Stacy160

Have a safe trip and good luck with your surgery!! :thumbup:

I just got to thinking the other day... most of the meat I've had has either been pre-measured and cooked (lunchmeat, chicken sausage, turkey burgers, etc.) ... but what about home-cooked stuff? Are you counting the weight raw or cooked? Just curious... probably doesn't make a huge difference with the amount we're eating anyway, but just kinda wondered.

I've thought about it, but... dang LOL. We're very close and have a great relationship with no secrets, and I will tell him when I get to where I want to be, or close to it but right now I just can't bring myself to do it! He hasn't ever asked, although just today he did as me what I wanted to get to, after I told him I'm 4/10ths of a pound from being down 30 lbs. in the eight weeks since surgery. When we met I was about 213, and over the last five years I've gained/lost/gained my way up to 258 (in November). HE, on the other hand, still wears the same size pants he wore in high school lol... I'm sure he doesn't think I'm as heavy as I am, nobody does (including my surgeon at first) but still--yeek.

You'll be in recovery before you know it. Good luck!

Way to go Gary!!! We were sleeved the same day and I've been very happy so far as well. Way to work it!

Cool! I bookmarked it (not gonna plug numbers into it while my hubby's sitting right here, he has no idea what I weigh now and what I started out at because I'm too embarrassed to tell him). Thanks!

I have to ask, who told you that you wouldn't have hunger after surgery? That's just not true. Some people have none, but then again those people are all taking acid blockers, too. I take an acid blocker and still have some occasional hunger, which I fully expected after surgery. That seems to be the case for most people. You should still be limiting yourself to 2-3 ounces a meal right now... just because you CAN push more in there, doesn't mean you should. If you're regularly going past that amount then you do run the risk of stretching your sleeve somewhat during this first year. Do you have a food scale at home that you can use?

Good morning!! HW - 258 SW - 246.4 LW - 220.4 Today - 216.8 WOO!! Thursday will be two calendar months out and I was hoping to have 30 lbs. behind me, and it looks like that's gonna happen. YAY!!

Everything she said. :thumbup: It TOTALLY helps with willpower... and when you decide ("decide" -- as opposed to mindlessly grabbing and gulping) to have a little treat, you have a bite or two and that's it--done. Last week for some reason, patients were bringing in goodies left and right. Usually not a problem, but two of those things were two of my favorites: pineapple upside down cake, and coconut almond fudge ice cream, which is the best I've ever had EVER. I knew if I got into that cake early, I'd want to pick at little bits all day long, so I told myself I'd cut off one bite on the way out the door at night. That kept me from obsessing over it all day long (which I'd have done before), and guess what? Tuesday AND Wednesday, I totally forgot about it and didn't have that bite as I was leaving. Thursday, same story with the ice cream LOL!! Finally on Friday, after lunch I let myself take a nice rounded teaspoonful of the ice cream out of the carton, savored it, and that was enough. Before, I could have gone through 2/3s of the carton, no problem. It's weird...you really do stop constantly thinking about food all the time and although there WILL be times when you do just want "something" different, usually something that's not real conducive to weight loss, you either get over it quickly or get it done with, having so little that it's not a big deal.

I had next to no gas pain... I felt swollen and bloated, and would occasionally get a little "jab" up at my left collarbone, but that's about it. I also started on the GasX strips within a couple hours of surgery too though, so that probably helped. For the first couple of days, my abs felt like I'd done a thousand crunches. There was some sharper pain when trying to roll or sit up in bed (which I kept half-up in the hospital), which I'd rate at about a 6-7/10, but that was very brief and started getting better about day three also. You will have pain meds in your IV and you'll have some to take at home; I never took them after I got home, didn't need to. Within 5 days I was functioning almost normally and by the 1-week mark, other than the fact that I couldn't put anything other than liquids in my mouth and that I had scars and a drain tube (which came out that day), I felt totally normal and would have never known I'd had anything done. It was my first surgery and I kept thinking about how easy it all was. :biggrin0:

RE. the heartburn: I had it and GERD almost every night unless I took Pepcid (and sometimes that didn't even do the job) before surgery. Since surgery, I've had none. I mean zero, zip, nada, not even a hint of it at ALL. I did have a hiatal hernia which was discovered and repaired at the same time, and I'm sure that probably had a lot to do with it. I don't know what the percentage is, but there seem to be a lot of us who had hiatal hernias who didn't know it before surgery. Re. the scars: I have five and they're all above belly-button level. They're scattered but mostly mid-line and to the left of mid-line...there's one a couple inches to the right just below my ribs. The smallest is down to about 1/8" and the largest is less than an inch long, and it's about an inch above my belly button. I'm kinda proud of them. :biggrin0:

Your surgeon didn't give you any kind of instructions? Mine required no pre-op diet, other than clear liquids the day before surgery. Others require a couple of weeks on a liquid diet... you really should call your surgeons office to clarify, since they're all different.

I agree with you! I'm still taking the Prevacid every day, but I feel much less hunger now than I did during the first couple of weeks of taking that. Granted, I tried going back to coffee during that time too, which only made the hunger worse instead of getting rid of it like it used to before surgery, but I also had the hunger before the coffee, and that's what I'm comparing to. FWIW though, going back off the coffee has made a HUUUUGE difference too. :smile1:

OMG I have GOT to try that... I bet you could make some excellent personal pizzas with that stuff too!!

Yep.... a LOT when I first started mushies; it still happens now, but that's when I know I'm full, and it's after I've had a couple or three ounces. Your stomach is still swollen right now and learning how to work again after the trauma of the surgery. You should notice a difference weekly in how much more comfortable you are eating, and how much you can take in before you get that feeling. You're normal! :lol0:

Ditto that! I'll just say that it's great that you don't have any co-morbidities--yet. You're very young though, and look....95-98% of all people who lose excess weight gain it back PLUS some. SO many of us here played the yo-yo game and dieted ourselves fatter and fatter over the years. I know we'd all have LOVED to have had this option when we were your age. As far as the cost goes--I've said this before, but I figured it's half the cost of a new car. So maybe we buy a used care the next time or two...so? And the Biggest Loser contestants? He couldn't say who specifically, but my surgeon has done the VSG on a former contestant. You negative relatives aren't being rational about this, and maybe there's a reason (fear, jealousy, whatever).... but it's YOUR health, YOUR future, and YOUR money. Know what I'd do? I'd go ahead and do it, but don't even tell them until you're well on your way to goal. It'll be hard to argue with your success at that point. :lol0:

As long as you're getting your liquid and vitamins in, don't sweat the calories yet. You can go literally for weeks without eating and be fine as long as the body's got fat to use as fuel (it's when the fat's gone that the body starts using its own tissue for protein and the metabolism shuts down). You'll be able to take in more within the next couple of weeks...you're doing fine, don't worry!

Just one! They kept the oxygen on me until the next morning, and that's what dried me out soooo badly. I was hoarse for 4 days after surgery. Someone told me later that she had what she called "wet oxygen", which was humidified and didn't dry her out much, so you might see if that's something you can request, if they keep oxygen on you afterward. :smile1:

It may be from the artificial sweeteners in them... a lot of people are affected that way by them, but it's usually the ones that end in "-itol" like malitol and sorbitol. I think most of the proteins are sweetened with Sucralose (splenda), but I don't know about all of them, not by a long shot. What's yours sweetened with?

I was sleeved 1/25 and as of my 7-week mark this past Monday, was down exactly 26 lbs. since surgery, and 37.5 overall. I've had absolutely zero problems (well, other than the plumbing getting stopped up on a regular basis), have tolerated everthing I've eaten, and feel great!

Same here... the hardest part is getting up off my butt and getting ready to go. I just remind myself that no matter how much I'd rather lay down with a book, or play around here more, I'll be SO happy I went once I get there, and also how fantastic I feel afterwards. That missing "oomph" to just get up and do it is a b**ch though, isn't it? :thumbup:

You'll be walking right away.... knock yourself out on that, it'll be very difficult for you to overdo it. When I went for my 1-month appointment, my surgeon wasn't thrilled to know that I wasn't really exercising yet, but I wanted to make sure I was clear for more intense cardio, weights, abdominal stuff, etc. At that point I was cleared for anything I wanted to try. Other people are instructed to wait longer--just depends on the doc, and to some extent how large you are to start with (ie. how much weight will be pulling on the new scars) and how extensive the surgery was (ie. if you had your gallbladder removed too, if you were a band revision with a lot of scar tissue, etc). By the time I went back to really working out, I think I was probably at the level I would have been pre-op. Unfortunately, I hadn't even been to the gym in about 8 months, so that level was not exactly stellar. :thumbup:

What I took that I actually used: Deodorant, facial-cleansing wipes, toothbrush/paste, CHAP STICK (that's a biggie), Gas-X strips, Listerine strips, and sugar-free Ricola drops (for the dry mouth, which was horrible). Cell phone and a book. Very loose, stretchy dollar-store capris to wear with my stylish hospital gown. What I took that I never touched: iPod. Bathrobe and slippers. It was so warm in there anyway, and they put those hospital grippy-slipper-sock things on over my compression stockings in pre-op, and they didn't come off until I was dressing to go home. OH, and just plan on wearing whatever you wear in, out... so make it something loose, stretchy, easy, and comfy.

Yep... right between 7 and 14 days out, down by my lower left incision, I got really itchy. The scars itched, but this was the skin itself. It wasn't huge raised welts, just tiny little bumps, and I'd left all the dressings and tape on for the first week until I saw the surgeon again, so I attributed it to ME irritating it my scratching where that tape had been... I dunno if that was right or not, but it only lasted a couple of days.

Ooooh, how exciting, CONGRATULATIONS!! You looked beautiful for your wedding!