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Oh, that's miserable! I had gestational diabetes with my last baby and I just had to check my blood sugar wtih a finger prick a few times a day. Maybe your OB will let you do checks for a week and see how your numbers are instead of doing that horrible three hour test? If you just barely tested over, your finger pricks will probably be fine and you can have one less thing to worry about!

I'm 9 weeks today, and I still feel that way. I'm beginning to think its not going to go away. -sweet

Tink: thanks for the laugh! Camilla: thanks for the details, that is going to be my story. and I'm stickin to it! Cova: enjoy you're downtime in the sun, no way I can pull off a vacation. I think I'm the week before you at MI w Dr Garcia Unbe: not ready to play advocate. Thanks everyone, it's a load off!

Thanks so much for the information. It is only 2 weeks till I leave now. It is getting so real, I am very excited nervous but very excited. I am so diligent on keeping up with the information but there is so much it is just about overwhelming. I start my preop diet today, although I have been doing it for the last week. I have been trying to get my schedule down for the next two weeks...but the hard habits are hard to break. Good luck everyone and maybe I will see some of u on the boardwalk

Moderate cardio, but 6 days a week in the weight room and the sleeve is doing it's thing.... everything is tightened up like I needs too....I recommend everyone go easy on overdoing cardio and get in the weight room..... There's an app called JETFIT that let's you select workouts based on experience and tolorence.....get strong and healthier.... 7 weeks Post op....

Make sure to walk only and don't do anything else. Be careful about bending/stretching, and don't go for too long where you wear yourself out. My doctor told me walking was fine, but no strenous activity or stomach work/weights until at least 30 days. You need time for your insides to heal - your stomach muscles. Trust me I have a friend who has a pulled muscle just from bending over too much 2 weeks after surgery and her pain is no joke.

You might check with your Dr. to make sure it's okay... I didn't drive for a week or so...

It's hard when u work nights but try to eat a small breakfast like egg sandwich if u can tolerate wheat toast or just soft wheat or a small cup of oatmeal, then make a tuna, chicken salad or something u like that has protein for ur lunch or dinner at work if u need something in between take a protein drink or bar that u know makes u full these r just sugesstions but u need to find out what makes u full for the four hours so maybe it will help I have been trying diffrent things the other day I could only eat half of a whole wheat tuna sandwich and it held me from 3 pm till 8 pm and of cours I was busy so I didn't have time to think but I knew how my tummy felt so I thought that was pretty good & I go for my 3rd fill this wed , hopefully I won't need any mor but I have lost like 46 lbs since Sept so somethings working lol , I also have a variable scedule sometimes it's day, afternoon or nights so my body doesn't know if I'm up or down However I know I get up in the morning eat my breakfast , make something then I know I'll want later then I go back to sleep if I can then off to work I go. sometimes 6 days a week and I'm a deli clerk so I'm around food all day long oh ya I work in a grocery store lol

Thanks, very inspiring. I know we will all have our quirks in this new journey. Yesterday was one week since surgery. I feel so much better.

I just had my surgery on the 1st of February myself---I am still in pain but haven't been taking the oxycodone I was prescribed. I totally understand how you're feeling and I feel useless and low energy. Don't know how much longer I can be out of commission. I did hear that with the sleeve the recovery time is a bit longer than the band. With the band I recovered in two days without a problem. I think if we give it a week it will be so much better. Hang in there!

I am just beginning week two of stage 3 post surgery (date was 7/31) and I've been doing pretty well but I am SO tired of sweet! My protein shakes are all sweet (save for chicken soup, which I have once a day). It seems like all of the recipes for soft foods on this stage are for more sweet things -- and that grosses me out. I have been eating a soft scrambled egg once a day, and made the ricotta bake, but does anyone else have good suggestions for what I can eat for the next week? I think tuna is okay, so I will add that. What about other meats? Have you done ok with ground turkey, chili, or other more substantial protein-based savory recipes? Please share!

Lynziv i was the same as you. Lost 17pnd to begin and put back on 3 from going onto food. Im 9weeks out and still struggling here. Had my 2nd fill last week and have some restriction but still no weightloss as of yet.

I'm on the same rollercoaster! Not that it's any fun. I am also self pay. I had an unfill in June and then gained 48 pounds. So my doctor told me to do the pre-op diet for 2 weeks. I ended up going longer. It jump started my system to lose again. Protein shake for breakfast, protein shake for lunch, 3oz lean meat with 1 cup green veggies and 1 cup fruit for dinner. No banana, starch veggies and low carbs. Totally worked! I'm back to smaller portions and losing again. Give it a try.

Where is information like this found? I feel like my expectations may be unrealistic, but I don't really know what to expect so I don't if I'm doing well. I was sleeved on Aug. 1 so it's 11 weeks today. I've lost 49-50 pounds...but for the last 2 weeks I've been bouncing around 278, 279, and 280. I went to the gym today and had my best workout ever. I'm eating very low carbs...I feel like I should have lost more by now. I understand that everyone is different, but how do we know if we're on track???

My story so far spans 6 years and includes 4 surgeries and a lot of ups and downs. In 2008, weighing in at 288 pounds on a 5'3'' frame, detesting seeing myself in wedding photos, and now having a gorgeous stepson to live for, I sought out weight loss surgery. Not to mention, my endocrinologist diagnosed me with PCOS and told me my only hope for having a baby was to lose weight. My employer is known to have a "Cadillac" benefits plan, so I had a hunch approval wouldn't be too difficult. I was correct. Getting approval only took a few months, and a minor number of hoops jumped through. I decided on the Lap-Band and was pretty excited going in to surgery. I wasn't too nervous, believe it or not! And even though back in 2008, the pre-op diet that my surgeon required was MUCH worse than what they do now (14 days of CLEAR liquids), I got through it ok. Surgery went pretty smooth- I remember falling in love with the SF Banana popsicles they gave me to eat right out of surgery - delicious!! After 2 weeks of chilling at home and lounging in the sun, I was back at work. I started getting fills soon after and started feeling the restriction. My memories that stand out - first time I got stuck was on a piece of egg and my husband had to stop alongside the road for me to slime/gag/vomit whatever you call that, ugh. The band had its good and bad. I remember getting stuck often. I remember wanting so badly to sample all of the foods at Thanksgiving dinner that I snuck away to do some yoga poses to get the food to slide through the band so that I could eat more - and was caught by my SIL who thought it was hilarious, as she downed a pumpkin roll. But a lot of the time, I paid attention to the rules, and didn't get stuck, worked out 5 days per week, and I lost weight - a lot of weight! I was down to a size 14 when I started having gallbladder issues. Getting extreme upper right stomach pain and nausea for no apparent reason, vomiting my guts up when there wasn't even anything in my guts to vomit up. That is when the band slipped for the first time. I knew it had slipped because even though I had a slight unfill, I could not get anything through the band and I was sliming/salivating constantly. I carried a can around one weekend so that I could spit my extra saliva out. Gross. By the time the dr finally decided to remove my gallbladder, the slip was so bad that I wasn't eating anything and was very dehydrated. He removed the GB, repaired the slip, and sent me on my merry way. Since I wasn't filled directly after surgery, I immediately gained back about 25 lbs. But I felt so good compared to before the surgery that I didn't care! After a couple of months of not caring, I realized I was starting to gain a little much, so I started getting fills again, pumped back up my exercise plan, and did ok at not getting stuck, not vomiting, etc. But I did still have one problem that I had from the very start. When I had the band, I could not burp. No matter how hard my husband tried to coach me, it didn't work. The gas got stuck in my esophagus and just gurgled around in there, making me (and him) miserable. I learned that if I just *barely* gagged myself with my fingers, the gas would be able to come up, and *most* of the time, I could keep from emptying the contents of my pouch. It sounds, and felt like bad Band behavior, but I was miserable and had to do something. Anyway, I started to lose weight again slowly, and was really enjoying life again. That was a pretty good year for me. That Christmas season was filled with parties, and I was able to enjoy them without the band being an issue. And on December 22nd, we found out the greatest news - we were pregnant! We had been trying for nearly a year and given it up to just enjoy life, and surprise! It was wonderful news! So, I went to my surgeon and he did a complete unfill. I had a GREAT pregnancy. I felt better during pregnancy than I have EVER felt in my life. I felt so full of positive energy. I was literally that glowing pregnant woman walking around on cloud 9! I focused on eating a lot of healthy food, taking my vitamins, drinking tons of water, continued exercising. I was a great PG mommy! (I did crave spicy foods and the baby insisted on a bowl of Graeter's black raspberry chip ice cream every night I gained weight, quite a bit, but I was so happy, I was ok with it. I had a great big round baby belly and didn't care that my arm fat was back I got up to about 248 at the time of delivery. My delivery was great. Near perfect, in fact. I made it to 8 cm before I got an epidural and delivered within 12 hours. Post delivery, they moved me to the recovery room, and that is when the disaster started. I nodded off due to extreme tiredness, and woke up aspirating my spit. Every time I nodded off while I was in the hospital, I woke up aspirating saliva. I am convinced, CONVINCED, that my band slipped during delivery due to being completely unfilled and all of the pushing. The next year was a mix of joy and misery. I couldn't eat food most of the time - well I take that back. Some weeks I could eat soups, soft foods, other weeks, I had to stick to protein shakes and milk shakes. I nursed my baby that entire year on that diet. Every night when I lay down to sleep, if there was ANYTHING in my pouch, even a little water, it would immediately reflux the second I dropped off to sleep and I would aspirate it. I got a couple of respiratory infections due to aspirating, and had to use an inhaler sometimes. I found out that drinking a milkshake at the right time of evening would cause everything in my pouch to slide through and I wouldn't take even a sip after that before I went to bed. Still nursing the baby, I did take a 2 day break (pump and dump) to have an Upper endoscopy, where a GI doctor (not my surgeon) said the band looked fine, and used a balloon to stretch the esophagus a little. This didn't really help. Not wanting to affect my nursing relationship with my very beautiful and healthy son, I continued my suffering. I suffered like this through his 13th month, when he started to drink from a cup and lost interest in nursing. After we stopped nursing, it seemed like the band got even worse. I was down to about 170 lbs. now after a year of nursing and barely eating. And now even the tricks I used for that year weren't working anymore! So back to the surgeon I went and finally he decided to remove the band. It was removed on 11/30/2012 and I weighed in at nearly 160 lbs that morning at the hospital. My insurance would not approve me for an immediate conversion, and my surgeon didn't recommend it. He wanted me to give my body a few months to recover from the malnutrition, trauma, and to see if the reflux problem would resolve. It did, immediately. I did well the first 6 months. I became an exercise nut, doing the 30 day challenge, P90X, etc, and eating a whole foods diet. I spent all day Sunday in the kitchen preparing healthy and wholesome meals for me and my family. I only gained about 20 lbs those first 6 months. Then disaster struck. I went on vacation, forgot my thyroid meds for a few days, came home with the flu, and triggered a nasty depression. A few months later, I had totally given up and was gaining weight like crazy. Within the year, I've gained another 80 lbs. Backing up a little, I tried, just a few months after the band was removed, to get approved for the Gastric Sleeve. My insurance wouldn't approve me this time because my BMI wasn't high enough. Come back when you are on our BMI chart, they said. HAH! Please gain weight and become unhealthy again, then we will help you. SO, anyway, I gave up on that for a while, and started trying again this past January. They denied me a couple of time because they tried to say the Band didn't work, so they wouldn't approve a second surgery. Uh, YES it DID! My surgeon's PA was on the war path when she heard that! A 130 lb weight loss does not indicate failure, she said! So, needless to say, she got me approved. But I shelved the approval due to some personal issues with my mom's situation. And finally decided to go for it, was Sleeved on 5/30/2014, despite my husband's protests (worried about complications/permanence) and looking forward to adding more to my story! So far, the sleeve seems alright. I am definitely not hungry, but a little unsure as to how I'm going to get my protein in with this much restriction. Gonna time my time and follow doctor's orders!

Hi everybody. Looking for some input and would really appreciate your help. I just had RNY on 4/25, so I'm 4 days post-op. Every day has been better than the day before but geeeeez the gas pain is worse than anything I've experienced with any surgery I've had before. I'm up walking every hour, stretching and getting massages from my husband, but the bubbles are stuck in my shoulders and under my ribs. Horrible, stabbing pain! I've been trying so hard to get the recommended Protein and liquids in, but it feels like a full-time job. My stomach feels like it's going to burst its so full when I've only had 2oz of Protein Drink. I'm trying to get 2oz/hour in, plus a SF Popsicle every few hours, but I can't imagine drinking much more. It's such an uncomfortable feeling all day every day, and then taking meds? Feels like they're huge and scrape all the way down. I'm a rule follower by nature and I'd like to follow the post-op rules, but is it the gas pain causing this horrible overly-restrictive feeling?? How much have 1-week-out RNY people here been able to drink? Please tell me drinking will become easier soon. Also, have felt so remorseful this week but am slowly coming out of that fog... just mostly scared to face this new reality. I'm 18lbs down since 4/11 (when I started pre-op diet), but need hope this super tight feeling will go away so I don't get dehydrated. Thanks everybody. ❤️

After surgery I had to sit upright and sleep upright for the first two weeks. It sounds like either drinking too much too fast or gas. I would try taking smaller sips- literally use those medicine cups and sip them.

so, I have heard of it, the three week stall, but I don't like it very much. I think part of my problem is that I am not taking in enough fluids or just throwing them up. I just took some mirilax because I havent had a bowel movement in a week. Yes, I said a week. I have RA and am on pain medication and that doesn't help at all. so when does this stage pass. I am so discouraged!

Hmm.. I guess I have a strong stomach in that sense because I haven't really had any issues like that. But maybe that will change in the future. I'm six months and a week post op. Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

Hi everyone, I am just about 5 weeks post op and was given actigall recently. I took it with food as instructed, however 30 minutes after I threw up, first time since being sleeved, made me so nervous! Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this with this medication??

sounds very familiar, which Surgeon do you have, if you dont mind me asking..just curious if it is the same one or if they are all the same. I would send a fax and call and leave messages to find out if they got it, b/c the first fax sat on their desk for two weeks..ugh

That is crazy, i been trying to get a Nutrition Class since the beginning of June and i didn't get it til the 26 of this month... Ha No Fair... i was trying to get Surgery done Next month... The Doctor know this and so does Judy... i like their office, i just wish things would of went the way i like it.. i think i have to do three classes so i don't i will have my surgery done in August:frown:.. Anyway its great that you have someone to do this with... Good luck with your journey.. and make sure you inform Dr. Peters about your insurance situation, im sure you can have it done before the first of the year, just make sure you get all you appt. in before your last Nut. meeting... Good Luck!

Hi all...im new here n i found this to be a great site. So after a week and a half of waiting for insurance approval, i find out on the same day that i have a stomach ulcer...womp womp...(i say stressing from waiting for the approval gave me the ulcer) lol..anyway i was wondering if anyone had this issue and if you were still able to get the band. Oh and my surgery date was set for april 18th

Ok so I have bought all the powders highly recommended on this forum including Syntrax fuzzy peach nectar, optimum nutrition gold standard whey (Cookies and cream) and another one by optimum nutrition called hydro-whey which is good also, and it's not that they don't taste good, its just that I cant drink even 8 oz before I start to feel gross, sick, bloated and gassy. So, I remembered I went to a really good naturalist a while back when I was having issues and she ran the "ELISA" testing on me which tests not for acute allergic reactions (called IgE antibodies), but delayed intolerances/sensitivities (IgG antibodies) which can range from anything to gas, bloating, cramps, to muscle/joint aches to neuro issues like mood swings/irritability. So, I looked at the results which I had not reviewed in quite awhile, and it says I have severe antibodies (>5x the normal amount) to milk products and moderate antibodies (>3x the normal level) to eggs, yolk and white. Now my mom argues with me that I could always tolerate milk and eggs fine before surgery, but I always tell her it's not that I tolerated them, but I really didn't care if I spent a half hour on the toilet if it meant that delicious pint of ice cream (I know, true confessions), and I also made the point that I think I took A LOT more of the offending substance to affect me so that I did care (because my stomach was much larger), and I usually didn't get to that quantity. And my third argument to her, and I have no clue if this has any credibility, but I did tell her that maybe I didn't notice it that much b/c I was eating so much other crap, bread, Pasta, oats, fruit, veggies etc. etc. and when I first got the results back for "milk" sensitivity I just thought "oh I can take a Lactaid and I will be fine", but then just learned yesterday that milk intolerance is NOT the same as lactose intolerance. Lactose is only an intolerance to one part of the milk-the sugar, which is called the lactose. but milk is made up of whey (which is the watery stuff, and makes up 20% of the Proteins found in milk, and casein, which are the lumpy white globs seen in sour milk. Therefore "milk intolerance" is very different that "lactose intolerance." and unfortunately there is no way to avoid symptoms like with lactose intolerance, you just have to avoid milk products. sorry if you already knew all that, but I found it interesting b/c alot of people who get tested and have a "milk" allergy or intolerance just think they are lactose intolerant, which is what I did. so then there are the eggs, which I don't have as high of a sensitivity level to, but I would like to avoid. which leaves soy. Now I do have a history of breast cancer in my family, and I know soy messes with your thyroid and also mimics estrogen (and my doc thinks I may be estrogen dominant already), but I also know that for the next couple weeks, I have to get my Protein in somehow, and this seems to be the only way, because the only proteins I know of are milk protein concentrate/isolate, egg white, whey isolate/concentrate, (which is made from milk), and soy isolate/concentrate. My antibody level to "soybean" came back completely negative. I also I don't think by taking soy protein for a few weeks until I can eat solids is going to give me breast cancer. I think it is long term use that many professionals advise against. So, I really don't know why I gave all that info, (maybe it will help someone else, and I had also been asking for whey powder recommendations and I wanted to explain why I am all of a sudden now asking for soy). But because the only powders I didn't mind the taste of were recommended by users on this forum, and I know NOTHING about the world of soy protein isolates/powders, maybe there are some soy lovers, vegetarians/vegans who can give me some good tasting ones? thanks and merry christmas/happy holidays and for those of you that are a day or two out, today is day 4 for me and I am just today starting to feel "normal" again, less bloating, etc.

ME TOO! Her and I are both nurses and we talk about it all the time. Makes no sense but they did say they think there is a correlation to what is going on with her bypass.....especially the kidney stones. She actually got septic from the kidney stones which caused a massive UTI and it went systemic... landed her in the ICU. She has had consults with infectious disease, oncologists, rheumatologists, urologists... you name it. It is so frustrating that they can't figure this out. She was doing really good for about 3 months and just a few weeks ago she started feeling run down again and they ran blood work only to find her blood counts were all low again, white and red... they had to give her another Iron infusion.. matter of fact the day I had my sleeve. She came to see me after her infusions. They are sending her for more tests. I will add you to my friend list and email you if they come up with anything. Hang in there... I know its maddening. :/