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Had my surgery on May 2 and finally into the Puree stage - which I'm told I will be on for 4 weeks. I was back working half days as a clinic nurse the monday after surgery... so you could say the recovery was pretty painless other than that dang internal stitch! Getting my protein in was such a challenge for the first 2 weeks - and getting enough fluids in is STILL hard. Taking my vitamins religiously. Weight dropped super quickly in the first two weeks and now has settled at about the same weight for about 4 days. Maybe my first stall?

Sleeved this past Monday. The first 24 hours were just awful but normal, I guess. Got way better yesterday. I decided to stay the one extra night. Ins paid for it and I wanted to use what attention I could get medically and have a small break before heading home to three young girls. Lol. The incision site where they stiched my muscle, is very sensitive and hurts when I cough/laugh, so I'm looking to get a smaller binder to help put some pressure on it. Gas pain wasn't too bad, just burped everything out. Overall, I feel pretty good. Could use a nap though. Just waiting for my discharge papers. 😊

Day 7 pre-op:

So much easier when I've got work/routine. The weekend was brutal but I made it through. I've got a busy week, so hopefully it'll fly by. 

I'm almost 4 weeks post-op started 369 4/12/2017 surgery and now I'm 328 last weigh in at clinic 5/4/2017 and no setbacks at all but I have problems taking vitamins except for B12

So mostly water yesterday, and some watered down white grape juice for flavor.  I also had about 2 teaspoons of jello - just not hungry.  All liquids were tolerated very well.  Today is full liquids day - so looking forward to trying some of this.  Not sure the difference but when I had my lap-band installed in 2005 - the GAS pains were horrific, the pain in my shoulder from the Gas was agonizing and it lasted for weeks upon end.  With this surgery, very little gas pain, very little pain at all.   Love this thing called the OnQ Pump - it should be given to everyone - works like a charm...  Anyway on to some full liquids...

Had my three month visit with the dietition today. So far, I have lost 41% of my  excess weight. It is nice to see and feel the results of my hard work! I need to get some new shirts since the ones I have now are hanging off me; same with pretty much everything else I own! I'm looking forward to being able to shop at most "normal" stores: Target, Wal-Mart and most stores at the mall. I have never liked clothes shopping so it is hard to get excited about shopping for the first time in 34 years. I am going to hit up Goodwill and the thrift stores first so I am not spending a lot of money on clothes that I am only going to wear for a few months.

Almost 10 months post sleeve, and I have noticed that it's time for me to add in one more lifestyle change on top of my plant based diet.  I have added IF, intermittent fasting, 16:8.  I was going to wait until one year, but it seems as if I've got to a standstill and I've got about 30-40 lbs to lose still.  For those who don't know, IF is not a diet...it's just changing WHEN you eat. I fast for 16 hours (mostly sleeping) and then I eat all my food within 8 hours (or I try to).  I work out during my fast as well for extra benefits.  I implemented it three days ago and I'm down 2 lbs now.  I used to do IF during my obese days and I was successful for three months, changing my body's physique and burning fat, BUT I wasn't successful in my head. I'm sure I probably got injured (as it was always happening then) and I succumbed to emotional eating as I always did.  Now, my head is in a better place, and I'm in control MOST of the time. Still not perfect, and probably never will be, but I'll strive to be so.  So, here's to a Newme...in 2018 too! 

Hi, I had gastric sleeve December 15, 2017. I have been doing great until 2 weeks ago. I have abdominal pain and what seems like gas after eating and sometimes after drinking water. Is this something that will pass or should I look for help?? Thanks everyone.

The week 3 stall is no fun! Come on!!! 

I get to my gym this morning to find a note plastered on the door that they’ll be closed temporarily (like a few months) due to construction needing to be done. Okay, that’s fine. But why didn’t they inform their members in advance? Sigh... Anyway, I have the option to drive clear across town to three other locations, but not sure I want to. Would you drive or suck it up and try and workout at home? 

Hit Onederland this week.  This morning I hit 197.2!  OMG.  I'm pretty sure I was never this light in high school!  I'm so happy!

One week from today!

Question, when I did my lapband, I had to do 3 weeks of liquid diet (I lost 26 lbs)  Someone I know is having the sleeve done and she only had to be on liquid diet one day!. Is this possible? Inquiring minds want to know!

Hello. I am new to this site. I am 50 yrs old and want to get the sleeve. However, my BMI is not quiet high enough to qualify and I do not have any major health issues. I have been on the diet roller coaster since junior high school and have tried pretty much every diet there is and I need HELP! My knees and back are killing me. But I don't think that will be enough for my PCP to give me a referral. I need 25 more lbs to reach a 40 BMI. I have a first appt with my PCP in two weeks and I'm afraid she will not be supportive. Any suggestions or tips that may help sway her decision? Thanks,

Boy has it been a long time since I visited this site!  A lot has happened since my surgery date.  My frequency of use prior to surgery was all thanks to a pretty meaningless desk job that I was laid off of as of December 1.  In the meantime, I have dealt with the triumphs and struggles of recovering from surgery, learning my new stomach and body, and trying to find another full time job.  

Just in case anyone is actually interested in my progress, here it is!  This week is my seventh week since surgery.  HW:  310, SW: 280.1, CW: 254.9  NSVs:  My back fat doesn't rub together while I walk.  I can no longer fit my size 24 skinny jeans, as they have turned out to be more like size 24 baggy jeans.  I have never been more hydrated in my life. I am able to walk up a flight of stairs without wheezing.  I can workout for longer without needing an inhaler.  I have lost countless inches all over my body.  I fit into clothes from my honeymoon in July of 2015 better now than I did then.  

Getting exercise is, and always will be, a work in progress.  Taking my medicines religiously leaves a bit to be desired.  

If anyone is interested in a more in depth description of my recovery, please let me know!  Hope everyone is well!

2 weeks out from surgery and back to work today. I am feeling great and am very blessed that i did not have any complications!

I haven't been on in quite a while, so I thought I would check in.  My weight is down to 173, 7 pounds below goal.  I held at 175 for almost 2 months and randomly dropped 2 pounds a couple of weeks ago.  I had my year follow-up appointment, and my labs were perfect.  Once again, I know that this journey was one of the best decisions of my life, and that I never would have been successful had I not committed myself 100% to changing my relationship with food.  I still follow a keto way of eating and keep my carbs below 25g per day.  I wish everyone the best.  Happy holidays!

Well, I had my last diet visit yesterday and also met with my surgeon and signed the gastric bypass consent form! Time to wait for insurance approval, purchase vitamins and protein shakes/broths, and start getting prepared. I will likely be having surgery some time between February 5 and 16. Due to having surgery in a different city and staying with family for recovery, the only week I would be able to do in January would be the 15th-19th and that would require getting approved within the next 2 weeks, which isn't likely. So.... early February! Between 7 to 8 weeks from now. How did this happen so fast?! 

Currently 50lbs from my goal weight and this by far has been the hardest journey of my life. I have been admitted into the hospital for severe Dehydration,  I have been well for a couple weeks an then BAM the last couple days back to feeling ruff... My gurd is controlled some times I dont need my heartburn meds other times I live on them. Im loosing slowly at this point but I consider that a blessing as I  have lost a lot very quickly in the beginning of my journey, I do want to feel better. I try foods that I would think would work well with my new stomach some times its a big fail 2 days ago it was avacado I hovered over the porcline god an prayed for releif as I sometimes dont understand, I often times crave carbs and Im trying to control my cravings but its so hard... My sugar tends to drop really low and that makes me very ill Im happy with my progress but often times think WTF did I do to myself, feeling down today as I just dont feel well at all

I hope everyone has had a great summer and i hope you go into this holiday season from a better place than the year before.

This last week was my 30th wedding anniversary and i am happy to think that i will have many more to come. In the not so distant past i was not so sure i would live to see this one and 35 or 40 was beyond my expectations. Anything could still happen but at least i have stopped digging in my effort to get of the hole i found myself in.

I have made 3 life changing decisions in the last few decades.

1. asking my wife to marry me - being a child of divorced parents colors your expectations about getting and staying married.

2. saying yes when my wife asked if i wanted children - This was a lie at the time. having a child was THE most terrifying thing i could think of. Today there is nothing i would not do for my daughter and i feel a love  i did not know could exist inside a person.

3. accepting that i could not control my weight by myself and getting this surgery to save my own life. Putting myself first as a way to be there for them is not a concept that I lived by before.

If you ever wonder is it worth it yes it is cause i was worth it and they are worth it.

Never give up folks

Whatever you are working towards you have the rest of your life to get there.

I'm going to hit my stall now. I can tell, because 1) almost everybody stalls when they start moving on to real foods, in addition to the liquids, and 2) I'm at 302 pounds, lol, and the scale knows I want to see the 2 in the first digit.

I'm fine. It's not going to freak me out or really even upset me. Honestly, I could stand the reconfiguration of inches that always comes with a stall, for me.

I'm posting here in between bites of refried beans, which (knock on wood) seem to be going pretty well for me, so far. I'm so happy. Between ricotta (with a little sauce and a little seasoning) and refried beans (with a very small amount of low-fat cheese melted in), I can live without chewable foods for a pretty long time. (I'm also eating yogurt and ricotta cheese.) I do want to upgrade to the ricotta bake, because it has better protein and might cut down the number of protein shakes I need in a day. It's probably a bit more firm than ricotta alone, so I held off at first, but I think it's time, don't you? Plus, my spouse can put it over pasta and enjoy it with me.

I'm eating 2.5 ounces of ricotta in a serving and maybe that much in beans? (this is my first attempt, but that's how much I served myself) I can eat 4 ounces of Greek yogurt in half an hour, which feels like a lot before the 2 week anniversary of my surgery. But I still haven't really figured out my body's "full" signal. I felt a little sick and stopped eating, one time, which made me think I'd overdone it. Other times, I just take tiny bites, sometimes a few minutes apart, for half an hour. And then I refrigerate or throw out what's left, because that was the guidance the nutritionists gave me. But other people talk about a sore shoulder or something as their signal, and I haven't found that yet.

I guess it'll come with time and practice.

Need help, one navigate this site so I can enter my surgery and weight information. Two I’m having questions about my 2nd week post op! Love some help

My surgery was Wednesday, and already, on Sunday, I'm feeling mostly human. I count myself very lucky!

I have been taking the nausea pills I was prescribed ("as needed" is what the bottle says) every morning, and I think that has helped me get closer and closer to my fluid goals. A pill is only good for 8 hours, though, so it isn't doing anything for me in the evenings, when I am still drinking fluids. Maybe I'll try to go without it tomorrow and see if I can.

Anyway, I'll hit 64 ounces for the first time today, my third full day home. I'm on track for 56 grams of protein, 57 if I go for Jello instead of popsicles, which obviously I'm going to do, now that I've said that.

With more distance, I'm able to report on something I've kind of glossed over in my other statuses ... I had some really rocky time while I was in the hospital. There were at least two hours in recovery where nobody checked on me, and my IV stopped--I felt very sick and dehydrated when they finally fixed it. (I was stuck in recovery through a shift change, and they wouldn't let my spouse back with me for something like 4 hours, because people's assigned rooms weren't ready yet, and not letting spouses join inpatient people in recovery is policy. That was terrible. My spouse complained to the nursing supervisors when he found out how I'd been (not) treated, and he never does that!)

Once I was in my room and had a working IV again, everything progressed OK. They didn't let me walk as quickly as I'd expected; I woke up the first time around 4pm, was in my room by 8pm, and didn't get to walk until around noon the next day, with the exception of trips to the in-room bathroom. The pain meds wrecked me almost as much as I expected (I feel like they added to queasiness, but I can't be sure; they definitely forced me to sleep, instead of really taking care of the pain, though, as I'd thought they might ... happily, the pain has been pretty manageable without them).

Home has been better. I've been pacing the main floor of the house roughly every hour. Once it cools off this evening, Spouse and I are going for a walk part of the way around the block, to see how that goes. (80+ degrees in October, ugh.) I feel a little lightheaded sometimes when I'm walking around, and I'm not sure what that's about. It felt enough like a sugar low, yesterday, that I dropped a single sugar cube into my tea (which my plan allows). That did seem to help. I haven't had to do it again today, happily.

Looking forward from here, I'm not forcing myself to go to class (3 hours, a half hour drive away) tomorrow or Tuesday night. The professor was nice, saying "you're the sort of person who would try, even if you feel bad and even though you're ahead on the material, so I am telling you to stay home." I feel like, if I keep on recovering at this pace, going to class the following week should be no problem for me, plus I should be able to work that Thursday and/or Friday. (I might ease in and try just Friday. Nothing I do at work is time-sensitive. I have a very unimportant job.)

I know from reading these forums, though, not to get too overconfident. So I'm still taking it pretty easy and focusing all of my energy on healing.