Beach Lover

If you can get 2 weeks take it!!! You will feel better after a week but your energy level will be very low. Give yourself the time if you can. Good luck to you!!

You look fabulous!! I am sure your family is so proud of you!! Keep it up!!

It is probably just a little to early for it. I have had five guys burgers without any problems but I was at about 5 months out when I did. I didn't try eating hamburger patties at all until I was about 3 months out. So try again at a later point and you may be able to handle it. Good Luck.

Hi all wanted to check in, I was sleeved yesterday--surgery went well and Dr. Lee my PA said I have beautiful anatomy, I bet he says that to all his sleeve patients!! Lol
Anyway my reaction to the anesthesia was tough!! I was very out of it in the recovery room shaky lots of aches and pains...some dry heaving, yucky spittle and a low grade headache, also nausea that lasted into this morning.. basically just laid here in and out of a light sleep...the nausea subsided once they took me off of the injectable pain meds and the anti nausea medication did help, so it came in waves instead of being constant...
Overall I'm doing well....I can say that now bc they gave me some lortab orally, which I'm told is liquid vicadin about 10 mins ago..and right now nothing really hurts except where the drain is...also they took out the catheter and I've been able to tinkle on my own, and have some ice chips and propel
Catering has been by twice, so my broth and Jello which I haven't touched yet is starting to pile up (that never would have happened before!!)...I'm not hungry at all...
I'm so happy there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel, I know there's a long road to go, but I'm still happy with my decision and just wanted to thank all of you for your support up to this point... reading everyone's preop and post op experiences had really prepared me for my own...
THANK YOU!!

To me.. Mushy means anything you can mush. Which means a lot of foods out there are mushable.
If you can smash it with a fork.. It's mushy ;D

I had surgery in June 2010 and reached goal in Dec of that same year. I didn't do any "formal" exercise at the gym, but I have a weighted ball at home, go up and down stairs and park as far as I can when I go shopping. I walk the mall.....as one doctor said, JUST MOVE, and I do.
That said, my calories were LOW during that six month losing period, starting out with less than 300 there for a couple of weeks, but from about week 3 on, I got a little more in. I slowly started getting more calories as time went on, between 350 and 800, NEVER more than 800 when I was losing and only that many off and on that last month. I have been maintaining for a little over 2.5 year and only get 1300 per day.
You'll have people tell you to UP your calories, bologna. Upping calories = weight gain, it isn't rocket science. I was at a WLS support group two nights ago and the PhD doctor said the same thing, but was a little more elegant about it. He said the 'starvation mode' and our bodies 'holding onto calories' is a myth. No proven statistics, ever. He said unless we are in a prisoner of war camp, low calories are not going to disrupt our metabolism. Now THAT makes sense.

Ok so you want to shrink your liver and that will come in the form of high Protein, low fat, low carb diet ... about 900-1000 calories a day. If you don't have to do an all liquid diet then say WOOOO HOOOOOOOOO and do a little dance I was on a strict diet ten days before with the last day being all liquid. You have plenty of time being on all liquids after the surgery so enjoy that food!

Oh my goodness! 4 weeks from today my husband and I will be flying to LA, spend the weekend enjoying California, then driving down to San Diego to meet up with the driver to take us to the Marriott in Tijuana! My surgery will be Monday morning on the 12th! I can't wait! It will be here before I know it! I just hope I do well on my pre op diet while we're enjoying the day at Universal Studios! ( yes, we're leaving the kids behind while we go play!! Haha)

OMG, You're better than me. I'd be furious with my mother. I would have been screaming and paging the nurses station to remove the intruder... then blame your "overreaction" on the pain meds....

Thanks! That is my biggest concern. I crave fresh fruits and veggies more than anything else now that I've detoxed away from salty/crunchy junk food.< /p>
So sad to have waited so long to realize real food tastes so much better than junk.
Better late than never.

I absolutely love your answer!! It is the God's hones truth and I would feel totally comfortable with giving that answer!!! Thank you so much that is what I was looking for! :)
This is why I love this forum................support and answers to things that trouble you!!
Thank you!!!

Hang in there! Your stomach will take some time to heal. Try some fish that is broiled and eat tiny bites. I find that to be very easy on the stomach. You should be able to eat this if you are trying eggs. It is much easier on the stomach. Your energy level can take some time to get back especially if you are dehydrated or not getting enough Protein. You can get dizzy and disoriented with this also. I always know when I didn't complete enough liquids or protein because this will happen to me. Have you tried Premier Protein drinks? They are excellent! You get 30g of protein with 1 shake. You can buy them at Sam's or costco. It seems to be the go to drink for most of us. As far as the stall is concerned it might be partly because you aren't getting your required protein or liquids. Your body thinks it's starving and is trying to hang on to whatever it can. My doctor told me "You will lose the weight as the math will win over the function of the body". Hang in there it will get better!!! Keep us posted!!

I absolutely love your answer!! It is the God's hones truth and I would feel totally comfortable with giving that answer!!! Thank you so much that is what I was looking for! :)
This is why I love this forum................support and answers to things that trouble you!!
Thank you!!!

To me, it's the beauty of being a grown up. I don't OWE anyone any explanations.
Truly, if someone came to me months from now and wanted to know why I hadn't told them or I opted to not tell them and then changed my mind, I'd just be honest. I wasn't really telling anyone because it was my journey and I wanted to get my feet under me and figure it out for myself before sharing with people.
~Kat

Thanks so much everyone for your concerns! I went in and had an upper GI and the doctor said everything looked good with my surgery. My chest is feeling a lot better today, but my stomach is still really queezy feeling and eating is pretty hard for me, so I'm going to call again tomorrow and just ask for some suggestions, because I'm glad my surgery is fine but I don't know why all the sudden I'm so nauseous feeling :/

I had my surgery over Christmas break. Just before I told someone I work with, someone who I knew had a big mouth. By the time break was over everyone knew -- made it so easy and saved me from having to tell people.

thanks everybody for the support and encouragement...it helps to know I am not alone or unique in my feelings...I am a little better today emotionally...one thing is that I know I shouldn't be weighing every day--even my NUT told me not to...the "problem" is that I truly suffer from OCD and if I don't weigh myself every day, I will obsess about it...after reading all of your posts and doing some soul-searching, I think more of what I am feeling is fear rather than frustration or self-pity...the fear is that I will fail--or that I am failing at this...the very real fear that I will stop losing weight now and this 30 pounds will be it...in many situations in life, I tell myself that I can't let fear hold me back and prevent me from fully enjoying and experiencing life...yet it seems to always come back to that on some level; i.e., fear seems to be the root of a lot of my challenges emotionally...I once read a book my therapist recommended that was titled something like Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway...I am going to try to make that my mantra for now until I get over this current emotional state...thanks again for "listening"

Chin up. Hugs, because we all get to have a pity party every now and again.
It's hard to accept and it's frustrating that we cannot set the pace for our weight loss. It's just a fact. We're all individual and cannot base our success or our feelings on comparisons to other people. Even two women the same height, weight and age will have varying journeys to goal. That's just how it is.
I lost, on average, just over six pounds a month. I had "only" 107 pounds to my goal and it took me 17 months to get there. It took six months just to shed the last 20 pounds. And then I got pregnant and had a baby! And now it's taken me several months just to get back to my maintenance window again.
You know what? I know we want fast results. We want the surgery to "count" and we view success as reaching goal quickly.
But the truth is that it doesn't really matter how long it takes you. You certainly didn't put on thirty pounds in just two months. But you've lost them. And you'll continue to lose. You just need to keep doing the right things and focus on your particular journey. The real goal here is to keep the weight off. Slow and steady with plenty of time to reinforce those new, healthier habits is going to benefit you far more than cutting your calories to nil and dieting your way to goal.
In the end, you'll realize that losing the weight is actually the easier part of this process. The hard part is keeping it off. So focus more on how you get to goal and what you're going to do to stay there, instead of on how quickly you make it to the finish line.
You're doing great and have nothing to be upset about, I promise.
~Cheri

It's ok to feel sorry for yourself! You've been through a lot! Look at all the changes in your body since surgery ! It takes time for your body Ito adjust to 1/2 your stomach being gone! Any way you look at it the body is in shock! Stalls happen! We have all had them! It also takes time for head to adjust to this new way of living! Look what your eating now compared to a year ago! Even though you feel tired & wonder what the hell did I do you know you are going to be so much better off in the near future! Hang in there eat your Protein and drink the fluids! You will be surprised one day when you get on the scale. & you've dropped 5 lbs! Don't weigh every day either! Once a week is enough! Your loosing inches also! Be sure and measure yourself if you have not done so all ready and then measure monthly! You'll be amazed at the inches you loose!!!

My doctor allowed me to eat mushies after leaving the hospital! I never had any problems eating or drinking and worried just like you. I worried because everyone else that was sleeved around the same time as me was required to be on liquids for atleast two week after surgery. Everyone told me I was risking getting a leak etc. I listened to my body and my doctor (Dr. Shillingford) and my body had no problem processing the foods at all! I never had any problems in the bathroom either and I think that is because I was eating a normal diet.
When I asked my doctor about the possibility of a leak he told me that the only way a leak will happen is if he the surgeon did not do his job properly. He said there is nothing I can do as the patient to cause a leak. I feel like he would not put his neck out there and put all the blame on himself if it were not true. Just a thought. I am just over 3 months out now and have lost 67 lbs. I have been eating solids since 1 week post op.

I just wanted to add that Dr. Shillingford was my surgeon also. He is and was awesome! I was a little weary because there was no mention of him at all on the boards before I had my surgery but after researching I verified and found out the he is a fabulous surgeon.
I have not had one problem with eating or drinking either. I have not even puked once since surgery. I was sleeved 03/29/2013 and I have lost 67 lbs. I traveled from North Florida to use him due to his excellence and his price for self pay!

You will hear from both perspectives on this. It's a hotly and frequently debated topic around here.
I say do what works for YOU. If you don't want other people to know, you certainly have that right. I mean, there's no expectation that people know all of our medical details. I didn't tell anyone when I had surgery to repair a hernia a couple of years ago nor did I tell everyone when I had to have surgery for endometriosis. In my mind, we all have the right to whatever amount of privacy works for us.
I've read implications that if you don't tell you aren't proud and I don't think that's true. I'm enormously proud of my progress and *I know how hard I've worked and the adjustments I've had to make in my life.
I have explained it like this, to the very few friends that do know I had VSG...it's not a secret, but it's private. It's something I don't want the general public to be privy to, partly because I feel like there's a lot of judgment that comes with WLS. Also, I didn't want the unending scrutiny of what I was eating, how much I was losing, etc. I still am not really comfortable with the attention when someone sees me for the first time in several months and notices the weight loss...I just don't love the attention.
I DID opt to tell a couple of my very closest girlfriends and my boyfriend. I told my siblings, one of whom spilled the Beans to my mother...who I hadn't intended on telling. Her response was "I didn't think you were THAT big. How much do you weigh, to warrant surgery? And are you *sure you have tried everything else? I know if you put your mind to it, you could do it the right way." All of the things I knew she'd say that I didn't want to hear.
I know that there's always the possibility that someone will tell someone else, in confidence of course, but if it happens, I will deal with it then. Again, do what works for you. If shouting it from the rooftops and being able to share your story works, then more power to you! If you would rather keep it quiet and not share, then do that. And you know what? You might change your mind about telling...and that's ok, too.
To this point, if anyone who I haven't shared with asks how I've lost weight (honestly, only one person has asked,,,most people just comment that I look good), I say I changed my eating habits and am exercising, both of which are true.
~Kat

This is a good example of believing and knowing what should be happening with your body. You handled this correctly. I am so glad you got that 2nd chance and things are moving in the right direction for you now! I'm sorry you went through the first one and it was such a disappointment but I am also glad you shared your story to prevent this from happening to others. I wish you the best outcome ever!! Keep us posted!!

HCG was the last "diet" I tried in desperation before I became a sleever..it was another failure
I've seen a few co-workers have 15-40 lb successes with it..only to gain it back..
I'll stick with my natural sleeve and the natural behavior modification I'm learning with it, thank you very much..plus it naturally helps me keep more of my money in my pocket

I told no one, either. Everyone thinks I am going WW & the gym for the gazillionith time. I think my health is my business..I didn't want to worry family or friends...and I just honestly don't want anyone to know I had wls. You will get lots of feedback saying to be loud and proud about it...but the way I look at it..that's not the best route for everyone in this journey. Do what is best for you. Best of luck to you!