theantichick

My doc said it's just because you can get extra air which can cause discomfort and even vomiting, especially early on. But some people drink better and without extra air with a straw, so she says try it if you want and if it makes you feel bad stop. She's practical that way.

Try looking for ones without nutrasweet!!

I gave up and started making my own.

I am a "live out loud" kind of person, and am a blogger, so it wasn't in my nature to try and keep it secret.

My sis had VSG a few years ago, so she'd been bugging me to do it (to the point I put it off for several years just because she told me I had to) so she was very happy I'd finally decided to do it.

Our Mom was worried because she associates some of my sis' medical issues to the surgery, when they're not. She also thought that because my sis now lectures everyone about what she does and does not eat every time there's a get-together, that I would become someone who was no fun to eat with. I pointed out that my sis and I have very different personalities, and I don't tend to talk about what I'm eating or why.

Dad just thinks it's ridiculous that I can't just decide I'm going to eat right and exercise, because it's worked for him.

Some of my friends have had bypass or sleeve, and they're super supportive.

Other friends have lost people and they attributed it to gastric surgery even when it was years later, and they expressed concern but are also super supportive.

My boss who is a very thin and fit person (marathon runner) has probably been the most supportive, which I didn't expect.

There are a few people in my family & friends who seem to think I've taken the easy way out, or done something I didn't need to do. I offer them education (as a nurse it's compulsive for me) and then put them on ignore.

I haven't broadcast it at work, because I tend to be more private there, but anyone who asks, I tell them. Reactions have been very positive.

I don't know if it's because of the people I surround myself with, or my confidence in my choice, or that they've all seen my physical condition deteriorate rapidly over the last few years, or a combination of all of it. But by and large, I've had very few people criticize my choice. I got the worst feedback I've had from the VP of the trainers' organization at my gym a couple of weeks ago when I was signing up. I briefly considered going off on him, but decided it wasn't worth it because I won't be working out with him. The trainer assigned to me has been great so far, and has worked with WLS patients before.

I once saw a documentary about Princess Diana when she was being taught to speak publicly. She tended, as most do, to speak very quickly and it made her seem nervous and harder to understand. They taught her to speak so slowly that it felt completely unnatural, but it comes across to the audience as the perfect pace. Deep breathing, and remembering to breathe WHILE speaking also kept her from appearing to be in a cold sweat even when she was.

I am fortunate to have had theatre experience (high school drama classes/club) but as an adult I needed reminded of a lot of the things I'd learned. I tend to freeze up and talk too fast, tripping over my words, in interviews and public speaking. But practicing, even with just myself (but mock interviews with friends or recruiters really help) smiling and speaking slowly and preparing answers for the questions I am likely to get (there's tons of resources on the 'net about questions to prepare for interviews - both things they might ask and things you should ask) as if I'm preparing for a debate... that's how I have gotten to be quite good at interviewing. If I get an in-person interview, about 90% of the time I get called back for a second interview. And of the second interviews, I get a job offer about 80% of the time. Project confidence, even if you don't feel you have any.

Best of luck!! Interviewing is stressful, even after you get better at it.

I agree that 100% EBW is unrealistic for most people.

I am 5'9". Apparently, I'm supposed to weigh about 160lbs. I started out at just over 300, which makes my EBW 140 lbs.

I can look back to my late teen/early 20's which was the last time I weighed in that range. I was able to maintain 165 with a teenager's metabolism ONLY by watching EVERY calorie I put in my mouth and running about 2 miles 3-5 times a week.

I'm 46 now, with an auto-immune disorder that makes exercise difficult, and I have to ramp up exercise VERY carefully to avoid a flare. I personally think it would be crazy to try for 165 as a goal weight.

In my mid-20's I was ranging between 175 and 190 and felt really good. I was active and watched my diet but not obsessively. It would be amazing, and my ultimate goal to get back in that range, so I've set 185 as my goal weight. That's 121 to lose, a bit over 85% EBW.

I don't know if it will happen, and if it does if it'll happen in this first year. The statistics say it won't, but statistics don't tell the whole story. So far, I'm doing really well. 46 lbs down at a little over 7 weeks, and weight loss has slowed to about 2 lbs/week. If that rate stays constant, it'll be about 38 weeks to lose the rest.

But even if I stall out permanently at 236 which is 50% EBW, I'll be thrilled. I don't want to set my goal there, because I want to try and stretch for the 185 if I can.

I think having stretch goals is a good thing, and my doc hasn't been discouraging at all when I've discussed it with her. She thinks I can get below 200 at least which will be about 75% EBW.

Every 10% of your total body weight you lose (at least down to the ideal weight) improves your health drastically. I consider every bit lost movement in the right direction and toward my health.

I will say I don't understand the "1/3 untouched" part of your doc's statement, doesn't jibe with what I know of the surgery. Some people have more restriction up front, others less. Doesn't mean the sleeve isn't working for you. Just stay the course, you'll do fine.

I remember when I was in nursing school. I frequented a Forum for nurses. I was on that site almost everyday. When I finally became an RN I hung around for about a year and then--- I moved on. I had tapped out. Although I had not experienced everything-- I was better equipped to handle any situation that I encountered. I understood how to access my resources and I was doing well on my own. I offered advice and encouragement to other newbies but I had my co workers and nursing school buddies to share war stories with. I no longer needed the forum. I was no longer benefitting.

Oh, good, it's not just me. I was on probably the same forum from the time I decided to go to nursing school until about a year and a half after graduating. I got tired of the whining about being a nurse and how awful it was, and it stopped being useful for me. Then, after I had to leave bedside nursing, I tried to get active again in the Informatics community, but there's not much action there.

I think online communities serve a very needed function, and for some people that is a long-term thing and for others it's more episodic. Once it doesn't serve a need for me, I tend to stay for a while to "pay it forward" and then I end up losing interest and dropping out. I've been in so many communities online over the years, it's a little sad but I think just the way it goes.

If the VP says something again about how if you had come to him you wouldn't have had to have surgery you can always tell him he would become a millionaire if he would package and market his wonderful system. Make sure you say it in your sweetest voice so that he isn't sure if you are sarcastic or serious.

Or you could go with subtle put down of "Well Bless your heart". Which in some circles is the Southern equivalent of F- You.

I won't be interacting with the VP again most likely, I think he just happened to be there when I was doing my introductory meeting with the head trainer, so they wanted to glad-hand a bit. I was born and (mostly) raised in the South so I'm very familiar with "bless your heart", LOL. I'll definitely be ready for him if I have to talk to him again.

Luckily the guy who is my actual trainer is great. He has worked with WLS patients before (success stories) and while he doesn't know much about auto-immune is working with me to try and keep from causing a flare due to progressing too fast. He also understands that the restriction and other factors affect my diet and that part is under control with my doc, so let's focus on exercise. He asks questions and listens to the answers, and doesn't seem to be "my way is the only way" so I'm quite happy with him.

I've read a lot of things that say there's 5 phases.

Clear Liquids, full liquids, purées, mushies, and then solids. However...on the paperwork I received from the surgeon says that the first 4 weeks are Protein shakes and purées. Is it common to skip the just clear and full liquid stages?

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Different surgeons have different protocols, and I'll second and third what other people have said: if you trust your doc to operate, follow their protocols.

It's unlikely your doc is going to have you eating purees the day of or after surgery, so even if you go through the phases faster than others, you still kinda do them.

For instance. My doc had me on clear liquids the afternoon of the surgery. If I tolerated them (which I did) she wanted Protein Shakes tested the day after (day 2). She doesn't like to send people home until she knows they're able to keep fluids and Protein Shakes down. So I was technically on clear liquids for about 14 hours, then advanced to full liquids in the form of Protein shakes.< /p>

Interesting note: medically speaking, "full liquids" includes a bunch of things that aren't actually liquid. Yogurt, puddings, jellos, etc. are frequently included in a "full liquid" diet. Which makes it seem like "full liquids" isn't a good term, but it's the one used medically.

My doc keeps us on full liquids (including sf pudding, yogurt, sf Jello, etc.) until our 14 day checkup, then moves us to the "soft foods" phase. Which seems to skip purees, mushies, what have you. But her instructions are to start with pureed type foods and advance as tolerated up to anything that's considered "soft" and moist (she had a list, included eggs, shredded chicken, tuna, etc.). So she's not really "skipping" those phases, just allowing the patient to advance as tolerated.

Then at the 1 month checkup, I was cleared for pretty much anything, using the same "advance as tolerated" process. Start with the easier to chew/digest food and work up.

So the answer to your question is yes, but...

I've been feeling the urge to do it this year.

I have tried many times, but I've been in school while working full time and raising a teenager for the last 6-7 years, and finally quit trying because I was stressing myself out over it and couldn't manage it.

I'm still in grad school, but it's not as intense as my nursing school and bachelors programs were. So my optimistic brain is saying "give it a go".

My surgeon did it while in for the surgery, doesn't routinely do one other than that. You may want to find out if your surgeon does the same.

I know, right? I didn't post anything on this board for a long time after I joined because just about every question I had was answered by doing a search of the boards.

I haven't been here anywhere near as long as you, and I've started skipping those posts as well.

They didn't prescribe it for the night before, they handed it to me in pre-op. I have a history of serious nausea and vomiting post op so they did several things to try and combat that pre-emptively. I had zero nausea and vomiting, so something helped, I don't know if it was the emend or something else they did. But if the emend had anything to do with it, I'd gladly pay $70 to keep from throwing up post op.

Love my Mirena.

There's no reason to remove it for surgery, surgery doesn't go anywhere near where the IUD sits. Also, it's imperative to have reliable birth control post op so there's lots of reasons to have it if it works for you.

Only issue I had was a short light period the day after surgery, lasted 3 days including spotting, after 8 years of no periods at all. Hormone changes, is what I was told. I'm 7 weeks post now and have had nothing else.

http://www.theantichick.com/2016/08/05/the-easy-way-out/

So lets assume it is the easy way out - who cares? Why make life harder than it has to be? Why not take the best chance to get to your goal? Wouldn't you be an idiot to not take your best bet?

Hey, some people might like to take their dirty laundry to the river and slap it around on some stones to wash their clothes clean, doing it "the hard and natural way". I prefer a washing machine and dryer...

True, which is why I stated:

"Wait a minute, didn't I just make an argument for it being the "easy way out"? Depends, I guess, on how you look at it. If I am running a race, and it's uphill, is it taking the easy way out to ditch the 50 lbs of sand someone put in my backpack? Is it taking the easy way out to buy good running shoes with good ankle support, or should I just go ahead with the 3" heeled pumps because that's what I was given? I'm choosing to equip myself better for the long haul. To me, that's smart, not cheating."

I don't have fibro, but I have auto-immune arthritis. Had to stop my meds 3 weeks prior to surgery, and NSAIDs a few days before. So I was aching pretty good by surgery day. And surgery flared me. By day 3 my arthritis was hurting WAY more than the surgery sites. But at about 2 weeks post, the inflammation started backing off and my joints started feeling better. My rheumy had told me that the stomach tissue that is removed secretes inflammatory hormones and I might see improvement in my inflammation from the surgery itself, and then ongoing with the weight loss.

I'm back on my meds now, and can start taking NSAIDs again if needed (my surgeon and rheumy are on board with this) and we're hoping that this stalls the need to move to biologics for a while.

Second (or third) the thrift/resale shops idea. My sis had VSG so I had an idea how fast my sizes would change. I still have business casual pants going down a couple of sizes (kept thinking I'd get back in them, so didn't get rid of them) and then because I am sheer heck to fit in pants at any size, I'm going to make several drawstring maxi skirts to get me through to goal weight/size. With tops from thrift/resale shops, and stretchy "genie" style bras, I'll get through without having to spend a great deal on clothes over the next 6 mo to a year. Having a plan about wardrobe is good, though, and I'm glad my sis warned me beforehand.

The only other thing I wish I'd known was just how fatigued I would be until I could eat solid food again. I had less than a week off of work, but was able to work from home for a week, and during this time my department started a 2 day/week work from home arrangement. If I'd had to go back to the office earlier, it would have been awful. I also couldn't start decent workouts until a couple of weeks after solid food started. I know this is only partially from the WLS, and is more from my auto-immune, but I underestimated the fatigue.

My surgeon said it's not unusual to go 5 or 6 days without, especially while on liquids. She recommended if I had issues to start with the least "harsh" methods - Fiber daily, then stool softeners and then MOM. She said if that didn't work and I was having discomfort to try some sennas or mag citrate. You may want to check with your surgeon to see what s/he recommends - some don't like using the sennas, some aren't big on magnesium.

As a former ER nurse, I can tell you that mag citrate is VERY VERY VERY effective. One ER I worked at, we wouldn't even give it there because the patient would be stuck in our bathroom for hours. We'd give it to them to take at home with instructions not to get very far from a bathroom because it WORKS.

I have IBS so I have a routine whenever I get constipated. I will usually take a hefty dose of colace and follow it with a hefty dose of magnesium (I use the pills, can't stand the liquid MOM). If that doesn't work within about 12 hours, I'll take a hefty dose of sennas with another dose of colace. I haven't had that fail yet. And by "hefty dose" I mean the top of the range given on the label. I also try to always take Fiber pills, but couldn't swallow my big pills until recently (I'm 7 weeks out) and kept forgetting to get the stuff to mix with juice. Plenty of fiber and lots and lots of Water usually keep me pretty regular even with the IBS.

http://www.theantichick.com/2016/08/05/the-easy-way-out/

Here's my response. There's a lot of research showing that the odds for someone keeping off large amounts of weight long-term are 5%. The yo-yo dieting is worse for our bodies than the weight in the first place. If diet/exercise haven't worked historically for me, and the overall chance of it working at all is 5% or less, I'm looking for another tool. WLS is the tool that I and my doctors have decided on.

I'm finding a lot of sweet things aren't as yummy as they used to be, which is good. The oddest thing has been a shift in my Condiments. I used to be all about the ketchup and sweet sweet BBQ Sauce. Now they make me a bit nauseated by themselves. I am now preferring mustard type condiments mixed in.

I weaned off caffeine about 3 weeks before surgery. My doc is fine with moderate amounts as long as we're getting plenty of Water. I have had coffee twice since surgery. I really thought I would be back on the coffee the absolute second I was allowed, but I just haven't craved it. There are days I'd cheerfully murder someone for a diet D.P. but it's because I'm just so darned tired of Water (with or without flavorings) not for the caffeine. I've about decided I'll have coffee if I really want it, but don't really want to start needing it daily or suffer headaches.

..... But she said it's important to make certain I'm hitting or exceeding my Protein goal every day, as the Protein is what drives weight loss and maintaining a stable weight.

Just curious, but what did your surgeon set as your protein goal? Everyone seems to have a different number...

My surgeon wants me to get at least 80 g of protein in a day. My trainer wants 120 g LOL. I'm usually getting in 80-90. I'm trying to up it, but with the restriction I can't eat very much protein from meat/cheese/eggs in a sitting and I don't like to over-do the Protein shakes.

I guess I'm doing "semi low carb". I eat 1 or 2 servings of fruit most days, and try to choose the whole-grain/complex carbs when I have carbs. I have been keeping my carb load around 80g a day. I've lost 41 lbs and am at 7 weeks post op. Loss is starting to slow, but is still going. My surgeon is good with this plan, she doesn't like to cut out any food groups, just said to stay away from sugar and refined carbs.

My incredible stylist gave me a chin-length swing before the surgery, and said if I do have hair loss it'll look more full short. 7 weeks, and I don't think I'm losing any more hair than normal but most people say it starts a little later.

I'm almost 7 weeks out. I can eat a little over 5oz of pudding consistency food (the greek yogurt I get is 5.3 oz and I can finish it if I've eaten slowly enough). But for solid food, I can get about 3oz in before my sleeve tells me we're DONE. If I try just that one more bite, I'll feel awful for 15-20 min.

There's a lot of us here with auto-immune. I have psoriatic arthritis. Nothing as dramatic as your situation, but it caused me to have to shift career trajectories and consider that while getting the weight off won't cure my PsA it should help with overall inflammation and hopefully help the drugs work better.

Best of luck to you, and congrats on getting through this! I'm a former ICU and ER nurse, and this sounds ridiculously frightening. Most kidney failure patients, it comes on slowly. I'd freak if mine just stopped working one day. Shudder.

Anyway, welcome!!

You may want to look up the difference between a "nutritionist" and a "Registered Dietitian [RD]." Some of the former know their stuff, but there are no standards for using the title. That is, any imbecile can hang a "nutritionist" shingle and perhaps be dangerous in the process. I like to think that anyone working in a bariatrics practice is an RD.

Oh, how I wish that was the case. I got referred to a NUT who was a complete nut CASE.