PorkChopExpress

I was back after a week (technically around 9 days with the weekends) and no problems, but it's a desk job. I had to...like you, finances wouldn't really permit more time off.

It'll be like that for a bit. For the first three days mine was orange and contained an almost sediment-like grit, for lack of a better term. Irritated my urethra a little bit. But the more I drank, the more it cleared up.

Initially after surgery, you're gonna feel like crap. Different people have different tolerances. For me, the pain is totally manageable with the medication, it doesn't bother me at all. The surgical gas is the real delight, and I can usually get that all worked out of my body after 3-4 days. By the seventh day post-op, I was walking 2 miles a day, getting up and down easily, no problems. Now I'm going into week 5 post-op and I feel very good. Don't let yourself get psyched out by horror stories, they happen sometimes (mine was with my gall bladder, about four years ago) but you survive, you heal, and you put it behind you.

Did you drink a lot of caffeine before? If you drank caffeinated soda a lot before the surgery, that would account for a LOT of your peeing, because it's a diuretic. It makes you drop Water...so you were probably dehydrated, if that was the case. You aren't, now. Also, bear in mind that part of the process of reducing fat is water retention. Fat cells absorb water and then expel contents with the water, that's how they shrink. So you're in a constant state of retaining water in your fat cells right now, more or less. That accounts for weight fluctuations from day to day. You may want to get a test for kidney function, just in case...but I think you're probably okay. I'm peeing a lot less, but that's because I am not on caffeine and I'm struggling to get above 50oz of water a day right now, five weeks out.

@@Dub I have been a reader of the comic, it's been cool to see the show purposely try to "swerve" people who know how the story goes in the comic book. They surprised me a few times in this episode, which was great. I still can't get over how asinine it is that they won't let Negan be as foul-mouthed as he is in the comic book, but they'll show graphic violence that would usually only make it on premium cable channels. We are a weird people lol

I thought that episode was awesome, gut-wrenching and grueling...loved it. But only people who have already succeeded with WLS and got fit would survive that world. Right now, I'd be zombie meat. I can't run lol

Go check out Trader Joe's, they have a good line of cream soups that gives you some variety.

With any of these surgeries, I can tell you with absolute certainty that it is possible to regain the weight, if you haven't got your mind 100% made up and committed to change. The surgery isn't a magic bullet, it's a tool. Your mind is what you have to fix. If you get that part right, then you'll be able to succeed with ANY of the surgeries. In my opinion, the sleeve is awesome because of the impact it has on ghrelin production, which basically disrupts the traditional "hunger" signals. Much easier to focus on your goals if you aren't being driven crazy by hunger.

Well, Google says this: "An average person has a stride length of approximately 2.1 to 2.5 feet. That means that it takes over 2,000 steps to walk one mile; and 10,000 steps would be almost 5 miles. A sedentary person may only average 1,000 to 3,000 steps a day. For these people adding steps has many health benefits." So if you're getting five miles a day of walking, I'd say that's pretty darn good. I'm one month post-op, I get about 1.8 miles or so on the elliptical for half an hour, and then with the rest of my day's walking, another mile on that. So maybe 2.8 miles or so a day. My surgeon wants me over 3 miles per day and more if possible. My feeling is that if you've successfully made it a habit and you're doing this consistently, you're probably right on track.

It's not real hunger, it's "head hunger." The very fact that you are indulging things that you SHOULD NOT BE INDULGING tells me that your head isn't in the right place, right now. It's normal to be a little obsessive about food the first couple weeks after surgery, your brain has a hard time letting go of its old behaviors. But instead of embracing that change and letting go, you're letting your brain dominate you again. If you continue to do that, you are not going to be successful long-term. The internet is littered with stories of people who did this and regained all of their weight, because they were not committed to change, ignored their surgeon's instructions, did what they wanted and gained it all right back. Sure, the surgery will force you to lose for a while...but it won't stop you from regaining it, if you're motivated. 11 pounds in a week and a half is excellent weight loss, so when you say you think it should be more, it tells me you don't really know how much of a calorie deficit you're running, how many calories your body needs to stay its current weight, and how many pounds you SHOULD be losing, given your calorie deficit. These are all important things to know, and these are knowledge and skills you will need to acquire if you are to be a success. Right now, you need to commit to following your dietitian and surgeon's instructions with 100% compliance. Not 99%, not mostly kinda sorta, 100% without fail. You also need to commit to a lifelong change in your habits and thought patterns related to food. If you keep letting it dominate you, you will fail at this. The rumbling in your stomach that you're feeling is not hunger, it is something that goes away after enough time post-surgery...your stomach just had the majority of itself cut away, it is a recovering muscle and it is spasming, doing all kinds of stuff that has nothing to do with hunger. It'll do all of that AFTER you eat, too. You also likely feel a "bite" in your stomach which reminds you of hunger pangs, but in reality is stomach acid buildup because your stomach hasn't adjusted to its new size yet, along with some residual soreness from the full-length staple line. Again, this is something that will resolve in time. It is YOUR HEAD that is driving your feeling that you're hungry...and your behavior is allowing your old mindset to control you, yet again. "I'll just have some of these wings, they're small, I'm so HUNGRY." No, sorry...you're screwing up already...less than two weeks after surgery. Water, and Protein, in whatever form your dietitian and surgeon have advised. You are probably still supposed to be a liquids only. Next would be puree, most likely. STICK TO YOUR DIET. You went to all the trouble and expense to get operated on, why wouldn't you put the work in to fix the thing they can't operate on - your brain? That is at least 90% of what needs to be fixed, for you to succeed. The surgery was just a tool. Sorry if this comes off as harsh, but I hate it when I see people asking questions about whether they're stretching their stomach or if they should be able to eat so much, when they aren't following the rules that have been laid out for them, at all.

I'd tell them to make it a meatloaf and put candles in it lol

You have probably set it up as a kind of milestone in your mind with your weight loss and fitness goals, which is why it's become kind of a big deal in your mind...you don't want to NOT finish, because then you'd feel like it diminishes you in some way, is my guess. But it doesn't! You've achieved a lot. If you don't finish, there will always be more marathons. Just do your best, you will probably surprise yourself.

It started really early with me and it was a combination of things. My family ate a lot of bread and baked goods, which my mom excelled at making and I loved. We didn't eat super healthy, and when my mom tried to make that stuff, I wouldn't eat it. I was a pill at restaurants, so McDonalds became the go-to for meals when they were out with me. I loved junk food. I was always just sort of a pudgy kid, not necessarily "fat" but heavier than my peers (and bigger in size, taller and broader shoulders). So I took a lot of teasing about my size/weight. I develped low self-esteem from the teasing about my body, but my classmates would react with amazement at how much I could eat at a sitting. I have a particular memory of sloppy joe days at school, which I loved but my classmates didn't...so I'd end up with a stack of 3-4 of them at least, and eat them all. I remember this primarily because a teacher came to me saying they didn't think I should be eating so much, and made me feel ashamed. But I had gotten attention for it from my classmates. As I got older, I took more razzing from my peers the bigger I got...and I still wasn't THAT bad. But when I went out to play basketball in little league and we'd have to play shirts vs. skins in practice, I was almost always skins...and my flab would jiggle while I played, drawing laughs and jokes from teammates. Kids are just really blunt and cruel. I did lose some weight playing basketball, but my self-esteem took so many hits that I eventually quit athletics entirely. By the time I graduated high school, I was 190 pounds or so...not terrible for a kid who was over 6' tall, but still heavy. However, it was when I went off to college that things really went south. I discovered that I couldn't do what I thought I was going to do (be a programmer) due to my lack of aptitude in math, and I became depressed. I started sleeping all day and staying up all night, which increased my depression. Which increased my eating, as a comfort. My mom would send care packages that invariably contained cinnamon rolls or Cookies, baked goods that she knew I loved. I ate like crap that year, and I went up to like 230-240 pounds. I dropped out and returned home, and started working random jobs...but I kept eating. Each threshold I'd near, 250 or 300, or 350...I would say, "This far, no further." And then I would blast right past them. I'd put on the breaks and reverse periodically when I got serious about a diet for 5-6 months, then I'd stall out, lose my willpower, fall off the wagon and go right back to my old habits again...and onward and upward. Late last year, I decided it was time to put a stop to it and that the only way I was going to succeed, having dieted throughout the entire course of my life back to junior high, was to have surgery. I just couldn't achieve 200 pounds of fat loss through sheer will, it had become too monolithic. I needed the help. Now that I've done it, I feel such a sensation of hope, that it's not an "I wish I could lose weight" anymore, but an "I WILL lose the weight."

When I went mushy after two weeks (my surgeon had me skip pureed, I guess he felt I was recovering well enough) I tried the pintos and cheese at Taco Bell and that had cheese, and it didn't give me any issues. I haven't done a lot of cheese, though. One thing I'm seeing from a lot of the posts here is that everyone seems to react a lot differently to food, regardless of whether they all had the sleeve. It just seems to affect everyone a bit differently, so really the only way to find out is to try and see what your body says.

It's the surgical gas. If you don't work it out of your body through frequent walking and movement, it will rise in your abdominal cavity like that. You need to move a lot more, so it works its way out. No gas remedies will work, because the gas is not in your digestive tract, it's in your peritoneal cavity. It hasn't worked its way into your digestive tract to move out of your body, yet.

That sucks. I'm heading into week five and so far, my sleeve has been able to handle whatever I've given it, as long as I don't put too much in and it's thoroughly chewed. It seems to vary so much from person to person and I don't know that anyone is able to explain why. Same mystery as why nothing tastes any different to me, but for some people their taste buds change a lot after surgery. It's clear that the surgery causes a lot more changes than just reducing the size of the stomach, though.

Pretty much going to be impossible not to talk about it. The change in your behavior is going to be very noticeable.

There are other options for protein. Get some of the flavorless powder like Genepro and mix it with other liquid stuff you're eating, like yogurt or even Crystal Light. It works well and gives you a nice change from those shakes. I agree, after four weeks of almost nothing but shakes, I was ready to be done with them.

@henryXyorkshire I'm on week 5 post-op now and I'll be taking a plane this weekend, and I'm excited to see how I fit in the seat, now. About a week ago, I dug into an old tub full of clothes I put away, because I hadn't fit in them in so long (over six years). I fit into everything in that tub, now. These are good feelings...and when I hit the last hole on this belt, or have to go get new stuff because everything is baggy, it's going to feel even better. The good feelings will just keep coming

I started taking a lot of pride in sticking to it, I can tell you that much. I started feeling like I was setting the tone for my new journey, and I wanted to do it well. As the days wore on and I got closer to my surgery date, I did feel like I had achieved a lot in sticking to that diet. And of course, when I weighed in the morning of surgery and had lost over 30 pounds, that was a thrill in itself. It sounds like you have a good mindset, going in. That's great, because it IS a mental challenge to make this change. But you're setting the right tone, so go get 'em.

I'm only one month out from surgery and I already notice a big difference in my cold tolerance! Pretty crazy.