Hop_Scotch

I had gotten all the way to 57 without ever having surgery or being in hospital. Neither were as terrible as I thought they would be!

Your recovery is going well and sounds similar to mine.

Unfortunately you can't encourage even fat loss (or spot reduce fat either). If you are not pear shaped your weight loss may be more balanced but where ever the most fat is, is where you may start losing it first. While we can't influence where the fat will be lost, it is possible to make things look more balanced with some resistance/strength training once you get the go ahead to exercise in that way. My weight loss was most obvious at first in the face, stomach and breasts.,,,,thighs and backside caught up a little, but I still have a little ways to go yet.

I would think those having gall bladder or hernia repair surgery at the same time would have the same surgeon, whereas thumb joint replacement would require a different surgeon I am guessing. Wouldn't hurt to ask though, they may be able to co-ordinate something if the surgeries are compatible .

Mikey has used the user name superman or a user name with superman in it, changed that user name after there was some criticism about some of his posts regarding women (and tattoos).

i tend to stick to four meals a day.

Sounds like you are doing great to me, nothing only about it. Everyone is different and so their weight losses will be different. For those of the same gender and similar starting weight some will have lost more, some will have lost less.

You've done great and by the way 70lb in six months is not slow at all. I'd say for your lower start weight your fat loss was quite quick. Well done!

Aside from discomfort about the incision sites I had very little pain. Only needed light pain medication for a couple of days via drip, no or very little gas (I did a lot of walking), for about a day (if that) I would get a stomach spasm that would last only a few seconds when I would have a sip water and the water hit the stomach.

You had surgery less than two weeks ago. Don't do anything now that will put your health at risk, If you try and stretch your stomach while it is still healing you may cause a leak, this can cause serious illness. You need to talk to your surgeon as soon as possible, I would also recommend you speak to a counsellor immediately (going by your very first post).

Very well said!

i only had in hospital and injected by the nurses thank goodness.

Barring any medical complications or issues you should be fine. I live by myself and travelled by myself for surgery, was in hospital for two nights, one night in hotel accommodation and flew home (flight was about 1hr45mins). I was in covid self isolation for 14 days on my return home due to my state border restrictions. Thankfully no issues and was able to manage quite easily.

There are a variety of post op guidelines. Some start purees/soft foods quicker than others some later than others. You don't need to progress through the stages if you don't feel up to it and can delay the stage for a week or two (or more) if you want.

Aside from discomfort around the incision sites I didn't experience much (if any real pain), very little gas - I did a lot of walking that must have helped. When i first had water I did get a stomach spasm but that lasted only a few seconds each time.

You've done great, hopefully it won't be too long for those last 30lb to be gone forever!

Your choice to make. Your original post didn't make your intentions clear. I am not a vegetarian and I get my protein from a variety of sources including chicken and red meat mince meat, milk, yoghurt, eggs, legumes/beans, cottage cheese, protein shakes and some white fish. Probably not so much red meat and fish they are mostly occasionally.

I responded in your other thread.

As with any weight loss procedure post op diet is usually dependent on the surgeon's or dietician's guidelines. There won't be any dumping but there should be restriction which can be as restrictive as a sleeve. My ESG post op diet was liquides for three weeks and moved on to puree then soft foods before progressing to normal foods. It was anyway up to four or six weeks before eating normally. There is a lot of inflammation and the sutures need time to anchor properly (scars healing) as well as the stomach folds time to 'meld'. The dietician who was attached to my doctor had the same food guidelines (once on normal foods) as for weight loss surgery, higher protein and low starch veges if room have a small amount of complex carbs. All limited to 1/2 cup per meal. My ESG failed...pretty much all but one suture had come undone or loosened. I did push the boundaries with food volume one or two times. The surgeon who did my surgical sleeve said some of the cause of the failure may be related to an autoimmune issue I have which causes inflammation and that stomach inflammation may have caused the stomach folds not too meld or the anchors to lodge properly. In Australia there seems to be a higher failure rate than USA (no hard evidence just the posts in facebook groups I am a member of). Failure may be due to non compliance with post op guidelines, lack of doctor skill/technique and for some no known reason. One person who suffered bouts of severe vomiting (due to illness) for a number of weeks early in the healing stages also had a failure. To be honest, I was all for ESG for the fact if was minimally invasive, lower complications and faster recovery, I was in denial for a long time that mine had failed, and would highly recommend the ESG to all and sundry. Now I advise caution make sure your surgeon has done many many many ESGS well over 500 (if possible) but certainly no less than (250), know their complication rates, failure rates and success rates (for patients beyond one year and two years). How many ESGs they had to redo, how many patients did a conversion to a surgical sleeve or other surgical option. Aside from the incision site discomfort my recovery was pretty much the same for ESG and gastric sleeve. For the ESG my stomach had rolling cramps for about two days, for the gastric sleeve I had stomach spasms when I first tried fluids in hospital this probably lasted a day. I had minimal gas pain with the gastric sleeve. My fears around the gastric sleeve surgery were unfounded.

It would be helpful if you were to fill in your profile (height and weight) it helps gives users context and the responses will be more useful.

Looks like you need to reach out to your insurance company for the information. Good luck!

Surgery day will be here before you know it, time goes fast. My one tip would be follow to your surgeon or dietician's post op guidelines particularly in the first three to six months. There will be times when you may have a slip up but don't let that hinder your progress, get back on track immediately. Good luck!

I have a sleeve and my loss (so far) can be seen to the left of this post. My recovery was fairly good, I had some incision discomfort for a while (and did end up with a wicked case of contact dermatitis), had some initial stomach spasms when I first tried some clear fluids, but that didn't last long. Minimal gas but I did walk a lot (a real lot) while in the hosiptal I was there two nights but not discharged until late on the third day. I was able to fly home on the fourth day, flight was about 1.45hrs. Haven't had any nausea or any other issues so far. Very happy.

Some good topics there.

You certainly can reach your goal weight with commitment and dedication. Weight loss may be slower and lower the closer you get to your goal weight but you can do it.