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If there is swelling she will not be able to get the sleeve until the swelling goes down. My doctor unfilled my band 3 weeks before surgery and then took it out and revised to sleeve in one operation. I hope all goes well with your mom.

Perhaps uping your protein intake and water will give you a boost. Just a little at a time. This could be your 3 week stall as well. It happens. you will lose weight and have that beautiful slim new body that's shouting out "SEXY."

I was sleeved 9/25 weighed 244 as well I did not loose anything first week and am down 15 so your not far behind! It just feels like it! Take ur measurements made me realize loosing more than I thought

I'm almost a week post op, and I can definitely sympathize. I don't think I have it as bad as you do though. I do sometimes feel like burps get "stuck" and I am still having a hard time drinking because it feels like I'm hitting some kind of a wall... Hope you and I both get past this soon!!

I'm sorry, that stinks! My whole "approval process" was delayed because my pulmonologist wanted me to do a sleep study which wound up showing that I have sleep apnea which delayed everything for about 6 months. I did all I needed to do with my CPAP and she then finally made a recommendation for me to have the surgery. I was very discouraged during this whole process (it took me over a year) but I had good support from coworkers that have had the gastric sleeve and they just reminded me that the process is a marathon and their advice and support helped me. I just joined these forums last week and have found them to be helpful and supportive as well so if you are ever having a bad day come one here and look at some past posts or ask some questions that can help you prepare for next year. Good luck

I am very sad and depressed right now.. half way through the six-month pre-bariatric program at my hospital, I finally met with the surgeon a month ago. He determined : 1) because I was still living on Prednisone for my Myasthenia Gravis, and had had surgical complications 4 years ago after an automobile accident left me with a perforated colon; and 2). a knee injury which left me in a wheelchair for 3 months this spring created DVT blood clots- that I was not a candidate for elective surgery at this time. I cried for days afterward. In my car, in the grocery store, in my art studio. I could not stop crying. I live with a rare neuro-muscular disease, and finally had to be placed on high dose steroids for it (100 mg/day) 19 years ago. Or should I say, 140 lbs ago? Steroids down to 10 mg/day now with IVIG infusions every 4 weeks. Evidently IV immunoglobin doesn’t effect surgical healing the way that Prednisone does. Dr. pointed out that even if I had been otherwise healthy, the DVTs alone would have postponed the surgery by 10-12 months. We made a loose date for reevaluation in June 2019, if my neurologist can get me off of the steroids completely six months prior by increasing the frequency of the IVIG doses. I was looking into this surgery 4 years ago right before the bus accident, and the possibility of finally having it got me through the multiple horrific resection surgeries. I am still eligible for the sleeve gastrectomy, but know that it will take fortitude to stick with the ‘non-surgical weight loss program’, rehab and exercising and prednisone tapering until my reevaluation in the Spring. It just feels like a dream slipping away, and I am having trouble staying motivated with my program. Has anyone else experienced surgical postponements for underlying medical conditions? Very much looking for motivation advice. Thank you.

I had my surgery 8/17/15. I have loss 9 lbs in just 1 week. I am amazed but have had trouble with my partner supporting my decision to have surgery. She didn't want me to have it and has never truly embraced the process. How can I make her see that my choice had nothing to do with her but choosing my life instead?

@@MsCP At Sam's, they are sold in 12 packs for about $15/box, and come in vanilla, strawberries and cream, or chocolate. However, I have seen them in slightly different packaging than what I buy at Sam's (there, they have a red "spout" lid - the ones I've seen in the fridge at work were the "old" packaging with a silver tear-off opening on top), so I feel pretty confident you can buy them individually "somewhere" - I just don't know where that might be. I know Vitamin Shoppe has a fridge full of different Protein drinks, I wonder if they can be found there? While all three flavors are very good, the vanilla is my favorite. None of them taste "diet-y", if that makes sense.

We have similar goals. I am in the 4th week of the couch to 5k program and I just recently bought a road bike so I can do a triathlon late this summer. I highly recommend the couch to 5k app, very cool. It coaches you thru the whole process. Sent from my SM-N920V using the BariatricPal App Ryan, That's awesome. I am in week 5. I love the C25K app. It is so much better than when I used to have to run on the treadmill so I could watch the time! As soon as I finish the C25K I will do the C210K alternating days with swimming and start my Triathlon Training Memorial Day. I am so pumped. Keep me posted on how you are doing. pam

I am 66 years old and I am just starting the process. I have a psych eval, and a Nutrition eval, on Wednesday. I actually started this process a year ago, by going to the seminar. I am a medicare ins. I was told it takes about a year as they only do a certain amount of Medicare. Then they called me and I went to see the Dr. last week. I have lost 44 lbs since last January. I am not sure why, but a year ago in July, i had a total knee replacement, then in October I had surgery to repair a c3-c4-c5 in my neck, and ever since they have healed up, no more pain, and a heck of a lot more active. I will keep you posted as I hope to continue on with this process.

NeeNee- I am 1 week banded and have not had a BM I am glad to see that this is normal - also what type of protenin shake do you drink

I dont know when you had your surgery but if you did recently thats not unsual to go days or even a week without a bm. doc told me thats normal. Also normal is bowels get a little loose and they will. now about the mirelax, its meant to work gradually. I took it as well and didnt really go to bathroom. doc says there was nothing for it to really push out. whats your diet like right now? are you on protein shakes? liquids? etc etc. I didnt have full bms until i was on regualr diet and eating 3 meals a day

We're going to fly to Mexico in a couple of weeks. I will be about 6 weeks post-op. Unless things change quickly, I will not be able to get my required Protein by food alone. What's the most compact way to carry protein to another country, realizing that there might be a lot of trouble getting it back into the USA? Those shot things can have a lot of protein, but they sure are nasty. I'm thinking of just taking a half bag of Meal Replacement powder. What do you think?

I posted guess you didn't see it endoscope went will Had surgery now one week postoperative having No problems Three hr surgery two day stay you will have a foley Cather and I came home with a drain tube on my left side just had it taken out on Monday it was 3feet long lost 18 lbs doing fine I have one incision that is three inches and six other incisions but doing fine taking it slow Good luck to the ones needing surgery Hope everyone postoperative is doing fine Any other concerns just ask me

Also, my understanding (from years of dieting) is that stalls/plateaus are when my body is rearranging everything to accommodate the fat loss-- moving fat around so that is more easily accessible, etc.

I haven't had an endoscopy performed. My application was sent in right after my psych evaluation. It would have been sent in right after my final month on the supervised diet if I had done my evaluation sooner. I go to the doctors next week for my pre op testing so maybe they'll do a endoscopy then.

Yep right here! lol I haven't stalled for more than a week but I increased my calories and the following week I lost 4 pounds I'm only 4 months out so I didn't get many calories in then. Now I stick to about 1000.

When you first get your sleeve, your stomach is swollen. I could only eat .5 to 1 oz of most things in the beginning. But then the swelling went down. Now I can have about 2 oz. of hard Protein plus some veggies. Or I can have 3 oz. of something not so hard. But I should be able to eat about 4-5 oz. by 1 year out. It varies a lot with the individual too. I know people with sleeves who can eat 7-8 oz of certain kinds of food. They are more than 1 year out and they are a lot taller than me. So their stomach is probably longer. I was on liquids for 2 weeks and then I started doing soft foods, very slowly at first. By about 7 weeks out, my doctor said to start introducing more hard protein and veggies and now I eat pretty much anything that looks good to me. Except bread. I still can't do bread. I assume I'll be able to eat it again some day though.

How long did you stay at the hospital with the sleeve? I went to MX so i was in the hospital for 3 days What did you eat the first week? First week, no food, liquids only What about dumping syndrom with the sleeve? I do not dump but sometimes if something is too sweet or I eat too much sweets I wil get a stomach, something I never had before When did you go back to work? I went back to work after a week, I don't have a physical job, so it was fine. When did you become pain free? Pain free about 7-10 days after I was completely pain free.

Well, drinking 64 oz. of Fluid a day is a pretty common recommendation for everyone, even people who don't have WLS. So it's something you should be doing now. :thumbup: It can be hard the first couple of weeks post-op, but eventually it gets as easy as before surgery. I can do 80 oz now if I work it, but the first week, it was more like 32 oz. But some lucky people can do 64 from the get-go. For the food progression, even if you get a lap-band, the good surgeons want you on liquids for about 2 weeks minimum so your stomach can develop scar tissue around the band. For the other surgeries, you are doing it to let the staple line heal as it's at it's most delicate then. But most surgeons have all patients on the same regime no matter the surgery type or only have small variations based on surgery type. I don't necessarily agree with this approach, but I can see their POV. Anyway, after 2 weeks, you progress from liquids to mushy food and then to regular. How fast you progress, and how many stages there are, really depends on a combination of what you can tolerate and your surgeon's program. Some are very conservative and some aren't. Some patients have a harder time of it than others. Etc. I was on liquids for 2 weeks and then was supposed to be on soft food for two weeks. But I was still pretty swollen so at my 3 week follow-up visit, my surgeon told me to wait until week 7 to progress to regular food. But some of his patients progress to regular food at 4 weeks. It just depends. Yeah, it's pretty common not to feel full on liquids. It's really worse for the lap banders, I think. Ask around here about "Bandster Hell" when you have no restriction so you are as hungry as before, but you are supposed to be on liquids. With the sleeve, it's a bit different. Some people report being hungry in the first 2 weeks, especially on liquids, but it generally comes and goes. Then by about 2 weeks out, you just don't feel hungry any more, except head hunger. At some point, that comes back for most, though I know a few who just never feel hungry after that even years later. For me, I lost my ghrelin hunger pretty much immediately after surgery. But I still have occasional hunger off and on due to other things, some real, some in my head. The band works differently. In the beginning, it isn't doing much at all. Some people get restriction right away, but most don't. So you start out really hungry and gradually get less hungry as you get more and more restriction until you get to your sweet spot. Then, you are satisfied until the sweet spot wears off and you need another fill. But eventually you'll need less and less fills and the sweet spot will last longer and longer. So it's almost the opposite... start out starving and then get as hungry as you are going to get vs. start out not very hungry and gradually get more hungry later.

Hello All, I have decided that I want to have the surgery. My issues are I do not know where to begin. I still have a lot of unanswered questions and was hoping this site would help with that. I want to know how does this process start? I am going to my primary doctor next month and wish for her to recommend me getting this surgery with hopes that United Healthcare will cover it. My issue is do I wait or do I contact a surgeon. I think I found a good surgeon but I wonder about how long is the time span between the time you have your first appointment to how soon the surgery takes place after? I guess I am wondering will I be waiting a few days, weeks , months or years help......

Hey everyone. I will be 26 at the end of this month. I'm 2 weeks along with my band now. Everything seems to be going well. I've lost roughly 23lbs so far. Still have some port site pain when I move a certain way or bend but I think it's ok. Nice to meet everyone.

I'm one year out and I visited family over the holidays and gained 4 pounds in 1 week. Not surprised considering my 4 food groups were sugar, fat, alcohol and more sugar. But I got right back on plan when I returned home. Spent 3 days detoxing by eating only Protein and veggies. Even cut out the fruit and whole grains to try and get all the sugar/carbs out of my system. Then back to my regular balanced diet that worked so well before the holidays. I lost the 4 pounds by the end of the second week. Just get back on plan and throw out the junk. You got this!

I didn't get the sleeve for anybody but myself--and perhaps for my husband and children to have me around longer and not have to look after me. But I'm finding that my weight loss is inspiring several of my friends. Are you seeing something similar? I know I talk about my sleeve and my new eating habits ENTIRELY too much these days, but it's all so new and exciting that I can't help it. When I've traveled for work with others, I've told them all to not be guided by my hunger and eating sizes because I mean..that would be ridiculous. I'm the "boss" and I don't want them to think they can't ask for us to take a break and get food just because I don't get hungry! But inadvertently, it appears to be changing the habits of those around me. One of my employees was already doing body for life and has lost 30 lbs, but it's fun when we travel to do shakes together and we pick restaurants we can eat at. When it's time to cater meetings, she picks food that she and I can eat so our clients are eating healthier whether they like it or not, although we do get Cookies for them. But initially, doing it together really helped us stay on plan. Employee/Friend #2 asked me to help her so I set her up on MFP and gave her guidelines. I bought her a fitbit. Not only as she lost 13 lbs but she walks like a fiend! She went from 153 to 140 lbs, and as you know, when you're that little, it's hard to lose weight. To add to it, her two neighbors and she got into a competition on who could walk more. So the husband and wife next door are also walking like mad. So that's three people inspired from one fitbit. Employee #3 is moving to low carb slowly and has been asking me to help her. She like most of us, is carrying a lot of weight and as she gets older is starting to have health issues. So that's four people inspired. I'm really surprised by this, but in a good way. I really am not preaching it to others, but they see my excitement and my results and it's getting them motivated. how cool is that?? Is it making a positive difference to your friends and family?