elfnow

There aren't data yet regarding 10 years out with the sleeve - the sleeve hasn't been around that long. The best you can do is maybe 5 years, and IDK if any of those people are here!!

Having said that, if you're just curious about ANY weight loss surgery 5+ years out, you can go to the Bypass groups.... But remember it's a different surgery. However, 5+ years should be a similar situation because that's when you get a read on whether people really changed their approach to food vs really didn't.

Then again, those results are so individualized that you might not get much good data from the information.

Honestly, as a size 28 for so long (and a tight 28 at that!) I would love to be a 16. Idk what I would do with myself if I got to a 12!!!! I haven't been a size 12 since I was 13-14 years old. And haven't been a size 16 since I was 15....

Heck I haven't been under 260 lbs since age 18!!!

So this is like all new territory here...

Okay clock me in for 316 lbs. goal in 4 weeks is to get to 300 even. We'll see!

Hi Seela, isnt theee a drink in US called gatorade and its used by athletes, I read about it on this site.

There is such a drink, but it has sugar in it .... The lower-calorie version hasn't got AS MUCH but still some.... And some folks just don't like the flavors. I prefer Powerade Zero myself...

I have been going to a group "weight loss warriors" training program 3x a week... The 5k was part of our Program... we'll keep training and have another one in 2 months!! Maybe I'll get a better time?

Now I know I CAN do it!

Thing is, I broke my leg in June. Tib-fib fracture, car accident. My leg has been telling me that walking too far is a bad idea. I wasn't doing well training for the 5K til I went to my surgeon 2 weeks ago for my 4-week check and begged to use Naproxen (which he OK'd!!)

This morning I thought I'd take a naproxen and a leftover dilaudid.... But at the last minute I'm jogging behind the group and realized I forgot to take the dilaudid... So I did it all with just naproxen. My leg threatened to hurt, then hurt some, then it just hurt "some" for the whole time, it didn't hurt WORSE. I called its bluff!! Hahah

Once you are at least 3 months out from surgery, go find a pair of jeans you wore prior to surgery and try them on. You'll be shocked! Better yet, when you are having a bad day go put on those pants, because that will remind you how far along you've come in your journey. So today I was trying to decide which type of jeans to buy online because the ones I just started wearing 3 weeks ago are already too big but even worse they are too long (I'm short, only 5ft tall), actually the "too big" part doesn't bother me at all. So I tried on an old pair of jeans that I wore just days prior to surgery to check the length, and OMG I couldn't believe how big they were on me. It took all I could just to hold them up as I checked the length on the jeans with my sneakers on. I swear there must of been at least a good foot between my body and the front of the jeans as I held them out from my stomach. Well I'm already down 4 sizes. As embarrassing as this is to admit, I was a size 28 and I'm a girl (a guy in a size 28 is good, but a girl?) I am now fitting in to a size 20. Super excited about that! I wonder when the rest of my family will notice my weight loss? Only my observant aunt noticed when I was only 2 months out from surgery. No one knows I had weight loss surgery except for my husband.

Ree, I was a 28 too!! I'm down to a 26 now in jeans, and a 22/24 in workout clothes. I'm 6 weeks out and just bought new jeans at Lane Bryant when my friend remarked, "dayum girl those jeans are HANGIN' off your a**!!"

It's so good!!

Yes, I did. I walked it. A 5K. Actually slightly more. With uphill and downhill.

It was actually more than 5k, it was 3.6 miles... I did it in 1 hour 18 minutes, I was the slowest person. But I did it.

There was no 911 call, no sirens, no "hey come get me when YOU finish"... Not even any resting or even any STOPPING. I didn't STOP!!! I kept walking. Forever.

My legs are a little noodly, my guts are VERY unhappy with me (I stayed hydrated just fine and didn't puke but am feeling "lower GI" issues)....

I did it!!!!!!!!!!

That leads to the question, how many of the people in the study were deficient before the surgery and are still deficient? I think I'd have to read the actual PubMed article further to see where the gaps are...

Actually there's carbs in onions but not many, unless you ate half of an onion.... It is a root, which stores starch and sugars.... What's the carb count on the Protein shake? That's where your real carb intake will probably be.

25 is like Atkins-initial-phase low, which is pretty dang low.

We do, at least for extra energy (while our bodies want to be slugs because not enough food / conserving energy)....

Good news is there are SO many b-12 formulations AND my doc said one can just swallow it vs letting it dissolve slowly... So I'd you hate the taste just swallow it instead.

At the moment I gulp all my pills at once. Iron? Calcium? F*ck it. I'm taking a Vitamin at all, for now that's enough. I always run low Iron, so taking ANY improves me.

I could barely take any Vitamins while I was pregnant, and FORGET ABOUT taking them postpartum / while breastfeeding... I was like "f this I'll just eat all the food" ... Which I did... And now, surgery.

I have had a very hard time taking the multi every day, it makes me nauseous and I just think "ugh yuck."

I take:

a one-a-day multi that has Iron

A calcium citrate tablet (dissolves and absorbs without food)

A B12 supplement (I swallow it instead of dissolving it bc the taste is so annoying)

A D3 gelcap

And my 2mg folic acid, my Effexor xr, my Pepcid. It's all good...

And as far as I'm concerned "good enough for now". when I'm in more maintenance I can adjust more.

Remember that Sleeve hasn't been around very long, maybe 6 years. There aren't long-term studies about it yet - this is one of the few.

There's probably a lot of people who take Iron with their Calcium, which blocks the absorption of Iron. Reduced Vitamin D? GO OUTSIDE. Get some sun on your bare skin and don't wear sunscreen.

I don't know about zinc, but B12 and Folate can be taken separately and 400 mcg of folate really isn't enough. (I happen to take 2mg folic acid per day with my antidepressant, 5x "recommended").

Taking Vitamins is hard. Taking Vitamins on an empty stomach is REALLY HARD (and nauseating!) and not recommended for half the vitamins but is recommended for others... and taking iron separate from Calcium is hard to do in a Multivitamin.... Part of the issue, I'd wager, is "routine supplementation" versus the specialized supplementation that a post-surgical individual would need.

I have no real ideas on how to resolve this (aside from hints above)... It takes trial and error and personal Vitamin regiment versus "take a one-a-day"

I had a Chiropractor tell me once that you should drink 24 oz for every 50 pounds you weigh. Dunno if that's true, but it sure is a lot more than 48-64 ounces for me! I am 3 months out & for sure dehydrated, affecting my bms even, so I feel your pain. I try to add coconut Water as it's supposed to be more hydrating than just plain Water. My biggest issue is water just doesn't taste good anymore. I used to be a big water drinker, but now it's hard to get down, even with the flavor packets added. I keep thinking I would drink more if I used a straw, but not willing to try that as I'm afraid of the pain I will likely get from too much air in my system. I agree with the others though, you should try to call your Dr who did your surgery & at least talk to a nurse for advice.

24 oz for every 50 lbs... That's.... Um... A gallon plus a pint for me (144 oz). HAHAHAH I'm gonna have to get one of those beer-bong hats with water bottles in it, maybe I could get by with 128 oz (2 half-gallons)?? LOLOL that's assuming I'm a flat 300 lbs (I'm actually about 320 so that's another 12 oz water...)

I'm lucky to get 44, let alone 144.... Maybe that metric doesn't adhere to a linear scale...

I'll just walk around real life and have someone following me with an airbrush and cutting my crotch off to improve my "thigh gap" a la Target. Also maybe I could just smooooooth my arms out into freakishly long spider-monkey claw arms that's be super.

I had this amazing, well-worded, informative, and encouraging post alllllmost written and then my phone died. So what I'm going to say is this:

If you have any questions about "complete proteins" and what that shit even means (not as complicated as it sounds) then feel free to ask... The upshot is, "you don't need to worry about it if you eat meat and drink milk-based Protein shakes." And then "in the very beginning try to make the most of your Protein intake because it's so limited but later you don't have to worry as much".

Don't be scared!

Pre-op was SO hard!! I ended up having this chicken Soup with Brussels sprouts in it, and on days 3 and 4 I ate a LOT of that Soup. I called my dietician in a panic!! I didn't eat too far outside the lines (maybe 1300 cals instead of <1000) and I didn't eat ANYTHING that wasn't allowed... But I still worried!

On a couple days I ate an extra piece of cheese or had an extra 100-cal shake if I REALLY needed a snack. I drank a lot of chicken broth.

The very last day before surgery, I had extra cheese and a very narrow (like <1" wide) sliver of quiche, and I even ate the crust...

Still, I lost 20 lbs during the pre-op diet and my liver was WELL out of the way... So I think I did just fine.

You mean after surgery? On Day 12 I ate some Boars Head sliced turkey (day 10 I was practically delirious thinking about it but I held off til day 12....)

Oh hon!! *hugs* IT WILL get better!!

On day 2 I was so dry and thirsty yet nauseated, I didn't know what to do with myself... Day 3 I just laid down and rested... I was like "omfg what did I do, what have I done to myself, oh god I made my partner pay for this..."

(I was self-pay, and NO I DIDNT "make" him pay for it, I wasn't processing my antidepressants right!)

Anyway it got better. Sips from a 1-oz cup turned into sips from a little lidded 2-oz tupperware.... Turned into sipping a little more at a time, turned into being able to gulp again after a couple weeks.

For the first two weeks, I couldn't handle anything too cold or too hot - "cold" drinks were room-temp and "hot" drinks were body temp, up to maybe 100F. I still prefer room-temp to cold, but I can have warmer stuff now.

I admit I was never big on tooth-brushing (never got the habit down) but I started brushing my teeth 2x a day with biotene toothpaste because my mouth was so dry and gross from the shakes... Not eating any food to scrape the junk off, it was awful...

I spent a LOT of time in the shower, maybe 4-5 showers a day. I put Tegaderm plastic bandages over my incisions, and just relaxed in the shower. I'd lick Water off my hands sometimes too.

My sense of smell had also ramped up and I could taste my mouth and smell my ketosis-sweat and I felt awful (thus all the showering)...

Then at about 10 days I was basically delirious for food - I had this practically pornographic image of a turkey sandwich in my head - and I got some Boars Head no-preservative turkey slices and ate one thin slice VERY carefully and chewed it to paste and it was the most amazing delicious thing I had ever eaten.

It gets better. I promise.

Hi guys! This is my first thread and I'm a bit curious but also wanting to let me fiancé know about this rapid weight loss. I had my Sleeve done on March 11 so I am 9 days out. I am down 17.3 lbs. when I told my fiancé this, he seemed a bit shocked and concerned. He asked if this was a reasonable amount and I just said I wasn't sure and that everyone loses differently. His coworker had the surgery in February and lost 30 lbs in 5 weeks so he is going by her weight loss which I know isn't right because like I said everyone is different. I guess I'm just curious to know if this is a reasonable amount or should I be concerned? Any help would be greatly appreciated! :-)

I lost 20 lbs during my first 2 weeks on the pre-surgery diet.

I lost another 30 lbs over the next 2.5 weeks.

I stalled a bit (scale-wise) but have since lost another 5 lbs and I'm 6 weeks out now.

I started at 375, surgery weight was 355... I'm down around 320 now.

It's PERCENT to consider not POUNDS. In my first six weeks basically I lost 13% of my total body weight, or about 25% of my "excess" weight. The woman at your FI's work might have also lost 25% of her excess weight in the first couple weeks but she started out with less to lose.... Does that make sense?

You are on liquids and 9 days post op - there's basically no way to gain or maintain weight like that (I mean unless you drank 10+ shakes a day, gross).... So YES weight loss right now seems rapid. But once you get back to food, your body will readjust into a more comfortable pace. Weight loss is NOT a straight line, so even tho it seems dramatic now, it'll ease up and your SHAPE will change even if the scale pauses a little.

--Em

I am on my pre-op diet and having a hard time drinking the Protein drinks. I currently am drinking the Premier Protein ones from costco, the chocolate flavor. I don't really care for the thickness of it as I have never been a fan of any kind of shakes. Do you think it would hurt if I poured it over ice and drank it that way?

You totally can!! Or blend it with ice!

Hang in there! This is one of the hardest parts!! Push through days 3-4 and you'll be OK!

Biotene!! That's the kind I use, anyway... It's spendy but it's awesome.

These are all excellent questions to ask the doc tomorrow!!

I would wager that it depends on how bad the situation is now. CAN it wait or do they need to go in ASAP? I do know that some docs do a preemptive gall bladder removal during surgery, so yes it CAN be done...

For some people, 48-64 oz isn't "enough"; you have to consume more. Are you drinking any caffeine or alcohol (each requires additional Water intake)?

My best advice is to just "try to get more", which is sad and crappy advice here. We need some of those beer-bong helmets so we can stick two 2-liter bottles of Water on our heads and constantly drink all day (aw crap, straw... Dang it)

Does anyone mind if I steal the dead horse's tail? My WLS-related Hair loss hadn't fully recuperated and the horse's color matches mine perfectly

I LOL'd.

You people are making my point exactly! You see, an "apology" DON'T ERASE THE HURT THAT IT'S CAUSED but now-a-days people seem to think they can say anything and if it causes a big ruckus, just apologize and move on. I don't know, maybe we're taking out cues from politicians or something but while you might move on from after an apology, you can rest assured that the offended individual does not. Maybe they should but it's not always easy.

Here's my point: This site is a support group. If someone started at 300/350 pounds and was now 200 lbs and posted before & after pictures of their amazing 100 to 150 weight loss journey and someone posted under their pictures that they were "still fat", what type of support is that? Do you think that person would view this site as a support forum/group? Do you think that person would feel better about themselves if the person that posted that comment posted an apology?

Nevertheless, I'm done with this topic and will look for more positive topics in the future since this is my main point of support!

This is a forum in cyber space. There is nothing more the original poster can do but apologize.

NO! We can do a LOT more! PEOPLE CAN THINK BEFORE THEY SAY THINGS! ISN'T THAT THE EXACT MESSAGE WE'RE TEACHING OUR KIDS WITH ANTI-BULLYING? SAME THING! ADULTHOOD DOESN'T MAKE IT RIGHT OR CORRECT!

Seela, hon, could you hop in your time machine and go back a couple days and not say that thing you said? Oh wait. SlowlybutSurely... I get that this really hurt your feelings personally... And I understand - you don't even know how deeply I understand - that people should not say or do things without fully comprehending all the possible outcomes... But Seela can't take back what she said. She can only apologize, and try to do better in the future. You can choose to ignore her comments in the future, and I'm sure she'd understand, But what you're asking for right here, in all-caps, is impossible. She's already said what she said. There's no taking that back. It's there. The question becomes "how do we move forward?"