virtually impossible not to feel that way. Bariatric surgery is not just a major procedure...it is an epic transformation, and the end of life as we have previously known it. But once you are on the other side, it is an amazing feeling, even with the various sources of early discomfort present. My best advice would be to start living your life as though you have already had it. That will give you an advancement on the euphoria that comes with completing the surgery, and you can start to realize early benefits of the surgery that come before even having the procedure. If you do all of that, then the only thing different once you finally reach the other side will be the smaller stomach. We need to stop viewing everything associated with this procedure as a restriction or a taboo. It is better to look at both the endeavor at large and all its individual parts as elements of freedom and opportunity that we earned. And yes, we earned it by making this decision. We didn't necessitate it with our obesity, as we are among fewer than 1% of obese people that ever decide to have it in the first place. Congratulations and good luck!

Sleeved Thursday ~10:30 am. Spent Friday absolutely miserable and unable to wake up even to go to the bathroom or start sipping my Water. Woke up sometime in the middle of the night Saturday completely different, and by noon I was home. The surgeon's requirements were two days for sleeve, and that turned out perfectly. On Friday, I really didn't think there was even a remote chance that I would be able to stay the minimum. So it does get better pretty rapidly.

Try to super-hydrate before a meal if you can, especially if your meal is soon after a workout. That greatly lessens my urge to try to wash down any food with Water during the meal. The next time I want water tends to be right around the 30 minutes after my last bite, which is fabulous. I, too, miss the clicking and clacking of fresh crispy ice cubes up against a frosty glass during a meal. But if you've got some time, try to satisfy that right when you sit down, and if the restaurant is busy enough, you might have around 30 minutes before you see any food in front of you anyhow.

Good luck, August sleevers. I would strongly advocate going to Clear Liquids today (which is what I did, three days before). I just wasn't comfortable with the idea of recently eaten food and my stomach being reconstructed. Apart from that, I knew it would help me a great deal with this awful liquid phase from which I am about to graduate on Thursday. I think the glee of being on the doorstep of surgery totally hijacks any hunger sensation within these last 72 hours, and personally, while I had ravenous hunger throughout pre-op, it completely gave up when I closed within three days as your brain has been told things are about to get very different. God bless!

Day 1 post-op was the only truly miserable day...I was nauseous from the CPA, couldn't drink Water despite having the driest throat ever, and mistreating all visitors. I was sleeping all day unless someone came knocking. Day 2 post-op was a different world. I still had a very sore abdomen, especially at the drainage site, and I prayed to the heavens not to let me sneeze. I was released from the hospital, got home at 4 pm, fell asleep on my bed with the TV on and didn't wake up until the next morning. However, my mood was markedly improved, even riding home in the car. Day 3 post-op I went for my normal walk and starting thinking about going back to work. That is also the day I started having that dreaded hunger return, but now at 11 days out, that seems to have taken it's final bow and is leaving me alone for now. I know there are many different variations on this story, but things happened quickly and without incident for me.

Nice work, keep at it. Just curious, is your starting weight also your highest weight ever or the weight you were when you first met with the surgeon? I had lost about 30 lbs off my peak weight over about a year and a half prior to first meeting with the surgeon and doing my pre-op. Which number do people here use for "starting weight?" Again, congratulations. I hope to emulate your numbers. My story is as follows: -peak weight 314 hit at multiple times in 2012 and 2013 -lost a bunch of weight only to gain all but about 30 lbs back in 2014 -opted for surgery in early 2015 at 284 lbs, where I last was three weeks before surgery -sleeved 8/6/15 at 266 lbs after three week low calorie diet -now 11 days post op at 248 lbs

I had my surgery date moved from July 30 to August 6 by the surgeon's manager and I got angry even over that one week. That is a week I'll never have back to enjoy my life at the other end. Now, more to the point. My dad was in the same hospital as where I had my surgery being treated for a very serious respiratory condition, and is waiting to become stable enough to have stomach surgery. I was able to help him out with needs in his room while I was still a patient in the hospital and not really tolerating Water that well. I am currently doing everything for him despite working three hours away from home, and driving isn't an issue for me, despite the fact that, like you, I do feel very sluggish. I think when something is as important as your safety on the road, you are better able to concentrate despite diminished energy reserves. If you really didn't have the wherewithal to drive safely, chances are you'd be facing hospitalization for lack of nourishment. Unless you feel your abdominal pain exacerbated, just go ahead and do it, and continue to follow all other rules that do not detract from your ability to take care of your daughter. I think most of the physical limitations are resolved by 72 hours following surgery, and after that, it is mostly psychological. However, listen to your body, and still build up your activity gradually, and don't try to find ways to do things that don't feel quite right the first time. They will come in time.

Prior to surgery, I had an extreme caffeine addiction (that was even worse when I was in college and grad school). Over time, I realized that while I had developed this addiction, my need for caffeine was commensurate with how much I was overeating. I found that a few sips of coffee satisfied me after a small meal, whereas a Venti would hardly be enough after a larger one. Now that my caloric intake has been slashed big time, I find that I do not even have the desire for the coffee I buy. I have been getting tiny little cups (i.e., the Dunkin small, the Starbucks short, etc...), and barely even denting them. So while I may still have a desire for caffeine in my head, and probably the need for a couple sips right when I wake up, I feel like the surgery has completely knocked my life's second great love affair with an ingestible, and is still working on putting the other one (food) to sleep. I agree with the other posters. It is a clear liquid, so it is one of the first things you can have, and as long as you are getting you 64 fl oz of Water, go for it depending on your need.

Are you getting your Protein? I imagine you are on soft-solids by now, or at least just starting them. How has your general satiety been? Pre-op, that was the single biggest killer of my ability to get rest. It was more harmful than drinking a Venti Starbucks right before bed. I kid you not. But if I could get some pure protein, even though it's not the greatest idea to eat at night, all would be well and I'd be sound asleep. Do you have any anxiety? I have taken Trazodone for about a year to help my relax, but the main benefit has been the ability to get to sleep under virtually any circumstances.

Here are a few rules of thumb: 1) The average expected weight loss from sleeve is only 60%. I don't know what the standard deviations and bell curves look like, but I would strongly suspect less than 1% of the sleever population is able to lose 100% of their excess weight, though that is the goal of almost the entire pool, and even less can enter a skinny BMI range (unless they began at little more than 35 BMI, hadn't been there that long, and had been naturally skinny in the past). 2) Weight regain following the nadir is extremely common, and nobody needs to try especially hard to make it happen. If you happen to fall into that lucky 1%, it is much easier to climb back out of it than it is to get into it in the first place. 3) If you lose too much and then start regaining to get to where you want, it can be very difficult to stop the regaining process in its tracks, and you could be fast on your way back to 260 or more. 4) By the time you are anywhere near approaching 100% weight loss, should you be among the people the can achieve that, far more than a year will have elapsed. By that time, none of us are really losing any faster than we would under a diet/exercise-based caloric deficit. In other words, once we are considered success stories (about half of excess weight loss), the weight at which we lose will be quite sluggish. If you reach a weight you are happy with, it is very easy to bring that rate to zero, but you need to be mindful of the 10-15% regain that is common, so my personal advice would be to lose every pound your tool will allow you too, knowing that the final settling place will be something a little higher than that, and hopefully around your personal ideal weight.

I think the main difference you will see is the complete elimination of any GERD you may have, as well as a healed esophagus, through any other therapy prescribed. Dumping may happen, but since you are already a sleeve alum, you have probably made most of the adjustments that hit new RNYs the hard way. You probably don't consume the kinds of carbs that can threaten that anymore. If you still have a sweet tooth, I'd say you can plan on kissing it goodbye. I am 11 days out of sleeve and my GERD is absolutely unbearable. It is a shame because I am happy with my early progress, but it is so severe that I have no idea how to distinguish it from something cardiac-related. I take all kinds of antacids, and I would really like to avoid RNY as a solution. Best of luck!

Whenever you go to an appointment where body weight and nutrition are the subjects of the care, it will always be there. However, when it is not a current diagnosis, some may still treat it as one because of the always elevated risk that we could backslide and re-enter that reviled land. Same with diabetes, many medical professionals never actually officially removed your diagnosis as a condition since they prefer to treat that (and obesity) as dormant and in remission, rather than cured. But that is obviously a fiery debate that you can read all over the internet. Of course, there's an elevated chance we return to either of those conditions than the average skinny person whose never had either one. For the most part, though, it would just appear as part of your past medical history. And who cares about the past. We live for now and for the future. If it makes you feel better, if you go to a specialist for reasons unrelated to weight or weight loss surgery, I don't see why it would ever be noted as part of your history, even in cases where you need to list WLS as part of your past surgical history. It isn't a label that follows you around except in cases where your past weight is directly relevant to a current condition or treatment plan.

I told my four closest friends and my boss, and eventually, some closer co-workers. Everybody was supportive, though one of the friends tried to start the "but diet and exercise mer...m'mer...diet and exercise mer" dance. It passed and it was no big deal. I also told my (now ex-) therapist who tried to convince me that surgeons are evil swindlers and that just working harder (read...going more often and paying her ridiculous rate) in therapy was the way to go. She even tried to tell me not to diet or exercise...and that Bikram Yoga (which her daughter teaches) would bring me from morbid obesity to a healthy weight with no other effort. As for what to say around the office, I just said I was having some surgery done and it involved my stomach. In retrospect, I don't think it would've been a huge issue if I said the real reason was weight loss. I found that people deal with me even more cordially now that I've had the surgery and taken the big step than before I announced my plans. Sure enough, people Google and do their research, and eventually most people figured out what I had gone through. If there are mean, abrasive people around the office, perhaps it's best you don't reveal it to them, especially if they are actively seeking to harm your status at work, but for someone with good intentions, I don't even mind the person gossiping. In short, when you announce, I would say good relationships get even better, and bad ones may get worse, although luckily there are laws protecting you against the worst types of the latter.

Happy (belated) Birthday, and welcome to the new decade. It is a painful awakening, but the first year of my 30s has taught me so much about life, and having surgery and losing weight are just by-products of a new person that has emerged from the depression and self-loathing that the end of my 20s brought. I had surgery the day after my 31st birthday, and it was and still is the best birthday present ever. I didn't even care that I couldn't having the usual cake and pizza. It felt so much better being free to dream and start again, and I hadn't even gotten on the table for surgery yet. Good luck, pushpin. Remember there is so much that can and will get better in your mind and in your life before you even lose a single pound. We are the real surgeons here!

I had been slowly losing weight (mid 310s to mid 280s although vacillating quite a bit) over the last 2 1/2 years before my decision, and was really ready to pull the trigger at any point in there, but the last straw was a blood sugar reading that was inching towards pre-DM2. I had no history and it was like Russian roulette for the past several years with no concerning readings and a very good lipid profile, but I felt I had gotten very lucky for a while and did not want to squander that good fortune by continuing to be reckless. I had just turned 30, and suddenly for all the usual reasons I no longer felt invincible.

Are you drinking caffeine or carbonated beverages of any kind? Those two things will absolutely pilfer your body of its Water (I assume you are not drinking alcohol). I think you're actually more likely to get dehydrated when you don't take in carbs than when you do. It seems like you are doing everything right. Be sure you rehydrate after exercise...it is as important as protein! I am struggling with that as we speak. Everything says that the hair loss happens right about at your stage, and comes quickly back. Your story backs up all the normal predictions and it is very transient. BTW, I don't know what I wouldn't do for a TC Cherry Pie right about now. I went up to Cherry Festival this summer and made it my last big food event before pre-op. Love the mitten...

Wow, that is a rapid progression curve. Day 3 was still Clear liquids for me. I would love to have some soft-solid Protein right about now. I'm not too confident in the pureed stage doing the trick either. Full liquids are wearing on me. This is the first day since leaving the hospital I haven't been hungry (just sipping the protein drinks). I'm jealous of both the lack of hunger and the pace of your and Bndtoslv's diet. But I will try to negotiate at my first post-op visit next week... To take a stab at your question, since my GERD was really bad pre-surgery, I just wait for it to act up and I know I'm done, which works even though I am still only full liquids. I am not advocating waiting for that trigger point, and maybe you guys don't have it, but signs of air bubbles coming up the other way should be a clue. The fullness point is definitely well before you could conceivably take your last bite

Wow, you are in the first day of week 4 and you are already eating chicken and turkey? Are you eating them as part of a very soft salad with light mayo? I am in the process of gearing up for pureed stage (weeks 3 and 4) and I thought canned fish is the only animal protein that is allowed, with chicken and turkey only coming in at soft foods, possibly even as late as stabilization.