wannalise

How weird I am watching that episode on tivo right now. (Okay this will sound awful, but I thought the husband was a bit of a d-bag.) Not very insightful or helpful to the topic, but just interesting that I watched it and wanted to vent and here was the option! Now back to your regularly scheduled programming. Anna

My reasoning was having a fully functional stomach. I can eat a piece of birthday cake and not get sick. I feel like for MY needs this was the way to go. You have to find the surgery that works best for your personal needs. You can find horror and success stories online for each of the surgeries, but this was the choice for me. Anna

I didn't feel sick but really dragged and was a little foggy for a while, if you can afford to take the time off I would do it, but I had to go back to work pretty quickly and I was able to do it, but then came home and napped my little heart out. Anna

The sleeping thing got me too! The only time I needed pain medication after I got home was in the middle of the night when I woke up laying on my stomach. It really does get a little better every day. Honest! Anna

Spicy is my love affair too. For the first four months the foods I adored where incredibly spicy to me, not just once they hit my stomach but even in my mouth. I don't understand the phenomenon of peoples tastes changing, but as time progresses the spicier I can enjoy! Anna

I never had the actual typical reflux feelings either, but when I started taking a PPI my "false hunger" went away, I was also told that the first little while due to the nerve damage we have post op, as well as the residual gherlin in our system we stay hungry for a while. And the sucky reality is some always have hunger. I hope you aren't one in that boat, but it is a possiblity. Anna

I made my bummy hurt after that phase (yes you are welcome for the imagery) I had to start throwing the flavorless benefiber into my Protein shakes. The mushy phase was not my friend either. I used to work in nursing homes and constipation is the rule not the exception two of the big reasons are decreased hydration and that people are not as ambulatory as they used to be. Walk and drink and things will move! Anna

Totally normal. My advice that I had to learn the hard way is two things: 1. Don't compare yourself to ANYONE! I used to compulsively look at Daisy and Tiffykins tickers over time and be annoyed that my pace wasn't as quickly as theirs. 2. Be nice to yourself. Be patient to yourself. If someone you loved had the surgery you had and was having the experiences you are having how would you treat them? You deserve the same kindnesses and patience. Go you!!!! Anna

You are such a great support, there will really be no better gift. The best things I got upon my return home was my boyfriend (who does not live with me and who works a lot) giving me his time. Even if it was just laying by me and talking to me and being willing to be my beck and call boy. He kept telling me just how brave he thought I was. My Mom also came and stayed with me and while she shows love through feeding people usually she was here, she did my laundry, she got me gatorade, at night she layed by me and watched our favorite shows. I had my roommate hide my scale before I got home and after a few days after surgery when I couldn't even swallow a satisfying drink of Water my mom called me into the kitchen and had the scale and said, why don't you just see, cuz the rest of us can see it, I was already down 17 lbs. And my last favorite gift...a bag of sonic ice. You are getting a great start by being on his team. Give him a hug for us and welcome him into this weird little club! Anna

You rockstar! A single digit. A single digit, not a plus size. How amazing!!!!! I am so excited for you. Lock this one tight in your memory, that must feel amazing! I am so impressed. Anna

One thing in your post stood out to me, that desire to pace and inablitity to settle yourself down. I had a weird reaction to the anasthesia and I think all the anti nausea meds (and of course the holy cow what have I done!) I called my GP and got a scrip for an anti anxiety. I only had to take it twice, but it really did help me. Don't feel bad about complaining, I think sometimes people want to present the positive so badly that they forget to mention that you have 80-90% of a major organ removed and you feel like crap. And you should that is a lot of trauma to a body. I intially read others posts about how they woke up from surgery, ran marathons, and cured cancer. That was NOT my experience, but all those crap days have paid off into lots of great ones!

Sounds super gross, but if you are willing to use a netti pot or other nasal rinse it really works. I had a sinus infection last year that would not die. Mucinex is awesome and helped some as did the mountains of antibiotics but to feel some relief the nasty shooting of snot out of my nose was the thing that helped me. It isn't weird to me though that if you were intubated that you may continue to have irritation at your throat. I am unsure about this one, but I wonder if as your stomach is healing if your tummy has extra mucous in it as a way to protect itself. If you don't feel better soon the doc is always the best route, probably better than a bunch of us online. Hope you feel well soon. Anna

This is a little after the fact so may not be of help to you, but I was told by my surgeon anytime you slime or vomit or have anything traumatic happen to your stomach or esphogus that you need to leave it alone for 12 hours. Stay hydrated, but don't focus on eating. Stomach irritation needs to be left alone. You may want to play around with which of the PPI's you are using. I have read some people having to switch these up as well. Good luck, this is difficult enough to get through without not feeling well. Take care and I would be interested to hear what your outcome is. Anna

I am six months out and still do 60-70g Protein daily and 600-800 calories daily. The days I don't track and then backtrack to see what I have actually done end up with lots of "just having a bite" of things and can result in a couple hundred calories, which when you eating so little can add up quickly! Sounds like according to most of our surgeons guidelines you are right on track. Also the less you weigh the less you burn in a day so sometimes being aware of what you are burning will help you get an idea of how much you should be eating. Right now w/out exercise I burn 2100 calories daily I eat about 700 calories daily That leaves me with a deficit of 1400 calories a day. It takes 3500 calories to burn one pound so at my current rate I will lose 2.8 lbs weekly averaging 11.2lbs monthly. I have to keep myself pretty aware, because I gained weight because I really chose not to pay attention to myself in these areas (even started to wear clothes that if I gained or lost weight I would not notice.) Best of luck! Anna

Thank you so much for the kind comments! My starting weight was 300lbs (I had peaked at 307 once) and my current weight is 200.6 lbs. My first several months I followed the gold standard of 60-70g Protein, 600-800calories, and less than 30 g carbs. I am more relaxed on the carb aspect than I used to be, but everything else is pretty much the same. I know that monitioring your carbs closely really does make for some the weight come off more quickly and I know for me that the big thing with carbs is that when I am eating carbs I seem to crave lots more food, but this summer I also came to peace with the fact that if this is to be my life and I want to live it in a healthy way I am not going to avoid strawberries and other whole foods. I know of others who stuck with the really low carb through their whole losing phase and lost all their weight and lost it quickly so once again it is something you have to decide with your surgeon and your NUT and yourself.

How awesome! Don't be disheartened at the pace, you are close to goal, no longer one of those numbers that sounds impossible. Your attitude towards this long term seems very healthy and even if you lose slower than others you are setting yourself for keeping it off long term. Good for you! And dang, a size 8 how amazing is that?????

Thank you!!! I am in love with these ideas. I needed some new ideas, I get foods that work well for me and I get super stuck! This will definitely mix things up.

Any other crock pot chicken ideas? Chicken is one of my preop favorites, but now unless it is really moist or really crisp I can't do it.

Hi I am going to pipe in and add to what ouroborous said (mostly cuz I am a fan of his posts) but not only do we have the 5 years of studies on this surgery used as a stand alone, there are the years prior where this surgery was used as a first step to those too obese to have bypass. This is also almost identical to the surgery that patients who have stomach cancer get and there are stats out there (look it up in the search, most posted by tiffykins) about their quality of life and health. Health wise you are dodging a bullet. Honest! The health changes I have experienced have been amazing. (within the first three months my cholestoral went from 249 to 181) and that is one of many examples. Good luck, the emotional stuff can be hard sometimes, but hang in there!

NSV's are the best! So glad you are having such success. Anna

I went from being a huge Diet Coke fiend who'd literally tried to quit a hundred times, to someone who just doesn't care for it anymore, almost overnight. Oh I wish I were you! I haven't had it in almost six months (drank several in MX the night before surgery.) I still dream about drinking it occasionally and have clients that I buy soda for and it takes all my strength to not rip it from their hands and guzzle!

We all have different full signals, if you eat really slowly you will begin to sense what your full feels like (and don't eat to fullness, there is a place that is literally a bite before fullness and if you can stop there you will be more comfortable.) My full signal is sneezing! Anna

I followed the rules to a tea and just like clockwork at three months my hair started falling out and now at as I am hitting month 6 it is slowing way down. Bald skinny girls really are all the rage! (It was very frustrating to me, but it will slow down and grow back!) Anna

I had loads of naysayers, they have all shut the hell up now that I have lost nearly 100lbs. Results speak louder than any defense you can make, and you needn't make any apologies for your choices, you are an adult and I'm sure like the rest of us "kooks" who went to Mexico you did your homework and found the surgeons you were comfortable with. Go you! Anna

Mine was whackadoo for a while and things are normal now. Loads of trauma to your body as well as fun changes in hormones. Your body will come back to normal! Anna