BigViffer

I am now 5 months out. After meeting with my NUT, the protein goal for me is 90g a day. I still can't hit it every day though. My calories are approximately 1300. They fluctuate. I have slowed down the weight loss, but I don't feel shakey as sleepy all the time either. If MyFitnessPal is to be trusted, my net calories for the day is as low as 500 though.

Oh yeah, pain meds are infamous for causing constipation. Did you mention that in your earlier posts? I could have missed it. That is a big part of why I hate being on pain killers for any length of time. That and I hate feeling "fuzzy". Is that juice helping any? I have not heard of anything other than prune juice, but I haven't really looked since it works so well for me.

If coffee didn't send you to the bathroom prior to surgery, it most likely won't affect you after the surgery. The reason coffee sends some people to the bathroom is that coffee affects some peoples muscles in the large intestine. If you get the jitters from coffee like I do, then coffee could very well help you have a movement. However, if you are like my wife and coffee has no affect on you and you can go to bed right after drinking a cup, then it probably will not give you any benefit. Another thing to consider, if you are easily affected by coffee, your digestive system is going to be sensitive. You may go from constipation to diarrhea quickly. My Dr described Fiber as being similar to The Force. It surrounds everything and binds it together. If you are constipated, it makes it less dense. If you have loose stool, it binds it together. If going #2 is painful because of larger stool, it is because of constipation. You are getting "backed up" and the stool continues to get bigger. The bowel will continue to draw out Water from the stool until there is nothing left but a hard and dense waste product. So the sooner you can pass it the better. Otherwise you can get an impaction. Not fun. The result may seem the same in some people, but the mechanism is quite different. Fiber from natural sources will work for everyone. Coffee will work for some. Good luck.

Oops, there were 4 posts removed! I only put these back in because We are adults here and can resolve disputes like adults. As you can see, there are no name-calling other than what I have already called myself. No hard feelings from members, and there was even a helpful post removed. So mods, please leave these comments in so that other members can learn something from it. If either Babbs or drmeow want their posts removed, then that is different. I'd concede to their wishes of course. My reply: Then there was a helpful post by drmeow: An excellent observation! I should take note the next time I am reading this forum how I am feeling before signing in. I usually read and/or comment on posts after coming back from the gym at my lunch break. I am usually tired, very thirsty, and somewhat hungry. I don't normally pay attention to how I am feeling emotionally though. I could be frustrated because I cannot do the exercises from my heydays, but I have not given it a thorough analysis.

Funny you should mention that. On the second week I was watching Paulie with my kids. It's a family movie about a parrot that can truly speak looking for his little girl owner. Got a lump in my throat over a kids movie! I had to watch several action flicks afterwards!

Hmmm... two posts have been removed from this thread. Babbs comment and my reply. Why were they removed? We weren't in a pissing contest.

Man, I know how you are feeling about this. There appears to be huge differences between XXL & XL in mens clothing as well. I personally have only been shopping at the Thrift stores or Goodwill. So far I have gone through a pair of pants about every three weeks. I mean; I'm not complaining or anything, but it would get expensive if I were to buy clothes at a retail store!

Only if you are lucky. Mine was like a passing pineapple.

I had my surgery on 2/17/2015. I just checked my entries and I started back at the gym on 3/30/2015. I wanted until I spoke with my surgeon about being safe to go to the gym not only because of the physical exertion, but also because it is a hotbed of bacteria. I had a hematoma that had to be kept open and packed, so it took a while. When I was finally healed up enough to not worry about infections, I was told to do exercise as tolerated. I started doing only cardio, stationary bike, treadmill, and elliptical. Then I added light weights and simply moving my body around the core. As long as I didn't feel any pain, I would continue what I was doing or add something new. I have known the people that work in the rec center for about 7 years so I had no problem telling them that I had sleeve surgery. They recommended I start off on the ab machine so that I was using a lighter weight than my body weight. Now I am using the ball with a medicine ball in my hands held infront of my face to ensure proper posture while doing crunches. I don't remember what I started out doing, probably 30 crunches with 3 sets of 10. Now I am up to about 200 crunches a day. I also do oblique crunches to make sure I am strengthening all of my core and not just my abs. I have a little pattern that I follow. I start with the medicine ball and do ten "around the worlds" in each direction.Ball in left hand bring the ball behind you and pass it to your right hand. Bring your right hand around to your front and pass it to your left hand. Repeat 10 times. This is to keep my shoulders loose and to increase range of motion. I have to do this since I also had shoulder surgery and it is a hold over from my rehab days. Then I do 10 crunches on the ball with the same medicine ball held in front of my face. Next is what ever weight training I am doing that day. Shoulders and back, bi's & triceps, or chest. One set of whatever weight and then I go get a sip of Water from the fountain. This gives me the rest before I repeat the process and helps me hit my water goal for the day. On a shoulder day, I will do about 7 different exercises with 3 sets. In between those are sets of 10 crunches on the ball. Then I switch to the cable machine for 2 different oblique exercises. After I finish with the weight room, I go over to the cardio for 30 min to get a good sweat on. It took me a good two months to build up to that. I want to stress that I am not trying to build muscle though. Back when I was far more into weight lifting, it was all about muscle growth. I am only trying to stave off atrophy and muscle loss right now. I am not doing anything over 30lbs EVER! I am only 4 months out, you cannot gain muscle mass safely at this stage. Worry about gaining muscle and definition after you hit your goal. <edit> Woah, that turned out to be a book. Sorry about that, didn't mean to go all Steinbeck on you!

I'll second this. I liked prunes before surgery so it was a no brainer for me to use them for this very reason. I also eat dried apricots and dried figs for a snack. My surgeon said it was better than stool softners because they do not leech Water from your body to keep you regular. Prunes, apricots, and figs have the same amount of fiber BTW. So if you can't stand prunes, try one of the others.

lol, I have some bad news for you. 4 months out and my stomach makes noise all the time! I have a friend who is going to Celebrate his 2 year mark in July. I heard his stomach at a bar over the music! It's just air bubbles moving through the digestive track. We'll live. Hell my wife and I snicker about it all the time.

I imagine it unique up to the individual. There are so many people that I know that have had the surgery that are as big now as they were before. They just couldn't give up the food. They will graze all day long on unhealthy foods. At the moment, I am 4 months out and the tumultuous emotions and cravings are gone. More often than not I am craving hummus anymore! I think when you switch to new foods, your tastes can become accustomed to them and start craving them instead of the bad things we at before. I have also found that I don't mind paying more for some foods now. I used to try and find the biggest serving of food for my money thinking it was the economical choice. E.G. a salad at a restaurant or unlimited fries for the say price. Now I'll pay more for a serving of something I actually want than just something that will fill my belly cheaply.

Wow, that's impressive! I was back to work at 7 days, but I have a desk job. I am pretty sure it was two months before I rode my bike. But, like so many other things about this surgery, it all comes down to the individual.

I know what you mean! I remember once thinking to myself "I'll just chew the food, then spit it out." Then I felt sickened that I would even consider that. Food addiction plain and simple.

I find all of this interesting. I take Dicoflenac/Voltaren everyday along with a Prilosec. My surgeon had no problem with the Diclofenac, he just added the prilosec.

I don't think I was ever "sad". Frustrated a little bit perhaps. I chuckle now, but at the one month mark, I was waking up like a 13 year old boy, feverish from desire of a wet dream. But my dreams were of a pizza slice being lfted and the cheese stretching like they do on commercials. Or it would be a giant burger with everything on it and I would be taking a big manly bite of it instead of the nibble of beef Jerky I get now. But that month told me something disturbing about myself. I was literally addicted to food. Here I am, a grown man, fantasizing about food. When you put it into context, it all seems a little silly to get so worked up over food. It's not like I can never have it again, I can just have a little.

I don't know man, at 3 weeks I was so tired and got dizzy pretty easily that I would never consider riding my bike. And it's about 300lbs lighter than a Road Glide. Then there is also the vibrations from a Harley. I really don't think it would feel good! I mainly tinkered after the surgery. At least I was spending quality time with the girl!

I had the same issue, but I don't like to take a laxative or stool softener. I bought dried apricots, figs, and prunes. Two days later after making a Protein shake with them twice, I was back to being regular. Now I eat a few of them every other day or so. All natural and my surgeon said it was a great idea.

If this guy eventually becomes "the one", he is going to need to know about your surgery for no other reason that to be safe in a medical emergency. Certain medications & intubations must be handled differently for us. My surgeon gave me a card for the restaurant and for hospitals. You can't hide your past forever, and honestly why would you want to? You are the sum of all of your experiences. Good or bad. You wouldn't recognize the bad again if it had never happened the first time. And with the bad, you can recognize what is good. If you truly love him, you can be honest with him. And if he truly loves you, he won't care. As a man, if I found a woman had this big secret about weight loss surgery that she was worried about telling me, I would be, "meh". It's not important to me who a woman was, it's who she is now and who she will be that I am interested. Now if you were a thieving drug user that did time in the clink sometime in the past, that is something I would be concerned about!

I'm betting that when you were younger you heard the phrase, "As long as you live under my roof, you will treat me with respect!" I'd let them hear that. Being family does not give one carte blanche to treat another family member any way they want without repercussions. Lowered stress is very important to the healing process, especially if you were a stress eater before.

A few things to remember. Are you having bowel movements? My first stall had me concerned and I asked my doctor about it. He told me you can't lose the weight if you don't "evacuate" waste. That's when I started making apricot, fig, and prune protein smoothies. Lo and behold a week later I was down another 10 lbs. Also, you absolutely must have as much fluid as you can get. I think I read somewhere it takes 8 lbs of water to flush out 1 lbs of fat.

I can't help with advice for menstrual cramps, but as a serious arthritis sufferer I have been on NSAID's (Diclofenac) for years. I literally could not move without it. And when I say literally, I mean literally. Some people say that and mean figuratively, I do not. Since the surgery and losing weight, I have been able to cut my frequency in half. But I am still taking it everyday. I just have to take sucralfate like was mentioned above. Talk to your doctor about diclofenac. I swear it is the greatest NSAID on the market. Or at least for me. Some people can handle Meloxicam better as far as heartburn, but both work as well for inflammation.

I just had the Hot & Sour Soup broth again the other day. I am about 3.5 months out and I still like them. I did not like the Italian one at all though. The only bad thing about the broths is the sodium content. 800mg for 1 cup! For the hot & sour, you can crack an egg and drizzle it in so make it a little close to restaurant soup. You can also add some Protein powder to it to help thicken it instead of cornstarch.

If you don't already have one, get a blood pressure cuff. They are available that run off D batteries and last months no problem. When I feel dizzy, I check my BP and it is always low. 90/50 range. So then I know to up my Fluid intake. It's really strange, I was thirsty all the damn time before surgery, and now I can barely get 50 oz of Water a day. I had high BP before surgery, so even if I got down to normal BP I felt "off". Low BP makes me nap all the damn time too.

I planned my "last meal" very carefully. It was my favorite Sunday morning meal that my wife would make for me. Fresh baked biscuits topped with a sunny side up egg and covered with hot sausage gravy. Good lord that is a delicious breakfast! I loved this meal so much, my wife would make it for my birthday and put a candle in it, lol. That being said, I bet I would puke if I had a bite of that today. Just way too much fat and grease. But I have years of memories that I can still savor!