OutsideMatchInside

There is a lot of misinformation in this thread. Since @Proud2BMe seems to be the only person over 1 year post op to post. He is the only person that offered a realistic answer. I'm 20 months post-op. I could eat all the mashed potatoes and gravy. They are a slider. Luckily I hate mashed potatoes. I could eat all the stuffing, another slider. I could probably eat all of the veggies too. Noticed I started with sliders and kept going with sliders. If I started with the turkey with no gravy, I would just be able to eat the turkey, nothing else. Since the turkey has gravy on it, I might be able to eat something else. It just depends. When you see people at 2 to 5 years post op and they have regained, do you think theyou regained on protein shakes and dense protein? No, they regained on sliders. I can eat basically infinite amounts of chips or cookies if I want. They offer no restriction. As time goes on and you learn your sleeve and what slides through you learn what you can eat. I can eat an entire bag of baby spinach in one sitting. Salad greens are a slider. A good slider but a slider. The idea that you are only going to be able to eat one cup of food for the rest of your life is completely ridiculous and totally false (unless you have some kind of complications like a stricture and even those people can eat a lot of sliders and usually do since sliders are easier for them than dense protein.).

Try finding a therapist and work on the root causes of why you are eating a certain way.

Yes. I don't eat fruit, it is just sugar even it comes with fiber. I eat a bag of baby spinach almost every day. I keep my net carbs under 25. I am over 20 months post op.

Maybe cross your heart bras if the still make those. Maybe you can get lucky at Walmart.

Re-read your own post. Your "friend" was always a monster. It was until when you were down and needed help that you realized what a terrible person she was, surgery was just a coincidence. I love everyone that I love so much more post-op. The issues I went through with my help to get to the point of surgery really made me value life more. When I see people posting about cheating on their spouses post-op and assorted other things it surprises me. My love for people and the world has increased 10 fold. I would never want to harm anyone or cause them pain.

I don't think any Dr is really able to provide this number accurately. Every stomach is a different size to start with. They use the bougie as a guide but they can only get so close to it. I saw my sleeve during my life swallow testate so I have a very good idea of its size and shape. People always ask this question and unless you are planning a malpractice lawsuit, I don't see the point.

Soma makes the best bras. They are $60 though. I don'the think I have ever paid less than $50 for a bra unless there was a sale. If you are really looking for a bra that can work some magic you are going to need to increase your price range. Go to Soma, try a bra on, change your life.

You can'tell stretch a properly formed sleeve, it isn't a RNY pouch. At 3 months you are almost 1/2 healed so you are going to have more capacity, you are supposed to. The swelling is down and you are healing. If you weigh all your portions you don'the have to worry about over eating. So weigh every single thing that goes in your mouth.

Don't do a hardship withdrawal. Do a loan and pay yourself back with interest. Last I checked a hardship loan required proof of eviction or something like that.

You have not dumped. I dumped once and it feels like you are going through a week of having the flu all speed up in 2-4 hours. It is pure hell with fever, chills and an all over pain. You are on liquids, so liquids in, liquids out. Once you get on solid food your stools will firm. I would avoid fiber at all costs. That is probably one of the few mistakes I made post op. I went from loose stools to constipation and I feel like fiber set me back a lot physically and emotionally. Also just because you don't feel like you are dying, doesn't mean that you didn't have major surgery, because you did. Your body needs time to adjust. Think about it, you had 85% of a major organ removed, your body is trying to figure out how to work with this new configuration.

My Dr told me the goal of the first 6 weeks was healing not weight loss.

If you are a foodie, like you actually have good taste in food not just eating lots of crap, you are going to LOVE foodie life post op. Most of the time for myself I have the same simple things all the time. So when I go out, it is a real treat, especially since it is fairly rare I go to a real restaurant now, compared to the past ( I used to eat out a lot, now just a couple times a week maybe). After going through the food stages and adjusting your relationship with food. You learn to love food as fuel. Then when you do eat delicious things out, you can totally be satisfied with a taste. Food to me tastes far better now than it ever did before because since I know I can only have a "little" (and that isn't really true anymore, depending on what it is, I can have a almost normal portions of things that are not dense protein), and what I have has to be good. I won't waste room or calories on bad food. I went somewhere last week, had half a bite of food, decided it was rubbish and walked out (I had already paid my tab before the food came). At least that is my experience. I can have a little bit of everything and just enjoy the taste and the flavors and not try to eat to be full. So all the fancy restaurants that I used to feel starved after I ate there, are completely satisfying now. It is really hard to explain to someone that hasn't experienced it but some of the other vets that used to post here have expressed the same kinds of feelings. I went from first visit to surgery in 8 weeks. No time to get cold feet, plus my BFF bought a plane ticket to be with me and spent her own money so I couldn't back it. I purposely did it all very fast so I wouldn't have the option of talking myself out of it. No regrets about surgery not one second.

Long term they are almost exactly the same. RNY people will lose more in the first year, but in the 2nd year they tend to really taper off, while Sleevers will still keep losing (this applies to high BMIers). So Long term at the 3 year mark, the WLS is almost exactly the same. or close enough that you can really make the choice of having your intestines rerouted is worth it. Choosing RNY hoping that sweets will make you dump is a real roll of the dice. The majority of people with RNY don't dump long term. If you are young and active, there is pretty much no reason to choose RNY over the sleeve unless GERD is a real concern. I had my surgery as a youngish person and since the sleeve surgery has the most long term data (they have been cutting stomachs for ulcers for over 100 years), I decided long term it was the safest for a normal life.

My situation is pretty unique. Most people never get as large as I was and stay that way for long. They also usually never lose as low as I have. I had to accept that my situation is unique and stop expecting other people to understand it. It is something I am still working on. Thanks for your kind words.

They knock you out before they put it in, and take it out before you wake up. I never saw or felt it. The only thing the did pre-op was start my IV.

@LACRACRA2 Well the benefit of the Sleeve over RNY is that a properly formed sleeve, can't stretch. Virtually all of the stretchy part of the stomach is removed. The pouches that RNY patients have are still made of part of the stretchy part of the stomach, they can and do stretch. The sleeve and RNY are not the same surgery but people like to give advise to Sleevers and RNY patients like they are the same thing. There are some big differences. Not just in the surgeries but there seems to be a lot of other long term eating differences.

It is basically impossible for you to feel physically hungry because the nerves have been cut. So you either have acid issues or you have head hunger. Either way consult your team.

When your nerves reconnect issue going to vary. You can tell, you will be able to feel it. I would say they start around 6 weeks and definitely are reconnected by 12. Early on you really should not feel restriction. The whole point of the post op diet and portions is to not stress your staple line and allow you to heal. Feeling restriction is not the goal. Hitting your protein and fluids is.

Water in water out.

Walmart, Amazon, GNC, quest

Once you have surgery it won't seem like a little food. It will be a lot or just enough. The amount of time you can only eat a little food is very short. I am 20 months post op and if you saw me eating out you would not know I had surgery. That doesn't mean I eat a lot, but I do not eat very little. If your main concern is how much food you will or will not be able to eat, you are not ready for surgery yet.

Your nutritionist is bad. They told me to try soft scrambled eggs first. Also check the forum for puree recipes. You do not want to reintroduce carbs this easy. All of the ones you are eating are things you can easily eat in large amounts. Setting you up for over eating.

Try a collagen supplement.

You can't stretch your pouch. I was sleeved on 7/15/2015 and my restriction has been the same since the 1 year mark. Eat dense protein only. Steak. Chicken breast. Pork chops. Cod. Salmon. Dense protein. Do not fad diet with these pouch resets and other nonsense. Liquids go right through a sleeve and you will still be hungry. 4 ounces of dense protein will have you full for a couple hours, your stomach has to work harder to process it a day move it to the intestines. DO NOT FAD DIET. If you can't live off liquids for the rest of your life it is just a fad diet. Dense protein is what we are supposed to be eating for the rest of our lives and if people ate dense protein the whole time instead of sliders, carbs and other junk food, they wouldn't be in the position of regaining.

I love them. The BBQ have a nasty fake sweetener after taste but the salt and vinegar are perfection.