Wheetsin

When I had my lapband I had a true stall. It was grueling. It lasted about 18 months. No change in weight nor measurements. Then, having changed nothing, one day I decided to weigh (when you "know" the numbers aren't changing, the appeal of weighing quickly goes away) and I was down something like 14 lbs almost overnight. I truly changed nothing. Oddly enough this happened at 250 on the dot. It seems like in addition to all the fluids and stores and crap our bodies like to do, they also seem to like to stick at certain weights. I haven't seen any real research on this, but I read about it all the time in resources ranging from WLS boards to fitness magazines to just anecdotal stories. It seems like most people have one or two weights their bodies just really, really want to stay at and oddly enough it tends to be full number weights (e.g. 250 or 180 vs. 257 or 183).

My husband really really wanted to stay with me, and I really really didn't want him there (he tends to just fret and worry, which isn't actually helping me any). Honestly, I would have been fine without him. In fact, I would have slept better because his snoring woke me up a few times. The nurses prefer to be the ones helping you so they can make sure IV lines aren't accidentally getting tangled and foleys aren't accidentally getting caught. So as long as you're comfortable with it, I say go for it.

Think about it this way. What he's saying is extremely accurate. Youare basically going to be sliced open (or shallowly stabbed) 5 times in the stomach. I have no problem with what he told you because if you have no idea what to expect, it's about one of the best analogies he could have given you. But I'm a "say it like it is" kind of person, and I would've MUCH rather had his response that one of the froo-froo responses like "Well, you won't feel good." I also think surgeons in particular tend to set you up for the worst. A friend of mine is a surgeon and I can hear her saying this exact answer to the same question. Now on the accuracy of what he says - I've never been stabbed, but I can only assume it would feel worse than any of my surgeries have. None of them hurt that bad. The sleeve was the worst, I woke up in quite a bit more pain than before, BUT I also learned after the fact that I was on morphine, which doesn't do much of anything for me, instead of an alternative like dilaudid. The morphine, at best, was "taking some of the edge off" but it was not actually functioning as a good pain suppressant. That's why it hurt so much worse, it wasn't because it was actually so much more painful.

Oh, indeed. I look now, at pictures taken 4 years ago when I was at my lapband low (about 80 lbs lighter than I am today) and I think "Wow, I look... normal...or maybe kinda chubby..." but at the time, I thought I looked ridiculously fat still. It's all relative. I look at pants I wore then and I'm like - no way that ever fit me, it's like -- normal! But at the time I rembmer packing for a trip and holding the pants in front of me to fold and thinking, "Ugh these are huh-yoooge!" Best is now when I look at those "tiny" pants and I think there's no chance they will ever fit again, and I know that when they do fit I'll be like "Huh yeah they must've stretched out." Our stinking thinking gets in the way.

I haven't developed any intolerances but for whatever reason milk just tastes/smells horrible to me now, and it hits my tongue as a bitter. This is not a big loss because I'm not a milk drinker anyway - I mostly used it for protein drinks a few years ago, and for an occasional treat with some homemade chai latte mix. I just picked up on this in the last week or so.

food containers - I bought 2 & 4 oz containers with lids. The little semitransparent disposable ones. LOVED these. Used them for Jello & such early on, and now I pack my lunches in them. Proteins - I already knew which ones I liked, so I just stocked up. Then they ended up all being too thick to do me much good. Syrups - on the rare occasion (anymore) that I drink a from-powder Protein drink, I doctor the crap out of it. Here are some of my favorites to use (all SF): Torani Salted Caramel DaVinci Kahlua Torani coffee DaVinci Chai Tea Torani Peanut Butter Torani Cookie Dough Torani Orange I buy my from local stores or onine through netrition. They're higher per bottle, but when you factor in shipping they're usually quite a bit cheaper. This was my 2nd WLS so I pretty much knew what I would/wouldn't need. I way overbought the first time.

BTW if you have a local support group through your surgeon or a hospital, see if you can go. They often do protein swaps where person 1 brings in 10 or 15 "samples" of their favorite, person 2 does with theirs, etc. and you swap. It's a great way to sample a LOT of proteins without having to commit to a large quantity of any of it.

The only flavor I find worthwhile is Roadside Lemonade. At first it's not good, but it sort of grows on me. By the time I'm near the end, I would describe it as "lemon cream." I mix it in water and add in SF lemonade drink mix. I've also used it with lemon zest, lemon extract, and lemon juice to make lemon protein powder ice cream, which tastes exactly like drinking the protein drink with the lemon kicked up a notch, except their tolerability is directly proportional to their temperature (the colder they are, the easier they go down).

If there is I've got you beat by miles. So if nothing else, it could always be worse. I'm coming up on my 9th week of no loss in weight/measurements. For perspective, I've been sleeved going on 12 weeks. I don't do pity party and I'm a sucky cheerleader, but let's get a little reality check here. You were sleeved on May 4th, and you "stalled" (sorry, but you're not stalled) starting May 19th. Yeah, that's exactly what's expected. Your "stall" has lasted 3 weeks now. That's exactly in the middle of the 2 - 4 week average, so again - exactly what's expected. It seems like you're expecting to have constant weightloss and that's just not realistic. Our bodies don't work that way. Just the glycogen cycle in your liver alone can occupy 8 - 10 lbs, and it's all kinds of whacky right now. At about 5 weeks it might be time to start trying to switch things up a bit. You can actually initiate "stalls" by getting stuck in too much of a routine. I'm currently (still) trying to increase calories, carbs and Protein, and decrease exercise. I know that sounds counterintuitive but too much of a caloric defecit can hinder more than help. Our bodies have had hundreds of thousands of years to learn how to survive. They are masters at survival, but they are not sentient. They don't know "diet" they just know you're starving and they are going to try and do whatever they can to prevent that from happening. Your body is doing exactly what it is supposed to do.

I had significant pain, not what I would call intense, for a good 4 - 6 hours. It was negligible after that. I never had any nausea, so I can't comment on that one. Don't worry about your Protein right now. Focus on core hydration. You can go without protein just like you cam go without eating, but you need your fluids.

Hehe, it's not all it sounds to be. For starters I didn't pop out offspring until I was 32. That left a LOT of free time, with a job that paid tuition... and not much else to do. And let's see... I started undergraduate studies in 1993 and didn't wrap up the undergraduate until 2002. I had lots of time back then. BIS, BA English Lit, BA Philosophy <- easy, had some sharable credits, and basically qualifies me to be a barista at Starbucks because, you know, none of the big philosophy companies are hiring. MS #1 <- pre-kid MS #2 <- finished my last class about a week before I went into labor I've putzed around with enrolling in a PhD program, mostly just so I can call myself "Doctor." I expect it would take me about 10 yrs.

You actually can't make up missed Protein later, any more than you can make up missed sleep. Once it has been missed, it's missed, and "extra" at another time is going to be stored as "extra" (i.e. fat). I'm right around 12 weeks out and can eat pretty much whatever I want, just in really small portions. A few things are more uncomfortable than others, but I have no intolerances and have not had to vomit once. I eat a lot of sashimi (I've only been on one cruise but there was always sushi/sashimi available), strawberries, almonds, eggs, cheese... I don't eat many vegetables because I don't have room for them, but they've not had a problem going down (I've tried steamed broccoli, raw lettuce, blanched asparagus, raw cucumber, raw onion, raw seaweed... that might actually be it...) The strawberries are mainly to up my calories through "healthy" carbs. If it were me I'd pack a few boxes of Protein Bars. I wouldn't worry about Protein drinks. At 12 weeks I'm getting the majority of the protein through my regular foods. If I'm running behind for the day I will have a half a Protein Drink (20gm). You can find protein bars with a 2:1 or 3:1 protein:carb ratio just about anywhere. If you look harder you can find ones with better numbers (I'm not stressing about carbs so it doesn't bother me to do a 2:1 ratio for a solid protein, I would not do 2:1 for liquid protein). And for whatever reason, out of everything except like Water, protein bars go down the easiest. I don't even have to eat them all that slowly. They melt, I guess. There are protein drink mixes that come in individual serving packets, or that you could portion out into ziplocs, but you'd probably need a shaker cup or something. And they're gross... by 12 weeks you're going to be so protein-drinked out, you'll probably be willing to eat more frequently if it means you don't have to drink another shake. Weight-wise I've lost whatever it says below (I don't know off-hand and can't see my ticker), but I've been in a dead stall for about 8 weeks now, or a little longer. Size-wise I'm going to guess I'm down 2 sizes. The jeans I wore the day before surgery, snugly, I can now pull off/on without unbuttoning or opening the zipper. The jeans I have on today are 22s, but I tried on some jeans yesterday at a different store than where I normally buy my jeans and their 26 was tight on me, so there's really no meaning in a "size".

I once had a lady in a grocery store tell me that you pick a sweet watermelon by looking for ones with lots of "scars" (the stretchmark things they get on the rind sometimes) because those "scars" are where the bees stick their stingers in and suck out the juice, and they know if it's a sweet one or not, so only the scarred ones will be any good. I also had one of my staff members tell me she had to leave early because she forgot to take down her hummingbird feeder, so she was afraid it would stick around the feeder instead of finding the geese so that it could latch on to their "armpit feathers" with their beaks and get a ride south for the winter. I had a man at a park with a large pond one tell me that some scars on a carp were extra gills - that carp are the only fish that can spontaneously generate additional gills when they start to run out of air. Someone not knowing (or being able to type, or not caring, or whatever the case may be) the difference between lose and loose ranks pretty far down on the "duh" moments I have experienced. (I have 5 degrees, but none of them happen to be in Typing, so you're welcomed to count my errors on any given post. I can guarantee at least one "teh").

About 3 months out, have not puked once. I do have some reflux but only if I eat too close to laying down/dozing off, or if what I eat earlier doesn't want to clear quickly. She should definitely at least ask some questions, but she will need to figure that out for herself. I have seen a LOT of people go down paths of self-destruction for mny reasons ranging from not having the money to meet a deductible, to knowing it's bad and prefering to live without the affirmation, so not realizing how bad something has gotten... you name it. Now, having to smell a co-workjer who reeks of vomit, that's something else entirely. You're more patient with that one than I would be (I'm a sympathy puker and if I see/hear/smell vomit, it's a battle not to vomit myself, so having to deal with a pukey smelling coworker is not something I would take in stride...)

There is no set timeframe other than "in the first year," really. With my band it was about 2 mos out. I'm coming up on 3 mos sleeved and no loss yet, so I'll probably fall into that 4 mos category. Most of the time it starts between months 2 - 4. It's almost impossible to gauge an average amount of loss. For one, the length of your hair can really skew the visual estimate of how much hair you're losing. When my hairloss from my band started, my hair was about waist length, and I have thick hair (a lot of it, AND a thick hair shaft). It looked like you could knit a sweater with what I lost every morning. But in reality, it wasn't that much. It just looked like a lot. It looked like I was frapping curly red brillo pads all over the shower. Now my hair is about chin length, with shorter layers. I could lose more hair, and it would look like less. And the number of hairs I lose is not going to be the same as the number of hairs that anyone else loses. HTH

Sorry for the late response, I lost track of this thread. Most of my surgeons revisions have been band -> RNY. I believe he has done about 1,300. Band -> sleeve was about 275. I'm not military so I didn't go through an MTF (just to clarify). If there's an upside to lots of scar tissue (I had gobs of it)... it's the restriction. Scar tissue can play a role in how much "flex" (calling it stretch isn't really accurate) you have. The more virgin tissue, the more natural flex. The more adhesions/scarring, the less... just like how our skin can stretch, but our stretchmarks are scars and we aren't getting any more stretch out of that spot. I'm about 3 mos out and often still get full on tablespoon portions. ^ I actually had a good conversation with my surgeon about that yesterday. We're told not to graze, but if it weren't for grazing I'd max out at about 300 calories. I was talking to him about the verbiage he uses... if you tell people not to graze they're going to think in terms of meals. I have three meals, but 2 - 3 "snacks" -- but since each meal/snack takes at least 30 - 45 mins to eat (except for Protein bars, they go down like nothing)... that's about 5 - 6 hours of the day I spend eating, and in my book that sounds a lot like grazing.

I think all of the isopure RTDs except the grape frost flavor are horrible. I've tried them all now. The apple melon is particulary foul. The grape one, really really cold, with a packet of SF grape drink mix added, tastes like koolaid (to me).

Poke (pronounced Poh-Kay) salad is an absolute favorite of mine, but I didn't even know about it until about a year ago. I frequently ate this pre-op, but considering how great it is post-op (I couldn't get my daily Protein in until I added sashimi), hopefully sashimi lovers out there will enjoy it as well. For now I'm omitting a few ingredients (not yet on my OK foods list) but it's still awesomeness. 1/2 lb Maguro (or preferred type) tuna sashimi, cubed into 1/2" bites 1-2 stalks of green onions, chopped (not the onion part, just the green tops) 1.5 tbls of soy sauce 1 tbl of sesame seed oil 1/4 tsp chili oil 1/8 C purple laver (purple seaweed, can alsu use wakame, or a blend, or omit) Sprinkle of white sesame seeds Salt to taste (it's very nice when you have a fairly strong bite of salt) Whisk together all the liquid ingredients. In anoher bowl: mix ahi, onion, laver and sesame seeds. Drizzle wet ingredients over fish mixture, refrigerate at least 15 minutes for flavors to mix. Maguro has about 7 gm protein per ounce. I can eat 2 - 3 oz at a time (today I managed 4 oz spread over about 2.5 hrs). That's about 28 gm of protein deliciousness... and one less Protein Drink I have to force down.

My surgeon (US) charges $11,999 for a sleeve. I believe he bills half the surgeon's fee for a revision, which would be $2000, so I'm guesstimating his revision fee would be about $13,999 inclusive.

Cigna approved my band removal, then denied my sleeve for two specific criteria. I wrote/filed an appeal and they approved.

Honestly if it was something I was "GRRR"ing over, I would've just pulled off a bite and had some donut. The tiny bit I would've eaten would not have mattered, and I wouldn't have been frustrated or felt deprived. But I'm like that. I don't really agree with the notion of deprivation, just limitation, unless someone really just can't handle it (most people can). To answer your question, no, I've not been tempted like that (yet). But again - if I had, I've had just taken a bite and enjoyed it and been stuffed.

I'm losing quite a bit more slowly with the sleeve than with the band, even though I'm eating less.

I hope the fella isn't your dad.

Sounds about right to me, but if you have any doubts a pharmacist can check it for you. If nothing else, ask them if you can see it in their bottle, and compare its viscosity to what's in yours. It's thicker than Water, but not what I would consider thick. No where near as thick as cough syrup or children's ibuprofen. Mine is yellowish in color.

Self pay, billed, or negotiated rate?