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Yes, more info, please, or we can't help! If you're early out try warm liquids, and remember slow, small sips will do the trick. And yes, Oregondaisy is right (as usual!) that dehydration will cause you to feel ill no matter what else you put in your body. If you can't handle cool Water, try room temp or add some Crystal Light and see if it will go down easier that way. ~Cheri

I know it's disappointing to wait but I'm glad that your doc is playing it safe. I hope the next few days pass quickly for you. It will be over and you'll be recovering before you know it. Good luck! ~Cheri

Follow the 5% rule - once you regain 5% of your weight past goal it's time to jump back on the good eating bandwagon. Reevaluate your eating habits and log your food for a whole week. I bet you'll find the culprit! This is not a huge regain. If you jump on it right now with small corrections you'll be fine. What you don't want to do is let it go and find yourself up more than ten pounds after the holiday season. Also consider what else is going on in your life. Got stress? New medication? Are you out having social cocktails more frequently? Any of those things could explain the small bump up you've noticed on the scale. Good luck. I firmly believe that weighing at least weekly is the very best way to keep ourselves accountable and on the right track. It's all too easy to slip into denial and find yourself battling a larger regain. ~Cheri

Ha, enjoy that NSV. Hey, eat what you like - take care of your nutritional requirements and then have a good time with it. This surgery is forever, it's not a diet you can just jump off of and regain 100 pounds with, so do your best to eat well without depriving yourself. We don't want to get small just to live miserably - the idea is to get small and enjoy everything we either couldn't or wouldn't enjoy before! Great work! ~Cheri

It could also just be the shock to your system. I lost almost nothing until three weeks post op. The stress of the surgery, the IV, the long flight...all of it added up to an actual GAIN despite the fact that I followed doctor's orders to the letter. It's been a while since you posted. How's it going now? I'd be reluctant to start playing the add-this, subtract-that game this early out. You're absolutely going to lose weight post op, so there's no need to worry about tinkering with the system as you're healing! And I think starvation mode is pretty controversial here, but you can search for topics on it. I'm in the group that feels that one study was blown way out of proportion and is used by doctors to apply a "one-size-fits-all" diet band-aid to every overweight person they see. After metabolic testing it was proven to me that on 1200 calories a day I can expect to lose just over a pound a month. Not exactly the results I'd want after throwing away 85% of my stomach, right? Anyway, I hope you're doing better now. It's been another week and your weight loss should be picking up steam by now. Good luck, ~Cheri

No advice, since I self-paid. Just wanted to say congrats on taking this first step, and that I hope everything goes well for you! ~Cheri

Happy for you! Enjoy the journey, you won't believe where you'll be in a year. ~Cheri

You'll get through this. Everything you're talking about sounds just like my recovery. You'll be back to normal sooner than you think. A tip for when you get onto the protein: if the cold Protein shakes are harder to get down (they were for me) try mixing your vanilla protein with some warm chai tea or coffee. The warm drinks were SO much easier on me in the beginning because cold drinks were hard to get down and made me feel nauseated. Take care, you're doing great! ~Cheri Edited to add: Make sure you don't mix steaming hot liquid with your powder, though, or it will clump. I brew my tea or coffee, then pour it into a shaker cup with a few ice cubes in the bottom, then mix in the powder. It's still warm enough to go down easier but not so hot it turns into a mess. I'm nearly 17 months out and I still drink a protein coffee or tea every morning, because it's a great way to get in some extra nutrition.

This is the hardest part. Some of this you'll get over soon, once you're off liquids. I remember in the early months feeling horribly frustrated by my inability to eat anything more than a few bites. Getting in my calories was a struggle and nothing ever sounded good or even tasted as good as my food memories! You'll get through this. You're going to learn to live with your sleeve. You're learning your limitations. And you're doing the right thing - you're following your dietary guidelines so that you can heal properly and avoid complications. With time you're not only going to be used to life with the sleeve, you're going to love it. Yes, we all mourn the old eating habits. We don't realize how much of our lives revolve around food until we can't eat non-stop! Once I had surgery I realized food was everywhere and part of every social thing we did. Muffins at work, lunch with friends, dinner and drinks with the husband and even our get togethers with extended family revolved around a meal. It's hard to learn to enjoy these things without feeling like you have to eat to enjoy yourself. I promise, you will get there. In the meantime, let your body heal. You're only a few days away from realizing that the food you're salivating over now isn't going to taste nearly as good as you remember, and you're only going to be able to eat a few bites of it anyway. ~Cheri

Great goal, Diva! You'll make it in no time. And thanks for posting the comparison pics, too - those were fun to look at! Marilyn was recorded by her dressmaker as between a 23-24 inch waist. I think in today's measurements that would actually make her a size zero from most clothing manufacturers. Her waist-to-hip ratio definitely makes her look more "zaftig" in photos but in reality she was quite small in the waist. I saw an exhibit that had some of her memorabilia years ago and was astounded to see some of the dresses she wore - I'd always pictured her as this larger woman but the waist on her dresses were smaller than my thigh! So, you really are aiming to be the size of Marilyn. :smile1: I wish you a speedy recovery. You look absolutely fantastic. ~Cheri

Last year I was just over four months post op. We rented a cabin and invited family from all over the country to visit with us - I had 16 in for Thanksgiving dinner. I made a HUGE spread. I worked really hard and it was very good...but I could only eat a few bites here and there! I chose Protein first and had some soft white meat with gravy, then I opted for some of my very favorite foods - but I only had one bite of each thing. I will not lie - I made a point to eat "softer" foods so I could eat a few more bites than if I opted for more meat or salad. Hey, it's a holiday! I think I skipped the stuffing and rolls altogether to save room for the good stuff. And instead of indulging in way too much overly sweet dessert, I just nabbed a small bite of each item from a family member's plate! I didn't feel deprived in any way despite avoiding some dishes entirely. This year we're overseas and away from family, so we're joining friends at their table. The best part? I only have to bring dinner rolls and won't have to cook for an entire week to feed everyone! I'll go after the turkey for sure, with lots of gravy and maybe do the same as last year and have a tiny bite of each of my "can't feel like it was Thanksgiving without this" foods. In the mushy stage it's WAY easy to do Thanksgiving! Puree some turkey and gravy, eat a few bites of sweet potatoes, eat some super soft dressing with gravy, enjoy delicious homemade cranberry sauce. YUM! You can even eat a bite of pumpkin pie if you leave room. The only advice I have to offer is to remember that this is no longer the stuff yourself until you pass out holiday it used to be for many of us. If you accept that going in, you'll find that you can enjoy your small portions so much more. I think I actually tasted my food more post op than I ever did when I was inhaling it by the plateful in years past! ~Cheri

I did Medifast on my own two years before surgery. While I totally understand your frustration I think you're jumping the gun here. Your sleeve is still new! I think part of the idea of this surgery over other options is to shake that diet mentality. We want and need to feel like we're not deprived. Medifast is not only expensive, it's just not as good for you as something you can make yourself! If you want to go all liquids and bars, do it with better quality Protein shakes and supplements. I have an awesome unflavored Protein powder by Integrated Supplements that I can mix into soy milk or fruit juice and not taste at all. It's versatile, it's easy and it does the same thing as Medifast without the additives and sodium. I didn't lose much at all in the beginning. Instead of going back to an old solution, I'd try to figure out what I can do to make this work. Log your food. I'll be honest, sometimes the diets our doctors give us are one-size-fits-all but the reality is we're very different. Try adding more carbs in - I tried to pare my intake down as far as I could but quickly learned that I do best over 50 grams a day. Your body just had a huge shock - and now it's not sure what to do. It's going to take time. I'd say if you're not dropping weight at a reasonable pace after 2 months that you should consider new options. But for now? Just heal and build good habits. This isn't a race, so take your time. You're going to lose the weight unless you give up and sabotage yourself. Relax! The beginning is tough. Hang in there, it passes more quickly than you think. ~Cheri

Yep, great advice here. I didn't feel real restriction until mushies. I also didn't lose any weight in the first few weeks - I gained from the IV and long flights. It took a while to lose that. If you haven't heard it by now, make sure you're on a PPI that works well for you. It comes up so often because SO many of us experienced those hunger feelings and didn't realize it was acid until much later. It feels exactly like hunger and a lot of us have a freak out when it starts to be an issue. I thought my sleeve didn't work but in reality my Nexium wasn't cutting it and I needed to switch to Prilosec. The "hunger" disappeared two days later. I'm a slow loser. There are other folks on these boards that are super slow losers. Guess what? We're still losing. The fact is that this isn't a race and there's no prize for getting to goal faster than anyone else. Unless you give up completely, you're going to lose weight with this surgery. I'm learning that it doesn't really matter if you do it in 9 months or 19 months...you're going to love life at goal. The early weeks are the hardest. Hang in there. ~Cheri

I'd say that despite being given the go ahead to move onto soft foods you might want to consider stepping back and letting your body heal a little bit more if you can. Or at least maybe make *most* of your meals liquid/puree and only eat a small portion once a day of the soft food until you're more comfortable. If you're not able/willing to do that, make sure you're eating very slowly. At the beginning it only took a few spoonfuls to fill me up. Give yourself time to get the full signal before you eat too much. The feeling you're describing sounds to me like my "you've gone too far" feeling. I only get this when I try to eat bread, rice or Pasta. It's an uncomfortable, almost stretched feeling. I feel an actual ache along the sleeve if I overdo it. As for normalizing I was able to take the PPI every other day somewhere between 3 and 4 months and to drop it completely around 6 months. I was able to eat what I considered a decent amount of food around 2 to 3 months. I still have trouble eating enough food, though it no longer feels uncomfortable...I just can't eat much! I still supplement with Protein shakes even though I'm more than a year out, just to be sure I get the nutrition I need. You're still early out! Before you know it you'll be able to eat what you want, just in tiny little portions. ~Cheri

I always bounce up around TOM - usually about three pounds or so. In fact, I have this weird pattern every month, no matter what I do (provided I'm not eating total crap and not logging my food!) where I lose a bunch of weight the first two weeks of the month, bounce up two or three pounds around TOM, stall out for about ten days, then I do a fast drop back down almost to where I was before TOM, just in time to start the cycle again the next month. I'm incredibly sensitive to hormones, even the ones my body just naturally produces each month. So calm down! I'm sure it will fall off shortly. Do log your food if you aren't, and include a sodium count if you don't already. If I bounce up a pound or so and it's not my TOM it's nearly always tied to sodium intake. Sometimes I'm amazed at how easy it is to have sky high amounts of sodium in your diet! Drink lots of Water, get through the week and enjoy the swift drop once your TOM is over. ~Cheri

Wow! Yep, I agree - undoubtedly a success. Fantastic work! ~Cheri

Sometimes massage will break up a scar but I find it tough to massage my belly! Time will always help but I still have a few lumpy scars even though it's been more than a year. I have a nasty scar on my leg from an injury and right around three years out it faded away almost completely. I still have some lumpy tissue on one side but with massage (it's easier to massage an ankle than a belly) it's broken down quite a bit. I use some Vitamin e - not sure if it actually helps the scar but it makes massage easier. Good luck with this one. Maybe someone will have a good suggestion. ~Cheri

Holy smokes!! You've done so amazingly well! Congrats! Isn't it great to feel in control of your body? I say, go for it. Why stop here if you can do more and still be healthy? And yes, an even number for weight lost is a fun goal to shoot for. My goal weight has always annoyed me (107 pound down) because I like even numbers...weird, I know. I chose based on the BMI chart and picked the highest weight I could be for a normal BMI. You can do this. You've already accomplished so much. Have fun with it, though, and make sure to enjoy your success. ~Cheri

Congrats! Enjoy it - you've done a great job! Nothing beats clothes shopping now that we can actually wear the clothes and look nice in them, too! ~Cheri

I've bounced back and forth on carbs and like other posters have found that so long as I'm not going way overboard on the junk food it's not the cause for starts and stops. To me, low-carbing is having less than 50 grams a day. I usually end up somewhere between 75-100 a day. I've never been able to super restrict like some people and was never really feeling satisfied on 50 or less a day. This is what works for my body and I'm happy without feeling deprived. Everyone is right - do what your body needs. We were not all made the same and cannot all eat the same diet and expect the same results. If that was the case, none of us would have chosen surgery - we would have succeeded on Weight Watchers years ago! ~Cheri

It's hard to say what's going on in her head. Sometimes people are SO opposed to just the idea of weight loss surgery in general - like it's cheating or something. I'd keep working through this considering her your friend. Try to communicate openly and figure out WHY she feels the way she does. Maybe part of it is worry that she'll be left behind as you achieve your goals. Maybe she's always enjoyed the fact that you're both overweight together, but didn't realize that until you talked about surgery. Maybe shes's just really opposed to elective surgery in general, or knows someone that had a WLS and failed and doesn't want to worry about you. You won't know until you guys try to have a open and frank discussion. I agree - 19 years is a LONG time. It's a friendship worth trying to save. I hope that if you're open with your friend and can encourage her to be the same way with you then you can both move forward and support one another. Good luck, ~Cheri

It's almost impossible for the sleeve not to work. I mean, you'd have to try awfully hard eating absolutely terrible foods to actually GAIN with 85% of your stomach gone. Now, does that mean you'll reach goal? No. You have to do the head work to get the eating under control. Grazing isn't good behavior, but if you choose the sleeve and continue to graze I'd highly suggest you be doubly diligent about logging your food. You MUST log your food or it's easy not to realize how much you're eating and to live in total denial about your food choices. The VSG will remove 85% of your stomach and leave your entire brain behind. So any food addictions, overeating problems, coping mechanisms - any food issues you have are still going to be there. The sleeve is going to keep you from sucking down a Big Gulp slurpee in one shot. It's going to keep you from eating half a pizza. But it's not going to choose healthy food choices for you or make you stop bad habits. So you have to really evaluate what's going on when you eat before you can stop that. Yes, you can "abuse" the sleeve and not lose weight. I think it would be a real challenge. I'm no role model. I follow the rules about 60% of the time. I'm a SLOW loser as a result but I don't gain weight. So to me, imagining someone actually gaining back is bizarre. But yeah, you could easily eat such crap, even in small portions, that you won't lose. So if you think this will be an issue, I recommend some counseling or support group time before you opt for surgery again. I was in absolute denial about my overeating and my food behaviors until post op. It's been a struggle at times but I wouldn't trade my surgery for anything. I'm totally happy with my choice. Now, about your husband. Look, my husband was the exact same way before my sleeve. He liked me bigger, has never been attracted to skinny women, etc. Once I told him how I feel and why I want this surgery he was supportive. We've still had some tug-o-war over the fact that I'm now thinner than he prefers. But as long as I've given him the option to vent he's felt like I'm taking his opinion into consideration, too. I won't lie - your lack of success with the band is already going to be an issue. He didn't want you to lose weight and now he's watched you struggle post op. Convincing him to jump on board for another surgery will not be easy. I hope that you'll do what's best for you but also try to take his feelings into consideration. Sometimes if both partners aren't on the same page it can get ugly as the weight falls off. I don't say that to worry you. It's a very real thing. I recommend you search the forums here for more posts about this post op relationship stuff. But the general rule seems to be that if you're on the same page and doing well before the sleeve you do great post op. If you're not both on the same page it sometimes causes friction. Look. It is genuinely hard for our husbands to understand WHY we feel the need to lose weight. My husband took it as a sign that his love and acceptance of me just wasn't enough. Communicate and figure out where you both stand on this before charging ahead and you should be fine. Good luck. Do lots of research and scope out this board for a good long while before making a choice. I think I watched the boards for five months before even creating an account, and watched another seven months after that before having surgery. I wanted to see the real story about the sleeve and feel like I knew what to expect after surgery. It worked really well for me. ~Cheri

Just wanted to say that I'm glad you may have figured it all out. You might need to talk to your doc about switching PPIs to see if something else will work better for you. I started with Nexium but did best on Prilosec. The thing that clued me in that I needed a change was nausea and trouble sleeping due to acid in my throat. So yeah, I'd try to change my pills and see if that helps. Good news is that for most of us it goes away. By four months I stopped having horrible pain if I forgot a pill and by six months I was off the PPI entirely. I no longer have any issues. Hopefully it will be the same for you! I hope it all gets better soon! ~Cheri

Well the first question we always ask is are you on a PPI? The biggest culprit for causing that "I'm hungry" feeling is acid and for many of us, once we're on a PPI we're fine. If you're on one, talk to your doc and adjust your dose. You might need more or it might not be an acid problem at all. If you Water is cold, try drinking it at room temp. I had trouble with water for a long while. I had to add something to get it down or it made me feel nauseous. Try Real Lemon or Real Lime packets, room temp water and even a packet or two a day of Crystal Light. If you can get those down, you're fine. Are your meals made of dense Protein? Eat things that make you feel full - protein and Fiber together pack a wallop and should leave you feeling satisfied for a few hours. Evaluate what you're eating - if you're eating yogurt and feeling hungry later, well, that's probably because yogurt slides right through. Try eating dense protein first, then moving onto fibrous veggies and finally onto a few bites of your soft carbohydrate like mashed potatoes. Try to set an eating schedule and limit yourself to set snack times. If you must graze, try to track your calories and log all of your food so that this doesn't become an ongoing issue. I tend to "forget" to log food I graze on, and then I fall off track and stop losing. This is a bad habit and will impede your success. And, I suppose it could possibly be bad news. If you try everything here and still feel hungry after two weeks you might be one of the very few who never lose the actual, physical hunger. This is bad because the lack of hunger makes the surgery easier. However, it doesn't mean you can't succeed. You still had 85% of your stomach removed and will still have a great deal of restriction. If you force yourself to follow good eating habits you can still lose your weight. My opinion is that the hunger feelings will fade. They are almost always tied to acid or diet. Good luck! ~Cheri

Congrats! It's a huge milestone and you deserve to enjoy it! ~Cheri