etc. etc. etc.

Six weeks-ish, I guess.

I tried the BA berry to see if they were less gross than the orange and they are much, much worse. I'm choking them down every day, but I hate 'em.

WOO HOO! As of my doctor's appointment, I no longer have high blood pressure and am no longer pre-diabetic! And, I have an appointment in early November with my pulmonologist to see if they can take me off my CPAP machine. Plenty more weight to lose, but my health has improved dramatically already.

Dr. Rantis from the Kane Center did mine. Yours?

I'm down juuuust short of 60 pounds since I started this. (Including the 2 week pre-op diet.) Seven weeks since sleeved, no major stalls. I'm sticking to 700-850 calories a day, 90-110 grams of protein a day, <60 g of carbs a day. I walk/hike around 10 miles a week, which I am actually starting to love. The 'burbs here in Chicago are full of public woods with trails. I walk a slightly different path nearly every day. BEST OF ALL: as of today, I can eat solid foods. I actually started a bit last night. My family made a sort of pizza bread thing and I had about 160 calories worth of that. Tonight, I want to have... a tomato. Seriously... it's been killing me watching my family rave over the amazing tomatoes in season and not be able to have one.

One of my co-workers finally noticed I was losing weight today. Outside of the people I'd actually told I was having the surgery, no one had noticed or said anything at all. And I'd lost 56 pounds, so that was kind of disappointing. I didn't give them a number though, I just said something about having bought jeans that actually fit. I don't really want the idiots I work with scoreboard watching my weight, you know?

I get to start mushy foods tomorrow and I am stoked. The ricotta bake was nice and soft scrambled eggs were okay, but I'm ready to eat something new. I'm continuing to track positively everything I eat and drink (even sugar free gum, even vitamins, even hot tea) on MyFitnessPal and it does help. There are days where I get a little carried away early in the day and it helps to know I need to have a lower calorie or lower carb dinner. It's extraordinarily helpful in tracking protein, too. Plus--and let's be real here--all of us going down this road have WAY too much anxiety on our hands and spend INSANE amounts of time thinking and worrying about it. Having the food journaling as a little obsessive place I can focus some of that nervous energy is probably a good thing.

I agree with Kristen 117. Don't let a slight uptick in daily weighing throw you off. Our bodies are weird and do weird stuff on a day-to-day basis. If it's bugging you too much, maybe switch to weighing yourself once a week for a while.

Are you eating anything with "sugar alcohol" aka xylitol, sorbitol, etc.? That stuff was like the express train to Diarrhea Town before getting sleeved. I bet with a tiny pouch for a stomach, it would mess you up.

I keep hoping the next update to this thread will be Tiff saying the cloud has lifted and she feels better.

You know that last step in teaching a kid to ride a bike, where you take the training wheels off and hold their bike steady at the seat while you run along with them? I couldn't run more than 25 or 30 feet before getting winded. The guy next door helped my son and was there next to him when he finally took off on with no training wheels. Well, that and the two days the elevator was down at work. I work on the fourth floor and had to climb one floor higher so I could sit where no one I work with could see me while I caught my breath before stepping out onto our floor.

This is going to sound really goofy, but it helped: the hospital I had my surgery at gave me a teddy bear named "Bari Bear." He's kind of firm and mostly flat along the back. I was told to hold him against my stomach while coughing. It totally helped, as without it, a good cough felt like my guts were going to pop out. It's been helping me find a comfortable position to sleep in, too, as I sleep on my sides and having that stupid little bear squeezed up against me made my stomach feel supported instead of splayed out. You could maybe achieve the same thing with a firm pillow, though.

I told the bare minimum of people at work. I did tell my boss, but just so she'd understand why I suddenly had eleven doctor's appointments in two months. It was good too, because by telling her, she okayed me using sick days for my time off rather than vacation. Everyone else I just told I was taking two days off. My co-workers haven't noticed a thing. I've lost forty pounds (between the surgery and the pre-op diet) and they literally have not noticed. I guess they're not that attentive. This is good, as I have zero interest in having a bunch of discussions with them about this. My mom is still around and I have three brothers, all married. I decided to tell my mom but not my brothers. One of them is an effortlessly skinny running nut who wouldn't understand, another is married to a woman who is pretty heavy but is convinced she can Pinterest and Blue Apron her way out of it. The youngest is a good guy, but his wife is very heavy and I don't want to create a situation where there is any pressure on her (Real or imagined) to do the same thing. I told my more trusted friends, as it came up, but I didn't do a big announcement or anything. I'm going to a concert with a buddy I haven't seen since June this October and I guess he'll be surprised to see so much less of me.

In Chicago, Lou Malnati's makes a "low carb" version of its deep dish pizza that skips the crust and has sausage as its bottom. It's fatty as all hell still, but it doesn't have much carbs at all. A few months down the road, when I can eat different stuff (I'm only starting purees tomorrow) I intend to order the smallest possible one and eat a single piece for a meal.

My wife said my favorite jeans were getting loose, so I tried them without the belt. They're easily 3 or 4 inches too big. I went to order new ones, and found that the size I want is the smallest one the Big & Tall jeans I'd been wearing even make. I think I'm going to hold out another few weeks and see if I can buy non-Big&Tall jeans for the first time in years. I've lost around 40 pounds between the pre-op and the first two weeks after surgery. I start purees tomorrow, which I am both excited about and dreading.

I just got sleeved on 8/18. I seemed to heal pretty quickly and the pain wasn't that bad, I was back to work within 5 days. My energy level is a little low and I'm really, really tired of liquids, but I'm doing okay. I lost about 26 pounds on the pre-op diet and another 11 since then. I came in at below 300 this morning, which was a welcome sight. Anyway, nice to meet everybody! I'll be around...

I haven't moved to even purees yet. I'm a little nervous because when it comes to liquids, I feel zero limitations. Even with shakes. I can drink eight ounces in 15 minutes, no big deal. Not sure how more solid food will go over Maybe I will eat too much because it's just as easy? Maybe it will suddenly finally be hard and it will be a rude awakening. No idea and that freaks me out a little.

I exercise about five or six hours a week, but just walking. I walk during my lunch hour and a little around the park on weekends. There's a nature trail a few minutes from my work and I drive there and walk for about 20-30 minutes then back. I wish there was a route where I could go in a circle le instead of doubling back, but it's at least nice to be outside. Other days, I walk through the rich neighborhood nearby. Nice houses to look at if nothing else. I haven't tried to do anything strenuous yet but I'm a week or so behind you.

I had my sleeve 8/18. I was hurting at the hospital, but it cleared up the next morning and I still go to go home. I had blurry vision (a side effect of anaesthesia I am told) for a few days and some soreness, but I think I was lucky overall. My biggest thing is I'm just sick to death of liquids. I would like to eat anything else. Purees had sounded gross to me, but I've read some good ideas here and between that and how bored I am of liquids, I am ready.

Hang in there. There are a lot of parts of this that are hard. This week, I've been fantasizing about a BLT sandwich. My wife said, would you even want bacon right now if you could have it? Ugh, no. I would hurl. Bread/ Nope. Tomatoes or lettuce? No, not yet. Then why do I think about it? Because after a bunch of broth and protein shakes, I'd kill to eat something with more than one part, where all of the parts had separate flavors! I'm sorry you're feeling left out socially. That sucks. But this is the hard part. It gets easier and easier as it goes... Or so they say. You'll find out soon and I will not long after... Sending you good thoughts.

Unjury does not seem to taste at all. I found it recommended elsewhere here and am very pleased.

I had Dr. Rantis as well. His group is terrific and very organized. They're organized enough that everything sort of rolls along. The way they do things requires you to pay attention, do your part, and stay organized, but they're very nice and they have your back. As for the surgery itself, I was out of the hospital the day after surgery, I was able to go back to my office job the very next Tuesday, and eight days in, my wounds are almost totally healed. No major side effects, minimum pain, really quick rebound. Dr. Rantis knows his stuff.

Best of luck for tomorrow!

I told my boss (so she'd know why I suddenly had so many doctor's appointments), my two best friends at work, and the lady who handles days off requests (so she'd know why I was scheduling sick days in advance). They kept things under control for me. I had my surgery Friday and got out of the hospital the very next day. They considered keeping me an extra night, then my pain level went way down and they turned me loose. I made it back to work for half days by the very next Tuesday and Wednesday, and worked full days Thursday and Friday. I have an office job, so it wasn't so bad for me to get back. It's been about a week and a half now and my wounds have healed almost entirely. My stomach doesn't hurt, but it's grumbly and perpetually adjusting and sort of odd-feeling. I'm pretty private, too. The quick recovery time definitely made it easier for me to slip this by the co-workers of mine I wouldn't want to discuss this with.

What is your number of carbs per day, on average? If you substantially increase your carbs, I think you can have a period where your body retains some extra water and it obscures underlying weight loss.