Anna L.

I eat popcorn all the time. Its my go to snack food. And i can eat entire regular bag by myself It does have more good stuff for u that chips. I would avoid chips! If u are looking for something with a crunch like a chip, I ate freeze dried apples. An entire bag has 35 calories! Awesome. Popcorn is a good source of fiber and also an antioxidant compounds called polyphenols, which have been associated with combating cancer, and are commonly found in produce. Of course it's the butter and the salt that aren't so great. I do the Smart Pop 100 calorie bags to help manage my portion sizes. They are smaller and lower in salt and butter.

thanks it's good to know, since it's one of my favorite Snacks, I try not to eat empty calories, but every once in a while i have a craving for this sort of food, good to know it's not so bad after all

thank you all, i was not familiar with the term slider food, it's good to know, and yes, I have noticed that with red meat I'm limited still, reason why i bought some Protein Shakes to get sufficient Protein amount, thank you, i was just a bit worried to regain weight since before surgery i have always been a yo-yo dieter.

Hello everyone,

In march 2013, I will be one year out VSG, and I'm concerned about the amount of food I can take now, is it normal that after some months out, you can take more food, is there a limit to how my stomach will expand again?

The reason I'm so concerned is because the other day I noticed that I practically finished by myself a whole bag of popcorn (the one you microwave). Have you noticed that with some specific foods you get fuller quicker or vice versa? I have, and I don't know if this is normal...

Can you guys tell me if this has happened to you, or if you guys know what's the most amount of food you can take after several months out of the VSG?

thank you all

I go up a pound or 2 now and then, and then it comes back down plus extra. I am 4 months out.

Hi, the same thing has happened to me, I go up a pound or two, then I lose it plus a bit more.... I will be a year out on March 2013

On the contrary, somehow I enjoy now using more salt than before being sleeved. Before the procedure, I didn't like using salt. I was more of a sweet tooth person. Now I enjoy some Snacks that tend to be salty, like peanuts, olives, etc.

The weird thing is that now, I really don't like most dairy products. I don't enjoy yogurt, nor milk, if I do eat ice cream, it's usually lime or mango ice cream which are pretty much Water based (I haven't seen that too many times int the US, but those are common flavors here in Mexico).

Oh God! you just described exactly how I felt during that period. Believe me, it will get better, if you feel anything abnormal, talk to your doctor. And please promise me you won't try to eat again on the liquid phase. You will put excess stress on your stomach that it may not be prepared to handle.

You will probably laugh, but I used to torture myself watching recipe websites and drool over them in this phase (I don't even enjoy cooking and all of the sudden I wanted to be a chef LOL!). I don't know if I was being masochist or what, truth is that as soon as I started to eat regular food (last phase), there were lots of foods that I loved that are now not so appealing after all. So I got over my food porn, and now I feel great, it's still a challenge trying to figure out when I'm full, but as soon as I feel any type of discomfort no matter how minimal it is, I stop eating, and I'm satisfied. You will feel better, hang in there!

Anna

Well, I too decided to keep it a secret. So don't feel bad about it, it's your decision and yours alone. The only ones that know are my family members (mom, dad, sister and brother, and only my two closest friends) The main reason of why I decided to keep it a secret is because there's still a lot of ignorance regarding these procedures. And also, lets just say I don't have the best work environment. So I don't wanted to hear unwanted comments like "you took the easy way out" or my personal favorite "I heard of someone who died during the procedure".

Truth is, this decision is one of the most important decisions of your life since it's not reversible, and you are obviously informed of the risks that any procedure has. So you don't want to hear hater comments about it, you want people who support you and who are happy with you being happy. Maybe if I had a different environment in my office, it would be great to tell everyone about it, but since I was aware of how things really are and how difficult it is for me to trust people, I decided to keep it to myself.

So it's great that I found this forum, a lot of people here are very supportive (thank you everybody), and it's cool to have someone else who is going trough the same stuff you are telling you that it's going to be OK, that what you are felling right now it's completely normal, and how much things are going to be better from now on, not only because of great you'll look, but how good you will feel.

yeah I also guessed he might thought I was talking about power lifting, but I did clarify to him that I just wanted to have a decent amount of weight training in between cardio days, and even though I clarified, he remained so sure on his statements. So much that I actually thought that all I learned trough out the year about weight training was wrong, he made me doubt :S

Anna, As soon as you can start doing some weights for your legs, do so. I started on the exercise bike for my legs and today I got complimented on the muscles in my legs. I'm deliberately working to strengthen my thigh muscles now and the work is paying off.

The bike made a huge difference in those leg muscles for me, though. I've had a dislocated knee 3 times, so I'm pretty careful about what I do as far as leg exercises.

Thanks Lissa, actually I think that swimming is helping me out a lot, before I couldn't even swim because of the pain, now, with some of the weight loss I think is getting better and therefore, I can swim a few more minutes in the pool. I'm planning to start some leg extension strength workout (really carefully) so I can keep building some muscle (the injured leg used to be really thin due to muscle lost, and it's improving a lot) Also, I plan to do like you mentioned, some thigh strengthening workouts, bicycle is a great option, though I still feel a bit intimidated from the last time I tried (it was pretty painful when I tried bike after recovery from surgery) but perhaps now I can start trying to see how it feels....

that's what I thought guys, thanks for clearing out my doubts. Doctors aren't always right that's for sure. I think he had good intentions, but I have always been a believer of strength training (whether its low weight high reps or high weight low reps). So from now on, I can start doing at least some weight training at home, I have some limitations from my knee injury for lower strength training, but i can do some weights at least for my arms and some ab working so i can prevent some of the saggyness LOL

thanks again

Hi guys,

I want to get an opinion from your personal experience regarding what I discussed with one of the doctors from the VSG team in my local hospital.

Basically, I'm 2 months out from vertical sleeve now, and I talked to my doctor about my concern of building muscle during weight loss. So far I have lost 50 LBS and I want to prevent saggy skin as much as possible since I'm starting to notice that my arms are getting a bit "soft". So besides eating right, drinking plenty of liquids, drinking Protein beverages, I was advised to weight train in order to gain muscle and that way, skin can have a bit more time to adapt to this drastic change. To me, this always made sense because I used to play sports from a young age during my school and college years.

But I asked my doctor of when could I start weight training (I'm only swimming 3 days a week currently) and he told me that he needed me to lose all the excess weight first, and then I could start thinking about giving my muscles definition. To me this didn't make any sense, since I have always been told that combining cardio with weight training is the best and healthiest ways to lose weight. But then again, I really don't know if the story changes when you have a gastric sleeve.

I really want to prevent saggy skin and I want to lose weight at a slower pace, but for example last week I lost 4.5 Pounds in 7 days. I know that perhaps with a VSG this is normal, and since losing weight slowly is not an option for sleevers, what else can I do to prevent it? I'm really confused with what the doctor told me about weight training.

thanks in advanced for your help guys! have a great day!

Ana

Anna, I'm 7 months out and have had 3 major knee injuries over the years. Lunges, squats and running are not for me yet, maybe never. I spend a lot of time on the exercise bike. It's low impact, but great cardio...and has the bonus of reshaping my legs and butt. I have independent verification from some male friends that it IS reshaping those areas.

I also do a lot of stretching, high rep/low weight weight lifting for my arms and legs and calisthenics (like we were doing in high school). I spend lots of time on core work for my abs and back and I use the pool for things like lunges and squats to reduce the impact on my knees.

Pre-surgery I was diagnosed with RA in my knees because of the previous injuries and I had a tough time even walinng. Now I don't have any symptoms of the RA and I walk without pain unless I've walked for several hours without a break.

IMO, things like P90X are better for those who are closer to goal than I am and I'm not willing to hurt my knees by running until I'm closer to 200. Right now I'm 260, so I have a few pounds to go until I am ready for the really intense stuff. But, you can get a good workout without doing the intense workouts, at least until your body is in better condition.

I'm so glad for you that you found the right exercises that even helped you improve your RA. Some months ago, I tried bicycle, and it also hurt a lot, even with no resistance on it, but maybe like you and the rest of the members mentioned, I will be better off starting a walking routine combined with some resistance training. I know I might need another procedure, but it will be awesome if I can be in my best shape pre-surgery so my body can be prepared for the after Physical therapy. So the tips you mentioned like doing some resistance training underwater are great advice. Thank you!

I definitely recommend you DO NOT do P90X. I injured my knee doing it, and it took months to heal. It's really a great program for those without knee issues, but I think the plyometrics (which are core to the program) are too much for those with knee problems.

Sorry to hear that. I hope you're better now. Thank you for the feedback, so far from what I've read, that can be little too tough for me right now :S

Can you start doing little walks ,like 30minutes walk during the week? I think walking is a great exercise . PX90 is a great program but requires a lot of effort. And I saw they even lift weight heavily ,push ups etc. Maybe you can start slowly walking because your knee.

you're right maybe I'm starting too high and walking would be great. But sometimes I get frustrated that I can't do the things I used to do before the injury but maybe walking with some good resistance training involved can do for me in the meantime, and perhaps that can help me build some muscle specially on my injured leg

Hi guys!

Well it's been a month since my VSG, and I really want to start working out mainly for health reasons, so I want to start one set of the fitness dvd's from beachbody.com

But there is catch to it. I have had ACL surgery on my left knee, and due to negligence, I feel worst now than before the surgery. (doing a squat is a real painful challenge for me, and even swimming can be difficult). I had second opinions, and they all advice that the stronger my leg, the better for the future (and if i decide to have a second surgery, my body will be better prepared for managing the physical therapy after surgery). But it is difficult to become stronger if things like squats or leg extensions are really painful.

So I've done some research on these programs, and they all have its pros and cons for me:

Turbo fire has most of the routine modified by one of the girls for low impact (which I think it would be great) but I'm not sure if too much cardio would be OK due my calorie intake. What do you guys think? I really don't have many information on what would be too much for me.

P90X caught my attention as well because there is a person there also doing modified exercises, and I think it's wonderful for growing muscle. But there is lots of plyometrics and I'm not sure if there is a modified version for that.

10 minute trainer sounds like and overall body work out for toning and there is also cardio involved, but from the demos I've seen, I see that the girl does lunges, squats, and some jumping every now and then. And in this case, I'm not sure if there is a second person doing modified version of the exercise.

So have any of you tried any of these? do you know someone who has any type of knee injury and that still could get a good workout out of them regardless of doing the low impact exercises?

Any help or suggestion of these programs or even any other programs will be greatly appreciated!

Take care guys!

Anna

Hi Brandy

Do you think it could also help with stretch marks? I have really bad skin elasticity, so whenever I had a slight weight fluctuation, I would get some, so imagine now with the gastric sleeve.

I will send you an email, thank you!

Thank you Melanie, and you're right! my mom is my main support right now that I have all these physical and emotional changes, best regards!

that was beautiful

thank you for your kind words, I will keep posted on any updates.

best regards

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum, and I decided to join since I see really interesting topics and a lot of helpful replies to each one of them.

Well, I'm 26 years old and I've been struggling with my weight since my teens. During my college years I lost tons of weight and had a healthy BMI because I used to play sports to a demanding level (4 hours a day), and I followed a strict eating regimen, which in that time was fine since I had time to prepare my meals everyday.

I graduated, and as soon as the office life started to take place, the extra pounds kept coming up. So I decided to go back to play sports, but had a nasty injury on my knee that required surgery. I got really depressed since I couldn't do the sports that I loved anymore and got really discouraged, and gave up on any type of activity. So I became an emotional eater and I got to a weight of 270 LBS for a 5.7 person.

My mother had a gastric sleeve about 7 months ago and I really liked the results and specially how her energy levels went up. So I decided to take the same steps, saved money, and 9 days ago had my gastric sleeve by the same doctor; Dr. Rodriguez Villarreal.

Until now, I feel great, the only thing weird about it is that, even though I'm not hungry, I crave certain foods. Maybe the emotional bound to that food is still very strong. I'm still in the liquid phase. I will keep you posted on my progress. So far, I've lost 17 Lbs, but I'm aware this is still because of the post-op regimen, lets see how it goes 6 months from now.

Nice to meet you all

best regards