OKSleever

Hi! I have had a very good VSG experience so far but I am only down one pound and I am on clear liquids. I was told repeatedly that I would definitely lose between 30 and 40 pounds the first month. Has any one else started slowly like me and still had a great weight loss the first month? Or if this an indication that it's going to be a very slow process. I would appreciate hearing what experiences you've all had after getting off to a slow start. Thanks so much!

I'm not sure where you heard 40 lbs the 1st month, but that's definitely the exception and not the rule! I lost 20 the first month and my team was very happy with that loss. Like others have said, right now you are dealing with Fluid balance issues, true weight loss will come in time. It's way too early to be this concerned with the scale follow your program and the weight will come at its own pace.

I'm pretty early (about 7 weeks out) but in my experience after the first few weeks where I wanted nothing to do with food (I miss those days, come baaaaaack!!) I've been more obsessed with food than I ever was pre-op YMMV, and in this case I hope it does.

It took me a week to get approved with a 36/37 BMI and 2 co-morbidities. I did the 90 day track.

I save mine. I have the space in my attic. I save the clothes I love and give away the ones I wouldn't wear again no matter my size. I keep them bc I never know where life will take me.

This line of thinking is too dangerous for me. They have to go and be gone forever; I can't think I might end up in them again. That gives me permission to do it.

I have a question. I'm finally too small for LB (yay! Excited to tear that credit card up!) but having a hard time finding stylish career clothes (preferably that aren't too pricey) in the in-between size I'm at now. I'm in that 16-18 range where I'm not quite plus size but can't quite squeeze into "regular" sizes. Where is everyone shopping in that period? TIA ladies!!

Hello' date='

I'm new here and and a million questions. First off.....How long did the process take for everyone. I am going to a seminar which is the first step before my consult. the office tells me it's a 2 to 2 1/2 month wait time from seminar to surg. She says due to the testing and prep.[/quote']

Are you cash pay or insurance? Cash pay moves faster because of extra requirements/approval time for insurance. At my office, cash pay is about 6-8 weeks. I was insurance, so it was 4 months for me from first appt to surgery (included 3 month pre op diet required by insurance).

My doctor (Broussard, Weight Wise in Oklahoma) has a cash price of $9995.

A question was asked to people who are in a similar situation. I think your personal lectures on "backsliding" and such is really uncalled for and rude. We all have vices but they're not the same. The analogy using AA was good except when you go to a meeting and admit you fell off they don't get lectured they get support to fight another day.

The purpose of this forum so I thought was for support. The purpose of our new tool is ultimately to learn how to live life with things in moderation. If you can drink soda' date=' eat dessert, drink alcohol and any other taboo behaviors in moderation then your on point!! Less judgment people we get enough of that from "regular" people no place for it here.

Have a blessed day! ; )[/quote']

I could not agree more. At any AA meeting (you should go to an open meeting near you; it's powerful stuff and applicable to many of our food struggles) you're going to hear someone admit relapsing and you won't hear lectures or sermons... You'll hear encouragement about how tomorrow is another day and relapse isn't the end of recovery. I'd like to hear more of that here and less self righteousness.

I use fitbit and have no trouble with it. I just clip it to my bra strap and it automatically updates to my phone and MFP all day. Don't know about any of the others.

I don't think it's safe for you to go back to work as a kindergarten teacher the day after surgery. Bending over will hurt like hell, and there's no way you're going to outrun a 5 year old that soon out. Dancing the day of surgery is out of the question unless your doc is entirely too generous with the morphine. This is a pretty traumatic surgery...

Nicotine can stay in your urine for weeks, and as a doctor I can say I never tell my patients I'm going to drug test them before I do it. I also don't necessarily wait for an appointment... I might just call you and say you have 48 hours to submit a sample if you want to continue on this treatment plan. And surgeons probably test not to be mean but because it improves their outcomes which lowers their malpractice insurance. I test for different reasons because I'm not a surgeon, but same principles apply.

I would absolutely wait. The VA will always be available for any post op care/complications etc that may arise. They will not help you if you choose to go with a surgeon in Mexico. You've waited this long, what's another 6-8 months? If you're sure now, you'll be just as sure and ready then.

Also hungry about every 2 hours. 3 1/2 weeks post op.

I only took 3 days but really feel like 2 weeks would have been ideal. Desk job.

I just had the surgery on April 8th, 2013. My experience in the hospital was not very good as I was given too much pain medication and my oxygen level went down to 40 and they had to give me medicine to counteract the pain meds, and put me in a seizure. This was the scariest thing I have ever been through in my life and shook me up so much that I have avoided pain meds while being home. I'm really not in much pain though, just worried about not getting enough calories.

My dietician never said how many calories is "normal" on the full liquids diet, but I'm lucky to be getting between 3-400 calories in a day. I am worried that this is not healthy and I also got very dizzy last night. I'm scared of getting dehydrated and having to go into the hospital. I'm trying really hard to get my Water and Protein in, but it weighs so heavily on my stomach, it's a huge ordeal. My goal today is to really focus on getting all the Water and Protein in no matter what I have to do.

5 days post-op and feeling a bit of anxiety about everything! Please help and tell me it will get better! :/

I'm only getting about 3-400 calories in now and I'm almost 3 weeks out, eating food, and have been back to work for a few weeks. Focus on fluids and the dizziness should go away. GL!

That is a quite interesting question. I'm a physician and would join in a second. Unfortunately I am a bit sub-specialized and most likely not so useful. I nearly joined after med school' date=' but was a smidge over the body fat limit. I guess I will just continue to support the wounded veterans groups.[/quote']

Jenn-- what specialty? I'm psych and curious about whether or not this would be waiver-able as well.

I am a woman who is required to wear professional clothes to work. I'm dropping, at this rate, about a size every 2 weeks. I'm sure that will slow down, but overall I'm worried about handling this in the future. My clothes need to fit reasonably well, and I can't wear the same thing every day. Any other women in this situation have any thoughts on how they've handled it?

I'm up at 2:30 am...not happy right now!! I've been sleeping in the recliner part of my couch since I came home' date=' but not sleeping really well, so I tried to sleep in bed for the first time tonight. I made it from around 10:30 until just about 2:00 and then woke up and couldn't get comfortable again. It feels like my chest (ribs) hurt. So I sat up and got super dizzy - that has gotten better, but still hasn't gone away yet. Obviously some nausea usually comes with the dizziness... I had called my doctor's office yesterday to fax my paperwork so I could go back to work on Monday. Now I'm nervous that I'm jumping the gun and trying to go back too soon. I was approved to be out until 4/24, but I know I don't need that long (surgery was 3/26). I have my 3 week follow-up on 4/12 so I have to be out then anyway...but there are important things going on that I should really be a part of, including a really big meeting on 4/11. What would you do??[/quote']

We're sleeve-date buddies, and I went back on the 29th. It was a little difficult but by no means impossible. That said, if staying out for a month had been an option, I probably would have!

As a psychiatrist, I would say that it sounds like the dr is doing exactly their job. For whatever reason (remember, we weren't in the room, we don't know what was said), the doctor has concerns about the patient's ability to comply with the diet. Rather than saying no, they offered to gather more information before making a final decision.

I did, but it was kind of an unusual situation. I was feeling really fatigued and weak and I talked to my surgeon and he said I had to get Protein in period. Up to that point I had been getting less than 10g Protein daily from shakes and I had been back to work since my 3rd post op day. So it was pretty urgent.

Out of complete exhaustion of other options (my body did not tolerate the chemicals in the Protein Shakes whatsoever) I attempted an egg, and it went down perfectly with no problems. So today I tried some cottage cheese, again super mashed, tiny bites, chewed thoroughly, and again no problems. So I think my sleeve just doesn't dig Protein Shakes and I needed protein. But I wouldn't recommend that routinely. Everybody's a little different.

My surgeons office is still waiting on weight history from another doctor's office that is so unorganized. So I requested my records from my obgyn office yesterday. Aetna said everything else is fine' date=' they just need to sew that I have been over weight for the past 2 yrs. They have asked for this almost a week ago and Im trying to be patient. My surgery is scheduled for the 16th of this month. I am praying that everything will work out in my favor. I feel that being the fact there just asking for weight history and that's it, I think I will be fine.[/quote']

I did not leave any of that to chance; I personally picked up my weight records and dropped them off at my surgeon's office. Good luck!!!

Two weeks today lost 20 pounds' date=' wish I was more excited. guess i wish i had more energy and felt better.[/quote']

I definitely feel that. I never thought I could be so un-excited about losing massive amounts of weight in a week, but in the greater context of feeling so "blah", it just isn't as awesome hope you feel better soon!

It took me about 6 days to get approved after they had all the documentation. HTH!!

Thank you so much for the support, you guys are great I hope you're all right, and my head thinks you probably are; it's just my stupid body and emotions that aren't going with the flow right now. I will hang on to this post, and I really hope I can look back on it with a smile. I think I'll still be glad in any case that I have a record of this feeling for anyone who thinks this is the "easy" road!!! *group hug, but mind the incisions!*

I know that I'm only a week out, and I hope that I am one of the many who initially feel buyer's remorse and later come to love their sleeves, but right now I would give anything in the world to go back a week and decide not to have this surgery. I'm in constant pain that's made worse by walking, I can't stand one more sip of Protein Shake, I will never be able to drink 64 oz of Water in a day, and I can't move without feeling stitches stabbing inside my gut.

I'm posting this because I'm a person who spent YEARS researching this and was totally convinced I knew what I was getting into and this is what I wanted. I know there's a lot of sunshine and rainbows on this forum (for which I am often grateful), but I want potential sleevers to know not everyone is thrilled with the outcome. I would take the 9 lbs I've lost and then some to undo this and try to lose weight any other way one more time