Miriam

I had like ten chins before surgery, now it's down to three or so... and I still have a way to go, so here's hoping the rest comes off! The thing is that the grandfather I most resemble always had a bit of a double chin, even when he was very thin, so I figure I'll probably have the same, but it's still a LOT better than it was.

Another fast eater here - and yes, learning to eat slowly is one of the biggest challenges that I've had post-op. I find that putting down my utensils is not quite enough. What I do is actually move my plate a couple of feet away from me - when it's not in front of me, it's much easier to wait a minute or two till the next bite.

I think it's connected to all the estrogen that's released into the body - to the best of my knowledge, high estrogen is linked to higher cholesterol.

Hey, just had an appointment with my surgeon and NUT this week and voiced my concern about my cholesterol - my NUT told me something very interesting that may make you feel better: According to her, it's normal for cholesterol to go UP after surgery for around 6-9 months, and then start going down again. The reason for this is all the fat being released or something of the sort. That made me feel a lot better, as my cholesterol was actually not too bad before surgery (yes, with statins, but with a major family history of cholesterol and heart disease, I've been on cholesterol medication since I was a child - that's the only way all of us can control it) and now it's pretty high. So I will continue to monitor it, but hope to see an improvement within a few months.

I remember that happening to me when I started a weight lifting plan after not having exercised basically ever ... even though I only managed about half the reps that first time, I was so sore afterwards that it took me about a week to get my muscles moving normally again. I would ask the PT to go a little easier on you the next few sessions, and eventually you'll be able to move into higher intensity training.

Definitely NOT psychological - it took me six weeks after surgery till I regained my energy, and I've heard of others whose bodies only bounced back after three months. Your body has just undergone a huge shock (major surgery) and is continuing to be shocked by the drastic reduction in food intake. It WILL get better, but it might take some time. Then, I can assure you, you will have no regrets whatsoever.

Hi, sleeve twin! I also underwent surgery on Feb 29 and started off at 225 lbs. My pain was pretty bad at the beginning but didn't last nearly as long as yours did, and I still found it pretty hard to cope at first, so I can only imagine how hard the whole experience must have been for you. I'm so happy that you're doing well now, with no regrets - I feel the same way and wish you much continued success with your weight loss journey.

Unfortunately, at four months post-op (and quite a bit of weight down), I haven't really seen any difference - still hoping for the best, but not too optimistic at this point.

Wonderful! So happy for you! I'm also really impressed with the thoughtful way you went about making your decision to undergo surgery, but am surprised that your endocrinologist didn't have any other patients who underwent WLS that cured diabetes. I do hope that this make him more willing to recommend, or at least mention, the surgery to other patients. As you said, it could save their lives.

Amazing! You sound like you're in a great mindset and look terrific! Can't wait to get there myself - thanks so much for sharing!

Funny, but just tonight I mentioned to someone that until now, the only way I really knew that I had lost lots of weight (other than the scale) was the fact that I keep on fitting into smaller size clothes - I just couldn't see the change in the mirror (other than my face) - my body still looks so fat to me (OK, to be honest, there's still plenty more fat to burn, but it's considerably less than there was a few months ago). Then, tonight, I saw a video that had a short clip of me shot just 2 or 3 weeks ago, and wow - for some reason the video showed me what the mirror didn't. That made me realize that I look like I'm at almost normal weight nowadays (and the camera tends to ADD pounds!) - it was a real shock for me! The person I was telling this to couldn't wrap her head around it - she's been pretty much the same (average) weight (+-5 lbs. at any given point) for years, and is perfectly comfortable with her size. I told her it'll probably take me a year, if not much longer, to actually match my body image to my body size. So I definitely do feel you.

I think that in a way, that's actually a good thing. I work in two places (a school and an office) - at school I get non-stop compliments, literally every time I walk through the door, and it's quite embarrassing at this point. (and yes, it is very noticeable, I guess, but I still feel uncomfortable having to answer questions about the weight loss the whole time) At the office, no one has said a word and I like things that way. So for now, count your blessings

I do the original callanetics - also an oldie, but I LOVE it! One of the few types of exercise that I actually enjoy doing...

I'm three months post-op and am still afraid to eat any sort of chopped beef or chicken or turkey (even though that's one of the first foods the doctor said I could eat) because almost every time I tried (and believe me I tried - these are my favorite proteins), my sleeve rebelled. I personally think part of it is due to the fact that I ate too much and too quickly (the one time I ate about 1/10 of a mixed beef / turkey hamburger very, very, very slowly it was OK), but there are other foods that can go down a lot more quickly by me. So my feeling is that your sleeve is reacting to the food (despite the doctor saying it's OK - these types of reaction are so individual) and / or the amount. Probably what will make you feel best is throwing it all up (sorry if that doesn't sound pretty, but that's the only thing that works for me, and I still end up having to do it every so often when my sleeve takes issue with something I've eaten).

Amazing - thanks for sharing! Posts like yours are what keep me inspired to keep on giving it my all.

That's what I've done. I don't think anyone's figured it out, but more than a few people have commented on how fast my weight loss has been (well yes, it has) and I'm pretty sure that a couple of my colleagues are afraid that I'm anorexic! (Part of that was my mistake - I sat in the cafeteria one day and ate lunch there - ooops, forgot that it's not normal to eat about 3 tablespoons of scrambled eggs and be full...) If they figure it out, nothing I can do about it, but I've decided that it's not something I want to share with the world. The only time I felt really bad is when one of my colleagues, who is probably at least as heavy as I was post-op, started sincerely complimenting me on my weight loss and asking me how I did it. I would have loved to share with her because who knows? She might decide that this is something for her as well (I know that she's also struggled with weight loss for many years) and it was only because someone told us about his bariatric surgery that I started looking into it. Maybe at some point I will speak to her privately and tell her.

I also think that 12 is far too young unless the child is morbidly obese like the 300 lb. kid mentioned earlier. Does a 12-year-old even know what he's getting himself into with the sleeve? Don't get me wrong, I'm not the least bit sorry that I had surgery, but it definitely is life-changing and not always in a good way. Also, as others have mentioned, can a kid that age get enough nutrition after the sleeve in order to grow properly and get through puberty? Doubtful. My parents always worried (and made me worry) about my weight, and I think that's probably half the reason I ended up fat enough to undergo WLS - looking back, I was actually pretty normal throughout most of my childhood and really only started putting on lots of weight after puberty. But as much as being fat negatively impacted my teenage years, I don't think that I was ready to make that decision about WLS at that age. Just my two cents' worth...

I wanted not only to lose weight but to finally gain control over my never-ending battles with weight which always ended up with me being the loser (ahem, that is gainer) and being heavier than before. I wanted to get rid of that feeling of helplessness because I had come to the realization that I just couldn't do it on my own. I wanted to, for the first time in my life, to feel like a normal person and be able to buy clothes like a normal person. I wanted to stop having to buy a new size every half a year or year and just be able to stick to the same size like most people manage to do for years at a time. I wanted to look good enough to attract a guy, and eventually, when I got married, to wear the wedding dress of my dreams and know I looked good in it. Oh, and I worried about my health, especially since we have many genetic health issues in our family which are definitely effected by weight. Cancer, cholesterol and heart problems, high blood pressure, and my pre-op blood tests showed me to be in pre-diabetes stage. I'm only about 14 weeks post-op, so haven't reached any of my goals yet, and yes, am still battling the demons that got me to where I was, but I can already say that I will NEVER be back at where I was. It just isn't going to happen.

I'm so sorry to hear about all your complications - that is everyone's worst nightmare. However, I'm sure that you didn't undergo all this just to lose 30 lbs - I have no doubt that you'll continue to lose and lose and eventually reach your goal weight - just wait and see!

Ha! Reminds me of something my two of my colleagues said to me recently. They don't know that I've undergone bariatric surgery and I think that they're worried that I'm anorexic (as if!) so they tried to stage some sort of intervention to make sure I was OK - I guess my weight loss is a bit too fast to be attributed to plain dieting and exercise... Anyway, at some point they tell me that I REALLY don't need to lose any more weight, that I'm perfect the way I am. Seriously??? I have lost lots of weight since my surgery about 14 weeks ago, and am down quite a few sizes, but I'm still a size 16 and have a long way to go. I just laughed it off, but it was funny to be told that I don't need to lose any more weight when I'm still way bigger than I should be.

I only regained my energy at about week 6, and I've read that it's taken others as long as 3 months to do so. So while it's definitely not pleasant to be so low energy, I wouldn't worry just yet. Regarding Protein, my NUT claims that the body has plenty of protein stores (well, if anyone's body would have, it would be mine, since I used to eat huge amounts of protein pre-op) so there's no need to get in full protein right after surgery. My three-month anniversary was yesterday, and I'm still not getting in anywhere near enough protein...

Have you tried liquids other than plain water? I know that my sleeve doesn't like water at all (and that's all I used to drink before my surgery!), so now I drink mostly flavored water, but also chicken broth and even hot cocoa. Anything to get the liquids down...

Oh, absolutely about not being in agreement on lots of details - that's why I think it's important to take everything that doctors / nutritionists say with a grain of salt (even though in general I do think that it's important to listen to your doctor / dietician) - because whatever they say, someone else will tell you differently. And from being on this forum for a few months, it's clear to me that what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for the other.

I didn't say that all bariatric dieticians were against protein drinks - on the contrary, probably all those in the U.S. do recommend protein drinks. I said that according to my NUT, all the bariatric dieticians in MY country (not the U.S.) decided against it in some sort of joint meeting or convention, which I can probably believe since it's not that big a country and there are probably not more than 50 bariatric surgeons in the whole country. But as I said, I'm sort of ignoring her advice because if all the dieticians in the U.S. are in favor of protein drinks, it shouldn't be that big a deal (and in addition, the reasons she gave for banning protein drinks were quite silly).

The bottom line is that every person's body is different. I was also worried about starvation mode and stalls, but so far that hasn't been the case for me. There's actually a great thread (an old one, but it's still accessible) on the Obesity Help sleeve forum about how many calories to eat to successful reach your weight loss goal, and while most of the posters seemed to be in agreement that the best spot to be in was 600-800 calories a day, there were a few that said they lost the weight on 1,000+ calories a day. So I don't think there's any one right answer.