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I’m 9 months sleeve post op and if I remember correctly they sent me home with hydro morphine. I was getting such bad headaches daily and would last 12 hours. Finally read the side affects of the pain meds and headache or migraine is on the list. I stopped taking it right then and went back to Tylenol after maybe day 3. I think being dehydrated also contributed to headaches as getting enough fluids at the beginning is a challenge. I was also give the self injection shot to help prevent blood clots. I think headaches are also a side affect of that drug. I finish led the 10 day course of injections but so glad to be off it. I agree with another member the gas pain is the worst part of it coming out of surgery. It took a few days for it to finally leave my abdomen and was the most painful part. After that managing pain was very tolerable with Tylenol. Just remember it gets easier every day and take it one step at a time!

I am pleased with the sleeve. 10 months out and a loss of 152lbs. I have severe acid reflux prior to surgery and a gi bleed. Was on ppi for at least 7 years. After surgery, no reflux at all and off all meds for it.

I had my surgery on August 17. I didn’t have to do a 10 day liquid pre-surgery diet, thankfully. However, I sure miss food. I’m hungry all the time.

Just got my surgery date...10/2. It will be 15 and a half months since my first consultation. I'm so psyched.

I am averaging about 80g protein per day and I am as of today 19 weeks post-op. I still have a protein shake most days, but it's in the form of a Proffee. I will either use a Core Power or Nutrition Plan shake as my milk mixed with espresso or have a Chike iced protein coffee packet and mix with part water, part Fairlife skim milk. I also like to add a scoop of collagen. So it's 30g+ of protein to start the day. Midday there is usually some version of eggs and/or cheese somewhere in the 12g of protein range or an Oikos Triple Zero or Oikos Pro yogurt which is 15-20g. Lately I have been adding some blueberries and Catalina Crunch cereal in yogurt for texture which adds another few grams of protein. Dinner is almost always some form of protein and veggie. Grilled chicken, ground turkey/chicken/extra lean ground beef, tuna pouch, chicken burger. I like to make cottage cheese bowls, so maybe some turkey taco meat and mix w cottage cheese and some low fat mexican cheese blend, lettuce, tomatoes and some salsa. I even mix my tuna with cottage cheese and have it with sliced cucumber and tomatoes. The portion of meat can range depending on the way it's cooked and what else I'm mixing in, but I can manage 3.5 ozs or up to 4oz of a protein. I can't seem to manage 5 small meals so it usually lands around 3-4 small meals/snacks. Depending on the day my restriction doesn't leave me wanting to have a lot of solid food. If I'm coming up a little short and don't want to eat more, I will drink some Protein2O protein water. I do also love the Quest Protein Chips - my #1 is now the Spicy Sweet Chili flavor. I keep them around for days I either don't want to eat something heavier or when I'm with friends and they are having the regular chips. They pack 19g protein a bag.

I’m approx 24 post surgery and the pain is intense. I’m in Norway - they don’t seem to believe in opiates or strong pain meds here so I’ve been getting infrequent doses of IV paracetamol and some sort of paracetamol suppository a few hours ago. The IV helped to sleep a bit, but the pain is way more intense than I was expecting. I’ve got a bad headache and feel dehydrated but drinking causes a lot of pain and discomfort. They gave me some sort of strawberry nutrition drink to go through before they discharge (no leak test planned) and it’s really rough. Hard to get down the tiniest sips, causing nausea and hiccuping which is painful on the incisions. I’m feeling awful and really regretful in this moment. My husband is a 3 hour drive away and is making his way here now for discharge and I am dreading the drive back home. I can barely sit up in the bed as it is without 7-8/10 pain.

I am meeting with my surgeon in a week to hopefully talk about a surgery date. The surgeon wanted me to lose 10-15 pound prior to this appointment, and I haven't been able to! I have major anxiety about this and am worried he will choose to not move forward. Has anyone gone through something similar?

I had mine 8/1/23 and last food I had was 7/31 so 3 weeks today of clears, I asked about protein shakes and they said I could get the Ensure clear protein drink but no shakes! I can’t drink it because it’s so sweet it gags me so I’ve lived on broth and a lot of water and snowcones w/ sf syrup and popsicles. Three days ago I had cooked/frozen several large batches of Lima, Red beans, cream peas and bean soup. I had some of the bean broth bc it had a bit of substance and it seemed to be all that kept me going. I ran out and went back to broth with seasoning but finally started using 1 small can cream of chicken soup to a quart of chicken broth plus 2 cups water and cooked down with a bunch of Cajun spice. I go back to surgeon tomorrow and am supposed to be put on soft puréed food, eggs, mashed potatoes and yogurts per their instructions and I am certain that if I don’t gnaw my arm off by then I will come home and eat the best eggs and potatoes of my life 🤣 I have been starving for the last 10 days and I’m pretty sure my stomach has healed bc it growls and gives hunger pains about 90-120 post broth meals.

Everyone's recovery is unique but based on averages, most people have regained the majority of their strength and beginning to settle into a new "normal" eating routine at 8 to 10 weeks. Remember to use caution when introducing new foods. Our tummies can often be disagreeable for the first 6 months.

Hey Congrats to you all for your losses. @CarolineLittle thank you for thoughts. Makes me feel hopeful that some day I can post : hey I lost 20# !! This past week I was pretty good, I was able to eat a lil bit of food. Doc cut my TPN intake to half, and added 2 rounds a week of just saline. its still a crazy about of calories, fat, carbs ect in these bags.. So my weight loss is at a standstill , then 2 days ago everything went down hill, I'm not sure what happen internally ,but my stomach decided it had enough, I started to violently throwing up, I had empty stomach so it was just bright yellow bile, after 10 mins of that , i noticed small blood clots ( insert panic here) , I called doc, explained to them my currant condition.. They are going to do another Endo to get a look at what's going on.. so now it just a wait, for appointment.. I sure it will end up to be nothing, and I will just get.. " give your stomach some time" or "the hormonal changes of the stomach should regulate soon" ugg!! anyway I just take it day by day, I still try and eat and drink a little.. the max intake i can get is around 2 ounces at a time. Then I have to wait about 6 hrs before I can think about trying again.. So here to another week.. and good luck to you all on another successful week.

Hey! My surgery is 10/2! Excited and nervous!

Surgery 10/2! Patiently waiting and nervous!

I am so sorry you are hurting so much. I too, had a very rough time of the pain. Like you, I've got major back issues (herniated discs neck, mid and low back) and have had several surgeries in the past and this lapband removal/bypass replacement hurt like hell. I wasn't trying to scare anyone off, I even said I would do it again but just really didn't realize how much it would hurt because compared to the prior LapBand, it was 10x worse in pain. I take Norco (hydrocodone & acet) and Lyrica and that Dilautin (sp?) was awful, it only worked for an hour at most but once I was able to get back on my Norco, it was bearable. And I'm not a medical professional, but I am a bit of an observer of human behaviors and the human condition and at my age, I've seen a lot of things and have learned that it is best to try to prepare yourself for whatever life may want to throw at you because bad stuff never seems to happen at a good time :). Thus, I made sure I had my own pain meds because just when a bitchy old hag of a nurse wants to threaten to hold them over your head, you don't have to put up with crap, Or more likely, when staff is short and you are forgotten by the folks who are supposed to be caring for you in the middle of the night, etc. I'm not saying you need to ignore dr orders, I merely said it never hurts to be prepared for people to not do what they're supposed to do for you! Be prepared to take care of yourself. I remembered my husband having spinal fusion surgery 10+ years ago, malfunction at hospital pharmacy so he was hours without meds. I watched that man screaming in pain and literally could do nothing to help him! The nurses had the audacity to try to come close his door (so they didn't have to hear him in agony) which made my head explode, I pretty much told them that IF I HAD TO HEAR HIM, THEY HAD TO HEAR HIM TOO AND IF THEY DIDN'T WANT TO HEAR HIM TO GET HIM THE HELLO OUT OF PAIN! Going through these life experiences changes your perception, tends to make you learn what you don't want to go through again. SoutheastP-Again, not trying to scare you. You may not have the same pain level or tolerance level, I'm just saying for me, IT HURT. That damned drain "football" suction port thing is what literally felt like they were suctioning my insides out! IF you have one, make them empty it (or have family do it) within 2 hours, do not let it get too full or have too much suction on it because I thought I was going to die from the pain. And you don't have to take anything with you, I merely said that you might wish you had it. It is hard enough to be recovering from surgery, but if you are a chronic pain patient like I am, those pain meds help make life bearable most days for me, to be hurting from fresh incisions and still have my back & neck pain & hips hurting is a lot to bear. Many of the bariatric patients I speak to have spinal issues which is why so many of them are overweight to begin with as they cannot get much exercise due to pain issues or mobility issues. And I also said, I'd do it again, but just like to be prepared for whatever you are going to encounter. I also had a LapBand REMOVED and then replaced with a new Gastric Bypass so a 2-in-1 surgery which may have made mine more painful than what you're getting. In any event, see you on the other side of it and wishing you a lot of success! peace

I did full liquids for 10 days (was supposed to be 2 weeks but I couldn't take it anymore). Then I went to mushy foods like hummus, avocado, etc... I did that for a week. Then I just went to soft foods for about 2 weeks and then went to regular foods. For both surgeries. My nutritionist said as long as I went really slow and listened to my body, it was fine. No 2 plans are the same, and no 2 bodies respond the same.

I apologize for not posting as often as I did at the start. I've slowly started to incorporate more things into my diet over the last couple weeks. I had a fish taco from Torchy's Tacos tonight, for example. I was only able to eat two bites, but it was a nice change up. I attempted to eat a turkey sandwich from Subway last week and wasn't really feeling the bread. I was only able to eat about half of a six inch and it took me a couple days to get that done, lol. After getting sick off of roast beef about a month ago, I haven't even attempted red meat again and really don't have a desire to. I've found that I still "want" to try to eat a large amount, but my body doesn't allow it. I've pretty much just started taking two bites of things and being finished as when I take more than two bites, I have to start spitting in a cup or I have a desire to throw up. I'm officially down to 313lbs, so I should only be in the 300's for a couple weeks more or so. I'm down 72lbs since the start of my journey and down 48lbs since my surgery on June 23rd (8 weeks ago tomorrow.) So I guess you could say I'm averaging a 6lbs/week loss since my surgery, but I've found some weeks I'll lose 10lbs and some weeks I'll stall. It's hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that I'm only intaking like 400-800 calories a day and stalling, but I know that it's just a part of the bodies process. My surgeon has said since day one that this surgery and weight loss will last about a year and to make the most of it now. I swear, feeling how I feel when I eat, I don't imagine that I'll ever be able to eat like I used to again. I guess we'll see. Thanks to everyone that's stuck with me through this journey and ready my posts and have given me encouragement. If you're reading this and you're still on the fence about whether to have the surgery or not, I can say without doubt that it's the best thing I've ever done. It really sucks to not be able to eat certain things anymore, but being healthy and losing weight is a lot better than any junk food. Sometimes when my family are eating huge burgers, cakes, pies, etc... I feel regret for a brief second, but honestly, the only regret I have is that I didn't do this 10 years ago.

When my doctor told me to change my eating habits within that first year or 2 of major restriction, I took it seriously. I learned how to make better choices 80% of the time. Don’t get me wrong, I eat chips, dips, pizza, cake & all the other bad stuff. I even drink beer. However, I eat and drink in moderation and I do it occasionally. I stay away from sugary drinks and those extra calories that add up quickly—most of the time. I  do indulge occasionally. I also learned easy swaps when cooking to help reduce calories. For example, I cook with cooking spay, not oil. I use lean ground turkey meat, chicken breast, and other lean meats. I still wake and go with a Greek yogurt for Breakfast, and I will add Protein Powder in the mix & top with fresh fruit. I love eggs in so many combinations, and if I want eggs with bacon or cheese (or other high calorie toppings/sides, I’ll use egg whites instead of the whole egg. I do zucchini noodles instead of pasta…all these little things that have become habitual are what make a BIG difference in the long run. I literally changed my eating lifestyle. The 2nd component was body composition. I started lifting weights. Heavy weights…for me. The heavy lifting helped me add muscle and lean out at the same time. I don’t do cardio…or, I hardly EVER do cardio. I hate it. My fitness is purely from heavy weightlifting. It became another aspect of my lifestyle. I have lifted 4-6 days a week…Consistently…Year round…Since I was sleeved & released for physical activity. If I’m on vacation, I’m on vacation. If there’s an emergency, there’s an emergency. However! Tired. Not tired. I go to the gym. I think of it as my job. Whether I want up go or not, I have to work. And yes, I still have restriction 10 years out! But sliders are definitely still a thing, and if I stick to my Protein, veggies, and complex carbs, I don’t really crave or care to indulge in those sliders too often! Bottom line. It’s a lifestyle change. Change your habits. Be consistent.

I’ll make this quick. I am 17 days post op. I see the dietician on 8/22. 4 days away. Zero complications after the surgery. I’m still on liquids. I’ve read other ppl are on puréed phase after like 10 days…etc. I’d like to start before Tuesday. I’m not hungry, just tired of only water and protein drinks. Thoughts. I have a feeling what most posters will say but wanted to put the question out there…lol Thanks!

Nice! Burpees over the bar are... intimidating. I got my first box jump since my last update (to a 10 inch box but there's still skin on my shins so I'm calling it a win), and my first single unders. I also ran during a WOD for the first time yesterday. It sounded like my loose skin was giving me a round of applause.

I gained 10 lbs within 24hrs after surgery (IV). It took a couple of weeks for the excess water from the drip to come off on me. I'm almost always dehydrated though. The weight lost in the beginning is mostly water, so later when the weightloss starts slowing down, it's because you're losing fat not water anymore which takes 3500 calorie deficit to lose one pound of fat.

couple things to remember: 1. you are only 33 days out. 2. The "keto diet" is a high fat, moderate protein, and low carb diet. It usually consists of 75% fats, 20% protein and only 5% carb. Even though you are eating smaller portions the fat is too high. 3. A baratric diet focuses on smaller portions, high protein, low fat, and low carbs! The fat you are consuming in a Keto diet 33 days out is likely the culprit. I would stick to the meal plan that should have been outlined for you after your surgery. I am over a year out and lost 100+ pounds after my surgery w/in the first year. I did think (after talking to my dietician) that I could also try to go back on the Keto diet. I gained weight 10 lbs before I stopped that cold in its tracks and focused on my portions and eating right foods. I am almost lost the weight I gained thinking the keto diet would work for me now. I had done it before making my decision to have gastric sleeve and lost 75 lbs in a short period of time. But it came back on and then some once I stopped eating Keto.

You are only 30# more than me. I am 5'1, 240 lbs. I have High Blood Pressure and Low Thyroid, I am considering the surgery because I am tire to lose the same 5 lbs in the last 2 years, I remember when I was fat at 190 lbs, it was 10 years ago. I wish I had asked for the surgery before, I jus asked few months ago. I got my 1st consult couple weeks ago. sometimes we need to think or weight our choices in one side stay the same in the other side few months of discomfort ( while we heals and get into our new style) but gaining quality of life, gaining help. Wish you the best, GO FOR IT!

You are only 30# more than me. I am 5'1, 240 lbs. I have High Blood Pressure and Low Thyroid, I am considering the surgery because I am tire to lose the same 5 lbs in the last 2 years, I remember when I was fat at 190 lbs, it was 10 years ago. I wish I had asked for the surgery before, I jus asked few months ago. I got my 1st consult couple weeks ago. sometimes we need to think or weight our choices in one side stay the same in the other side few months of discomfort ( while we heals and get into our new style) but gaining quality of life, gaining help. Wish you the best, GO FOR IT!

Congratulations! You are truly an inspiration for the long-term success, and look fantastic! Here’s to another 10 and to a long, prosperous and healthy life! Cheers!

Congratulations! You are truly an inspiration for the long-term success, and look fantastic! Here’s to another 10 and to a long, prosperous and healthy life! Cheers!

I was sleeved June of 2013….this is me ten years later!