up4challenge

@@Mrsmcdaniel55 I am not a social media person. I am available on WhatsApp though .

@nursejenny07: Congratulations. Thanks for sharing your experience and pics. Love that you took the time to share your experience. You are a true inspiration for me .

I too think of getting a plastic surgery done, but the thought of it freaks me . Anyway, I ran this by the surgeon who performed my VSG and he has asked me not to even think about it for the next 1.5 years (I had my surgery in Dec 2016).

Hi my name is Vanessa and I have made a YouTube channel about my gastric sleeve surgery go and follow me.. and tell me about your surgery ... Thank you

Sent from my SM-N950U using BariatricPal mobile app

I am 11 months post-op and I feel hungry every half hour. I don't want to eat and gain weight, but not eating anything only makes it worse. I get angry, feel tired and uninterested in doing anything. I'm scared what if my sleeve expands most of the time and end up staring at the ceiling most of the time, as I took a loan on my credit card to pay for the surgery. I take my meds on time. I take a Protein Shake every day, but this hunger generally starts during the second half of the day and gets worst from 6 p.m. onwards. I cannot take Water still. I can take 2-3 sips at a time, then 2-3 more sips after half hour, but food (veggies, fruits, bread) is okay to consume.
My starting weight was 251 pounds, on the day of surgery I was 240 pounds and in 11 months now I am 180 pounds and my goal weight is 155 pounds. I don't eat junk food....no burger, no fries (I do eat potato once a week fried in an air fryer or popcorn made again in air fryer), no soda, 1-2 tablespoons of sugar on a daily basis (in my glass of tea and coffee, which I take in the morning and evening), nothing more.
The quantity of food intake has increased compared to what I used to eat two months ago, to what I eat this month. And to make things worst I noticed today that I've gained 2.2 pounds (1 kg) since last week. I tell myself not to worry but I am freaking out. Please advise what should I do. Any suggestion is appreciated.

@proudgrammy : Thank you for the encouraging response. I will try and add more Water starting today to my regular schedule. Any suggestions as to what foods to include in my daily diet?
I still have bad days with severe Constipation and I will try my best to drink more water.

Water is important. Keep a sports bottle of water to sip on throughout the day. I use crystal light for taste. Hydrate, hydrate,hydrate.
Things that may help with hunger -
Don't skip meals. Break them into 6 small meals if it helps Give yourself variety of healthy meals. Nutrition should still be flavorful. Try new food and recipies Add vegetables. The bulk and fiber will help keep you satisfied as you get further out from surgery you can hold more food volume. Might help to increases your Protein goal. It's better to log your food than to guess what your calorie and macronutrients. It pays off.
I entered Your daily example into myfitnesspal. (this is an estimate) I can only guess what 1/4th a chicken breast is. It depends on the size of the breast. I did not add the popcorn candy and pizza to this example.
CALORIE TOTAL 1001 - PROTEIN 104 - CARBS 83 - FATS 32
BREAKFAST 18 calories (breakfast gives you energy to start the day. skipping it might be causing hunger)
Tea milk and 1 sugar packet
LUNCH 547 calories
4oz foster farm chicken breast
1 large egg
GNC Protein Shake
Almonds 1oz
coffee - sugar
DINNER 436 calories
unknown amount of lentils/beans (estimated .7 cup of lentils)
4 0z foster farms chicken breasts
one banana - 27 carbs
half slice whole wheat bread - 8g carbs
Instead of 1/4 slice of pizza - Make yourself a no guilt healthy pizza. Grilled ground turkey burger patty , add your sauce veggies pepperoni and cheese.
The photo of the plate is just to give you a visual on portions per meal. My instructions were to add two tablespoons of healthy carbs when I lost 75% of my weight. This is to slow or stop weight loss for maintaining your weight.

@up4challenge
"do or do not, there is no try" - Yoda
glad you will push the fluids.
food suggestions? you MUST have
protein. ie eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese,
other cheese too.
protein bars are quick energy too (QNC - 20
gr. protein) fish, chicken - meat in general
have plenty of Protein, almonds (nuts)
plenty of foods mentioned by OP here.
also recipes to follow.
sending good vibrations your way.
eating and drinking to your health.
kathy

@proudgrammy : Thank you for the encouraging response. I will try and add more Water starting today to my regular schedule. Any suggestions as to what foods to include in my daily diet?
I still have bad days with severe Constipation and I will try my best to drink more water.

Sliders (a.k.a. slurry foods) are processed carb-laden foods such as popcorn, crackers, pretzels, chips, Cookies, pastries, milk shakes, ice cream, and donuts.
Sliders enter your sleeve as a liquid slurry and 'slide' effortlessly through your stomach past your pyloric valve into your intestines, enabling the sleeve to tolerate more food. Hence, they're called 'sliders.'

Since sliders don't promote fullness or satiety in any meaningful way, our sleeves can continually accept these types of foods all day long. In sum, they promote rapid weight regain.

@MGCA: Glad to hear you are feeling better. Sending best wishes and positive vibes your way!

@ MGCA: I completely understand your situation. The reason being I am very similar to you. I too am a private person and have not discussed about my surgery with anyone except my husband, mom and sister (my dad till date does not know why I was in the hospital 7 months ago). I was sleeved in December 2016 and making the decision of doing the surgery was tougher for me as I had to pay for it myself and had no support from my husband (who is till date not happy about it). I was 251 pounds when I met the bariatric surgeon for the first time and lost about 11 pounds during my pre-op (this is the good news). I did not go to any support group meetings held at my doctor’s office (pre and post-surgery) as I was not comfortable to face the people there, but bariatricpal website and its senior members were of great help. I found the best people who supported, coached me through my journey before and after the journey.

Over a period of 7 months I have only lost 47 pounds, which according to my doctor is shockingly disappointing. I’ve been constantly reminded from the ones who know about the surgery that not much has been achieved for which I spent my savings and borrowed a loan on. I did the surgery mainly because I am a worst case of PCOS (I’ve had it for about 15 years now) and two years ago it got out of control and instead of just having periods for 1 or 2 months continuously, I ended up having it for 9 consecutive months (I was tired all the time and weak, but fat). I had tried homeopathy, Ayurveda, Unani, Acupuncture, but nothing worked, the flow continued on. I changed more than 13 gynaecologists to get this sorted, finally met someone who asked me to try the VSG option to bring down my weight, which I ignored for a year and tried several combination of drugs to regularize my periods and nothing helped. Finally, I went against my husband’s wishes and with the support and encouragement of my gynaecologist took a leap of faith and went ahead with the surgery.

The first 2 months after the surgery my periods were regular but they’ve gone back to what they were before the surgery (every 10 days once I get my periods i.e., I have my periods about 3 times a month), which means I find it real hard to exercise, as I have bad abdominal pain. I lost about 5 pounds during my first month after the surgery and 5 more pounds the next month and went on a stall the 3rd and 4th month. It was not a pretty feeling. I was extremely stressed, disappointed in myself, hated every day of my life because I was not losing weight and was losing lots of hair on my head. I was not eating much, I was throwing up most of whatever I eat (be it fruits, Protein Shake or any solid food). Things seemed to get a little better from the 5th month onwards. I changed the way I eat my food. For example: If I have 3 slices of apple in my plate, I would eat them slowly, not within 5 mins but over a period of 2 hours and I noticed that I stopped throwing up. The slower I started consuming food, the better I felt. I still have issues in drinking more than a glass of Water, which means bad Constipation every day. I never like any brand of Protein shake. 5th and 6th month I lost 12 pounds each and 7th month I lost about 6 pounds. Every day is challenging and stressful and when I cook real yummy food I get tempted a lot to eat it and at times I have eaten it but ended up throwing up the same in a matter of minutes.

Oh by the way during my 5th month I had bad stomach cramps and pus oozing out of my belly button (found out that the stitches in the belly button were not dissolved and they were weeping, hence the pus) and when I took a scan I found gall stones and underwent a gallbladder removal surgery. Healing from this was a lot easier compared to VSG.

Social dinners – I avoid them completely. When I go out many of them think I have some chronic disease (a few even asked me if I have cancer or something), but I don’t let their reactions bother me any time. I know I will feel and look better a few months from now.

Please 1) Have Patience 2) Give your body time to heal 3) Everyone’s body reacts differently to the surgery 4) Stop taking in stress (the stress of not losing weight in my case caused me to go through two months of stalling) 5) Exercise - simple brisk walk, light aerobics at home, etc. 6) Don’t give up hope 7) Eat slowly 8) Take 5-6 small meals instead of 2-3 big meals 9) Remember why you did the surgery in the first place 10) Most important of all STAY POSITIVE!!!

I hope you feel better soon. Feel free to message me if I can be of any assistance / support to you.

I was sleeved 6 month ago and have lost close to 55 pounds (I am not loosing too much weight like many others and I don't regret it).
Since 2 weeks, I've notice that my boobs have been sagging a lot compared to what they were before. I used to wear 42DD before the surgery and now 40DD is good. I picked up about 7 different types of underwire bras, but none of them seem to feel right. My doc suggested that I try compression sports bra and that should do the trick. But, when I tried sports bras, I do feel like my boob is hanging someone in the cup, I don't feel comfortable. I am not sure if I am putting across my point correctly.
Even after 6 months of operation, if I wear underwire bras for more than 2 hours I get pain near the bra band where the small incision was made during the surgery. And wearing non-wired bras only makes my boobs sag more. Can anyone who has gone though a similar experience offer some advise on what type of bra may help me?

Congrats! You are a true inspiration for me!

Just don't add oil, just add Water and salt and you'll have no calorie issues. I love popcorn and I don't see the problem with ig. It's just the oil that has more than 100 calories in a single table spoon.

SW:305
CW:217

Sleeved 01.30.17

I eat popcorn, it's a low carb/cal/fat snack and I have no problem with it. But it's an occasional thing.

@sleevebabe: I went through something similar the day before the surgery (on my way to the hospital) and on the surgery day itself. When the nurse came in and told me to have bath by 4 a.m. and be ready for the surgery at 6 a.m. and I did tell my mom twice that I’d like to run away and she could pay the 1 day hospital fee and come home later .

Don’t worry too much and stress yourself. I was finally sleeved at 6.30 am on December 17, 2017. It is a little over 6 months now and I end up laughing everytime thinking about how I wanted to run away just on the day of surgery. Trust me the surgery is worth every penny invested and I could not be happier.

I wish you the best of luck with your surgery.

@Gabbby: Congratulations on the weight loss.

@nursejenny07: Congratulations. Thanks for sharing your experience and pics. Love that you took the time to share your experience. You are a true inspiration for me .

I too think of getting a plastic surgery done, but the thought of it freaks me . Anyway, I ran this by the surgeon who performed my VSG and he has asked me not to even think about it for the next 1.5 years (I had my surgery in Dec 2016).

Hi All,
Thank you all for you best wishes. I am back home since June 24, 2017 and finally online today. I got the gall bladder removed on June 22, 2017 and was released from the hospital on the 24th. The operation went smoothly. Along with the operation the surgeon has removed the puss formed in the umbilicus area.
I wouldn't say there is no pain, but the pain is certainly lesser compared to the VSG surgery. The doctor has not put me on any specific diet, but has asked me to continue my regular medicines that were prescribed to me after the VSG along with a mild pain killer for 3 days. I did have a little difficulty getting up and sitting down the first and second day after the surgery, but from the 3rd day onwards I feel a lot better.
The surgeon did find a few stones, but the most important one was found in the neck of the bile duct and he did mention that getting the surgery done at the right time was the best decision taken by me.
I thank you all for the experiences / thoughts / suggestions that you've graciously shared with me.

Hi All,
Thank you all for you best wishes. I am back home since June 24, 2017 and finally online today. I got the gall bladder removed on June 22, 2017 and was released from the hospital on the 24th. The operation went smoothly. Along with the operation the surgeon has removed the puss formed in the umbilicus area.
I wouldn't say there is no pain, but the pain is certainly lesser compared to the VSG surgery. The doctor has not put me on any specific diet, but has asked me to continue my regular medicines that were prescribed to me after the VSG along with a mild pain killer for 3 days. I did have a little difficulty getting up and sitting down the first and second day after the surgery, but from the 3rd day onwards I feel a lot better.
The surgeon did find a few stones, but the most important one was found in the neck of the bile duct and he did mention that getting the surgery done at the right time was the best decision taken by me.
I thank you all for the experiences / thoughts / suggestions that you've graciously shared with me.

@sweitzer2148: Thank you for the response.

I was sleeved during December last year and it is going to be six months tomorrow. I've been experiencing sharp pain over my belly button (especially in and around the area where the incision was made during the surgery). At times I find it hard to inhale and exhale too.
The pain comes and goes every time I sit down or get up or try to walk faster. I cannot bend to lift anything. I have been going through every little detail in my mind, but cannot remember lifting anything heavy. I do moderate exercises and use the elliptical for 10-15 mins everyday (which I haven't this whole week). The pain over the belly button started about 2 days ago and last night was hell. I was unable to sleep straight or turn on either side.
Finally, met my doc and he asked me to get an abdominal scan done. Found out that the stitch put in my belly button had not dissolved and was weeping and there was 1ml pus collection near the umbilicus area. Apart from that, I also found out that I have many gallstones that are between 3 and 7mm. When I showed the report to my doctor, he told me that I need an operation, where my gallbladder will be removed.
Should I just go for it and get the gall bladder removed or go in for a second opinion. Is it normal to have gallstones after 6 months of VSG? Should I be worried?
Has anyone had a similar experience? If yes, please share your thoughts and experience.

@@iKarma1408 First of all congrats on your 38 lbs victory. I know how hard it is to lose even 1 lb. In my case (before the surgery), if I lost 1 lb this week, next week I will end up gaining 2 lbs. I know what you mean when you say not telling people.
I am one month out of the surgery and there are only 3 people who know about it - my husband, mom and sister (my doctor and my friends out here on this website). The only disappointing thing is when I meet my sister. She totally makes me feel bad by saying she sees no difference in me. I've lost close to 20 pounds from the liquid stage until now. I am a major case of PCOS and had taken all the incorrect drugs for about a decade and finally made a decision of doing the surgery for improving my health. Losing 20 pounds may be smaller for many, but not for me and I am very happy for what I have achieved.
I am happy to add you to my buddy list . Stay strong, stay happy and stay positive. All the very best for your surgery .
Regards,
TJ