LoreLu

My doc saw my BP and said, "Oooooo, that's a pretty number!"

Welcome to the losers bench! I had a sleeve in August and no regrets yet. There's a wealth of info on this website - browse around. If you have any specific questions, there's always someone who can help. Just keep up with your liquids, Protein drinks and Vitamins and you'll be a shadow of yourself in no time. There are some rough Patches (I just finally dropped off a 27-day plateau), but don't get discouraged! Mark down your current weight and "dimensions" - when you hit a plateau, you'll be amazed at how much your body changes while you stay the "same weight". There are days I feel like nothing has changed (we see ourselves in the mirror every day), but the size of my ankles, calves, waist, ... have all shrunk.

Any sleevers in Albuquerque? Where would I find Bariatric Advantage EA tablets in town? Any good locations for protein mix? I'll be moving there in about a year or so and just getting a jump on the necessities. THANKS!

I had a sleeve done in August and take a chewable multivitamin and a chewable Calcium Citrate every day.

I was 58 when I had surgery in August. Three months and down 46 pounds, I'm at a stall (gained 2 lbs and haven't moved in a week), but I'm very pleased with my progress so far - I haven't been under 200 in 10 years! And now I have a tool to help me maintain whatever (total) loss I get to!

I used to have hypoglycemia quite regularly before surgery - haven't had it since. My nutritionist warned that, if you eat/drink anything with sugar/HFCS/simple starches before getting your Protein in, it can cause you to "dump" (everything flushes suddenly thru your stomach and into the intestines), which can cause hypoglycemic-like reactions. Double check your foods and beverages that there isn't any High Fructose Corn Syrup or other simple sugars in them. Second, some artificial sweeteners (aspartame in particular) used to trigger my hypoglycemia. Check ALL sweeteners, keep a food journal and mark the TIME when you have a reaction in relation to when you eat certain foods. A reaction can occur anywhere from 20 minutes to 8-9 hours after eating the "offending" substance. That's why the journal is important - it tells you what time you ate what foods, so you can pinpoint and eliminate the culprits.

I quit taking daily naps about 2 weeks post-op; started feeling "normal" at about 6 weeks. There was quite a change when I started on real food. The weight loss slowed, until my intestines adjusted to working again, but my alertness and energy went up.

I've been discovering the last two weeks that anything that has fat gives me severe pain under my left ribs, where the transverse colon makes a turn. I'm 8 weeks out.

I didn't have much of an appetite before surgery; now (6 weeks out) it's gone. I have to watch the clock to remind myself to have a little nosh every 3 hours. Some days it feels like all I do is eat and drink ("What? It's time AGAIN?!???"), but my doc said yesterday I'm doing great and that, contrary to our pre-surgery mindset to 'eat less to lose more', I now have to eat more to lose weight. And I HAVE seen that the more protein water and veggies I get in, the faster the weight comes off. Weird, but true.

I buy chicken thighs, rinse and drop into cold water with chopped celery, onion and carrots. Boil 45-60 minutes, then pull the meat out to cool. If you're on full liquids, freeze the chicken in individual ziplock bags, then strain the vegetables out of the broth. Puree the vegetables, add some broth back in, and freeze for your puree/liquids phase. The remaining broth is good to go. I always salt at the table, so I don't have to worry about the variations in my tastebuds for salt. Also, if you have a separator, you might want to separate the fat out of the broth. It can be hard to digest right after surgery. You can add poultry seasoning when you start, or even urfa bieber (ground, smoked turkish peppers) to add a little flavor variety.

Whatever Vitamin you get, make certain you have calcium citrate, not carbonate. Under normal conditions, your body can only absorb half the calcium in carbonate, but will absorb all the Citrate. Vitamin D - choose D3, not d2. Your body converts d2 to D3, but will readily use D3. You also need D3 to bind calcium in your blood, so make certain you take them together.

Almond milk does not have any additional protein - you might try soy milk. And double check whatever protein powder you use is NOT derived from milk (no lactase, lactose, etc.).

My weight went up during the 8 months pre-surgery, but the liquid diet started things rolling off again. You WILL gain weight from the IV fluids post surgery, but that only takes a few days to wear off and then you start to see the real results.

When a good friend at church taps you on the shoulder and whispers, "Hey. Time to go shopping!" ...and you're only 1 month post-op!

Along the same line - how long before you had both enough energy and were free from pain in your side enough that you could actually start exercising? I was sleeved the 17th, and still get a huge "toothache" under my large right-side incision. The longer I'm up the worse it aches. How long before the exhaustion goes away?