Barry W

Nice, you da woman!

I had the same issue - pain getting in and out of bed. Getting in, I would just carefully sit on the bed at a spot so my head would land on the pillow and just let myself fall into bed. Getting out I would use my arms on the headboard as much as possible to take strain off the tummy. It sucked, but the worst of that was over in about 14 days.

I am 4 months out and I can eat about 3/4 of a plate at dinner. That's still less than half of what I could eat before. I do think that *some* ability to eat more returns, but when they remove 80% or more of your stomach including just about all of the fundus, which is the part that was really elastic, there is no way that we will return to anything like our previous eating capacity. So I wouldn't worry, and I think you're doing the right thing by stopping when you begin to feel full - if you don't, you will feel nauseous.

Well you are right to ask these questions, so it's good that you are thinking. Weight loss surgery is a big help but it's not a silver bullet and as I recall about 1/3 of the people getting the sleeve gain their weight back (and/or don't lose much to begin with). So you need to have the right frame of mind. That's something that you need to do, no one else can do it for you. I can make a few suggestions that might help... First of all, educate yourself on the consequences of being chronically overweight. Yeah, I know you've heard it before, but I mean read and understand all the gory details of: atherosclerosis, heart attack, stroke, congestive heart failure, kidney disease, liver disease, and later in life, worn out hips and knees, cognitive decline, dementia, alzheimer's disease. If you have a clear picture of the future if you don't change your ways, that should help you to do the right things. Secondly, learn what to look for in food labels, and keep your mind open when you shop for groceries, and instead of buying the same old things every time you visit the supermarket, actively LOOK for healthy choices that you haven't tried before, that might still be palatable and reasonably convenient to make. Do some reading and experimenting with simple recipes for ways to cook veggies to make them more interesting and tasty, and to substitute fruit for Desserts. Learn to use turkey, chicken and fish where you you used to favor beef and pork and how to incorporate legumes into your diet. There are healthy choices that don't require a ton of work and do taste good, but you need to do some work to alter your awareness and habits. Asking questions like these is a good start, don't stop now! :-)

I am not sure if I lost any hair, to be honest. Maybe it thinned a bit. I have been very careful with the Vitamins and Protein and eating good amounts of fruits and vegetables though, which probably didn't hurt.

The first week sucked and the second week sucked a little less. In the third week I began to feel myself again. I had a good deal of pain getting in and out of bed at first, plus a little bit of constipation and then diarreah from over-treating the constipation I never actually vomited, but I did have some problems with nausea after eating, and at some level continue to have them - I know what it is though - you get full MUCH quicker and also your grace period of "just a few more bites" after you first start to feel full is also a lot smaller, and if you overeat/drink you're going to feel nauseous - so the cure is just to stop eating at the first sign of feeling full, even if you don't think you ate a lot or even if you're nearly done, just stop!

I started taking walks outside maybe 3 days after surgery, small and slow at first and gradually added length and pace as I felt able to do so.

I don't think that anyone really understands all the complexities of this process. It's not an explanation, but the first thing I think you need to accept is that every person is different, and that you also can't control everything, so you need to relax a little. One thing that *is* clear is that the more overweight that people are, the faster that they lose weight - so someone starting at BMI=50 will normally lose a lot faster than someone starting at BMI=40.

If you're losing 1.5-2.0 pounds per day, that's still great! Now I did lose 28lb prior to the surgery, but my weight loss after the surgery slowed down a lot after the first two months. I am now four months out and only losing about 1lb per week. Sure I'd like it to go faster, but I already move a lot better and feel and look a lot better, and I am continuing to lose/improve, so I am happy with how things are going. If it takes me 12-18 months to reach my goal that is okay, I will still be thrilled to actually get there, which was inconceivable to me not long ago. The bottom line is, the benefits don't start when you reach your goals - you're getting them all along the way!

I've bought popcorn a couple of times and had no problems. I just made sure that it was a lighter variety and not a ginormous bag so as not to go overboard with the carbs/calories.

Soft protein: boiled, fried or scrambled eggs, greek yogurt, chili made with ground turkey or chicken and of course kidney or black beans, bean salad, lowfat string cheese, protein-enriched oatmeal...

700-800 calories per day is not much, so unless you are very small, it's possible that you will actually lose weight if you loosen that up a bit to 900-1000 calories per day - which would still be pretty low caloric intake...

Hang in there. I know where you're coming from - you went through a lot and you're anxious to see results. Results can be uneven though. Try to be patient, and in my experience you don't need to be 100% rigid in your habits if that is making things difficult - small excursions from optimal diet or exercise are easily absorbed, so long as you're doing the right thing the vast majority of the time. What you don't want to do is to stop weighing yourself or to give up.

It's been awhile for me and of course I was asleep during the operation, but as I recall the operation takes 2+ hours. The first two weeks of recovery suck, but after that things are smoothing out. Just be sure to follow instructions during recovery and get your liquids, Protein and Vitamins, plus start with some mild walking ASAP.

400 cals is nothing. Use Meal Replacement shakes - they should still be low sugar, but will have some healthy fats added to bump up calories. I liked the SlimFast High Protein/Advanced Nutrition shakes - 180 cals each with 1g sugar and 20g of Protein. 3 of those per day plus a piece of fruit would be 640 cals/day. Add a lowfat greek yogurt and you're up around 770 cals/day. If you get full while drinking the shake, drink half at a time and drink the second half an hour later.

I lost 28lb pre-surgery, and am now 4 months post-surgery and lost another 33lb since surgery, 61lb in all.

Some people say they don't get hungry anymore. I certainly still get hungry, but it's like before, not worse. Have you counted calories? Are you minimizing carbs?

I was sleeved Feb 28 and drink 2-3 cups per day. A lot of people say that coffee will dehydrate you, but the research literature is very mixed on this question. A more recent study that I saw looked at habituated coffee drinkers drinking moderate amounts of standard strength coffee and found no dehydration. It does though raise your blood pressure, and while that dissipates reasonably quickly, you don't want to be pumped up on coffee all day long if you're trying to control your blood pressure.

I like petite baby carrots, lowfat string cheese, a banana or a good crisp fuji apple.

I am not trying to tell anyone what to do here, or how to think. However, I have noted that many people seem very upset by lack of progress and actually refuse to get on the scale. So I am trying to share a little bit my thought process on this, as it helps me, anyway. Yes, my weight loss has slowed greatly. No, I haven't given up. I am a scientist and read all I can in the scientific literature about the body's adaptations to calorie restriction and to weight loss - hormone changes and metabolism changes, and what I might be able to do to get the upper hand. But I have also accepted the reality that I may not be able to simply control my weight loss, and I may not be where I want to be, when I want to be. I have learned that pushing harder may actually be counterproductive too. It's even possible that I may level off and never get to my initial goal. I make sure to weigh myself daily, because I think it's important to be in touch with my status - I certainly don't want to gain weight, which might otherwise happen if I lose sight of where I am. I am roughly halfway to my initial goal. I could be frustrated and upset because I can't get what I want, when I want it. Or, I can be happy with the progress that I have made, and Celebrate any further improvements - that's a choice that we *can* control.

Electrolyte deficiencies can cause muscle cramps - as noted on the Mayo Clinic website: "Mineral depletion. Too little potassium, Calcium or magnesium in your diet can contribute to leg cramps." http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/muscle-cramp/symptoms-causes/dxc-20186052

Make sure you have enough: - hydration - electrolytes (sodium and potassium) - Vitamins - daily calories - Protein I had some issues with fatigue, but not extensive, and I paid careful attention to all the above.

I think it was about 6 weeks out that I had a small veggie pizza with a thin whole grain crust. Not quite as good as the full monty of course, but it gave me the experience of having pizza without busting the calorie budget.

I was so used to seeing myself really big in the mirror, that when I lost 40lb I felt like I was pretty trim when I saw myself in the mirror. Being about 120lb overweight at the start though, I wasn't trim after losing 40lb! In fact, when I later saw myself walking down the sidewalk reflected in a plate glass window, I suddenly thought "wow, who is that guy, is that me? I guess I am still big!" - I wasn't used to that view, so I saw myself without some mental filter or bias, and the reality was, I was/am still big. It definitely takes some time for your brain to adjust to new norms of self-image. I now realize that my brain had gotten numb to the sight of my obesity and accepted that as normal. These are good adjustments though - you can throw out what society thinks if you want of course - but, the bottom line is that there is plenty of medical evidence that slimmer is healthier in terms of mortality and morbidity - death and disease rates.

Sip a little Fluid at a time and do that more often, your tummy is too small to chug now. As other suggest, electrolyte balance is also important - basically sodium and potassium levels. Then after that, you want to look at Vitamins and eating *some* calories in terms of general feeling of well being.