Yasman

This may be a conversation that you'd want to have in a week or so rather than days from surgery. Your diet will change from full liquids to slowly adding solid food back to your system and for the first while your intestinal tract will be fine and still empty from the time on liquids. That said, a high Protein diet does tend to dry out the contents of our tummies and intestines so when you start to notice that you are never doing #2 anymore, this thread may become helpful for you.

Hi! Congratulations for making this choice for yourself and good luck to you. I had very very little pain.... none in the hospital (but they may have been giving me pain meds) and the 2nd or 3rd day home I noticed some pain in my left side... nothing serious but I had been given prescripts (which I filled) for pain meds so it was no sweat. I know it can sound like it will be hard but walking in the hospital after your surgery will be really easy. Granted, you've just come out of surgery so you're not going to b ewalking the miracle mile, but the inspiration/motivation to walk and the ability to walk will be there for you. Some people report having a nursing team that make walking nearly impossible, but that seems rare. For me, getting some assistance to get out of the booties they have on your legs was the only barrier, and the nursing team was well versed in bariatric patient needs so I had no trouble finding nursing staff willing to walk with me. Other hospitals maybe don't require a nurse to be with you but mine did. Anyway walking was not at all painful, but it was tiring. I have found that sipping is not for me. I'm a gulpy kinda gal I guess. It doesn't hurt me and I know how many gulps I can get before my tummy is at maximum so it's not been a problem.The thing to remember is that your body is your guide and if you can't gulp, you'll just develop a sipping habit and that's that. Some people can eat the things that others can no longer handle, like beef or soda or what have you. The big thing is portion sizes and trying (I suck at this) to behave with regards to when you drink vs when you eat. They don't want you to drink within 30 minutes, before or after, eating. I just am having to work very hard at behaving with regards tot his. Building the habit... building the habit, building the habit. ugh.! Best of luck to you! p.s. Go ahead and look through the various forum names... there's an entire forum dedicated to people posting their personal bariatric surgery journey... that will be a great place to read and get some of the answers that you are looking for.

today's weigh in: 326.1

dude, what a good idea. I'm surprised I didn't think of that. sashimi, here I come!

this term, head hunger, just hits the nail on the head about how I've been since my surgery July 14. My stomach tells me when i'm not hungry, when I'm full, when I'm dangerously full... my portions tell me when nearly done or done, but my brain keeps thinking things like.... but i haven't eaten enough or... but i'm not getting as much of a portion as *he/she* is getting (like its a competition) or... having cravings between meals and having to count the minutes until its an appropriate time to eat again. I've had a suggestion for therapy but when I looked into it my health insurance doesn't cover any therapy other than the physical kind. I've got applesauce, cheeses (cheddar, cottage, babybel), greek yogurt, sugar free pudding as options if i really can't make it until another meal, but I find that I rarely reach for these.... writing this is a good reminder so maybe I'll remember this and start using them now. good topic.

Thank you so much for sharing your photos. That's the first time I've seen what the mystery of excess skin really looks like. As others have said, you are beautiful and I love your clothing choices. I'm also encouraged that the extra skin seems to sort of disappear into your clothes so that's hopeful for me. I'm still near the beginning of my journey so have a long way to go before I see a lot of excess skin, although I have noticed some looseness already. I also like your before photo with the elephant, that must have been fun!

If it helps (if misery does love company) then I'll share that i'm in my 3-week stall, still, too. Just keep on keepin' on, this is supposed to happen. Your body is a complex organism and its busy doing magic tricks and hiding things up its sleeves. the "and, Voila!" moments will come.

dare I ask, where was the toilet at work in all this? I think this is a BM story I need to hear from beginning to end.

I was sleeved on 7/14 and I'm still on my 3 week stall....now at 2 months so I definitely feel the frustration. I've got a measuring tape that tells me my measurements are the same (what?!) and a scale that has me hovering +- 2 lbs for so many weeks. it's definitely frustrating but.... life does go on. Just trying to keep sane with the portion sizes and the kinds of things I'm eating and I am trying to keep up with the exercise. I'm in Southern Florida and its hot hot hot. One of my doctors told me I have difficulty regulating my body temperature because of some medication I'm on so I am NOT allowed to do my walking or bike riding pretty much until the weather cools (november?) or after nightfall (which I don't think is too safe) so I've been focusing on doing laps in the pool as many times weekly as I can find an empty lap pool, which is working out to about 3 times a week. My surgeon's practice has an exercise consultant who has me doing strength training at home with resistance bands. These are super easy, don't cost much, and it doesn't take a huge long time to do the complete round of reps and sets. This is for once every other day.

I'm glad to hear it because I went ahead and tried popcorn right away at the regular food mark. popcorn was a staple in my dad's house growing up and I was missing him...

it went well! No complications with the surgery, only minor pain for a few days. the hospital stay went very quickly, which was especially welcome. I've lost 30 pounds and am stalled since the second/third week, which is frustrating but still 30 lbs. in 60 days is unheard of in my past weight loss efforts so all is good. I'm struggling to get my exercise in because another doctor I have and medicine I am taking make my body unable to sweat properly. I'm in southern florida so finding a time when its either not ungodly hot or raining (hurricane season) is tough. how is it going for you?

weighing in today as 327. goal is still 309 by halloween.

1. being able to stop when you're full and still sit with food in front of you while your dinner partners are still eating ... without the food calling your name the whole time 2. finding some extra skin sagging.... on your feet! 3. knowing that you are doing something proactively good about your health.

A bunch of people on here, myself included, track our daily eating habits (and exercise) in apps that we have on our phones. The one that seems to be most popular on here is called My Fitness Pal, although I use one called LoseIt, which if you don't have a smart phone you could always track with their website. I find it helpful to see the trends in what I'm eating and how they relate to how well I'm losing (if/when there's a connection). Just a thought, you might find something like that useful. Yas

I want to join in the fun. I'm 6 weeks post op and hoping to lose 20lbs so SW 329 GW 309 potentially to be revised depending on what my weight is on Friday.

Well, not so recent now but between the last time I was measured at 6' and now, I have had 3 herniated disks in my lower back, which is what I am assuming accounts for the loss of height. But still, 3"? I feel like it's absurd and not possible. But I had another team member measure my height in a different room and he got the same result, so go figure.

lol, 3 chips makes a very angry tummy. i have the noises too and it sounds like hungry stomach growl fro pre-surgery but really its just noisy for its own reasons, not anything related to what it wants me to do. totally gratuitous noisage.

What a great anniversary pic... although I guess you beat the year in getting down to your BMI target. You look fabulous! Congratulations and thanks for the inspiring photographs.

Just a quick shout out to all those ladies who posted pics here to inspire us. A roll call (iirc) Soocalchick, deedadumble, DeezJeans, SleeveNZ and Livilu. I'm not sure if I still qualify as tall. All my adult life since sometime in high school I have been 6'0" tall, but when I went to the surgeon's office for the initial intake they measured me as 5'9". So, am I still tall?? I'm at the beginning of my journey, just sleeved on 7/14/14. I put my goal down as 162.5 because somewhere in my past I had a doctor say that number to me. My surgical team hasn't set a goal weight for me yet so until they do, that's the one I'll use. I think, though, that I may decide I'm happiest at something more like 185, but I guess we'll see how things are when I get down to that weight. (Notice I said "when")

Hi! I'm a newbie like you ... had my surgery 6 weeks ago. I bought the lean body value pack of 12 Protein shakes because I didn't expect to be making them from scratch like so many do. I like how they taste but drinking them, even half of one, is hard work because something about them just bugs me. I have been tracking my food in an app callee Lose It and I seem to be able to get my protein from what I eat. I'm eating a "normal" diet in that I'm not doing all the liquid schmiquid anymore. I have been bad since about day 4 re waiting for drinking liquids. I hope it's not stretching my tummy but I just can't not drink with my meal. I am, however, drinking very very small amounts of liquid with my meal. In the past I would be, easy, 4-[5 glasses of Water. Now I'm maybe 1/4 to 1/2 of a glass of water with a meal. So hopefully "in moderation" makes it close to ok. Good luck with the blah's. they can be tough!

thank you for asking this.... it's a good question. I'm just 6 weeks out and have noticed that (their not having deflated yet) actually my bazongas are the biggest they've ever been and hadn't really paid attention to the fact that I was rotating between a small selection of bras that fit... mostly sports bras. I'm hoping that I can use these and work my way into the other bras that pinch later on in the weight loss game. I will definitely spring for new beautiful bras when I get towards my goal!

Definitely an inspiration! Congratulations and may I say Good Work!

Hi guys. Just popping in to Celebrate that I am finally having my sleeve done tomorrow. So excited! Does it seem weird that I am more excited than anxious or scared, or is that the good thing it feels like to me? My surgical team says to expect to be in the hospital for 2 days and they intend for me to be on full (not clear) liquid diet when I come home, but we'll see on that score as they release me from the hospital. My biggest concern or fear for adjustment after the surgery is getting my Water guzzling self (6-8 glasses of water, a waiter's nightmare, during meals not before or after) to adher to a policy where liquids are 15 minutes before, not during and 30 minutes after a meal. What the hell am I going to do? Portion and food types and liquid diet and everything else doesn't seem, pre-op, like it will bother me so much as just represent a big change. Not being able to guzzle between bites... seems like it will be a catastrophic change. I'm sure my new sleeved tummy will help in this area by not signaling me to start drinking, but I wanted to ask the vets: does your body signal to you to drink something during your mealtime when you can't?

We had surgery the same day! I would love it if you would post some of your measurements where you lost inches. is that too personal to ask?

I'm doing really well. I have lost weight, stalled, and now am losing weight again, but I understand that is normal. I'm learning, or relearning, my digestive signals (hungry, full, dangerously overfull) and the associated portion sizes. When are you going to Mexico for your sleeve? The traveling on top of the surgery seems a little overwhelming to me. Good luck!