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Hey Everyone, I'm new to the forum and my sleeve surgery is scheduled for the first week in April. I was hoping to get some advice on what your post op hospital stay was like? The hospital I am going to is about an hour away from home so we wont be able to come back and forth. My husband is going to stay with me the whole time. What advice do you have on what to pack for me and him? How long did you stay at the hospital? Did you have visitors? Anybody have a longer ride home? Just trying to get some ideas since we will be farther away. Thank you! This forum has already given me such great ideas and advice to help calm some of my nerves. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using BariatricPal mobile app

I did They said everything looked "normal". From my own research I believe the problem is Leptin. They dont know why some people have too much or too little but having surgery most certainly didn't "remove the hunger hormones" as is sometimes reported. I was absolutely starving the first few days right after surgery and remained starving the entire 10 day liquid diet post op. Most people say after a 2-3 days on a liquid diet you lose your hunger but for me it was torture. I'd give anything not to be plagued by constant hunger

How much pain do you have? On a scale from 1-10 I am a 3, that's because if this same gas bubble on my left side under my ribs. It SUCKS!

It's been 10 years since I had my VSG. I honestly never really think about the fact I've had surgery due to how long it's been. I'm used to eating small portions. I typically either share meals or order kids meals. I will admit there have been times when I'm eating somewhere that has amazing food that I really want mentally but my stomach says I have no more room. That rarely happens, maybe once a year.

What a wonderful story - I'm so glad you finally found the right tool to help you succeed. Although I never had quite your fitness level, I feel the same way, that I am a pretty 'healthy' fat person when it comes to exercise. When I was around 250-260 I could easily do hour long workouts, and I saw all the skinnie minnies come into the gym and hop on a machine and daintily workout for 10 mins on a flat level... while i'd be doing hills and inclines for an hour. It felt so unfair! I think fullness and portions have always been a problem for me too and so I expect a lot of success with this because I'm willing to do all the work. As someone who as also been heavy my whole life, I think your body just gets comfortable with it and weight loss attempts become harder because your body just doesn't want to do it anymore. I know all the right things to do but when I do them, my body barely loses any weight now. I hope we both have wonderful lasting success!

It's that time again! Time to set a goal for the month. I managed to pretty make my goal for June and so now I am thinking I need a new one for July so here I go I am going to try to make it to 210 lbs this month. Today is my weigh day. I think I should be needing to lose about 9 lbs to make it. My goal for the summer is to make it to Wonderland. I have not been there since before I got pregnant with my now almost 19 year old son!! So to all those who post a goal .... Right on!! Lets make it happen!:whoo:

I have officially declared war on myself. It's not pretty. Its gonna be bloody and either way I'm gonna be hurt. Can I say I am hating my lapband, my surgeon, my diet and my stupid stupid body! yeah, total hate fest here. if you cant handle it move on. Anyhoo...I was banded 09/02/11. I've been dieting, working out. Was instructed by my surgeon that there healing period is one week and I should be losing at least 1-2 lbs a week. I lost 4-5 lbs the first 3 days or so then stopped. The scale has gone up 2lbs and down lbs, but hasnt wavered from the same 2 lbs! I am suppose to be under 1000 calories a day and not to exceed 1200. Fine, I'm not hungry anyway. So i've been eating low carb, low calorie foods. At least 60grams of Protein. I do cardio and weights. Yeah yeah I know muscle weighs more than fat, o.k. Sooooo on saturday I say forget it. I had a 50 buck gift certificate to a restaurant and went out with my family. I ate till I was stuffed, drank some wine and later ate a small dairy queen blizzard. well well, I hop on the scale the next morning expecting to gain 5lbs. Well to my surprise I lost 4lbs over night?!?!? I dont know where the pounds went or why. So now I'm confused. Normally I cannot lose with 2500 calories and I've tried 1500lbs in the past then once I have a cheat day, BAM! pounds fall off. So am I doomed to do this forever?? I got the lapband to stabilize my weight loss. No tricks or crap like this. This is how it was before the lapband. I am not that hungry. I get a fill tomorrow. I have to force the 1000 calories. What happens with the fill and i'm down to less calories and I have to choke down food to get more calories in order to lose?? Anyone experience this? This is so depressing. I thought starvation mode didnt apply to us?? I'm confused, angry and heartbroken. I dont want the yo-yo- calories and binging every 10 days to lose weight. I felt like crap after I ate so much on saturday.

You made a great decison w/ Dr. Garcia...his coordinators are wonderful and you will be treated like royalty. The hospital is very modern and clean and has an ICU. The "walking the halls" though is very short...I think there is just 10 rooms. My husband and I drove from TX to TJ and back again...week took about two weeks for the whole trip, so if I can survive that long long drive w/ no complications...that's pretty good. If you have more questions, I'd be happy to answer them....just message me!

My surgeon wouldn't even schedule surgery until I had lost 10% of my excess weight. It depends on your team, but you might not get to the pre-op diet without some work first. Sent from my SM-G925V using the BariatricPal App

We are going out in a bit do buy diet supplies. . .lol. We will have our weigh in on friday so I know we will need to loose 10# from that point. I know we have to do 3 meetings after that. I hope it doesn't take forever to get a surgery date I am all ramped up to get going. Guess I will see you in August. =):tt2:

My Doc said it was a hr and he did fix y hiatal hernia then they woke e up 30 in after , my mother had waited till she knew I was awake not alert just awake then I stayed one night in the hospital and she came and picked me up , but the surgery took a hour of course the initial waiting at the hospital for them to get me ready was about a half hour then they rolled me in gave me the med to put me to sleep was abot 10 in and that was it so it goes pretty quick .

Support YOURSELF! I read several WLS boards daily and I'm truly amazed at the helplessness and lack of power some of us have. I've been there myself, having dealt with seasonal depression, early childhood abuse and growing up with a mom who had Borderline Personality Disorder. In my 20s depression reared it's ugly head in a big way and the weight gain started. I'd weighed around 150 and at 5'5" that was close to ideal. I finished my 3rd decade weighing about 225, despite getting psychological support. In my 40s after getting up to 260, I sought counseling to deal with unresolved issues with my mom, who had passed away 10 years before. This helped me deal with relationship issues I had on many levels with pretty much everyone in my life, and I dieted my way down to 190. I felt in control and powerful. That was a great feeling. Today I read a post laying out strategies for success in losing weight. It listed a few good ideas and some that were a bit impractical, but the point I got out of it was in order to succeed, we must support ourselves; get the trigger foods out of sight, etc, but I think it missed a key point. It's not about hiding bad foods...it's about keeping healthy foods available in the moment we are being tempted and taking back our power over temptation. This is where I've been missing the boat recently, a technique I know works, but in my blue mood, had forgotten. The strategy I've used is positive affirmation. You visualize how you'll feel, look, walk 20, 30, 40 lb lighter and create an inner dialog of positive statements: I'm enjoying shopping for clothing one size smaller. It feels great to take a walk without my knees hurting so much. This chicken Greek salad tastes so fresh and it's providing my body with nutrients and Protein to support my healthy lifestyle. You create a positive environment within your mind to support your goal of being healthier. You replace the negative inner dialog, you KNOW what I'm talking about, with positive self talk. It's a habit you develop over time, usually about 6 weeks. It's a known fact that thinking positive thoughts while developing a new habit helps in establishing the desired behavior. You focus on the new behaviors, not on overcoming the old behavior. If you find yourself berating, chastising or otherwise having a negative inner dialog, you stop, breathe and replace that dialog with a positive affirmation: I am worthy, I am powerful, I am in control and move on. I did this throughout my band journey, including the 3 month supervised term and especially during the year I was struggling with the complications. In the last few months, I'd let the negative self talk sneak in...the fear of regain, feeling vulnerable, powerless and depressed. I forgot the mantra "If you believe it, you'll see it" and I did...30 lb of regain since September. So go ahead and hide the Cookies, better yet, leave them at the store, but don't forget to visualize yourself 1, 2 or 3 sizes smaller, congratulate yourself for every accomplishment and forgive a misstep. You are worthy, you are powerful, you are in control. Bandarella????

Well its almost 48 hours after surgery, and things are good pain is an average of a 3 1/2 worst a 5 1/2 not so bad. gas today is the worst. Feels like im going to give my self a hernia at the slightest attempt to push it out. so really careful about that. other then that this is cake. no hunger yet. I've lost 15 pounds since the 10 day pre-diet to now so 15 pounds. I was 290 im 265 now since I started with Swedish weight loss. Dr Ross McMahon is a mad genius and I highly recommend this surgeon. Down to earth with the highest level of confidence he his in him self he instills that in you. Made me soooo comfortable. I give him a 12 out of 10!!! life is good even in pain:) only negative is im a non- smoker (I quit 1 1/2 years ago) and am coughing up blackish green thick phlegm all day today. Anybody else have this?

I haven't had BOB (band over bypass) but know a few folks who did that. It didn't help one of them, another did fabulously well and lost all the weight she'd regained plus another 10 or so pounds and has been maintaining fine. I've lost track of the other BOBsters. I would urge anyone who's considering revision to think carefully about exactly how their original surgery "failed". Did your original surgical tool stop working, or did you stop working it, or a combination of both? You really need to have that clear in your head before you have more surgery. Every bariatric procedure requires some degree of hard work on the patient's part. If your regain after RNY has been medically shown to be due to a stretched pouch or dilated stoma, you also need to talk to your surgeon about how to avoid those conditions once you're banded. Good luck, and congrats on the baby!

I think the pre op diet depends on how heavy you are from what I've heard and read from others. Some have only 3 days others had 2 weeks. I was a big girl rolling in at 399. I stuck to my pre op diet one week out of two. EAS Carb control shake in the morning and lunch. Water And Sobe in between then turkey for dinner with salad. If i got hungry between that i'd add sugar free Jello or Protein shake.My body eventually got used to it. I cheated one day and had pizza and popcorn at night at my favorite movie dine in place but that's about it. Lost 20 pounds and it was all worth it. Was so scared my liver would be too big and my surgeon would call off the surgery. But turns out my liver shrank to normal size, my surgeon was so stunned when he operated on Tuesday 4/10. He was so proud of me and liver, I felt like a champ lol. liquid pre op is hard, no joke but you can get through it. Sometimes you have to tweak it to customize it to fit you. Sent from my iPhone using VST

I have always says that I am not dumping because I've only thrown up once. Now I am realizing they I might be dumping in the sense of a slight tummy ache, feeling weak, dizzy, feeling nauseated, and even sweating. This happens after I eat sometimes, but I don't feel as if I'm over eating because I'm not eating over 6oz. That is the amount my nutritionist said I should be able to eat. Help if you have some input or have experienced this. Thanks SD: 10/10/12, Converted from Lapband to RNY, HW (before band) 263, HW (RNY) 230, Preop 219, after surgery 223, CURRENT... 187 YEAH!!!!

I was banded on 10/29 and the same thing is going on with me. I am trying to limit my calorie intake and keep protein up. I get my first fill 11/30 so I am excited for that. Bandster Hell sucks!

My husband has a 10 cc band and was like you after his first fill. He could eat practically anything during the holidays and gained back the 10 lb he lost after the first fill. Now he has his second fill--6 cc in a 10 cc band--and is doing much better. When I feel myself starting to binge, I eat something I know will get stuck a bit, like a bite of bread, on purpose, just to stop myself from eating anything more. Probably not the healthiest thing to do, but it does work.

My liver shrinking diet consisted of a Muscle Milk for Breakfast, low fat cheese between lunch and bfast. For lunch I had two In-n-out Protein style burgers (wrapped in lettuce instead of bun or another Muscle Milk. Lowfat yogurt or another low fat cheese stick for snack and for dinner a grilled chicken breast and some broccoli. I lost 11 pounds in 10 days doing this. Also, be sure to get out for at least a 30 minute walk each day. Good luck to you! Banded 4/17/09 w/.08 cc First fill 5/30/09 1.6 cc

I will throw my two cents in. I have a vague goal of 150 (I am 5; 4 1/2"). HOWEVER, I do believe the scale is such a small part of my goal. I want to look good in my clothes, not even sure what size I want them to be. What I don't want, is to struggle to be a certain weight and fight that battle vigorously. I guess when my body says "this is good" then I will do my best to accept that. Finally, I have a friend who wears a size 8 and I can honestly tell you that she is chubby. I have another friend who wears a 10 and she looks lean and trim. Go figure!

Excited to hear how well your doing my Journey has just started my surgery is in 10 days and I also have 150-175lbs to loose any advice for me?

I started this journey at 245. I am now 155 and 5 pounds from what I thought would be my dream weight. I had a closet full of clothes that I JUST WANTED TO GET INTO again... that was my focus and goal. I was happy at that size, I felt healthy etc... (all thoughts I had prior to surgery and thus the determination to get surgery) All those clothes were size 14's and 16's. I am now wearing a 12 and can squeeze into 10's. I think if I loose anymore weight, I will be too thin. If I were to loose another 10 to 15 pounds I would honestly look sick. Does anyone else have any thoughts on WEIGHT and scale numbers? With the whole Keirsty Alley announcement, and dealing with my own perception, I am confused. Oprah says she weighs 150. Her goal weight. I weigh 155 and am much smaller then she is. We are both 5'4 to 5'5. Is it possible my bones actually weighs more? My organs? What?! I remember telling my doctor I just wanted to get to 150 to get into my size 14/16's and his reply was no, size 8. I remember thinking he was off his rocker at the time, and I still think so today. I would be too thin and feel frail all the time. My sister is a size 2, and she was wearing 18/20's when she had her surgery (she had RNY) and she is TOO thin. But with her surgery, she will gain back a little. (hopfully) Any thoughts anyone?