Justinh125

How kind! I'm glad it helped.

way to go, danls51

Thanks for the support!! Its great to find other people who have a shared experience of short term success but mog long ye success. This time might be different!

go talk to your on-call doctor or the place that did your surgery. better to err on the side of keeping the peace.

go talk to your on-call doctor or the place that did your surgery. better to err on the side of keeping the peace.

Yep, I'm just here to Celebrate, but I was just so excited to see a number lower than 200lbs for the first time since around 2007.....I was just blown away!!! It's really happened!!!! And I don't ever have to go back ever again....this surgery has already changed my life!!!! YES!!!!

Deep breath. Everything is going to be ok. Going through this phase while your new stomach heals is a small trade-off relative to the benefits that might be on the other side. Just think about how much healthier you're going to be. That's what got me through the liquid phase.

I also have a wonderful friend in our beloved family dog, Louie, and he kept me company in those first couple of weeks after surgery. When things were feeling lousy, I asked Louie for support, and he was happy to give it in the way our pets love us.

But even if you don't have a fluffy friend to lean on, remember that this is just temporary, and it won't be long before you can eat just about anything (in small portions,) and I like to think of it as "investing" in my long-term health. And please don't hesitate to vent to this forum. Sometimes it's good to "let it out."

It took me like 10 days, but then everything just returned to normal. I think just let nature run its course.

Unless your doc has explicitly allowed it, don't jump the gun on the solid food. You want to give your new stomach time to heal and form scar tissue around the staple line.

In the beginning, most doctors recommend walking, but he'll probably also need some sleep too. It's ok to rest to help your body heal. I'm sure if you really put your mind to it, you could think of some nice ways to keep him "entertained."

Think of the unhealthy junk you see on tv as like cigarettes. A lot of ex-smokers tell me the now find even the smell disgusting, and they know how harmful it was.

Justin, that's what I worry about. Eating the wrong foods. Don't get me wrong, right now I am at the point where I see my friend (who has the sleeve) eating the same crap she did before she got it and hasn't lost anywhere near where she should be a year later. I'm wondering if I'm gonna end up like her. It scares me.

Even if she's eating the same foods, I bet she's eating much smaller portions. It won't be as effective as someone eating healthy food, ,but still better than before.

Different people seem to shrink down at different rates. It doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong. It's also important to remember that ghrelin isn't the only hormone that regulates hunger. It's one of them, and this surgery does seem to decrease levels of it. But scientists have shown that when you decrease one hormone, frequently others "take up the slack" so to speak.

I still feel hunger, and sometimes it's a pretty strong feeling of hunger. But I've found I seem to do fine as long as when I'm hungry, I eat the foods my doc wants me to eat. Small portions make me feel full, and then I'm not hungry anymore.

I know that many people say that this is "just as hard" as any other thing they've tried. I'm sure for some it is, but for me it isn't. Historically, by this point in any kind of food-restriction program, I would have had a "breakdown" and be chowing down on a large pizza or a bucket or fried chicken or something by now. I wouldn't be able to handle it.

And yet, that hasn't happened. Not at all. I haven't had even one whole slice of pizza (though I did have a few bites of one slice a few days ago.) The difference between then and now is now I don't have that desire to just go to town and eat everything in sight. When I get hungry, I eat, but it's just a little bit and that's good enough for me. That's why I think this is much "easier" than anything else I've ever done.

I'm glad , after debating to post it, That I did. You've really helped and this is a fantastic forum! I'm glad for your response and honesty!

Don't ever hesitate to post on here. Lots of people are happy to share their experience with you!!! Chances are, if you've experienced it, someone else has too.

Omg thanks to the two of you. I seriously felt like that... but I didn't want to say it out loud. I truly felt like I had my regular stomach and I thought it was just me. Thanks so much for the support!

That's what makes forums like this great. We can come on here and ask honest questions and get honest answers from others who have experienced the same thing. According to my doctor, one of the most common things he hears while people are on the liquid diet is, "you forgot to do the surgery!" He says his concern at that point is the people will start eating solid food before their stomach is ready.

I wasn't concerned after hearing that, and sure enough, once I was allowed to eat solid food, I realized that he most certainly did the surgery, and I can see the results when I tighten my belt buckle.

Are you diabetic? Have you been checking your blood sugar regularly? What is it? If it's low, by all means have something sweet to bring it up. Fluids are the best to get it back to 100mg/dl quickly.

If you're not diabetic, and eating didn't help, you might want to see a doctor. If your blood pressure is dropping, and especially if you're on blood pressure meds, it might also be orthostatic hypotension (blood pressure too low.)

Still some mild bumps at about 5 weeks. Nothing serious, and the wounds seem to be healing well. On the other hand, I'm kind of a hairy guy, so as my chest hair grows back, it's "hiding" the scars so in a few weeks I doubt anyone will be able to notice anyways. I suppose one of the good things about having all this Russian genetics

It's normal. I can drink like no other and my dr said it won't stretch your stomach. Your stomach will stretch if you deliberately overeat. And it takes years to. Thats what my dr told me anyways.

Yep, it would be a very slow, very gradual process. And even then, your stomach will never get back to full size. Not even close.

Not silly to be worried. It's normal. This is all new, and it will take time to get used to these different sensations. If anything, it's a good thing that fluids move well--it probably means there's not excessive swelling and clearly the path from esophagus to sleeve to intestine isn't obstructed. That's good, you want things to move in that order.

For the first few months after surgery, and especially the first few weeks, your sleeve is going to be swollen and your body is going to be working on healing it, and forming scar tissue around the staple line. For most, this reduces the volume of solid food you can eat (once you get there.) Over time, the swelling goes down and you can have a bit more. But fluids pass very quickly, and there's no way to "stretch" your sleeve out this early in the process.

As my doc. explained when I was noticing how easily fluids went down, he said that some patients do so well with fluids that they tell him they think he "forgot to do the surgery." I was wondering that myself until I was allowed to eat solid foods. I promise, once you switch to solid foods, you'll quickly learn that there's not much room in your sleeve.

If anything, that you can get fluids down well is a good sign that there's no stricture for the time being, and that's healthy. Just keep following your doctor's advice and recommendations, and I'm sure you'll be fine.

Please don't worry! I had the exact same experience a few days after my surgery. Fluids will go right past the valve at the bottom of your stomach, so they just go right into your intestines. Therefore, you won't feel particularly full just drinking fluids. Sure, it's extremely important and necessary as your sleeve is healing. But it's only been a few days, and your new stomach is still healing...I can assure you 100% that no "stretching" is happening at this point.

As soon as you start with more solid food, you'll find that the feeling of "full" comes right back, and you won't be able to eat all you want, even if you can drink more Fluid than you might expect. It's largely a matter of the valve at the bottom of the stomach.

Looks like you also subtracted 10 years!!! Congratulations on your wonderful success! Here's to your continued good health.

I can't do much more than on egg at a time, unless I just eat the egg whites. If I do that, I can get closer to about 3 eggs of just the egg white. I can do about one piece of chicken sausage (sometimes 3/4 of one) before I'm full. So I can't imagine trying to fit both a piece of the sausage and an egg in one meal. It would be too much for me.

Hey, my surgeon's "first assist" had clearly stepped out to smoke a cigarette before my surgery then tried to blame it on me. I haven't smoked in years!!! No big deal. You'll be fine. People lie about smoking all the time apparently.

I got bored with the fluids too, but remember that soon it will be a distant memory, and you need to do it to help your body heal. broth was probably the best at killing hunger for me.