BigTink2LilTink

And my newly acquired Deadpool shirt along with my long sleeved compression undershirt. Saw the movie yesterday and was totally rocking the fan gear. Best part about this, got both the t-shirt and compression shirt out of Walmart. Didn't even spend $20 for both shirt. Hell me and my wallet are totally digging this low cost for clothing thing. Both shirts are 1xl by the way if anyone was wondering. Still shrinking, yet looking way more taller than usual.

Yeah I was restricted from doing any serious workout for the first 6 to 8 weeks post surgery. So lifting anything over 5lb was strictly prohibited. You may want to discuss this with the surgeon and your union reps to find you another job to do while you recover from surgery. I would honestly take no less than two weeks off post surgery, just to make sure you have adjusted to the surgery and you don't experience any post surgery issues. A lot of the issue most people have experienced have happened within those first few weeks post surgery.

Took this today. I'm sitting between 261-258lbs give or take. I'm also in a XLT shirt. I haven't been able to wear one of these shirt sizes since I was like 12/13 years old. I just turned 36 on Tuesday, so it feels wonderful to reverse the weight trend after 17/18 years of trying and failing. Going to actually go buy my first time ever American Eagle complete outfit. Now I finally get why women love to go clothes shopping.

Thanks for posting this. I need to probably do this soon. Just kinda of a way to reset myself and make sure my habits are in better check. Especially with the carbs.

From heaviest weight, to surgery day, to two days ago. That is my progress. Only roughly 30lbs left to go till I reach my personal goal of 225lbs.

Congrats, you look great.

I had used a straw about 5/6 months out. Once I was cleared to eat red meat and pork again. It wasn't terrible experience but I haven't really found the need to use a straw. Most things I drink now either come in a cup or bottle. And when I go out to eat I usually just get Water instead of soda/juice. Someone else asked about soda. I again waited closer to 9 months out before I tried really drinking a soda. The carbonation does make me belchly/gassy even when I sip it. I usually do soda out of a can now vs a bottle, as I will sometimes let the can get a bit flat to let out a lot of the carbonation. I went from drinking maybe easily 3 to 400oz of diet soda a day to now if I get 24oz in within a 3 month period that would considered a lot.

My friend keep it up and you will get there.

Well lets see, I am taller than you, started out at a higher weight and I am almost 14 months post surgery and down quite a bit. If you follow the plan your surgeon and dietitian setup for you then you'll lose the weight. Not quite sure how fast and rapid it will be, but it will come off. Only words of caution I would add is that rapid weight loss for long period of time can cause other issues. You want to avoid those issues for they can be life altering. 1. Follow the plan and try not to over do it. 2. Try to remain focused even during the times you stall and loose nothing during a 1, 2, 3, or even 4 week process. Stalls are not forever, even though they seem like it. 3. Make sure you are taking your Vitamins. 4. Understand that this process still takes times. Surgery or not, losing weight takes time and effort. The amount of effort you put into this, the better your results will be, but you can't skip out on the time it takes. The patients will indeed pay off.

You know its been a year for me and I have yet to actually sit in a normal tub and just take a bath. I use to hate not being able to submerge in the water without it either A., overflowing out of the tub onto the floor, or B. when I got to big to even fit in a tub. I may try it one day just to see how it feel now almost 336lbs lighter than I was 17/18 months ago.

I was told anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks. Giving time for incisions to heal properly. I also had the surgical glue on my wounds instead of staples to reduce scaring. So for the few weeks I had to take showers and put tape and plastic over the wounds to not get them wet.

I use MFP along with S Health on my Galaxy phone. I have a Samsung Gear Fit that I use to track cardo/heart rate/etc.

Like someone else said here about 10 days after being released from the hospital and back home.

I second what Inner Surfer Girl suggested. Also of the things you can eat, like the cottage cheese and yogurt, have you tried mixing in a little of the unflavored Protein powders into those things? I know for me early on I was struggling with getting protein in and the flavored powder mixes were just too sweet tasting to me. I went with ISO pure unflavored and was mixing it into my tomato/crème of chicken Soups. It didn't alter the flavoring that much and I was able to gain a few more grams of protein in a day. As for seeking out a nutritionist, if your surgeon's office doesn't have one on staff, what about your primary care doctor's office?

Everything she said. You are going through Ketosis right now. I don't know if you were diabetic before the surgery, but I was and it was horrible for me. Even now, 13 months out every now and then my mouth is dry and I have the horrible tasting breath. Altoids helps with the breath smell. I still check my sugars just to make sure I am not over doing it.

Today I weighted in at 261lbs. So from my surgery weight of 463 to now in about 13 months I have lost 202lbs. Overall from my highest ever recorded weight (597lbs) to now I have lost close to 336lbs in about 18/19 months. It feel good knowing I've lost more weight than what I actually weight currently. Now to focus more to reach my goal weight. That is what I am after.

Totally agree with you on the underwear and soup options. I think for 3 months I was living on cream of chicken soup and crackers exclusively.

If I had went back I probably would have slowly started to phase in the liquids more in better preparation for the full liquid phase. So maybe a month before the two week clear liquid diet phase, I would have started substituting one or two meals with Clear Liquids such as broth and Water only. That way my body would have had more time to adjust to the shock of not fully eating 3 to 5 times a day anymore for as long as I had when that way. I think my body would have been better prepared for it. Post op there is a lot I know I would have done differently knowing what I know now versus back then. Post op I would have done the following: 1. Following doctor/nutrition's meal plans strictly and tried not to go beyond them. 2. Started taking additional vitamins such Thiamine(B1), and prebiotic soon after surgery when swallowing pills were allowed, instead of just focusing on Calcium, Iron, and multi-Vitamins alone. 3. Started earlier with my calorie tracking instead of waiting till 6 months out when I could eat basically all meat Protein again. 4. Started swimming sooner than when I did. Waited almost 10 months post op before I got in a pool again. Should have started like 3/4 months post op. 5. Been more patient with myself. Understanding that this process was going to take time, and to not try and rush it. I guess this goes hand and hand with #1 (not following the meal plan strictly).

I say go for it. I would start out slow since its been a really long time since you've had them. Treat it like you would any new food your trying again post surgery, slow and with moderation to make sure your stomach can handle it.

I am taking everything you are taking accept the d+k, and d3. I found small enough Calcium pills that I no longer take the nasty wafers, but I still keep them on stand by if need be. I am going to get some more B1 today after work since my Vitamin store has some in stock. Is that all? I take a multivitamin, b12, b1, c, Iron, d+k, d3, and calcium daily.

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vitamins-minerals/Pages/Vitamin-B.aspx http://www.vitaminshoppe.com/c/vitamin-b-1/N-88a?search1=vitamin+b-1 I take my B1 in the evening times.

Yeah you want to make sure you are up with the B1 just as much as the B12. My surgeon failed to mention the importance of B1, until I had blood work back showing how low my levels were.

I take a B complex along with B12. I had early on a sever B Vitamin deficiency which put my ass in the hospital twice in the early months post surgery. I was put on prescription strength Thiamine (B1) which helped me greatly to regain some of my senses back. Since then I make sure to take an folic acid vitamin pill that contains Thamine in it. My B complex also contains Thamine in it as well and I haven't had issues since. Main issue with low B vitamin especially B1 is memory. More importantly short term memory stuff.

December 22nd, 2014 was the day that I had changed my life and body forever. On that day I had a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy done to help me lose a lot of excessive body weight. In 366 days, I have gone from being 463lbs to now 267lbs as of yesterday afternoon. I though that by having the surgery that I was taking the easy way out......Boy oh boy was I freaking wrong. There is nothing about this process that is easy. In fact its the total opposite of easy. Its hard as f**k. Probably the hardest thing I've had to overcome in my life so far. Besides the reality of having one's body altered forever, I had to learn how to eat all over again, deal with emotional issues I've spent a lifetime trying to avoid, and also dealing with some of the complications post surgery, that even now 1 year later I still have to struggle with. So what are some of those bad, not so easy things have I had to deal with within the past year. Well for starters I've had to give up the following items for a time period and/or forever: Bread/Wheat - Forever Pasta - Forever Rice - Forever Red Meat/Pork - 6 months Sugar - 6/8 months Soda (Carbonated beverages) - Forever Alcoholic beverages -6/8 months Smoking - Forever And then there were the habits and routines I had to take on as part of change. Things that I had to make habit forming and stay consistent with in order to be successful with this. Multivitamin supplements - Forever Iron Supplements - Forever B12 supplements - Forever Yearly blood/cholesterol checks - Forever Daily walking/cardio work outs - Forever Yearly checkups with Surgeon to make sure I have no ulcers or leaks from staples - Forever Yeah, and then there were the complications from the surgery that I had to and still am having to deal with. One of the main ones was short term memory loss and comprehension issues. Issues that even as I type this post I am still dealing with in some shape or form. Just this past Monday morning I had to have spinal Fluid drawn from my back (better known as a Lumbar Puncture Procedure) to be analyzed by my Neurologist to give a final determining cause as to why I've been suffering from short term memory issues post surgery. Right now the major ruling is some sort of allergic reaction to the general anesthesia I was under during my surgery. Its funny cause I have been under anesthesia before, its just that I wasn't under for longer that 15-20 minutes at a time. When I had the surgery I was under for almost 3 hours. My life has gotten a lot better in the last year, its just that things just haven't returned to a state of normalcy that I would like it to be at before the surgery. So as I sit around and wait for the test results of my spinal tap to come back, I move on and keep moving forward. I have too. If I sit around and dwell on everything that has/had gone wrong in the past year, I would be so depressed and miserable . And I refuse to allow that to be. So I stay focused on the positives of what has happened. I take comfort in all of the things I can check off my list as successes, and I continue on to the next goal. I look in the mirror and I see a person staring back at me that I am now getting use to seeing. A person that I am actually comfortable seeing in the mirror. And not the stranger I was seeing for the first few months of this year as I was drastically dropping weight off of me. Dropping years of the affects that emotional eating had caused me. Its a change that I can now say that I comfortably welcome, from both the physical and now emotional aspect. As far as weight lost goal, I am still about 70-80lbs away from the goal that I had set for myself. These last 70 -80lbs are going to be the hardest to get rid of, but I accept the challenge. I have no choice but to, because I didn't come this far, sacrificed so much just to quite 3 quarters of the way from completing the race. I share this with the world because I know that my words, my thoughts right now, may not only help me down the road at some point, but it may help someone else out there right now who is struggling with self-image/body issues, obesity, diabetes, and/or deciding whether or not to have weight loss surgery. I hope that my words and experiences can help you when it comes to making a decision on surgery or not. The question I am sure that anyone who is reading this would ask me: "knowing now what I know, would I still have gone through with the procedure/surgery?" My answer would still have been yes. Yes because now I no longer have to take insulin to keep my body's blood sugars under control. Yes because I can now buy clothing out of Walmart & other stores like a normal person and not having to go to the Big & Tall custom stores to find simple things like underwear and socks. Yes, because when I look in the mirror I see the person I was meant to be and not the person I was dreading to see. And finally yes, because I know that by doing this, I've given myself a fighting change to reach a longer life expectancy than 50-55 years. So did I do this all for me, you better believe I did!

You're going to go to a protein first sort of diet. You won't even be worrying about carbs for a good 9 to 12 months post surgery. I think for women you need to be getting around 70 to 75g of protein in per day after the surgery. Although I am sure someone else a bit more knowledgeable in what women need post surgery will chime in here and give better advice. Either way good luck to you.