lauraellen80

My surgeon's rule is 30 min. before and 30 min. after. On the rare occasion that I've accidentally taken a sip of water before the 30 min. after a meal is up, I did feel uncomfortable, with a lot of gurgling from my sleeve. I'm 5 months out.

My surgeon's practice considers a total of 60%-70% excess weight lost to be a "success" for VSG. They told me that they like to see half of that lost by the 6-month point. I started with about 100 pounds to lose, lost 25 in the 3.5 months prior to surgery (including the 2-week pre-op liquid diet), and I've lost about 65 more pounds in the (almost) 5 months since surgery. That works out to an average of less than 1/2 pound per day, about 3 pounds per week, or about 13 pounds per month. I agree with @@OutsideMatchInside about the guys' numbers throwing the curve. Men do tend to drop big amounts really quickly, especially early on, and just seeing the numbers can make you feel like your losses aren't enough. Just another reason not to compare with others!

You've lost over 10 lbs a month, you're doing fine. Why would you think that you're done losing at this point? You're only 3 months out. If you're in a stall, that's a totally normal thing. It'll pass, the scale will keep going down. What kind of carbs do you eat? Personally, I try to keep my carbs in the 50-60 grams per day range, and I mainly stick to oatmeal, Beans, fruits, and non-starchy veggies. I've had (non-fried) potatoes in very small amounts, and a little bit of corn in Soup. I'm 9 pounds from goal at 5 months out. I wouldn't recommend white bread, Pasta, or rice at this point, but I also am not someone who believes that all carbs are evil.

You could try a little bit of mild taco sauce, or guacamole. I'd try the beans plain first, though, to see how they sit on their own.

I had to fly due to a family emergency before I was cleared to lift over 10 lbs. Like @@Sharon1964 suggested above, I just asked a guy standing nearby at the baggage carousel if he could grab my suitcase for me because I'd just had surgery. I think his reply was something like, "I'd be happy to do it even if you hadn't just had surgery!" I had one of the smaller rolling suitcases with wheels that swivel, so it was easy for me to pull it through the airport.

I also have wide feet and always have, even before I was heavy. I'd been forced to search out extra-wide shoes at my heaviest, but now I'm 90lbs down and finding that regular wides are fine for me now, and sometimes I can go down 1/2 size in length as well.

I was carrying groceries and stuff into the house one day. Our garage is along the alley behind our house, so it's a long walk down through the yard to get to the back door. By the time I got to the door, my too-big pants were nearly off my butt and had taken my too-big underwear with them!

I'm outside Philly, and I went to Einstein in East Norriton and had a great experience. But there seem to be a lot of really good options in this region!

Good for you!! I hope you start feeling better soon!

My surgeon oversews the staple line. I think he's only had one leak out of thousands of surgeries.

It's short for "too long; didn't read."

I was reading about the dumping that may happen and some people pass out And ive only threw up once. Okay, so if you worry about every little thing that could possibly happen, no matter how remote the chance, you are going to drive yourself crazy! Dumping is mainly an issue for bypass patients, and even then, only about 1/3 of them dump. It's really really uncommon for sleeve patients. Since I was a little kid, I've tended to have a weak stomach, get carsick, etc. I also have a ridiculously sensitive vagus nerve, and I tend to pass out for silly reasons. That being said, I have not had any problems because of surgery. I've only thrown up twice. Once was the day I came home from the hospital and tried to take my whole antidepressant for the first time in a coupe days on an empty stomach, which was just dumb of me. And the other time was just a weird combination of factors and was a fluke. Both times I was at home, no big deal. I'm close to 5 months out from surgery, and I've traveled and have gone to plenty of restaurants. In the beginning, when I was introducing new foods, I'd try them at home first to make sure I could tolerate them. But at this point, I really don't worry about it. I just try to make good choices (i.e., not ordering deep-fried crap or chowing down on the bread basket). I've had food from Asian restaurants, Mexican, Indian, German, Italian, bar-and-grill type places, etc. I've spent a weekend camping out in the woods at a Revolutionary War reenactment and eating 18th-century-style food cooked over an open fire. My sleeve has not limited me from doing all sorts of activities--in fact, it has made it possible for me to experience and enjoy life much more than I had been, because now I can physically do a lot more and am not tired and in pain all the time! @@anna9/15, you have got to get some help... you got the surgery because you wanted a new lease on life, right? Don't let yourself spiral into this black hole of anxiety and depression! I say that as someone who also struggles against my own mental demons. Find a good therapist, and get on some meds (at least temporarily). When you're in the thick of a depressive episode, you lose sight of the fact that life does not have to be like this, that you don't have to be miserable, you don't have to be afraid all the time. But we are all here trying to tell you that it can be better--believe us!

"Chicken nugget" as in, a little piece of baked/boiled/poached/grilled chicken? Or an actual "chicken nugget" as in, a breaded and fried piece of something that may have once belonged on a chicken? Because those are two very different things, and if it was the latter, it's not surprising that it made you nauseated. If you have just moved to solid foods, try a small piece of chicken breast that's been cooked in one of the above mentioned methods, or in a slow-cooker, ideally with some broth or gravy to moisten it. Go slowly, and chew each bite very thoroughly before swallowing.

That is so frustrating--and people like that just contribute to the negative image many people still have of WLS and make it harder for those of us who work our butts off after surgery to overcome the social stigma. I'm so glad that my surgeon's practice is as thorough as they are with pre-ops. I had to take quizzes on nutrition and on what the surgery does and doesn't do before they cleared me--they were very clear that the surgery itself only does so much, and the rest is up to you! Still... at my one-week follow-up, I met a girl in the waiting room who was about a week ahead of me, and she was saying that she'd already gotten a smoothie from a convenience store. Sooooooo... yeah, like @@VSGAnn2014 said... some people are just dumb, no matter how much education they receive.

This is where the pre-op diet (as well as the post-op liquids phase or phases) is helpful. It gives you a good month or so to "break up" with food and start figuring out who you are and how you relate to the world without that relationship. It's like when you break up with someone. Even if it's amicable, you usually have to have a period where you don't talk to each other, to get some distance before you can be friends, and set new boundaries and parameters for interacting with one another in the future.

That's where I had my surgery. It's a really nice hospital--my mom who is an RN came from out of state for my surgery and was very impressed with the facility and the care I received. Which surgeon are you with--Dallal or Trang?

I am 34, not sure if I count in your book as "older" or not. Anyway, there's no reason to wait--most people will tell you that their only regret about their surgery is that they didn't do it sooner!

Yeah, you have to look at it from the perspective that Inner Surfer Girl mentions--you sound miserable as it is right now, so isn't the possibility of some side effects outweighed by the positive effect the meds can have on you? And notice that I said possible side effects. These tend to be rare (though loss of appetite isn't a bad thing for us, eh?), and if for some reason you would have a rare side effect that outweighs the benefits of the medication, your doctor will get you off of it. The suicidal thoughts thing is a super-rare side effect, and is one that would result in your doc taking you off the medication ASAP. I've tried several different antidepressants over the years. Some helped, some didn't, some had side effects that I didn't want, and I switched to something else--these meds work differently on everyone, so sometimes it takes some experimenting to get the right one, the right dose, etc. But it's worth it when you feel like a normal human again, I promise.

Sounds like it's time for a new hairdresser! Seriously, screw her... like you said, you've already had the surgery, so what is the point of her telling a (probably second- or third-hand) horror story? Everyone knows that all the Time-Turners at the Ministry of Magic were destroyed when Dumbledore's Army fought the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries, so it's not like you can go back and un-have the surgery.

What side effects are you referring to, and which medication? I've been taking a low dose of Effexor for a few years and other than a little nausea if I take it on an empty stomach, and feeling a little dizzy if I miss taking it for a couple days, I don't have any side effects.

Yay! Someone else who was a ballet dancer! I was in a pre-professional company in high school and then majored in modern dance in college. Ended up in a different career field entirely and stopped dancing for several years. I still have major body image issues from growing up in that culture. I was always the "fat" one who had too much muscle, not enough turnout, the "wrong" feet for pointe, blah blah blah... hence why I ended up focusing on modern dance. When I was at my heaviest, I just stopped mentioning that I had once been a dancer, because I was so embarrassed and felt like people were looking at me and thinking, "Yeah, right... you were a dancer... what, one of the hippos from Fantasia?"

Congrats, you look fabulous! And I love those boots!

At five days out? Probably not. But at five months? Yeah, you'll be fine. My surgeon's plan had me cleared for regular foods (including lettuce and other raw veggies) at 6 weeks. Some are more conservative, but in any case, you will be well into regular foods by then.

I slept on a recliner in my living room for the first couple weeks because I couldn't comfortably sleep in my bed, even propping myself up with pillows. It might have partly been that I have an old-fashioned iron bed that doesn't have a solid headboard. But after that, I was back to sleeping on my side.

@@VSGAnn2014, this is where I get really confused, too. I'm not in maintenance yet, but I'm at 1000 calories a day now, as per my dietitian's instructions. She said I should still be keeping my carbs to 50 grams or fewer, and my Protein should be at least 60 grams, and another handout I have says to keep fat under 30 grams per day. That... doesn't add up. I have my macros in MyFitnessPal set to a goal of 50% protein, 25% fat, and 25% carbs, which for 1000 calories per day ends up being 125 g protein (!!!), 63 g carbs, and 28 g fat. I never make that protein goal (and it sounds like I shouldn't, according to @ElizabethAndersonRD), and I nearly always end up going over the fat allotment every day in trying to keep the carbs close to 50 g. The fat is mainly from cheese, olive oil, and nuts.