Emilie.Lancaster

4 months in, this has eased up some. It still happens, but not as much and not as harsh.

Today at work, people really noticed the weight loss. 40 pounds down and I'm in a bit of baggy clothes. See, you just gotta lose 15-20% of your body weight and, bazingah!, the start to ask, "Are you losing weight?" Um, yeah.

I think some of the meat aversion flows from the slight discomfort of all meats in the stomach. Cheese goes down easy for me and passes through the pylorus without complaint. Meat, not so much. A few bites of chicken and I'm done. With a touch of discomfort. The limit for meat and eggs is so much smaller in my belly.

I had better success with Water when I put in the rule, "You don't get meal X for the day until you have drunk water quantity Y." Because you can't get that water in after the meal. No way no how.

Three months today! Down about 40. My wedding dress from May is a sack. I feel totally normal. 20 mor pounds will make me happy, 40 will be goal now.

I have had carbonation in various forms. Champagne was okay for a sip. The more bubbles the higher the upchuck factor.

At 8 weeks, I was forgetting I had had surgery. Most of the time (I hit 3 months on Tuesday), I feel like I'm 92% healed. I walk all day as a teacher, and from time to time my tummy let's me know if I have overdone things. Feeling like I feel today, 12 weeks out, I would pounce on taking a trip like this!

I used to think I was a person who coped with cold well. The post surgery chills are different. It's like you get a cool breeze at your back, then you just plummet. The chill and recovery time used to be equal before surgery. Now it takes ten times longer to come back to normal than pre surgery. It's the weirdest thing.

I've not been pukey, but I wonder if it is related to stressors on my body from the quick weight loss, or dehydration. Sleeves three months ago. Before my sleeve, I had this happen once in my life. Now twice in a few weeks??? I wonder.....

Anyone else have burst capillaries after surgery? I've had two round of the bloody eyeball.

Two weeks after surgery, I took a short day hike. People are running marathons a year after surgery, so it's doable. What concerns me more is the freezing phenomenon. Lots of threads here are all about how cold we all feel after surgery. In July even. Consider keeping a butt load of hand warmers with you.

The mantra about protein first is less about cutting carbs, and more about making sure that your limited intake ability is stacked towards the protein you are going to need for the mass revisions and healing that your body is about to go through. You, in fact, need little in the way of complex carbs. The repair of surgery, the destruction of fat, the conversion of some of you fast twitch muscles to slow twitch, etc., is going to leave you with a need for protein. Lots and lots of it. I'm no expert, but my understanding is that there is an element of stacking the right combinations when it comes to heart disease. When you eat a protein rich diet, you are less likely to have problems when you have less carbs. I have heard it said that bread is like sandpaper in your vascular system, scraping along and allowing plaques to adhere. Meatless proteins can be had. My favorite is nutritional yeast. It makes salad taste like bread. It's got some nice iron and B vitamins, too. Also, low fat meat proteins are easily obtained as well. Not all calories are creates equal in the body. Healthy carbs... I hate that term. The evidence seems so very strong out there that grains of all stripes would be best if left OUT of the human diet. Fruits are better. Nuts are better. Eggs are better. All are better when we go against the grain.

If I eat too much, or too fast or too dry or whatever, the slime works itself out relatively quickly, in less than an hour. If I get sick, and it's happened 3 times or so, that's the end of it. I puke, I feel better, I'm on my way. 10 minutes or less. I would call the doc. At 6 weeks there was a lot of crap shoot going on. Eggs were supposed to be a soft food that wouldn't hurt me, but it was awful every time. If a food is treating you rough, back off it and keep to liquids for a bit.

I had such a different reaction to this stage. So let me gently turn your head here. Less than ten days after my surgery, I was back at work at the staff Christmas breakfast. I wouldn't and really couldn't eat any of those delicious foods I loved. I marveled at the oversized platters of food. I thought, look at how much food is on those plates?! I realized that I would never be able to eat like that again. Ever, and watching the food get shoveled into the eaters, I knew I never wanted to. So, what I'm saying is that there is a spiritual gift here. Don't miss it. You have a lifetime of watching other people eat too much ahead of you. You are going to feel so very different about it from now on. You are going to marvel at how little you need to survive and how the tool makes you better at this crazy game. Sit down at the table and sit in judgement, if that's what it takes. Because you can. You got this handled.

I was self pay in Atlanta, 14k. It was outpatient, and fast. Within three weeks, I went from initial consultation to surgery. I ended up with an unfortunate and unforseen complication involving my pain management, and ended up in the hospital for 2days, which insurance covered, remarkably enough. Have a friend who paid 7500 in Mexico and never had a problem.