mylighthouse

Ahhha! A wonderful idea that I had never thought of, and I am SURE something like this exists. Thank you!

Everyone is different, some people will have trouble drinking liquids and meeting proteinand fluid requirements. Others will have no trouble at all right after surgery getting in 64 oz liquids or more and their protein. Either one is "normal", it just varies from person to person. I had no trouble getting liquids down right after surgery. You will find that you might feel hungry, as these are liquids you are taking in, not dense protein. When it is time to move on to soft and solid food, you probably will find that you are more satisfied and not as hungry. As long as you follow your program, you will lose weight and do well. I wouldn't worry at all about being hungry or restriction, or anything like that at this time.

@jess9395 great tip, thank you for sharing the illustration. My major complaint is not really being able to enjoy my bathtime anymore. Hurts the heck out of my bony butt! Anyone else who enjoys a nice relaxing bath having this problem now that you've lost weight?

@jenn1 and @armywife2gijoe you ladies look beautiful! Congratulations on your success! @jenn1 I always appreciate your insightful responses to other posters.

Wow, good for you for figuring out what the problem was. It is great that lowering the pressure on your machine has helped you feel better. And yes, it really stinks that noone informed you that changes needed to be made to your CPAP settings. Very glad that you shared this information. I am getting a little steamed, because I think now, after reading your story, that someone should have adjusted my settings as well. I continue to wear my CPAP every night after being diagnosed with sleep apnea a couple of years ago. I was 334 lbs or so when starting treatment. Now I am down to 190 lbs. Four or so months back, when my mask started fitting poorly because of the major weight loss, I went in to eee the CPAP tech. I told her I thought I needed a smaller mask. She didn't change the mask size, but did give me new headgear, which has resolved mask leak issues, for the most part. I was having trouble and continue to have trouble now with coughing while wearing my mask and it can get pretty bad....sometimes it brings me to wide awake, pulling my mask off frenzy at 3 or 4 am. My pressure is set at 17. That's where it has been since 2 years ago when I weighed 334. Now why the HECK didn't my tech change my settings a few months ago when I sww her? Seriously, some people and their lack of knowledge, concern, care, incompetence or whatever the heck it is really irks me!! I know what I need to do. Thanks again for taking the time to share.

Yes, Creekrimp is right, no need to be ashamed. We can be too hard on ourselves at times. And it is true, you were lovely before, and you are lovely now. Glad that you feel good, you look fantastic! Congratulations on losing all of that weight! You look happy and I'm happy for you! Keep up the awesome work!

Hello friends, First, I would like to apologize for what will be a long post. I feel it might be helpful to myself and others to relate a little background on my health and past problems with the last few years. Thank you in advance for bearing with me. I had open colon resection in Feb 2015. I weighed over 300 pounds at that time. I was not doing well and still in the hospital 10 days later, then my resection area on the inside came open and an emergency surgery was performed at that time. My first surgeon who did the resection was not honest with me and also had me constantly straining while in the hospital which led to the inside coming apart. The surgeon who did my emergency surgery was wonderful. He followed up with me everyday while I was at the hospital for the next month. Then I was sent over to another hospital for another month, recovery was slow and very painful, it involved a lot of wound cleaning, packing the wound etc. Towards the end of the 2nd month, I learned to use my legs again and walk again. Went home and had a nurse treat me daily to pack my wound, it was a large hole in my stomach and had to be packed daily. I also had a wound vac in use. Surgery was Feb 2015, and finally, in Sept 2015, my wound closed. Then, around Nov 2015, I developed 2 incisional abdominal hernias along the incision of my surgery. One was small and didn't hurt, the other was large, and did hurt me a lot. My surgeon (absolutely love this guy) told me that I needed to lose some weight in order to have hernia surgery. I held off and dealt with the pain. Tramadol and Tylenol. The hernias got so painful, as well as my quality of life (since just before the 2015 surgery), that I finally listened to my surgeon and had sleeve surgery in November of 2016. I still couldn't do much, I was dealing with scar tissue/nerve pain from my open surgeries. No exercise, I did try, but it aggravated the nerve pain. I was in bed all day with the heating pad, as usual, since 2015. I was able to lost 80 pounds after sleeve surgery, bringing me down from 334 lbs to 254. My surgeon said he could now perform my open hernia surgery. Had that in June 2017. In bed some more due to severe pain, yes, I had lost weight, but the quality of life sucked. I started to try to get out for 10-20 minutes and walk around, but my abdominal nerve pain was unbearable. I kept trying to push through the pain, but I couldn't. My surgeon told me that I may need to stay on Tramadol and then he wondered if Gabapentin for nerve pain would help me. I started taking that in August. It took until November to FINALLY get relief from the pain. It worked, my nerve pain is no longer an issue. I started exercising for the first time in over 2 years and I was and no longer in bed. Amazing!! During that time, I was having new pain and problems. Short story, it was my gallbladder. I had it taken out right before Christmas 2017. Recovery was pretty norm, I believe. Now you are all caught up to my NEW problem (again, sorry for the length of the post). So, I have been dealing with ongoing nausea, which I have dealt with since my sleeve back in Nov 2016. The nausea is getting much worse. Now it is affecting my eating in a huge way. For 2 weeks now, can no longer eat anything but broth, sometimes cream soup, and unflavored protein in coffee and broth. But the last 2 days my protein and cream soup are not working out for me. I have to force myself to drink broth or soup, I have absolutely NO appetite at all. My calories are way low and my protein is low too. I am getting regular liquids down fine at the moment,. This has been accompanied by middle to upper abdominal pain, sometimes on the left side, sometimes middle-right side. I have had a struggle with severe constipation since my 2015 colon resection, then sleeve surgery made it even worse. I have tried everything for it. I have literally thought I was dying because of pain, gone to ER, and found out I was severely backed up (quite embarrassing). Been at least 6 times over the past year. So, I met with my surgeon last week, he ordered x-rays and sure enough, I was severely backed up. After magnesium citrate and enema per his orders, I got cleaned out. That was Wednesday. He said to give it a few days and see how I progressed and then he would see about a possible endoscopy with the gastro doc if needed. Gastroparesis was brought to my attention. I am kind of driving myself crazy over here. I am bipolar and have been upping my klonopin because of anxiety, agitation and stress. I am already worried about more surgery and I don't want my quality of life to suffer once again. Can anyone help me? Do my symptoms sound like gastroparesis? I am losing weight rapidly now and I feel weak, dizzy and sick. I do not believe I am getting dehydrated. Should I wait until Monday to call my surgeon and give him an update? I don't know what to do. Thank you for listening and for advice/help, etc. I always appreciate the feedback here.

Thank you!

Just lower back pain, it comes and goes...think it's related to chores though. Sounds good, I will talk to my surgeon about all of this. I'm on the fence as to whether or not I should wait until Monday, or head to the ER possibly tonight and get the CT scan and bloodwork. No promise that I will be able to get in for the endoscopy even next week. Your thoughts, Lizzie?

Nope. Had it taken out right before Christmas last month.

That's great to not eat the white carbs. Beans can be really good for you and they have a lot of fiber, which is super. I think they actually help with the weight loss. Remember, you get to subtract the fiber content from your carb total, you're looking for net carbs here. Just want to say that on those days where you are trying your best to eat under 50 carbs, but might be eating 40-49....well, just don't let that happen. Even 30-40 carbs might be too much for you. Go even lower than that, try it out, regardless of what your surgeon said. My nutritionist and my surgeon haven't always agreed on carbs. I trust my nutritionist on that issue. Going really low carb has produced so much weight loss for so many others.

Hello, You have lost about 42 lbs since your surgery date, correct? So, you have lost that much in about 4 months. That is not terrible. However, you still have quite a bit to lose. Personally, I do not think that you have reached your final weight. You have been at a 3 week stall, and many times, a 2-4 week stall is followed by some good weight loss. Keep doing what you are doing by logging your food. Check those CARBS. You didn't mention what your carb intake is, and they can really sneak in there if we let them, and they will prevent weight loss. Most people around here seem to get good results with low carb. For myself, I did 20-30 grams a day of carbs right out of the gate until I increased to 40-50 a day at the 10 month mark. If you are already low carb, or ultra low carb, then change it up and go up on carbs a little. I think you're doing great with the exercise. Good for you with 2-3 miles a day. I think if you follow the rules with your food, then you don't really need to up the mileage right now.

You look lovely. I am so glad that you have your health back and that you are active. I don't see the lines, just a pretty lady! Congratulations on your success!

Way to go, you look beautiful! Congratulations and keep up the awesome work!

Just not feeling well enough to get creative like some of you. I can hardly wait to get out in my kitchen and make things again. I keep things so plain and simple, which works for me at the moment. I munch on Blue Diamond lightly salted roasted almonds, yum! When I want sweet and salty together, I eat an Atkin's Harvest Trail Chocolate Almond Salted Caramel bar...oh man, I friggin' love those! Anyone else tried them? Low carb, low sugar and 8 grams protein, but a little pricey.

Hello Elsee, Bipolar II as well. I gained a ton of weight starting back in '05 and it just continued from there after starting treatment for bipolar. Seriously, like you, my eating habits were pretty good and I have always kept a journal of what I eat (now, years later, I track with myfitnesspal). I put most of the blame on the meds I have been on, especially Seroquel. Thankfully, I am off of that. I have been stable om my bipolar meds for years now. I take: Tegretol, Celexa, Risperidone and Klonopin. I had to have WLS so that I could lose weight asap, as I had two incisional abdominal hernias that were causing me serious pain and mobility issues. My surgeon said I needed to drop 80-100 lbs so that he could operate. At that time, I just knew that I had to have the surgery, I didn't even take into consideration my bipolar meds/possible changes/weight regain. I have lost 141 lbs so far. I started my weight loss journey when I weighed 334 lbs. It has been 14 months since my gastric sleeve surgery. For me, there have been only a couple of recent changes to my bipolar meds. I have come down on my Celexa (antidepressant) dosage and I have come down a little on my mood stabilizer (Tegretol). So, my meds have been working great, they're obviously being absorbed. All is a-okay. I know I am only 14 months post op, but as you can see, my weight loss has been pretty significant. Time will tell about regain, but I am confident that things will go well. Wish you the best. I have no regrets.

I was somewhere between a 5 and 10, so I'll just say a 7. I was one of the lucky ones who had no gas pains at all after surgery. I was also lucky in that I got fluids down without any pain. My only complaint was that I was in so much pain. I know that my past open and laparoscopic abdominal surgeries over the past few years compounded the issue and it also didn't help that I had 2 large abdominal hernias....which was one of the reasons I had to have the sleeve, doctor wanted to fix my hernias, but first, I had to lose 80-100 pounds! Oddly, day 5 after the sleeve was my worst for pain, oh yes it was. Day 6 and after was a breeze!

Well, I tried to get a pic of the jar of cream that I use, but I don't really have a steady hand and the pic was blurry. The brand name is Shea Moisture. On the jar front label it says: Raw Shea Butter Anti-Aging Moisturizer w/ Frankincense and Myrrh Extracts. Below that it says: Firm and rejuvenate dry, aging skin (don't they all say that?) Anywho, I have been using it for about 3 weeks, once in the morning and once at night, and can tell some improvement with the wrinkles for sure and I think some of the jiggly jiggles are diminishing a bit as well. I really searched and read reviews for a ton of these type creams before I purchased it. I was looking for something else to try other than Loreal Revitalift, because that wasn't doing squat for me at $20 for a tiny jar. I found the Shea Moisture brand online at stagestores.com....was already shopping there for clothes. Paid a couple of bucks less for this than Loreal, and this is a slightly bigger jar than the Loreal. Haven't even looked, but they might carry this at Target or Walmart as well. I know some creams are up near the 60-100 buck range, but I can't go for those.

Thank you for the idea, I will check that. In your first response you had mentioned water weight...that's what I figure. Also think maybe Lizzie has something with the body still healing. It was bothering me, but I'm over it now. Appreciate your responses!

Hello friends, 14 months post sleeve surgery. Question is pertaining to gallbladder surgery. I had the old gallbladder removed 4 weeks ago. I weigh myself every few days and my weight has been fluctuating like CRAZY!! Example: 4 weeks ago, 194 lbs.....3 weeks ago 202 pounds. Didn't think too much about it the first 2 weeks, because I was fresh out of surgery and expected some fluid retention. Last week, 195 pounds.....3 days later, back up to 202. Today, I am at 193 lbs. Seriously, can I really gain 7 lbs in 3 days? And now, 193? Scale is fine, husband always stays the same with his weight. I also weigh myself at the same time every time that I weigh (morning), minimal clothing. Did anyone else go through these crazy weight fluctuations after gallbladder removal? Also, how long did it take before you got back to normal with weight readings? Thanks!

First, let me just say in my best turkey voice....gobble gobble gobble! Yes, I have turkey neck. Can't say I love having it. But dang, 140 lbs gone and I was in the 300's for so many years, plus I'm in my mid-late 40's...it was bound to happen. I do use anti aging wrinkle cream daily on my face and neck, I think it is helping some with the wrinkles in the neck area.

@DianeJarrettand @LittleLizzieLilliput, ladies, I get where you both are coming from. Like both of you, I have lots of saggy, loose skin in different areas. Tons of it on my tummy. Very thin waistline, but the lower abdomen...oh boy, does it ever hang and droop there. I could probably wear a 10 or 12 if not for the lower abdomen area, but a 14 is fine. At least I don't wear a size 28 or 5x anymore! Yay! But, I honestly do not even care about the skin! Like LLL, I am proud to wear this skin, even though it is swinging to and fro. Stuff it in some nice stretchy jeans with a touch of spandex, or really anything else, and I look pretty darn good! I am just thrilled with the way I look, loose skin and all...happy that I've been able to make it this far. I do look back and think, geez, I used to be 334 lbs! I've lost a whole (small) person! I can do so many things I couldn't do before...loose skin...pffft! No, will never get any plastics. Nothing wrong with wanting plastics, just not my cup 'o tea. We're doing awesome ladies! Congratulations to you both.

I will check my sodium on myfitnesspal diary. I doubt that is the culprit with my current diet, but definitely worth a look. Thanks, I am feeling so much better after the gb surgery! Hope your bm's get regulated. Appreciate your good ideas.

No, not crazy at all. Thanks for the response/good points, by the way. So here's my deal with my bowels: prior to gallbladder removal I was severely, all day, every day constipated. Three days after surgery had first BM and no constipation. Good size, normal--no diarrhea. Go twice every day. No probs or inconsistencies there whatsoever...thank goodness. Also, 46 years old, hysterectomy 7 yrs ago and still have ovaries. No periods since then. So very nice. Now, I have seen a weight fluctuation of 1...max 2 lbs for myself every 3 days morning weigh in time. But never 3-7...7!!! Water retention a month after surgery ya think? Scratching head.

Thanks for the response. No, I have not made any changes to medications or diet except I have decreased my fat intake, as life without the gallbladder and the way I am able to handle fat is different now. I track everything with myfitnesspal, calories will range from 950-1200 a day, carbs are good for me at the 40-60 grams a day at this stage of my weight loss journey. I also keep my protein in the 100 grams a day range, which has worked wonderfully well. I might add too that my fluid intake is always high.