Rootman

Some swear it off all together, however I like a can or 3 a week. I used to chug down a few liters a week but not so much any more. I find it harmless and enjoy the bittersweet taste of diet Dr. Pepper. I don't think the carbonation can effect your stomach enough to matter. If it triggers intense sweet cravings then perhaps you'd better lay off it.

YES! Nasty foamy spit. I was constantly spitting post op until a month or two ago. Now I just get the spit rolling when I eat too much or get acid rolling in my stomach.

I think the doctors simply standardize on a size and just use it exclusively. I suppose they might go larger or smaller depending on a specific situation but I don't know for certain. One would think if someone already has a super small stomach they wouldn't need the surgery in the first place.

Yes, you do. The house is quite small and they really pack them in at times. You will also share a recovery room at the clinic too. Why are you so determined to NOT share a room? Frankly you really won't care and will probably feel like crap and just want to sleep.

Don't forget the relativity theory These people are "relatively" content, in part because they have never experienced anything different, let alone better. Even a frog in a beaker over a bunsen burner is happy to be warm and wet - at least till he starts to cook, suffers muscle damage and can't get out. They are also probably riding high on the endorphins the body puts out in response to eating. What greater pleasure than to stuff yourself full and then go back for more? There is a reason it is pleasurable, the same reason taking recreational drugs is pleasurable for some. Until the diabetes, heart disease and other problems start cropping up they probably will not get a clue, even then some do not. I've heard of people on oxygen therapy still smoking cigarettes like a chimney. That's both stupid AND dangerous, yet they have very few compunctions about it and their "reward" outweighs their "risk". I got wise when by blood pressure, sugar, resting heart rate, glandular problems and joints started to make their complaints known and did something about it. Some people will NEVER learn. They've made their own bed and must lie in it.

Depends on the surgeon, many DO put a drain in some do not. It has a two fold service, first to drain any seepage away that the "injured" stomach may produce and to drain any possible leakage the stomach may have. On day 3 we had to drink a purple dye to make sure none appeared in the drain as a check for leakage.

I think what a LOT of this amounts to us a WAG on the part of the doctor, how much in percentage depends on how much you started with minus the amount that's left, therefore if you started with a BIG stomach then the percentage is greater. The stomach is a notoriously stretchy thing so even that isn't a firm thing either, if you pigged out up til the surgery your stomach is going to be a huge sagging thing, stay on a liquid diet and the stomach will retract. The LENGTH of the organ again makes a difference, a 5'1" woman probably has a shorter, smaller stomach than a 6'3" man, or even just vary from individual to individual that might otherwise be similar in size. Regardless what matters is what is left and what you put in it.

Congrats bug! Good work and keep it up, look forward to your sub 200 post!

The wife gave me a hug today and we both noticed that she can reach around and touch her hands behind my back, last time I remember her trying it was last year and her arms were about a foot too short! Whooda thunk it, I get an operation on my stomach and her arms grow about a foot

I'm closing in on 120 pounds lost, while I am a far cry from reaching my goal I find that I am finally seeing myself as a slender person. I was a bit different before as I REALIZED I was fat but had a mental picture of myself as being thin, now the physical reality is catching up. People I used to admire as being thin suddenly seem to have a lot more paunch then I used to remember them having. I used to glance at them and say to myself "If only I was that thin", now that I am quite possibly thinner than they are (I carry my weight amazingly well, always had) they seem so much larger. My mind is a funny thing.

They wrapped my legs in a stretchy gauze pre-op and took them off the day after. Post-op I got 4 pair and wore them for a few months, I've had intermittent problems with edema in my legs which seems to of passed now that I've lost ~120 pounds. My feet would be cold in the evening and sore from the compression so I was anxious to not wear them any longer.

I was never diagnosed as diabetic, in fact most of the blood sugar tests I've had indicated that I was the opposite - hypoglycemic. I took many sugar tests, including a month long study suggested by my PCP, they showed my fasting blood sugar would plunge down into the 50's (!!!) sometimes. Most say that you should get concerned when they hit the 70's, VERY concerned in the 60's and the 50's are way, way too low. I would get light headed and visibly shake till I drank some juice or ate a lot of carbs. Anyways, after the sleeve I still took my blood sugar regularly and it's almost always been spot on. Maybe 95 or so far a fasting test and never above 120 after a meal. The sleeve also seems to of helped me regulate my sugar. Whatever the reason, better nutrition, fewer carbs or some mysterious unknown side effect of the sleeve itself I have not felt this good an DECADES.

The word dour comes to mind . . .

While some fatigue may result from the surgery and massive diet change at 6 weeks you should be perking up a little. I'd specifically ask the doc to run a full blood panel to make sure yo are not deficient in any Vitamins or minerals. Vitamins and supplements are cheap insurance against possible Vitamin related illnesses that can crop up because of our limited food intake. As Guitrman above suggests, I to recommend a Multivitamin, B12 sub lingual, Iron supplement and Calcium citrate supplement. Make sure and take the iron and calcium at least 2 hours apart as they interfere with each other.

Yup, what Tiffy said. You friend seems to of lied to get her surgery and probably DID rush into it. Be honest with both yourself AND the doctors and we all pray it will work out the way that is best for YOU. In almost ANY situation you can find people that have either failed it or it failed them, quite often it is the former. How many lottery winners have you heard of that went off the deep end and totally f***ed their life up royally? We often times are our OWN worst enemy. It also sounds like your friend had a BYPASS, a sleeve is NOT a bypass. A bypass is where they reroute a portion of your small intestines to BYPASS a portion of them and along with a small "stomach" pouch force you to lose weight by not adsorbing the calories from the food you eat. A sleeve is simply a restriction made by removing a large portion of your natural stomach. You therefore can eat less and most generally DO eat less and then lose weight. In all cases some people can and do have complications and some even fail themselves by constantly eating the wrong things all day. Seek other advice, DO tell the truth to everyone involved, pray about it if that is your inclination and most of all YOU make the decision for YOU based on all the good information you can glean. We all wish you well.

I hope I don't step on any toes: Well, I wish you well and I hate to be a harbinger of doom but I'm afraid there is little a topical solution can do to prevent or reverse this, only time will slow and reverse the process called telogen : https://secure.wikim...ollicle_cycling . It is natural and is happening in a more massive scale than it usually does due to the trauma of anesthetic, surgery and the abrupt diet change. We literally waste millions (billions?) on hair care products in the first world. Most of them do nothing except make a very expensive sewage runoff. Again sorry if I step on any toes but the factor here is TIME and plenty of Protein to get your body out of the shock it's received and start allowing things - like hair growth - to resume again.

Yep, as Foxgirl said - it's par for the course. You are after all healing from pretty major surgery, had a general anesthetic which puts you into a state that is pretty traumatic for the body. You've changed you diet drastically and started burning the fat reserves your body has so diligently stored away for years if not decades. Some glands are not producing enough of their stuff while others may be producing too much. You've had a hell of a shock and it takes time for the body to snap out of it. If it doesn't get better tell your doc and have a complete blood panel done to make sure you are still getting all the Vitamins and minerals you need to get. And on the same note - take your vitamins. Their cheap and good insurance against some pretty nasty diseases that could pop up due to deficiencies, stuff we'd never get before because we got a full compliment of them. Rest, take naps, go to bed early. Take the next month, or 2 or even 3 off from hard labor or exercise if you need it. You will fell more like doing it soon enough.

I'm 5 months out and about 120 pounds down and still don't enjoy food much at all. My tastes are altered in a BIG way. Nothing tastes the same as it used to and a few favorites I can't even stand the taste of now. Even saltine crackers taste odd. I attributed most of it to ketosis - burning fat - but even now (and I guess I still am in ketosis) things just taste really weird and mostly unpleasant. Sweets are nausea inducing and salty stuff is just TOO salty. In our favorite Mexican restaurant I eat maybe 3 corn chips without added salt (used to just pour it on). Like Tiffykins, I DO enjoy going out now just for the experience. We now can sit in a booth because I can actually fit in one now without by belly pressing into the edge of the table, we both now sit on the same side like romantic couples do, because again I don't take the entire seat for myself. We either split an entree or I get a small portion and take most of it home. We just don't go to some restaurants because they are buffets and it would be a total waste on my part, or the food just doesn't sound appealing to me. In a way I miss it but I'm really starting to FEEL thin and LOVE the feeling. Bending over at the waist and not having my gut keep me from hitting more than like 80 degrees is just, well, PLEASANT. I am starting to hope it stays just like this and I NEVER get my "appetite" back, even with the physical restriction the changed psychological appetite is what is really making this "easy".

I have a question, "What IS natural?", I mean the woman at the Curves place brought it up. Let's see we all eat a ton of PROCESSED FOODS, that's not natural. We stuff ourselves with high caloric foods that don't even exist in nature - which is of course not natural. We sit around in climate controlled buildings which is not natural. We don't walk much but instead get around in another climate controlled box called a car, which is not natural either. We join "clubs" and pay for the privilege of exercising to lose weight - which again is not natural. Let's face it we as a species have done very little that is "natural" for a long, long time. Just forget her, she is an asshat. You did well by not hauling off and whopping her upside the head - which, by the way, WOULD be natural in my book.

Start a food journal track of your calorie count and exercise, I use http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ but there are dozens out there to choose from. This will give you an indication of what you are really eating and burning off. Like most obese people you are probably underestimating your caloric intake and overestimating your exercise. If you are truthfully filling it out and still are not losing despite racking up a caloric shortfall then see your doctor.

Am I doing the math right on the first TwinTab product Pnatalie links to? 100 of 1000 MG tablets is only 100 grams of Protein, at $8 + a bottle isn't this kind of expensive and awkward to take. I mean taking as many tabs a day as you need to get 100 grams of protein would be an entire bottle a day? Isn't 1000 mg equal to just 1 gram? The second product doesn't even list the quantity of protein available in each tab. Being at about $2 a piece the 29 gram whey protein shots are a lot easier to supplement protein.

So is it anything like this? http://maddogcycles....el-red-5076.htm

Girl, it WILL get better. Chances are you are retaining Water, expect to lose it soon. Wish you the best!

I've worn 2X underwear for like 10 years now. It was starting to get tight again last fall. I just had to pick up some more t shirts and shorts yesterday and got LARGES, just plain LARGE not even XL. The shirts fit just right the shorts are a little snug, I think I'll wait a week or so to start wearing them. Odd, I'm heavier now than when I remember having to wear size large. Have the sizes gotten bigger over the years?

Boy, the differences in opinions even amongst pros is amazing. I just saw a post about someone saying their nut said NO Protein drinks - EVER! Most of us lived on them for a few weeks. They are still a big part of my diet and I'm getting close to 120 pounds gone in about 5 months. What is the harm? SF gum won't do a thing except maybe make you swallow a lot more saliva (yuck). If you're that bad off that chewing a piece of gum will make you do something you shouldn't you probably shouldn't of been sleeeved - you've got psych problems .