Search the Community

Two weeks out I could eat maybe 2 teaspoons of black beans. A whole can would have made my stomach hurt.

I am down 18 lbs since my surgery date on March 12, 2009. its weird but I don't see it but MAN I can feel it, things are just feeling different all over my body. I am finally able to fit into some jeans that did not fit me for the last 6 months. I took out all of the "skinny" clothes that used to fit me when I had dropped 150 lbs and had to put away once I fell in love with my hubby and eating out at the same time. I am looking forward to 2 weddings this summer and a family trip to Orlando for 12 days with my kids and aunt and will look forward to wearing a bathing suit in public which I have not done in the last 3 years. My husband has lost 7 lbs in the last week or so just with the change of pace in the household, we both believe that this is a chance for the both of us to get healthy together. I do have one downturn to this, I have some people in my life that I would consider to be associates or people that I just know in general that are just so rude when it comes to the tact of my weight loss and gain over the last 3-4 years. ( Background ) I used to weight 350 back in 2001. Between 2001-2002 I lost a total of 150 lbs on my own ( called the I got left for a 20 yr old diet ) I was broke, paying a mortgage by myself with 2 small kids. I managed to keep the weight off for about 3 + years until I met my now husband. Over the course of 5 years I worked my way up to 290 then down to 240 then back up to 289 all over again. In all of that I was on a medically supervised diet for a period of 2 years where one med worked wonderfully but would have eventually caused me to have a heart attack so it was a NO go ... next was a placebo and then the real deal that did not work. I watched my hubby on the same study lose 50 lbs and he looked HOT ... then it stopped working for him and poof gained back 30 lbs ( and still looks hot ) all of that made me say STOP ... do something that will work. No more yo-yoing. I have a bad heart, I had at one point a 73% chance of a heart attack in the next few years or a possible stroke with my BP levels. But some people just don't get it. I am in some ways sick of the why did you, you dont need it, your fine the way you are ( whilst they are a size 3 ) commentary. I just wish that people could just look at is as yet another surgery in my book that will make my life easier to live in order to be able to see my kids grow up and have their own family. That above anything else was why I did my band. I am truly grateful for a site like this, I have met some of the nicest people that can really understand have it 50 lbs or 300 lbs to lose that its a huge part of our lives and its something that we can all do together with support and friendship and that's a wonderful thing. Sorry for the long rambling post ...

I'm going through alot of stress to say the least at work. When I come home, I dread eating but it's the "norm" for our family. No matter what I eat, before I finish, I'm running to the bathroom throwing up. Doesn't matter if its toast, steamed veggies or cream soup. I despise having to eat anymore. I wake up with such a burning in my throat from acid reflux even though Im taking prilosec the doctor gave me when I left the hospital. I can't quench my thirst no matter what I try. I feel like I'm losing my mind. I did get back on my depression meds this past weekend. They have made changes at work and moved our department in with another, added duties and more to come and no pay raise. I'm so mad I can't get past it which makes going to work a dreaded task. I hate going to bed because I know I have to go face work again. This is a job I used to LOVE not 3 months ago. I hate shake drinks, won't tough powder anything every again. On top of it all, Im on another stall. What do I do? What do I eat? DO I go back to liquids? Tomorrow is the monthly support group. I'll be there but need advice and not the same two or three people hogging the entire meeting with guess whats going on with me.....Yes, thats the mad part in me coming out. Please advise.........

Holy cow... I made it to the 50 pounds off mark... I started 12/26 with my 2 week pre-op and had surgery 1/8...I feel great. I have lots of energy and everyone around me can see that I'm walking taller than before.

I hate eating too and I am 3.5 months post op. My whole day consists of 3 protein drinks, cheese sticks, and popsicles. Thats it and that all. I have tried food but it all hurt me so now I get so nervous and anxious that I refuse to eat at all. I would rather stick to the things that are safe then to venture out and hurt later. I read that Im allowed veggies now so I am going to try nibbling on some raw carrots and maybe some other raw veggies and see how it goes. Im so sick of my current diet, plus with as little as I eat I still stall! Im in a stall right now what a crock. LoL. We will get there I know it, it just takes time.

My surgery date is March 19 too!! I have spent this last week before my week long liquid diet systematically eating all those things that I know I will miss. We have so far done big time Italian, Mexican, Chinese, and all the desserts that I know will be replaced with healthier choices. I am trying really hard to not use the words NEVER AGAIN because it will freak me out. I wont lie, it is very anxiety provoking to know that I cant use food as my emotional medication after this. And I do love food. It is a pleasure in life. But I am looking forward to learning a new way to be passionate about food without sacrificing my body and health for it.

ylluz I agree with the other posters there is no way you could've gained 4lbs. I didn't weigh at all until my first post-op and now I'm only going to weigh 1x a week or else I WILL DRIVE MYSELF CRAZY! It's just not worth the aggravation to me. I wish you well on your journey fellow 8/17 sleever ????

hi, welcome. to be honest, right after surgery i wasnt hungry at all and the thought of eating / drinking made my nauseous. about 2-3 weeks later, i did get hungry and was in 'bandster hell' ... not HUNGRY, but hungrier than i thought i should be and was worried that the surgery didnt work. once i was allowed on mushies and solids, it helped, but i was still hungrier than i thought i should be. i did go in for my fills as i needed and have finally reached very good restriction (i will be banded 11 months very soon). good luck

Hi Sweet Susie, I tried all kinds of method, i went back to liquid diet for 3 days, just on Protein shake.. then the scaled moved, but it went back up, and even higher prior to the liquid diet by a couple of pounds, then i started excercising like mad for more than a month.. didnt move.. nope.. I control my intake at 800 cal MAX, and that is if im on a good day, the rest of the time, im usually at 600cal... Recently, due to the rain here, i stopped excercising, try to eat more, and my scale moved.. i stop obsessing with the pounds i lost, so i havent stepped on the scale for about 2 weeks now, but i did notice my tummy is shrinking.. its flatter now.. Sorry, my story doesn't seem to be telling you anything, just thoguht i'll share with you.. but that said, i think everyone is different, you just got to try different methods, give it time, and you';ll eventually find what your body wants.. And i really think eating less than 800 cal is not going to help. perhaps you should up you intake to 1000... see how it works out for you? Good Luck!

I know some people get tired of the topic of stalls but this is a support group, right? So here I am obsessing about this second stall I'm in, and people don't give me negative responses because if u do , I will gladly ignore u. So the past two days I've been eating 800 calories and today I'm going to eat less to shock my body, would love any insight on how you changed things up during a stall u had. Thanks to those listening

Patrick, 1-2 lbs is right where you want to be. It's not healthy to drop weight left and right as it causes kidney issues. As stated by others... chill out dude! My doc's got me out of work for 2 weeks, nothing over 10 lbs for 4 weeks and no bowling for 5 weeks! You **NEED** to let your body heal. You had things punched through those muscles, parts were cut and moved. The fact that you dropped 21 in the first week should be viewed as a gift not the norm! Take it easy and let your body heal. THEN worry about your food consumption. THEN worry about how much you should work out and how hard. When exactly where you banded?

Did your surgeon clear you for "working out hard?" This time post-op is for healing and not worrying about losing weight. You need lots of rest and Protein for your body to heal. If you are wearing yourself out your body cannot heal as quickly. The only time I weigh in is when I go to the doctor; I don't even own a scale. If you are really worried, you should talk to your surgeon. I was told that only walking should be done for several weeks after surgery. My surgeon will let me know when I can get more intense. I was banded on October 19th and I am still taking it easy; I walk more and more every day but that is it. Good Luck to you.

I am almost 4 weeks out from surgery (April 13th) and am on pureed foods. I was very surprised to find my tastes changing. I'm wondering what makes this happen? Is it loss of some hormones in the stomach? Anyhow my toothpaste which must have some sort of fake sugar in causes nausea and almost makes me throw up. That was a shock. Never bothered me before. Also I seem to crave certain foods, adn then when I have them mashed up and pureed, they don't give the same pleasure they did before. Not sure if this is because there is no texture to them in my mouth? I was craving a cheesesteak so we got some; I threw away the bun, and pureed a little of the contents since the meat is really lean . It tasted fantastic to have 1/2 cup of this old favorite. Also craved stouffers mac n cheese so pureed some fo this and it was great. But yes as some have mentioned, a little contained lasts you several meals. My frig has tons of little rubbermaid containers in there of partial meals. So preop people, make sure you have lots of tupperware or Rubbermaid 1 cup containers - your refrigerator is going to collect portions of smoothies and meals you can't finish in one sitting!

I'm kind of grateful that we're not at my parents' this year. My father is fond of saying things like, "Food should hurt." Strangely, my menu was similar but it wasn't at all the same. I had a two pound beef tenderloin; at least one and a half pounds are still in the fridge. Everyone had *a* piece of meat, that's it. A small serving of creamed spinach, and half a gourmet grocery store twice-baked potato. I made exactly three dinner rolls. They'd had light apps around lunchtime. I was curious to see how everyone would do with this, but you know what? They did fine. Without being in the physical location where food should hurt, everyone in the family ate pretty normal amounts. No one went back for seconds. (They all would have eaten as many rolls as I made so I just didn't make that many; used the frozen ones you pop in the oven.) It was kind of a revelation to me. Like I said before, every day I learn something new with this. Butter, I hope you and Mrs. Butter can break away and spend a little time away by yourselves. I know from personal experience how hard this is though...

I've been lurking for a week now so I guess it's time to introduce myself... I'm Sarah I live in St. Louis, MO, im 26 y/o and was banded May 14. Pre-liquids i weighed 303. day of surgery i weighed 289 and I have lost 279 today... Woo hoo!! 24 lbs down! I am still pretty sore at my incision site, but I'm pretty sure that's because he went through my belly button. And my port site is still a bit tender. But nothing intolerable... But oh my.. The first 24 hours I cried so many times, my poor hubby didn't know what to do with me! Lol I didn't expect to be so sore, but I'm confident that its going to be completely worth it!! I haven't reacted bad to any foods yet ( just started full liquids today) but how do you know if you can't tolerate something? Do you throw up every time? Has anyone NEVER thrown up?! That of course is my ultimate goal.. Mostly because I don't throw up very easily.,. It's awful.

Thank goodness ! I am two weeks out and have only lost 5 lbs !!! THIS concerns me. Maybe I will lose more soon ?!?! I am soooooo discouraged right now. I just started some actual "food" today so maybe I need some in order to lose some weight because I functioned on liquids for two weeks ?

I had my sleeve 8/31/12 and I've lost 25lbs. I had a bad infection in my left side incision that just healed up. I get discouraged at times when I see folks losing a massive and I'm still struggling. I get my protein (well most of it) and I have a hard time with drinking all that water. I have started walking 2 miles. Just keeping my eye on the prose!! 320-263 is better than only 10lbs.I guess...

hey dont feel bad we all loose at different rates I know its discouranging but you had an infection I am sure your body was healing during htat time, when we heal we dont loose... The second and third week after surgery I didnt loose anythign and again this week ... just keep doing what your doing and there is no way that you cant loose wieght with the limited calorie intake ...... also I do one premier protien shake every am 30 protien or I make the orange creme advantage 27 protien .. that way 1/2 of my protien is taken care of first thing in the morning. and yes I dont feel like eating at all after my morning shake..... if I didnt notice the clock saying it was time to eat I probably would not eat at all...... lol but I make sure that I eat lunch and dinner every day.... note that if you dont like the shakes RTD's shakes then try doing the unflavored protien and add it too some crystal light ... that way you get your protien and Water in at the same time..... just keep trying differnt ways to get your protien in.... or try it in some chocolate SF pudding Keep up the good work , it will pay off :wub:

What are your favorite aspects of running? For me, I enjoy: 1. The heat that radiates from core and chest after about 10 minutes. Like sitting in a Sauna. 2. How good my body feels after training. After glow usually lasts about 2 hours for me. 3. Some aches and pains get fixed, especially in my back. This happens if I am relaxed in bother upper and lower body when running, but keeping a strong core and arms at side, as if on rails. It is like a massage and hardly feels like running. Nothing kills a run faster (distracting) than tight traps or tight calves/quads. 4. Breaking a new 5 k or 10 k personal time. 5. Get to listen to my running tunes pumping! Running is a really good form of cardio that doesn't tax the nervous system too much and cause mental burnout. It is fairly easy to do and not complex, but burns a lot of calories (average 100-200 every 10 min depending on intensity). How do you like to train for your running? For me, there are several ways that I like to train on my running days (non strength days, 3-4 days a week): 1. 5 k or 10 k for time. Ran a 45 min 10 k last night and kept my hr between 148 and 152. I typically do not run for more than an hour because of training pace. 2. Tiered sprints. I like to do 6.5 for a min, 7.5 for a min and 8.5 for a min, rinse, repeat until tired. I typically can do this for between 20-30 min. Hr between 140-160. 3. Sprinting on level - 30 s @ 12.5 mph, rest 30 s, repeat for 10 minutes. Hr > 160 (drop to 150 during rest). I like this training because it is uber effective and very short. 4. Sprinting on incline - 30 s @ 9.5 mph on 6%, rest 30, repeat for 10 m. Hr > 160. I like this training because it is uber effective and very short. 5. Max vo2 training - 1 min max @ 160 hr, 3 rounds of 5 min @ 80%, 6 rounds of 3 min @ 100% / 1 min rest, rest 2 min, 5 rounds of 2 min @ 100% / 1 min rest. This is a hard running workout for me to complete without running out of steam.50% of the time I have struggled to finish last segment. Massive caloric burn on this one. And because it is such a shock on the muscles, it continues the gift of burning calories for a long time. Typically before running, I will do a 10 min 6 mph warmup jog and then 5 min dynamic stretches. Typically after running, I will do 20 - 30 min of elliptical at moderate intensity (135-145 hr) and then 10 min stretching. Please share info about your running passion.

Ok, so I know there are lots of posts on stalls. I had my surgery 4.5 weeks ago. Lost 17lbs the first week. Weeks 2-4, it's been slow and I eventually lost 4 more lbs (but it's been up and down). On a side note, it's cruel that we see such a huge weightloss so quickly in the beginning and it slows down dramatically almost overnight and we get upset for "only" losing 1-2 lbs a week. I have to keep reminding myself this is a normal pace. Anyway, I know that even with the sleeve, it's possible to eat more calories than you think you are - darn foods are deceiving! So, I'm wondering if maybe what I'm eating is too many calories, hence the reason for the SLOW loss. I know I'm eating way under 1,000 calories, probably more like 500 calories (I know, I should track my calories better). Is this too many calories this early on? For example, I had about 1/4 cup of chicken salad with grapes (real mayo, can't stand fat free), and half an avocado. Tonight, I will have two turkey slices rolled with about 4 slices of pepperoni inside. This doesn't sound like a lot, but I know how food portions and actual calories can be deceiving. Should I be anything different?

Hi I just wanted to introduce myself. I just created my profile and I must say this comunity is sooo great!! I have my first appointment with the surgeon in a couple of weeks! I am excited, confused, happy and freaking out at the same time. I'm not decided 100%, but I just know that I need to loose more than 80 pounds and I can't seem to think about anything else lately. I just hope that by reading your stories I get the motivation I need to go through what all of you have and are going though right now. It feels good knowing I am not alone, even if I have very little support from my family and friends regarding the WLS. I just bought myself the Big Book o Gastric Sleeve, and I am reading everything I can from the forums but if you guys have any advice for a newbie I will appreciate every single word of wisdom!

Hello, I am new to the forums as of a few minutes ago. I thought I would join as I have read a few posts already! I am awaiting my date fr my lap band surgery, I met with my surgeon already and enjoyed the seminar they held at his facility. I have my first nurtritionist appt. this thurs. and then the appt. with the psychologist, then I get my date. I am nervous about it, but at the same time excited about things to come. I need words of encouragement here! I hope I am successful at this. I have been on a healthy diet for 3 weeks now & feeling great!

I've sewn for a long time -- in fact I have a BS in Home Ec. I started quilting in about 2000. I'm waiting for a surgery date. I've been getting through all the tests and pre-op stuff, and it's taken months. My date should be in late October, or early November, but I have to prove I've lost the 15 pounds first. I've got 13 down my first week of dieting, and two to go, but no weight loss this week. Sticking with it though. Boy, you have less than two weeks before the big day. Good luck! I think it's going to be life-changing, don't you?

I'm 3 weeks post op and yes I took my birth control with me and took it there. They never said anything to me about my pills being less effective after surgery if I got preg right now I would be pretty upset, being preg and trying to lose weight don't go we'll together plus I don't wanna deplete a child of nutrition cuz I'm unable to absorb food.

I had my 1 week post-op appointment this morning and it went great. My incisions are all pretty much healed and I have lost 12 pounds since last Tuesday! I was so shocked but happy. I have been following my liquids to a T and I guess it paid off I also graduated onto pureed foods today, so I came home and celebrated by eating 2 oz of pureed tuna and 2 oz of refried Beans. It went down great and I felt satisfied for the first time in a week. Now I'm eating some coconut greek yogurt, and it tastes like heaven! haha How is everyone else doing?