ProjectMe

Milk of magnesia works wonders and is recommended by my surgeon. The stool softeners do not work well for me by themselves.

Fran's words, " I thought I was cured" & "I thought I could eat anything" stood out to me. It's nice that they have a safe research proven method for making the stomach smaller again...but at some point we have to take responsibility for what we put in our mouths and how much we put in our mouths. Thank you for sharing!

@@laurenella82 What types of body wraps were you getting? Did they involve caffeine? I like the idea of wraps if they don't sap my body of moisture or introduce caffeine...

I lost 60 pounds prior to surgery. I've heard from others on this site who lost 70-150 pounds prior to surgery. Yet, we still got the surgery. My main reason is that I know I could easily fall into the 99% who gained it all back and then some if I didn't get WLS. 50% who have had WLS keep it off for life. I went with the best odds for keeping it off...WLS. Not to mention obesity is a disease. Would I ignore meds to resolve any other disease? Nope, so why would I not have a medical procedure done to resolve the disease obesity?

207 this week

I'm 4 weeks out and ate 4 shrimp today. So far so good

@@Marielbx Good question. Out of curiosity I did a Google search and found quite a few articles. It looks like with Non-malabsorbtive weight loss surgery (I.e sleeve) Your choices of contraceptive remains unchanged. However with something like bypass where it is a malabsorbtive procedure the form of contraceptive may change. My iPad won't let me paste the links in this box. But do a search with the key words, "bariatric surgery and contraception"

I can't imagine why a person's form of contraception would change because of abdominal surgery. I could be wrong but wouldn't the decision of contraception type be based on your goals, your body/health, your Dr., and how well you handle certain side effects depending the bc method you choose?

Well I kind of wanted to hear from vets their reasonings and/or motivations regarding what they choose to eat or not choose to eat. Now that I've hit reset, now's a good time to learn from others about food choices particularly how their choices affect their weight loss and/or general health...whether the choices are chemicals vs. clean eating.

That is interesting. Are you hypo? I've never heard of taking thyroid meds solely because of nodules. Nodules in and of themselves are not bad and they grow so slowly (years). If they get large enough, a fine needle biopsy is done and most of the time turn out benign. There is cardiovascular danger to taking too much thyroid medication...particularly if the person is not hypo.

Yoga, Nature walk or hike (weather permitting) or Elliptical

It will not happen for those of us without a thyroid.

I don't have a thyroid due to cancer so I'm definitely hypo. When I was at 286, I was on 200 mcg of synthroid. At 240 I was placed on 175mcg. Just last week at 208, I was placed on 150mcg. What I do is call my endocrinologist, leave a message with the nurse, stating my current weight and whether or not I need an adjustment. The Dr. Calls me to say go to the labs and get the bloodwork done, then based on the results decides whether to change my meds. It is not always immediate based on the weight loss alone. The Dr said it takes awhile for the body to adjust so they wait until lab results to determine if it's time to lower the dose.

My body temps are all screwy due to not having a thyroid. So when I read many posts on here where folks were cold all the time, I ran out to Walmart and bought a heated throw blanket. Best investment I ever made!!!

I am by no means a veteran and am very interested in others' responses. Just wanted to say that I enjoy the blog world according to eggface because she uses regular fat/real ingredients in her recipes. She wrote that portion sizes are so small so why not. But, she also does not eat rice, pasta, white flour, etc. So I am curious as to vets responding because I really don't like "diet" foods but also don't want to reintroduce stuff that is bad for me.

@@Sharon1964 Just wanted to say thank you for sharing. Felt like I was reading about myself.

Thank you for sharing this. What truly resonated with me were his words: " gastric Bypass didn't teach me how to eat. You have to work." Rest in peace.

Well you've got to get fluids in one way or another. How about some sugar free Popsicles? Maybe some lukewarm tea? Sugar free jello? Just until you feel a little better...then resume the small sips of protein shakes after an hour or two. I've seen on the boards that it is not uncommon to have difficulty with plain water. I personally add flavorings to my water because plain water tastes weird to me.

You will feel tons better if you call your surgeon regarding your symptoms. I couldn't imagine waiting 2 weeks to see the Dr. and dealing with spasms with sounds. Call

Your surgeon should have given you instructions regarding symptoms to watch out for. A fever is one of them. Have you given them a call? Also, the neck pain could be trapped gas and walking should help. But irregardless, you will feel better after calling your surgeon. Feel better

I lost 60 pounds prior to surgery. My surgery weight was 225. I didn't second guess my decision because while I knew I could lose the weight...I also knew that I would be the 95% who gained it all back and then some. My nutritionist and surgeon said that those of us who have ever had a BMI over 35 need surgery to keep the weight off. They specifically said that WLS studies show 50% are able to keep the weight off for life. The odds are obviously much better with WLS so it was a no brainer for me.

I was losing weight prior to surgery. At one of my appointments my blood pressure was lower than normal. At the time I think I was 30 pounds down and working out 4-5xs a week. So my Dr. took me off the meds to be on the safe side, and told me to keep up the exercise/weight loss. That was 3-4 months ago and my blood pressure has stayed in the normal range without meds since then. I'm now 4 weeks post op

For some reason I thought the operating bed weighs you....thought I saw that on a medical show...

Depends. I went into a stall a weeks 2 & 3 after surgery. My weight does a yo yo thing where day to day I may be +\- 2 pounds. Which is why I do not weight daily and I do not compare my journey with someone else.

i know we focus a lot on Protein, but how many calories are you getting in a day. If you don't track how do you know what to fix regarding intake? You mentioned the cheesecake, which is like 400-800 calories depending on size & type. We have a tendency to overeat when we don't track. The sleeve is just one leg of the stool. The other legs are exercise and intake. I think if you are more responsible and consistent with what you are eating you'll start seeing better results...