Greensleevie

http://www.5daypouchtest.com/plan/theplan.html

You just had major surgery 2 weeks ago, that's what. To top it off, you are lacking proper calories and nutrition due to said surgery. It takes weeks, if not months, to recover from this surgery and to feel completely human again. Take it slow and easy, rest as much as you can and be kind to yourself.

As far as the nausea, I had it too around your time. I'd asked my surgeon for a some anti nausea meds. Your stomach was literally cut out and sewn back up. It's going to rebel a bit.

That's why they call it 'recovering' from surgery. It takes time.

Point is, impatience with the process is a red flag. The whole process takes patience and persistence. And even after you've lost the weight, the hard work REALLY starts. Forever.

Start implementing lifestyle changes now. Take this time to be positive and learn as much as you can about the process, not instantly go negative. A negative mind never produces positive results.

2 hours ago, clevergirl said:

How very awesome it must be to know and make judgments about people who post on the internet.

It couldn't possibly be because they considered and researched the procedure FOR YEARS before deciding to bite the billet and make the call.

It couldn't possibly be because they were having an off day and needed to blow off steam.

Yes! Of course it was emotional immaturity and inevitable failure that leads to feelings like this! How terribly perceptive.

Why so defensive?

It's a fact the better prepared you are, the odds for success will be in your favor. It's that way with anything in life. Just statung facts. But please, let your emotions rule your response.

I'm no spring chicken. I'm also a WLS veteran. This isn't easy, so rushing into it and not being emotionally ready tends to spell disaster for people. I've seen it over and over and over. Hell, I've even struggled with some regain, and I'm old and researched this surgery for well over a year. I'm also a drug and alcohol counselor, so I know the difference between someone who is truly emotionally ready and someone who is not. Not saying the OP isn't, just stating the fact that when you see someone wanting to disregard protocol to get the process done faster, they may have a problem with delaying gratification, and that's a problem with this surgery. It won't choose what you put into your mouth or get your ass off the couch. You still have to diet and exercise and have discipline for the rest of your life. Many think it's magic.

It is a pretty serious and life changing procedure, so I don't understand why someone would balk about how long it takes to better be prepared?

That "let's just get on with it, I know what I'm doing" attitide is probably why there is a 46% weight regain rate.

I mean, this isn't buying a car or planning a vacation. We should all be as educated and emotionally prepared as possible. And quite frankly, wanting rush into this shows emotional immaturity.

You just had major surgery. You're going to feel off for a while.

I didn't feel human again until about 5 weeks post op. Patience.

12 minutes ago, fineflood72 said:

I'm on Prilosec 40 mg daily. It's not acid. I know acid feeling and I know hunger. I'm hungry. It's not mind hunger either because I'm belly literally grows I'm praying for the day I can eat. I'm so so hungry.

You're going through one of the hardest times post op. The head hunger is horrible, and all you want to do is CHEW something!

Yes, I said head hunger. Just because your stomach is making noises doesn't mean you're physically hungry. All of our stomachs sounded like a pack of angry wolves post op. It's all the excess acid being made with no where to go now. Talk to your surgeon about upping your dose of your PPI.

Hang in there. Honestly, once your start to eat "normal" food again, the feeling goes away. It is REALLY hard until that time comes! This is the time to learn how to delay gratification and flex your will power muscles.

Im over 3 years out, and I wasn't really physically hungry (only head hunger) until 2 years post op.

The hardest part of this whole thing for me was telling the difference. My surgeon said we never really knew physical hunger before, because we were so used to eating whenever the urge hit us.

,

.

You've got to be kidding.

Adjust your weight loss expectations, or you're going to be constantly disappointed.

If you aren't measuring and tracking, start. You can't see what you don't measure. How do you know what you need to do when you're not sure where you are?

Measure and track your food faithfully for a couple of weeks, and if you're still not losing, adjust accordingly. This sometimes is all one big science experiment with our bodies.

Stop expecting the surgery to do all the work for you. It's time to track your calories, Protein, and carbs, ramp up your exercise, make sure your taking your Vitamins and drink your Water. If you truly want to continue to lose, you'll find a way to tweak some things so you start losing again. Otherwise you'll just be stuck. Be proactive!

5 hours ago, OutsideMatchInside said:

I love that everyone in this thread that doesn't track is fresh from surgery. Good luck with that long term.

food tracking is the absolute key in my opinion. I think tracking and a scale are just as important as the actual sleeve.

The first 6 months post op, you can get away with a lot because the sleeve is doing all your work, after that it is basically all you, so you need the support of tracking unless you want to regain.

Saying that what you eat isn't able to be tracked is a cop out. You can track anything. I use the LoseIt App and I make recipes and split the recipes into servings and it is accurate. I add things that are not in the app using USDA calories and nutrition information. You can track anything if you want to. I also try to avoid eating things that are a pain to track, like chicken wings.

I have friends that have not had WLS and by tracking because I track they have lost weight and been very successful. And they are using eating plans they used before without success.

Tracking is easy mode once you get it setup. I also eat a lot of the same things so that makes it easy to track them.

The benefits to tracking as I see them.

1) You learn nutrition better than you know it now

2) You can see that one [insert item here] isn't the end of the world, and you can adjust the rest of your eating to accommodate it so your macros for the day work.

3) Seeing the calories and macros for some items really makes you question their value, making it easier to avoid them

4) Security. If you track everything you eat and you stall, you know it isn't your food. If you gain 2 pounds overnight, you know it isn't you food.

You hit the nail on the head.

I'm over 3 year out, and you wouldn't believe how much more I can eat as opposed to when I was a year or even two years post surgery. I can eat what are supposed to be "normal" portions at this point. Not tracking causes over eating, and that causes regain (something I'm all too familiar with). It's VERY short sighted and frankly naive to think you'll only be able to eat a few bites of food forever. No wonder almost 50% of WLS patients regain with the terrible advice I've seen in this thread.

11 minutes ago, joannrmn said:

I tell you I can't wait for this time to go by quickly.. eating three or four bites of food is so depressing. I find myself stressing every morning as to what on earth am I going to eat today... honestly feel the medical team who approve Patients for this surgery fail to properly prepare us for what is coming, specifically the mental health aspect of this process. The only thing keeping me sane is the fact so many of you guys have reassured me it will get better and with time will be able to eat more normal like with time. It's going to be a long year for me.. Still crave food.. get hungry less then two hours after I took my few bites.. please tell me this is temporary

You can eat more normal with time. And you'll WISH for the days of being full on a couple of bites. I had a 2 egg omelette this morning with veggies and ate the whole thing.

If you research band to sleeve revision, it seems to be common to not have as much restriction and have slower weight loss. Why that happens, I have no idea, but it seems to be a common thing I've seen. I've seen a lot of successful band to sleeves, and some that struggle because of that.

Have you spoken to your surgeon about this? Maybe have him check the sleeve just to see how it looks and if it is in fact too big?

Some people still feel hunger, some don't. I agree that you should be eating every couple to few hours to prevent from getting too hungry. Make sure you're always eating protien first because it fills you up and keeps you satisfied.

Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between head hunger and real hunger, too. Most of my hunger is head hunger.

I'm a drug and alcohol counselor. I really hope you understand that even though you've quit drinking, it doesn't mean you're automatically cured of the issues that made you drink in the first place. Now you seem to be transferring your addiction back to food.

You're dealing with your depression in very self destructive ways. I hope you're seeking treatment, a 12 step program or counseling. Without getting to the bottom of the reasons why you continue to abuse alcohol and food, there's a very high chance of relapse, both for drinking and for putting the weight back on.

Good luck to you!

2 hours ago, Newme17 said:

Stats are stats...we can follow them for general ideas of how we might end up, only. But every body is different. I've heard of people having heartburn before the sleeve and not having it afterwards too. I've heard of people not having heartburn before and having it after. Or having it pre and post op. I am pre-op sleeve and I deal with acid reflux based on what foods I choose. I haven't had it for a while, since I've made better choices. Who's to say I'll have heartburn after the sleeve or not? I do take stats into consideration though. I've always dealt with the reflux so it's nothing I can't handle although I wouldn't want to. But I'm having faith that I won't have to after my surgery either.

I'd decided to have the sleeve even though I knew I had an issue with GERD. It did get worse in my case. So much so, I'm looking into a revision to bypass.

Bypass is considered the "gold standard" of WLS. people statistically lose more weight at a faster rate. They are also more successful at keeping their weight off (don't jump on me for saying that, because it's statistically correct). The downfall is the malabsorption. You MUST be vigilant about taking Vitamins for the rest of your life, even more so than the sleeve. There is also statistically a higher chance of complications than the sleeve, although still low. Your surgeon is correct, if you suffer from GERD or heartburn, the sleeve may make it even worse. The bypass will usually cure it.

Neither one is magic. Both are amazing tools you will use to help you get to where you want to be health and fitness wise. Neither one will help you get up and move more or choose what you decide put into your mouth. That will be up to you

On 2/22/2017 at 11:16 AM, Stephanielp said:

I know we are supposed to take the Vitamins religiously but I noticed my weight loss stopped when I was taking them...I stopped and started losing again I am 4 weeks post op

progress starts in the mind

TAKE YOUR Vitamins.

What you experienced is the typical third week stall (Google it). If anything, NOT taking your vitamins will hinder your weight loss.

3 years post surgery, and haven't thrown up once.

This forum used to have an ignore option, and if it still does, I suggest you find it. I can read any post I choose, and certainly won't be policed by the likes of you.

It's just your body being wonkey. Most people go into a stall at around 3 weeks post op, and with that a little gain can happen. You starting to workout is part of it too, I'm sure. Stay the course, don't stress and stay off the scale for a while if it's going to stress you out. The first month or so is healing time and making sure you're getting your Protein and fluids. The weight loss will follow, I promise. I've yet to see someone stop losing weight at 3 weeks out after their initial first stall.