orionburn

How in the hell did your doc not go over this with you already!? Oi... Daily goals (minimum) are 60 oz of protein and 64 oz of water. I like to have my protein more at 80g a day but that isn't as easy to do in the beginning. Invest in some better protein powder or drinks as well. The package should say how many grams of protein are in a single serving. Some of the premade stuff has a lot of empty calories/carbs. guessing the Atkins ones may not be so bad, though, but never used them. There's a lot of debate on this, but a good rule of thumb is to keep it to no more than 30g of protein in a serving. The reason for the debate is that some studies show anything over 30g is basically wasted. Better to try and spread your protein out over the course of the day.

A sleeve should stretch to an extent, but I wouldn't think that much unless they didn't remove as much as the stretchy part of the stomach as they should have. Stranger things have happened. Have you tried logging your food for a week to actually see where you're at? Having a drink or two every once in awhile is one thing, but if it's a regular part of your life now it can add a lot of empty calories. Also keep in mind head hunger will always be something we battle. Granted it has to be frustrating to not feel as full with smaller portions, but remember that used to get you buy. What bothers me is the part where you say you can "each as much as my friends" followed up with saying you get severe cramps. Is this happening when you're matching how much you eat compared to friends? Slider foods can make it appear that you can eat way more than you should. Times like this it's best to sit down and be honest about a daily diet. Log everything you have in a day and find out exactly where you're at. You don't have to make it public, but don't kid yourself on the portions you're having. Meaning don't log that you had 4 oz of lean chicken when you ate half of a deep fried chicken!

Went through the same thing. Won't lie...that phase sucked. My favorite drink mixes tasted terrible. The best tasting protein I ever had was now awful. And my formally tasty chewable vitamins made me want to gag. Good news is that it's short term, but makes it rough starting out. Focus on the fluids. Get a big variety of drinks to have on hand: Propel waters, Powerade Zero, Mio, even popsicles. Anything that is sugar free should be fine. I know I didn't get my protein in all the time because I hated the taste of it all and had no interest in food. Powerade and popsicles were the only thing I remotely liked.

Went through the same thing. First few weeks (and even months) were rough at times. Any prolonged sitting absolutely killed me. It's a common thing to happen for whatever weird reason. I've weighed less in my life and didn't have that problem, but for whatever reason that time after surgery was painful. I broke down and got one of those tailbone relief cushions (coccyx pad). It didn't solve it but provided some relief. At some point the pain started to get better and finally went away. It is a literal pain in the ass...lol

Personally I think 2 weeks minimum, but it's all guesswork depending on (a) your job and (b) how well you do with surgery. Time off is not only to rest/recover but to also learn how to use your new stomach. Dehydration is such a concern in the early stages and once you get behind you're in trouble. My doc's biggest concern is that we'd get right back to work, get caught up in a busy day and then you're rushing to eat and forget to get your fluids in. I mean we're all guilty of doing speed lunches where we shoved as much food into our mouths in as short as time as possible in order to get back to work. You simply can't do that after surgery. I went back to work after 2 1/2 weeks but had a desk job. I wasn't that sore by then but was still fighting a lot of exhaustion. When I told work I would need time off I told them to plan for 2 weeks minimum but ther was the potential to 3-4 depending on how things went.

Figured it's time to post some damned photos. Yesterday was my one year surgiversary. Before photo is morning of surgery. I was down to 318 at the time of surgery. When I started my journey I was 354 and 336 at the start of the 2 week pre-op diet. Currently coming in at 232. Ways to go yet and things have slowed down a lot in the past few months, but I'm okay with that. My main reason for having WLS was due to chronic sciatica that was destroying my life and thankfully I feel like I have it back again. I'm not the poster child for WLS but still happy with where I've gotten to in the past year. Btw...my after shirt is really too big on me and hate that it makes me look like I still have a huge gut. I'm not brave enough to post the shirtless photos...lol

One way to look at it is like this: let's say you manage to get 8 hours of sleep each night, so you're awake 16 hours in a day. To get 64 oz in that means 4 oz an hour. Break that down further to a goal of 1 oz every 15 minutes. That being said sometimes it's easier than done. Other times you may have no issues at all and can drink a bit more than that. My NUT said if needed to get a little timer and set it to go off for every 15 minutes as a reminder to stay on pace. What I did was reuse a 32 oz Powerade bottle. That way I knew my goal was to have drank one of those by the middle of the day, and then have the second one finished by bedtime. I kept it by my bedside as well. Figured if I woke up in the middle of the night might as well get some in while the going was good...lol. For what it's worth my doc said to count your protein shakes towards your daily fluid intake if you're struggling, but goal should be to have 64 oz of water on top of your protein. IMO better to be a bit short on your protein than risk getting dehydrated if you're really struggling.

Everyone has a different story. Some feel like they could return to a normal life within a day or two. Many others needed 2-4 weeks off to fully heal and be back to normal. Unfortunately there is just no way of knowing how you'll do. Part of the time off isn't simply to heal. It's to focus on getting all your fluids & protein in which can be difficult in the early stages. If you return to a job where you are limited on when you can drink it can be difficult to keep up. Basically once you get behind it can be difficult if not impossible to get caught up. Your new stomach isn't going to allow you to down a bunch of water in short order to get hydrated. You have to make the effort to stay on top of things, so that being said it isn't impossible. I used to work retail part time so depending on the job and time of day I know it can get pretty nuts. I've been under a few times so this wasn't anything really new to me. Once they start the anesthesia you'll be out quick, and then it's really like waking up from a deep sleep. Again, some wake up with little to no pain, others experience quite a bit of discomfort (normally from all the gas they use during surgery). It will likely be a few days of discomfort but well worth it in the long run IMO. It took me about a month where I felt normal again. I returned to work after 2 1/2 weeks but I have a desk job so it was easier for me to adjust. My energy levels were really low for the first month but in time got better.

Hi all. I haven't posted since the morning of my surgery. Unfortunately I was one of those where things didn't go oh-so-smoothly for me. This isn't meant to be a discouraging post but my tale and where I am at. I had my sleeve done on the morning of January 25th. Everything up to the point of surgery had gone swimmingly. When I awoke in recovery I was in a tremendous amount of pain and nausea. I do not do well with anesthesia so waking up was doubly difficult. While I do not suffer from sleep apnea my breathing was irregular and if I would start to drift off to sleep I would stop breathing. I ended up being in recovery for probably 6-8 hours. As to the surgery itself my doctor said things went perfect. Liver was tip top and the time of surgery went quickly. When I got to my room the discomfort continued. What complicated things further was that the pain meds seemed to be making me nauseousness all the more. Getting fluids down was really difficult. My stomach must have been seriously swollen because any amount of Fluid seemed to sit at the top of my stomach and gave me terrible heartburn. Thursday continued to be a difficult day. The nausea continued and got so bad to where I wretched a few times although there was nothing to come up. By Thursday night things had started to improve slightly, but on Friday things went downhill yet again. I had fallen asleep in my reclining chair and awoke around noon with terrible pain and cramps in my left side and shoulder. Then suffered another wretching bout on top of it. As time passed the pain increased and moved to the center of my chest. Breathing became difficult and painful. The concern was a leak or internal bleeding so they took me down to do a CT scan. Scan showed that it appeared my spleen had decided to spring a leak. Good news is that it was not a continual bleed but I had blood in my abdomen. By the time I got back to my room the chest pain increased and breathing was rapid and shallow. At this point the pulled me out of my room and sent me down to ICU to try and stabilize me. The next 18 hours were scary and painful. By Saturday I was starting to feel slightly better with a reduction in chest pain and breathing became easier. I got the all clear to go back to my original room, but by that time the floor was full and they had no bed for me. So I was essentially stuck in ICU for almost a day longer than I needed to be. By the time I got into a room on my original floor it was Sunday evening. My luck seemed to be on a crash course as the heating was malfunctioning and all of the rooms were well over 80s degrees. Sleep Sunday night was minimal and miserable. Come Monday morning my doc told me that he wanted me to stay yet another day for observation. At this point I was ready to jump out the 12th floor window of my room as being in the hospital was taking its toll on me. On Tuesday I felt the best I had. Sadly my heartbeat was still elevated and temp was over 100, but my hemoglobin was showing normal again which pointed to the internal bleed being gone. At the last second I thought they were going to change their minds and keep me again but my doc gave me the okay to go home. Total time was 6 nights and 7 days in the hospital. I'm now home and doing better, but far from being out of the woods. My temp continues to bounce around at 100 degrees and heartbeat is about 100-110. I wanted to give myself a solid day of rest at home as the hospital stay was making me a wreck, plus the heat problem made the last 36 hours all the worse. Getting fluids down is now a piece of cake. Still have no appetite at all, and cool drinks are all I want. I've actually gained weight but that's due to being pumped full of so may fluids while at the hospital. At this point in time weight loss is the last thing I'm worried about. Still having some pain but it's bearable, and the meds I'm on aren't causing nausea which is a Godsend. Still pretty scared about the temp/heartbeat and that it could be a sign of infection. The wretching bouts I had left me worried that I had done some damage, but my stomach seems to be happy at the moment. Put a call into my doc this afternoon to update but haven't heard back from them yet so I'll follow up again tomorrow. Hoping another decent night's sleep will help get me over the hump to a full recovery. Could definitely use some well wishes right now. Was feeling horribly discouraged at the hospital but so thankful to be back at home.

Today is my one year surgiversary so I thought I'd blow the dust off of this thread. I had my one year meeting with my doc yesterday and everything is going along smoothly despite a hell of a start to this journey! Like a dummy I forgot to take photos this morning to mark the occasion so I'll have to do that tonight. When I first started taking a serious look into WLS in May of 2016 I was back up to 354 lbs. I had to do a 6 month program due to insurance. I was at 336lbs starting my 2 week liquid diet, and 318 on the day of surgery. This morning I weighed in at 232. That puts me down 86 lbs since surgery and 122 lbs total lost. I still got a good ways to go and weight loss has slowed down significantly in the past three months. Lousy weather has kept me from walking much and it's been difficult to get to the gym. Doc asked me yesterday if I'd do it all over again and without hesitation I said yes. Even with the rough start I've done more and felt better in the past year than I had the previous 3-4 years combined. Little bummed that I didn't reach my "goal" weight of 225 lbs. Now realizing that isn't really a goal weight any longer. In the coming months I hope to get some more fat off and replace it with muscle to get evened out a bit. Anyway, it's been a hell of year and glad I did.

Second guessing kicks into overdrive around this point for many. I felt the same at this stage. Even though I did have some minor complications and a bit rougher start I have no regrets on my surgery. As someone else on here once told me you made this decision to have WLS when you were in a clear and rational state of mind. You've weighed out the pros and cons and decided this was what was best for you and your health. Right now is the nervous phase so it's normal to question things. Keep in mind a lot of people will have surgery and never say anything about it, or they did have some issues and get on here for help. That may tend to skew your perception on things and make it seem as if complications run rampant. Even if you have some minor pain and discomfort in the beginning it's generally short lived and in no time you'll be back to normal. Good luck to you!

I'm a year out and chicken can still kick my butt at times. Much more so than other meats. If it's shredded chicken I can manage that fine, but eating a chicken breast is more difficult. As Cree said small bites is key. You say you're having troubles but what exactly is the issue? Is it a matter of not feeling well after you eat meats?

Most of us had nerves that were shot leading up to surgery. You're far from alone. I've had surgery before so going under didn't really phase me or concern me, but not knowing what to expect waking up was the scary part. The morning of surgery I was nervous, but at the same time ready to be done with it. After doing a 6 month program (and other delays) and then the last 2 weeks with the pre-op diet I was wanting it to be finished. Everyone has a different story to tell. For some it's a walk in the park. For others it was a tough few weeks. Comes down to hope for the best, prepare for the worst. You'll find very few people that truly regret their surgery. It does happen, and my heart goes out to those folks, but luckily for most it's a relatively short period of discomfort for a long road of feeling better. That gave me peace of mind that so many in this community were thankful to have gone through it. Even some of those that did have some complications yet had no regrets (myself included).

I'd have to say 3 for me. Despite some complications on my third day it was pretty rough as it were. Looking back I think half my misery was due to not reacting well to pain meds, but I was also having a hard time getting fluids in. When I finally got home six days later I was still fighting an elevated heart rate & temperature along with extreme fatigue. First two weeks were not a lot of fun but things did get better. That being said I have no regrets. Not saying I'd want to do it all over again, but it was worth it.

Yes, had a horrible time the first few weeks. My prolonged hospital stay jacked my sleep schedule up something fierce. I basically went 6 days without ever being able to sleep for more than 2 hours straight. Once I was back home I'd wake up about 2 a.m. and then be awake for the rest of the night. I never took anything for it and eventually my sleep cycle got back to normal.

There's more truth to this than we'd like to admit. Many of obsess about that "Dammit I should have had THAT as my last meal and now I regeret it!" I realized during my pre-op diet that if I would have gotten that fix I would have started chasing another. It would have been a case of "that was pretty good but what I should have gotten was..." That was my come to Jesus moment and my relationship with food. Don't think of this phase as a food funeral. Some things I've given up, and you know what? It really isn't that big of a deal like you think it will be. I used to think my social life was over when I gave up smoking years ago. I couldn't fathom doing anything without being able to smoke. And, no big surprise, life went on just fine. Hang in there. This is a tough phase but remember it sets you up better for surgery. A few days of toughing it out is worth it for the other side. Keep that in your mind that the better you do now the better/safer your surgery will go and you will be more mentally ready on the flip side. Good luck!

1) It's not as big a deal as you think. I've been out with friends and if I only have water it isn't the end of the world. I used to think it was impossible to have fun in a social setting without being able to smoke (back when I did) and came to realize life goes just fine. I do have a beer from time to time. It takes a long time to get one down so you end up nursing a glass for quite awhile. The other issue is that it is really hard to try and have a beer at a meal. Simply isn't enough room for both. Wine is a bit easier to work with since there isn't any carbonation. Point is you'll find a way to make it work 2) It really comes down to the individual. Some are able to get back to normal quicker than others. I'd say the majority can safely return to a moderate gym life after the first month. You'll have to listen to your body and go from there. As long as you're hitting your protein goals and getting your vitamins in you shouldn't have much to worry about. It may take some fiddling with your diet to make sure you are getting enough calories in. You have to kind of decide what you want to do - focus on adding muscle back on and slightly slower weight loss, or maintaining current muscle mass and focusing on getting the weight off. Not that both can't happen at the same time but I'm a believer that focusing on one is better for the long run. 3) This one I can't help much on. My usual response is "I'm good, thanks" and leave it at that. I haven't had anyone be that pushy with me. I'm also not shy about my surgery. Frankly don't care what they think so if I get in that situation where someone is relentless I'll mention it and then let it go.

The main downside to cheating is that when you do you're reseting the clock so to speak. The pre-op diet is meant to be low carb and get your body into a state of ketosis. If you introduce carbs back into your diet then you're stopping that process. It may take 2-7 days to enter back into that state. Mind you everyone is different. That being said I wouldn't worry that much, but stay strong the final few days. Keep that in mind that the better you do for just a few more days the better it sets you up in the long run for the other side. It's tough but you can do it!

Really? That's surprising. Sometimes switching over to a low carb diet takes a few days for it to kick in. I suppose I'm lucky in that I shed a few pounds rather quickly starting out before it starts to taper off. Any idea of where you're at with your carb intake for a day?

Yep. Had that exact same thing happen when I would yawn. Don't know if I would describe it as stabbing, but was painful. I just attributed it to pressure getting put on the surgery points when taking in a deep breath from yawning. Eventually it tapered off and went away.

Follow the standard 2 week liquid/pre-op diet and you're pretty much guaranteed to lose weight. I lost 18 lbs in those 2 weeks. Isn’t a walk in the park, but it’s what many of us are required to do leading up to surgery.

Been in a stall for 2 months and haven't been able to get the scale to move again until this week. Starting tracking my food again in greater detail. Realized that I was starting to get a lot of empty calories/carbs from little things. Went back to trying to get my carbs down to 40g or less a day. It's amazing how quickly your carbs can add up. Those 5 croutons I had in my salad are worth 5-6g of carbs. That creamer in my morning coffee is worth another 5-6g. That fat free salad dressing was worth another 15g of carbs. Carbs apparently hate me with a passion because they screw with my weight loss more than anything else. I'm also focusing on getting more water and making sure I've getting my vitamins in (I admit I've horribly forgetful lately). With the few tweaks that I've made this week I'm down 3-4 lbs already. Granted some of that is that issue weight loss rush of getting back to low carbing. I fully expect it to slow down but hopefully maintain a loss of at least 1-2 lbs a week. Part of my problem is that the weather has really put a hamper on my walking. I cannot deal with the cold like I used to since I lost so much of my insulation. Trying to make it to the gym at least twice a week but has proven difficult lately. Edit: Also have gone back to adding in a protein drink once a day. I was hitting 60-70g of protein a day but am trying to get it back up to around 100g total.

This is a myth. The "reset" is to get you back on track with a proper diet. It isn't going to magically make your sleeve smaller. The stretchy part of your stomach is what gets removed. Your new stomach IS supposed to stretch out to an extent over time and you should be able to eat more. You also need to be more specific. What constitues a meal for you? What are you eating? Have you introduced slider foods back into your diet? Is the issue of eating too large of a portion or being able to eat another "meal" 1-2 hours after your last meal? There are key differences here. I wish I could recall the member that originally posted this, but they put up a picture similar to this. So many people were saying it's impossible to eat all of that being a year out. Actually, it isn't as hard as you think. If you start on the potatoes first I could get all of those down and my chicken and some of the veggies. Now flip that around. If I start on the chicken first I'd likely get some of the veggies or potatoes, but that's it. Why? Because I started with the denser protein first. Think of it like this - you're trying to fill a hole with some freshly made cement and some hunks of rock to at as a filler. You can do it two different ways. One way is to pour the cement in first and then throw some chunks of rock into it. The other way is to put all the chunks in first and then pour in the cement. The difference? You'll likely get more of each in by starting with the cement first because it's going to fill all those little voids up. If you started with the rocks the cement may not be able to reach all those little spots or ever reach the bottom. This is a broad overview but do you understand the relationship? It's important to get a good understanding of slider foods and how they work. It isn't to paint the picture that all slider foods are bad for you. I consider yogurt to be a slider food because it's a liquid at room temperature. It's going to break down and go through your system much faster than 4 oz of chicken.

Energy wise the first month was really difficult for me. I'm not much of a napper, but I felt exhausted all the time. Walking is helpful for the healing process and exercise is important, but I didn't stress much about exercising for the first few weeks. I got off to a rough start so my focus was on healing first and avoiding any further complications. If your doc isn't overly concerned at this point that's a good thing. I wish there was a solid answer to your struggles, and it sounds like a cop-out excuse, but the truth is we all react differently. It may be taking longer for your stomach & brain to work together again. After surgery things are in chaos and those signals are all messed up. It is frustrating when a baby spoon full of food can make the difference of being satisfied vs feeling miserable. My suggestion is to keep doing what you're doing. Measure your food and stick to that. Eventually you should be able to add in another spoonful and not be bothered. Stick to that for awhile and then try increasing again. This is difficult phase to go through for a lot of us. The full sensations will come in time. Just keep in mind that with liquids and soft foods like applesauce and yogurt won't typically give you a full feeling as they pass through your system quicker. I had zero appetite in the early days and ate because I needed to, not because I wanted to. Things will start to come together soon. Hang in there!

Completely agree. I have come to pay much more attention to how much creamer I use in my coffee. For me it isn't the calories but the carbs. It's way too easy to get 10g of carbs in my to-go mug if I'm using a regular creamer. If I'm having 2-3 of those a day then I've added in a lot of empty carbs.