JamieLogical

I think the really important things to understand are how your life will permanently change post-sleeve. What things will be required of you to have your best chance of success? You really need to get a strong sense of what foods you will be able to eat, what Vitamins you will have to take, what guidelines you will have to stick to, how much exercise you will have to do, etc. The sleeve is just a tool. So it's very important to understand how to USE that tool to your best advantage.

I drank TONS of water pre-op. Usually a gallon a day or more. Post-op, it was initially a struggle to even get in the minimum 64 ounces, but it becomes much easier in the months post-op and I haven't had any trouble with drinking as much as I need since about 3-4 months post-op.

Yay! Congratulations! I know exactly how you feel about wishing you could give everyone this gift. I see people in my own life struggling with their weight and it is heartbreaking that the social stigma against WLS had deterred them from the only option that will likely work for them. All we can do is be a shining, living example of how successful and life-changing WLS can be!

Yikes! That is a long time to be in the hospital! Glad you are getting to go home and I hope everything is okay.

I found that marching in place while sipping helped me get more water and and helped alleviate the gas pain at the same time. Give that a try. And hang in there. Do as much as you can for protein and water and movement each day, but also don't push yourself too far too fast. Nap a lot!

This is completely normal. 99% of sleeve patients go through this exact same thing. Don't stress about it. Stick to your program, get your protein in, get your water in, take your vitamins, and move around as much as possible and you WILL lose weight. I promise!

I have done C25k several times throughout my life. It is crazy how it actually WORKS. You go from only being able to run a minute at a time to being able to run 30+ minutes straight! Some tips from someone who's been through it a few times: Do not hesitate to repeat workouts or entire weeks if you aren't ready to move on. 9 weeks is the MINIMUM. But, don't get stuck in one spot for too long for fear of pushing yourself either. The jump up from Week 3 to Week 4 is pretty brutal. You go from running a total of 9 minutes in Week 3 to 16 minutes in Week 4. You might have to modify the first Week 4 workout a little. I always stretch weeks 5 and 6 out to multiple weeks, because there is a different workout each day and the final workout both of those weeks is a long run with no walking. Here's the way I do it: - Repeat Week 5 Day 1 three times - Repeat Week 5 Day 2 three times - Do Week 5 Day 3 (20 minute run) once - Repeat Week 6 Day 1 three times - Repeat Week 6 Day 2 three times - Do Week 6 Day 3 (22 minute run) once From the end of Week 6 on, it's just adding more time to your one long run, so you can really just ramp that up at your own pace instead of sticking to the schedule. Hope all of that helps! Good luck! It really is a great program and works amazingly well. You won't believe how quickly you progress.

I literally used to drink FOUR glasses of Water through the course of a meal at a restaurant. I am not joking. But I adapted to the not eating and drinking at the same time thing pretty well. Took me maybe a month or two after I was on solid foods? I usually just wouldn't allow myself to have anything to drink within reach while I was eating. Now I can have a glass of water sitting right there and I just won't touch it. My plan allows me to drink right up to the time I start eating (don't have to stop beforehand like some plans call for). And then wait at least 20 minutes after eating. But I usually wait more like 40, just because I'm full from my food and don't feel like I have room for any water for at least that long.

Why in the world do you do that? I'mnot trying to be mean or anything. I am genuinely curious. This was one of the easier changes for me to stick to one I got used to it after the first month or two back on solid foods.

Hmm. I think most protein bars are made in facilities that handle nuts, even if that specific flavor doesn't include them. The bar I have in my hand right now has a warning about that on the wrapper. There are a lot of recipes online for making your own protein bars. You could look into that option. One of my coworkers who had DS makes big batches of homemade protein bars for herself.

I have no doubt their depression and anxiety was real, but mine was nowhere NEAR as bad. There was never a time I was afraid to let my husband touch me or anything. I did refuse to wear shorts or a swimsuit in public. And if I were single, I'm not sure how comfortable I would have been trying to date and getting intimate with new partners.

I don't think you could have her overnight with you, as all guests get sent home eventaully, but OCC does let you have guests in your room. You should call or email and ask.

I'm 17 months post-op. Been maintaining for over 4 months. I am still putting protein first at every single meal. I rely a little more heavily on protein bars than I probably should, but you can't beat the convenience! For lunch I usually have cheese and peanuts. For dinner I have the meat from whatever my husband makes. If I have carbs, it's usually separate from my meals and protein bars to where I already know I'm meeting my protein goal for the day (100 grams). I have chips, ice cream, cookies, candy.... but never very much at once, not every day, and only when I know I'll meet my protein goal. I can do more of that now that I'm maintaining. I only had treats like that VERY rarely while I was losing.

That's because their "after" video was still so soon after surgery. It takes literally MONTHS for the swelling to go down and YEARS for the scars to fade. I'm over 4 years post plastics and you can see pics of my scars here: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/349852-tt-scar-pics/

One of the hardest things for me to get my head around once I was sleeved was that I wasn't on a "diet". There was no finish line. I would never be "done" with my sleeve the way I'd been done with diets in the past. Once I embraced that concept, I was much less frustrated with the scale, even though I was a "slow" loser by most standards.

I am going on 17 months post-op, yet every single time a new diet commercial comes on the radio, a new weigth loss show starts on TV, I'm flipping around channels and come across an infomercial... my ears perk up and I get sucked in. Even just a new commercial for Weight Watchers or Nutrisystem and I have this couple of seconds where I focus intently. Will I ever get used to the fact that I don't need any of that nonsense anymore? I don't need to know the details of your new portion control container diet. I don't need to learn to swap this for that. I don't need to know what Oprah is doing this week to lose weight! I've been at goal and maintaining for almost 5 months now, but I still can't wrap my head around the fact that I don't need to lose weight anymore and I certainly don't need the latest gimmick to do it.

There is no "should" when it comes to rate of loss and comparing yourself to others will only bring tears and misery. You are doing way better than I was! I "only" lost 14 pounds my first month. But you know what? I still got to goal and have been maintaining for going on 5 months. Those "only"s add up over time. And you have plenty of time. You have your whole life with the sleeve. There is no race to the finish line with WLS.

Yeah. I'm still a little stiff from Tuesday's run so maybe I'll only do Week 5 instead of Week 6. I'll definitely be repeating the Week 6 workouts a few times at least, because Week 7 just has you running for like 22 minutes straight or something like that and I KNOW I'm more than a week away from being able to pull that off!

"Mouthfuls" is pretty non-descriptive. Can you give it to us in ounces or grams?

Low sodium is a real thing. I had a precipitous drop in my blood pressure post-sleeve due to not getting enough sodium. It got to the point where my doctor's patient plan for me literally said "liberally increase intake of salt". It was hard for me to figure out ways of getting more sodium. I G2 or Powerade Zero might help you.

Like everyone else has said, once you are on solid foods, it's pretty easy to find SOMETHING you can eat just about anywhere. Ask for a to-go box at the beginning and put the extra in there before you even start eating. That helped me a lot when I was still having trouble with my eyes being bigger than my stomach and eating too much before the "full" feeling kicked in. I don't have to do that anymore at 16+ months out, but at like 4 months out, it was pretty helpful.

I was told nothing with a skin or husk for 3 months post-op. And no seeds for that long either.

P.S. I'm eating 1700 - 2000 calories/day now to maintain my current weight. That seems to be about what it takes for me to maintain if I'm not exercising. I've held steady at 160-165 for the past 5 months without a regular exercise routine (see my post about why here if you care). I've finally started exercising again this week and with tracking my exercise, I decided to track my food for a bit too. I am in the 1700-2000 calorie range, but I'm really worried that by getting back to exercising, I'm going to have to figure out some way of increasing my caloric intake in order not to LOSE anymore weight. Talk about a problem I thought I'd never have!

I can't run outside in the cold. I get a horrible cough for the rest of the day whenever I try. My lungs HATE the cold air! That's why I don't schedule any races until April at the earliest. Even in April, it's sometimes only in the upper 30's or low 40's in the early mornings. Why are races always at ungodly hours like 7:00 am?

Next month? Where do you live that running in February isn't horrible?