swizzly

PS -- my plan does require three meals and three Snacks per day, so I'm eating fairly often to get in that many calories. Though I have a hard time to hit all those snacks during the work week. ETA: The bariatric clinic did a test on me that measured resting metabolic rate, and mine was 1880.

I'm shooting for 1000/day, but this is my own goal - there is not a calorie/carb/protein goal prescribed in my program. I usually get between 800-1000 per day, and 60-100 g of carbs, which are required on my program. I have some anorexia in my history and anything under 800 is a trigger for me. Also, I have a pretty good metabolism and I do not want to slow it down.

I've not had a stress test and I don't really know what it involves, but I DO know I hate failing at anything, so I can relate on that level for sure. It doesn't even mean anything in the grand scheme of things, but it still gives an excuse to beat up on yourself...as though we need one more of those. I'm glad there was an alternative.

You look great -- and the scenery where you live is beautiful!

FWIW, I have always felt I could eat more (and much more easily) than a lot of people on here as well. I've been on full solids since day four post-op, and though I took a fairly conservative approach at first, I could eat a whole egg straight away. I could probably eat an egg and a half at this point, likely not two. My plan calls for three meals and three Snacks per day, and I usually get in 800-1000 calories per day. I am fine with that, my past experience of doing 400-600 calories per day was absolute shit on my body. If I lose more slowly, that's okay. The other day I was out shopping and walking around town all day and I realised I was starving, so ducked into a (new!) Burger King that has just come to town and had a cheesburger -- I took off the top bun, ate half the burger with bottom bun, then ate just the remaining meat without any bun. So about 1/3 of the total bun + the entire meat/cheese patty. And I was full after, but not overly so. It went down well and I felt awesome after. I can eat bread, Pasta no problem. I'm not a huge fan of rice, so I don't even bother. I eat 30g of bran flakes (about 1/2 cup) + about 2oz of milk over it and that makes a nice satisfying breakfast. There are not foods I can't tolerate, and I don't have to chew like a madwoman or eat sloooooowly. I was briefly inclined to become neurotic and anal about it, but then I figured, meh, feck it -- I am enjoying post-op life and getting in a lot of quality food. I feel like I'm doing very well. I also drink coffee every day and have an occasional glass of wine. Very occasional. This is Europe, it's all allowed no problem.

I have once in a while gotten a little chillier than before, but in general I have not gotten significantly colder.

I was just talking to my sleeve friend here about this at the weekend. I at first had a hard time to tell when I was full, so I just ate small amounts -- when it felt like I needed to burp but couldn't, that was my signal to stop. I have found over time that I will get the single hiccup thing as well, if I eat just a bit too much. Now -- what, 10 weeks out? -- I am getting my familiar 'full' signal back. I can feel when I've had enough and I stop. It's not stuffed or overfull, just "full." It's like the old signal my brain remembers, I find it both comforting and a bit disturbing (full signals are an old trigger for me, which I thought was long gone, but that's another story). I got a little too full when I ate 80g (maybe 2-3 oz?) of very thin ham last night for dinner, as I was trying to up my Protein for the day and was a bit too rushed. Urgh. Just uncomfortable for a bit, then fine after that. ETA: I personally disagree with Foxbins about washing things down with Water -- my own experience has been that adding any liquids in while eating can make me very uncomfortable, very fast.

Oh my god -- that just totally still seems like a honeymoon to me!! You took a three-month break that included the holidays and eating 'whatever you wanted' and you only gained five pounds? I don't know about you, but back in the pre-sleeve years, if I went off the rails for three months + holiday season, I could easily have packed on 20. I would say five pounds is still a freakin miracle, compared to what it was like pre-sleeve. Sorry for my, um, quite energetic post, lol -- I'm just blown away by that. Good on you for doing so well.

I have had the same questions, crosswind. I thought the 'honeymoon period' was really mostly applicable to GBS, as it has the special calorie-malabsorption factor that diminishes over time, and is most active in the first year (as far as I know). The only 'honeymoon period' I could think of re: a sleeve is just that it's smaller/tighter when it's first done due to swelling, so one might be on lower calories for a few weeks in the beginning? (Though I was on 800 fairly quickly and now try for 1000 each day.) But there isn't, AFAIK, a magical element to the first months of VSG like there is with GBS. A sleeve doesn't stretch out like a pouch does, at least that's what my doctors and surgeon told me, so it's always going to be a much lower capacity than a normal stomach, and most likely a smaller capacity than a lot of pouches as well. So it seems to me like it will have a longterm effect. I think, as with any of these WLS tools, you can learn to eat around the stomach you have, regardless of its shape/size. And that maybe over time, this tendency gets worse and worse if you aren't quite careful? I don't think it's anything like inevitable, though.

Do you only have a single scar? I can't see more than one!! Yours look SOOO good in comparison to mine. My incisions were closed with staples as well, so they have those little dots all along the sides of the incision scars. LOVELY. I don't know why they can't just use surgical glue or steri-strips (which is what I had on my hysterectomy scar that's turned out so good). Sigh. JEALOUS.

The cream is called Gorgonium, but I'm not sure they have it everywhere, or if it goes by another name in different countries? I had to wait six weeks before I could start using it -- I originally used it for my very large open-hysterectomy scar and that one is now white like my skin and barely visible at all.

Mine are still quite purpley-red, especially against my oh-so-pasty skin. I do use a prescription anti-scar cream that is helping, I need to be better about using it every day.

I only had the requirement not to eat after midnight the night before, too. It's common to have pre-op diets, but not everyone has them. I would consider your course where you lost 10% of your body weight to be a major pre-op diet!

I would too, but I haven't smoked MJ in many years so who knows what effect it would have on me now.

I know smoking cigarettes/tobacco causes all that stuff, but does MJ smoking also have those effects? I've not heard that before.

I've no idea what size mine is! They never said, they just said it's about the size of a man's finger or a woman's thumb. All I know is, it is definitely small. I don't know the capacity, but it's not much!

I never try to convince people it's not easy -- for several reasons, not least of which is because I have personally found it to be ludicrously easy. My questions back to these non-thinking 'easy way out'-ers always involve inquiring how much smarter might it be to do that which is both more effective and easier? Is there some particular virtue about doing something the "hard way"?? Good lord, doing things that are clever in terms of outcome and effort is why humans don't live in effing caves anymore. Do people say OMG YOU TOOK THE EASY WAY OUT when you, e.g., choose to send an email instead of climbing a mountain and building a fire with flint and steel and then sending smoke signals?? There is also an underlying inseparable value judgment in the whole 'easy way out' thing -- to wit, "you're a big fat old fatty who has no willpower or self-control or discipline and you therefore deserve to be punished via ineffective starvation diets and weight regain overandoverandoveragain." To that judgment I say: Piss right off. Go pound sand. At the end of the day, I have clearly chosen the smarter alternative. They can all suck it. Right. I'm in a bit of a mood today. I am ranting (is this the rant section?), so I hope no one takes it personally. I could also rant about Curves in general, but I will spare everyone my precious opinions.

I was expecting to be freezing because people talk about it a lot. I am not freezing really at all. I'm slightly chillier than normal, but I still get hot when it's warranted by the weather or my activities lol. I am happy not to freeze right now, but I'm hoping that I also won't get too hot when it's high summer and the AC is crap.

If I'm reading you correctly, you DO keep down the hot dog and cheese? If that is the case, then eat those for now. And try to find other things that stay down. With the amounts we can eat, there is no reason to be all fat-free with everything. I don't use skim milk or fat-free anything (not much available here anyhow), and I still struggle to get above 800 cals for the day. I also have a hard time with Water and with artificial sweeteners (although I can force down anything, I just do it), but I found that watered-down juice also works well. Maybe try that? When you DO find that something stays down, then use that for now. Above all the rules and guidelines is the common sense that says, I have to have some calories, some Protein and some liquid -- what does it take to get me to that goal? You can do it!!

I'm also a non-teller, though a very few people know. I haven't told my family yet, god help me if they find out from someone else first. I can only say that this sleve has been, for me, ridiculously easy. I have had such a smooth time of it, I feel a bit guilty...and paranoid, waiting for the other shoe to drop. My optimistic nature shines right through there, eh? But really, for me it IS the "easy way out" -- and why shouldn't it be?? There is no intrinsic value or extra virtue in doing something the "hard way." (Not to mention the way that DOESN'T WORK lol.) It's just smart and clever to do something that is more effective AND easier, no? Good luck! You will do great.

Wow, that is awesome!! I think I lost like 20 lb in the first month. *ENVIES* Well done you!!

DUDE -- why did you delete?!?! Your stuff was great, and was an integral part of this awesome thread...?!? I wish you hadn't done that. What happened?

I did not have a pre-op diet, but I can 110% assure you that you will have a MUCH easier time post-op following the proper eating plans. You do still need willpower to stay away from the wrong things, but you will want them less and won't have room for them anyhow, b/c you need to get protein and veg in. I would say pre-op to post-op willpower needed is like 90% pre-op to about 20% post-op. For some it's even less, as they totally lose hunger and things taste funky and etc. Don't worry, you will be able to do this. So stick with that pre-op diet!!

Protein drinks are also not on my dr/nut plans, so I did buy one kind (the only kind I've ever found here) and try it a couple of times, but it didn't really work for me anyhow. And yes, their philosophy is that you should eat real food as quickly again as possible, as it's good for your system and etc. So I've been getting all my protein from food since straight away post-op. Most days I get 50-70g in.

Egg salad and deviled eggs are awesome -- and they don't need much mayo for the small amounts you can eat. I make egg salad with one small boiled egg and about a tsp of mayo + a little mustard and it's delish. I think deviled eggs don't need that much mayo either. Plus, we do need to eat some fat, it's good for us.