Reputation from April4 - BariatricPal

April4 got a reaction from BeagleLover in Things people don't seem to talk about... December 21, 2014

All I seem to see on here are how amazing everyone is doing, how they're the model patients, getting all their Protein, Vitamins, Water intake, daily hours in the gym etc. I had my surgery in Nov 14 and here's what I e learnt so far....
1) some foods that are bad for you are easier to eat e.g chocolate
2) I'm still hungry and I still crave all the food I did before
3) you get bored or the same food choices very quickly
4) Protein shakes, Protein Bars are disgusting
5) your breath stinks and you have a taste of metal/metallic in your mouth
6) you don't lose the weight as quickly as you might think/hope... but you do lose
7) the novelty of only being able to eat soft tiny portions wears off and sometimes you wish you could join the rest of the family for a big old dirty Chinese
Having said all that it is worth it, I'm so glad I had it done. In 2 months I've lost almost 35 pounds. I thought I wouldn't be hungry... I am. I thought I wouldn't be able to eat chocolate/sweet stuff... I am. I've now accepted that and know I need to resist as much as I can.

April4 got a reaction from ProudGrammy in Things people don't seem to talk about... December 23, 2014

Thanks for the replies. The post was more of a rant than complaining. Again I stress I am thrilled I had the sleeve, I knew about some of what to expect, I knew my lifestyle choices would change. The main reason for the post was balance. I understand when you say you don't want to post the negative stuff, you just want the upbeat success stories and all that good stuff. All of that is great, it gives hope and promise however only posting the good stuff is not reality. People do not come here to get a "Disneyfied" version of WLS. I WANT to know all the shit people have to deal with. If every other post is a "I got out of surgery Tuesday, back to work Thurs and running a marathon by Sunday" .... It makes the vast majority feel like failures before they even begin. I want to urge people to post all your crap as well as the good stuff so this site can be more balanced than it currently is!

April4 reacted to LipstickLady in Stretching the sleeve February 4, 2015

According to my surgeon, you really can't stretch your sleeve. When the surgery was done, most of the stretchy part of your stomach, or the fundus, was cut out, leaving the muscle of the stomach behind -- the part that is much harder to stretch.

You can do a little damage with consistent overeating but your stomach will never stretch out to where it was. Of course, over the first year or so after surgery, your stomach will heal, the swelling will go down and the muscle will relax, allowing you to eat more than you could at your third or sixth month out so many people seem to assume they've stretched their stomach. (We don't have a pouch, that's bypass.)

I have a hard time believing someone died from overeating unless they had other problems going on with their sleeve. It sounds like one of those "I know someone who knows someone who" stories, but that's just MY opinion. You know what they say about those.
My best advice is to weigh and measure everything until you figure out your full signals. I used to love eating until I was full--almost stuffed--but now I hate it. HATE IT. I am more than happy to eat every few hours over the horrific feeling of eating one too many bites.