t1018ross

Yes! And remember, this is just as much of a mental effort as a physical one. In fact, I would say the mental part affects your success more than the physical part. I used food as a reward system, a coping mechanism, and it was a huge part of my social and family life. I didn't realize just how much I depended on food for various things until I no longer was able to do it. It's HARD but so worth it.

I totally understand your reservations. And I agree, there isn't enough discussion on the negative side of WLS. I had the sleeve surgery May 7, 2018 and for the first 6 weeks or so I regretted it. I didn't have any complications. My problem was it hurt so bad to eat anything or drink fluids for much longer than I anticipated. I got depressed and felt like I had made a horrible mistake. I couldn't tolerate the protein shakes or anything with artificial sweeteners. I wasn't able to get enough fluids in and the chewable vitamins made me nauseous. It was rough for a while. Plus, I also had this totally unreasonable anger that I couldn't eat what I wanted to anymore. I was grieving my "breakup" with food and it was hard. At 8 weeks post-op, I finally turned a corner. I could finally eat solid food and my stomach didn't cramp at every bite. I was able to swallow whole vitamins instead of having to use chewables. And I finally got some energy back and felt like exercising. All of this made a HUGE difference. I'm so happy I chose to have the surgery. I've lost almost 50 pounds and feel so much better. My advice is to understand that the healing process is hard even if you don't have any complications but to remember that it won't feel like that forever. This site helped me tremendously. Good luck to you and I hope you realize all your goals!

I started eating nuts at 8 weeks with no problem. I know they can be a slider food for some but they definitely aren't for me. Just be careful how many you eat the first time to see how your sleeve handles it. They fill me up very quickly.

I'm in nursing school and on my OR rotation before my surgery, I got to watch 2 sleeve surgeries. The staple tool is fascinating. It's amazing that it can cut and staple both sides at the same time. After the surgery, the surgeon opened up the stomach for the students to look at. Really cool seeing all the rugae inside.

So. Much. Truth.

I treat my myself to a pedicure every now and then instead of using food as a reward. Very relaxing!

Peanut butter made me feel sick too in the early weeks. I'm almost 10 weeks out now and can eat it now but I don't usually have it. I think it might have been the consistency that bothered me.

Um, your response is incredibly rude. You don't know me AT ALL. How could you possibly get from my original post that I have an alcohol dependence problem?? I gave you ONE day of information and not even full information of what I ate, just the calories. I had white wine, on one night. Not a nightly thing at all. I've read a lot of your posts and they've always been friendly and you've always given good advice or feedback to questions. I'm truly shocked and disappointed by your judgmental response.

Thank you for your response. It makes a lot of sense. I'm not planning on drinking every night, but it is nice to drink every now and then. I wasn't a heavy drinker before surgery and don't plan on becoming one now. I have read about the transfer addictions. Your information makes a lot of sense as to why we shouldn't drink (at least at first). Thank you!

I agree with you, which is why I tried it at home and waited the 30 minutes after eating before drinking any. One glass definitely made me more tipsy than it used to. I'm just curious as to how it affects weight loss. I enjoy drinking wine and have missed it more than coffee! Lol. It would be nice to be able to drink it occasionally without the guilt that I'm ruining my weight loss and sleeve.

I'm so sorry you're in this situation. I don't have any info regarding your insurance and how you can qualify for surgery but I do have a similar story to your's regarding the fusion. I had a fusion of L4/L5 3 years ago, I weighed around 215 and was 5' 4". My surgeon told me skinny people did better with back surgery. After the fusion, I walked my neighborhood and lost 15 pounds. My fusion was successful and I felt great and like I was on the right path. Well, a few months later I had to have a hysterectomy and couldn't be active for 6 weeks. I gained the weight back plus some. I'm also in school so I spent a lot of time sitting and studying. I got up to 234 before I had even heard of the gastric sleeve surgery. I'm in nursing school now and need to be able to be on my feet for 12 hour shifts. My weight was causing significant issues with my back and doing clinicals. All of this to say that doing the weight loss surgery has helped me tremendously and I would recommend doing it. Getting the weight off my back has helped me so much. Good luck to you and I hope everything works out!

I had to have clear liquids the day before surgery too. My instructions didn't say anything about certain flavors so I would imagine you could have any flavor. I would call your surgeon's office though to confirm. Good luck and I hope everything goes well!

That looks incredible. Will definitely have to try it out!

Your sleeve isn't ready for whole meats yet. Have you tried canned tuna or shredded chicken? Soft, flaky fish? With my plan, I wasn't allowed regular foods until 7 weeks. Weeks 4-6 were pureed foods only. Have you called your surgeon? You need to reach out to your team and NUT before this spirals out of control any further. I understand your disappointment. And dealing with hunger is HARD. Mine has started to come back along with old habits of wanting to snack all day. I try to find some activity to do instead of snacking when I'm not really hungry. Hope you can find a solution and get back on track!

I'll second that it does get better! I wasn't expecting all the emotional stuff after surgery. It was not fun and I regretted my sleeve for the first 4 weeks or so. I'm 8 weeks out now and my stomach is healed and I'm on regular food and feel SO much better. Starting to have more energy and feel normal again. Hang in there, the first month while your stomach is healing is the worst.

The mental aspect of all of this is the hardest for me. I didn't expect that at all. Learning how to cope with stress without food or alcohol has been hard too. And stalls! The scale makes me crazy but I can't stay away from it!

So. Much Truth. I needed to hear this too! I'm on vacation right now and have been hating myself for eating a quarter of a roll at dinner last night. It's crazy when you really think about it. One quarter of a roll (hell, a whole roll) is not going to derail my weight loss or stretch my stomach. Before surgery I would have eaten 3 or 4, LOL.

I was very discouraged when I got home too. I was so tired and very sore. It does get better! The first couple of weeks can be really hard. This forum helped me tremendously. I'll be 7 weeks post-op Monday and I feel like I've really turned a corner the past couple of days. I hope you start feeling better soon!

Try sucking on some ice instead. Basically the same idea as the sugar free popsicles mentioned above. I loved the hospital ice, it was perfect.

Yes! The first time I tried one (soft scrambled) it gave me so much pain I couldn't eat anything else the rest of the day. It's gotten better since then but they can still cause pain.

My NUT told me to count it as 17 grams of protein, not 30, but that otherwise it was ok to use. I've been struggling with finding a protein shake I can tolerate. Genepro is the first one I've found that works for me.

Can you wait until closer to the time you will need them? I'm in nursing school too. Was sleeved on May 7. We have our summers off so I don't start back until August 14. All of my school scrubs don't fit now. I'm going to wait until the end of July/beginning of August to buy more.

I'm just over 6 weeks out. Saw my nutritionist yesterday and asked her how many calories I should be getting and she said the 450/day was fine. The only limits she gave were to stay under 50 grams of carbs and hit my protein goal. I don't see how I can get in more calories at this point and still follow my doctor's plan. I'm not meeting my protein goal so I know that's contributing to my fatigue.

I'm 6 weeks out and mine makes all kinds of crazy noises whenever I eat. It's so loud my husband hears it!

How are you getting all the calories in? I can't seem to get more than 450 and I'm exhausted all the time. But my stomach hurts every time I eat and I have a lot of restriction. I think I'd feel better with more calories. Can you give an example of what your food intake is like in a day?