Tufflaw

Hi, I wanted to make a suggestion for those looking for a good way to exercise post-surgery. For those thinking of starting a jogging regimen but hate the thought of actually running, I strongly recommend a program called c25k, which is short for Couch to 5K. The idea is that by following this program, you go from sitting on your couch doing nothing to running a full 5K (3.1 miles) in 9 weeks. I've always hated running but doing something like a 5K was always on my bucket list, so I decided to give it a try. I've tried the c25k program in the past (years ago) with some decent results, but never stuck with it. So now that I've lost some decent weight post-surgery I wanted to try to kickstart my metabolism again and get some good exercise so I decided to try the program again. And it was a success! I followed the program, ran three times a week using my c25k app, and made it to the end. After I finished I ran three 5Ks a week for a few weeks until I ran in an organized 5K event where I placed 18th out of 63, and 2nd place for my gender/age group! Now, for someone who always hated running, I can't believe I'm doing this, but a few weeks ago I started the b210k program (Bridge to 10K), which is a six week program that gets you from running a 5K to running a 10K (6.2 miles). Today was day 1 of week 3, and I ran 3 intervals of 1.8 miles each with .1 mile walking in between, for a total running of 5.4 miles. If you've ever thought of trying to start jogging but didn't have a plan or thought it was impossible, give this a shot, you won't regret it. It starts off really easy and gradually builds up. There are a ton of free and paid apps you can use. I personally use Rundouble which has a free version, and you can pay to unlock additional programs. I've also heard very good things about an app called Nike Running Club, which is also free. I've also tried Zombies Run 5K which is pretty neat. Best of luck to whoever gives this a shot, hope you'll post your progress here! Bonus pictures of me and my daughter after the 5K (she ran the kids fun run and took 2nd place):

Great job! Yeah I love wearing stuff that used to not fit and now it fits or is even big on me. I've gone through all my clothes that I had when I was smaller and even stuff I wore after my first surgery (I was sleeved in 2016, lost a lot and then gained back and had revision in 2021), now I need even smaller stuff. Originally I was a 2XL shirt and those were starting to get tight, now I'm a Medium (!!) and down about 10 pants sizes as well. I've been getting my stuff at the thrift store because I don't know if I'll outgrow them (undergrow?) and they'll end up being too big. Once I reach my final weight and size I'll do a shopping spree.

I had personal issues related to some things going on in my life that had nothing to do with the surgery, but that coupled with professional issues I was having (losing my job) just put me in a bad mindset where I didn't care as much about tracking what I ate and weighing myself regularly and not eating what I wasn't supposed to. So I started eating larger portions and eating snacks/junk food and not tracking anything and it all went downhill from there.

I got the sleeve in Dec 2016 and lost a lot of weight very quickly, about 120 lbs in maybe 6 or 7 months. Then I had some personal and professional setbacks and ended up screwing up the program and over the next few years put almost everything back on. Then last November I had revision to bypass and again the weight loss was pretty quick - not as fast as before but still very acceptable. I am now lower than the lowest weight I was with the sleeve, and have kept it off longer as well. And I continue to lose, so we'll see where the endpoint is.

You just have to get through it - make sure you finish all the preop stuff in time so you don't get delayed. You will likely have to do a pre-surgery liver shrinking diet which, depending on your doctor, might be all liquids or otherwise very restrictive, which will suck. Some do 1 week, some do 2 weeks (I had to do 2 weeks which was not fun). I think I saw one poster say once they only had to do 3 days. Whatever it is, just keep thinking towards post-surgery and how much your life will change. Good luck!

That's good, so it was basically this?

Agreed, speak to your doctor. GENERALLY speaking, you should be feeling better every day, so sudden unexplained pain is not good. Maybe a stricture? Talk to your doctor's office and be as specific as possible, they may ask you to come in and take a look, maybe a CT scan or even endoscopy to make sure everything is OK. Better safe than sorry.

Did your doctor tell you to remain on liquid diet for so long? Three weeks seems like a lot. They had me eating soft/pureed foods starting day 1 after surgery.

Nice!! Looks like you're doing great too, congrats! Our stats are pretty close, we even have almost the same number of posts!

I've been bringing my kids for the past few years to a place called Urban Air, it's basically an indoor amusement park, it's a lot of fun. Unfortunately, a lot of the coolest things to do there have a weight limit, 250 for some and 230 for others, so I was never able to join them on those rides. Even though I passed both thresholds a few months ago I never felt comfortable going on them until tonight I decided to give it a shot. I ended up doing ALL of the stuff I couldn't go on before, including the "Sky Rider" (indoor zipline, it was awesome), Ropes Course, and Rock Climbing. Lots of fun, and another great NSV.

I personally haven't tried it but I know someone who's been going for a while and absolutely loves it. I like a lot of things about it - the leaderboard and the person leading the class will help a lot of people who need that extra push. Could you do it on your own? Sure, but I think most people are MUCH less likely to push themselves beyond their comfort zone without someone helping push them there.

Wow that's awful! Maybe try a different doctor/hospital. I can't speak for anyone but myself, but when I scheduled my surgery for revision to bypass, I made my first appointment in June 2021 right in the middle of Covid, and my surgery was November 2021. Some additional precautions were taken in terms of visitors, etc. but otherwise went off without a hitch.

Thanks everyone for the kind words!

Sleeve: Maybe 2 days or so Bypass: No gas pain at all

I don't think Mylanta will really do anything - these aren't typical gas pains which are in your actual stomach, it's pain from the air that's pumped into your body to give the surgeon room to work so it's not actually in your stomach but your body cavity itself, which is why it doesn't hurt your stomach but your shoulders and back because it's rising.