weightnomore

I am eating between 75 and 100 grams of carbs a day and about 40 grams of Protein.

Congratulations! May the rest of your journey be as wonderful as the beginning!!

I have been having lots of trouble with the protein shakes and have not gotten near the amount of protein in that I should have. Today I tried putting unflavored whey powder into my yogurt and it tastes fine. Just thought I would pass this on in case anyone else can benefit. Don't know why I didn't think of it before.

This is the third time since my surgery two months ago. I woke up in the middle of the night with horrible pain from acid in my esophogus. This morning I was coughing and choking as if some went down my windpipe. It is very uncomfortable. I get up and take an antacid tablet and chew on some oyster crackers and it goes away in about 10-15 minutes, but boy is it painful. I'm going to call my doctor on Monday but I just wondered if anyone else has experienced this.

I was the same way. I was petrified! My friend was so happy for me and all I kept thinking was "Don't be that way, what if something horrible happens!" About a week before the surgery I just told myself "Buckle up and put your blinders on--don't look to the right or to the left, just go for it." All has gone well so far except that I am on a very long stall. I am most amazed at my lack of appetite. It makes it so easy to eat small amounts. Hang in there, it is all worth it!

I lost 18 lbs. in the first three weeks after surgery, then nothing. It has been 17 days now since I have lost anything. I am starting to get discouraged as you might imagine. I was wondering how long other people have gone in their stalls.

There is no denying that drinking water is good for you. I have always thought the 64 oz. a day seemed a little ridiculous. Here is an article that explains where that rule may have come from and takes a real commonsense approach to water consumption. http://www.scientifi...s-water-per-day

Somehow your numbers are not adding up. From 379 to 238 lbs is a 141 lb. weight loss. That can't be only 25% of your excess weight. If you add your 58 lb loss with your 43 lb. pre-surgery loss that is a 101 lb total, still more than 25% of your excess weight. If your goal were 179 lbs. you would have needed to lose 200 lbs. and it seems you have lost 50% of that so far. I am on a bit of a plateau myself so I feel for you. I do hope the pounds start coming off soon.

That seems strange to me. I would call my doctor's office and ask their advice.

Please feel free to share anything and everything here. We are all willing to listen and encourage. I just want to address the issue of your relationship with food. I was sleeved two weeks ago and my attitude toward food has completely changed. I don't care whether I have it or not. I do not miss eating lots of food. The little I eat is very satisfying. I have been searching the internet today for a recipe to take to my sister in laws on Christmas and I have not salviated or gotten one ounce of hunger. I have tracked my food today and I have eaten 600 calories and I have not felt one bit of hunger today. It is the difference between eating to live or living to eat. It is an awesome feeling because it is as if I am in control and not the food.

You are in a tough situation. I believe you have to decide if being deeply in debt will be as depressing as carrying around the extra weight. If you are not losing weight, there must be a reason. Are you sure you have enough restriction? Are you getting exercise? Personally I would deal with one thing at a time so you are not overwhelmed. Your education is very important. I say focus on that now. Once you are out of school and have a job you will be able to devote money to having surgery. Perhaps in that time your stall will right itself and you will at least lose some weight. Best of everything to you. Hang on, it will get better.

In one of our pre-surgical nutrition classes, they suggested that we take pictures of ourselves every month in the same doorway for reference. Then keep looking at the pictures to give yourself a better sense of your true body size. I haven't been thin since I was 13 and weighed 115 lbs. It will sure be interesting to see where this goes!

Yes I definately have a bruise there. It is pretty big. I meant to ask the PA when I had my followup but I forgot.

This was part of another thread, but I decided to ask it here to perhaps get more responses. I am eight days post op and while I haven't had a meltdown I am feeling pretty blah, dealing with the reality of what I have done. I have very little interest in food and it kind of scares me. Is this the way I'm going to feel forever? So many things I liked before don't seem so great now and some things make me want to barf. I usually work part time and cook for my hubby every night since he has a brutal commute and is hungry when he gets home. Am I even going to want to do that anymore? I am hopeful that when I can eat "real food" things will get better. Has anyone out there had this happen--tastes and desire for food gettting a little more "normal" down the road?

Thank you all for your encouragement. I am now 10 days out and tolerating food and the thought of food a little better, even though I have no great interest. If this lack of interest keeps up, I realized that this in itself may be enough of a tool to keep the weight off, so I see it as a good thing. My friend wanted to know if they couldn't just cut out the part of the stomach where ghrelin is produced and still leave most of it there. Who knows, that may be the surgery of the future.

It must be soooo hard. Sorry you have to go through all that. But I personally feel that it is only a matter of time before all insurance companies will allow this surgery. They, if anyone, know of all the problems people have with the Lap-Band, they know that this surgery is less risky than Roux-n-Y, and patients have better outcomes. They are hooked on their 'long term data' excuse, but it really is no excuse because the surgery has been done for years. My insurance did not cover it when I first looked into it, but changed in July 2010. My doctor believes this will be the gold standard wls in coming years. I hope you will get a huge surprise and they will approve you one way or another.

What a fabulous victory! Enjoy the celebration. You have worked hard to get here!

I am seven days post op and while I haven't had a meltdown I am feeling pretty blah, dealing with the reality of what I have done. I have very little interest in food and it kind of scares me. Is this the way I'm going to feel forever? So many things I liked before don't seem so great now and some things make me want to barf. I usually work part time and cook for my hubby every night since he has a brutal commute and is hungry when he gets home. Am I even going to want to do that anymore? I am hopeful that when I can eat "real food" things will get better. Has anyone out there had this happen--tastes gettting a little more "normal" down the road?

Great dream, that is really funny. I haven't been having so many since surgery, but when I was in recovery, I had dreams of plates full of food passing in front of me. Bacon and eggs, luscious looking sandwiches, etc. There was no feeling of "Wow I wish I could have that.", just "MMM, that looks good."

I didn't tell anyone in my church either except my three good friends. I know that before I researched this surgery I though of it as a last ditch effort for the extremely obese, and I don't really expect people to understand it because I didn't. I told most of my family a few weeks ahead. They were supportive, if a little scared for me. If people compliment me on my weight loss, I will mostly just say "thank you", but I am comfortable telling about the surgery if the conversation seems to warrant it. Once it is done, it seems like a different situation--as someone above said, they see the results and should understand a little better about why you did it.

I am six days out and having the same trouble. Before surgery these drinks didn't bother me. It seems all my senses are heightened or something. Once thing that works fairly well for me is a scoop of unflavored protein powder mixed with 4 oz cranbury juice and 4 oz Water. I know this adds 15 grams of carbs so not everyone may want to try it, but I taste mostly the juice and it overrides the protein powder flavor.

I'm so glad that your insurance is now approving. Mine did not allow for the sleeve when I first started researching, but I decided this was the only way to go, so I was willing to wait. Lo and behold right after I got back from vacation in July, I checked their website and they just started covering it!. (I have BCBS of TX). I really think that as the companies do their research and see that this operation is less difficult than the bypass and with fewer complications than the bypass or the band, they will be coming on board pretty fast. Best wishes to you on your journey!

Well, it was finally done, Tuesday, 7:30 am! I have been home since Wednesday at 7pm. The surgery took an hour longer than planned due to a very large hiatial hernia that needed to be repaired. The doctor also took a liver biopsy since my liver was enlarged. I don't think he expected that because he had only put me on two days of liquids pre-op. I guess I got two operations for the price and discomfort of one. The day of the surgery I have to say I felt like I had been hit by a truck and my throat was so incredibly sore. I somehow managed to feel a lot better the next day. I was surprised to find how easy it was to get up and walk. Fair Oaks hopspital in Fairfax, Virginia rocks. Those nurses were on top of everything--extremely professional and polite. I had a private room that was clean as a whistle. The housekeeping staff came in both days to check with me if my room was cleaned to my satisfaction. WOW. What could I say except that it was spotless. My leak test showed things being a bit narrower near where the hernia repair was, probably due to swelling, but I was able to keep all liquids down. I drank two small muscle milk light shakes yesterday (plus Jello and other liquids) but today the Protein has been a little harder to get in. I will give it another try this evening. My innards gurgle a lot and I think that is funny. All I am on is liquid Tylenol and my OnQ bulb and the pain has been minimal. So not bad so far--hoping for continued great recovery and the final answer to the years of overweight and declining health. Thanks to everyone on here who has given me lots of information and encouragement. Really couldn't have done it without you all/

I just had my surgery the day after yours and I have to say that the pain medication make me feel worse than anything.. The morphine pump made me really whoozy and the hydrocodone/tylenol combination made me nauseated. When I switched to liquid tylenol only, I did fine. But I also have the bulb with the lidocaine--that may be where most of the pain relief comes from. Hope you find what works for you and that you are better each day.

I did the same thing. I had gained 5 lbs before my pre-op visit. I also have a MBI in the 35 lb. range. He did not require a long pre-op diet. I am doing my second day of liquids today and then surgery tomorrow. Yeah!