JamieLogical

When it comes to faces, it does seem like a lot of us go through phases where we look a little sunken and sickly, but it does seem to even out eventually. Age seems to have a lot to do with it. For younger people, the skin and plumpness seem to bounce back eventually in maintenance. For older people, they can end up with some sagging skin in their neck and jowls.
But I will say the same thing about this as I do to the people who fear hair loss and loose skin... no one ever died from it. People die every single day from obesity-related illnesses!

I am sooooo sooooo glad I had my TT. It's definitely one of the best things I ever did for myself. I actually had pretty significant complications and I still don't regret it, because now I am years out from it and still enjoying my results. The complications are a distant memory.
Here are some pictures of my scars and a side-view pic. These photos were taken maybe 5 years post-op?

PS: I lost 7 pounds my first week, but only 0.4 pounds my second week, for a total of 7.4 pounds my first two weeks. Guess what. I still got to goal!
The rate of loss is so truly irrelevant. This isn't a race. You have your sleeve for the rest of your life. In the grand scheme of things, if it takes you a month or two or six longer than someone else to reach goal, does it matter? The weight loss is only a tiny fraction of this journey. You will only spend a year or two losing weight. You will spend the whole rest of your life in maintenance after that.

Yesterday I weighed in a 185.2, which puts my BMI at 29.9. So I am now officially only "overweight". Woohoo! Even though it's only been 2 months and 12 pounds since my last set of progress pics, I had my husband go ahead and take new ones for this major milestone. You can see all of my pics in my gallery, but here are a couple showing my 54 pound loss since the pre-op photos were taken:
       

I promise you that once you are onto more solid foods, you WILL feel restriction. You aren't supposed to have restriction with liquids. I wish more surgeons would do a barium swallow test and let their patients watch it live. Mine did one and it was plain to see that the liquid passed through my sleeve immediately. It didn't sit in my sleeve for even a second. The "restriction" that some people feel post op is all due to swelling or, in rare cases, stricture.

No. I didn't even read your whole post, but I can say "no" with 100% confidence. It is not possible to drink too much or too fast. liquid passes straight through your sleeve in a matter of seconds. It will not "stretch" your sleeve or hurt you in any way.
The only dangers from drinking are drinking WHILE eating or drinking immediately after eating. If you aren't feeling any restriction with liquids in the days immediately post-op, you should count your blessings! It just means you have less swelling than us unlucky ones who struggle to get our fluids in those first few days.

When it comes to faces, it does seem like a lot of us go through phases where we look a little sunken and sickly, but it does seem to even out eventually. Age seems to have a lot to do with it. For younger people, the skin and plumpness seem to bounce back eventually in maintenance. For older people, they can end up with some sagging skin in their neck and jowls.
But I will say the same thing about this as I do to the people who fear hair loss and loose skin... no one ever died from it. People die every single day from obesity-related illnesses!

@@krissyvsg Most WLS patients experience hair loss between 3 and 6 months post-op. How much you lose and for how long is pretty unpredictable. There are *some* things you can do to help, but it's mostly out of your control. Make sure you get your Protein, Water, and Vitamins in from the start. That's what you CAN control. I have heard over VERY few cases where people's hair didn't eventually grow back. The VAST majority of people start to see regrowth immediately once the loss stops. For me I lost some hair between 3.5 and 5.5 months post-op. It was enough for me to notice, but no one else did. It started growing back immediately. I personally think the little "baby hairs" sticking up all over when it started regrowing were more noticeable than the thinning. I cut my hair shorter so it wasn't as obvious.

When it comes to faces, it does seem like a lot of us go through phases where we look a little sunken and sickly, but it does seem to even out eventually. Age seems to have a lot to do with it. For younger people, the skin and plumpness seem to bounce back eventually in maintenance. For older people, they can end up with some sagging skin in their neck and jowls.
But I will say the same thing about this as I do to the people who fear hair loss and loose skin... no one ever died from it. People die every single day from obesity-related illnesses!

When it comes to faces, it does seem like a lot of us go through phases where we look a little sunken and sickly, but it does seem to even out eventually. Age seems to have a lot to do with it. For younger people, the skin and plumpness seem to bounce back eventually in maintenance. For older people, they can end up with some sagging skin in their neck and jowls.
But I will say the same thing about this as I do to the people who fear hair loss and loose skin... no one ever died from it. People die every single day from obesity-related illnesses!

I disagree with those who are saying 1100 calories is a lot. Especially if you are working out at all. I pushed hard to get over 800 calories post-op so I could do anything more intense than "brisk walking". I then pushed to get up to 1100 calories so I could start running. And I would estimate that I was around 1400-1500 calories a day through most of my weight loss phase.
If you aren't exercising at all, then 1100 calories is probably the upper limit of where you want to be, but if you are working out, you need to basically be "eating back" any of the extra calories you are burning through exercise, otherwise your metabolism is going to tank.

I promise you that you aren't gaining fat. If your weight is going up on 1100 calories a day, it is Water retention. It takes 3500 EXCESS calories to gain one pound of fat. At 1100 calories a day, you likely have a DEFICIT of close to 1000 calories a day, so you are definitely NOT gaining actual fat.
It doesn't sound to me like you are doing anything wrong. Weight fluctuates from day-to-day. If it is bothering you, then just stay of the scale and focus on your plan. If you stick to your plan, you WILL lose weight. Make sure you get your Protein in, drink your Water, take your Vitamins, and get up and move.

When it comes to faces, it does seem like a lot of us go through phases where we look a little sunken and sickly, but it does seem to even out eventually. Age seems to have a lot to do with it. For younger people, the skin and plumpness seem to bounce back eventually in maintenance. For older people, they can end up with some sagging skin in their neck and jowls.
But I will say the same thing about this as I do to the people who fear hair loss and loose skin... no one ever died from it. People die every single day from obesity-related illnesses!

I use this Water bottle:
http://a.co/fnqEGqZ
It's the greatest thing ever! It fits in a normal cup holder in my car, which is awesome and it keeps ice Water cold for ages. I fill it with ice and water before I leave home in the morning. Refill the water a couple of times during the day at work. And there is still ice in it at the end of the day when I get home.
It's also great at keeping ice water cold in a hot car. One time I went to a festival. I filled the bottle with ice and water before leaving home, drove 2 hours to the festival, even stopped for a sit-down Breakfast on the way, left the bottle in the car all day while inside the festival, it was in the upper 80's all day long, got back out to the car that evening, and there was still ice in there! It was the best thing ever after a long, hot day!
I will warn you that if you buy any of the colored bottles, the colored film will eventually start to flake and peel off. So I recommend the stainless steel one.

Yesterday I weighed in a 185.2, which puts my BMI at 29.9. So I am now officially only "overweight". Woohoo! Even though it's only been 2 months and 12 pounds since my last set of progress pics, I had my husband go ahead and take new ones for this major milestone. You can see all of my pics in my gallery, but here are a couple showing my 54 pound loss since the pre-op photos were taken:
       

Yesterday I weighed in a 185.2, which puts my BMI at 29.9. So I am now officially only "overweight". Woohoo! Even though it's only been 2 months and 12 pounds since my last set of progress pics, I had my husband go ahead and take new ones for this major milestone. You can see all of my pics in my gallery, but here are a couple showing my 54 pound loss since the pre-op photos were taken:
       

I don't count calories. The only times I have tracked calories post-op were when I was trying to make sure I was eating ENOUGH. Shortly post-op, when I was first on solid foods, I wanted to make sure I was getting up over 800 calories a day so I could start running. And then when I was training for my first half marathon, about an year-and-a-half post-op, I had to start tracking calories because I was losing weight and I didn't want to be. So I started tracking calories to figure out how I could get more in and stop losing anymore weight. Once I figured out a routine that worked for me, I stopped tracking.

The pain in your chest is esophageal contraction or spasms. I had them VERY bad with every single teeny tiny sip for about the first 2 weeks post-op. They should go away once your internal swelling goes down and you are healed up.
I found that marching in place while sipping helped a little. It's very important for you to get your Water in, so you just kind of have to put up with the pain.

PS: I lost 7 pounds my first week, but only 0.4 pounds my second week, for a total of 7.4 pounds my first two weeks. Guess what. I still got to goal!
The rate of loss is so truly irrelevant. This isn't a race. You have your sleeve for the rest of your life. In the grand scheme of things, if it takes you a month or two or six longer than someone else to reach goal, does it matter? The weight loss is only a tiny fraction of this journey. You will only spend a year or two losing weight. You will spend the whole rest of your life in maintenance after that.

You just had major surgery. You were pumped full of gas and IV fluids. Your body is reeling. Give it a second to sort itself out.

I was never given calorie targets by my nutritionist, but I pushed pretty hard to get up over 800 calories a day so I could start doing more intense exercises than just "brisk walking" I would say I was probably around 800 a day at 5 weeks and pushed up to 1100 pretty soon after that, once I was cleared for running and strength training. I spent the majority of my weight loss phase around 1400-1500 calories.

@ I only had trouble getting my Water in for the first two weeks or so. I had terrible esophageal spasms every time I swallowed, so it was very painful to take even the teeniest tiniest sip. My strategy for dealing with that was to march in place while sipping. It helped a lot. And I stuck to my nutritionist's plan for me to aim for 1 oz. every 15 minutes. I would sip, sip, sip constantly, not try to do the whole 1 oz. at a time!
After a couple of weeks, the spasms went away and it was MUCH easier for me to get my Water in. As for hitting my Protein goal, here is how I did it in my soft foods stage:
Breakfast: Protein shake (20 grams)
Morning Snack: String cheese (8 grams)
Lunch: leftovers from dinner (15-20 grams)
Afternoon Snack: Greek yogurt (12 grams)
Dinner: usually a recipe like Shelly's baked ricotta, tuna salad, or some sort of pulled chicken in sauce from the slow cooker (15-20 grams)
Evening Snack: Protein Shake (20 grams)

I did everything "right" through my post-op food stages. I followed my post-op nutrition plan like it was my Bible. I did my 60 total minutes of "brisk walking" per day. I got my Water and Protein in. Hit 100 grams of Protein daily before I was even back on solid foods. As soon as I was cleared for more intense exercise, I started Couch to 5k and strength training. I met my goal weight right at my one year mark and have been maintaining for almost 16 months.
I definitely don't do everything "right" anymore, but I do it well enough to maintain! Once you are in maintenance, it's about making good choices like 80-90% of the time.

In the full liquids phase, there really aren't a lot of options. It was pretty much Protein Shakes, yogurt, and strained cream Soups. What I did, to give myself some variety, was to literally buy every single type of cream Soup my grocery store carried. That way I could try a new one for every meal. I wasted a lot of soup, but it was nice to at least have some variety in flavor, if not texture.

"Comparison is the thief of joy."