TheGamer

I had to go in to my surgeon's office today because I've been having some post-sickness issues with keeping food down. While there, I ran in to a fellow patient who asked what I had done and how successful it had been. I was able to tell her that I've lost nearly 100 pounds since October (wow, typing that out... phew ). Turns out she was a band patient who was less than happy with the results. She was one year out... and down 20 pounds. For me, I know what got me in to this problem (among other things) was portion control. The tools (portion control, hunger control) that the sleeve provides me seemed much better than the temporary fix of the band. I really can't complain about the results so far.

I'm also one who has trouble with shakes. For a while I was tolerating GNC's pre-mixed Total Lean, but after my recent bout with norovirus, I can't even handle that any more. They were tolerable, now they're cloyingly sweet and just leave me feeling icky. I had an Atkins vanilla shake tonight (I'm back on only liquids for a bit) and held that down okay.

Yup! I love the fact that (illnesses aside *grumble*) I can determine what I eat. I had low carb wrap gyros, even! I didn't really eat the wrap, but it took me two days of lunch and dinner to eat one normal lunch

I had mine shut with glue and I was told to just leave 'em alone until the glue fell off on its own. I think it took a couple weeks to come off entirely.

I was allowed to add both blueberries and strawberries to my shakes in limited quantities. If I remember, it added up to about 1/2c of fruit max. Basically less than 20g of carb.

Yeah, I don't think getting to 1400 a day would be possible for me at this point.

It's amazing how quickly my perspective changed after surgery. My normal intake is about 1/4-1/3 cup of food at a time. When I've gone out to lunch with coworkers, it always amazes me how HUGE the portions seem now. I go home with enough food for another 2 or 3 meals and they've all cleaned their plates. I can't even fathom eating that much food at one time any more.

Juices (fruits and some vegetables) tend to have a high sugar content which wouldn't make them the best choice for a pre-op liquid diet. I was very limited on my intake. I was allowed shakes with low amounts (1/4c) of fruit added. I was instructed to keep my carb/sugar intake low.

I loooooove the peanut butter ones. The cinnamon one is pretty good, too.

I lose about 4-5 pounds a week, but I had a high start weight. I envy you people who are starting around 200

I had mine with robotic assist. They took me back to prep pretty early, got me changed in to the gown, made me cozy, let me watch TV and whatnot (warm hospital blankets!). They set me up with two IVs since it's needed with robotic assist as backup. They gave me a nice little nerve calming shot at some point and I just really relaxed. Got wheeled back at surgery time and by the time they had me count down, I was completely out. Woke up feeling not so great and honestly my first thought was that I had been REALLY happy as a fat person and I began to question my sanity because I had just paid someone a lot of money to REMOVE MY STOMACH, especially when I was being prodded to be up, awake, and aware. I make a lousy patient, I think I don't really remember much of my hospital stay, mostly just waking up, walking, and going back to sleep. I had traditional pain meds rather than a medicine ball/pain pump and I think that contributed to my not so great experience. Things got much better in the week following surgery, though. The first few days are definitely the worst, but it improves quickly!

I drink the pre-mixed shakes every day for breakfast. Love the chocolate ones.

As many of us did, I did my research and ultimately decided on the sleeve. It wasn't as extreme as the RNY, which I liked. It wasn't temporary like the band. For me, it was knowing that the band was not a permanent tool that put me in the sleeve camp. I have seen firsthand what happens with a sleeve if you are unable to get adjustments done - the weight just piles back on. There was the risk of slippage of the band itself. The band would do nothing to keep me from getting hungry. With the sleeve I have a tool that I can use for the rest of my life. While there is not a vast body of data on sleeving (yet) there is enough to see that at present, results are on par with the more extreme weight loss surgeries without as many difficulties. The fact that the portion of the stomach removed at least temporarily stops ghrelin production was a big sell for me. One of the largest problems I had was the fact that I got very hungry very easily. I can speak from experience when I say hunger is not an issue any more and is a key part of my success. In short, the sleeve was the right decision for me. Even with the issues I had, which were minor compared to some, I do not regret this choice.

I am taking 5k Biotin daily as well as supplemental zinc (sleeved 10/22) and I am just now starting to notice my hair falling out. I don't know if it would be any worse if not taking those, but the evidence for biotin is rather sketchy and anecdotal. Zinc does have some evidence of helping. The loss is not noticeable... yet. I'm trying to be really pragmatic about the whole thing, even though I love my hair. I am forcing myself to be okay with the tradeoff (temporarily) of hair for weight loss.

Keloids are hardened scar tissue under the skin that can take a while to form. They do not leak pus.

Well I had a couple things that impacted my weight loss. I had a period of time post-op where I was unable to eat because of a stricture. I spent several weeks after being cleared for solids on a liquid diet because I couldn't swallow otherwise. Eating, drinking, and even sleeping were all very painful. I also just got over a nasty bout of sickness where I lost about 15+ pounds because I couldn't eat for 3 days at all. I'm expecting that I'll regain some weight now that I am eating again, probably at least 5-8 pounds because I need to rehydrate. When I started my pre-op diet I was 383, and lost about 30 on that - it was a very strict diet, but I loved the fast weight loss. I'm down to about 286, but that's not going to last once I get rehydrated. Those of us with higher starting weights generally do initially lose weight faster. After all, we're eating the same calories as our lower weight counterparts, but we require more calories to function than they do. Many factors go in to weight loss though, including what we eat, our body composition, how much we exercise, and our metabolism.

You're not doing anything wrong and making poor nutritional decisions to speed weight loss is a bad idea. We're already losing a LOT of weight compared to a traditional diet, even though it might not seem that way. You can't judge your weight loss by what others do. Personally, I only lose about 4-5 pounds a week. Sure, I want to be done already, I'm as impatient as the next person However, it adds up. I've lost almost 100 pounds total now, and you will too You and I had similar start weights.

My go-to foods are GNC Total Lean shakes, Quest Protein bars, salmon filets (Walmart has them for $5 or $6 a bag, really cheap!), chicken/turkey breast, cottage cheese, greens (spinich, kale, collard), and then I love Kozy Shack NSA tapioca pudding for when I need something a little sweet. Most of my carbs come from dairy. The Quest bars have about 20g of carbs each, but the net carbs on those are 3 or 4 each. It's just me so cooking anything in a portion I can eat is a little pointless, and if I try to cook more, I end up wasting food because I can't eat it all in time.

If you've got other symptoms, like low grade fever, I'd suggest getting in touch with your surgeon's office to get instructions as you may need another round of antibiotic. At the very least you want to keep it clean.

Have you seen this squad? Seriously, that one guy has no bones, just liquid.

They will go down over time. I'm about 3 months out and I can't feel mine any more.

They generally only give you the shots (like Lovenox) if you're high risk. I had a high start weight, so I was at greater risk.

Yeah, when you haven't had any real sugar for a long time, the body just goes "hell no." So easy to get re-acclimated to, though

That's why we're encouraged to be up and around as much as possible. The more you move, the less likely you are to get them.

That's the same guy from the Pumped Up Kicks video... http://www.youtube.com/embed/LXO-jKksQkM