Nacol

I'm finally sleeved! Having no pain except for some discomfort in upper left shoulder. My doctor said I can go home thursday afternoon one I can't wait! I'm so happy I had this done ! Hope that everyone else sleeved today are doing well too.

My my,my! I'm over joyed I have reach 100 lbs down! Lord I just thank you!

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January 11th will be my 1 year anniversary. Two weeks before that, on the 28th, I started my liquid diet in preparation for surgery. I took a day off for New Year's as I do a prime rib roast every year, but I think I lost 16 pounds in that week.
I am so thankful for the gift I have been given. I was 5'1", 246 pounds with a BMI creeping towards 50. I wore a tight size 22 and 2x tops. I was just diagnosed as diabetic, had high blood pressure and sleep apnea so bad that I actually stopped breathing 6 times a minute. Yes, a gasp every 10 seconds. I was so depressed I played the sick card every time a social situation came up. Actually I was starting to feel really horribly sick. I didn't even want to walk down the street. My knees and feet hurt.
Today I am 150 pounds and wear a size 6 or 8 or 9 depending on the brand. The diabetes is gone. The sleep apnea is gone. My BP is 120/60. I hike, bike, kayak and horseback ride. Yesterday I mounted a very tall horse and easily swung into the saddle. I didn't know I could do that.
I think I am going to do a bit of a fast, but a high Protein One with the Protein shake recipes I got from Eggface, AKA Shelly. I will do a lot of the pumpkin and cranberry shakes I think.
Now I don't expect to lose all that much, but I think I want to do a fast for both discipline and maybe even for a religious one. I want to give thanks to the one from all whom blessings flow. I want to remember the Father and remember the sacrifice Christ made for us.
This country and the world is in terrible shape. I will take the money that I did not spend on food for myself and use it to buy food to put in in the box we have at church. There will be lots of food for Christmas, but people still need to eat after Christmas.
I am going to spend the period between the 28th of December and the 11th of January in fasting and prayer.
I just wanted to share. Yes, there are those of you who are not religious. I am not proselytizing. I should be though LOL. This is just my own testament.

I WANT TO SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS!!!! I'VE LOST 100 POUNDS!!!!!!! OH YAAAAAAA!!!!
This will give me the courage and inspiration to lose the next 100. I'd take a picture but I've been sick for four days... maybe tomorrow!

I had my 3 1/2 month post op visit. My highest weight was 239. My surgery was on 8/7/12 and weighed 231. I weighed in last Friday and weighed 179. My dr was very pleased, and said you are doing great !!! You were small to begin with anyway. He asked me to speak to some potential surgery people, and I was happy to talk to everyone in the office about my success. They all said they would never thought I had surgery. I seem too small. I've never heard anyone call me small in my life.
Just wanted to share my story. It's been a hard road but so worth it

I am so happy to finally reach a small goal. I was sleeved 9.20.12. My starting weight was 248 & today I am finally in the 100's. I have so much more to go, but this feels good to know I'm saying good f'n bye to the 200's.

Made it to Onederland!! 39lbs more pounds to go to make it to goal!

I was nervous going to my surgeon today about having to step on the scale...I did and I started at 480, and today's grand total was 421 lbs WOOT!! This is so amazing to me, never in life have I lost this much at once!!

I get a little cocky sometimes with myself when it comes to chewing and eating slow.
At 5 months out, my Stevo-sleevo still is sensitive about me eating fast and not chewing. And it is not a problem every time. remember that! For example, I ate 5 ounces of a flat chicken pattie tonight in about 5 minutes. It was very flavorful and comes from costco. 20 minutes later, I was paying for it. I was like " out of the way, out of the way, " as I walked very fast towards the bathroom. This was a severe stuck throat feeling and was not going to be one of my little full feeling belches. I just knew. Trust me. I lost about 1/2 in the toilet and slimed a whole mouth full. Fortunately, 2-3 ounces stayed down.
Now you know ounger sleeve kiddies. Do not try this at home.

I'm 5'2 started at 228 and am now 193; sleeve date 9/21. My goal is to get to 135 within a year or so...reclaim that teenage body . Anything is possible, right?

Ready Your name???? that says it all!!!!
yes, things only get better and better while you are loosing and sustaining your new great weight
less of you to have trouble moving around, things go much easier, reaping the benefits
have a great evening

Yep I'm pretty picky about what I give my dogs. Primarily it will be meat and meat only. Occasionally they might get a small bite of cheese or a tiny taste of scrambled egg beaters. They don't get junk because there is no junk on my plate. My dogs are healthy, fit and very active. We work hard to walk their little legs off. Two regular walks a day plus about 2-3 times a week we take them to the local woodland trails for about a 5 mile hike. They love that because it ends at a lake and they get to jump in.
My FIL, now he is one of those that thinks the only way to get a dog to love you is to give it cinnamon rolls. We have had to keep a close eye on our dogs whenever we visit him, because he will sneak them biscuits with butter and sugar while we aren't looking. His dog can barely walk because it's so fat. It needs a canine VSG.

I'm not even 5'2" and always had an hourglass figure. Without exercise, for the most part, my body shape (as in, my bust-waist-hip ratio) stayed almost the same as I lost weight. I went from 242 to 135 pounds, a size 18/20/XXL to 6/S.
My weight did redistribute a bit between one and two years post op. Even when my weight remained constant, my waist got thinner and my bust filled out a bit more.
I am no expert, but my experience leads me to believe that without strength training to reshape the body, our natural shape (apple, pear, hourglass) is what our body will tend to stick to even if we lose weight.
And I didn't notice a very large difference in my shape and appearance (from round to curvy) until I had shed about sixty pounds. Somewhere between 50-60 pounds it seems that your body really starts to develop it's natural shape and everyone can really see the difference.
Good luck,
~Cheri

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Just discovered this thread. I had my surgery 9/21. I am still doing full liquids and can't wait for my post op appt next week. I have to wait until then to get something new added to my diet. Today has been tough emotionally as I am so freakin tired of broth and tired of the hubby driving me everywhere in my brand new car. I know he is just lovin it. Doc will not allow me to work from home or drive until I see him...rest walk n sip.

Is better. Period.

Underdeveloped emotional intelligence.

Lol I had to train my husband to stop jack rabbiting. Just make him slow down if it's hurting you!

I found this ariticle going through google i hope it helps someone understand how food and beverage work in our new tummy's
First, I’m not a doctor nor have I ever played one on TV.
This may be old news to some..... But I’ve noticed a lot of people who have had VSG do not have any idea how the Pyloric Valve works.
This is my understanding how the Pyloric Valve works.
The Pyloric Valve function and how it pertains to your VSG.
The function of your Pyloric valve is the single most not talked about important part of understanding how and when you should eat and drink.
The Pyloric Valve is just that....It is a valve that is located at the bottom of your stomach/sleeve. This valve is in between your sleeve and the lower intestine. The basic definition of a valve is an apparatus that opens and closes.
When open this valve it is about the diameter of a dime. When closed it’s opening is closed down to the diameter of the head of a ballpoint pen.
Dense Proteins and harder to digest foods will cause the Pyloric valve to close to hold the food in your stomach for pre-digestion...... stomach acids breaking down this “Rough” food.
That’s why we are told to eat dense proteins first.....To close the Pyloric Valve so food stays in your stomach/sleeve longer so we have a sense of satisfaction.
It takes about 30-60 minutes for the food to clear the Pyloric Valve...... Than it’s OK to drink.
That is also where the term slider food comes into play. A slider food does not close the Pyloric Valve and as the term is intended.....food slides right past an open Pyloric Valve.
There is a video that gets posted every so often that is supposed to explain food going past the Pyloric Valve. The guy uses a funnel and has apple sauce or something in it....and it shows the apple sauce dripping out the end of the funnel very slow. Than he pours Water on top of the apple sauce to dilute it, illustrating drinking after eating.....and the diluted apple sauce runs through the funnel end faster. Than he concludes that this is how your pyloric valve works.
Well, it is a great video that only tells half the story.....remember it’s a valve...and he is only showing it in the open position....
So now the other half of the Pyloric Valve function..... You eat a dense Protein like chicken that causes your Pyloric Valve to close. Say for example your sleeve has a 4oz. capacity.....and you eat 4oz. of chicken.....your sleeve is full and holding all 4 oz. of chicken for pre-digestion because your Pyloric Valve is closed.
So now try and drink something....where is it gonna go? Up.....Up until it hits another valve of sorts..... the Esophageal Sphincter (valve) and above that is a flapper valve. The function of these two valves is to hold food, bile and stomach acids in your stomach and not backing up into your air way. This is a very high pressure system. Thats why when you eat to much or drink after eating a hard to digest food and your Pyloric is closed.....It hurts cause you pressurized your intake track. Vomiting would be a natural pressure release.
So you can see how learning and understanding how the Pyloric Valve works is important as it pertains to eating and drinking with a Gastric Sleeve.
So that was kinda like VSG and the Pyloric Valve 101
As you get further a long you will want to use the Pyloric Valve in other ways to keep food in your sleeve longer to stay satisfied longer.
A sleeve empties faster than a stock un altered full size stomach so sometimes it’s beneficial for you to learn what foods stay in your sleeve longer to extend satisfaction.
Dense proteins are #1 in closing the Pyloric Valve. Chicken, steak, pork, fish.....in that order seems to be the way it goes for me.
Other foods that are hard to digest and help close the Pyloric Valve are foods like:

Broccoli Stalk
Asparagus
Celery
Cucumber with Skin
Radish
Cabbage (I’m testing this right now)
Bell Pepper

I was sleeved on Jan 25 2011. I started at 340 lbs. I have now reached the one hundreds! I was wearing a size 28 to a 30/32 and now am wearing size med tops and large bottoms. My current weight is 196. I no im barely in the "one hundreds" but it is so exciting I never thought I would of made it this far. My doc would never discuss a goal weight he would only talk in % of excess body weight. I still have a couple months till I'm a year hoping to reach 175
Tracey

Tully amazed how little pain I'm in.
God is good!

So a 130 pound loss in a year and 3 Months. That is pretty spectacular. My words of advice...

Start working out before the surgery
Lose as much weight as possible in the first six months by severe calorie restriction (500). I am hungry now, and I can eat WAY MORE...so weight gain is possible. That window of opportunity is small in comparison to the rest of your life. See...I ate Breakfast, and I am hungry again already! It is 11:30am! I ate at 9:00am! So I have to drink something until lunch or else I will eat way to much during the day!
Have fun and enjoy the ride!

Congratulations! Only 4 pounds away from that wonderful place myself. See you there soon!!

I am 16 weeks post op and I have dropped 85 pounds to hit my initial goal of 190. I plan to drop another 15 so I have some room to bounce back. I do not plan to live like a saint.

Congrats!! I am one lb away!!