PorkChopExpress

With any of these surgeries, I can tell you with absolute certainty that it is possible to regain the weight, if you haven't got your mind 100% made up and committed to change. The surgery isn't a magic bullet, it's a tool. Your mind is what you have to fix. If you get that part right, then you'll be able to succeed with ANY of the surgeries. In my opinion, the sleeve is awesome because of the impact it has on ghrelin production, which basically disrupts the traditional "hunger" signals. Much easier to focus on your goals if you aren't being driven crazy by hunger.

Well, Google says this: "An average person has a stride length of approximately 2.1 to 2.5 feet. That means that it takes over 2,000 steps to walk one mile; and 10,000 steps would be almost 5 miles. A sedentary person may only average 1,000 to 3,000 steps a day. For these people adding steps has many health benefits." So if you're getting five miles a day of walking, I'd say that's pretty darn good. I'm one month post-op, I get about 1.8 miles or so on the elliptical for half an hour, and then with the rest of my day's walking, another mile on that. So maybe 2.8 miles or so a day. My surgeon wants me over 3 miles per day and more if possible. My feeling is that if you've successfully made it a habit and you're doing this consistently, you're probably right on track.

It's not real hunger, it's "head hunger." The very fact that you are indulging things that you SHOULD NOT BE INDULGING tells me that your head isn't in the right place, right now. It's normal to be a little obsessive about food the first couple weeks after surgery, your brain has a hard time letting go of its old behaviors. But instead of embracing that change and letting go, you're letting your brain dominate you again. If you continue to do that, you are not going to be successful long-term. The internet is littered with stories of people who did this and regained all of their weight, because they were not committed to change, ignored their surgeon's instructions, did what they wanted and gained it all right back. Sure, the surgery will force you to lose for a while...but it won't stop you from regaining it, if you're motivated. 11 pounds in a week and a half is excellent weight loss, so when you say you think it should be more, it tells me you don't really know how much of a calorie deficit you're running, how many calories your body needs to stay its current weight, and how many pounds you SHOULD be losing, given your calorie deficit. These are all important things to know, and these are knowledge and skills you will need to acquire if you are to be a success. Right now, you need to commit to following your dietitian and surgeon's instructions with 100% compliance. Not 99%, not mostly kinda sorta, 100% without fail. You also need to commit to a lifelong change in your habits and thought patterns related to food. If you keep letting it dominate you, you will fail at this. The rumbling in your stomach that you're feeling is not hunger, it is something that goes away after enough time post-surgery...your stomach just had the majority of itself cut away, it is a recovering muscle and it is spasming, doing all kinds of stuff that has nothing to do with hunger. It'll do all of that AFTER you eat, too. You also likely feel a "bite" in your stomach which reminds you of hunger pangs, but in reality is stomach acid buildup because your stomach hasn't adjusted to its new size yet, along with some residual soreness from the full-length staple line. Again, this is something that will resolve in time. It is YOUR HEAD that is driving your feeling that you're hungry...and your behavior is allowing your old mindset to control you, yet again. "I'll just have some of these wings, they're small, I'm so HUNGRY." No, sorry...you're screwing up already...less than two weeks after surgery. Water, and Protein, in whatever form your dietitian and surgeon have advised. You are probably still supposed to be a liquids only. Next would be puree, most likely. STICK TO YOUR DIET. You went to all the trouble and expense to get operated on, why wouldn't you put the work in to fix the thing they can't operate on - your brain? That is at least 90% of what needs to be fixed, for you to succeed. The surgery was just a tool. Sorry if this comes off as harsh, but I hate it when I see people asking questions about whether they're stretching their stomach or if they should be able to eat so much, when they aren't following the rules that have been laid out for them, at all.

I'd tell them to make it a meatloaf and put candles in it lol

You have probably set it up as a kind of milestone in your mind with your weight loss and fitness goals, which is why it's become kind of a big deal in your mind...you don't want to NOT finish, because then you'd feel like it diminishes you in some way, is my guess. But it doesn't! You've achieved a lot. If you don't finish, there will always be more marathons. Just do your best, you will probably surprise yourself.

It started really early with me and it was a combination of things. My family ate a lot of bread and baked goods, which my mom excelled at making and I loved. We didn't eat super healthy, and when my mom tried to make that stuff, I wouldn't eat it. I was a pill at restaurants, so McDonalds became the go-to for meals when they were out with me. I loved junk food. I was always just sort of a pudgy kid, not necessarily "fat" but heavier than my peers (and bigger in size, taller and broader shoulders). So I took a lot of teasing about my size/weight. I develped low self-esteem from the teasing about my body, but my classmates would react with amazement at how much I could eat at a sitting. I have a particular memory of sloppy joe days at school, which I loved but my classmates didn't...so I'd end up with a stack of 3-4 of them at least, and eat them all. I remember this primarily because a teacher came to me saying they didn't think I should be eating so much, and made me feel ashamed. But I had gotten attention for it from my classmates. As I got older, I took more razzing from my peers the bigger I got...and I still wasn't THAT bad. But when I went out to play basketball in little league and we'd have to play shirts vs. skins in practice, I was almost always skins...and my flab would jiggle while I played, drawing laughs and jokes from teammates. Kids are just really blunt and cruel. I did lose some weight playing basketball, but my self-esteem took so many hits that I eventually quit athletics entirely. By the time I graduated high school, I was 190 pounds or so...not terrible for a kid who was over 6' tall, but still heavy. However, it was when I went off to college that things really went south. I discovered that I couldn't do what I thought I was going to do (be a programmer) due to my lack of aptitude in math, and I became depressed. I started sleeping all day and staying up all night, which increased my depression. Which increased my eating, as a comfort. My mom would send care packages that invariably contained cinnamon rolls or Cookies, baked goods that she knew I loved. I ate like crap that year, and I went up to like 230-240 pounds. I dropped out and returned home, and started working random jobs...but I kept eating. Each threshold I'd near, 250 or 300, or 350...I would say, "This far, no further." And then I would blast right past them. I'd put on the breaks and reverse periodically when I got serious about a diet for 5-6 months, then I'd stall out, lose my willpower, fall off the wagon and go right back to my old habits again...and onward and upward. Late last year, I decided it was time to put a stop to it and that the only way I was going to succeed, having dieted throughout the entire course of my life back to junior high, was to have surgery. I just couldn't achieve 200 pounds of fat loss through sheer will, it had become too monolithic. I needed the help. Now that I've done it, I feel such a sensation of hope, that it's not an "I wish I could lose weight" anymore, but an "I WILL lose the weight."

When I went mushy after two weeks (my surgeon had me skip pureed, I guess he felt I was recovering well enough) I tried the pintos and cheese at Taco Bell and that had cheese, and it didn't give me any issues. I haven't done a lot of cheese, though. One thing I'm seeing from a lot of the posts here is that everyone seems to react a lot differently to food, regardless of whether they all had the sleeve. It just seems to affect everyone a bit differently, so really the only way to find out is to try and see what your body says.

It's the surgical gas. If you don't work it out of your body through frequent walking and movement, it will rise in your abdominal cavity like that. You need to move a lot more, so it works its way out. No gas remedies will work, because the gas is not in your digestive tract, it's in your peritoneal cavity. It hasn't worked its way into your digestive tract to move out of your body, yet.

That sucks. I'm heading into week five and so far, my sleeve has been able to handle whatever I've given it, as long as I don't put too much in and it's thoroughly chewed. It seems to vary so much from person to person and I don't know that anyone is able to explain why. Same mystery as why nothing tastes any different to me, but for some people their taste buds change a lot after surgery. It's clear that the surgery causes a lot more changes than just reducing the size of the stomach, though.

Pretty much going to be impossible not to talk about it. The change in your behavior is going to be very noticeable.

There are other options for protein. Get some of the flavorless powder like Genepro and mix it with other liquid stuff you're eating, like yogurt or even Crystal Light. It works well and gives you a nice change from those shakes. I agree, after four weeks of almost nothing but shakes, I was ready to be done with them.

@henryXyorkshire I'm on week 5 post-op now and I'll be taking a plane this weekend, and I'm excited to see how I fit in the seat, now. About a week ago, I dug into an old tub full of clothes I put away, because I hadn't fit in them in so long (over six years). I fit into everything in that tub, now. These are good feelings...and when I hit the last hole on this belt, or have to go get new stuff because everything is baggy, it's going to feel even better. The good feelings will just keep coming

I started taking a lot of pride in sticking to it, I can tell you that much. I started feeling like I was setting the tone for my new journey, and I wanted to do it well. As the days wore on and I got closer to my surgery date, I did feel like I had achieved a lot in sticking to that diet. And of course, when I weighed in the morning of surgery and had lost over 30 pounds, that was a thrill in itself. It sounds like you have a good mindset, going in. That's great, because it IS a mental challenge to make this change. But you're setting the right tone, so go get 'em.

I'm only one month out from surgery and I already notice a big difference in my cold tolerance! Pretty crazy.

Yeah I work the night shift and I take vitamin D every morning, as my levels were low (as it seems is has been for most of us night owls). As for how it affects anything else, it pretty much doesn't. My eating schedule is what it is, I take my supplements when I'm supposed to, and just try to squeeze as much protein and water into my day as I can. I think it's actually easier during the night shift, because there is no prescribed "time" where everyone goes for lunch, and I don't deal with the social aspects of that. I can do my own thing.

I'm done with caffeine forever. I was a giant Coke addict for most of my life, and it probably bears a lot of blame for getting me to my top weight of 385 or so. The problem isn't just the sugar, the caffeine causes a lot of issues systemically, no the least of which is how it acts as a diuretic, so you dump Water and become chronically dehydrated. I know the feeling of dehydration all too well, and it feels miserable. Waking up in the middle of the night because my calf is cramping up like crazy. Tingling sensation all over my body, sunken eyes, or swelling in my extremities. It even made my gums ache. It's awful. Anyone taking caffeine in any form after bariatric surgery, knowing what a challenge it is just to meet the bare minimum for water intake, is hurting their health, in my view. For me, the decision not to ever drink soda again is one of the many decisions to change my behavior that I'm making, post-surgery, to improve the quality of my health.

Her attitude is really, really poor. I can understand being disappointed, but then saying "I'm not gonna do it because we can't do it together" is immature, IMO. Plus, two people recovering from this surgery together simultaneously, neither can really be any help to the other. My wife wanted to get the surgery too, and it looked for a while as though she might be able to do it earlier than me. She was very excited for it, and then we had some life changes and she ended up getting a teaching position, and it closed her window until next summer. Meanwhile, mine went forward and I got it done a month ago. She was disappointed and frustrated, moreso now because she has to continue to maintain a 40bmi due to insurance, until she can get it done. So it's a bummer. But it didn't change her mind about getting the surgery done, that's for sure! In the end, it'll be better because I will be very far along toward my goals by the time she can get her surgery, and I will have experienced everything, so I'll be better able to help her through it. But if your partner is claiming YOU are the selfish one for going ahead, then your relationship - in my opinion - is in a questionable state, to begin with. Love is putting someone else's needs above your own. She should feel happy for you, and plan to do it at another time.

I think this is why it's super important to go through the mental preparation for a long period of time, before surgery. I had about a year to think about it, due to classes, supervised diet, tests, and just finding a good time to get the surgery done. I went to support groups and listened to the peoples' stories...including the cautionary tales of people who had failed, and had to do it all over again, with the right mindset. It's a challenge mentally, I mean the surgery is really the easy part. It's the mental part that we have to really get under control, because that's what will keep you healthy long-term. It's hard to give up your old lifestyle, there is a comfort in it and when you remove that, it's like you're naked, in a way...there is no protection anymore. You can't use food for any of the purposes you've been using it, to this point. It becomes fuel. It can taste good and you can enjoy it (what little of it you can eat) but in the end, if your mind is right, you will start to see it more as fuel than as anything else. It's important to find other coping mechanisms - healthy ones. Exercise has been good for me as an outlet for stress and feeling good physically. Otherwise, try to stay busy with other things and start identifying and consciously thinking about all of the reasons your mind is trying to tell you to eat. Start to see how messed up your "programming" has been. It becomes super easy to see, now that you don't feel hunger and you aren't able to eat much of anything. It's not an easy process, but embrace the change and set about the process of taking back control over your mind. You just had a procedure that will enable you to do that, and now you have the tools you need to reprogram yourself. You can do it, just take it one day at a time and each one will build on the previous one. The first week or two is the worst.

After about one week post-op, I really started to notice all the "eat" triggers in my life and identified them for what they were...conditioning and programming that I needed to re-write. Now when I see food advertising, I see it for what it is - an attempt to condition my mind and take my money. If I get obese because of it...they are probably happy, because I'll buy more of their product. There are triggers I have that are just circumstantial and behavioral, habit...and then there is advertising, and I know what they're trying to do. I think by being conscious of it, I can defeat its negative influence on me. It especially helps not feeling hungry, right now. I can see things without that fog of hunger.

I hated Isopure, tasted pretty nasty...every flavor. Very strong medicinal taste, to me. Get yourself some GENEPRO powder. It's almost totally flavorless and mixes nice. I have mixed it with Crystal Light, Hormel Chili, and even Taco Bell pintos & cheese. One tablespoon is 30g of Protein, so it's a great alternative to protein shakes. I'm with you, after four weeks straight of surviving on them, I was so sick of those shakes I couldn't stand it. The Genepro has been a great discovery. As for the taste buds, I'm fortunate that my surgery didn't create any changes in how I perceive the taste of things. I don't know if that'll be a permanent thing, or if it's hormone-based, or what. But some people do say that their tastes change after surgery, in which case you kind of just have to find new things that will work. In terms of Water, I'd try to see if purified or R/O water makes any difference. It might be the metals in the water or something else, that are bugging you.

Everybody has to start somewhere! I have a membership at Planet Fitness and I recommend them - $10/month and the vibe there is much more "fitness for everybody." You have all types of people in there, from meatheads to people just starting out, and everywhere in between. Pretty good beginner gym, for sure. As for gym clothes...it ain't a fashion show I don't wear anything special. Just comfortable clothes I don't mind sweating in.

Ended up taking a break from the gym today...I'm SORE. My body isn't used to all this MOVING business. Heading into week 5 and that means I get to start on whole pieces of meat for Protein...no more need for mushy or shredded. This is the final week of restrictions, and then I am left to my own devices, to try things and see how they work out for me. So far, I haven't had anything give me trouble...but I haven't been very diverse about my selections, either! I guess we'll see. The funny thing is, the freedom is a little daunting now. I'm not sure what to try. I know I'm only supposed to try one new thing at a time, to isolate which ones do and don't work out...but I also don't want to waste a bunch of food (and money). So I'll be getting stuff that can stay frozen, I guess. Trader Joe's has been a good source of protein options so far, I expect I will keep going back. Might try Whole Foods too. I find that I care much more right now about the quality of what I'm putting in than I ever did, before. It's a very positive development.