Jewelgirl04

I made a DELICIOUS Protein shake with half a container of my chocolate ready to drink Protein Shake (Premier Protein, but you can really use anything), a handful of ice cubes, and a single serving container of SF chocolate pudding. It tasted like brownie batter and it was DELICIOUS.

@@PennStater920 Social drinking doesn't have to end, but those nights of chugging do. (I went to Rutgers and just graduated law school. I GET IT). I'm not telling you that you have to give up drinking forever, but you'll be likely limited to a single glass or bottle of your drink of choice. I'm a little less than five months post-op and had my first drink the other day. To address your point, it was at my graduation party to celebrate graduating law school. It was a wine glass full of white sangria and to be on the safe side since it was the first drink I'd tried, I limited myself to half. It's important to note that it wasn't terribly strong. That all being said, things like straight liquor (vodka, rum, whiskey, etc) are best to be avoided because they may agitate your stomach. Mixed drinks are the safer bet, but make sure you consume them slowly because the alcohol is absorbed into your bloodstream far quicker post-op, whether bypass or sleeve. You shouldn't feel like you can't drink socially ever again, but you won't be able to pound back the beers and shotgun them. You will, however, be able to nurse a glass of a mixed drink or wine while out and about with your friends. Just be pragmatic.

I'm about a week short of five months now and down 61 pounds. I figured I'd go item by item below. Coffee - I just graduated law school and am studying for the bar exam. I cannot go without coffee at the moment. That being said, I can't drink a full cup at one sitting. I make myself coffee in a teacup and that's about as much as my stomach can handle in terms of capacity. If you need the caffeine like I do, you'll find that it's absorbed into your bloodstream much quicker than before because of the size of your stomach. It's actually a pretty nifty upside. That being said, it'll probably take you about two months to be able to drink it again post-op because it's an acidic drink and your stomach will still be healing. Don't worry though. Caffeine isn't an issue in the long term. Soda/Carbonated drinks - Big NO. Not only will the carbonation agitate your stomach, but it will stretch your pouch (whether sleeve or bypass) and undo the operation as a result overtime. Not worth it. On the plus side, when I've dared to take a sip because I gave into stupid temptation, I've found soda is way too sweet for me now. So it might not be as big of a challenge. Don't worry, though. Diet iced tea and lemonade is your friend! Alcohol - I only recently tried alcohol for the first time since my surgery because white sangria was being served at my graduation party. I was a little over four months post-op then. I only drank about half of a standard wine glass. One of the major concerns concerning alcohol (aside from its high sugar content) is that alcohol (like caffeine) is absorbed into your blood stream far quicker after the procedure. Mixed drinks with something to temper the alcohol with is preferable. Light beer is also okay. Stay away from straight up liquor. Some have found red wine to agitate the stomach more than anything else. Go easy and work yourself up to the wine with mixed drinks/coolers first to gauge your body's reaction and give it some time. As an occasional wine drinker, it shouldn't be a problem. Hope this all helps, @@Michelle Tarver!

I'm so incredibly excited for this Sunday! I just graduated law school last week and have my graduation party this Sunday. Only two of my friends have seen me since I had the surgery (and they're the same 2/4 who know I had the surgery), but they saw me at the beginning of April when I'd lost only 30 pounds. I've lost another 30 since then! None of my other friends and non-immediate family have seen me. I was a size 18/20 in August. I'm now a size 10 across the board. Not to mention a former co-worker I've had a MASSIVE crush on for the last two years is going to see me SIXTY POUNDS lighter than the last time we grabbed drinks. I've been making short term goals to keep motivated. I wanted to be in the 170s when I went to this convention in Philly (and did it!) and then wanted to break 169.9 for my graduation party. I'm at 170.2 today. I know this post doesn't have much point to it, but I just had to celebrate this with my sleever family.

Thank you everyone for the well wishes! Here's a before and after.

Wanted to chime in here. I was told by a dermatologist performing my laser hair removal that I had PCOS around 18, but didn't receive confirmation from a gynecologist until I was 21. I've been on low ogesterol ever since then. I do find that (pre-surgery) it helped regulate my periods and maybe a little with the facial hair. No matter whether I did Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, no carb, whatever... I yo-yoed and stalled like crazy. I started my pre-op nutrition in August of last year and had my surgery on January 22nd. In my pre-op nutrition, I lost 17 pounds over six months. It wasn't for lack of trying and exercise, but I stalled terribly and repeatedly. However, that's still some decent amount of weight loss. Since my surgery, I have lost 41 pounds in just about four months. There have been stops and stalls (including the dreaded weeks 3-5 stall) along the way and it has been a big learning process. I KNOW I can't eat after 9pm or I won't lose weight. I do eat a carb every now and then and I turn out A-okay. I just know I can't go crazy with it. Protein is my friend. I'm still on LO and find that while I do gain or stall during the first couple of days of my period, it comes off shortly thereafter. The laser hair treatments are far more effective now. I will also say that I haven't experienced the shedding that many do and while I did take Biotin for the first week or two after surgery, the rate of hair growth on my face, arms, and legs was so fast, I just had to stop taking it and rolled the dice. It was intolerable honestly. This all being said, I was so worried I'd be the one PCOS-er who didn't lose weight. I wasn't and you won't be either. I spent the first two weeks of the all liquid diet going back and forth on whether this was worth it or not, but holy HELL, I would never go back on it now. I wake up every morning excited to hop on the scale. I catch myself debating if I need to go clothes shopping because it's such an enjoyable experience now. I just graduated law school and am having a party on Sunday, but no one there will have seen me since August when I started my nutrition and I can't WAIT to see their reactions to my nearly 60 lb loss. I can't personally speak to the issue of children being 25 and in no place where I'm ready for, or trying to conceive, children. BUT two of my nurses in the hospital had been sleeved by the same doctor and had children 18 months after surgery. Both had PCOS and had the surgery to be able to conceive. You can do it, ladies! Good luck and keep the updates coming!

Been MIA from this thread while gearing up for law school finals and graduation, but I just wanted to pop in and thank you for these wonderful recipes AND congratulate you on reaching the century club! Woo hoo 100!

I was concerned about something similar and what my doctor told me is that they send the BMI measurement from your FIRST visit, when it's at its highest, to the insurance company. I would double check with your surgeon to know for sure.

It's very dependent on your insurance in the event you don't self-pay. (I have United Healthcare, which covered me 100%). As part of my six month waiting period, I had to partake in supervised a nutrition plan, undergo a psychological evaluation, have tests run by a cardiologist and pulminologist, under go an endoscopy, and have pre-op blood work. It can be a long wait from an emotional perspective, but it was worth the wait! My advice is to knock out the cardiologist, psychologist, and pulminologist visits early on and the endoscopy at least six weeks before your surgery date. That way, you don't have to worry or scramble to get them in. You may also only have to wait 3 months per your insurance company. It's dependent on their policy.

I entirely agree with everything above. I'm exactly four months post-op today and can honestly say that the 95% mark has resulted in not just weight loss, but a generally happier outlook. Yes, certain things make me terribly sick. I know that I can't really eat a burger (sans bun, just a patty) at a diner or bar and grill-type restaurant because the amount of grease in them make me sick. I made the mistake of taking a few bites of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream that my sister offered me and the dough made me sick, too. However, I have learned that having two tablespoons of white rice with my chicken and broccoli will not kill me or sabotage my weight loss, nor will eating a few french fries when I'm out to dinner with my family. Those were not the habits that got me here. It was the huge basket of fries with my BBQ burger and a brownie for dessert. It was the pork fried rice I ate with sesame chicken. My point is that sometimes, it's okay to indulge just a bit, so long as it's only a couple of bites once in a while and you're not reverting to bad habits. I find it makes me feel like I'm not deprived of all things and while that might seem silly emotionally, it's why all those strict no carb diets failed for me. I felt so deprived that I binged. If you can stay on board with your nutrition 95% of the time, you'll do just fine. You'll be happy and healthy. Both mentally and physically. BUT what everyone else says is also true. Don't use the pre-op nutritional period as a time to binge because you know this surgery is down the pipeline. Make your lifestyle changes now, maybe treat yourself to one splurge meal once or twice a month, and know that this is your life from now on.

I told my parents, grandmother, aunt and uncle, and my sister. I also told my four closest friends. That was it. I didn't want to deal with the judgment or the questions. It's also my personal decision. I don't know that I'll ever tell anyone else, outside of people I meet (like a new coworker) who have had the surgery and tell me they have. But there's nothing wrong in keeping it to yourself.

I'm a little over four months out and after a 16 lbs weight loss the first month, I'm averaging between 6-8 lbs a month in those since. I'm 25, never had children, and go to the gym at least three times a week. I'm not having any issues with loose skin. So it IS possible to not have that problem.

Hi there! I went through something similar to you and then in the first two weeks post-op. I'll be honest, the first two weeks after surgery are the hardest. Between the discomfort, pain (mine was probably a 3 on the scale once they got me on painkillers and I was able to stop taking them all together by day 5), difficulty in finding a comfortable position to sleep, and the liquid diet, it was rough. But it gets better. There isn't a day that goes by now (a little short of four months later) that I don't say this was the best decision I ever made. If you had vision troubles, would you deny yourself glasses because you needed the help? If you had an illness that required medication, would you deny yourself that? For people like us sleevers, we have an emotional dependence on food... sometimes food addiction. This is what helps us. You don't have to tell anyone about your surgery. It's a personal choice. I only told a few close friends, my parents, and sister. I never told my older sibling or my classmates, even though I was out of law school for two weeks. My point is that you should not beat yourself up over the fact that you need this surgery. You are making the conscious choice to get healthier and that's more than I can say for a lot of people. And more than they can say for themselves. Trust me, having to constantly donate clothes and buy new jeans/shirts or shop in my closet for my skinny clothes is one of the greatest feelings in the world.

I was playing around with my NINJA blender the other day and discovered this fantastic recipe! 1/2 container Premiere Protein chocolate shake 1 SF Jello Dark Chocolate pudding Cup Handful of crushed ice (5-7 cubes) Blend until smooth! It tasted JUST like brownie batter and was a great post-workout drink that satisfied my craving for chocolate and sweets. I'm a bit obsessed now and just had to share! Only 140 calories and 17 grams of protein!

I've been in a down place the past two weeks regarding my weight loss after having the sleeve on January 21st. I knew that when I lost 12 pounds in the first two weeks of my liquid diet that there was no way I'd keep that pace up and I was okay with that. I was frustrated when the dreaded stall hit during weeks 3-5 and I watched my scale act like it was frozen. To be specific, I lost close to 20 lbs during my insurance-mandated 6 months of supervised nutrition and weighted in at 211 the morning of surgery. I dropped into one-derland about 15 days after being sleeved. When the stall hit, I was frozen around 195-96 for weeks 3 through 5. Just at the start of week six, the scale started to move again and now, at 7.5 weeks, I'm around 189. On one hand, I know I haven't been this weight since I started high school. However, on the other hand, I'm disappointed and frankly, upset that I'm coming up on two months post surgery and I'll have lost only 20 pounds. I'm waiting for my doctor to clear me for the gym, but it's disheartening that it's going THIS slow when I'm following all my guidelines (my bloodwork looked great, save for a Vitamin D deficiency my doc suspects I had before the sleeve anyway) and it just seems to be pouring off for everyone else. Does anyone have any advice? Or go through something similar? I'm just really frustrated and upset with where I am right now.

Oooh! Can't wait for more recipes!

I experienced a similar problem, but with my chewables. I started on Opurity, which I was throwing up by day 3. I couldn't keep down Centrum chewables. I tolerated the Flintstones COMPLETE (it's important to get the complete because they have Iron, which is a major must) just fine, but it turned out I was allergic to the dyes (a rarity, but that's always been me), so I broke out in hives. Celebrate made me sick, too. I wound up getting the okay from my doc to start on a regular pill so long as I could tolerate it. Basically, I think Flintstones Complete will be the answer for you. They taste a little like sweet tarts, but they're tiny. Much easier to chew up and keep down.

Two things: 1) I only told a handful of people in my life to be perfectly honest. My parents and my kid sister, but that was a given because I'm in grad school and live at home. They were at the hospital with me the day of surgery and my mom took me home the next day. I did not tell my older half-brother who lives in Florida (whereas I'm in NJ) because he is not a supportive or understanding person and it's not his business what I do with my body. (Also, he's always on some ridiculous meathead diet and will claim he's lost 90 lbs, when he's clearly gained, so... whatever). I also told maybe four of my closest girlfriends, who have been incredibly supportive. They called or texted me frequently while I was recovering, even sent flowers. I'm glad I have a few friends I can be open with about my journey. I was out of school for nearly three weeks. I only planned on two, but then my sister brought home a virus from high school that ran rampant through my house and it took me out of commission for another week. But I told some of my classmates that the surgery wasn't anything life-threatening, but necessary. (I told the girls it was a lady issue and I needn't add any more!) Everyone has noticed a major difference though. 2) I work part time at Torrid, which is a plus sized women's clothing store that's fairly popular here in the US. During the holiday season, a pair of women came in to buy sweaters and said they were interested in items that could accommodate weight loss, such as stretchy sweaters and belted tops. They explained they'd recently had the sleeve and when I said I was having it the following month, one woman looked at me with a scowl and asked "Why?" The other whacked her on the arm and said "If she feels she needs this, then all the more power to her!" It's honestly the first time I'd ever heard that when I talked to anyone about it. I was surprised at how many customers that came into my store had undergone the procedure! The irony is that my surgeon said to me he wishes that people came to him when they were my age (24 when I saw him for the consultation) and my size (my BMI was 39.6, but I have PCOS so it was considered a comorbidity and was 36 the day of surgery.) Even the nurses and other doctors I saw as part of my pre-op insurance requirements (cardiologist, etc) told me that I was an excellent candidate for the surgery because I was not that big and in otherwise pretty okay health, so I should have a better recovery and better response overall. (Yay to little loose skin!) Now, my BMI is just a hair over 32. I'm coming to terms with the slower weight loss compared to others with more to lose and I'm really enjoying cleaning out my closet of my old clothes.

Thank you so much for this thread, OP! It has made me feel a TON better! I was sleeved on 1/21/15 and while I gained TEN pounds in the hospital due to being pumped with fluids and inflammation, I lost those pounds within two days of being home. My starting weight was 228, DOS weight 212. By week 3, I had lost thirteen pounds and FINALLY dipped into one-derland. As of today, I'm a little over three months out and weight 186.6. I was fighting depression the last few weeks that my weight loss compared to that of others was on the low side. I was convinced I was doing something wrong, but a wise person on the boards told me that the closer our BMIs get to the ideal range, the slower the weight loss is. I'm losing about 1.5 pounds per week since the dreaded Weeks 3-5 stall. My doctor cleared me for full cardio and weights at the gym two weeks ago and I've only made it to a handful of classes due to exams, but now will be able to go at least 3 days a week for a cardio day, arms day, and kickboxing day. I'm hoping that helps me lose a little more. On the upside, even if I can boost myself to 2.5-3 pounds a week (which I'd LOVEEEEE and be totally happy with), I think my weight loss will be slow enough to avoid loose skin, especially in light of my age. How've you all been doing lately? Has anyone found that starting back up at the gym help kick your weight loss a little more in gear?

Thank you so much for the wonderful advice. It makes sense that those of us with lower starting BMIs lose slower, but I suppose I hadn't seen many people who started with BMIs in the 30's. My BMI was a little over 36 the day of surgery. I'm excited to get back to my gym on Monday and really kick things into high gear. PCOS is just very uncooperative!

One of my biggest issues that I've always had with weight loss is that my PCOS has consistently intervened whenever I approached that 20 lb mark and I plateaued with no end in sight. Now that I'm hovering around that post-op, my greatest fear is that it's going to be the same thing and the surgery will have worked for everyone else but me. I did do a bit of cleaning out my drawers yesterday and I think I'll tackle all the jeans in my closet today. I bought a few new things in a size down in Old Navy, so that was positive. One of my buddies that I've made on here really sat me down and hashed things out with me the other day. My doctor had never told me I was approved to go back to the gym and now that I'm 8 weeks out, I really wanted to get moving again. All the snow has made it impossible for me to take long walks around my neighborhood like I did in the summer and fall when I started my nutrition. She was shocked I still hadn't been approved, since she'd found exercise was crucial as early as the first month and when she got lazy, it was when she stalled on the scale. I just got approved to go back to full gym activities this morning, so I can't wait to go restart my membership! @@Kindle, I'm sure you've been very supportive for others and I'm sorry you feel offended. It's just that when I was miserable and depressed, the last thing I wanted to hear was that what I was feeling was ridiculous and that I was being a whiner.

Thank you to everyone who was supportive in their comments. @@hockeydog, thank you so much for chiming in and letting me know that I'm not alone. I think it's also so frustrating for me because I tried to reach out to a few people who had undergone the sleeve before I did and were similar in age and stature to me. It seems as though the lot of them had reached their goal weight within 3-4 months and that just seems unattainable to me. I'm just worried about being atypically slow more than anything. I'm afraid that it'll be like it was before where I was super strict and did everything I should and would barely see the scale move. And to agree with hockeydog here, @@Kindle, while I appreciate your advice to relax and be patient, I do not appreciate being lectured, told to get over it, and called a whiner. I posted here for support and understanding, not to deal with belligerent responses.

Ohhhh could I go on about Vitamin issues, my dear! Opurity was horrendous to my stomach. By day 4, I was throwing it up. The Flintstones chewables are awesome for most, but made me break out in hives. (I'm sensitive to dyes, so this didn't shock me too much, but it's a GREAT alternative multivitamin). Celebrate made me gag and I threw up the Centrum complete chewables. I'm finally down to splitting the Alive multivitamin pill in half and swallowing it that way. My stomach has been thanking me, quite honestly. Let us know how the rest go!

I went in at 212 for surgery on 1/21 and weighed in when I got home the next day on 1/22 (around 2pm) at 225. I was shocked, but judging by the ridiculous amount of bathroom trips I was making and what I could remember of the nurses constantly changing out my IV bags, I knew I'd been pumped with a TON of Fluid. It took me about four days to get it all out of my system and then the weight was pouring off a pound a day. It's PERFECTLY normal. Don't freak out.

I didn't hit the stall at 12 days, I hit it just at the three week mark. It really seems to vary, but it seems like everyone goes through this and there IS a legitimate medical reason. That being said, my stall started exactly at 3 weeks and ended exactly at week 5, two days ago. I'm seeing the scale drop again. Hang in there!