FatToPhat

I think it's normal for everybody to "slip up" every once in a while, so don't beat yourself up. Just do the best you can but try to stay motivated and keep your goal in front of you every minute of every day. You'll do fine.

Hi Donna, Fortunately I haven't thrown up, even when I overate. For me, when I'm full, it hurts. It's like when you overeat before the surgery, only worse. I have to just lay back on the couch for about 15 minutes or so before the pain subsides and then I just feel normal full. I try not to let it happen. There's warning signs of feeling full before the pain hits. You just have to learn that when you feel that sense of fullness, STOP eating! If you take one more bite, sometimes that puts you over the edge! At least that's what happens to me, anyway. I will say that the Plication surgery has not eliminated my hunger. I've been having trouble with having a lot of hunger pains so I have to eat every 2-3 hours, also. For some reason I have more hunger during the day. After dinner, I rarely get hungry again, unless I go to bed later, then I'll get hungry just before bed. Good luck with your decision making!

You guys are so lucky that your incisions aren't that noticeable! I'm using the Mederma, so I hope it helps. It's expensive enough!

I went to see my gynocologist today who also is a surgeon. I was complaining about my laproscopic incisions and how they are still so dark and noticeable at almost 3 months out. She said that it takes about a year for them to fade and that whatever they look like in a year is probably what they will always look like, so for me to be patient! Just thought I'd post this in case anyone else is as impatient as I am!

Yeah, I agree about not eating the right kinds of foods before! And, yeah, I'm still taking my calcium. As women, I think that's really important. Thanks for the input!

So, I was told to take a multivitamin for life after my Plication surgery. Or at least that's what I remember. But! I'm eating 1200-1600 calories a day and feel I'm definitely getting in a variety of foods with that, although I am trying to concentrate on my protein and vegetables first. I'm still trying to gag through the chewable vitamins I bought before surgery since I thought I wasn't going to be able to swallow pills just after surgery (not true). What does everyone else think about taking a daily vitamin?

Yeah! Way to go!

Yeah, I'm struggling with being "good" too. When my weight loss stalls, as it seems to a lot, I get discouraged and tend to eat more. But if I lose a pound or two I'm much more motivated to eat better. Hmmm....maybe I should stay away from the scale!

The weakness and tiredness should pass as soon as you are able to eat more solid foods. Just concentrate on getting the Water and Protein in! I, also, have a lot of problems with hunger, although I don't think it started until about 3 weeks out. It's been very frustrating to say the least. I was advised to try a PPI like Prilosec in case it's from increased acid production. I do think it helped a little bit. Some people have recommended Gaviscon when they have the hunger pangs, but I haven't tried that, yet. Sometimes a Tums will help, but then the hunger comes back pretty fast. Lately I've just tried to ignore it and it'll go away eventually! Be happy with the 17 lbs! Unfortunately, the weight loss might slow down as you're able to eat more foods.

Those pangs lasted about 2-3 weeks for me. They should go away soon! Hang in there!

That's awesome!!

Best of luck on your upcoming surgery this next week!

That is SO awesome that this surgery is working for you!! It's nice to hear that someone is having success with this surgery. It CAN happen!

Yeah, I, also, kind of felt like we were a little "looked down" upon on the OTHER site! O.K., so 20 lbs in 6 weeks is 3.3 lbs a week! As you can tell, I try to look at it that way instead of the overall picture. Since July 4th is more than 6 weeks away, you'ld definitely reach your goal at that rate! Is the constipation getting any better? It sounds like you're doing well trying to get the Fiber in with the fruits, but I wonder if it's too many carbs. It's kind of a Catch-22. I'm also a little (lot) nervous about whether this is going to work or not. After paying all that money, it's GOT to work. If not, then what??? Best of luck to all of us!

Yeah, even though the weight loss is slower, it seems like it doesn't want to come back on as quickly when I slack off for a few days. I'll take it!

23 lbs since your surgery as of the date you wrote this is 2.9 lbs per week. That's awesome! At that rate you will have lost 110 lbs in 38 weeks or 9 1/2 months! Okay, okay, I realize the weight loss will probably slow down some more, but, hey, didn't that sound pretty good?! And, for $500 more, you could have stayed in Utah and had the surgery with Dr. Cottam! Actually, you probably would have paid a little bit more than that with labs and the initial consult fee of $250, etc. But it sounds like you had a great experience with Dr. Watkins, anyway. I wonder if he is still holding off on doing any more Plications?

For those of you who have had the Plication surgery, how are you all feeling about it so far? No matter what stage you're in or how far along you are!

I had the Plication surgery on March 7th and have lost 30 lbs so far, which includes what I lost on the preop diet. I chose the GPS because, after researching it, I felt it would be the safest one, it was less, expensive, there were no food restrictions, and, emotionally, I liked the idea of not rearranging my insides or removing part of my stomach. The drawbacks that I had read about were that 1. The hunger producing hormone (ghrelin) part of the stomach was not removed, so there was a risk of continued hunger and 2. the weight loss was slower. I had heard that ghrelin was only produced if your stomach was empty, that the pressure of food on the sides of your stomach stopped its production. Therefore, if you kept your stomach full with small amounts of food that took a while to move through your system, then you wouldn't be hungry. This sounded reasonable to me. However, I will say, now that I've had the surgery, that I've had much more hunger than I would like. I usually get hungry again 1 1/2 to 2 hours after I eat which causes me to eat more frequently throughout the day and, consequently, take in more calories. As far as the slower weight loss is concerned, I lost 13lbs during my one week preop diet, then have lost 17 lbs in the 9 weeks since. That's 1.9 lbs per week. Although many people are losing faster with other surgeries and even the Plication, 2 lbs a week is nothing to get too upset about! That would be 104 lbs in a year and I would LOVE that! But I will also say that I could do a LOT better on getting more exercise and reducing my carbs and my calories. I think my weight loss would be faster if I did those things. Anyway, I don't know if that helps any on your decision making. Good luck no matter what you decide!

I've heard a lot of good about the Spark People site. I had already signed up at MyFoodDiary.com, so I've been using that one. It's fairly inexpensive and works well for me! Hey, nice that we have our own Plication site, huh?!

Years ago I started saving money for plastic surgery for WHEN I finally lost my excess weight and needed to tighten up the loose skin I expected to have. The irony is that I could never lose the weight, so I used the money for my weight loss surgery! I guess I'll have to get a 2nd mortgage for the plastic surgery which I'm sure I'll need eventually!

Good for you for giving her an education!

"Poo" !!! I love it! That's exactly how I feel about MY stalls! Don't worry, they'll break and you'll lose a pound a day for several days and THEN go into another stall! At least that's what I do....Poo!

Cholesterol of 700??? Wow...but, no worries, you're on the right path!! I definitely know what you mean about emotional eating. I kind of miss being able to reach out for that same comfort now, but I'm glad I can't!

Yeah, I've noticed the same thing about volume. Weird...

No, unfortunately I've been losing pretty slowly. I lost 18 lbs preop (5 lbs previously, then 13 lbs in one week of the preop diet), so have only lost another 13 lbs since my surgery. I was on a stall for 3 whole weeks which really slowed things down a bit. I think I've been struggling with keeping the carbs down. When I eat too many carbs, my weight loss slows down. I wish you great luck and smooth sailing with your surgery next week! You'll do fine. Even though my weight loss is slow, I definitely think the surgery has helped me to rethink what I eat and how MUCH I can eat!! But you still have to do the work and make the right decisions about what goes into your mouth. That's been a learning process for me since the surgery. But, hey, 13 lbs in not quite 7 weeks is still almost 2 lbs a week which would be 104 lbs in a year! I'll take that!