kasumi

In a borrowed XS dress. I never thought I'd see the day!

Highest weight: 219 (2010)

Pre-surgery weight: 205 (November 2014)

Current weight: 150 (March 2015)

So I'm on vacation this week, and I was 1 dress short for an event. I was able to shop out of my sister's closet (something I haven't been able to do in a LONG time) and fit an XS dress!

While I agree with the others that you should go back to our bari office for insight, I understand why you wouldn't want to just yet.

Something I recommended to a friend when she got off track was to try to reset her metabolism by going back to the pre-op liquid diet for several days to a week. She lost 7 pounds after a week and has been eating less since then.

First of all, just a general disclaimer: everyone is different, so while this is my experience, yours may be different.

Good luck on your 2 week liquid diet. The first 2-3 days will be your hardest. By day 4, I wasn't hungry or anything anymore. It'll suck, but you'll get through it and have lost some weight. I, personally, lost 12 pounds during my 1 week liquid diet pre-op.

I didn't pack anything for the hospital since I planned on going home, and we live close enough for my husband to pick up anything I may need if I had to stay over night. My husband brought his laptop since he stayed with me the whole time. I reported to the hospital at 5 in the morning and was in the OR by 7. I was in the prep room for about an hour. I woke up at about noon feeling no pain only nausea. Nausea and gas were the only "pains" I ever had from surgery, and the nausea was actually from the anesthesia and the pain meds that I was given afterwards.

I lost pretty steadily for the first 3 weeks, though the loss didn't start until about day 2. I attributed that to the gas they pumped into my stomach. The pain that I felt in the recovery week was gas pains. I expected the pain in my chest, but what I didn't expect was the gas pain in my shoulder. Gas-X helped for the chest pain since it made me burp, but nothing I could take helped with the shoulder pain. What I ended up doing was putting a heat pack on my shoulder to help a bit. Another thing I didn't know until the class before my surgery was that my surgeon required an additional 3 weeks of liquids after surgery. I just about went crazy by the end of the 2nd week since I had already had 1 week of pre-op liquids under my belt.

I was extra careful when showering because my staples were super annoying. Once my incisions started to heal, they itched like crazy! My surgeon's office told me to put some benadryl anti itch cream on it. Well, it worked...until I had an allergic reaction. But, it worked! I hated how itchy the incisions were.

So what I wish people told me before surgery:

* Wait until anesthesia wears off before taking pain meds because apparently, I don't do well with pain meds and just get nauseous.

* Prepare for a month of liquids. Protein shakes, Soups in between, sugar free Jello, etc. FOR A MONTH

* It's possible to get gas pains in the shoulder, and it's annoying. It's like a dull ache that you can't massage out.

* Healing skin itches A LOT. I actually couldn't sleep some nights because it itched so much!

My husband and I have gotten to the point where we send back any bread or chips and salsa since we LOVE the bread, butter, chips, salsa all of it! I also split my meal in half and box it up ahead of time.

I lost a full size and went from wide width to normal. I attribute that more to my feet not being as chubby rather than it shrinking in length.

I went to Ross and bought 1 pair of slacks and 1 pair of jeans to last me until my next size change. I've been able to find most for under $10.

I am actually more excited for sushi now post op because I can get an order of sashimi and know that 1 order will completely fill me whereas before, I wouldn't order it because I knew I'd have to order something else to be full which would be more than I wanted to spend. Also, sashimi is all Protein and some healthy fat!

Most people have been really sweet...and then you get grandma, who has her own brand of being sweet. Her favorite thing to say to me lately has been "you're pretty again!" referring to when I had a significant (though not as much as this time with the surgery) amount of weight loss before.

Well, first question is, when was your surgery? It may take about a week or so post op for some people to lose weight due to the gas retention.

During my follow up visit, they explained it as your body catching up. Every 3 weeks or so, I've noticed that the scale stopped moving, but the inches kept going. I figured this was a logical explanation. She also said that that's the reason why most cosmetic surgeons won't operate on a WLS patient until they've stopped losing for at least 6 months to give the body a chance to catch up to the weight loss be it losing inches or skin tightening.

I know you've already had your surgery, and I'm probably late, but I wanted to chime in. The smallest I remember being was in HS when I was swimming. I was 135 lbs, though I don't remember what size I was. When I started buying my own clothes, the smallest size I ever remember buying was a 10. When I started this journey, I was in a 12/14 (depending on the designer). I'm now 3 months post op, and I just had to go buy new jeans again because I am now a 6!

People are right in saying that you will be so surprised at your loss if you follow your surgeon's directions to a T. I've gotten to the point where I don't buy clothes from anywhere but Ross because I don't want to spend too much money on something that might not fit in a couple months.

Good luck!

Thank you everyone for the replies! I have a lot to experiment with. Happy new year!

Well, it definitely didn't help that I baked desserts for our Christmas meals. chocolate has been on my mind lately.

So I have been good with all my cravings. Practically none to really worry about...except my sweet tooth. Are there any VSG friendly Desserts that I can buy in the store that doesn't taste like artificial garbage?

Do NOT get Isopure unflavored. I could taste it with the most flavorful of Soups.

My husband drove me home and spent the day with me which I think helped a lot with the getting up since I was a bit sore. I definitely appreciated and loved that he was there, but I'm sure I could have managed for several hours without him. He just made it all a lot easier.

I've been fortunate with the whole no head hunger. I'm just looking forward to pureed so I could stop with the Protein Shakes since that's the only way I could get in all my Protein right now. Got my staples out today, and I'm down 12 pounds since surgery!

I didn't have a girdle when I went home. I ended up going home the night of surgery. I went off pain meds on day 3 which subsequently let me get off the nausea medicine too since the pain meds caused the nausea. I'm still dealing with the pain in the shoulder, but that's about it pain wise. My incisions are itching like no other, so my surgeon's office recommended benadryl itch cream which made the incisions swell a bit. Small price to pay.

I see my surgeon tomorrow for my post op appointment where I will get my staples out. 1.5 more weeks of liquids then I get to move on to purees. It's odd how much I'm looking forward to eating baby food. According to my scale, I'm down 26 pounds since starting my pre op diet. So excited!

Congratulations! I'm definitely nowhere there yet, but my mini milestone this week was for the first time in our entire relationship, my stomach is smaller than my husband's! I got very excited when I noticed it.

I definitely walk when I can. It's just frustrating that the actual incisions haven't caused me half the discomfort as this gas.

How long did it take for your gas pains to completely go away? For the most part, I'm thankfully pain free, but when I lie down too low, my chest hurts from the gas, and my shoulder hurts on and off. I am so ready for this gas to go away!

Right now I'm looking for other ideas for the full liquids because I am getting bored of what I have...and quickly!

Thanks you guys! Physically, day 5 was great! I had a little emotional today and started crying for no reason, but I'm good now

For the first time since I got home from the hospital, I can say that I'm feeling great. The gas pains in the chest are minimal, and I've been off pain meds since yesterday. Energy level is low, but the pain has changed to a dull annoyance. What a wonderful thing to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving day.

How is everyone else doing?