LittleLizzieLilliput

I'm 14 months out, I am about 2 sizes away from my goal size. And this is what I learned: I have a 3 pound +/- that is of indeterminate causes. I assume it can be because of my period, too much sodium, not exercising enough one day and snacking a few extra that same day, or just life, too much air in my lungs, etc. lol! I would be concerned about 4 lbs but I would also just focus on drinking more water, cutting carbs and increasing my exercise the next few days. I would be 176 then 174 then 173, then 176!!! I'd just look at the scale, kind of shrug, look in the mirror, love what i see, pack my workout clothes and keep going. I'm at 151.1 this AM, yesterday AM I was 153. Nothing different, just it is what it is. Try not to let the scale freak you out, we are human bodies that are mysterious and wondrous. Somethings seem like an exact science and then they suddenly seem like magic. Try not to allow something like this freak you out too much. As long as you are truly following the protocol this will work itself out. Our metabolism, hormones, and everything else, are ALL over the place. We have stalls (I call them Pauses), we have 1 step forward, 3 steps back, we have leaps forward and long waits in between. I once went 8 weeks without losing a single lb, but I dropped 3 clothes size. Then I stopped working out for a few days due to something I can't remember and suddenly I dropped 10 lbs in 4 days. lol!! Just keep pushing forward and stay focused. Keep track of these things but don't base your feeling of success on them, non-scale victories are where the true success lies in this process for us. When we can run for 10 minutes without being out of breath, when we can ride a roller coaster with ease and joy, when we walk past a window and love what we see. The scale only tells a small part of our story. You are doing GREAT!!!! Hang in there!!!

don't eat the rice, you will have 1-2 bites and then be full. lol! Just stick to protein and a bit of your seaweed salad.

I wait 30 minutes. But I will take an occasional sip here and there if needed. I thought I would NEVER adjust to this new way of eating but 14 months out and I don't even think about it any more.

Ok, so directly after the surgery your tummy is a swollen banana shaped stomach and all that can squeeze through is liquid and it takes a long time. Then as time progresses and your healing process starts, the swelling begins to decrease. I think it takes like 6 weeks for the fully swelling to disappear. Anyway, the reason why you can slowly take in more is because the swelling decreases so the volume your new tummy can hold increases. But this is all with LIQUID. Liquid will always be easier to digest and broth will go through your stomach quickly. When you start incorporating solid foods you will quickly see how limited your stomach is. 1/4 cup will be too much at first probably. It's all a healing process that for some can take 12 weeks. Just enjoy being able to drink your soups and liquid with ease. Good luck and enjoy this process when you can!!

Yes, it took a level of determination and commitment, 16 months full liquid, that I didn't know I had. It's how I knew I could do well with the surgery and post op protocols because of it as well. Thank you so much for the kind words! I tell you this, 16 months on a liquid diet was WAY harder than getting the VGS, and way more mentally exhausting. It's like living life in black & white. Hard to explain but thank you again for acknowledging that, it was truly one of the most difficult things I've ever done.

On 10/10/2016 I had my Vertical Gastric Sleeve. OH MAN has it been a crazy 14 months!! It's hard to even think back on this time without wonder. It seems so long ago and yet just yesterday. I went from dying to flying, it's truly unbelievable to me. I wanted to take this time to kind of lay out what my 14 months looked like and where I am at now. I started this journey 4 years ago and this was me then: I start on this journey doing a full liquid diet for 16 months. I lost 200 lbs. I then gained back about 60. And then I started getting sick, very sick. I ended up in the hospital, was told I needed to do the VGS or look at dying in the next few years. So VGS it was!! lol! I was not a voluntary patient, it was thrust upon me and I was scared, I didn't want to permanently change my relationship with food but I also knew that choosing food was choosing death. So of course I had the surgery. The first few months were rough, as most of you know our stomachs are like testy newborns and there are a lot of growing pains and learning curves. By about 3 months I was on solid food and starting to try different things. By 6 months I was moving beyond just Protein and safe foods to some adventurous spices, I was starting to exercise to a much higher degree. I was now walking 4-7 miles a day and feeling AMAZING! By 9 months out I was moving into a size 12, SIZE 12!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG! I remember being so astounded. I started going out on dates, I started feeling like I might be getting a life I never even dreamed was a possibility for me. By around 10 months I started experiencing some crazy hormone symptoms. Now, I had already dealt with some hormone related issues but by this point I wasn't getting my period, I was having the bizarre mood swings, I was crying one day, then up like crazy the next. I also started having a lot of issues with my diabetes meds. My weight loss was not making my diabetes go away, in fact, it is now getting harder to control. So I spent most of July, August and Sept going from specialist to specialist. I was switching my meds and basically felt like I was a walking drug trial. But then by the end of September everything smoothed out hormone wise. I was put on a birth control that regulated my estrogen. I guess my weight loss was flooding my system with hormones and then when it would drop off my body would respond like I was in menopause. What a nightmare! lol! At this point I am also close to being put on insulin. Unfortunately when my gallbladder went bad it damaged my pancreas to the point it won't ever recover. I dealt with that blow, adjusted my life again to deal with this and just moved on. Reverse back to July of this year and that is when I took my first Yoga class. This also changed the direction of my journey. I began doing a C1 (like Yoga 101) class daily. By September I was feeling like a pro and starting to take some of the harder classes. Flash-forward to today and I do daily advanced Yoga (I call it Bootcamp Yoga, it's a mix between Yoga and Cross Fit I think). I can plank for 5 minutes, I can do 200 crunches, I do squats and lunges, I do like 40 pushups, I run, I do handstands, I cartwheel, jump-rope, etc. I am in the BEST physical condition of my life and I expect it to just continue. In fact, I jokingly/not jokingly say I'm aiming towards American Ninja Warrior. I want to be that strong and badass. Today I am 14 months post op, I am in a size 10 about to move on from there, I am toning my body like crazy, still dropping about 1/2 a day if I go hard on my exercise. My daily food diary is so simple yet perfect for me: Breakfast 6 pieces of precooked, then microwaved, Hormel Black Label bacon (sometimes, when I'm really hungry I'll put 8 slices on that sucker and make it a dagwood sandwich, lol) 1 slice American cheese 1 Blueberry or Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin lunch grilled chicken - 4 ozs grilled Zuccini/other veggie snack Omega-3 mixed dried fruit and nuts 1/4 cub dinner KFC grilled chicken, leg and thigh grilled veggies/sometimes I have some mashed potatoes Usually have a reasonable dessert of some kind. I find it's important. Vitamins I do Vitagene, which is where they send me Vitamins based on my blood work, DNA, and other stuff. LOVE them, eat them after dinner though usually people have a Breakfast I am still quite diabetic, they are unsure if I'm type 1 or type 2, but if that's my biggest health worry??? I'm happy!! I do have some down sides, I get Dumping Syndrome. My doc kind of implied it's because of poor food choices but after 9 months of tracking I can now say this - there is almost NO through line to determine cause. It can happen when I just have Protein or if I drink Water too fast, it can happen with sugars or if I eat grilled veggies. The most common factor is time. It seems to most frequently happen in the evenings. And I do get quite sick to the point I have to go hid and do this breathing/huffing thing and then often sleep between 30 minutes and 6 hours. Because of this I stick very closely to the routine I listed above. But that is a life issue I have no problem dealing with. This is me today, or, actually, this weekend. lol! I feel like a brand new person. This journey is hard, I had regrets, I had tears, some days I wished I'd never done it, other days I wished I'd had it done 20 years ago. I sometimes feel like I wasted half my life and other days I feel like I gained a whole new life. This journey is one of ups and downs and every single hill and valley has been a wondrous experience.

Are you still taking your proton pump inhibitors?

I'd get on a proton-pump inhibitor if I were you, what we think is other things often is excess acid and or stomachs. I think something like 90% of us are on proton-pump inhibitors.

I kept a size 36 jeans but that's it. That is awesome, congratulations!

When my gallbladder when bad it threw a stone and got stuck in my pancreatic duct. It caused my pancreas to back up, started digesting itself and, I had no idea what was happening, my blood sugars were in the 300's and higher. I woke up in ICU. I was unable to see properly for a month. High sugar levels caused the sugar to coat my retinas (or something along those lines, I only play a doctor on TV...lol) and effected my vision. That's the only experience I have with my vision changing dramatically. Have you checked your sugar levels?

I thought I was hungry post surgery too, it ended up it was acid indigestion. It's just our nerves send the wrong signal. I started on Prilosec and it went away. Phentermine is a horrible idea IMO. I'd talk to your surgical team if I were you.

I don't use a scale in public. I do weight, not volume. I've never been told to measure by volume but by weight. Volume changes, like 1/2 cup of popcorn is not 4 oz. 1/2 cup of chicken is WAY more than 4oz.

beef, most cheeses.

4 ozs is pretty much what I eat each meal. I use a scale. except when I'm out in public. at this point I know what 4 ozs of grilled chicken looks like so I'm pretty good to go in those situations.

I have lots of motivations: Maintenance Mode: I'm ready to get to the point I'm in maintenance mode. I am extra motivated to get the last 20-30 lbs off. Paying it forward: The more I move the easier it is to move so I know when I walk out the door today I'm making it easier to get out the door tomorrow. Escapism: I set up music and podcasts that make me happy and that is a real motivator. I'm a very busy person, I work from 8-8 in an executive type position. I have the stress of everyone's jobs on my shoulders, running the company from a business side (vs. the software/medical side), I am constantly stressed, like really really stressed. Having my 3 walks during the day, my yoga at 5 and then hitting the treadmill at home, all those things really help me release my stress from work. The first 3 minutes or so is just working out the stress, then I start getting into my music or the podcast, I laugh and am really getting in my steps with the sun shining and lots of oxygen hitting my brain and suddenly a lot of the stress rolls off my shoulders. Feeling Great: Finally, I feel GREAT when I've been exercising consistently. I have a bounce in my step, I'm full of energy and I feel like I've really got this whole thing handled, you know? It just makes me feel great physically and emotionally.

OMG you look amazing!!!! CONGRATULATIONS on all your hard work, great job so far!!!!!!

4-6 0z for me. The pocket scale thing is for reals. I can't really eat more than 6 ozs but I stick to weighing to make sure I don't over do it. Just in case. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_85_0?fst=as%3Aoff&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Apocket+food+scale%2Cp_85%3A2470955011&keywords=pocket+food+scale&ie=UTF8&qid=1506389096&rnid=2470954011

I'm 11 months post op. Best advice: This isn't an easy process, give yourself a lot of leeway and care, understand you will be going through ups and downs Get all of your liquid diet, post-op, supplies settled before the surgery Don't try to test your new sleeve, just sip sip sip water/protein and walk walk walk You will most likely it a stall or pause about 3 week in. Your body has gone through a major trauma and needs time. Don't freak out, understand you are healing and swollen Don't over-do the exercise/work out in the first weeks of recovery, you can hurt yourself or pull your stiches You may find yourself feeling depressed or a sense of regret post surgery, this is also common for many of us. Ride it out, your hormones, your emotions, your body is all out of wack. You WILL get back to a new Normal, You WILL feel like a regular person again, you WILL find your balance in this process and begin to feel like yourself again Focus on Walking, on getting your water and protein in Get one of those abdominal compression things for post surgery Good luck on everything! I'm sure there is more advice

2 weeks. I had the VGS, Gallbladder removal and hernia repair.

Pureed foods is basically liquid. Liquids flow through our new stomachs really easy, that's part of why we are only allowed Pureed at this point. Don't test your stomach like that with the water experiment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's not worth it!! If you are concerned you can eat too much...than don't eat that much. You will find out how much solids you can handle when you move on to that stage. Liquids just flow through, solids is where the real test will be. And, I'm saying this with love and support, stop eating 12 ozs of food just because you can. Period. You didn't go through this major life change just to turn around and eat too much. Stick to the 4-6 oz's. Even if you are physically capable of ingesting more liquid than that right now.

Try upping your water and then if you are hungry eat chicken or something really high protein. Doesn't have to be much. But it's OK to eat if you're hungry, the trick is to make the right choices. When I exercise more I need more protein. Sometimes I finish my run or yoga and then go shove my face into some roasted chicken and eat like an animal. And I LOVE it. lol! I love my chicken. Carbs/sugars post exercise? Don't do it! Water and Protein?? Hells yes!

Ok, for me the post surgical hunger was actually acid in my stomach. I had to double up on my pph pill for the first 3 months. My "hunger" went away.

probably a life long need. Our stomachs are now a different shape and that shape leads to acid reflux.

6 months post op was my Doc's decree as well.

This is all such early stages folks. Your body is still healing and in shock. You had 80% of your stomach removed. The healing for that can take a long time. Some people just bounce right back like nothing happened. Some of us take months to recover. I was one of them. But it does get so much better!