wwboy

I was kept 3 days. I had some issues with urine retention and had to be catheterized a few times to get things going. My sense is that they would've let me out earlier if not for that problem. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is absolutely true for me. For the months before surgery, I only allowed any sweets once a week or less. And it was a small amount even if that. I was shocked at how easy it became after a month or so. Now, almost two months post op, if I allow myself something with refined sugar (dessert, candy, etc) the next hours and days are miserable because I crave MORE and MORE. It's very challenging. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I lost about 20 over pre op. That was about 7% of my total weight at the beginning. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi gang, I'm officially in my first real stall - have stayed at roughly the same weight now for just over a week. This isn't a fun feeling, especially after losing close to a pound per day for about the first month after surgery. (I'm almost through 7 weeks post op now). I know everyone says "embrace the stall" - easier said than done haha Never the less, I have had some victories I want to report. I'm proud of myself in them: 1. I ran 1.2 miles without stopping last week. It took me 12 minutes but I didn't stop. The last time I remember being able to do this Was 14 years ago. (!!!!) A goal I have for myself is to eventually complete a marathon race, this is the first step and I'm jazzed. 2. I exercised 6 of 7 days last week. Yahoo. 3. Last night when I got home from work and picking up the kids, I very very badly wanted to eat. I had already eaten dinner more or less. But I WANTED more. Instead of going in the house when we pulled in the driveway, I immediately put the kids in the stroller and we went out for a half hour walk in the dark. When we got back, I no longer wanted to eat - at least not nearly as much. It felt like a victory and I was proud: attempting a healthy coping mechanism in place of my old standby, Snacks. 4. I'm off all my medications now (save for vitamins). No bp meds, no more metformin, no more triglycerides lowerers, no more psych meds. It feels good. I'm hopeful. Anyways, thanks for hearing my cheers. Any encouragement on my weight stall is much appreciated! I'm half way to goal right now and I want to stay on the path. Keeping away from sweets, snacking, and eating too often feels like my biggest hurdle at this point. I have to admit though, fear of failure is creeping back in for me already. Not my friend. Not fun. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you friends. Your encouragement is helpful. Another victory I discovered today is that my body get percentage has dropped about 10% since surgery. I feel pretty happy about that as well. Hoping the path continues. I actually sent my food logs to my nutritionist today - asking for feedback. I'm expecting some constructive advice and or encouragement from him. Thanks again Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What I've been noticing over the past few days is that my emotional eating drives a ton of my eating...I know I'm not physically hungry yet I WANT certain foods: candy, crunchy, fatty, etc. One way I can tell these WANTS apart from hunger needs is that I get fixated on a certain food or snack and in my mind, the only thing that will make the desire go away is having that exact food. When it's real hunger, essentially anything will satiate the desire. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I really relate with this. If I stick to 3 meals and maybe a small snack of a Protein shake or something, I'm golden because I'm not hungry and the meal keeps me full. But if I graze, I can eat as much as I ever did all day long! I've thrown out a bag of chips and now that a bucket of nuts is the next "low hanging fruit", I might need to throw it out as well! I eat Snacks out of boredom, out of stress, out of annoyance, out of...you name it. What they say is true. Surgery doesn't fix anyone's underlying problems around eating for bad reasons... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I took reading materials but never felt like reading. I took several different changes of lounge about clothes - only wore a hospital gown and then one set of clothes. Brought toiletries, didn't really use other than the toothbrush. I had some incontinence supplies I needed i guess....but that's about it. Slippers. Yes. My own pillow. Yes. Long cable for phone. Yes. I felt so bad that nothing else was useful or mattered. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Same thing for me. 6 weeks out and I'm cold all the time almost. And definitely at night. My wife sleeps hot and I always used to. But I now have an extra blanket folded in half over only my half of the bed! And we're constantly fighting with the thermostat haha. My assumption is that I'm losing fat insulation which is a good thing Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I love wings. I'm 6 weeks out or so and I've had grilled skinless chicken breast with chicken wing sauce a few times. I don't need Water with the hot sauce so that isn't a problem - and having the chicken wing flavor without the fatty skin from the wings has been a bonus. Don't get me started about the blue cheese dressing though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have had a lot of this. I really notice a difference when I'm not drinking Water very well. Its really a commitment to get enough in because it literally takes us all day long! I actually had a couple units of saline given to me a few weeks ago because my bp was so low -- I felt better then than I've felt since the whole period here following surgery. Perhaps Iron has a part of it but I'm doubtful because I'm not multiple months away from surgery - only weeks. Doesn't seem like enough time to develop a real deficiency. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It'll get better. I'm only 7 weeks out but I so relate to your feelings. It's definitely a scary and vulnerable place to be. I just started more solid foods this week and I'm seeing light at the end of this tunnel. My advice would be: pay attention to those food wants during this time. They're obviously not tied to need or to real hunger. It's a head thing. What do those foods do for you emotionally? What is driving the desire? Is it anxiety about something? Boredom? Fear? Those impulses won't go away unless we deal with their roots. How can we replace food in that equation with an alternate healthy coping mechanism? This is a good season to start working on these things. Courage!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Greetings all, I'm now a bit over 6 weeks after surgery. Last night I threw up after eating (well, after only eating part of what I had planned). My wife thinks I was eating much faster than has become customary for me post surgery. I also was eating a couple new foods for me since surgery (a pretty dense meatball with Pasta sauce, and a tiny bit of spinach salad). I pretty much immediately felt like I had a brick logged in my esophagus or upper stomach and felt terrible - like I needed to lay down as soon as possible. Excused myself from the table and once I got back to my bedroom, I felt like I was going to lose it. Pretty soon after that, I threw it all up. Felt better immediately. No nausea otherwise, no fever etc, no real pain to speak of. Has any of you experienced this? Did I just eat too fast? Not chew enough? Eat too much? Thanks! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I feel some pressure in my chest. Sometimes get the hiccups. It varies. But I'm generally uncomfortable and soon quit. If I don't, the discomfort just gets worse. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The meat ball was a homemade one that was actually quite large. A small portion for me was about 1/3 of a whole one along with some sauce. Interesting hearing about raw greens...I wonder if that was it? I had some of the meatball by itself again today and took a very long time to chew. No issues. Thanks for the feedback though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm a month and a half out and at present, I'm 27lbs lower than my day of surgery weight. 63lbs lower than my all time high of about 8 months ago. So that's 312 at all time high, 276 at surgery, and 249 now. I'm 6'1" so I was pushing being a "low bmi" at the time of surgery. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great to hear! I also had something unexpected found due to this path...and like you turned out to be a benign tumor. A relief and also a little confirming that I'm making the right choices... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I ran into several people who gave me grief about the very concept of me losing weight...I felt as though my decision somehow confronted them or threatened them somehow. It's weird. I guess for some people weight has a huge impact on social standing...if I lose weight then you are forced to think about me differently and therefore yourself differently. Not fun. But I felt like inevitable. Don't let it derail you if you feel this track is your best decision now. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've read his book and watched a lot of his videos. I'm a fan. His theory makes a lot of sense and especially fits well with set-point theory which experientially seems true to me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hang in there! It's hard but after surgery the same thing is necessary for safety - do this well and you'll know you can do that. Hang in!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Soap or wash for the shower. An extension cord for iPhone, computer, etc. Some sort of slippers. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My clinic says I can have up to 1 cup of black coffee a day after about 5 weeks post op. I probably have 3 per week depending on my caffeine need. They're pretty big on "don't drink calories" so I don't sweeten it and keep milk to a minimum. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had surgery the same day as you. Was 276. I'm now 254. I am doing my best to keep my head on my shoulders and not feel disappointed or entitled. It'll all happen as it should . Plus, I weighed 312 in April so that's almost 60lb in tota as a part of this process! Amazing Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

No Cath for me. But I couldn't pee so they ended up having to straight Cath me after bladder scans 4x. No fun but no horrendous Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sorry to resurrect a topic from an old thread...But my situation has now changed quite a bit and I've now ended up in a new and unique scenario... I'm interested in hearing some of your reflections on it once again -- When I started my previous thread, I was really questioning whether or not I should actually go through with surgery after all. In short order, I became convinced and believe it or not, went in for my VSG on December 1 in Spokane. Super right? Well, not quite. As I quickly wrote in another recent post, my surgery was stopped mid course because they ran into a 3" tumor on top of my stomach. The 1hr surgery turned into almost 3hrs and after a consult with oncologist and pathologist while I was under, the surgeon removed the tumor and closed me up. No VSG. Needless to say, I was incredibly disappointed when i woke up to this news! And my wife and loved ones were terrified. Fast forward a week now. The tumor has been determined to be completely benign and isolated to that one spot in my body. I was quite excited to get that news from the surgeon and so was my family So the question is -- what happens next? Here's my situation. The surgery didn't count as a weight loss surgery for insurance purposes since they didn't actually perform that procedure...and essentially my clinic just has to change dates on my previous insurance approval and move forward. I've got a new date for surgery, the middle of next week, and the march continues. Many of my family members and friends have said to me things like: "why don't you quit while you're ahead?", "are you still going to have surgery?", "you look so good, do you really want to lose MORE weight?" etc. I started at about 310 last May and now I'm at 278...the last 20lbs of that or so was from the 2.5 week pre-op liquid diet (and now the subsequent week long liquid diet after surgery -- the doctor wanted me to stay on the pre-op diet just in case I go to surgery again soon). My clothing is noticeably looser...although I'm still in my same sized clothing (42in pants, xxl shirts, etc) -- and my face looks thinner already. I feel great. With all of this being said, I fundamentally don't feel like I'm in a different situation than I was a week ago. I feel like I need this help just as bad as I did before... In fact, I feel as though my choice to have surgery was the RIGHT thing as verified by the fact that they found and removed a tumor nobody had any idea was there. To me it feels like I'm on the right track with surgery... So what do you think? Would any of you question going back to surgery after going through this? Would you think 'quitting while you're ahead' is reasonable? Or would you tend to push forward thinking that it makes sense?