JamieLogical

I just went back over my post-op calendar and the notes for month one said specifically to avoid nuts. My notes for month 2 said, no crunchy foods until month 3.

A month out seems very early to be eating nuts. I wasn't allowed ANY solids until 40 days and nothing crunchy for over 2 months. Buts were definitely very late on the schedule my nutritionist gave me.

There was a site-wide poll conducted on this pretty recently. You can see the thread here: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/330927-did-you-have-complications-after-weight-loss-surgery/

I did get spasms in my esophagus with pretty much every sip I took in the early weeks and that was pretty painful/uncomfortable, but no pain in my actual stomach.

Ha! I am sure he will appreciate that!

I was allowed to swallow whole Vitamins at 7 days post-op. You should stick to the plan your surgeon/nutritionist set for you and avoid the temptation to skip ahead. They have those guidelines in place for a reason! I'm curious about why you can't ask your surgeon though.... I had my surgery in Mexico too and had plenty of opportunity for follow-up questions via phone and email post-op.

Nope.

I would say that, until very recently, what has gotten me off track is slow weight loss. I think I've gotten my mind right about it in the past month or so, but initially, I found myself getting frustrated with my "slow" loss and thought, "why bother working so hard for so little reward?" That would make me go off track with my exercise, or maybe eat some foods I shouldn't. Because I'd get this mentality that it wasn't worth being so perfect and diligent to only loss a pound or less per week. I really feel like I've shifted my perspective the last month or so and I've buckled down and worked on my exercise and food in spite of my "slow" loss. Rather than think about weight loss as my motivation for being diligent about those things, I've decided to focus on better health. If I'm fueling my body well and exercising regularly, even if I don't lose weight, I am certainly getting healthier!

@@CowgirlJane I came up with my "more Protein than fat" rule back when I was losing weight the old-fashioned way. I used a site called SparkPeople to track all of my food and it set target ranges for all the macro-nutrients and Vitamins. The upper end of my fat range was something like 65 grams a day and the low end of my protein range was 65 grams a day. So, I figured that if I just made sure everything I ate had more protein than fat, I'd be good on my ranges. I've kept that rule up post-op because now my target range for protein is 85-100 grams and I know that getting that many grams of fat could be very bad for me, especially as a total percentage of my daily calorie intake (since fat has more than twice as many calories per gram as protein). 100 grams of fat a day would be 900 calories just by itself!

I looked them up and the Protein to fat ratio is a little high for me. My general rule is that something has to have more protein than fat and while the ones I looked at technically do, they have 1 more protein gram than fat grams, so it's pretty close. If you are more concerned about carbs though and don't track "net carbs", then they are probably a better option than Quest Bars.

I started losing a LOT around 3.5 months out. I am now almost 6 months out and it has slowed considerably and I have a LOT of new growth. The new growth is a little ragged looking (looks like broken pieces and fly aways), but I'm happy it's coming back. I suspect than in a few months, if I cut my hair short one last time to get it all the same length, it will be impossible to tell I ever lost any, even for me.

I swear by Quest Bars (chocolate chip cookie dough is my favorite). They have about 21 grams of protein and 190 calories. They claim to have 17 grams of fiber, but you should be aware that the type of "fiber" used is what I call "fake fiber" or "stealth fiber". It's not the good kind of fiber that cleans you out and keeps your regular that people think of when they hear "fiber". That's true of almost all the "high fiber" products available on the market these days though, so I don't hold it against them.

My tummy tuck held up amazingly well. You can see some pics in my gallery, though the most recent ones are more than a month old now. I am actually starting to get some ab definition now. But even in my pre-sleeve pics, you can see my stomach was pretty flat. I would say the only thing is that my scar is a bit wide, because it got stretched out some when I was at higher weights? I was 180 at the time of my plastic surgery and I got all the way back up to 260 (not to mention a LOT of fluctuation in between). Very glad the tummy tuck and muscle repair withstood that. I do have to have my breasts redone in the spring. Not because of weight loss/gain, but because my left implant has become malpositioned.

Here was my packing list from when I had my surgery back in September: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11I51ulCBco9cimQj882eV1KfMWodyiIO6X4gNaLpDDc/edit?usp=sharing

Ah. And I assume since you moved you don't have any local family/friends that could help take care of those things while you're away?

I saw something like that in a magazine when I was a kid. It said add 5-7 pounds per inch over 5', so the range for me at 5'6" would be 130-142. That seems CRAZY low though. I would be more than happy to just get to a healthy BMI, below 155.

As of this morning, I weight 189.8 pounds. I cannot tell you how much joy I felt over seeing this number. For me this was bigger than getting under 200, because I've actually managed to get below 200 several times in the past 5 years or so, but this is only the second time I've gotten under 190! The moment was especially sweet because at last week's weigh-in (I "officially" weigh on Mondays) I was at 191.8 and all week I had actually gone up, seeing 192.2 and 192.4 every morning, so I was expecting to maintain this week, at best. But, nope! There it was this morning! 189.8. I even did my trick where I re-weigh myself holding a bunch of heavy stuff, then weigh myself again without the heavy stuff to make sure it's accurate. And it was! The last time I was in the 180's was just after my plastic surgery back in August, 2011. I had lost 90 pounds "on my own" in 2010/2011 and had plastic surgery in August of 2011 to remove my excess skin. I had a tummy tuck with muscle repair and breast lift with augmentation. At the time of my surgery, I weighed 180. Unfortunately, I had some post-op complications (Fluid build-up in my lower back) that drastically limited my mobility. I started regaining weight fairly quickly and while I've gained and lost and gained and lost since then, I had never gotten back under 190. I am so excited to be back here!

I'm almost 6 months post-op and I can still only do between 2 and 4 ounces of meat at a time, depending on what type of meat and how it's prepared.

It's very important to follow YOUR surgeon's guidelines. You will hear and read about a lot of other people being able to eat this or that sooner or later than you. You need to tune that out and stick to YOUR plan.

Unfortunately, it's much more likely that it will get worse as you lose weight, not better. It's excess skin, not excess fat. I didn't even carry much of my weight in my stomach (carry it in my hips and thighs) and when I dropped from 270 to 180 "on my own" a few years back, I ended up having a tummy tuck to remove that excess skin. I did everything I could to try to help out my skin as I lost weight. I moisturized regularly, I stayed well hydrated, I took supplements, and I was only 31 years old. Genetics plays a part too, so there is a chance you'll get some help in that department, but the truth is, depending on how much excess skin you end up with, there is a limit to how much it can "bounce back" after weight loss (or babies).

I saw on the web site that the standard rate for VSG is over $10,000 and the $3500 rate is for "qualified patients only". Maybe that's what the mean, that if you qualify for hernia repair, they only charge $3500, because then insurance is covering your hospital stay and anesthesiologist (two of the things that make surgery in the US more expensive).

You mean not lost any weight initially or lost weight and regained it? I don't think it would be physically possible to not lose at least some weight initially.

You should try contacting your insurance company(s) directly to ask if post-op complications would be covered. I was assured they would when I contacted my insurance. The comparison they gave me was that it's like smoking. People choose to smoke and their insurance covers medical complications due to smoking. It's the same with people choosing to have elective surgery.

Oh no! I hope you feel better! In my experience, stomach bugs only last a couple of days.

For me it was about 2 weeks.