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@@jaysmm I am similar height and also low BMI. Been slim all my life till 2 years ago when I had massive, rapid weight gain. This put me in a pre-diabetic state, beginning of non alcoholic fatty liver disease and other issues. I have been losing weight at a nice pace, not too fast, but good enough for me. The only loose skin I notice is in my arms, everywhere else my skin is tight. Slower loss can help the skin to stay tighter. As for hunger, I was hungry for weeks post op, till I moved into soft/mushy food. I also had bad reflux that can mimic hunger, so I was put on Nexium, and that helped. In my opinion, for me, the surgery helped to stop developing complications and now my glucose levels are great and my liver is healthy. Hang in there, it gets better with time

Mine was really easy. But I really worked hard getting ready for it. I researched all the worst case sceneros. I did a great deal of emotional work ahead of time. I worked out and walked as much as I could. I weaned off caffeine and alcohol weeks before and stuck to my pre-op diet. I also tried all the foods I was going to eat post op, sampled many Protein drinks, practiced eating slow at lunch, found out coffee warmers would keep my food warm when it took such a long time to eat. There was always the very small chance that something could go wrong, and being a single dad, I also took care of my estate planning and worked with my business partners to set up contingencies in case something went really wrong. The end result, was I was on my feet and walking almost immediately after surgery and I was working on the internet the same day. Now I will admit, I was a fairly healthy fat guy, but there were enough warning lights going off to make me realize this wasn't always going to be the case. Plan, Prepare, Act and Evaluate everything going in. I self paid in Mexico so I did all this research myself. and to tell you the truth, knowing me, I think I would have been bored to death doing this through a typical program. But I still had fears the last week despite all of this. But in the end, could not have worked out better.

My recovery was fine. I only had real pain for about the first two weeks but it was very manageable, I stopped taking pain killers on week two. Never had issues with hitting my Water and Protein goals, only food I've had any issues with so far has been any kind of sugar alcohol sweetener.

Im a little over a year out and just only now feel comfortable drinking caffeine. I'll get a SF mocha from starbucks like, once a week. Its wonderful to have caffeine again, but it also can play havoc with blood sugar levels too as you're more sensitive to caffeine after surgery. It hits your system super fast (like alcohol does). My advice is to listen to your surgeon and use caution first time you get anything SF, as the SF stuff can make some folks dump or super gassy! Not fun to be gassy at work all day and then have a caffeine crash. Trust me!

I have always been a passionate cook ... I honestly have no bad habits besides food no alcohol no smoking ... This is just so hard for me Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I agree. Start as if you had surgery yesterday with the liquid diet and follow the 5 day pouch reset. That will help get a lot of the sugar toxins out of your system and it will jump start you. Then, focus on the rules: 1. No drinking anything 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after you eat. 2. Limit your beverage calories. Try to stay on Water or sugar free non carbonated beverages. Stay away from alcohol. If you can, even limit caffeine as it really does cause you to feel hunger. 3. Mindful eating, remove distractions so you can pay attention to your pouch. Your tool is still there, you just need to retrain it. 4. Eat your meals slowly chewing well in between eat bite. Put the fork down in between but do not go over 30 minutes for your meal as your pouch begins emptying at that point. 5. Drink a minimum of 64oz of water or SF non carbonated liquids. 6. Ensure you get a minimum of 1 gram of Protein for every inch you are tall. Even a little more is better. Make sure that you get that protein mostly from dense Proteins like fish, seafood, beef, chicken and pork. These foods will keep your pouch fuller longer and provide you with much needed protein grams. 7. If you have not done this recently, you should have a full Bariatric blood panel drawn to ensure you are not lacking any nutritional elements that could cause you problems. 8. Are you still taking lifelong Vitamins like B12, Calcium Citrate or any other vitamins your Bariatric Doctor put you on? If not, you will want that nutritional panel to inform those decisions. 9. No grazing.....this is where most people start to have weight gain. Eat your 3 meals a day and try to avoid snacking. If you are one of those people like me who has reactive hypoglycemia, then have 5 smaller meals. 10. Avoid sugar, potatoes, Pasta, rice and bread. Same thing with any prepackaged processed foods. Get rid of the junk and stick to good quality proteins and veggies and fruits. Once you hit goal again, then you can introduce some whole grains back into your diet slowly until you get to a good maintenance schedule. 11. Try to get some exercise even if it is just walking daily. These are the things that I will do if I ever start to regain my weight. It really is getting back to the basics.

I've had some alcohol, a little beer and a little cider. I'm not much of a cocktail drinker (except for gin and tonic, I could kill a pitcher of those by myself!) and I've been hesitant to have wine, since it always gave me heartburn pre-surgery. My doctor is very much a 'think about it and watch how it makes you feel' kind of guy about foods and/or alcohol. I don't have any 'can't ever eat' restrictions, like some docs seem to give to their patients. It's working for me, I'm finding myself making good decisions without having someone give me tight right and left limits on what I can do.

And yes, at your stage, I had to remind myself to eat. I set alarms and would grudgingly eat my scoop of hummus or Beans, not wanting a lick of it, but knowing my body needed it to heal. I spent this last week in Las Vegas and alcohol aside, I probably ate about 500 calories a day because I was so busy. I still don't always remember to get in my nutrients, I just stopped setting alarms.

Hi Gina. I have IBS as well. I was hospitalized as a toddler for a week - diagnosis: nervous stomach. Which of course became Spastic Colon, then IBS. Now, at 54 I got so fed up with how I was feeling that i decided I wasn't going to feel like it another day. I started doing research. I discovered while doing research that sorbitol and other sugar alcohols are in so many things (xylitol, mannitol, etc.). Even in my toothpaste. And more importantly, I was taking Cipralex Meltz which contain sorbitol - I can honestly say I felt poisoned. So - lactose intolerant, IBS and a pretty bad intolerance for sugar alcohols (something I figured out 5-6 years ago but didn't know I was ingesting every single day). When I went to my doctor and explained all these thing she said - "I know what's wrong with you!" - She told me about the Low FODMAP diet - a Doctor in Australia (with celiac) discovered the correlation between certain foods and intolerances, and sugar alcohols and their effect on people with gastro-intestinal problems. The biggest factor for me has been removing sorbitol completely. I'm super vigilant about this. My brain-fog just disappeared, my gut/bowel was so much better after that. I'm fairly good at not eating the many fruits and vegetables, fructose, fructans, etc that are all part of this. I just could not understand why when I ate I avoided dairy but my almost instant diarrhea happened all the same. It was awful. I'm not completely out of the woods, but I feel control for the first time in my life! I downloaded the app, bought the book and haven't looked back. My IBS is one of my major concerns when it comes to getting the gastric sleeve operation. I'm very concerned about foods going through my system too quickly and making my life miserable due to the food bypassing the absorption in the small intestine and through to the large too quickly resulting in chronic diarrhea. I see my doctor August 11 and it'll be a question I'll be asking for sure. She may not know the answers but she may be able to send me to see somebody that does. I really think that you should try this diet, especially as you have IBS. Perhaps you already know about the Low FODMAP diet? If so, sorry I've wasted your time with this very long message! lol The protein shakes you're drinking - check the ingredients. Become familiar with all the sugar alcohols so you can recognize them when you read ingredient lists. Most people with IBS also have lactose intolerance. Do you have it? Protein shakes are an issue for me - it's also a concern if I get the sleeve surgery as the protein shakes are a necessity from what I know. I can't have things like sugar-free popsicles (probably have sorbitol), shakes if they have dairy or sugar alcohols/sorbitol, etc. Dieting usually means low-fat, low-sugar foods. I won't be able to ever have those items, so will need to always have whole foods only - no processed. I will need to have a protein shake chosen beforehand that doesn't bother me. If it bothers me before surgery it'll be a nightmare after. Please look at this diet - there are so many doctors that don't know about it. Find a dietician who knows about it and get some help from him/her. Check your toothpaste, your foods/drinks, gum, mints, sugar-free pop (btw I can't have aspartame either). Good luck - would be so nice if this is a big help for you :-) I was put on the low fodmap diet six years ago. I was not lactose intolerant before my sleeve but I am now. Thanks for the thought and the time you took to message me.

Has anyone attempted alcohol yet? I had mine on June 27th and I'm not really a drinker and don't mind waiting for months down the road. But today is my moms bday so I was wondering if one cocktail would be a bad idea this soon? Opinions? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Yeah I was using Zofran for a few days post surgery. I also was using/sniffing rubbing alcohol. It was what my nurse at the hospital was using on me to help combate the nausea. It actually worked. When I was feeling like I was about to puke, I would sniff the cotton ball with Alcohol and be able to stop myself. Hugs to you, as this will get better. Also, if you start puking and can't stop, get to the hospital. The quickest was to suffer from sever dehydration is by unstoppable vomiting. Sent from my SM-N910P using the BariatricPal App

@@nickisleeve We all have to read labels and take all nutrition into consideration. These have : 1G Sugar 2G Sugar Alcohol 2% Total Carbs and, 0 Protein 25 Calories Got me through the first couple of weeks after surgery.

I was on Protein shakes 3 weeks then started the other stages. Yiu have ti be real careful too. No processed sugar caffeine the list my doctor gave me goes on and on. No alcohol soda ever!! I was told. Hope it gets better for you hon. Sent from my LG-H631 using BariatricPal mobile app

I've been eating Protein Bars since the beginning. But there is always something (at least for me) that is not right with them. Usually too high in calories or sugar alcohols, which my particular doctor and nutrishinist say to TRY to avoid in great amounts due to gastric distress issues. Again, this may just pertain to me, but I was also told from the beginning that my "fat from calories" number shouldn't be higher than 35. Now THAT is hard to find. There are so many things I have to look for that maybe others don't. I probably obsess ove calorie count too much, but there's always that fear of "too much". And the FEAR of backsliding is never far from thought. Maybe I'm one of a kind. Thanks for the input.

@@curlysue86 Which surgery did you have? 7 days out seems awfully fast to try solid foods. I had bypass and my doc had me on Clear liquids for a whole week, the full liquids for a whole week, then pureed for 2 weeks which I did not do well with. Finally at week 4 I was allowed soft foods, Proteins that were very moist, veggies that were overcooked. Even getting used to that at 4 weeks was slow going. Just wondering if your surgical team gave you direction on what to eat, how much and for what period of time. I have found that every physician is different but at the end of the day most of us figure it out. I was given a huge binder with every food stage. What foods I could and could not eat. You name it was in there. Then again, my Bariatric center of excellence made me sign a contract too that ensured I would follow the rules and also that I would not drink alcohol for a year. They were very throrough and it worked for me.

This is very common with weight loss. You've traded one addiction for another. You used food to cope and now that you lost that coping mechanism you have turned to alcohol. I highly recommend seeing a counselor. This is still early and you can definitely bounce back from this and get healthy. Good luck my friend.

That's something I'm struggling with. I'm 13 years out and was to goal however I'm not longer working and doing stairs at the hospital and still enjoy my vino. Resulting in a 30 pound gain over the last 3 years. I'm stable the past year with no loss. I'm now Journaling and cutting back on alcohol. Doc says it's fine so long as I journal it. Say some prayers please. I need back down. Sent from my SM-T350 using the BariatricPal App

@@pixystix0116 - I can only share my experience, everyone is the same in that we are all VERY different. So with that said, let me tell you what I did to prep...I walked for at least an hour every day. I went to the gym 3x a week to lift. I was very faithful two weeks before surgery on the diet, got rid of alcohol, caffeine et. al. Surgery day came, because I was in as good shape as I could get. Surgery took less than 30 minutes. I was up and walking within minutes. The first day was rough only because of the dang IV and the drain plug. After both were removed I didn't need any pain killers. Would walk all the time. I had the surgery on a Tuesday. Flew home Friday morning (added an extra day, because I always plan for the worst case). But Saturday I went to an University of Oklahoma football game and my son's fraternity "Dad's Day" celebration. So pain on surgery day 1 - eh 5, after that 1-2. So much better than when my appendix burst. That took nearly six weeks to recover from.

Any kind of fluid is fine. Even coffee and beer (not that I am recommending either!) will keep you hydrated. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/milk-and-other-surprising-ways-to-stay-hydrated/ Reporting on a scientific study of the hydrating effects of many different beverages: "drinks containing moderate amounts of caffeine and alcohol or high levels of sugar had hydration indexes no different from water. In other words, coffee and beer are not dehydrating, despite common beliefs to the contrary."

So painful. I did not have an affair so I can't exactly relate, but I think I relate to that feeling of an empty spot in your heart that you try to fill. In my past I have tried to fill it with food, even alcohol but those were short term fixes. I wonder if the tendency toward "flirting" is something similiar - trying to fill a painful, empty spot in your own heart. I am not a huge counseling advocate, but it seems to me that examining yourself right now, perhaps with a counselor can be super beneficial. I lost 150# and I call 2013 as my crazy year because I was so disoriented. If I was prone to using flirting/temptations/men to fill that emotional void - it would have been bad. It might be helpful to tackle this stuff BEFORE you lose weight because WLS, rapid weight loss, becoming thin is a head trip for some of us ... and you may go through some tough, and emotional times. So, I had a past relationship that I had just a hard time letting go of. It wasn't even the relationship, it was the IDEA of the relationship that was painful. So, there was a phrase that I found hurtful "move on let go" and I made it my password on something I logged onto daily. It stabbed me in the heart everytime I typed it, but in about 1-2 months it stopped doing that. I changed the password, and I no longer felt that wanting. If I were you, I would remove yourself (or him or whatever) from any contact, any social media, delete his number. There is no reason you should even know who he is dating... Good luck in working this out. I am single after being in 2 long term relationships basically my whole adult life... and although there are things about singledom I love; having a loving supportive husband is a lot better.

I'm scheduled for 10/12. I'm working on losing some weight between now and the end of September when I'll start the two week pre-op diet. I need to work on cutting out sodas and not drinking while eating. Not to mention trying out Protein shakes to see which ones I will like. I don't think I'm the pre-mixed shake type, but it might just have to do. Oh and I also need to start moving more.....I guess the only thing I've accomplished in the 4 days since I started working on eating less is not drinking alcohol. I guess that's something!! I'm a huge procrastinator, so I know I have to be better at this....

Hi Gina. I have IBS as well. I was hospitalized as a toddler for a week - diagnosis: nervous stomach. Which of course became Spastic Colon, then IBS. Now, at 54 I got so fed up with how I was feeling that i decided I wasn't going to feel like it another day. I started doing research. I discovered while doing research that sorbitol and other sugar alcohols are in so many things (xylitol, mannitol, etc.). Even in my toothpaste. And more importantly, I was taking Cipralex Meltz which contain sorbitol - I can honestly say I felt poisoned. So - lactose intolerant, IBS and a pretty bad intolerance for sugar alcohols (something I figured out 5-6 years ago but didn't know I was ingesting every single day). When I went to my doctor and explained all these thing she said - "I know what's wrong with you!" - She told me about the Low FODMAP diet - a Doctor in Australia (with celiac) discovered the correlation between certain foods and intolerances, and sugar alcohols and their effect on people with gastro-intestinal problems. The biggest factor for me has been removing sorbitol completely. I'm super vigilant about this. My brain-fog just disappeared, my gut/bowel was so much better after that. I'm fairly good at not eating the many fruits and vegetables, fructose, fructans, etc that are all part of this. I just could not understand why when I ate I avoided dairy but my almost instant diarrhea happened all the same. It was awful. I'm not completely out of the woods, but I feel control for the first time in my life! I downloaded the app, bought the book and haven't looked back. My IBS is one of my major concerns when it comes to getting the gastric sleeve operation. I'm very concerned about foods going through my system too quickly and making my life miserable due to the food bypassing the absorption in the small intestine and through to the large too quickly resulting in chronic diarrhea. I see my doctor August 11 and it'll be a question I'll be asking for sure. She may not know the answers but she may be able to send me to see somebody that does. I really think that you should try this diet, especially as you have IBS. Perhaps you already know about the Low FODMAP diet? If so, sorry I've wasted your time with this very long message! lol The Protein shakes you're drinking - check the ingredients. Become familiar with all the sugar alcohols so you can recognize them when you read ingredient lists. Most people with IBS also have lactose intolerance. Do you have it? Protein shakes are an issue for me - it's also a concern if I get the sleeve surgery as the Protein Shakes are a necessity from what I know. I can't have things like sugar-free popsicles (probably have sorbitol), shakes if they have dairy or sugar alcohols/sorbitol, etc. Dieting usually means low-fat, low-sugar foods. I won't be able to ever have those items, so will need to always have whole foods only - no processed. I will need to have a Protein shake chosen beforehand that doesn't bother me. If it bothers me before surgery it'll be a nightmare after. Please look at this diet - there are so many doctors that don't know about it. Find a dietician who knows about it and get some help from him/her. Check your toothpaste, your foods/drinks, gum, mints, sugar-free pop (btw I can't have aspartame either). Good luck - would be so nice if this is a big help for you :-)

So, my program says eat whatever you want besides high carb/high fat food/high sugar as of day 40 (no Pasta, bread, rice, alcohol, soda, etc). @@smg @@4MRB4PHOTO To clarify, you are recommending that I should wait longer than the 40 days to reintroduce these seafoods (besides soft sashimi, everyone seems to agree that's okay)? I'm excited, but I don't want to push it. I can see how escargot might be too rubbery to introduce so early. It seems like oysters and crab would be a fine consistency? Or should I give it until 3 months? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App So, my program says eat whatever you want besides high carb/high fat food/high sugar as of day 40 (no pasta, bread, rice, alcohol, soda, etc). @@smg @@4MRB4PHOTO To clarify, you are recommending that I should wait longer than the 40 days to reintroduce these seafoods (besides soft sashimi, everyone seems to agree that's okay)? I'm excited, but I don't want to push it. I can see how escargot might be too rubbery to introduce so early. It seems like oysters and crab would be a fine consistency? Or should I give it until 3 months? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

@@Proud2BMe - I'm really happy to hear you've made such great progress. Keep up the good work. I also encourage you to stay really open and honest with yourself about this. I believe that some people genetically are at more risk for alcoholism than others. Add in the high risk from the WLS and that's a bad combo. You slid down the slope without realizing you were slipping this last time. Now you know the slope is there, so you can use all your awareness to try to avoid it. Unfortunately, you might not be able to walk anywhere near that slope anymore. As I said in my last post, I've never had a problem and hope that I can still have a glass of wine socially here and there, but your post made me realize, that might not be the case. You also might not be able to "enjoy an occasional drink." I know it feels like there must be a way to just have an occasional one, but that's walking on the top of that slippery hill and you could quickly start sliding without even knowing. My father and mother both used to drink a lot before I was born. They both quit. My mother can have an occasional drink, like maybe 3x a year and is fine. My father hasn't been able to touch even one sip in 40+ years because he knows he can't get close to that slope. You've tuned in your awareness to this right now. Keep it at high alert. Keep up the good work! Don't be afraid to get some professional help if you are feeling challenged. I don't know you, but I have faith in you!

I appreciate you sharing this info. I sooo miss my margaritas! Lol. I can't drink them no longer because I was diagnosed Bipolar 2 years ago...so my meds doesn't allow alcohol. I am also unable to exercise...one because I hate it and two I have too many physical limitations. I do love to walk but my bad knee and spurs in my feet take care of that. My story on my profile tells my weight issues. I know you will get this all figured out. Sent from my SM-G920V using the BariatricPal App