DrmBig4Evr

I'm out in Allen...insurance being submitted tomorrow, so can't really help you through experience, but I do know that eventually you will be able to eat "almost" anything. The key is to eat your Protein first, it will keep you satisfied longer. Keep at it and work hard and I'm sure you will see great results!

I work at a desk job. I had my surgery on a Friday afternoon, released Saturday morning from the hospital. Worked from home on Wednesday. Was in the office on Thursday and Friday, but I slept right when I got home and all weekend. The next week was a bit rough with nausea in the morning, but I had a prescription for that. Otherwise, I was good. I made it!

You look great! I need to take mine still and look for some old pics because I didn't take full body ones!!

There is someone on here that I am now friends with who was back in the hospital for dehydration. She said the biggest advice she could give me is that Water is more important than Protein the first 3 weeks or so. Gatorade, G2, will be your best friend. I am taking some and freezing it and then making ice chips with it for electrolytes! Good luck!

I hit my 1st stall at 2 months and stayed there for 4 weeks. I dropped 10lbs more in about 3 weeks time and now have been stalled for about 8 weeks. I am seeing inches disappear though, so although I would like to see the lbs move, I am not completely bummed. In 5 months I have dropped 55lbs and 6 dress sizes! Weight wise, I would like to drop another 45lbs, but would be ok with another 30.

I had real plateaus - nine weeks apiece - at roughly six months and one year post op. Both times they occurred when I hit a previous "happy weight" that my body had trouble moving past.
And of course, the last twenty pounds were brutal but I hesitate to call those periods "stalls" or "plateaus" because I did lose weight...just at the poky pace of less than a pound a week.
My honest opinion is that many people get frustrated by "stalls" or "plateaus" that don't really fit that description. Daily weighing immediately post op and in those initial months leads to many people feeling terribly frustrated with a short adjustment period (often less than even two weeks) where the scale just isn't moving. Weigh weekly or monthly and a lot of that can be avoided, and save the daily weighing for maintenance, when it's necessary to stay accountable.
~Cheri

"IF" i eat too much............
which sadly i admit i have done
within a few minutes i start to get all hot "inside" and awful
its terrible
then i will usually lay down - will actually fall alsleep - get up 15 minutes lately and tummy will feel fine
on the other hand...........i mentally feel awful
since its easy for me to remember that terrible feeling, it reminds me not to do "it" anymore
usually successful with that
kathy

Three Years Later - What I've Learned
Here's my experiences from the sleeve process years ago. I wish I had this information before getting the sleeve, so I wanted to share it with all of you:
GAINING WEIGHT
Gaining weight is easy: you simply eat when you're emotional, lonely, or not hungry. Even though my stomach would barely fit a slice of pizza, I could still suck down an entire large meat Lover's Supreme by eating a single slice, waiting until my stomach could fit some more and then eating another. Until the pizza was all gone. You can also do this with ice cream, burgers, fries, and all the other miscellaneous crap food widely available via drive thrus.
This is why you're required to see a counselor and nutritionist - to handle your eating issues. If these aren't handled, then DON'T BOTHER WITH THE SURGERY. You will simply get fat again by eating smaller portions more frequently. If however you only eat when you're hungry - and stick to good foods then you're golden. Now OBVIOUSLY if you did that in the first place you wouldn't be fat. So surgery is a booster shot to your weight loss, and new way of life.
Think of it as waging a war, and surgery is a tank. Now a tank is a formidable weapon. Can run over enemies, shoot some big artillery but eventually if all you have is that one tank, you'll probably lose a prolonged battle. So you gather some strategy and military air support (diet changes), some recruits and soldiers (lifestyle changes) and NOW you have a master battle plan for your war. And ultimately a better thought out path to success.
You invested a lot of money and pain into this - don't screw it up.
FIRST FEW MONTHS
The first six months your weight will drop amazingly fast, because you're out of surgery and can only eat Soup broth for a week. And then slowly mushy foods come in, followed by a few solids. You don't really need a blender, there are ample canned goods you can eat. Baby food, blending a steak and other shocking posts you read about aren't required: just shop for other things that qualify. Going out with friends during this period is depressing, since your diet is so restrictive, you're staring blankly at the menu for a long time and finally decide on Water.< /p>
Get everything you need together before coming home. You'll be on some pretty loopy meds when arriving home, and won't be in any shape to hit the local Walmart. Nor will your family want to bother with it - so plan ahead.
FOOD AND STRETCHING
You can only eat maybe a half cup of food during the first couple months. Then a cup after about five months, then two cups after longer. You can hurry this process along by stuffing your face until your stomach hurts so bad you need to go lay down, or vomit. But if your eating problem is that severe then see my multi-faceted approach to surgery from above.
Each person is obviously different, but stretching your stomach (to me at least) seems difficult and a venture of pain and suffering. I can feel my stomach naturally taking in more food over time, however I've cycled that back down by going a few days drinking only delicious fruit smoothies. This makes my tummy literally shrink back to where it was after surgery, or pretty close, dependent upon how many days I go. You can also accomplish this via more extreme methods like water or veggie juice fasting, however banana/stawberry/pineapple with some coconut water and ice in the blender tastes much better in my humble opinion.
If you do continue to gorge like a tick on bad foods, then yes your stomach will stretch. I've met a few people who's stomach has returned to normal size. Again - everybody is different, I'm just telling you MY story.
How much food you can eat varies by food type:
RICE - I can eat maybe five spoonfuls of this before I feel sick. Stuffing in another three before my body registers that I'm full and it's a vomit party. You need to eat slowly - there's a point in which eating more means bending over the toilet. And once you've experienced that joy, you quickly learn where the limit resides. Rice expands so you gotta be careful. An average meal of fried rice and an egg roll is a full day's worth of food, that requires splitting up.
SODAS - Equivalent to drinking battery acid. I've met some people who've acclimated back to it, but why bother?
MEAT - Steak is bad, try like five or six bites before calling it quits. chicken is similar. Fish goes down a little easier, and you can eat more, maybe because it's flaky.
SALADS and FRUIT - I can eat one banana. Two is painful. Ditto with grapes, strawberries, etc. These foods process through your stomach quicker, so you can eat a little more often compared to stuffing down a sirlion.
PIZZA - Takes me about 12 hours to suck down a large thin crust. Regular or deep crust, I end up tossing half of it into the trash.
Desserts - They hurt. Bad. And then make me sleepy, ticked off and depressed. I mostly stick with natural sugars now like fruits and veggies.
RESTAURANT EATING
Eating out with friends has a lot of rules tagging along. You must wait 30 minutes after drinking water before eating (which works out great, since that's how long food takes to arrive). I order an appetizer or split a full meal with a friend, so this is not a big deal. I see and hear lots of drama about this mingling around, but it's not THAT bad, and you can easily make it look perfectly normal without telling people you had surgery. You don't need a little happy note from your doctor saying you had surgery, just get a doggie bag or go halfsies with a buddy.
CONCLUSION
These are just my two cents, and I hope they help someone.
I lost about 100lbs, then gained back 50.
I'm in the process of losing again thanks to a diet change (I went 100% raw food) and exercise.

I am 8 months out...Spent 5 months in the hospital because of complications with the sleeve...I am still dealing with issues and a nurse comes every day to help me....
Would I do it all again...YES.....I would.....
I am a different person....there are so many things I can do now that I could not do before...I wish I had been done sooner as well...Complications and all it was the right move for me!!!!!

And I wore a bathing suit! Lost 30 lbs total...what a difference that made! Still have 50 lbs to go...this is a blessing for all of us!

I have found so many great Bariatric-friendly recipes recently, but they always make SO MANY servings - especially when I am still only eating a third of a cup at a time. So a few weeks ago, I decided to try getting a vacuum sealer so I could freeze meals in individual portions and take them out only as I want them. I did a great deal of research online, and asking friends about them (some people i know have them). I finally made my decision yesterday on a brand, model, and accessories I wanted. Went to Walmart and picked up my first Foodsaver. Let me just say - LOVE IT! I made a Bariatric-friendly Spinach Casserole (high protein) last night in individual muffin cups (single servings). This morning, I froze them individually for an hour or so to firm them up, then I vacuumed them and sealed them. PERFECTION! So easy to use! I now feel like I can do more cooking, since I have the ability to preserve the leftovers for later (without having to eat the same thing, three times a day, for a week to use it up!). This even inspires me more to bring home restaurant leftovers - I don't have to eat them right away, but I can seal them and freeze them and use them when I am ready! Awesome!

Get on it! You had this surgery for a reason, it is a Blessing, don't waste it! Get up, get moving and stay on track!

Hey guys! So I went to the doctor today, and I'm halfway to my ideal weight!! Also my BMI has went from 51 to 41 and I'm averaging 9-10 pounds a month! So excited

#55 " because exercisers earn more". Who knew!

Ruthie,
Do it for those that want to see you in a few years.
Do it for the person you will be next month, next year.
Do it because you deserve to feel good.
Do it because you love yourself.
Throw out the food in the house you know you should not be eating.
Put your workout clothes out the night before and set your alarm.
Buy the healthy foods you should be eating and put them in convenient locations.
Lynda

Hey!! I've worked 3, 18hour days this week and still have 36 more to do AND have to work this weekend. I still got up and ran 2 days this week.
Move your ass

[ATTACH]14027[/ATTACH]
226 pount before now 136 pount

Vicki,
Please don't let all of this scare you. Everyone here is pulling for you and giving their experiences/ information. It may or may not apply to you. But the good news is that you are doing something about it! And I think looking into a second opinion is a good thing. It's something everyone should do when considering a surgery that you little information on.

Get on it! You had this surgery for a reason, it is a Blessing, don't waste it! Get up, get moving and stay on track!

I just ate five canned green Beans and I am stuffed. Is that even trackable?

I'm done with diets. I swore off diets.. out of my life for good and I'm officially a member of dieters anonymous. My body has suffered enough abuse over the years. It's eat healthy w/excercise all the way or it just wasn't meant to be.
Lol.. Ok, sorry, carrying on ( I just hate the word diet)

Down to 190 this morning! I don't feel hungry either! Just slightly cranky and visually everything looks yummy, which I'm used to dealing with from immediately after surgery.
Hoping to get into the 180's this week!
Sent from my iPhone using VST

There is hope!
Weight at Surgery: 239
4 months Post Op: 196
6 months Post Op: 191
2 days ago I was 196, yesterday I went back to the basics. What I mean is, I went on my full liquid diet from post op. but incorporated clear and full liquids.
9am-12pm sipped on Isopure 40 grams of Protein
2pm miso Soup
3pm sugar free Italian ices
5:30-6:30 pm sipped on 2 Atkins shakes (20 total grams of protein)
8pm 1 sugar free ice pop
I sipped on Water and unsweetened ice tea all day.
At 10pm, I did have 2 egg whites, only bc my husband said a was cranky! Lol I was!! Then I passed out!!!
This morning 191!!!!!
This can and will be done!! Go with what you know!
Sent from my iPhone using VST