First nervous steps..

[musiclover 61]

Hello all

I have spent the past few days surfing everything I could find about Gastric Sleeves on the web and have really enjoyed reading this forum I hope I am allowed to join in. I'm new here, I'm 46 yrs old and have a lifelong history of weight problems from reaching 22st at one point. I have been overweight my whole life.

7 yrs ago I managed to lose 10 st through diet and exercise, thought I would never go back, well here I am back up to 18st and still rising. My knees hurt and I am always tired and I pretty much despise myself. I need to do this, I know I don't have it in me to try and fail again. I need a permanent solution and my passion for large portions needs to be curbed!

I am a vegetarian with a love of carbs, this is a bad thing.. my carb problem is something that I really need help with, that and my mansize portions of everything! I don't eat meat or fish so I'm really worried about how I will get sufficient Protein down me after this surgery, can anyone advise on this?

I have my first consultant appointment this Friday 5th April with Mr Shaw Somers through BMI and I'm really excited but also nervous. I've had a Tummy Tuck done so I know what major abdominal surgery can be like, infact I think that was a bigger procedure and a longer recovery than I am anticipating this to be (assuming no problems of course).

Shame I went and put all that weight on again having paid all that money for a perfectly good tummy tuck! At least it's still just about holding up but I often have days when it feels like I've got my belt done up too tight and I don't wear a belt!

Would be nice to see this weight gone for good.

Any tips or advice on a quick recovery? I'm a singer in a band and we gig every weekend, so I was planning on taking 3 weeks off from gigging, is this realistic or am I mad? Would appreciate your help on this too?

Thanks so much for reading all this!

[SpaceDust 585]

Hi, musiclover!

Welcome! First of all, congratulations on doing research - here you'll hear the good, the bad, and the really nasty stuff. Yes, there are bad things that can happen, but my research over nearly a year has indicated to me that the good stuff far outweighs the negatives. I'm hoping to get my surgery done this summer.

With regard to gigging - I play woodwinds, and I play in pit orchestras as often as possible, as well as the occasional other gig. I haven't had THIS surgery, of course, but my experience with other abdominal surgeries (three of them - one open abdomen, the other two laparoscopic) is that because of the pressure on the diaphragm and the abdominal muscles, I would probably give it a month to 6 weeks before I tried to do a full weekend gig. I actually did a pit orchestra gig (4 nights a week) 5 weeks out after one surgery which had me back in rehearsals by two weeks after surgery. Luckily, I was working with a group that had worked together often, so I could take it pretty easy and not push it - I mostly played anything where I was exposed or a cue for someone else in the pit or on-stage, but rested a lot of the rest of rehearsals, and I was still pretty worn out. I didn't really play full-out until the week of dress rehearsal and opening (4 weeks out), and even that was tough. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't start lightly practicing until about 3 weeks out, and probably wouldn't take any gig longer than a night until 6 weeks out, but everyone heals at different rates, and you may have more energy earlier.

Good luck!

[musiclover 61]

Thank you so much space dust ok so I need to factor in a 6 week break yikes this means cancellations hope my band will be understanding!

[SpaceDust 585]

Thank you so much space dust ok so I need to factor in a 6 week break yikes this means cancellations hope my band will be understanding!

Well, I would at least talk to your surgeon about it ASAP and see what he or she thinks about it. Remember, this was after a different surgery (an appendectomy actually), even though it was abdominal.

The main concern is how tired you'll get at that point, I think - I managed to play okay, I would just get really tired easily, and I would lose my breath control because I was exhausted and initially I still had two incisions that would hurt. I use up a fair amount of energy for a gig, so I think it will be particularly rough to try and do this before I'm at least getting my Water and protien in reliably.

Good luck!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using VST

[Colemon70 87]

I'm a vegetarian as well. Been veggie for 18 yrs. I was just sleeved last week so I really can't advise you with how long you would need to take off. I an tell you I started at 225 and accent weighed myself. I'm still pretty swollen in my belly but I feel really good today. Exactly one week post op. I'm a hairstylist and am scheduled to start taking clients next week. If I were in your profession I might take an extra week or two off just in case. Good luck with everything.

[musiclover 61]

Thanks Colemon70.. I've just worked out that in lbs I'm a shocking 257lbs at the moment! No wonder my knees hurt so much. I just want rid of this weight so bad!

I'm very keen to know what kind of foods you are able to eat post surgery, can you give me an idea about what you are going to do for Protein? thanks again.

[Colemon70 87]

Thanks Colemon70.. I've just worked out that in lbs I'm a shocking 257lbs at the moment! No wonder my knees hurt so much. I just want rid of this weight so bad!

I'm very keen to know what kind of foods you are able to eat post surgery' date=' can you give me an idea about what you are going to do for Protein? thanks again.[/quote']

ahh i felt my knees going as well. I would love to have a child one day and couldnt imagine packing mire weight on these knees! Well right now I'm on a full liquid diet. sugar free drinks, Protein shakes and strained Soup. I'm not struggling with this at all because before surgery I was only allowed clear veggie broth, shakes, sugar free drinks, and Protein Shakes. Once I'm on the purée I plan on getting most of my Protein from shakes and soy milk. I've also been looking up recipes for edamame mash and purée veggie chili, hummus, guacamole. Then once I'm on solids, ill be able to incorporate tofu. Maybe some Indian food. I'm actually super excited. I didn't cook much before and now I am looking forward to putting more effort into my food and myself . I don't think I'll have a problem at all being a vegetarian. If I do struggle ill be looking for a nutritionist that works a lot with vegetarians. Keep us posted on your progress.