joatsaint

My doc told me to start walking 1 hr a day, from the 1st day out of the hospital. I had my surgery on a cold wet wintry December and had to pace from room to room to get in my exercise. Of course I didn't get in a whole hour of walking per day, but I did what I could till I got back to work 2 weeks later. Then I started walking the interior perimeter of my office when on breaks or at lunch.

Here ya go. One boot to the head coming right up! :-) But, seriously, I find that the more sugar/high glycemic carbohydrates I eat, the more I crave them. It's tough to give them up. My little brain lights up with pleasure like a Christmas tree when I eat a donut or ice cream. I try my best to fill up on a dense Protein like chicken/beef/pork, then, if I still have to have the carb, I can get by with just a few bites, instead of eating the whole thing. No matter what happened yesterday, no matter what mistakes you feel you made, no matter what setbacks may have been dealt to you, no matter what obstacles you struggled with, today is a new day to start fresh, to return to your adventure, to do what matters, to change what needs changing, to improve upon old habits, and to get better.

I've tried a few kinds of Atkins bars, but I really try to get my nutrition from real food. I only use Atkins bars or any Protein bar when I'm not able to eat my normal foods and need a little something to keep me going. I have to keep Protein Bars out of the house. I'm lazy and if I have them around, I'll skip cooking and just munch on them instead. If you want to try some free Atkins bars, here's the link to it. They only ask for your email and mailing address. http://community.atkins.com/AtkinsDownloadableRegistration.aspx

My hunger pangs feel like a stabbing sensation in my sleeve. Nothing unbearable, just a bit uncomfortable. That's the only real way I know I'm hungry. I still get head hunger on occasion, but that is a totally different feeling and I can easily tell it from real hunger.

I guess I should have been more specific on the "videos" thing. :-) I was referring to discussions on video, not a live reenactment or hidden video footage... somethings even Frankensleeve can't stomach! :-P Get it, "sleeve"... "stomach"?.... Sometimes I crack myself up!!! :-)

Just wanted to say I was never under the impression you were overfeeding a dog. If a dog is loose in the neighborhood, he's eating anything and everything he runs across. I've found that when it comes to food, all a dog wants is MORE! Please take my posts the way they were meant to be read, as comic relief. :-)

Anyone know if insurance approves the Sleeve for dogs? We may have our first Vertical Sleeve dog if you keep getting all this free food and sharing it with him. We could call him.... Frankenshepard.

Same deal as with Quest, but this time you only get 1 bar or 1 Protein shake. The pictures show a choice of a chocolate Peanut Butter bar or the Premier Protein chocolate shake. The page really doesn't tell you the flavor you will actually get. I'm assuming you'll get the flavor in the picture. As usual, they need your email add. and an address to deliver your goodie. After I filled in the info and clicked on the picture of the bar, a red circle was in the background behind the picture of the Protein Bar. Then I clicked the "Next" button, but nothing happened. I guess I'll have to wait for the confirmation email to be sure my free bar is on the way. https://www.premierproteinpromos.com/ShareGoodEnergyGiveaway/#entry

Are you referring to videos or forum threads? I don't find them gross. It's a normal body function and for some reason we are embarrassed to talk about it. I guess I'm just weird, I'm interested in knowing how and why the body works - even the yucky parts. I am partial to the Zombie threads myself. Do Zombies poop?

If I had all that in front of me, I'd only be able to eat about 3/4 of the burger and take a sip or 2 of the shake and I'd be uncomfortably full. I can eat ANY of it - shake, burger, and fries - there's just not enough room in Frankensleeve for ALL of it. So I'd have to decide how much of each food I wanted before starting to eat.

I never asked my surgeon about bougie size, pre-surgery. I didn't know there were different sizes. But you might want to ask your surgeon if you can talk with some of his patients. Or show up extra early for an appointment and talk to anyone who shows up in the waiting area.

Usually, I try to fill up on Protein to train my brain to association sweet cravings with eating protein instead. But, My goto low carb sweet is sugar free Jell-O mixed with cream cheese. Recipe is very simple. 1 small box of strawberry sugar free Jell-O. 4oz of cream cheese. Mix the Jell-O according to directions and blend in the cream cheese until it is completely mixed and there are not little particles of cream cheese floating around. I usually use 2 cups of warm Water in the Jell-O rather than 1 cup cold + 1 cup hot. It makes the cream cheese easier to mix in. Put in icebox and let it set up. Serve with some Land O Lakes or Redi Whip whipped topping. Both brands only have 1 carb per serving.

Thanks for sharing your success, very inspiring.

This is a new adventure for you and you'll have to experiment (carefully) to discover what's right for you. During my 1st 2 weeks post-op, I could not eat but a tablespoon full of liquid before Frankensleeve started growling. On week 3 I was able to eat about 3/4 can of cream of mushroom Soup per day. So the main focus for me was staying hydrated. I placed that before anything else. I don't know how much I was drinking. I just sipped sipped sipped all day long. As long as I felt okay, I wasn't worried. And eating? I figured I had so many calories stored in my fat that I could survive a Zombie Apocalypse... as long as I didn't have to run from the zombies! Hang in there, you can do it. Don't be hard on yourself. Learn. Breathe. Relax. Be positive. Learn to do what is right for you. Then make the Right Decisions.

Funny you should mention the variety pack. I have never eaten a Quest bar and bought a 12 bar variety pack - it's sitting on my desk. I ran across the free bars deal while researching Quest bar nutrition and preparing to do my video review and taste test of Quest bars.

My gurgles and bubbles lasted at least 6 months before tapering off. At 1 year, they were almost gone. Now, at 2 years, I have to eat something really tough - like dry chicken breast - to get a gurgle out of Frankensleeve.

Here's my blog post of how I fell off the wagon and was able to recover and get back on track. http://www.bariatricpal.com/blogs/entry/33645-dealing-with-setbacks-or-climb-down-off-the-cross-build-a-bridge-with-the-wood-and-get-over-it/

Hey guys, just ran across this today and ordered my 2 free Quest bars. I haven't tried Quest bars because I can't buy just 1 or 2 locally. They gave me 4 options (2 bars per option) to try Quest bars - totally free... all they wanted was some basic info - email, name, address, phone number. Delivery is expected in 4 to 8 weeks. http://www.questnutrition.com/freesample/ Keep Pimpin't that Sleeve! I finally got my hands on a Cookies & Cream Quest Bar My Review of 12 Quest Bars.

I went through a dramatic weight loss slow down at the 6 month mark - and my stalls increased in duration. At 6 months, I was able to eat a wider variety of food and temptations were everywhere at work - from leftover deli trays to ....eek!! Birthday cake! And I allowed myself a little grazing here and there. Finally, I had to step back and take a real look at what I was allowing myself to eat. I realized that just the smallest amount of sugar/fruit in my diet was adding too many extra calories and possibly causing my stalls. I went back to my original diet of lean Protein and low glycemic vegetables - and the weight started dropping again. Not as fast as the 1st 6 months, because I still was eating more. But I've learned that I if I want to lose weight, I have to stay away from sugar and high glycemic foods.

I did not feel hungry the 2 weeks following surgery. I WANTED to eat, just out of habit and boredom. But I never had head hunger or that feeling of an empty stomach.

I hit the weight my doctor set for me at 10 months. I was down to 235lbs. I had lost 130lbs, an average of 13 lbs a month.

I'm glad my post wasn't taken the wrong way. It is very difficult to communicate humor through typing. My sense of humor can easily be taken the wrong way when seen in plain text. And sometimes smiley faces aren't enough to signal humor. Psssst.... just between you, me and Frankensleeve, I watch grav3yardgirl and seen her makeup hauls. Don't tell anyone, they may pull my MAN card.

Don't forget, you still need to purge all the drugs they pumped into you during and after surgery. That can also keep the fluid weight on you.

I don't believe you can edit the Title of your post, once submitted. I've tried to edit my titles before and couldn't find any buttons that would allow that.

I guess the weight loss stops when you want it to. My ideal weight is around 185, but I'm pretty happy at 205, and it doesn't take much effort on my part to maintain it. If I see my weight creeping up, I know to cut back by a few bites per meal - it really only takes that little bit of an effort to get back to 205. I also think back on what I've eaten. During Thanksgiving and Xmas, I ate a lot of Spiral Ham and "ballooned" up to 215 - 220. But I figured a lot of that weight was Water - from all the salt I was ingesting. And sure enough, 2 weeks into Jan, I was back down to 205 - 207. After I had returned to my normal eating. I know I could start losing again if I cut back on my calories and/or stepped up my exercise routine. So it's really up to me to decide what weight I stay at. Hope this helps.