Chris R

Sleeved 2/12, down 32 lbs.

I had my gallbladder out 19 years ago - 9 months after my first child was born. Your pain does sound like a gall bladder attack. Some people mistake them for a heart attack. My pain was more like someone was stabbing me in the back with my gall bladder.

I've been out to eat a few times with my husband and kids since surgery. I order something that I know I can eat, then just eat the amount that is comfortable (not much!) I take the leftovers home if they'll reheat well, and just enjoy the company and conversation in between my small bites, spread out over the meal.

4c makes a Crystal Lite type of mix with Splenda instead of aspartame. They don't have as many flavors but they have a few. I like it because I am afraid of the aspartame I would be intaking daily.

Splenda IS aspertame...

The PA at the bariatric center of excellence I go to put it this way - it takes more energy just to carry around the extra weight. I started at a BMI of about 68, and it took a LOT more effort for me to climb a flight of stairs then than it does now, and I'm still at a BMI of 54. Even just the walking a person with a high BMI does just to get around burns more calories than it would if they weighed a lot less. So I do believe there is a relativity about it. I agree it's better to look at it as a percentage.

Oops - double post!

The title above the picture changes automatically - the more posts you make, the 'higher' your rating.

Oh, I just read your post more carefully - that is interesting... I think I'd rather pick my own than be "VST Addict"...

They only kept mine in while in the hospital. It felt really WEIRD when they pulled it out! All they did was put a piece of gauze and some adhesive tape over it, told me to change it daily and if the drainage turned a strange color or started to smell funky, call them. It did take a while to heal - it seemed to stay red around the edges, and I thought it might be getting infected. Finally I started putting a little bit of bacitracin ointment on it and leaving the gauze off, and it healed up fairly quickly then.

I agree on the Water - MINIMUM 64 oz a day. SIP SIP SIP if it's hard to get it down. I was sleeved 4 days after you, and fortunately for me, drinking Water isn't a problem at all - I can actually drink like a 'normal' person - the liquid just seems to flow through my sleeve. On calories, I average around 900 per day, some days as much as 1100, but usually in the 800-1000 range. I'm only drinking one Protein shake a day now, 1 c of 1% milk mixed with 1 scoop of Syntrax Nectars Protein powder. I don't love them, but they're palatable. I usually get at least 80 - 100 g of Protein total, so I'm about ready to give that up, because I'd really rather eat my protein than drink it.

I had a stall for about a week at 4 weeks out. I gained a pound a day for 4 days, then it took me the rest of the week to lose it back, even though nothing in my eating/drinking had changed. I've lost 31 lbs in the 6 weeks since surgery, so I'm happy with a little over 5 lbs a week.

Key in what you said - she had her surgery "several years ago", when the sleeve surgery was very new and unproven. I think the sleeve has been becoming more popular with surgeons as it is proving to be statistically nearly as effective as rny, but with far fewer complications and potential problems down the line.

At an informational meeting, they told us that for every cup of coffee you drink, you need to drink 2 cups of Water to make up for its diuretic effects!

However, with the 3 shakes, your liquid intake sounds fine to me, too - seems like you're doing just fine!

My son is 19. He started the bariatric surgery program with me in May, 2012. I weighed 450 at the time. He weighed more. I've had better success with the program - I lost the required weight and all the program reqirements by last November, and was sleeved on my 50th birthday, February 12. I'd lost 60 lbs pre-surgery, and have lost 31 more in the 6 weeks since then.

My son has completed all of the requirements except the weight loss. As of his last appointment, he still had about 13 lbs to go. I've tried to encourage him every way I can think of, but I can't seem to get him to try some of the strategies that I know can help. I've suggested he come to this site, but no go.

I hope he can reach his pre-surgery goal and get sleeved right after school gets out for the summer, so he can really get on the path to changing his life.

I'm 6 weeks out, and what you eat is comparable to what I eat, though I can only eat 1 scrambled egg at a meal. The only thing that sounds a little on the low side is your Water. Are you counting your Protein Drinks in with that? If so, I would try to get that number up to a minimum of 64 oz of liquid a day.

The way you describe your pain sounds just like the pain I had in my largest incision - like someone hooked it with a fishing line and was tugging from inside me. My surgeon said it would stop suddenly with a 'pop' when the dissolving sutures gave way, after 2-3 weeks. Fortunately, I slept through the 'pop'. Mine stopped 2 days shy of 3 weeks post-op.

Oh, I just LOVE sarcasm. It's my FAVORITE thing in the WHOLE world.

Someone I know was told by a doctor that people who lose a great deal of weight often get cold easily because all the blood vessels that used to feed their larger self are close to the surface, no longer buried in layers of fat, so our blood cools more quickly.

I love the link PDX put in his earlier post in this thread - it reiterates and supports with evidence something I posted a while back k in "The powder Room" forum entitled "Bickering on threads". If you didn't follow his link and read the article, go back and do it now!

Before you go jumping down someone's throat because you think you're being attacked, keep in mind that the chances are only about 50-50 that the poster intended it that way - and also remember that your own personal moods and sensitivities influence your interpretation of what they posted.

It's rather saddening when I'm reading threads on here and find people start bickering. I've posted elsewhere about this' date=' but I think it deserves repeating.

Message boards, by their very nature, do not allow the reader to have the physical cues of eye contact, facial expressian, or tone of voice that one has in face-to-face conversations. This can make a poster's intended tone and message easy to misinterpret. It's very important to keep this in mind when reading posts, and to give people the benefit of the doubt when you start to feel upset about something they said or the 'way' in which you felt they said it.

I honestly don't think anyone comes on here to be mean, nasty, or to try to insult people. Perhaps one person doesn't get another's sense of humor, or just misses the real point behind what someone is trying to say. But rather than letting things dissolve into nasty back-and-forth sniping that ends up getting more people upset, administrators involved, and running threads that the original posters made to honestly seek information and advice off-track, there is a simple solution. If you find that you simply don't like the way someone expresses themself on here, you can use the ignore settings. That way you don't have to ever read anything they post again. Simply click on the arrow next to your name at the top right of the screen, click on "Manage Ignore Prefs", and enter the name of that user. You can ignore their posts, signatures, and private messages. Simple solution, yes?

If you get into this kind of back and forth bickering and this solution isn't to your liking, then perhaps you should reexamine your reasons for being here...

Just my 2 cents worth...[/quote']

I'm 6 weeks post-op today.

Typical Day:

Breakfast: 1 egg scrambled with 1/4 c fat free cottage cheese

Lunch: 1 c fat free cottage cheese with pepper

After lunch drink: Protein shake made with 1 c 1% milk

Dinner: 3 - 4 oz of whatever Protein we are having for dinner

Snack: (Either mid-afternoon or before bed) 6 oz fat free fruit yogurt.

I like the Syntax Nectars too. I get them at Nashua Nutrition (available online). They sell single serving packs so you can try different flavors to find what you like. I like the chocolate truffle or the double stuffed (Oreo) mixed with 1 cup of milk. You can mix one scoop with 8-16 oz of either milk or Water. I've also mixed it with plain yogurt (1/4 scoop of a fruit flavor to 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt), and I add the unflavored one to strawberry smoothies.< /p>

I was sleeved the day after you. I have also lost 35 lbs, though not just in the first two weeks. I did have a one-week stall where I gained a pound a day for four days and took another 4 to lose them again, no cheating or other apparent reason for it. But I feel like 35 lbs in a little under 6 weeks is amazing!

I agree with those who said your body is readjusting. Be patient! But I also wonder about starvation mode. How many calories are you eating in a day, on average? I usually am somewhere between 800 and 1000 calories, at least 70 g of Protein (usually 80-100 g) and at least 8 c of Water.

The goal weight set by my surgeon is 160 - a BMI of about 25 for me. My personal goal is 150, or a BMI of about 22. My NUT has been calculating my % of excess weight lost at each appointment since my surgery. She takes the difference between my starting weight and my current weight, and divides that by the difference between my starting weight and my goal weight. Therefore, if I get down to 160, I will have lost 100% of my excess weight.

I think that, somehow, we develop a mental picture of ourselves when we look in the mirror. I never thought I looked as heavy in the mirror at 450 lbs as I did in pictures. And when I lost weight down to 157 in college, I still saw a much heavier person in the mirror than pictures of myself from that time looks.

I agree with the poster who said to look at pictures. It seems like then, your brain allows you to see the truth objectively, as though it tricks your brain into not thinking it's you!

That is awesome! Very encouraging. I started at 450 9 months before surgery, lost 60 pre surgery. At 5 1/2 weeks post I'm down another 28 lbs. 'Just' 212 lbs to go to goal!