joatsaint

Hope everything went well with your surgery. I was in no shape to post anything online for the week after surgery, but update us when you can.

11 days post op and 20lbs down is way ahead of where I was 11 days post-op. I think I lost 25 lbs in the 1st month. But since it sounds like you're a fast loser, your body may be going into starvation mode faster. Just hang in there and let your body get used to the new situation. I found that I would hit a plateau at least once a month, but as long as I stuck to my eating guidelines, the weight would start falling again.

Congrats, sounds like you've had your 1st NSV... even before surgery. Good luck on your surgery.

I don't know about the 20 grams of Protein, I stuck with the guidelines from my doc. He wanted me to eat 60 to 80 grams of protein a day. And a mix of 75% protein 25% vegetables in my total calorie intake per day. During the 1st few months, I never made it to 60 grams of protein per day and focused on getting enough Water. I had no complications or problems. So I recommend sticking with the eating program your physician or nutritionist recommended. They are in the best position to have 1st hand, long term experience with what works for their patients.

The main thing I wish I would have known was - be prepared to sleep propped up like in a hospital bed. I had to roll up a comforter into a big log so I could sleep propped up. It was at least 2 weeks before I could sleep laying flat and a few more days later before I could sleep on my side without feeling a pulling sensation in my stomach.

Congrats on your first NSV! The dreaded plateau! And yes, you can expect to see several of them in your future. In the past 18 months, I've gone through so many I lost count. It's a normal part of the process as your body adjusts to your new way of eating. One thing I've learned, if I just stick with my eating plan and walking, eventually the weight loss will start again. And yes, it is frustrating as Hell to have to wait it out!

If the incision area is getting irritated, I'd get some of the big square shaped bandages, big enough to cover the incision plus a little. My doc never told me anything about keeping the incision uncovered, to just let the bandages fall off by themselves. He was more concerned about water leaking into the incisions from taking baths or showers.

If you find your energy, look for mine too! I'm 18 months post-op and down 150 lbs - still haven't had that mythical leap in energy levels so many people claim to have experience after losing weight.

I can see what you mean about searching this site. I've found it easier to look up topics using Google. I search Google this way - site:bariatricpal.com "keyword" Example: site:bariatricpal.com Protein powder Doing a search this way makes life easier. After I ran the search, I saved the Google search results page as a bookmark, it will save the entire search phrase and I don't have to type it in again. All I have to do is replace the keywords to run a new search.

I treat the topic of my weight loss surgery same way I treat talking about my college degree. If it comes up in conversation and someone asks me a direct question about it, I answer. I tell them, "Yep, I had the WLS surgery" and leave it at that. I leave it up the them to ask me more about it, if they are interested. As an example: I applied for a different position within my department - I'd have the same boss, just different responsibilities. I'd worked for him for 3 years. In the interview he remarked that he didn't realize I had a bachelor's degree. I replied, "Well, it's not like it is an everyday topic of conversation." It's not often that we discuss our education during the course of of doing our job. And that's how I treat my WLS. If it comes up, I'll answer questions, otherwise I don't talk about it. It's like discussing religion and politics in the workplace, the less I say, the fewer chances I'll stick my foot in my mouth! And as I've said before, "You can always decide to tell them later. You can't un-tell them."

You may not want to stock up on post-op foods just yet. I remember my taste buds being out of whack for a few weeks and things I liked pre-op just didn't taste the same. Pre-op, I bought a case of chicken Soup - 6 months later, I gave it away. I never want to see chicken soup again! :-p You will also be surprised at how little you are going to eat post-op. I had to keep reminding myself of that when I was planning for post-op eating. My 1st 10 days, post-op meals consisted of sugar free popsicles, sugar free Jello and Crystal Light. If I were to do it over again, I'd buy a few bottles of my favorite Protein shakes, sugar free jello, and sugar free popsicles and maybe some chicken broth.

I agree with Chelenka, it all depends on the food. I can easily eat more than a cup of popcorn/salad and some vegetables. Meat/pork/chicken fills me up much quicker, maybe 6 ounces at the most. If you're asking how much food it takes to get satisfied, then I'd have to say only 4 or 5 bites of anything. When Frankensleeve is growling at me, I can eat 4 or 5 bites of anything and not feel hungry again for hours. Eating is still a battle for me - how much I need to eat to survive vs. how much my head is telling me I want to eat.

I set my goal to have a target to shoot for. Once I reach it, I reevaluate and decide if I'm happy there or want to set a new target. My doc told me to expect to reach a weight goal of 230 to 235 lbs. I reached that and decided I wanted to be at 220. I've reached that and now I want to shoot for 210, with the ultimate goal of 205 lbs. As I reach each goal, I look at the changes I had to make to reach the goal, how I physically look and decide if I'm happy where I'm at. Then I decide what to do next. I don't reward myself for reaching a goal. The reward is in the doing and reaching the goal.

Me too, I've felt the cold more intensely since losing weight. The first areas I lost fat in were my arms and legs. Now the cold feels like it just cuts right through the skin on my arms. I have to wear long johns when the temp drops down into the 50's. Pre-surgery, my problem was staying cool enough, now it's almost the opposite. The upside is, I'm going to have lower utility bills since I won't need the AC as much to survive the Texas summer!

Taste was never an issues, although my taste buds were messed up for a few days. Flavors had to be very strong for me to taste them. My throat was never sore. It was all about the swelling of my new stomach and getting it used to processing food again. For about the 1st month, just a tablespoon full of food would send Frankensleeve into knots and I'd couldn't take another bite for 15 to 20 minutes. It took about 6 months to work up to being able to eat 1/4 cup of food in about 15 minutes. From day 1 post-op I never worried about getting in enough food. I focused on Water. I figured I had 150 plus pounds of fat stored on me and I could live on that for a few months before ever coming close to malnutrition!

My 1st week post-op, I was PISSED at the world and wanted to fight! But the feelings passed around day 10.

The few times it's come up, I tell them I had a big snack a little earlier and was still full.

Congratulations on your success. Can't say that I enjoy walking, I'd skip it if I could. For the past 6 months, I've been walking with a weighted vest with 30 lbs and averaging 3.2 mph for 3 miles. Decided to go for broke on Monday and didn't wear the vest. Averaged 3.8 mph for 3 miles and even managed to jog a few hundred yards. Now my walking partner wants to go that fast every day.

At 3 weeks, I was allowed soft foods or purees. At home things were back to normal. At work things were back to normal. My job doesn't require any heavy lifting. Just to be on the safe side, I wore the elastic stomach support the hospital gave me for the 1st month post-op. During this time, I never tried any weight lifting exercises, but my doc encouraged me to walk as much as possible.

You will quickly learn how much Water you can safely gulp at one time... either the easy way or the hard way! :-P It's become an unconscious habit for me. I can take about 2 big mouthfuls of water without overfilling my sleeve. And no, you won't stretch your sleeve. From what my doc said, and what I've researched, it takes a lot of deliberate effort to stretch your sleeve. And it ain't a fun feeling when my sleeve is over full!

Welcome to the forum. I don't think you will have any issues putting up your link. But you might consider creating a blog on this forum and copying your stuff in both places, that way, the people on this forum that follow you will be notified of a new post.

I don't have enough proof that this works, but here's what I try when I want to break a stall. High Intensity Training - giving maximum effort for a short period of time. My exercise routine only consists of walking, but at work, I have access to the stairwells. I try to climb 5 flights of stairs as fast as I safety can. My best time has been 1 min 26 seconds. My lungs and legs are burning by the 3rd flight and I take a 10 second break at the 3rd and 4th floor. If you are doing the same exercise routine, eventually your body is going to become more efficient at it. If your weight program consists mainly of free weights, try alternating with weight machines that force your muscles to work in a different way. If you're on the elliptical, pick a program that changes up the one you're used to. Alternate speeds, add in inclines or switch off to a Stair Master for a few exercise sessions. When I used to do the elliptical, I set up my music playlist to have one really fast, motivating song ( like Motley Crew's "Kick Start My Heart") every 4th song, and I would go all out for the duration of that song, then slow back down to my normal pace. Keep up the good work, you'll get there.

I was allowed ice cream, but I wouldn't start eating it again until I was back eating a substantial amount of calories. You'll need to eat the most nutritious food you can get, at first, to recover and heal. And if you're eating sugar free ice cream, it is probably going to contain sugar alcohols, sugar alcohols were very hard on my new stomach.

At 4 weeks, I was down 21 lbs, but having stated that, I also have to say at 4 weeks, I still wasn't eating more than 400 - 600 calories a day.

The food companies pull that all the time, when they don't want to increase the price and lose sales. Instead they shrink the packaging, most people don't look at the count or weight. If you start looking around, you'll notice that lots of products aren't in 1 lb packs anymore - sausage, bacon, lunch meat, coffee, ice cream, frozen vegetables. I even saw one grocery store that had a smaller package of Crystal Light. The price was the same as Wal-Mart's, but instead of 6 packs of Crystal Light, it only contained 4.