une nouvelle vie

Breathe in and out and remember this is temporary. You've got this!

I would imagine it will depend on your surgeon, your insurance, your bloodwork, and your history with your primary care physician. Some people have little testing while others have a lot. The surgeon will want to be sure they are as certain about your health and risks as can be before they do surgery.

Five week post-op here. I saw my surgeon and nutritionist yesterday as a followup. They both advised me to back down my Protein a little to make room for carbs. I was only thinking of protein and I was getting around 90g a day and my carbs were less than 15g each day because I was eating almost all meat. They explained that carbs are most efficient for burning fat and if there aren't any carbs I won't burn fat as well. I'm on the soft diet phase and although I'm allowed to eat more things I hadn't been, thinking I needed to focus on meat and protein. Today I'm going to have my first day of carbs over 20g. I tried to pin them down to a calorie range I should be in but they said not to think about calories now, to think about hitting 64 ounces of Water, 60-80g of protein and 35-40g of carbs and the rest will take care of itself.

My best thoughts going out for these days to fly by for you and to keep you on track. When I was pre-op and felt like cheating HARD I would get out of my house in some way or I'd call a friend and talk talk talk until I was distracted. It's not easy, but so worth it. You've got this. You do.

I agree with what everyone's saying about measuring and tracking your food, but I doubt you're eating enough to gain 6 pounds so quickly. This is my 5th week post op and about two weeks ago I was stuck hard and I was weighing and tracking EVERYTHING. One day I woke up 3 pounds heavier and I wanted to scream. I was eating literally between 300 and 400 calories a day. My nutritionist reminded me that my body is healing and changing and may be absorbing water. If you're drinking your recommended 64 ounces of Water a day that's about a weight of 4 pounds in water. Now, of course you urinate a lot of that out and you sweat some but you could be retaining some water. Track your food, weigh your food, and under-eat your sleeve whenever you can. It'll work out.

I know every surgeon is different in what they expect but your data looks a lot like what I was told except I couldn't pin their office down to a target calories per day. I'm 5 weeks out and I'm trying to keep it under 600 calories a day. Not precisely sure about height factoring in but I'm 5'5". I'm not allowed to have any raw fruits or vegetables at this point. Hmm, I think I can have bananas but that's it.

What time are you getting up that you're waiting until about 1:30pm to eat? Unless you're waking up around noon, I would think this isn't a good idea because you're not giving your body nutrients nor are you getting your metabolism kicking by giving it something to digest.

You ate more than you wanted on one day. One day is not going to make or break you. Look at how many days you've been on your journey and commit to do better each day. Forget about eating the muffin and the hash browns because you can't change it now and beating yourself up about it is just going to bring negativity in and you don't need it. Stay on track and it'll be nothing but a "I slipped once, too!" story you can tell to someone else who needs to hear about success.

It will definitely start to get better and you're doing all the right things. Best healing thoughts heading your way.

@@BeagleLover Thank you! As soon as I typed it I thought about editing it. From the time I started keeping track it was closer to 85 pounds pre-op rather than 100. So not QUITE 100 pounds

Glad you're relieved. I know everyone has their reasons to want to keep it private, but I'm a big believer in just being YOU and this tool we're all signed up for is a lifelong thing we need to live each day. Hiding it (in my opinion only) keeps it as something to be ashamed of. I'm not shouting it at random strangers or passing acquaintances, just like I wouldn't any other medical information, but people who really know me are going to know that I'm changing and see how I have to live differently now. In addition, I think with so many people having the surgery now that anytime someone loses a lot of weight people assume you DID have the surgery, so why hide? I lost almost 100 pounds pre-op in preparation of the surgery and people thought I'd had surgery when I hadn't yet. Lastly, you never know whose life you're touching. Your good example of putting your health first and getting control of your weight may serve as a role model for someone who needs it. Maybe not the person you're directly dealing with. Maybe their wife, their mother, their son, their boyfriend, their sister. You made a great choice to live your life healthier. Be proud!

We've got some discussion about this going here that might help: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/315267-how-much-time-off-of-work/

Some people like Overeater's Anonymous. I have to admit I was a little freaked out about the 12 step program of it all when I was reading about it, so I haven't tried it. My plan is to start therapy, attend as many support groups as I can, and reading books on the subject. I'm subscribing to this topic to see what others say.

I don't start Vitamins until later this week when I see my surgeon so I can't help with supplements but I can tell you my experience with Protein. My surgeon and nutritionists said they'd always rather have me eat protein than drink it so I've really tried to not need it. I bought some and I'm glad to have it in case I do NEED it, but I haven't needed to have any since my 3rd week post-op and I'm in my 5th week now. I purchased the unflavored type found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E7IODXQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I have mixed it in Crystal Light and I've mixed it in food like cauliflower puree. I can't taste it and it adds protein when I need it.

I have a desk job and work from home so I am not the norm. I took a week off, but did do some work (about 4 hours a day) on my fourth day post-op. I had no complications and very little pain. I felt 100% like myself again (except no voracious appetite) by the end of the first week.

I think it's really going to depend on each of us. I'm exactly 5 weeks out today and I had part of a tilapia fillet last night with no problem. I broiled tilapia and pureed it during my puree phase as well and had no issues with it. It never ceases to amaze me how complex and individual our bodies all are!

I've not been shouting it from the rooftops, but I'm not going to keep it a secret because I guarantee you if you lose a bunch of weight people are going to say you've had surgery anyway. Also, not that it's anyone's business, but if I did keep it a secret and someone asked me how I did it I'd feel like a fraud and a liar if I pretended I didn't have surgical help. Everyone has to make up their own mind on what to do, though.

Good to know. I'll have to check those out! Thanks for sharing.

Like SwanRose mentions, I can certainly understand teaching you to eat slowly and to not drink with your meals or 30 minutes after. Those things make sense. I can even see why it would benefit for you to get a look at what the portion sizes will be after, but you are DEFINITELY going to be hungry doing this pre-op. A lot of hunger is "head hunger" where you just think you want to eat, but this would make you have every kind of hunger!

Of course! Anything you need, just let me know!

I live in Columbus so I was released after 4 hours to a local hotel. They said to come back in the morning if I was unsure of anything or having issues or just to go straight home if I was feeling okay. I felt pretty good and went home. I hope your surgery goes as well as mine. Out of the 30ish pain pills he gave me I took exactly 3. I took 3 anti-nausea pills as well. My pain never reached more than a 6 out of 10 and after 48 hours it didn't hurt at all. I think my paperwork said 23 hours in one place and up to 2 days in another place. I was up and walking within 1.5 hours of waking up and was feeling ready to go at 4 hours.

I didn't have a liver ultrasound. I asked about that and an endoscopy because I kept hearing that people were having them done. Dr Curry told me that he went by my bloodwork both by my primary care physician over the years and the bloodwork he had drawn at my nutrition class. I believe the liver enzyme part of the bloodwork gives him a good indication of the liver size and function. I was nervous that he would have to convert to an open procedure for me because I am mostly all stomach and I've had prior abdominal surgery and feared the scar tissue and my abdomen size would keep him from doign it laproscopically. Nope, everything was perfect. I woke up in a little pain but completely managable and (I was at JourneyLite) left 4 hours later. If he thought you needed extra testing, I am sure he'd do it. He's on top of things. He's done a LOT of surgeries. He really helped my fear when I asked him "How many sleeve patients have you lost at JourneyLite?" and he looked me right in the eye and said "I've never lost a sleeve patient anywhere and there's no way I'm starting with you." He's going to take care of you.

No, not really liquid but not what I call SOLID either. The eggs are powdered and you add Water to them and they turn into regular scrambled eggs. There's also oatmeal but I didn't get any of that but it's regular oatmeal after you add the water. The soups are mostly liquidy. Cream of tomato, cream of broccoli, cream of chicken...etc. I really liked the chicken noodle and the chicken and wild rice, There are tiny noodles in them. There was also a chili that I didn't try. So they're not totally liquidy, but not solid food as I think of it. Then again, that's how I got up to almost 450 pounds The shakes/pudding are one and the same. If you add 4 ounces of water it's a pudding, add 8 oz it's a shake. There are drinks like berry fizz and mango but personally I stayed away from those pre-op because I wanted to have something that felt more like food. There are also Hot Drinks, but again, I stayed away. I mostly had eggs and soups every day. I had a Protein bar once a day. I had so much left over because I usually ate only 5 a day, sometimes 4. I turned mine in to swap for the Fruit Drinks and a couple of packages of Protein Bars after surgery because I figure those will help me with protein. Each item has between 12-15g of protein and very little carbs or sugar. You can have as much sugar free Jello, sugar free popsicles, and broths in between meals as you want. I did that to supplement. I got a lot of sugar free jello. I also sometimes used broth instead of water to make some of the soups taste better. I won't lie to you, it's not fun but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Making your liver smaller presurgery makes for a safer surgery so it's for the best.

I'm a recent Dr Curry patient. It's like a Medifast pre-packaged/powedered diet. You must be doing a 30 day pre-op diet with him like I did. Some patients only have to do a week, some 2, some 3, some a month. I actually had about 10 or so boxes left over I wish I could have given to someone. They won't let you turn them in for a refund, but they will let you turn them in to swap for something else you like better. It does suck to pay the extra money, but it is designed to pull the sugar out of your liver so you have the safest surgery possible. When I went in for my 1st post op visit they had some new flavors and some new brand they were using in addition so I can't say what you'll get for sure but it's mostly eggs (scrambled or omelet), Soups, shakes/puddings and Protein bars although you can only have 1 Protein Bar a day. I have sleep apnea and I was TERRIFIED to be put under. Scared, scared, scared. So scared I thought about cancelling. The day of surgery when I met the anesthesiologist all my fear vanished. I hope you get the same one. He is a ray of sunshine and very good at what he does. Dr Curry's office will take good care of you.

To add to my earlier comments: I really do think it is a decision you and your surgeon should make together. Ultimately between the two of you, you can decide which is the best tool for you to use to get where you want to be. After 2 or 3 years I do believe all 3 surgeries end up pretty close together in where you end up statistically. You just need to decide based on YOUR lifetime of being you and the surgeon's expertise and view of his experience which one would be your best bet.