gmanbat

I think weight stalls and gains immediately after surgery can sometimes be because you are not getting enough calories. I know that sounds contrary to logic but many folks have experienced this. Your body holds on to weight, thinking you are starving. I didn't start losing in earnest until I got into mushy and regular food stage. When I got more calories and Protein, the body gave up the stored fat. Lack of Water is also a contributer and lack of fiber/constipation, all solvable as you let your sleeve heal and progress into "normal" eating. Sleeveworld can be a reverse reality. Lose weight by eating more. Don't sweat the early stages.

I think our train arrives at our destination before we wake up and realize it. Suggestion: Find a store with non-crabby staff and preferably in a non-busy time of day. Try on many different types of clothes with different sizes that are in the ballpark of what you think you are. Take your time, look in the mirror, get the picture. Dig the new you. I've tried on sizes that I knew were too small only to find out that they weren't...now.

I think it is more difficult to get the new body image into your head if it seems to you that you were always overweight. I was dreadfully skinny in my youth. I was embarrassed to wear the tank tops required for the basketball team because of exposing my bony shoulders. To me, I am just going back to the original model. I think you must adjust to the fact that your body is just a part of you, not the whole. Your body is the vehicle that gives expression to your spirit, emotions, and mind. They are all connected but not the same. To me, I traded the dump truck I was driving for the spiffy sports car I was in before the load came on. Some of you need to grasp that your new ride is showing up. It's healthier, faster, and sleeker. Enjoy the ride!

The favorite comment from my youth in Iowa... Picture it: an impressionable boy is distrurbed by the Cuban missle crisis. President Kennedy is demanding Kruschev remove the missles from Cuba. My parents were certain that some were aimed at the John Deere tractor factory in nearby Waterloo. Ed Sullivan had shown the now famous video of what a nuclear blast looks like from the inside, the buildings flying into nothingness, 1000 mph winds. The nighmares were frequent. My school staged nuclear war drills. We were instructed to get under our little desks and cover our heads. No, we didn't have lead desks. Then came my favorite stupidism: "If you see a bright flash don't look at it!" Although Iowa was rated near the top in education quality of all the states at the time, I was instilled with the unshakeable feeling that my instructors were morons. I guess fear can bring on futile gestures, "Do something, even if it does nothing."

arrrrrrgh! :o

I know a guy that peed on an electric fence. One small ray of light shone through that day.

That eating close to bedtime, or naptime for that matter, can cause problems. The sleeve will bring it up to the back of my throat and jerk me out of a sound sleep. At times I have taken a breath in at the wrong time when it was happening and coughed extensively trying to clear it up. I would like to play guitar like Jimi Hendrix but don't want to die like he did.

@ Sidney Susan Laura is pretty cool but I don't think it would work. My wife is from hillbilly stock and would eventually give Laura a shotgun facial.

The second poster talked about the sleeve causing cancer. The sleeve has been known to cause hotness, at least my wife thinks so.

Lexib, If you get a chance come over to Tampa and go to Busch Gardens. Get on Shiekra, sit in the front row. You may lose a couple pounds in less than 3 minutes but be sure to bring extra pants.

In all of my researching I have never found an instance of bariatric surgery or any other kind causing cancer. I have had prostate cancer and it had nothing to do with surgery. Some people think biopsies release cancer but no definitive answers there. If cuts cause cancer why wouldn't we get skin cancer from all the gashes we get stitches for? All surgery is is sewn up cuts. I've had dreams about gigantic cartoon characters trying to run me down and stomp me. Sponge Bob is not as nice as people think he is.

I am amazed by how much heart and soul is possesed by so many people on this forum. You folks impress me so much. I'd like to give ya all a bear hug!

I think both of you depressed posters need a hard serious talk with your medical help. Don't let up on them until you get straight talk and you are satisfied you can make it through. If you want to get well you need help. You guys need to fight the funk, don't accept it. Noone is blaming you. I've been backed into many corners. I've shed many tears of self-pity. Doc said I would be dead in 2 years. I felt bad...why me? Feeling sorry for myself got me nothing. Fighting for myself did. I am 4 years out and I am not a ghost typing this. Fight for yourself like you would fight for a friend. Us forum folks can give you pep talks but your real help has to come from your own mind and heart.

EDS is a great post-op food especially in the mushy food stage. I agree, strain it for now. Don't be tempted to pick up the hot and sour soup just now. A former favorite of mine no longer, came back up with a vengence. I still can't eat it, over a year out.

It is hard at first. Everyone has a different frame of reference. Compared to cancer treatment, it was a piece of cake. To me it was hard, but not unbearable. The cancer treatment was painful and I was given not much hope for living let alone successful living. The sleeve came with promise of a better life. With God's help and my own perserverence it has delivered. I feel "normal". In fact, much more normal than I did when I was lugging the extra 110 pounds around. I can do what "normal" people do now, and even more than they do thanks to my exercise program. I do not at all feel deprived, I eat what I want to eat. It's just that my brain has adjusted my wants, I eat healthy big and slop very small. I have a nice set of muscles now and want to keep them going and the twinkle in Deb's eye. Muscles get fed, body stays healthy, life is gooder and gooder.

Do you guys want help from those of us who have been through this? If so, please tell us how far out of surgery you are, what pre-surgery counselling you have had, what you expected from this, and what your goals are. food and feeding yourself is just a part of life, life itself is life. Most of us got obese because eating was too large a part. The sleeve was a tool to tame the beast and make it manageable before it devoured our lives. You can't go back physically but you can change your thinking and come up with a better life than you had before. I did, and so did many others here.

I am glad that banding works for some people. I did not like the high maintainence factor so I chose the sleeve. Good article.

I take capsules but no tabs. Being a tough guy and half nuts I chew the tabs up no matter how bad they taste. Happily, most aren't too bad.

Great feeling! Congratulations! It's nice to get up in the morning and say to yourself, "Let's see, what meds do I have to take this morning?...Oh yeah, ....nothing!" I have a feeling you are almost there.

I am old fart free weights kinda guy. I've always liked lifting and the hulky feel that follows. I have found a form of cardio that comes pretty close to lifting in afterglow. I do an intense session of HIIT once or twice a week in addition to resistance training. I run up a steep hill near my house full speed for 30 seconds with 5 pounders in my hands and 2 1/2 pound weights on each foot. 10 times yesterday, run up, walk back down, up again. It's over in less than a 1/2 hour but hangs on me all day. To me it's a mixture of cardio and resistance. Franco Columbu, former Mr. Olympia and Arnold's friend, liked full speed running for removing fat. This is a 64 year old guy's compensation for age. Extended running/jogging always seemed to trash my knees and shins no matter how much I spent on shoes, this doesn't. However, when I am showering afterward, I have an illusion of falling forward, after effect of uphill blasting no doubt.

Hopefully someone with more expertise will comment. I have been working on tuning into my body's condition the way we learn to tune into our sleeved stomach during eating. If we are careful we can sense the correct time to stop eating without measuring. I am trying to move my body and test it a bit and assess it's readiness for more exercise and determine what would be best to do. A difficulty is dealing with laziness which will beg me out of it but that hasn't been a factor lately. If anything I am overly anxious to work-out. The way I look at it, we have a lifetime to get where we want to be physically. You have longer, being a youngster. Muscles don't disappear overnight. It varies by individual but most think at least 2 weeks for any noticeable difference. Sometimes less is more. I read something Arnold wrote. He was in the run up to Mr. Olympia. Some competition asked him for bodybuilding advice. Big mistake. He told them to do many sets without let up, not much rest in between. He won of course. Our muscles only grow when at rest. They are bigger right after workouts because of Water being pumped in. Slam em hard, tear em down, give em good rest, let em grow back bigger. I've heard of bodybuilding fanatics that walk and move purposely slow during rest times just to conserve energy for growth.

Good work, Krista!!!!!

Lost mine 2 weeks before sleeving. Scheduling wouldn't let them do the sleeve early and do them both at the same time. The thing caused me some real pain, was glad to get rid of it.

http://www.clivir.com/lessons/show/3-common-fitness-training-mistakes-to-avoid.html I searched around and found this stuff that seemed to back up what I was saying. It must be true because it agrees with me.

You are a lot more ambitious than me on exercise. Being 64 I can't hit it too hard. I'm trying to avoid premature dirt naps. I have always favored lifting but understand the need for cardio. You know I do HIIT exclusively for cardio because my research indicates that it is sort of a cross between cardio and strength training. In the past, lengthy cardio has always depleted me and set me up to get sick. It seems to run down my immune system. My exercise sessions are always 30-40 minutes of maximum intensity and that's it. Mostly I work out 3 times a week. I occasionally take a week off and that always seems to set me up for more muscle growth. Again, I'm 64. I have no barbells but would if I had the room. Free weights are my favorite. Old guy, old school.