SerendipityHappens

THIS! I know that it will fluctuate back up, but I simply ignore the increase and only record new lows. there have been times when I've seen a new number on the scale, and then it's bounced up a few pounds and stayed there for a week... but I still stuck to the new number because I knew it was going back down eventually anyway... Now if I was misbehaving and actually thought I was gaining real weight.. I'd go in and change my weight to show the gain.

Multi-vitamin- I actually chose Bariatric Advantage capsules because they can be divided into several servings throughout the day and they don't have Iron to interfere with calcium absorption.. but my doc said any good multi Vitamin will do. He said he likes Centrum. Iron- He told me to take 18 mg of iron daily until I'm back to eating a well rounded diet... then keep close watch on it with my PCP and I shouldn't take the iron pill unless I need it. calcium citrate with D-3 He advises 1000-1500 mg of calcium citrate per day for women sublingual b-12 - Doc says this is another one that may not be necessary, and that I should take it for now, but my PCP should check my levels too.

FANTASTIC.. It's all so exciting, No?

I contacted pretty much everyone.. I finally wound up going through Mexico Bariatric Center and used two doctors who had a lot of experience with Bariatric surgery, but were new at serving the international market. These doctors were the lowest price among doctors who met all the other criteria important to me (more than a thousand surgeries, surgery in a hospital- not clinic, not too many surgeries in a day, is not moonlighting with a separate non-bariatric practice, bariatric specialty, available for questions, reliable coordinator) If money was not a concern, I think I may have gone with Alvarez but I couldn't justify spending almost twice the amount for him, when the doctors I ultimately selected were well qualified and were able to meet my needs.

popcicles, various flavors of protein shakes, strained french onion soup (nice break from chicken broth) hot herbal teas of all flavors.. sometimes sweetened with splenda, sometimes not. Green tea, iced or hot (make sure your doctor allows it, I was drinking it in the hospital and my doctor has no restrictions on green tea, he only said to limit my black tea/coffee intake to two cups a day) jello, treat yourself to sugar free drinks you might not ordinarily buy.. I enjoyed some vitamin water zero in all flavors except citrus(not allowed) At first I didn't love water, so I did drink a lot of flavored drinks.. now I'm back with water and I'm enjoying it just as much as I used to.

Whew... very frustrating, but glad you can see it as a blessing in disguise.

I had the same doctors and they suggested that I just follow up with my regular PCP and have my vitamin levels checked regularly for the first few years.

I'm two weeks out and I ate nearly an entire egg with 3 tablespoons of refried Beans for Breakfast. I ate it in about 10 minutes (which seemed like a long time to me considering that it would have been inhaled in 30 seconds presleeve) For lunch I set a timer for 20 minutes. I ate nearly 1/2 cup of heated cottage cheese and 2T of tomato sauce during that time and again, was satisfied but not "full" no pressure, no sliming, nothing.

I hope this doesn't happen to me! When I was right out of surgery, anything very cold would give me stomach contractions, but this resolved in a few days. Hot things still feel really nice, but cold is fine too. Icy things don't apeal to me though. I haven't had a popcicle or anything yet, it just doesn't sound yummy.. but very cold drinks are fine. When did this start happening to you? Is this something new or has it always been this way for you since being sleeved?

I weigh daily and record losses in MFP, if my weight fluctuates back up, I don't record the gain and then will record the next loss when I see that I am below my last recorded weight. I count my wednesday weight in order to track my weekly progress. I had a three week stall during my preop process.. I gave my scale a bit of a time out during that time because I was getting frustrated, but ordinarily I'm not bothered by fluctuations or up to a week without any loss so I like to weigh daily.

My diet allows nuts at week four but says to wait until after week 7 for seeds. Ground seeds and nut butters are ok earlier, but whole seeds they say to wait until after 7 week.

Most of us fail because we cannot sustain the calorie deficit on our own.. This surgery helps us with this.. I can create a calorie deficit without surgery, but after the weight starts comming off, my body is like "WHAT IS THIS???I'm losing my precious fat.. QUICK, release the hounds of hunger" and then I'm so powerfully hungry I just cannot force myself to eat at that calorie deficit anymore.. With this surgery it helps with that. Now I'll be able to stick with a calorie deficit long enough to lose and maintain my weight. Sure exercise is an important part of that. I also track my calories so that I know for certain that I'm creating a calorie deficit, but for me the whole purpose of this surgery is to make it so that I can COMFORTABLY eat less.

Thanks! No narcotis for me. They gave me some Nalbuphine the day of surgery and I took Ketorolac (an NSAID) sublingually for two days after surgery and I haven't had so much as a tylenol since. The stuff they sent me home with remains untouched.. I'm one of those who tends to "overdo" it physically unless there is pain involved so I liked having a bit of discomfort in my incision sites to remind me that I just had surgery.. My actual sleeve though hasn't felt anything since I was in the hospital and having contractions if it wasn't for the nausea I felt at first and the few days of contractions, I'd swear they hadn't touched my stomach at all!

at 3 days post op I had two cups of broth in one sitting and could have gone on for infinity if it was not for the sodium content.. Anything Fluid just runs straight through my sleeve... which is a good thing, no dehydration for me!

I am following my post op diet.. this is the stage I am on...

Hello VST friends. I know that a lot of intake early on has to do with sleeve inflammation and not necessarily the size of the actual finished product.. but still I can't help but compare... I am two weeks out and this morning for Breakfast I had 3T of refried Beans, 1/4 slice of american cheese, and nearly a whole egg. Now of course yes, this is much less than I would have ever eaten in the past, but still I was shocked by how much it was.. I ate it in about 10 minutes. .. from a baby spooon... putting the spoon down in between bites to chew (chewing refried beans and eggs is something that I've NEVER done in my life) I ate to the point of being satisfied, though I know I could have gotten the whole egg down if that was my mission. On my recommended menu it says that the MAXIMUM I should eat at this stage is 1/4 cup of beans and a whole egg but that I'll likely only be able to eat a few spoonfulls and be done. I was shocked that I ate almost to the maximum and could have kept going if I ignored the signal of "satisfaction" ! I've been able to drink fluids since day one almost as easily as pre surgery so I have almost no restriction for fluids.. I was expecting to feel more when I graduated to eggs and beans. So here's the question, how much were you eating at 2 weeks out and how does that relate to how much you're eating now? I'm trying to tell myself that this is just because I don't have a lot of inflammation (which is a good thing) but I'd like to hear other's personal experiences. I'd especially like to hear from any who were able to eat more than expected early on.

About 8 years ago I bought a blouse at Lane Bryant which was my size at the time (22/24) but always was a tad too tight around the hips to wear... Then I gained more and more weight until it couldn't even fit on me at all. Yesterday I was looking through a magazine and noticed that lace inlays in shirts is in style this year (ya know the kind of tops you wear a colored camisole under and the lace parts are see through.. but not in a skanky way) Anyway, I remembered this old blouse from years ago and what do you know, it is in style again AND.. is almost too big! I have to wear it quick so I get the chance! I also found a lovely pair of white slacks. Why on earth did I ever buy those? they never fit and they're WHITE... but I tried them on and they fit perfectly and look AWESOME.. It's a bit early for white pants, but I'm going to wear them anyway now before they get too big! I LOVE closet shopping...

Here's my timeline... May 2012: already eating lots of healthy food but ALSO eating plenty of "naughty foods" as well and craving refined flours and sugar like crazy. Started incorporating vegetable juicing into my life. Added more and more juice daily. August 2012: 30 day juice fast. CHANGED MY LIFE! seriously, I felt better and wanted to feel this way all the time. I discovered that there was something in my diet that was definitely causing inflammation in my body because my joint pains went way while on the juice fast. September 2012: went off the juice fast but continued juicing daily and tried to be careful about adding junk into my diet. October 2012 Joint pain was back in full swing.. gained what little weight I lost on the juice fast and was back up to 335. Still ate primarily home cooked healthy meals heavy on the vegetables and included juicing in my diet, but also gave into my cravings for junk too. November 2012 Joined VST, decided on the sleeve, picked my doctor. December 2012 Began 800 calorie VLCD Had two or three Protein drinks or servings of cottage cheese and a lean and green meal, plus optional snacks: 1 egg, 1/2 piece of fruit, 1 ounce of nuts... as long as I kept my calories around 800. January.. continued VLCD..Took two days off February.. continued the VLCD, took two days off. During theVLCD I didn't consume any Cereal grains, starchy vegetables or legumes. My joint pain again went away completely. I now know that my issues are likely tied to wheat. so Wheat may not be making a reappearance in my post VSG diet! February 27: Started my two week preop, which was almost identical to my VLCD except it did not include the optional Snacks.. which by this point I didn't care about anyway. March10: Start three days of clears, March 13th Surgery day. I definitely think that doing this lengthy preop preparation helped me soooo much mentally prepare for the sleeve. I'm not suggesting that you should do something as drastic as I did... 800 calories on a full size stomach is pretty extreme, but definitely starting some sort of program preop would be helpful.. also getting used to the Protein Drinks takes some time, so it's nice if you can even replace one meal a day with a Protein Drink while your palate gets used to them. Also, I didn't give up soda pre-surgery, but I rarely drink them anyway because they're not good for you. I had maybe 4 sodas during my 3.5 months leading up to surgery.. I also practiced sipping Water and not eating and drinking at the same time. Best of luck!

Congrats on making it past the midway to goal point! It's a huge accomplishment! I've lost 80 but still have 130 to go which just feels like SO MUCH sometimes. Thanks for sharing your accomplishment with us, it really is inspiring to your fellow High BMI'rs to see the success that you're having!

This was actually sounding interesting to me until you added the "and baked" part.. why ruin perfectly good cookie dough and brownie batter by baking it?

I haven't noticed... but then again, I am a foodie to the core.. I still enjoy conversations about food. I still watch food porn. I've been "recuperating" at my sister's house and I've cooked every meal for them...(Asian inspired burritos anyone?) When I'm not cooking, talking about food, or watching food porn, I'm researching healthy recipes to get me through my stages. Now that I will only be having small portions, it's even more important to me to have every flavor right and savor every bite rather than put on the ole feed bag. Talking about food, researching recipes, cooking... all of these things actually make it EASIER for me.. I'm NEVER going to stop being a foodie.. I'm just going to be a healthier one now!

I was admitted the night before surgery and they did all of the preop stuff the night before because my surgery was the first of the next morning. They did my bloodwork, blood pressure, heart rate and an EKG. After my tests I took a shower watched some TV and went to sleep. The nurse woke me up at 5AM and they put in the IV , then the surgeons and anesthesiologist came in and talked to me and by 6ish I was being wheeled down to the operating room. I had cabrera/valenzuela at MiDoctor.

My recovery has been EXCELLENT. I was drinking 80 ounces of fluid the day after surgery feeling almost no restriction for fluids and have had no problem so far progressing through my dietary stages. I did have some stomach contractions and nausea during the first few days but it was not severe. I've also been very fortunate in that I have not had any hunger!!! Seriously, I have been sooo blessed so far with a textbook perfect recovery.

Welcome Amber! I was only sleeved two weeks ago, but I've been around here on this board since November. I started my weight loss journey at a similar BMI as you (I was 360 pounds with a 60 BMI!) and I decided on VSG when I was 335 pounds I am two weeks post op and am so happy with my decision so far. Stick around here and learn as much as you can. I learned soooo much from the folks here at VST and there haven't been any "surprises" during my recovery process.

This is when it all starts getting REAL! I'm two weeks out and I still can't believe that after so many months of waiting, I'm finally sleeved! Enjoy your preop!