Ree

I think I was 241 last week. This week: 238

One month ago I was sleeved. Before the surgery I took my measurements and weighed myself. My HW: 275, the night before surgery I weighed 262 and today I weigh 238. So 24 pounds lost since surgery and 37 pounds lost in total. And this is mind blowing and I had to go back several times to check but I lost a total of 30.5 inches off my body! I still can't believe it!! 2 inches off each thigh, 2 inches off each arm, 3 inches off my bust, 3 inches off my chest (above bust line), 1.5 inches in total off of calves, 7 inches off my waist, 3.5 inches off my hips, 3.5 inches off my stomach (right above hips) and 1 inch off my neck. That's crazy!! but I'm happy about it!

Before surgery I was taking 1 omeprazole a day and back then I was eating really spicy and greasy foods. Now I don't eat that way but I find myself needing to take TWO omeprazole a day. So weird! but I guess it has to do with our tiny stomachs. I was hoping I would be able to wean myself off of that medication at some point but I'm finding the opposite to be true.

After the first month how much is average for someone to lose each week? I'm in my 4th week and lost 3 pounds this week but prior weeks the loss was so much more, except for last week I think I only lost a pound (the stall at 3 weeks perhaps?). Just trying to figure out what is an average weekly loss from this point forward? Btw, do you write down your weekly losses or do you only keep track of your total monthly losses?

I am almost a month out from surgery. I had my last menstrual cycle on December 6th, prior to that November 7th. My cycle comes about every 30 days and the only time I have ever went without having a period was when I was pregnant with my daughter (I'm not pregnant!) and when I was breast feeding her (haven't breast fed her in almost 2 years now). My period is a week late and I'm wondering if this is normal after being sleeved? Has anyone else experienced an absent period due to getting the VSG and when does your period normally return?

My surgeons instructions specifically say to take at least 30 minutes or longer to eat your meal. Actually they had me practice this behavior prior to the surgery. So with the salmon (or anything else I eat) it takes me a good hour, sometimes longer to eat because for 1 I thought I was suppose to take a long time to eat my meal and 2 I felt it was important to try and get in all the Protein I could so if it took 1.5hrs to eat 2 ounces of salmon (which it does) then that's how long I have to wait till I can fit it all in. Then I read that another surgeons office suggests putting your fork down after 20 minutes. This is a big difference from what I've been told. At least 30 minutes to me means a minimum of 30 minutes and that if I take longer to eat then even better (according to my surgeons office). My surgeon emphasizes that it's important to slow down when your eating and take at least 30 minutes to eat, that this gives your brain time to get the signals that you are eating and that you are full.

My surgeons manual for life after gastric sleeve surgery says that each meal should take at least 30 mins to eat but I found another surgeons manual (peachtreebariatrics) and it says it should take no longer than 15 to 20 mins to finish a meal and if you are taking longer than that then you are taking too long in between bites and that the goal is not to finish your meal but to learn what full means and feels like. Which is correct? Are we suppose to take at least 30 mins to finish our meal or should we be finishing it within about 20 minutes? It takes me over an hour to finish eating 2 ounce of salmon.

Today (technically yesterday) my net calories for the day were only 215. I am struggling right now and I am only getting in about half of the Protein I am suppose to be getting in. Drinking Water actually makes me feel light headed if I am standing and/or walking and I am no longer able to drink my Protein shakes. I just can't do it, just thinking about it is making me sick to my stomach. I don't know what else to do, I feel weak (obviously) and my mind wants to jump up and move but my body speaks another language. My meal plan looked like this today: Breakfast: 2 oz of broccoli & cheese Soup w/ a small amount of Protein powder added in. Lunch: Organic lunch meat (turkey) 1oz w/ .5 oz of fat free cream cheese (fat free cream cheese has more protein) Dinner: 1 oz organic soy tempeh snack: MetRx chocolate roasted peanut Protein Bar 1/3 of the bar Totally protein 30 grams, total calories 265 - 50 from walking = 215. And tomorrow I have no idea what to eat, as nothing that I'm allowed to eat sounds appetizing at all! It feels like I am pregnant all over again, where nothing to eat sounds good.

Will I always have to chew my food well, even after a year or more out from surgery? When I say 'chew my food well' I mean to a very mushy consistency? I have a huge texture issue and right now it's making it very difficult to eat. Sometimes I feel like just not eating at all because its better than feeling like I'm going to gag from chewing my food to mush. So I am trying to see the brighter side that farther out I won't always need to chew my food to mush (if there is a brighter side to that?).

I'm SO sympathetic to what you're going through. I had my surgery on 12/17, and still am exhausted. My poor husband asked me today "when will I get my wife back?" I threw up from drinking too much water in one sitting twice in the past few days, and it was heartbreaking having my 8 year old daughter (I have three kids) hovering over me, rubbing my back, and asking if I was going to be ok. I just keep telling them (and myself!) it will get better and once I'm better, I'll be better than ever. PM me if you feel like talking more. When my daughter (she is 3 years old) sees that I'm not doing well or feeling weak she comes up to me and tells "you're gonna get better, okay mommy?, you're gonna get better" and during the first week when I was in a lot of pain and had a hard time getting up from a laying or sitting position, she would come up to me and put her hand out and say "ok mommy, calm down now ok" which "calm down" to her means "take it easy or be careful" then she would proceed to offer to help me up by putting out her hand and saying "let me help you, take my hand". She is such a sweet heart, I love her so much!

Those are all great idea's, thank you!! Bronco0605, most of my meals will be with family. The problem I am facing really is my husbands family always orders pizza and wings when we come to visit. Is there possibly something from the pizza place that I can suggest in place of pizza and wings (just for myself)? mozz sticks, take the cheese out and give the fried part to my husband? When we visit my side of the family I already suggested we order fish fry's this way I can take off the breading and eat the haddock fish inside. If I didn't suggest fish fry's they would have ordered pizza and wings as well. It's an Italian thing.

I am going to be away from home for a few days, staying in a hotel. What can I pack that is easy to eat on the go and requires little to no refrigeration? I am still drinking Protein shakes and I'm allowed soft foods like cottage cheese, soft fish, certain Beans etc.... I will be 3 - 4 weeks post op. Also, I will be with many family members. None of which know I was sleeved and I have no intentions on telling them, ever.

I'd like to join as well but I weigh in on Sundays and Wednesdays. My current weight is : 244 Valentines day goal: 220 I just hope that goal is not unreachable.

My period is due any day now and I've noticed that I am having a much harder time getting food in these past couple of days. I have that bloated feeling that I always get around this time of the month and it's just making it really hard to eat. Does anyone else ever experience this?

So minimum 3 months? I guess what I'm trying to ask is when can I eat bread type foods and it won't physically hurt me (the sleeve)? If I want to eat a turkey wrap with a low carb wrap do I have to wait a full 3 months or can I try it in a month from now?

I know it's not a good idea to eat bread ever, but if I wanted to have some every now and then, how soon after being sleeved can I eat stuff like breads, Pasta and rice? When we are out and looking to stop somewhere to get something to eat I like subway and now that I'm sleeved I would opt for 1/2 of a 6 inch turkey sub with extra turkey. At home I love to make chicken quesadillas w/ mushrooms, low fat cheese and turkey bacon. I use 6 inch tortilla wraps and (now that I'm sleeved) I would probably only eat half of that. Other food staples in this house are chicken w/ rice, for me at some point I would like to be able to have my chicken with about 2 tbsp. of brown rice. So how soon can I start adding these foods back into my diet?

I have not been able to go to the bathroom on my own yet and it's frustrating!! I am 2 weeks out and I still have to depend on milk of magnesia to get things moving. I have taken it 3 times since I've been home, so 1-2x a week. Right now I feel like I have to go but I am totally constipated and the milk of magnesia tastes HORRIBLE!!!

Omg, how horrible!! Yah i'll have to not be so laid back about dinner time anymore. I'm just use to letting my husband get what he wants and in the past he has always been good about setting food aside for me but since getting the surgery he acts like I no longer need to eat at all.

When it's nice outside I do try and go outside more. I can't wait for the nice weather to return. I am using this (getting a license, getting out more and doing things for my daughter) as a motivation to lose the weight. I need to do this, I can't keep living like this. I have tried several times to talk to my husband about it and his response is always "what do you want me to do? I have to work to pay the bills". LindaFromFlorida, fortunately my daughter doesn't have the same social issues that I have. When I can bring her places (as rare as that might be) she has no problem wedging herself into a group and making friends. She prefers older children (5-8 years old), I guess she must think kids her own age are just not mature enough lol. Although one time she saw a girl her age fall and get hurt and she ran over to her to make sure she was ok and took her by the hand and brought her over to the group of older girls she was playing with. It was so sweet to watch.

I have heard of instagram but I am not familiar with it. I am going to look into it though and see if I can find what you are talking about. Thank you!

Apparently since having my surgery I am invisible. I go ahead and make dinner a little early because my husband has to head to work. I have my dinner after he leaves so I can eat slowly without interruption. Tonight we are having chicken breast (which I'm able to ground up) and my daughter and him have noodles with it. So he is chowing down on his meal and I turn to him and asked him " you made sure to set aside some chicken for me right?" and his response "um no I didn't know you wanted me to" really?? what am I invisible? just because I had a large portion of my stomach removed doesn't mean I don't have a stomach at all. I do need to eat to survive. This is the second time this week he has done this, takes all the food, even after I tell him to take what he wants but to save some so I have something to eat later. Everything goes in one ear and out the other with him. So glad I asked him mid eating if he saved me any. So he proceeded to set aside his half eaten chicken for me.

I am just beginning, I am 2 weeks post op and have lost 31 pounds. 18 pounds since surgery. I am hoping to lose a lot more in 2014.

I'm just going to lay it all out there because I really don't know what to do with it. I seriously feel like a prisoner in my own home and it's not just because of my weight. To start with I live in a rural area where there isn't really any place to walk to, secondly I do not have a drivers license because I am very short (5 ft tall) and very over weight so I have a difficult time reaching the gas and brake pedals and my stomach ends up pressed against the steering wheel so I have this horrible fear of causing an accident. We only have one car to begin with and can not afford a second car and my husband constantly works so I am stuck home every day with my 3 year old. It gets boring very quickly around here and I find myself in the same place every single day, on the couch with my laptop on my lap. The only time I am able to get out of the house is when my husband takes me to the grocery store to buy groceries. I look forward to that day of the week. When I ask him if we can go take a walk in the mall or something he's always too tired to do it because he works so much. I have no friends or family who live nearby, they all live over 2 hours away and I have horrible social anxiety so making friends is very difficult for me. So I literally feel stuck and I don't know what to do about it? My goal for this year is to try and lose enough weight so I feel comfortable enough behind a steering wheel and I am going to try and get my husband to teach me how to drive. I also hope that if I can lose weight I'll feel more comfortable talking to people face to face and maybe make some friends. I would love to be able to get my drivers license so I don't have to depend on my husband all the time. I want to be able to bring my daughter out and get her involved in activities where she can interact with other children her age. But in the meantime here I am, in the middle of winter (so I can't go outside if I want to breathe (asthma) ) stuck in this house all the time. I am literally busting at the seams to break out of here. What do I do with this? Sitting here all the time makes me so depressed.

I'm only 2 weeks post op but so far i'll be leaving behind 31 pounds!

Im familiar with the corset. I brought one that fits like a vest, and its actually also made to workout in. It works great, I wear it about 12 hrs out the day and it also trains your waistline. I have to order a smaller size because its not tight as it was because of the weight loss. What is the brand? and where did you find it? I would love something like that, once I lose most of my excess weight.