Rev Me Up!

Yeah, the BMI charts are crap. My boyfriend is a tri-athlete. Not an ounce of fat on him - and he ranks on the very high side of normal for his height. Almost overweight. He has a 29 inch waist for crying out loud! It is COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS! The BMI calculation does not accout for muscle mass at all, especially for athletes that have more developed musculature. Of course, I am not an athlete :-)

Hi-- I think different people have different feelings, but I have no traditional hunger. If my belly is rumbling, its acid. I take 20 mg omeprazole every day. Doctor said to take it for several months after surgery, and it is a lifesaver. It will keep your tummy very happy. I started out eating 6 times a day because I could only eat a couple of bites in one sitting. I eat a little more now and I have moved to 5 times a day. If I don't eat, I get an "empty" feeling. I get a little shaky, my mind doesn't feel very sharp, and sometimes I'll get a headache. I carry string cheese or a snack baggie of Peanut Butter filled pretzels with me at all times just in case I start to feel funny and I need a bite to eat. Since you are only one week out, you may consider bringing a Protein drink with you everywhere you go - just in case. I do still get cravings (which have nothing to do with real hunger) usually related to hormones. That's when I have to talk myself into eating a bite of protein first, but I find it really easy. Sweets still make me feel weird. Congrats on your surgery!

Congrats on your approval - you will find the sleeve is nothing like the band. The restriction is there from day one and doesn't stop. Also, you actually crave and can tolerate healthy food. When I am feeling really drained, all I want is chicken. A couple bites of Protein and I feel like a million bucks! Good luck on your journey - make sure to read a lot of the post-op forum because that is where people go to talk about their recovery. I found it to be a little tougher than my lap-band recovery.

I am too new to help you with long term results, but I am glad you have found a good doctor and that you are taking steps towards getting the band out. For me, the sleeve was more of an insurance policy against gaining a bunch of weight after the band was out. To be honest, I didn't have much hope for losing becuase I had already failed one weight los surgery. As of today, I am ecstatic about my sleeve results and I am so happy to be rid of the lap band and all of it's problems. Good luck!

I had the drain for 2 days in the hospital and it was removed right before I left. It was unpleasant, but it was nice having the extra assurance that there was no leak. I think the drain was probably the only thing that really cause me pain in the hospital, but it wasn't excrutiating. Good luck!!

So happy that your band is gone!!! Double happy that you are doing well inrecovery! It's a tough journey for anyone to have a sleeve, but I think those of us that have had revision have a unique emotional journey to navigate. It's hard to go through one failed WLS and summon up the courage and hope to have a second. Really happy for you and happy that they got the band out before it did any further damage. I had scar tissue on my liver, but nothing as drastic as yours. Wishing you an uneventful recovery :-)

The milestones keep coming! According to the BMI chart for my height, I reached "normal" status over the weekend. No longer overweight :-) I, personally, think BMI calculations are garbage, but it is nice to finally be clinically normal. I also am steady in size 12 pants and, for some reason, that really had an emotional affect on me. I really do feel like a normal person again for the first time in so many years. I've been having some tough times lately with my eating limitations, but having this constant progress is so helpful. Feeling fantastically average...

Be careful buying too many clothes!!! You will be buying smaller ones in 6 weeks! I made the mistake of spending a little too much money on my first set of smaller clothes and only wore them for a month or so and had to give them away. Now I only buy 2 pairs of cheap trousers for work, 7 nice t-shirts in various colors to wear with the trousers, a skort/skirt, and a pair of jeans and that's it. I try to spend as little as possible because I know they won't last. It's a cool problem to have :-) My biggest frustration is with clothes sizing and bra shopping is the WORST!!!!! Victoria's Secret doesn't work for me, but I have had great luck at Kohl's. I buy the Vanity Fair bras on Friday nights (power hour!) and I usually get away at about $18 per bra. It is tedious to have to try every single thing on, but I am loving the progress. Yay for you!! PS - I eventually had to report Lane Bryant as spam because I unsubscribed from their list 4 times and still got the emails.

I don't want to go against MD adivce, because I am not a medical professional. I can only tell you what works for me. I started out eating 6 meals a day when I transitioned to mushy / solid food. After a couple months, I scaled it down to 5 meals a day. It is the only way I can do it. My meals average 150 to 200 cals each. It brings me to about 1000 cals a day. I just can't eat enough in one sitting to last. Some of my meal examples: Trade Joe mini brie and 4 flax crackers One packet oatmeal with flax small granola bar 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chicken 2 or 3 pieces of nigiri sushi one egg with 1/2 piece of wheat toast one serving of Peanut Butter filled pretzel chunks (about 10 pieces) string cheese Mind you, some of these things I eat completely, some I can't quite finish. I don't eat a lot of veggies - there just isn't room for them. At most I get one or two bites after my Protein and that's it. I choose these food items because they are the easiest to eat (wheat toast goes down better than plain bread). I have never been able to tolerate Protein drinks, so I always make sure there is protein in every meal. I eat alot of other things, but these are the go-to staples of my daily life. Do your best, make sure what you put in your body is healthy and you will do fine. Don't push your stomach to the point of discomfort - that's the one rule I live by :-)

Great post! Couldn't agree with you more. After going through the lap-band roller coaster, I was so happy to find that I am able to eat whatever I want after having the sleeve for a few months. The awesome thing is, I crave healthier food in general. When I feel weird, I eat some chicken and I feel better. I carry string cheese and Peanut Butter filled pretzels in my purse and that will get me through several HOURS of the day. I can say that I never feel hungry, but I start to feel weird if I don't eat for a few hours. Most of all, I can't compare my weight loss to a lot of people on the board because I was a lap-band revision and I don' t have as much to lose. However, I think the percentages are extremely similar for everyone. I am 4 months out and I have lost 66% of the excess weight. I am on target to lose it all in 6 to 8 months. But, if someone hears I have only lost 40 pounds in 4 months, they might think I was a slow loser. Bottom line: you are right, it all comes out in the end. I don't count carbs, but I have more of a yearning for healhty food. I eat a lot of cheese, I have developed a weird craving for Starbucks iced mocha lattes (which I can only handle about 1/3 of then I throw it away), I have rekindled a torrid love affair with chicken, and I eat one serving of oatmeal every day (for fiber) which I have never done before in my life. I focus on Protein first because it makes me feel better - that's it. If chocolate made me feel better, I would probably eat that first :-) Nice to hear from you and really happy you are cruising right along!

"I can't explain the feeling you get once you decide to "let go" of dieting." I think you hit the nail on the head there. It sounds like you are wanting to get away from the mental hoops you are jumping through, regardless of whether or not you will continue to lose weight. You will continue to lose, because there just isn't enough room in your belly to take on huge amounts of food. But, I think it would be really healthy for you mentally to take it easy. We still each have to make a choice every time we eat something - that won't ever change. But, you can't live on a "diet" forever, I think we all have learned that over the years. You are such a success and have been a wonderful inspiration for so many of us. I, personally, wish you nothing but the best and I hope you can find the happy medium :-) Make sure you post about the experience, becuase there are a lot of us creeping up on our goal that will need your guidance! Congratulations!!!

Fantastic!! Congratulations on all your progress. This tool is amazing, isn't it??!!?!?

A day late and dollar short :-) No, I am actually only half a pound shy of my goal and I couldn;t be happier about it. I am so ecstatic to see the weight still coming off. I have been having some emotional times dealing with my food limitations, but the success is making it much easier to swallow (so to speak). Final challenge weigh in stats: SN................Starting Wt..........Current..........Goal...........Lbs to Goal RevMeUp!.........175.....................155.5............155............. .5

Good for you! Yes, the sleeve really works - especially once you move on to more solid food. There will be more ups and downs emotionally, but I am really happy for you that you can see the light at the end of the tunnel today. My exhaustion / dizziness stuck around for several weeks. For me, the calorie defecit was hard to handle. But now I feel great and I am so happy every day that I have the sleeve! Wishing you the best---

Going to real food is a bit of an experiment. Something that makes you feel bad this week will feel fine next week. My mushy staples were: cottage cheese, ricotta cheese with seasoning, very tender white fish mashed up, mashed sweet potato with salt only. Also, make sure you only eat about 1 tablespoon to start and chew it REALLY WELL. That will help with some of the discomfort. Take care!

In the first couple of months, I had an aversion to anything sweet. If I had a little something with real sugar in it, I was instantly queasy and it tasted terrible. OK, so I have been having terrible cravings for the last couple of days (hormones?) and I had 2 peices of smores candy. It went down OK, tasted pretty good. Then it hit me. First, I nearly passed out and had to lay on the couch for 2 hours. Then the shaking started. My hands were shaking terribly. My best guess is some sort of hypo-glycemic reaction I have never felt anything like it. I ate pure Protein after that - just chicken - and I started to feel better. Lesson learned: just because I can fit it in my stomach, and it tastes good, and it doesn't make me vomit DOES NOT MEAN that it is a free for all and I can eat it. I am not eating enough food to waste even one bite on something that isn't nutritious. Maybe later on, but not now. Living and learning...

Wow! That is really hard so soon after surgery. I didn't go out for any type of restaurant meal for at least a month after my surgery. It's just too hard - no need to torture yourself. It does get better and you will be able to eat regular food - just less of it. My first mushies were cottage cheese, yogurt, and mashed sweet potato dressed only with some salt (no marshmallow or brown sugar). Beware, though, that your first real food will fill you up REALLY QUICKLY. Don't get a side of mashed potatoes thinking you will eat the whole thing. Go really slow and don't be surprised if 2 spoonfuls is all you can handle. I am coming up on 4 months and I still can only eat a tiny bit of an appetizer or I eat a couple of bites off of someone else's plate. My favorite meals out are Asian because most Asian places (Chinese, Thai, Japanese, etc) serve family style. I can pick a couple of bits off the larger serving that everyone is sharing and I don't feel so odd. But, for now, even that won't help you because you are too close to surgery date. Bring your food in your purse, buy Soup in restaurants and do the best you can. Take care--

Totally feel your "pain" on that one!! The worst for me is underwear. I actually have to go and try on every cut and size of underwear because, in a addition to the size, the cuts all fit me differently now. So tedious!!!!

I am dangerously close!!!!!!!! SN..............Starting Wt........Current.......Goal.......Lbs to Goal Revmeup..........175..................158.5.............155...............3.5 I have 10 days to lose 3.5 pounds - boy, if I don't make it, it sure will be close. Thanks for the support, everybody!!!

I know some sweet things still make me a little queasy. Also, over-filling will make you feel bad. Make sure to measure so you only take in 1/4 cup of whatever. Also, drinking right after you eat is a no-no. Wait an hour and that will give your tummy a chance to process what you ate. Are you taking an acid reducer? Good luck!

Boy, I remember that feeling... I was never really able to do the Protein liquids and I really suffered through the first 2 weeks. What I am about to say may be against your doctors advice, so take it with a grain of salt. I started drinking full-sugar gatorade after the first week. I liked the change in taste and my body was desperate for some nutrients / electrolytes. You really don't want to get dehydrated. I had to dilute it a little becuase the flavor was too strong. If you rehydrate yourself, you may find it easier to try protein again. In the meantime: popsicles, gatorade, Soup, decaf tea, anything that you can get down that will give you some nutrition. If you think you may be getting dehydrated, you might want to try pedialyte popsicles. They have salt and electrolytes. Good luck and hang in there - it really does get better!!

It doesn't hurt to ask a surgeon. Why don't you call up a reputable clinic near you and just talk to them about it? Maybe they can help you work though the process. And, if they don't seem to listen and understand, call a different one. There are lots of doctors out there and it sounds like you need someone that can take their time and listen to your concerns. We probably won't have the answere here, but we will support you on your journey!! Good luck-- Lara

Hey- Good luck to you!! You are in good hands with Dr A!

Yikes! Glad you got medical attention and that it is healing better now. Keep us up to date on your progress. Take care--

I am 3 and half months out. I found the recovery much harder with the sleeve. I had less energy, but I am sure that was because I had a terrible time getting liquids down. Also, once you start eating, you can hardy eat anything at all. Remember the 6 week wait bofore you could get your first fill? And you could eat fairly normally? THat is not the case with the sleeve. You restriction is very tight and very consistent. I had a hard time getting excited about my surgery the second time around. I think once you have a failed weight loss surgery, you are much more guarded about your prospects the second time around. However, I can say with 100% certainty that this surgery works. It does for you what was promised with the band but never delivered. I eat healthier and my restriction is very consistent. Mentally, it is hard because you will have to come to terms with your limited ability to eat. According the "old timers", this gets better after 6 months or so as your consumption goes up a little more. I am so happy with my sleeve. Now I am over the worst of the recovery, I feel more normal than I have in years. No more port, no more food sticking, no more random stomach pain, no more fills. I am losing a lot of weight and I am extremely satisfied with my decision to make the change. Good luck with your decision!