Swiftflow

Its all about the moderation. Unlike pre-op 3 or 4 dogs and other junk with it, the small amount you can actually eat post-op won't affect your diet too drastically. Its a nice treat every now and then off the grill--again rarely and in moderation--enjoy!

Great to hear! Sometimes I stall a few days and other days I can drop several pounds in just 3 days, it is so weird how the body reacts to exercise and other eating changes. It "seems" when I workout hard and have sore muscles I am stalled until the soreness heals and then can start loosing again. Probably rebuilding glycogen and the water required to build that. Still the only thing I can predict for certain is that my body will not stay in any repeatable pattern--every week seems different.

Rocking that sleeve!!

Good question, I was on full liquids by day 3 per my docs orders and then after a week of fulls started mushies. I understand caution on getting to mushie or soft food stages as that is a drastic change, but I see no reason that anyone should be on clears so long--full liquids are very important for nutrition and healing of the body--they really don't put additional stress on the staple line over clear liquid. Its almost the opposite, I loved taking the full liquids slow and steady but tended to drink clears too fast. Just my opinion though--you got to follow your doc...

I have just taken my third run since I started back up running and I am feeling great to be back out there. I am taking it very slow doing 2 min jog followed by 1 min walk and repeating that pattern every 3 mins for 3 miles distance so technically I guess I run 2/3rds of the time and walk 1/3. The first time was painful and took a couple of days for the legs to be revived, second run came easier, and today it was starting to feel great again. As the weight drops and fitness builds I will add 30 sec to the run time with each increase. Will go 2:30 to 1 then 3 to 1 and so on during the building stage. Eventually I hope to get back to where I can complete a 5k non stop as my first major running goal. The weight loss seems to have picked up a bit with the running--I am eating a bit more on run days just to make sure to have energy.

Just think by next 4th of July BBQ you will be wearing a nice small outfit looking great and able to eat regular food--just less of it. I know big events can be tough, but just think of all the events coming around again and you being thin and healthy :thumbup:

Sam are you sure on the egg content or was it how you chewed them? I can eat eggs but It is hard for me to remember to chew them and lumpy they upset my stomach too. If I make an omlett and cut tiny pieces they go down great. I have actually drank egg beaters uncooked and have no issues with that either. Just check to see if it is the eggs or how they were chewed--I never chewed my scrambled eggs pre-op and had a bad time first time I ate them post-op.

Congrats on onederland! You are working your sleeve!

Great work Sleeve Sister! You are rocking the sleeve! Work has been so busy this last fiscal quarter I have not gotten by the site or chat very much--great to see your progress!

The way I look at it we will all be lightweights along the way in this journey one way or another. BMI is kind of a bogus number to me. I will never leave the "overweight" category even if I had 5% body fat because of my frame. I will probably end up changing my goal weight at some point once I know what will get me to at or under 10% body fat (healthy percent for male). I may adjust that just depending on how things look and feel down at that weight. The point is weight and BMI are just numbers--This is a mental game and its about loosing that fat. If I get to 210 and hit my low body fat I won't push and loose muscle just to get below 200... We will see how it goes! look I'm a lightweight now at 35.2 bmi haha!

There are many reasons everyone has mentioned in choosing the VSG over LapBand wheter its risk of erosion, slippage, fill issues, etc. I want to also mention the reason the VSG is much more effective--the reduction of the hunger hormone ghrelin. With the lap band you will still have to battle the full hunger feelings from ghrelin at full force. Studies with the VSG show that this hormone is reduced because the large part of the stomach producing this is removed. At 7 weeks out I don't have any hunger--granted some VSGers do still have hunger return, but the level of that hormone is going to be less and a small meal will satisfy it. I have heard of band patients that can fill the pouch and still have raving hunger because the stomach still produces ghrelin yet they can't eat more because the upper banded pouch is full. I was a person who could eat so much without feeling full before the VSG, I needed both the capacity to overeat removed and the hunger removed or greatly reduced to avoid temptations.

Awesome weight loss! keep on rockin that sleeve!

Baaam! 59 lbs...gone for good! wow!

Testing a different view: looks like the camera zoom levels are different so it throws off the matchup, but you get the overall idea.

Looking great! Thanks for sharing your transformation with us!

Plans do vary between doctors, but you still have to be careful as you move to solid foods on how soon after you drink. Sometimes it just depends on what food you ate. There are some foods if I were to drink normally 15 mins after eating it is likely to come spewing right back up. The dense foods that literally fill the sleeve up will not let liquid pass often unless you wait longer. My doc's general guideline is 30-45 mins after eating to drink, but there are still foods I will have to take a test sip and see how it goes before drinking more. As your food options expand you will get a feel that works for best for you.

Rocking the sleeve!

I feel bad that you have to meet these weight and liquid diet goals--luckily my only requirement was to switch to liquids at noon before my surgery the next morning. There are other surgeons like that as well if this one is too strict. Edit: Looking at some of the research 30-40 size is not that big of a difference in speed of loss and I think you can have success as long as you don't go far above that range which would leave more of the Fundus in place. According to the study here http://www.ssat.com/video/2008/SSAT%2049th%20Annual%20Meeting(3)-Cirangle.htm they did not get the results they wanted when at a 48f size. All of that to say as long as you stay 40 or under and use this as a tool with proper eating and exercise, you can have success.

Great work! Congrats on the success!

Thanks everyone for the encouragement! I love the team spirit here! I have been working out pretty hard since the doctor cleared me to exercise. Mostly cardio (I work that pretty hard, I am a wierd one who likes to push myself to the limit--something cleansing about pushing through pain and hitting a goal each workout), but starting weights this week to add to that.

Exactly 7 weeks out today and down 40lbs post-op! Also updated the youtube vlog.

Liquids are not a guage for most of us, I can down 32 oz of liquid in a couple of mins if I wanted too, but I still can't eat much more than 4 oz of solids. Your body is designed to hold substance in the stomach until it is liquid and then it passes to the intestines so if its already liquid and you don't have swelling issues you can drink non-stop (not that you should--it's just possible) I agree with everyone saying that you should not be "testing" steak at this point, but since you have I have to ask did you drink while eating? Thats a good way to help stuff slide through your sleeve and defeat the sleeve's purpose as a tool. So if your drinking with meals that is also a reason stuff can slide through. I think all surgeons recommend not drinking during or until at least 30-45 mins after a meal--make sure and ask your doc his guidelines.

Technically with chewing properly everything can become mushy. Can you clarify if you are talking about the ability to eat quantities of food or if you mean you can take a bite of any kind of food? Also what was the bougie size your doctor used? After a month and a half I still have issues with any type of food I eat too fast or do not chew properly. I can probably eat 4 oz of solids and 6-8 oz of mushy/slider foods (slide right through the sleeve easily like yogurt)--what is the quantity you can eat? Edit: technically with a slider I could eat more than 8 oz cause it keeps sliding through--I just don't because I have no hunger. If you are eating a slider type of food in high quantities that is not abnormal as far as physically possible, its just not a healthy use of the VSG tool. Don't get me wrong I still make mistakes, its just a matter of not returning to bad habits.

On a positive note, our team just won 1st place at our steak cook-off this weekend! I can eat around 3-4 oz of the tender rib eye which is nice. A couple of NSV's cames out of this first steak cook-off post surgery. 1. I was able to last all day without massively sore feet and back. 2. I had more energy through the day in spite of the blistering heat. 3. And my 2x team shirt now fit me instead of having to use my own "iron-on" shirt version that was 3x like I did last year.

As a member of a steak cook-off team I plan to try my first rib-eye at a contest this week. I cook a mean ribeye steak!