Butterflyhigh

You definitely need to work on your daily hydration levels. It's always been a challenge for me...and I ONLY drank Water pre-op, nothing else. I just never ever seemed to get in 8 glasses per day. Post-op, plain water is too dense and makes me feel ill. I buy Vitamin Zero Water which is lightly flavored and try to get 2 of those in per day plus the three Protein drinks. As for breaking a stall, I just experienced a four week stall. I bounced around between the same two pounds. I ignored it and just keep focusing on hydration and protein. I weight myself everyday but don't obsess over the actual weight. Honestly, it barely registers, only enough to see if it's moving down or holding steady. Suddenly, after four weeks of no real progress, I started loosing about .5lbs per day for a solid week. Then about .25lbs for the second week. Now I'm leveling out again, again just ignoring the stall, and continuing to focus on hydration and protein. Over the course of our entire WLS journey...a three, four, or five week stall isn't really a big deal. Just make sure you are sticking to your surgeon's diet and you won't go wrong!

I'm 5'6.5" The smallest I've ever been was size 10....and that was maaaaany years ago. The largest was size 24. I kept telling myself "please let me get to a size 8...please let me get to a size 8". I just bought size 6 jeans!!!! I cannot tell you how unbelievable that is. I never even considered a 6 to be a possibility. Me in a pair of size 6 skinny jeans and leather boots just about makes me want to faint....I am so damn hot!! haha Good Luck to you!

It's very hard to hit Protein goals in the beginning. The more you heal the more you will be able to consume in a day. I spend so much less money at the grocery store and restaurants now that I am post-op that I don't feel bad for dropping $100 on Protein Bars and drinks. I LOVE this high protein hot chocolate drink. Fast Track Hot Chocolate. I'll have one for Breakfast and one at the end of the evening. Each is 15g protein. I don't think it was until around 6-8 weeks before I began hitting protein and hydration goals. It's just plain hard to get enough food/drink in the stomach before then. Don't worry yourself too much. It will come.

I was really surprised about the beef jerky too. No trouble digesting it. Actually, it is a slider food for me. I can eat a lot of it at one time and it doesn't make me feel ill, so I need to watch myself because the sodium content is crazy high. Another good food for me is Hummus. My grocery carries a white bean hummus which is higher in protein and tastes even better than traditional chickpea hummus. Love that stuff. When I was on full liquids I blended a half banana into my shakes and it sat so heavy and made me ill that I haven't tried it since. I'm sure I'd be fine now. I can eat nearly everything now, but most things just don't appeal to me anymore. Yay!!

Yeah, I had problems with cold the first couple of weeks. I would dilute apple juice w/water and heat it in the micro. It was so so soothing to my sleeve. I get a brand called Fast Track. My surgeons office sells it. Each packet (mixed w/ 8oz water) is 15g. Protein. The hot chocolate comes in all sorts of flavors...I'm loving the raspberry and mint.

In the beginning I had a few incidents of uncontrollably stuffing something in my mouth and chewing it up. Most of the time I would end up spitting it all out because I was scared of hurting my sleeve incision. It does get easier. It feels like your brain is calling out to eat junk...I actually think it's because our brains do indeed become physically addicted to certain foods (usually high carb crap like chips). But it does get easier. The longer you go without the crap food, the less it appeals to you. Before long you will find that you can throw food away instead of eating it, and that you can handle and cook foods which you don't even want to eat. It's pretty powerful to scrap uneaten food into the garbage can. Before VSG I treated my stomach like the garbage can!! I could never throw food away, I would quickly inhale it first. Don't beat yourself up. CowgirlJane was right...you don't want to or deserve to get stuck in a guilt/shame cycle over ten stupid chips. Just throw those suckers out, don't buy anymore, and move forward. Good Luck!!

I don't know what to say about your impending doctor's appointment except for Good Luck. What I would like to say is that I am also an emotional binge eater. Luckily I was only required to do a short 3 day pre-op diet, but I know that there is no way I could have been 100% compliant with a long-term pre-op diet. That's why I needed the surgery...I did not have control over the food, the food and emotions had control over me. I am only three months post-op so there is a long road ahead of me. But up until this point the surgery has been like hitting a giant RESET button my relationship with food. It's good that you are thinking about how you will cope when your biggest coping skill is gone. Replacing eating with other coping skills, viewing food as energy for your body and not a band-aid for emotions, turing eating into a numbers game (counting protein/hydration/dropped pant sizes/lost pounds), will all lead to you reclaiming the power over your eating habits. So I guess my point is....even if you struggle with emotional eating pre-op it does necessarily mean that you will fail post-op. It sounds like you have the right thinking and introspection.

It's so great to read everyone's results and goals!! This is when WLS gets FUN! I just bought my first pair of skinny jeans and pared them with tall leather boots and a M tee-shirt. I look cute! I can't believe I am a thin woman!! Congratulations to all my fellow losers and Good Luck to those just starting!!

I think being successful at this WLS and being a binge eater depends on a few things. Obesity is a symptom of a larger problem...over eating. Overeating is a symptom of a larger problem...usually psychological in nature. Unless that root problem is understood and addressed you are only applying a band-aid to the illness. It can take a long time to understand WHY you binge. I felt like I was prepared going in to this journey, and I was. But one thing that I underestimated was the power behind my food addiction. The first couple of times post-op that I had conflict with my ex-husband...stress, frustration, hurt feelings....and could not eat those feelings down was very upsetting. I think I just walked around the house crying and screaming. Normally I could eat those feelings away and dull the pain with food and fullness. But now I am left to sit with them. It was very difficult and even though I knew it would be hard, I was amazed by the power I had given food in my life. You have to develop new coping skills. Journaling, walking, exercising, playing an instrument. Everybody has different ways. I bought a classic 74 Chevy truck and drive it around to nowhere. It's soothing to me, I enjoy it. It's meditative and gives me time to process my feelings instead of burying them under a food coma. I also take long walks with the dog around my property. Gardening and pulling weeds is good for me. WLS has been like hitting a giant RESET button on my relationship with food. I cut the strings, but I know that the tool will loose it's power over time. The early months give us an opportunity to start on a clean slate with coping skills and food issues. Lot's of people can gain the weight back if they don't "fix" the things that are really wrong here. As big a deal as WLS is, it is still just a band-aid for a deeper problem. Fix the deeper problem, leverage the power of the VSG tool, and rewire your brain's relationship with food and you cannot fail! Good Luck!

As every one has pointed out...you are loosing weight at a really impressive rate! That's fabulous! Keep this in mind; you've got to have realistic expectations for yourself when the weight loss slows down. Without realistic expectations you will be at risk of loosing your motivation and falling off track. Obsessing over the scale, comparing yourself to others, and being hard on yourself is not the way you want to start this new Life. Take it easy...love yourself...relax and settle in for the long haul. This is a Journey. Focus on changing your lifestyle, not the numbers on a scale, and you will not fail. You are going to be a great success at this! Just believe in yourself and settle in for the next year of incredible changes.

There are really no tips or tricks to relaxing your sleeve. It's not going to relax. It is incredibly swollen right now...red, irritated, swollen, healing. Only time will allow you to eat more. Around week seven I could tell the swelling had gone down. Suddenly I could eat more quantity, albiet still a very small amount. I can't tell too much of a difference between weeks seven to week thirteen. Also...you may want to double check with your nut about the three meals + one snack per day. Most doctors orders I've observed are for six small meals per day. It is very challenging for me to eat that many times per day but I notice I feel SO much better physically if I can do that. Good luck! Keep reading. You'll learn a lot from these forums.

It's been a bit of a struggle for me as well. Not too bad, but there are times when I just need to have a sip or two to at the end of my meal to kinda help everything go down. My nut said that long-term it will be fine to have about a shot glass worth of liquid with a meal. I'm nowhere near that....just a sip or two and only occasionally. I've had a harder time getting my liquid in post-op vs pre-op because I was in such a habit of drinking two big glasses of Water with each meal in order to help weight loss. Now that habit is counterproductive. Just another life adjustment to make!! Good Luck!

I haven't read all of the responses so I apologize if I advise something already posted. Water was too dense for me to drink for quite awhile. I would mix 1:1 apple juice to water. It was just enough to cut the denseness of the water while not making the apple juice too watered down. I would also heat in the microwave and it would sooth my sleeve. For the past two weeks or so regular water has been fine. It just takes a bit of time.

I have days like that occasionally. Had one today. For no reason that I can pinpoint I just feel like Blech all day. I eat and drink less than a normal day. Those sick days are occasional and becoming fewer. I just chalk it up to the healing that is still continuing inside the body. Feel Better!

I am always amazed at how many life changes can take place in the span of one year. One year ago my husband and I divorced. I moved to a new state/home with two daughters. I was crushed, defeated, depressed, and in deep deep mourning for the end of my relationship and family. Just getting from one day to the next was difficult. My heart was broken and I felt lost in the pain and grief. Today I am 10 weeks post-op, 30 pounds lighter, SO MUCH HAPPIER, very energetic, strong, powerful, sexy, confident, independent, and in love with myself. I love my 'single' status. I love that, for the first time in my life, I am devoting so much focus to taking loving care of myself. I am a happier person, a better mother, a better friend, and a stronger woman. The changes I have made to myself in the span of one year have been stunning. Independent of the WLS I have worked on my inner self, really loving and caring for me, so much so that the inner Happiness and Love that I feel shines outward. It's visible to others. Just you wait....just you wait for one year and you shall be amazed at yourself too. Good Luck on your Journey!!

I think pretty much every place has a grilled chicken sandwich, no bun. A piece of grilled chicken, a bit of mayo, slice of tomato on top....that can be two or three meals for me.

Yep. Total emotional binge eating day for you. It's good that you've identified why you ate like that...now you've got to figure out what to do instead of eating your emotions away. For me, this was one of the hardest adjustments to make in the first 3-4 weeks. I couldn't eat my feelings aways so I had to actually SIT with them...raw and painful and undiluted. I felt lost. Somehow I ended up driving my old 75 Chevy pick-up around the back country roads that surround me. Going nowhere in particular, I would just drive. It was a stress relief. I also found out that jumping up and taking a walk around outside does the same thing. We just need to replace the unhealthy food coping method with a healthy new coping method. Easier said than done.....but it can totally be done. It's Self Love. Show yourself some Love by giving yourself a new skill to lean on.

Everything the previous posers said are Truths. It is okay to advance your diet slower than the guidelines. You will feel better and better every week that passes. Suddenly one day you will start drinking and eating and feel 'normal' afterward. Your energy levels will rise as your Protein and Water intake rise. I had a constant feeling of "Blech" for the first several weeks. It got so I was dreading eating and drinking. It finally dawned on me that the water I was struggeling to force down throughout the day was way to heavy and dense for me! I switched to diet iced tea and viola! A total turn about in my daily feelings of blech. That was several weeks ago and I am now able to drink water again without adverse effects. Hang in there. What they say is true....it get's better!

Hi! I am really in no position to be a mentor as I am just fumbling my way through recovery and readjustment to this new way of living, but I can share with you my experiences. I was sleeved apx. 9-10 weeks ago. I am 5'6", weighed an average of 214 with BMI of 34ish. I was 197 day of surgery with a BMI of 32. I've lost 30lbs since then. Over 50% of my excess weight. I'm down two pant sizes (almost a third!). Recovery was pretty easy...I was able to sleep normal after just two days, drink pretty easily, no pain at incision sites. Mt two biggest adjustments have been learning when to stop eating/take small bites/chew & eat slow...and learning new stress coping skills since I can no longer "eat my feelings away". I kept my surgery secret from everyone in my life...at first. The day before surgery I told my best friend and my mother. Just today I told my sister. I feel like I had to do more in-depth explaining and justifying of my decision than perhaps a higher BMI persons who has co-morbidities has to explain. Here are some of my main points: 1. The science is showing that the surgery has more successful long term results for lower BMI individuals. 2. Low BMI'ers have an easier recovery and less complications. 3. Lot's of people have cosmetic surgeries everyday....this is a surgery with real health benefits in addition to cosmetic improvements. 4. I need something to physically keep me from binge eating. I NEEDED a smaller capacity stomach. 5. Having this surgery has been like hitting the "reset" button on my life-long eating habits and psychological attachment to food. I've been released from a 1000 pound emotional anchor I've been dragging around for decades. 6. It may seem very extreme but it's really not. It's a laproscopic surgery not a full blown operation, quick recovery time, does not reroute the digestive system, and allows me to eat any food in limited quantities. We're not loosing an organ...we're just making it smaller! 7. The research shows stomach cancer survivors who've had a complete surgical stomach removal have normal life expectancies after surgery (bar any other cancer related complications). Living with a smaller stomach will not affect life expectancy. 8. In this worldwide battle against obesity, pre-emptive steps are becoming more important. Why wait until our BMI is 40 and we're 100+ pounds overweight with co-morbidities when the medical profession can now step in before it's gets so out-of-hand? Today I am still learning so much about my new body. Being aware of my Last Bite has become much better. At first I was eating a few too many bites and felt miserable. Getting in the recommended Protein and liquids is an everyday focus. Eating every few hours has been a challenge, especially when I'm at work. Replacing food with other coping methods has been challenging as well. There was some time around weeks 4-5-6 that I had moments of regret. Mostly it was when I could only eat three or four bites of food. I just wanted to eat something! I just wanted to take a bite, chew, swallow, bite, chew, swallow without all of the thought and uncomfortableness. Suddenly around week 7 my stomach swelling must have gone down a lot and I could eat more....not a lot, but enough that I can feel almost 'normal' when going out to eat. I have found so much POWER in the fact that I can eat just a small amount of food and be satisfied, that I can leave food on my plate, and that I can order the healthy protein rich item instead of the junk-food carby menu item. I finally feel like I control my eating, nit that my eating controls me. This was expensive...$14,000 out of pocket, but it is the best decision I could have made for myself. I see it as an act of Self-Love. I love myself enough to make this very tough and serious decision. I love myself enough to sacrifice my comfort-zone food habits and embark upon this wls journey. Good Luck to you in your journey!! I've learned so much from reading other's experiences and have a lot of appreciation for those who've taken the time to be a supportive part of this community. Please continue to share your questions and experiences.

I think that after six months and you think it is "doomed" then it is and you should not waste anymore of your time or his. I speak from experience. Life is short. You each have your own apartments so this is super easy (logistically speaking). It's not fair nor mature to tell him your don't want to spend the nights together anymore all the while knowing that you want to just flat out be done with this relationship. Dragging it out is just setting you both up for a lot of arguments, drama, and emotional hurt. Again, I'm speaking from experience. Just tell him that you are both so different, you don't feel like it's a good 'fit', you respect him enough to be honest about your feelings, you want him as well as yourself to have the opportunity to meet the future husband/wife but can't as long as your together....blah blah blah..break it off gently and respectfully. Breaking up is hard to do.

Oh my goodness. Thanks so much for all this good information. I find it so helpful to read about the practices of successful losers. You are inspirational...not to mention smoking hot! Wowza!! I get so much out of reading your posts. Congratulations on your incredible transformation!!

I had a very easy recovery but started feeling the same as what you describe at around five and six weeks. I was also feeling very worn down from all the measuring of food, counting and tracking of Protein, focusing on chewing and sipping. Around week seven I figured out that Water was too dense and heavy. Drinking it was a major source of uncomfortableness but since that's all I've ever drank I didn't put two & two together. I also found a few new food items that I could eat without feeling nauseous and overly full...beef Jerky, scrambled eggs, shrimp, very soft chicken. Now at week eight or nine (I can't remember!) I do feel much better for the majority of the day. It's a big learning curve. The constant Yuck feeling could be eating too quickly, eating too much, eating food that is too heavy or rich, not chewing to a pureed consistency, etc. Also I understand that many people develop lactose intolerance post-surgery. Pay attention to how dairy affects you. On those days when I don't feel great I remind myself that this early stage is just temporary. One day we will eat good healthy food in small amounts and not think twice about all of this. Just push through.

Nine weeks post-op. This is where I'm at.... I finally figured out that Water is just way to dense for me to tolerate easily. It took me seven weeks to realize that my daily feelings of "Ugh-Blech" was the water! Weird because that's all I've ever drank. I've switched to green tea which has helped tremendously. I went on vacation for two weeks and kinda fell of track. Not in the eating bad food or too much food type of misstep...but of not eating enough misstep. I was so busy and active and totally out of my normal routine. I think I've just been eating 2-3 times per day! I stick to Protein but I think I was only averaging 300-400 calories per day at most. As a result I only lost a couple of pounds...but my jeans have gotten baggier around the butt, so inches must be dropping still. Beef Jerky is my friend. I can eat it, not feel sick, get in protein, chew meat, and feel like I'm doing a good thing for myself. Please tell me if Beef Jerky is a good/bad snack choice?? I ate a bit of steak for the first time last night, three ounces and I couldn't finish it. I cooked it quite rare so it wasn't at all chewy. I am VERY happy about this! I HAVE A CLAVICLE BONE!!! I thought my pregnancies swallowed it up, but no....it's was just buried under a layer of fat. Same goes for the hip bones. I can feel them again so I know they are there too! My mind is a tricky bit**. Everybody can see my weight loss. I can see it in pictures but I can't tell by looking in the mirror that I've lost anything. I look exactly the same to myself in the mirror. I've lost almost three pant sizes and I can't see it (other than in my clavicle YAY!). I know it's my mind playing tricks on me and I wonder when it will catch up?? To anyone reading this in the early stages...it's true. It Does Get Easier. Day by day gets a bit easier. How you feel at two and three weeks post-op will not be how you feel at seven and eight. At about the four week mark I was really feeling like I made a mistake...that being fat and overweight was a fair trade to being able to eat a big plate of food. It's not and I don't feel that way today. WLS is NOT FOR SISSY'S. This is a 10% physical and 90% mental game. I've had to learn new ways of coping with stress. I've had to say goodbye to the old comfortable methods of rewarding myself. I've learned new self-comforting techniques. I've learned that loosing weight is not going to fix me. I have got to fix myself.....and that happens through good ol' fashioned, roll up your sleeves, deal with your inner bulls**t, blood sweat and tears Hard Work. The sleeve is a very awesome tool...one that has finally cut the chains and allowed me to take a step back from my food addiction...but it is apparent that it is ONLY a tool to be used. Not a magic wand to be waved. I've also learned that I really love myself. I really do! Each one of us does. We would not have chosen this WLS for ourselves if we didn't have love in there somewhere. I have not been treating myself kindly for many years...but it stops now. It actually stopped when I made the commitment to surgery, but NOW is when I get to shower myself with love and good care. Good Food. Healthy Food. Good Portions. Good Choices. Exercise. Right Mental Thinking. Awareness. Self-Forgiveness. Self-Acceptance. Self-Reliance. Accountability. All because of a little surgery that took away my ability to drown out everything around me with food. Edit: Oops...I'm Eight Weeks post-op! haha

Sodium. That's an unknown for me. My nut says to only focus on Protein and sugars (carbs)....not fat, calories, or sodium. But for me, too much sodium makes my hands swell overnight. I don't really know what is a good/normal/healthy sodium level??

I am about 7 weeks post-op (I think) and have had to induce vomiting three times. It's nothing I ever want to do again, but at the time I was just miserable with the pressure and sickness that taking one or two too many bites can bring on. It has helped me learn my limit. In all my life I've never been able to make myself vomit. Unfortunately (or fortunately) my first purposeful vomit was in a very disgusting public restroom. All I had to do was close my eyes, think about the filth I was leaning over, and the puke just happened. Ugh. Mostly, I just try reeeeealy hard to be aware of what my last bite should be. I'm getting better at being able to recognize what my last 3-2-1 bites are.