BlackBerryJuice

I think I had some about 3 weeks out. Went down very well. It's a great source of protein and healthy fats! I enjoy sashimi and sushi several times a week.

Woah there! Did you have a purging problem before? Of all times, this is probably the worst to be purging - strains your stomach and could result in a leak. Not to mention purging is just horrible for you in every aspect. I battled with bulimia in my teens, so I know where you're coming from. Purging ruins your teeth, makes you bloated, results in popped blood vessels in your face and eyes, and can result in very serious consequences - most notably, esophageal tears (which could result in bleeding to the point of unconsciousness/death within minutes) and cardiac arrest from electrolyte imbalances. And that's for an otherwise healthy person who didn't have 85% of her stomach removed and a staple line running through the rest! I think you need to notify your surgeon ASAP (my surgeon specifically asked about my bulimia history in detail, as he wouldn't operate on someone who hasn't been in recovery for a long time because it's so dangerous for sleeve patients) AND get a counselor; if I were you, I'd even ask for a referral to a psychiatrist who specializes in eating disorders - although they are tough to come by. But you would definitely be considered an emergency case, so you might get in quickly before you ruin your sleeve.

I weigh myself daily. You have to be comfortable with the idea of maybe gaining a pound for a day or two once in a while though (due to water retention or constipation). If you are not, maybe you're better off doing it every couple of days.

It depends. I feel like I have 3 stages of fullness. 1 - I feel satisfied but feel like I could eat another bite or two (learning to stop here - with some hits and misses). 2 - very full and sleepy. 3 - flat out uncomfortable (heart racing, feeling flushed, etc) - this only tends to happen if I eat overly fast. I still find myself at 2 fairly often. The tricky part is each of these stages is literally ONE BITE away from the other. It's a learning process.

I went through the same phase. It was actually nice to get that out of my system. A few days before the surgery, I happened upon a bunch of free KitKat bars and was so sick of sweets, I didn't even want them anymore. I did pack on another 5-8 lbs thanks to my eating in the 2 months preceding the surgery, but that added maybe another week to my weightloss journey, at the most. The first 20 lbs came off extremely fast. I didn't have to do a pre-op diet as I had a lower BMI, so I didn't beat myself up about it too much.

I was only really weak during the first month, when I could eat very little and most of it was liquids. I'm 2.5 months out and have just as much energy as I did before - that is, when I wasn't 200+. I definitely have MORE energy than when I was 200+ and was eating a ton! To give you an idea, my boyfriend and I go to bootcamp 3 days a week and once a week I have 3 hours of dance classes in a row. We also often do something active on the weekend - today we hit the weights and I also ran/walked for 30 minutes. Then we went shopping after, which can also be tiring. Full disclosure - I don't eat 500 calories, I'm more in the 1000-1200 range (doesn't seem to affect my weightloss rate).

I'm a full-time medical student and had the surgery 3 weeks before classes started. The first 2 weeks, I definitely wouldn't have been up to studying, at least not in the amount we have to do. But after 3 weeks I was fine.

I definitely am not hunger-free after my sleeve. I still feel hunger (real hunger, not head hunger) 3-4 hours after I eat, depending on what I had and how much. Yesterday I was at the clinic all day and didn't have time to eat for about 5 hours in a row....I definitely felt it. Even if I didn't have belly hunger, I was definitely starting to get a bit of a headache, probably from low blood sugar, so I would've noticed it either way. I would say, however, that 1) that hunger is less intense than the kind I had before surgery - it's a lot easier for me to make healthy choices when I'm hungry 2) I get satisfied much faster. So yeah, I'll feel hungry, but it's not as bad, and once I've had a protein bar, I'm good to go - whereas before the surgery I would've needed much more food.

Yeah, I feel you. I've seen those, but have no desire to broadcast my surgery to random people with potentially no benefit.

Wow, great post!

So about a year ago, I signed up with Gold's Gym. Then this summer I realized I was 1) gonna be out of commission with the gym for over a month due to my surgery 2) not really going there as much because it's hard to get to when it's -50, so I was going to do workout DVDs this year. So I went there to cancel; my 1-year contract had already expired, so I didn't expect this to be particularly laborious. First off, they tell me that even though I'm there at that very moment, I have to go get a registered letter ($9 and an hour of my time) stating I want to cancel before I do. Then they say they will charge me for another 30 days before my account is closed. Get the letter out (whilst swearing a lot), sent it, Canada Post said it was delivered the next day. 1.5 months pass and suddenly I notice my credit card has been charged for my membership yet again - even though the 30 days have long passed. Call them, 1) they claim the letter only got to them a week after I sent it (translation - they didn't check their mailbox OR it lay on someone's desk for a week while they were too busy fake-tanning) 2) they announce to me that it's actually 90 days and not 30 before they stop charging me! I explain to them what was told to me back in August, they asked who said that - I describe the person and they tell me it's the manager. They tell me she'll call me in the next hour. 8 hours later I get back from school and of course she hasn't called. I call there and she tells me that yes, indeed, it is NINETY days. This weekend, I'm planning to dig up my old contract and stir up some shit. Incidentally, a friend told me just last week they had a "stay away!" report about these types of gyms on our local TV station. In the meantime, the least I can do is save other people $250 and a whole lot of hassle by spreading the word about this crap!

That anorexia comment was pretty stupid. What if you actually had anorexia or had someone close to you struggling? That'd be pretty hurtful. I can now eat enough that it doesn't look TOO weird. Plus my boyfriend polishes off anything that's set in front of him, so I'm always offering him bites of my food so it looks like I ate more than I actually did. I remember getting some weird looks when we first started going out after the surgery, when I could only have a few tablespoons of soup or like 2 pieces of sashimi in one sitting. The only time I got a comment was actually only 3 weeks ago or so. I ordered a humongous salad, but by the time it arrived, already had a slice of my boyfriend's thin crust pizza, so I only ended up taking a few forkfuls of the salad before the evening was over. The server was like "Oh no! Did you not like it!?" I said it was great, but already had some pizza and generally can't eat very much. She exclaimed "That wouldn't be very much fun!" I wanted to say, "TRUST ME, it's a LOT more fun this way!" LOL.

Your fruit and vegetable intake is 0, which isn't exactly a healthy diet. The low-carb myth is quite frustrating; if you look at the research, low-carb makes you lose weight faster in the beginning, but at the 6-month mark, it is no better for weightloss than low-fat diet, portion control, or really any other diet that results in lower calorie intake. Plus it just doesn't make sense to avoid healthy carbs like vegetables or whole grains for the sake of "carb-counting" but indulge in unhealthy sugary treats that are devoid of fiber and vitamins on the weekend. I don't understand why surgeons keep pushing it on people who are long out of the surgery, because the data just isn't there to support it, but there's a lot of data promoting fruit and vegetable intake to decrease the risk of many cancers and other health issues (high blood pressure, etc).

One thing I didn't see you mention was your activity level. Do you exercise regularly and what type of activities do you engage in? I find that exercise 1) takes up time that could otherwise be spent snacking 2) decreases my appetite (if it's intense exercise, anyway) immediately after for a good 2 hours 3) makes me want healthier foods rather than nasty stuff. Not to mention, you get all the benefits of endorphins, which it sounds you could use. I've always been a grazer AND a binger. The sleeve took care of my binging (my biggest problem), but the grazing is still up to me. I understand you mentioned many healthy foods cause reflux, but I'm sure there are other fruits and veggies you haven't tried yet. Check out the spread at a local ethnic store and see if you can find a new fruit or vegetable to try for Snacks. I wouldn't have citrus fruits, as they are much more likely to make your reflux worse, but other things are an option. If you are grazing on apples instead of bread, it's really not that bad. One thing I also do to fight mindless eating in front of the computer is drink tea. I'm sure you know that coffee is a reflux trigger, so it's good that you are aware that you need to quit that habit if you want to decrease your reflux frequency. I like fruit tea or flavored green teas with milk. In fact, I'm sipping some right now! I also don't know if your doctor has brought this up, but there are surgical treatments for reflux. Maybe there's been some mechanical damage to your lower esophageal sphincter that can be fixed surgically. The surgery I'm aware of is Nissen fundoplication; however, as it involves wrapping stomach tissue around the esophagus, you might not be a candidate because you don't have enough. But it's worth seeing what else the surgeons can do, they do all kinds of crazy stuff these days - maybe they can fashion a ring out of some other tissue.

That's very interesting, I'll look into that.Thanks!

I bet the reason you feel so weak (not counting the fact you just had surgery!) is that you aren't getting in enough fluids. 16 oz is NOT enough. You need to drink more. If you don't like water, drink tea.

I had trouble falling/staying asleep the first week post-op, but since then, I've been sleeping the same as before. I've always been a very light sleeper - I have to wear earplugs and I can't share a bed with anyone - and tend to need more sleep than others (9-9.5 hours works best for me).

Bread is a crapshoot for me. Sometimes, I can eat it without a problem; other times, even a bite of tortilla or naan makes me uncomfortable.

I'm 9 weeks out and have had tacos a few times already. My first one was a homemade hard-shell one with ground beef; it went down pretty well. I could only have maybe 2/3 of it. My second one was a hard-shell one with chicken from a restaurant maybe a week later - went down without a problem. I actually had a few bites of a fish taco from a restaurant this evening. That one was made with a soft corn shell and it made me a bit uncomfortable for a few minutes. Based on my experience, I say give it a shot, but start with a hard-shell one.

I eat 5-6 meals a day. I don't think I could eat enough protein if I ate less often. I dislike protein shakes - only drink them post-workout - so protein intake is a challenge, even though I do eat bars. My mindless grazing is usually the bulk of my fruit and vegetable intake (I like cukes and apples for snacks), so I don't really worry about it.

To be honest, the anesthesia kicked in so quickly for me, I didn't have time to reflect on anything! They gave me an IV saying it had something to relax me, and by the end of that sentence, I was fast asleep. I half-woke up for a few seconds shortly after because I felt them rolling me over and poking needles in my back (spinal). Next thing you know, I was in the recovery room drenched in sweat and covered in some sort of pink stuff speaking French and Spanish, lol. When I was more coherent, my very first thought was "thank god this is over and by the looks of it, everything went well." It was the first surgery I ever had, so I didn't know what to expect. I also had a lot of family drama immediately preceding the surgery - my father actually threatened to fly to Mexico and stop the doctor from operating on me, lol. I was just glad the surgery happened and there was no way back. One thought I kept having while in the hospital was "Holy crap, I can't believe how easy this was."

Just curious. I was taught that 25% of obese people experiencing fast weightloss (and 50% of gastric bypass patients) end up having gallbladder stones - and I've seen a few folks on here get their gallbladder out. I had gallbladder sludge as a child, so I'm a bit worried about this. I don't eat super low-fat though, so I hope I don't have an issue with bile getting stalled in there for days. Would be interesting to see the stats. I don't know whether at 2 months I'm in the clear, or if there's still a good chance of me having gallstones.

I asked mine about it and he said it's hard on the stomach and not to take until I'm 6 months out. My weightloss has already slowed down to a reasonable rate, and by 6 months, I should be pretty close to goal, so I'm not even really sure of the benefit at that point.