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I had my first of six NUT appts yesterday. It was very informative. Everyone at the surgeons office was very nice and supportive. Second appt is scheduled for 1-30 so I feel like its gonna move so quickly. I'm anxious and excited. I was told by the Dr. That I should only lose between .5-1 lb a month. Thats easy so, no pressure there. I gave up fast food so that alone should do it. But, I'm starting back to zumba I made the decision to change my life Dec. 1st. I swear the more I think about surgery, the more I read about it, the more I'm on this forum and , the more jouneys I follow on youtube, it makes me do a lot of soul searching. I'm trying to learn more about myself right now than I ever have. I'm keeping a journal which I faithfully write in. And I'm learning about a lot of feelings I have surpressed and hidden deep down inside me. Its amazing the changes I see and feel myself going through right now. I love it. And honestly I regret telling people about my plans to have surgery. I have told ; my husband, bestfriend, sister ( one of six) and one other close friend.... It may sound weird but, the reason I regret it is I feel like I'm in a cocoon and I let too many people in. I just wish I wouldve kept it more private.... sorry its long and unorganized but just needed to vent I guess. Thanks for reading. ♡

Hi... I'm two months post op and i lost 34 lbs since the day of the surgery... What bothers me is that i lost 30 lbs in the first month and lost only 4 in the second.... I feel really upset and discouraged because am losing weight so slowly .. Is it normal to lose only 4 lbs in an entire month? Or am i doing something wrong. Plz help!

I am on Clear fluids right now as well! But they told me to have 1 Opti-fast shake split into 3 everyday! So that is what I have been doing! I have also had a couple mouthfuls of really runny creams soups. I had some jello last night and old habits die hard, the first 2 bites were slow but i was not paying attention and i had a big bite and it hurt like hell! So I will not be having any jello or anything else. I do not want to mess things up! But I also feel weak and a little shaky! And very Hungery!

I feel ur pain. I'm almost 7 weeks out and lost 17 lbs. been losing and gaining the same 1-2 lbs for the past 2 weeks. it's getting old really fast. I started at 174 (band revision) so I knew I would lose it slower, but this is ridiculous. I'm almost 2 mths out with only 17 lbs lost. Wish I was 30. Count your blessings. I could cut my calories even more than they are but then I'd be miserable and on a diet. Thats why I got the sleeve in the first place, so I would never diet again. I've already lost a size in clothing and that feels good. Good luck!

I feel pretty good. First thing after surgery in recovery room was a little rough, but nurses got my pain under control quickly. I think I got 3 or 4 doses of dilaudid via IV for pain the day of and day after surgery, but fter that I mainly used liquid tylenol to control pain. I did take a hit of liquid oxycodone at bedtime to help me sleep. But oral pain meds gave me nausea, but again nurses were quick with anti-nausea meds. Had surgery on Thursday morning and got discharged Saturday morning. I am on full iquid diet. Protein shakes, decaf coffee or tea, sugar free popsicles, smooth soups (no chunks, meat, nor pasta), skim milk, plain yogurt (can use artificial sweeteners in it), grits, runny oatmeal and sugar free pudding. I am on this for 2 weeks, then onto pureed foods where I can add low fat cottage & ricotta cheese, creamy soups, but no solids. Next 2 weeks is stage 3 soft foods progressing to regular foods. Then stage 4 to start integrating regular foods one at a time back into my diet. Right now I feel good. Sipping water to get my 64 oz in daily. I have zero hunger. Just a few little stomach cramps when I sip to fast, but again doctor prescribed levsin for cramps and it seems to be working. Haven't had to take anything for pain since I have been home. My incisions are pretty painless as well I only feel them if I really twist or bend to far. I guess am very lucky in that regard. My daily diet is one protein Shake first thing which takes me about 2 hours to sip down. Then I do sugar free pudding with protein powder added. Just add two scoops to the pudding mix and I mix with Fairlife fat free milk. That gives me about five 4 oz servings with about 15 grams of protein and 100 calories. I also do a protein water or fruit flavored protein mix in the afternoon to try and get 60 grams of protein each day.

It takes some time to meet those protein and liquid goals. Every day will be a little easier than the day before. Then one day you'll wake up in the morning and realize nothing hurts! Later that same day, you'll drink too fast and invent a new swear word! But each day it will get easier, and you'll start seeing the results you want. Hang in there! Sent from my QTAIR7 using BariatricPal mobile app

Ha! Think I'll go walk on the treadmill and watch Grey's Anatomy and fast forward through the ads!!!

AJ- I have been curious about fasting post VSG. how long did you wait post VSG to do you first fast and did you just do water or did you do IF? And for how long? I am low calories (average 500) and yet i still do NOT lose weight and i am wondering if fasting would help move things along. To lose the weight prior to surgery (so I would get approved) I did OMAD and i lost more on that than i have post surgery, which is nuts to me. I ate what I wanted but mostly salad with a protein (on and i would have coffee with almond milk in AM so not 100% strick fast) and i ate within a 1-3 hr window depending on how crazy work was that day and i Lost weight quickly. I have been interested in going back to that but i can't find anyone talking about OMAD or fasting after VSG. I would love to know more about your experience if you would share AJ. You mention shakes... would you say in average you fast and do not eat many days of the week and then occasionally you do two shakes a day? Am i reading that correctly? And so on shake days you get in about 320 cals a day?

Same as you - I just did a ten day fast/cleanse. My doctor said eat when you want but if you don't eat it will slow down your weight lose. I find him to be wrong i go days without eating. My key is my shakes with all the powder vitamins and minerals - 5 oz in the morning and i gotta force the night one down, sometimes just take a pill for the vitamins and call it a day. Curious to see how people post on this I am in the same situation

Your stomach is still healing from surgery. You don't want to get fills too fast or too big because it can cause problems and hurt your stomach. Most people don't feel restriction until after a few fills. Before you get to that restriction really shows you that the band is a tool and not a magic wand. You must work with it and help it with your weight loss. Try to keep up your Protein and lower your carbs etc. Don't get frustrated if your not losing a lot of weight. A lot of doctors say that if you lose weight the first few months it is a bonus because that is really a time for healing.

Hey All! I am exactly 1 week post op today. Sleeved 5/22/2023 I am currently on full liquids. Allowed cream soups - watered down with water/skim milk. I feel like everything is making me cramp. As soon as it goes down, I’ll cramp for like a second and it goes away. Has anyone else experienced this? Is this the normal healing process? I don’t know if it’s me taking too much in too fast - I will literally wait a few minutes to try more and still cramp. I’m sipping. Taking things slow but… cramps! This may be completely the norm and something that gets better with time.. just thought I’d ask the community and hear your experiences. Thank you so much!

*Warning - A totally non-WLS rant posted because it's my blog and I'll post what I want to:tt2: My s-i-l hates to drive at night, so I'll be trucking down to the city to pick up my college age niece. Apparently she has a medical issue which she could've had taken care of at her university health center, but when her mother(my s-i-l) suggested this, my niece had a meltdown and demanded Momma make her an appt at home and fly her in. What a surprise! Momma does what baby wants. She may be 19, but emotionally more like 15...like her group of college friends who hang out together living a "high school but away from home" type of lifestyle. 20-some years ago when I was in college, we were a lot more mature and aware of key world issues. The effect of helicopter parents?! It's scary when my niece tells me she doesn't like kids but wants to teach 'cause she'll get lots of time off. Wow - just who I want educating the future! Back to the "Apple" topic - my niece is now upset because her mother told the doctor about the problem when she made the appt. Apparently, my niece wanted her to just say that it's for a "check up" (& no - this is not a woman issue)! My s-i-l (rightly so) told her that the doctor needs to know the real reason so as not to waste time. S-i-l wonders what her baby is thinking?!! RU kidding? Here's where it "falls from the tree"...my s-i-l is a DM2 who tries to deny it. It took 3 years of warnings of pre-diabetes and then 6 mos after diagnosis to get her on oral meds. She's still not testing and tries to "trick" her labs by fasting for several days prior or eating "healthy" the week before. Of course, the numbers are still bad because she's non-compliant and hasn't educated herself. She calls me post doctor visit to report that the doctor wants her on more "meds" because her "numbers are bad" and she feels he's probably getting paid by the pharmacutical companies to give her more "stuff". So I say - "Could be - what new meds does he want? what were your labs?". She says..wait for it.... "I dunno - I wasn't paying attention!". Excuse me? What is more personal than a visit to your doctor - how can you not pay attention when it's your health?? This then leads to a conversation we've had before of how her health plan works and me telling her again to print me a copy and I'll review it...which she forgets - as usual. I guess I'm not too surprised as this is some one who wishes she were back in high school, doesn't read the paper or watch the news, and threw a fit when her boss told her she was going to have to take some tech classes - started crying and shouting that she "didn't want to learn anything new!" I'm actually fond of my s-i-l as apart from the tendency to gossip she is a very kind and non-judgmental person(wish I could be more like that) - but I often feel like I'm dealing with a child. Not surprising - her mother (my m-i-l) is the same way. No, she doesn't want to go back to high school - instead she's fiercely independent...sort of. She's moderately more aware of what's going on in the world, but so flightly she only grasps half the story. When she doesn't get her own way - or doesn't get buy-in from the "fam" she just goes off and does whatever she wants then let's the rest of us pick up the pieces, the tab...whatever. When it comes to medical issues - see above. She takes whatever scripts the doctor writes but doesn't know why..."I'm not going to take this Liptor anymore - I don't feel any different...". She's still seeing this ancient doc-in-box who treated her mother. She nixed her prior doc because the doctor did an Alzheimer's test on her and was concerned enough to contact my s-i-l. Par for course, my m-i-l wanted my s-i-l to keep it a secret - Right! Her driving skills have always been sub-par and now they're even worse. Sunday night was a classic - when after two glasses of wine she was red-eyed, staggering and slurring but refused to give up her keys or let someone else drive her home and my s-i-l tells me, "She's not drunk - I'd know!"(sorta like, "She doesn't have memory issues - I'd know!") I'm torn between making a confidential call to the DMV before she hurts someone or herself or just stepping back and letting her kids take responsibility. Sigh - good to vent and hope it gives my readers a laugh; I'm sure plenty of you are in the boat.

I'm surprised you are eating solids already. So, calling the doctor is always the right thing to do. The initial pain that you felt was somewhat normal when you eat foods that you aren't ready for yet, eat too fast, too much, don't chew enough or any combination. And the "foamies" are part of that unfortunately. But having the pain continue now even with liquids -- I don't know what to tell you on that. Your bariatric team will be your best bet.

I had surgery on Monday, January 27th, and went back to work on Thursday, February 6th. I still cannot eat or drink anything,and have to hook up to tpn through a picc line for 14 hours a night. I am not in pain, and it has probably been easier going back to work since I don't have to try to get fluids in thorough the day yet. The hard part is getting home and getting the tpn hooked up fast, so it can run for 14 hours before I have to get up and be ready to go back to work. I teach kindergarten, so I am very busy at work. the first day was hard, I was exhausted by the time I got home, but the second day was much easier.

Could be head hunger. Try drinking water and see if it helps when you feel hungry. And use your DVR so you can fast forward through the commercials. ☺️

So I finally got a date the last time I met with my surgeon - October 17th. (SO CLOSE!) He asked me to lose 10 pounds before the next time we met, and to meet with the psychiatrist again for the final clearance. The first time the psych wanted me to get stable on my antidepressant before clearing me. So I lost the 10 pounds and met with the psych. All good, right? Well, the psych told me he needed to get in touch with MY psychiatrist and therapist first, and that it should only take a few days. It has literally been a MONTH since then and he hasn't managed to get in touch with the psych yet (he did call the therapist.) My psych claims they've been playing "phone tag" but I suspect that neither of them have really put in the effort. I mean, how hard is it, really? A 3-minute phone conversation? So either way tomorrow I'm starting the liquid fast, even though this might have to be postponed. They can't send everything into insurance without the clearance, so I still might get bad news. Ugh! When I told the surgeon about this last Friday, to his credit he was pissed too and told me to call him if I don't hear anything from the coordinator or psych by tomorrow. I'm so stressed and annoyed about this. It wouldn't be the end of the world to postpone a month or a couple of weeks, but it seems like such a lame reason. I've gone through so much with the tests and clearances and now this? Anyway, wish me luck! I feel pretty good about the liquid fast, at least, and have stocked up on lots of Protein Powder and Crystal Lite the list the nutritionist gave me also included Diet Snapple, strangely enough, so I got a case of that, too. Onward!

How long is the pre op fast? Sent from my SM-G900T using the BariatricPal App Never mind I just reread and saw the 14days yikes Sent from my SM-G900T using the BariatricPal App Exactly, 14 days. Now thats my dr here in fl. But then i read where some people didnt have to fast at all so i was like, wth......ive now kinda gotten use to it because ive taken all my Vitamins in the am so it has gotten easier - Sent from my SM-N920V using the BariatricPal App O ok I am in Washington state I was told 2 wks as well but my aunt that got her sleeve done about a yr ago was on it for a month. She got hers done at a different place though so fingers crossed lol Sent from my SM-G900T using the BariatricPal App

best wishes to those on their journey! i'm getting banded in 6 days so i'm excited! the time leading up to the surgery while your doing all your tests and stuff goes by super fast! before you know it, you will be getting ready for surgery! so hang in there! i suggest getting used to eating a little healthier. i dunno if your surgeons put you on a diet or not (mine did... pretty strict... for the month or 2 before while i did everything), but its a good idea so you start getting used to it. i'm on all liquids right now (for 2 weeks pre-op) and it was good i eased into it! keep us updated!

I sitll get hiccups if I eat to fast, but I remember that healing state. My doctor told me relax they will pass. The worst thing to do it tense up, that increases the chance of causing slipping while your still in the healing phase.

Actually it happened so fast I didn't really feel more than a quick little "wiggle" inside me. Totally thankful for that since my mother told me she had a drain once and it felt like a "razor blade covered snake" coming out!!! Completely not my experience thankfully!

I agree 100% with Penni. I think our bods know how much they want to weigh. My mother was super slender till she retired. If you think it's hard having a skinny sister, try being fat with a thin mother - torture. But she recently admitted to me that she was practically anorexic to keep herself looking that way. She admitted she was sick all the time. She had constant hunger pains, dizzy spells, black outs, missed periods. She wasn't skinny, just slender. Now she's a Vegan, her only pigouts are from whole grains and veggies, yet she weighs 200 pounds at 5'10". I am stuck right around 250 now, but like Penni, I can climb steps and walk fast without dying. I can lose more weight, but I feel too hungry and deprived. I hoped that a fill would keep me from getting hungry, but so far, no luck.

I feel like I can drink the cup down pretty fast, of course I'm sipping but do not really feeling restricted

Let me add I've been getting the since last night when I'd been fasting 24 hours. I haven't had anything today but 1 cup of broth, a half cup of jello and water.

ichthyology The reasons you stated are the reasons I was banded.. I have lost 110 lbs - I feel 10 yrs younger have tons more energy.. I live in So Cali where Mexican Food is the food of choice I still eat chilli - salsa - I cook with jalapeno's - I can't say I eat super hot but I do pretty good for a white chick since I have grown up hear and mexican food is what I grew up on.. I have read were some pple can't tolerate spicy food - but for me I can still eat it - my doc didn't say I couldn't... Heck I still drink coffee - there are pple here who's doc's dont allow it... As you will find out the longer you are on this board that every doc has diff instructions... Good luck on your journey.. Heck 100 lbs for a guy is a walk in the park - go to the guys room - they lose that in like 6 months - You men seem to lose it fast than us girls :cool2:

Hi, I just joined today. I had my consult last week. Now have to meet with nutritionist and psych. I want to lose 20 lbs before surgery. My surgeon is Dr. Larson in Lake Worth, Florida. He doesn't require weight loss, but says it is easier on your lungs if you do. I will try. I want to know if you lose your appetite, and how fast larger people lose weight. Also does anyone prefer one band over another: Realize or lap band? How is energy level after surgery? Thank you, Louisa