Thomas CPA

Remember to keep protein and exercise up - Greek Yogurt, Protein Shakes - give you minimal calories and high protein.

I am on week 9 and down 38 but I purposely stopped my weight loss and restarting in a week at a lower rate due to fatigue and working out.

congratulations and good luck on your journey.

I have or had sleep apnea, no problem, no tubes. Woke up surgery just groggy from being knocked out and they used a little more than normal on me as I tend to wake up during surgery. Talk to your surgeon to relief yourself of fears. The anesthetist should come in to talk to you before surgery and the surgical team will monitor you. After surgery you will be on an IV and only thing you will have is Water, broth, and Jello. Nothing hard to swallow.

Great read and good job on achieving your goals. Keep up the good work.

Sounds good. I was same way though my machine doesn't allow me to adjust pressure. Just couldn't take it anymore and stopped sleeping with it two months before surgery.

No pressure on belly but I wasn't raking enough water so first two took a bit of pushing.

Still early and may just need to experiment with foods. Those things that don't stay down now may stay down later. I threw up twice in two months and pegged it to certain foods which are now on my try again in a few months mental list.

My trainer uses a hand held device that sends a signal through the body. Currently at 23% down from 30% a year ago.

Welcome aboard, Good luck with the surgery and recovery.

It took me about three weeks. Your on a liquid diet so I think normal. Take your stool softeners, the first few were a bit rough.

typical is supposedly two pound per week after first four weeks. I am eight weeks post of and lost 40 pounds or five per week,on average.

You will do fine, just hang in there. To answer some questions, it depends on you, everyone is a little different. I had surgery on a Thursday was ready to be released on Saturday, stayed until Sunday to have a day off IV and get used to drinking Water. On Monday I was driving and felt fine. I worked part time the first week and full time second week but I do have my own business and had need. Only pain post surgery was sleeping prone. I had to sleep in recliner for a week until I could stretch out flat on a bed due to staples being pulled from being stretched out on a bed. I got back to gym at week three. First week rough could only walk at first for 15 minutes, got back up to running 30 minutes by third week of being back to training and was adding weight/resistance training. I use a personal trainer. From week three to week 5 of exercise I sweated a lot in part due to rapid weight loss, insufficient calories and reduce carbs. Week 6 I stabilized weight loss, increased carbs before working out and sweating reduced to normal levels for a one hour workout, even sweated less than before surgery. This puts me at week 8 postop and I feel great. Don't know if my hair loss has increased, it seems I lost a little but not much. I believe one of the B Vitamins help with hair loss. There are several ways of dealing with it so don't let it worry you. Good luck with the surgery and enjoy the new healthier you.

You won't just stop at 50% unless you want to. The surgery is supposed to help you lose up to 50 to 60%. I am two months out and already lost 50%. I have been stable for two weeks but that is in part because of fatigue in losing so much so quick. I will, as you will, lose more but it will take the normal diet and exercise to keep metabolism burning. The point is you can't rely just on the surgery to lose all your weight. Stalls are normal like in a regular diet, just need to find a way out of the stall. Hang in there, you will lose more.

You should consult your surgeon and see it there is a problem and tell him/her everything you been putting in your mouth. You mentioned eating? At this stage you should be more like drinking liquids and soft things like Jello, broth and then progress to soft stage like pureed Soup. While throwing up occurs - I did it twice, first with bread not toasted enough and second with spicy shrimp and flour tortillas which is like untoasted bread.

Well I should be returning my CPAP soon the results of sleep study were fantastic. Any others out there getting rid of their machine or still getting the typical line that only 5% are successful at getting rid of sleep apnea like Kaiser staff likes to believe?

June 2010 I was 305, by August 4, 2011 day of surgery I was 236 and today I am 198. I am 5'8" and yes, there is a massive light at end of tunnel. Stay on the train and enjoy the ride.

Congrats and wishing you well on your journey for the next year.

Post surgery be careful of tortillas. You shouldn't have the corn and the flour is like untoasted bread that your stomach may not tolerate. The first time I tried the flour I was lucky to be sitting near the restroom when it came back up.

I started at 305 got down to 236 for the surgery and now 198. Originally I want to get to 170 but at 198 I am changing to 180. My shoulder blades and ribs are near skin level and talked with my primary care doctor and she thinks 180 to 190 range is where I should stay. Original doctor said 150 which was fine at age 18 but after putting on weight and then taking it off the body has changed. So advice, keep it flexible. Set your goal weight and modify as you go. Remember the surgery will not get you to goal weight, it is designed to help you lose 50 to 60% of excess weight. Diet and exercise will be necessary to get the rest off. Have a safe journey for the operation, a speedy recovery and enjoy your two week vacation from the kids!

Remember two things of the sleeve: one, the sleeve is designed to help you get rid of 50 to 60% of excess weight (weight at time of surgery and "idea" body weight) and two, at some point your metabolizism has to stabilize, you can't lose weight forever.

I agree, some days I pig out eating for a two hour period at a social and then other times maybe just a cup of cottage cheese for breakfast. I suspect part of it is that the body needs a certain amount of food to survive and you get cravings to eat.

As for recovery, have patience. After surgery you are going to have a build of gas in the body so believe it or not, my nurses were trying to give me anything to pass it either up or down. Don't wait for pain to ask for relief, my nurse was great and there was only one med that helped me through IV system. Pain left when I got home, I stayed extra night as I couldn't drink Water that cleared up after being off IV for 12 hours. Get various liquids for first week or two. My doctor said to puree Soups that I would just get tired of broth. Just get clear understanding of what first two weeks diet should or shouldn't include. Just realize the liquid phase will pass soon enough. You may need pepcid or some other antacid and a stool softener. Try Protein drinks now to find one you like perhaps add fruit into blender, I like 1/2 banana in mine. You will lose a lot of weight in first three weeks because of liquid/pureed diet. Fight impulse to buy a lot of smaller sized clothing as you will be replacing it a lot. Get only a couple of items and save some money. I need to get a new suit and will be having it altered again due to additional loss. Sure others will post more tips. Enjoy the new you that you will become. And keep us posted.

From time to time your metabolism will stabilize and you will need to give it a jolt. I have been stalled for 2 weeks. Don't forget, you are not going to lose weight the rest of you life, sleeve is only designed to lose 50% of excess body weight and typically, according to my doctor, level off around 50 to 80 pounds depending on starting weight.

It may have stuck because you didn't chew enough. Don't give up yet. My dietician says if it doesn't stay down now try again in a couple of months. Sounds to me it stayed down just had a problem getting it down. I have been trying a lot of things. Tonight I had a part of a spicy sausage link, garlic mushrooms, pumpkin cake and a chocolate chip cookie (over a two hour period) and all went well. Was worried about sausage but it stayed down.