orionburn

That. My doc had me at 30 minutes as well before/after meals. Can be difficult to do as I'm a big drinker, but for the most part I stick to this as much as possible.

Just coming to this site can be a support group. I tend to come & go but I know when I'm hitting the boards on a regular basis it's more motivation for me to stay the course. I had surgery in January and I've felt the same as you. While I don't feel like I'm reverting to a lot of bad habits there are battles that I'm still having. Have to remember that the surgery is a tool to help us. There's so many other things that go into this. Don't beat yourself up too much. Take a deep breath and refocus. Think back to what was working and don't get down on yourself. I'm needing a recharge after being in a stall for what seems like 2 months now.

Every one is going to react differently, but a shot that early after surgery is probably going to hit fairly hard. Not going to leave you stumbling around drunk, but you'll likely get a surprise at how hard it can hit. If you're going to insist on drinking then consider mixing it with something. But seriously...2 months in and wanting to do a shot already? To each their own...

This X 100. Carbonation can make you feel like crap, but this idea that it's going to stretch your stomach back out to its original size is silly. I had a bad diet pop addition prior to surgery, but once I gave it up I haven't wanted to go back. I have no doubts part of the improvement in my overall wellbeing is kicking that from my diet. There are times I miss it, but it's that same feeling I had when I quit smoking years ago. My life is fine without it and despite having an oddball craving from time to time it isn't a big deal anymore. In regards to carbonation I have had a beer here and there. The carbonation doesn't seem to bother me, but it also takes forever to get even half a glass down. It would be a different story if I tried to drink a beer at the same pace as water. If I drank fast it would make me feel miserable.

This X 100. Carbonation can make you feel like crap, but this idea that it's going to stretch your stomach back out to its original size is silly. I had a bad diet pop addition prior to surgery, but once I gave it up I haven't wanted to go back. I have no doubts part of the improvement in my overall wellbeing is kicking that from my diet. There are times I miss it, but it's that same feeling I had when I quit smoking years ago. My life is fine without it and despite having an oddball craving from time to time it isn't a big deal anymore. In regards to carbonation I have had a beer here and there. The carbonation doesn't seem to bother me, but it also takes forever to get even half a glass down. It would be a different story if I tried to drink a beer at the same pace as water. If I drank fast it would make me feel miserable.

This X 100. Carbonation can make you feel like crap, but this idea that it's going to stretch your stomach back out to its original size is silly. I had a bad diet pop addition prior to surgery, but once I gave it up I haven't wanted to go back. I have no doubts part of the improvement in my overall wellbeing is kicking that from my diet. There are times I miss it, but it's that same feeling I had when I quit smoking years ago. My life is fine without it and despite having an oddball craving from time to time it isn't a big deal anymore. In regards to carbonation I have had a beer here and there. The carbonation doesn't seem to bother me, but it also takes forever to get even half a glass down. It would be a different story if I tried to drink a beer at the same pace as water. If I drank fast it would make me feel miserable.

The Quest bars aren't the best tasting in the world, but they're decent enough. I'll grab one from a gas station if we're on the go and need a decent protein source. Problem is that they never leave me feeling really satisifed. They are also pricey but you can order them by the box online.

It varies between surgeons. Some don't care, others do. Seems most lean towards allowing it as long as it's decaf. Same for post-op. I'm a coffee junkie so it was hard to cut back in the beginning and became super sensitive to caffiene afterwards. Took some time but am back to normal for the most part with my coffee. Started off doing decaf only, worked my way up to half caff / half decaf, and then recently went back to regular coffee all the time.

Felt like I had a real NSV this weekend. My size 40 jeans have been way too big on me but have been hesitant to buy new clothes. Mainly because I hate to spend money on something I may only be wearing for a couple of months. Couldn't take it anymore and went shopping this weekend. Grabbed a few pairs of 38s and went off to the changing room. First pair I put on were still way too big. Tried a different pair and same thing. I couldn't believe that 38s were big on me. Went and got some 36s and they fit well. When I started my journey last year (around May 2016) I had gotten up to size 46 again. Still can't get over it.

Just curious to see how my fellow January sleevers are doing. I had a very rough first week and prolonged hospital stay, but doing much better and every day gets a little bit easier. When I started my 2 week pre-op diet I was 336. Got down to 318 day of surgery and as of this morning am down to 298. That makes it around 38 lbs lost in 5 weeks. I'll take it! Hope everyone else is doing well!

Hi all. Haven't been frequenting the board much as of late. Still dealing with a stall every now and then (currently in one now) but overall doing great. Down to 240 lbs. Worked out to around 100 lbs over the course of the past year with 80lbs of that coming off since surgery. Hope all have been well!

It's been a long time since I updated my post and/or visited the board. A few weeks ago I hit a big milestone and broke through the 250 barrier. In all honesty I think the last time I weighed even close to that was when I was in middle school some 25+ years ago. Today I came in at 244 lbs. Weight hit a major slowdown about mid-May. Was a very frustrating month of only losing about 2-4 pounds after such a good run. Made some tweaks to my diet (upped the calories a bit and lowered carbs) and have been losing again, albeit still at a slower rate. Slow & steady isn't so bad. Eating wise I feel normal and can eat pretty much anything. I had my (almost) 6 month follow-up with the doc this week and all looks good. Outside of the rocky beginning it's been a pretty good journey. Have to actually go do some clothes shopping this weekend as my old shorts are huge on me now. Next milestone will be the 225 lb mark. I don't have the muscle I used to back in the day, but that was always a target goal for me. I wouldn't call that a goal weight as I think I'll still have more to lose by then, but will have to wait and see.

Just to a search for alcohol and you'll get a hundred threads on the topic. Everyone is going to have their own opinion on the subject. If you're looking for somebody to give you the okay to drink then you'll get it eventually on here. If your doctor says not to and strangers on the internet say yes it doesn't matter in the end. You have to decide for yourself if it's worth it.

This site gets a ton of traffic, and on top of that you have hundreds of people that don't understand how the search function works and post the same questions over and over and over again, so don't get so upset when your topic gets lost in the crowd. Nothing wrong with bumping your thread but people aren't on the board 24 hours a day. You just have to be patient. That's the way it goes with nearly any forum.

Bear in mind that most people will only post when something is wrong and not when everything is going great. This site gets a lot of traffic so it may seem skewed that there are more people with complications than there really is. Not saying complications can't happen (it did to me), but that's part of the risk of any surgery. All in all my well being has greatly improved. My sciatica before surgery left me only able to walk for a few minutes without my leg beginning to go numb and lots of pain. For about a month after surgery it went away completely. The pain has come back somewhat but nothing near as bad as it was. I also suffer from arthritis, and like Navigating said after carrying this weight around for most of my life some damage is done that can't be repaired completely. Naturally I ask myself if I would have gotten the surgery done a few years ago would I have avoided all the pain from the sciatica because it got worse as my weight went up. The one thing you listed that would be of concern is the acid reflux. Do some searches for that and GERD on here and you'll get a lot of threads on that topic. Some people choose to go with a bypass over the sleeve if they have reflux issues. It's something you would want to discuss with your surgeon to help decide which procedure would be best. Despite having some complications after surgery I have no regrets and wish I would have done this years ago when I first started considering WLS.

I have days where I feel the same. Despite not being able to eat large quantities I can eat and feel hungry an hour later. We had our surgeries on the same day so I can relate to what you're going through. It's much more of a problem when I'm home on the weekends. At work during the week it doesn't bother me so much, but when I'm home working on the computer and/or in front of the TV the old snacking habits come back hard. I've come to learn that head hunger is and always will be something I'm going to battle. You did mention in an older post that you were having a hard time saying no to ice cream of chocolate. Are you managing that okay or still allowing those things to creep back into your diet? I also agree with @OutsideMatchInside that if you are fighting hunger pangs to try to go do something else for 5-10 minutes. I do that at work as much as I can. If it's just to get up from my desk and go walk in the plant for a few minutes it gets my mind off of it.

I had some complications from my surgery and ran a fever for nearly two weeks. Mine did the same and hovered just over 100 degrees. The two things my doc warned about were heart rate or temperature over 100. It can be signs of a potential leak or infection, but sometimes our bodies are just working overtime trying to heal. Eventually the elevated temperature dropped back to normal and that was that. It's something to continue to monitor but try not to fret about it. I know that's easier said than done! Drink, walk, and rest. Soon enough you'll be back to normal.

At that point I was around 800 calories a day. Now I try to stay in the 800-1000 calorie range. I was finding that keeping my calories too low was hindering my weight loss.

Look at Celebrate. They have a wide range of chewables geared for bariatric patients.

Awesome progress! Congrats!

Yes, not getting your protein in will impact your weight loss and mess your metabolism up. I had little to no desire to eat for the first few weeks. I only ate because I needed fuel for my body. If food isn't interesting to you yet then at least get your protein shakes in. Remember that 60g is basically the bare minimum. You want to hit that every day for sure but try to stay above that if you can. It'll take some time to dial things in and figure out where your happy medium is. Just keep trying new foods and find a few healthy go-tos until you're appetite returns. This will all pass in time.

There's way too much tendency for people to claim you're going to stretch your sleeve/pouch from having a single soda or too large of meal one time. That's now how it works. If you're cramming down as much as you can day after day after day and making yourself feel miserable then sure, you're probably going to stretch things out to an extent, but there's no way in hell you're going to double it in size over night. Eating too fast or taking too large of a bite can make you seriously ill/miserable as you've just experienced. Chalk it up to lesson learned and move on.

Ditto this. Surgery is merely a tool. How it's used is ultimately up to you. It honestly isn't as difficult to bypass your new stomach if you really want to. Slider foods are easy to abuse if you choose to. You may not be able to eat an entire chicken breast but you could pack away the Cheetos no problem. You're doing it the right way though - too many people get the surgery without addressing the issue of food addiction. Like Air said this is something I now wish I would have done years ago. It isn't a walk in the park and requires a lot of hard work, but it is worth it in the end. Best of luck to you.

I'm going tonight for a consult with one of the artists I see. Just a smaller leg piece so it won't be in an area that I have to worry about. My bigger concern with getting new work done was being able to get enough in food wise to help combat the fatigue from sitting. I usually sit like a champ but my last leg work tapped me out due to a lot of interruptions we had. This should only be a 2 hour piece so hoping it won't be so bad before I get back to working on my other leg that's going to be a half sleeve.

Forgot to mention as to helping curb temptations try to find a non-carbonated drink that you can substitute when you get a bad urge. I get my "fix" of sorts by getting a Propel water or Powerade Zero. It's not the same but since I don't drink those that often these days they seem like a treat. I also will do a mix of Crystal Light and Diet Cranberry (or Cran-Grape) - something like 3/4 of a glass of apple flavored Crystal Light and 1/4 cranberry. It's low cals/carbs but tastes good and treat myself to that every so often.