kimmr

I'm a band to sleeve revision 9 weeks out. I think I eat WAY too much. I just got a smart phone so I could download My Fitness Pal. For the last three days, I have finally been keeping track of my calories. I'm eating around 1500 calories a day, which just seems outrageous. Also, I feel like I have just plain poor eating habits. Like my old habits are not going to die. Sugary things are really hard for me to get away from, and I crave carbs. I have been hitting my 60 g Protein requirement pretty early, so that's not too big of a deal. I do good on Water, too. I don't do pop or alcohol, and I don't crave those things at all. Also, I have come across nothing, literally nothing, that has given me trouble. Bread, rice, Pasta, everything goes down just fine. I've been stalled for a while around this 172 mark, so maybe that means I'm done. I'm a little disappointed about it, as I'd like to get down at least to my low with the band - 155 lbs. I guess what has me worried is that if I'm doing poorly right now, how the heck am I going to make this work in a year? In 5 or 10 years? I just don't know how to put my old eating habits to rest. Especially because I thought I had rid myself of my old eating habits with the band. I got to the point where I ate what I felt like, but it just wasn't much, and when I was done, I was done, and didn't think about it any more. Now I'm back to the old habits...obsessing about food and what I didn't finish, thinking about when I can have the rest of that sandwich, etc. I don't know, anyone have any thoughts? I'm just really nervous about this long term.

@Journey: See, I do get hungry. It's definitely not the starving feeling like before, but I still get hungry, so that's a bummer. And I do crave. Sweets never used to be my thing, either, but now I can't help but think about it. @smileen: you're totally right. Just because I can, doesn't mean I should. But see, that's my problem here. I got myself overweight and in this position because I clearly have no self control! And I guess it's scaring me a little bit how much self control I'm going to need to make this sleeve work. I thought I had the self control situation handled when I had my band, but my band was too tight at that time, so it obviously wasn't working as designed. Can I literally break myself of the addiction/cravings to carbs? Other than food, I haven't really been addicted to anything in my life, the only thing would be soda and caffeine. I've broken myself off soda a couple of times, the last time being about 3 years ago. This time, it really stuck. Even the thought of soda makes me want to hurl. Now, the only caffeine I have is an occasional iced tea, but I'm careful of that, because I do get addicted to caffeine easily, and I want to avoid soda. I don't know, it's just scary. I feel like I don't have THAT far to go to get myself COMPLETELY on track...I don't drink hardly any calories, I'm good with my Vitamins, I hit my Protein numbers, I hit my Water goal...I just need to get over this one last hump - making the proper food choices.

I'm 4 days away from a band to VSG revision, so I'm sure I'm extra nervous, but I'm just convinced that VSG will be the death of me. I'm just hoping that it'll be in 40-50 years, and not 10-15 (I'm 31 now). I don't know what to make of this. I'm just scared, I guess.

Today, I am 3 weeks out from band to sleeve revision. My 3 week stall started at two weeks out, and I haven't moved since. I am a lightweight (didn't wait to gain all my band weight back when that went down the crapper) and only have another 20-30 lbs to goal. How long did your 3 week stall last? I wonder if I'm done losing already? If I am, so be it, my most pressing need was to make sure that I didn't keep gaining. Also, for reference, I'm eating mostly mushy foods, just starting to work in some actual meat. Yesterday I had turkey lunchmeat for the first time, today I had shredded chicken for the first time. Otherwise I'm doing yogurts, cottage cheese, string cheese, tuna salad, that type of thing. I generally get in my 60-64 oz of Water, and am usually in the 55 -60 g of Protein a day, without using any Protein shakes. Thoughts? How did other lightweights fare?

I am one month post op and had some tuna salad on Triscuits this past weekend. It all went fine.

Hey HeartGoesOn...I have Aetna and was approved for band to sleeve revision. I'm 4 weeks out from the sleeve.

I lost the first week, maybe week and a half after surgery, and have done nothing since. I'm 3.5 weeks out from surgery. Been stuck at around 176-177 since about day 11 or so. I have an IUD and have no periods, so I can't comment on that aspect. When it's all said and done, if I'm truly stuck here at 177, and I'm not going to b*tch too much. With my band, I got down to 155, then gained up to 197, now I'm down to 177 after sleeve. The key was to stop gaining, which I think I've successfully handled, so that's what really counts. I'm not thrilled with it though. I really want to get back down to the 155, at the very least. My original goal w/ my band was 140. Oh, and I don't think I answered an early question....I guess my meals are around half a cup at a time. Tonight for supper I had 4 slices of thin deli turkey wrapped around some hunks of cheese that weighed maybe 2 oz. lunch was a styrofoam coffee cup of potato Soup. Had a Babybel for a snack, Breakfast was a 6 oz greek yogurt. I haven't had it today (I probably will before bed), but one of my favorite Snacks is 1/4 c of cottage cheese, half a banana chopped up and a little cinnamon. Weird....as I'm eating, I feel like I'm freakin' pigging out, even though I've never thrown up or anything. I guess I just feel full, so that makes me think that I'm over eating. But then when I write down everything I ate today, it sure doesn't seem that excessive....hmm.

Hey Petal...well, I went through with it and came out on other side. I did feel a huge sense of relief as soon as I woke up that was most definitely tied to the fact that the debate was over. I had revised to a sleeve, I could no longer justify that internal struggle. Does that make sense? I'm not saying that I don't still have some concerns that I made the right decision, or that I might face some unknown consequences...especially long term. But, the surgery is done, I can no longer lose sleep over whether or not I'm making the right decision. I made that decision because, with the information I know now, it was the best decision for me. My therapist has explained it nicely....regret is a choice. You CHOOSE to regret something. And if you choose to regret something, that means you're holding yourself accountable for knowing what the future holds, which is completely asinine. I made the best decision that I could for myself in 2012. If 2025 gets here, and something is wrong, well, I still won't 'regret' it, because in 2012, there's no way I could know what's going to happen in 2025. I bugs me when people post these, "do you regret it?" posts. I just don't like the term 'regret.' It seems sort of simple minded. Maybe I'm being harsh, but that's the way I see it.

Spades....so how far away are you from goal, then? I'm currently stuck at this 176-177 (I'm 5'6") area, I'd like to lose another 20-30 more. Did you revise from a band? I have no idea what to do about this stall.

Same here, after the first week post op I couldn't stand the shakes anymore. They cleared me for yogurt (and yogurt only) about 10 days after surgery. I went and got Greek yogurt at 14 g per cup. The first day I had yogurt, I think I had two of them. By the second day, I could do 4 greek yogurts in a day ( I spit out the fruit bits) which got me to 56 g. After that, I just started working in various things here and there. Tuna is packed with Protein.

Reno, where'd you go? Have you found something comparable to the Pure unflavored? I've been through lap band and sleeve surgery, so I've tried LOTS of proteins, and that's the only one I've been able to handle.

Anyone know? I REALLY like the Pure unflavored Protein powder (and by really like, I mean it doesn't make me gag), and I've been out for 4 days now. Has anyone called? I haven't yet. You'd think they would realize that they're losing sales like crazy while they have no Protein Powder in stock.

I'm not sure about the drug situation, but I think it would be hard with the lack of fluids. When I was breastfeeding my first daughter, I got the flu, and threw up for a solid day. I couldn't keep anything down. I didn't have to stop breastfeeding at that time, but my supply drastically reduced, and it took me a while to get it back up again. When I was sleeved, I had to stop drinking Water at midnight on Monday night. I was sleeved Tuesday at 8:00 am, and then wasn't allowed water by mouth until about 2:30 pm on Wednesday. Of course, during that whole time, I was receving IV fluids, so that kept me hydrated. Regarding actual calories, I was allowed 1 tsp of Protein drink an hour starting at about 8 pm on Wednesday night. I'm not saying that it would be impossible to continue breastfeeding after surgery, but I would think you'd definitely experience a set back, at the very least.

Hi Karen, I had the band for 2 years, it slipped and would not function properly. I just revised to a sleeve two weeks ago today. I lost lots of weight with the band, and I only had about 30 lbs to goal when I was sleeved (I actually had gotten to my goal with the band, but gained back some). The problem was that I was gaining and gaining when my band began to fail. I know my history, and I know I would have gained back the weight that I lost with the band, so I did the sleeve before I had to lose all the same weight a second time. When my doc did the sleeve, once she got in there, she discovered a hiatal hernia. She said it was a good possiblity that the band either caused, or at the very least, exacerbated the hernia She cannot say for sure, as she did not do my band surgery, so she doesn't know if that hernia existed 2 years ago. As I'm only two weeks out from the sleeve, I don't know if I can sing the praises of the sleeve quite yet. I'm confident that I'll be able to in a short while, but I'm just now starting mushies, so it's hard to tell how I'll be eating, or what kind of weight loss I'll be maintaining. The only thing that I can say for sure is that the band did not work for me.

I second the hernia deal. I told several people the following: I don't want to get into the gory details, but I'm having an abdominal surgery, and I have to live on liquids for a while. The doc told me that I'll need the time off because I'll be so tired. Everyone accepted that. I used it because I'm actually pretty good friends with all my co-workers, but I didn't want to tell people specifically what's going on.

To the original poster....I have your same diet. Two weeks post op of clear liquids = protien shakes, water, broth, SF jello, SF popcicles. That's it.

I am one week post op today. I've been on Clear liquids and Protein shakes for 1 week pre op, and then this week, Anyway, I've had a funny metallic taste in my mouth for a couple of days, found out today that's caused by not getting enough protein. That's not surprising, I've been struggling in that area. Besides the funny taste, I just looked in the mirror, and my tongue is totally white. Furthermore, I have this weird feeling like there is something stuck at the back of my throat. Like I ate a piece of paper and it's stuck on the very back of my tongue. When I just looked, and saw the fuzzy tongue, it looks like I also have lots of bumps on the back of my tongue. Any ideas?

@yecats! Yes! That's totally it! When I was describing it to my doc, I told them it felt like I had swallowed a little bit of paper and it's stuck back there on the back of my tongue. I've been brushing extra long and scrubbing my tongue nice and hard. I did get a little too far back once and totally gagged...not gonna do that again.

@Peacequeen...absolutely not! I'm not offended in any way, I'll take any suggestions you can come up with! And, I still don't have an answer. I talked to the PA at my surgeon's office earlier this week, and she said she would ask around and get back to me. She didn't, so I finally called her back today. She said none of them had any idea what it was. She said I could come in (an hour away) or I could go by my PCPs office to have them check it out. For the exact time, I've chosen to do nothing, as I don't want to drive the hour to see my surgeon's staff, and I don't want to try to get into my PCPs office on a Friday afternoon. PLUS, the white patch is slowing shrinking over the last couple of days. I still have some pretty extensive bumps on the back of my tongue, but the white patch is getting smaller. Furthermore, I have my 2 week appt with my surgeon on Monday, so I'll be seeing them soon anyway. Sorry I don't have any answers for you guys, but I'm not getting any either. It is less gross feeling, though, so it's not as bothersome was it was when I first posted this.

Hey Crystal, I'm in your exact same boat, but I've gone through the revision from band to sleeve. Here's my deal: I have Aetna insurance, and I have the exact same wording in my policy that you posted above. However (I'm not sure if you have this or not), I have a $10,000 lifetime bariatric max. As such, if my surgeon was willing to, I wanted to do it all in one surgery. The hospital portion (vs the surgeon's fee) is the much more expensive side of the equation when it comes to surgery (at least for me), so going through two surgeries with a $10K max was sort of financially impossible for me. So anyway, my surgeon was willing to do the revision in one surgery. She put together a pretty good argument for me, and we submitted for approval. Aetna approved me in less than a week. They approved a lapband explant and a vertical sleeve, so exactly what I needed. I'm not sure which bullet point they approved me under, but frankly, I don't really care...I just needed a pre-approval. I did my revision 9 days ago.

Welcome! I was banded 03/2010,lost 90 lbs. Band slipped in 2011, after a series of unfills, fills, unfills, we discovered that I have a non-functioning band. My choices were gastric bypass, sleeve, or revise the band. I definately didn't want to revise my band, based on the poor stats. I just revised to a sleeve 8 days ago.

Peace Queen...all good to know. I don't smoke, nor do I drink (literally, I have about 1 adult beverage every six months), so that can't be it. I read online that it might be dehydration, which is sort of legit, as I was decently dehydrated at my surgery time. BUT, I also saw that if it's dehydration, you should be able to scrap of the white, and I can't. I might have to ask about the vitamin problems....

Hey everyone, I did call my doc's office. They think it's possible that it might be leftover dehydration issues, even though I've been doing well on my water. The nurse that I talked to today is going to check with the surgeon and call me back tomorrow. She did mention that it may be thrush.

Yep. I was prescribed Hydrocodone for pain, but I haven't taken that in about 14 hours, and I'm probably done with it. I'm also on a PPI. Other than that, I haven't started my Vitamins yet, they recommended waiting two weeks before I started those.

I have the Mirena IUD and everyone was fine with it. I know it does contain hormones, but my doc didn't have a problem with it. Honestly, the IUD is the best BC I've ever been on. I love it. No periods, and none of the crap that comes along with a period.