orionburn

Doing good here. Down about 85 pounds since surgery and about 120 since I started my WLS journey. Really wanted to hit 225 at the one year mark but didn't happen. Hoping with an upcoming job change that takes me away from a desk job to being more mobile that will help spark things again. Got off to a rough start after surgery and the first month was hell, but pretty smooth sailing since then. It is hard to believe how quickly the past year has gone. Been a fun ride!

Like you I'm a year out and still got a bit further to go. This place is like family. Can drive you absolutely insane at times, but also there's always people there for you when you need a pick-up. I'm hit & miss on visiting but just coming by from time to time helps keep me on track as well.

I would get some bouts of dizziness early on. Was always worse when I took a shower. Did your doc instruct you to monitor your temp and heart rate? That was something we had to do. Both should be under 100, degrees and BPM respectively.

I've never been a fan of "eat until you're full" because sometimes that comes too late. It seriously sucks when you go from "okay I'm full now" to a few minutes later of "okay I'm going to throw up right now!" For the first few weeks I pretty much ate out of a measuring cup. 4 oz is typical, however at that stage there is such a difference between foods. You could likely get 4 oz of yogurt down without much fuss. 4 oz of chicken would have killed me once I was cleared to eat anything. The density of the food really matters. Get yourself a nice little kitchen scale. You can pick one up from Walmart or Amazon for $10-15. Measure out your food and go from there. If you can comfortably eat 3 oz after a few times then try going up to 4 oz. Just keep in mind that 1 oz doesn't seem like much but it really is for us.

The wiring between your stomach and brain is all jacked up right now. This is why measuring your food at this stage is so very, very important. It will vary between individuals, but go into with the mindset that your stomach doesn't know how to tell you it's full yet. In time that will return. Also keep in mind that liquids tend to pass through the system quickly. Unless you are drinking too fast it's not often you'll ever get a full sensation. Same thing for foods like yogurt. If it can become a liquid at room temperature then it you can basically treat it like a liquid. Just remember - measure, measure, measure!

Good luck, Fluffy! We're rooting for ya!

It will, don't worry. Honestly there is very little that comes to mind that I don't enjoy. It has more to do with what the food is rather than the taste of it. Heavily fried foods are not enjoyable at all for me, but I'm okay with that! I tried some Chinese food from a local joint about two months ago and I didn't like it as I did before. Wasn't the taste but how it made me feel afterwards. Haven't had it since and no desire to. I attribute part of it to getting rid of other things that used to be in my diet. The same thing tends to happen when you quit smoking. Things start to taste/smell differently once you kick the habit.

This X 1,000,000,000. Hits the nail on the head. There are some rare cases where you hear about somebody really stretching their sleeve out, but I think these are extremely rare and/or the person had to seriously be punishing themselves to the point of misery to do that. I think it's easy for people to want to place the blame on the sleeve stretching because they don't want to admit the above - not eating proteins first, grazing all day long, reverting back to slider foods, etc. Head hunger sucks more than anything and that's a battle I'm always going to fight.

Are you asking because you're experiencing this or just asking in general? Are you pre or post op? If post-op it's common to go through a phase of things tasting different. A lot of flavors I loved in my protein powders, yogurts, and Crystal Light drinks tasted terrible for a few weeks after surgery. It was truly bizarre. As I transitioned through the phases and was able to introduce more foods back into my diet things started to get back to normal. That being said there are a handful of things I don’t like the taste of anymore. I used to love Miracle Whip over regular mayo. Now I can’t stand Miracle Whip. It comes off with a chemical taste now and don’t enjoy it at all.

I've had a drink from time to time but nothing crazy. It hits you much harder than you'd expect. I can have half a beer and it's like "weeeeeee!!!" Which is fun but annoying as well. I don't drink often but love a good craft beer. It's near impossible to go out to eat and drink/eat at a meal. One time I went with some friends to BW3. Managed maybe half of a glass a beer and like 3 wings and I was done. Felt super full and miserable for the next hour. Other times I've spaced it out - drank the beer first (over the course of 30+ minutes) and then ate a little bit and felt fine. It's a crap shoot. Drinks with hard alcohol (like vodka w/ cranberry) are easier to drink, but again there's that risk of how hard and fast it can hit you. Definitely do not be the one to have to drive the first time you drink. Be at home or with somebody that can drive. As the others have said you really have to be cautious. It can become a trigger to eating things that you shouldn't or you end up getting a bunch of empty calories from drinking. I'm a weird one. I have anaddictive personality but can go 2-3 months without having a drink and it doesn't phase me. Yet when I was a smoker I couldn't go for long without having one and there's no way in hell I could ever be a social smoker where I only had one a few times a week.

I usually only check out recent posts and rarely pay attention to the forum it falls in. Didn't mean any harm to anyone, so sorry if somebody's feels got hurt.

It will change. One, you'll hopefulyl maintain a bit of that feeling of not caring so much about what you eat any longer. I eat a lot of the same stuff (chicken salad, tuna salad, lettuce salads, yogurt, etc) on a regular basis and I don't get tired of it. I'm actually happy I don't stress so much about needing to get this and that and a host of other things from the store. There are times when eating is a chore, or you take that one bite that was too big and leaves you feeling blah for the next hour. It takes some time but you'll get used to it. It's normal to go through phases like this. And honestly...get used to the scale being your friend and most hated enemy at times. Everyone loses at different rates. Some months are better than others. Just don't get so hung up on the scale that it becomes your only means of judging how well you're doing. There are a lot of non scale victories that I've had in the past year that meant way more to me than seeing the scale change on a weekly basis.

There is some fear mongering to an extent, and it's justified. It's easy to get a lot of empty calories from liquids. Slider foods (things like mashed potatoes or ice cream) you'll find you could still eat quite a decent amount of only a few months after surgery. The risk/concern is that because it's easy to have more of those foods people will transfer a food addiction to those. For instance my NUT told stories of somebody that nibbled on pizza all day long. They couldn't eat more than a piece in a single sitting, but the constant grazing led to weight gain. Same with somebody snaking on the mini Snickers all day long. Yogurts are a staple in my diet. No, they don't fill you up but it's a healthy snack and easy way to get protein in. I don't like offices that make this giant banned list of foods. You can eat nearly anything a few months after surgery. It's just a dangerous path to go down for a lot of folks. Some things are gone and have stayed gone (foods that I struggled with). Other things I allow myself to have maybe once a month and I'm fine with that. Pasta used to be dinner at least 2 nights a week. Now I have a little bit maybe once a month and that's all I care about having. I don't have cravings for it like I used to. If I never had it again I really don't care, and I was a massive pasta lover prior to surgery. I get why they do it but I think there are better approaches to take. The straw thing is mainly in the beginning to avoid the risk of drinking too much too quickly. I use straws now but have to remember that I can't pound a drink down like before.

A year out and feel the same. The cold gets to me way more than it ever had before. The first few months after surgery were terrible while it was still winter. I used to sit in the living room with my blanket and wore the hood up on my sweatshirt half the time...lol. This winter hasn't been as bad, but I definitely layer way more than I used to.

I just did a screen grab of the progress tracker from my profile. My weight loss slowed down big time by last July and has stayed slow, but I've been fine with it. I have a ways to go but have been happy with where I'm at. I was 350ish at my heaviest. 336 at the start of the 2 week diet. 318 the day of surgery (Jan 25, 2017). No hunger the first month although I was so tired of liquids and soft foods. Was pretty run down with low energy the first few weeks. After the first month things got better quickly and really has been smooth sailing since then.

I mean I'm not going to sit here and act like I've been a saint this past year. I've had my own stumbles as well. Mainly a "well dammit I shouldn't have eaten that" but moved on. I think for me I found a happy place in that I'll allow an indulgence every once in a while but I plan for it, have it, and then that's it. Honestly I'm happier eating a steady diet of chicken/tuna salad, and regular lettuce salads. I enjoy those things more than I do thinking of going out for fast food. This should be a good scare for you in the worry of doing harm to your sleeve and steer you back on track. Don't beat yourself up too bad. Get heading in the right direction again and you'll do fine.

Holy hell I would have reported that to the main company. There's no freaking way that should/would have been approved. I would have been whooping somebody's ass...lol

To be honest this is the wake-up call you probably need. The surgery is just a tool. You're seeing already how easy it can be to still get a lot of calories in without a lot of food. The cravings and head hunger aren't things that just go away with surgery. We're always going to have those battles. Things like nuts aren't bad for you (maybe not so much now because it's not on your plan) but as with everything moderation is key. You're going to find that certain foods are going to fill you up and others won't. Slider foods being the biggest culprit. Soups and soft foods (like yogurt) are easier to pass through the system. Denser proteins are going to be harder to break down. Like you said it's easy to break down nuts into a very fine paste of sorts. With something like chicken you're going to break it down but not to the extent of the nuts. Most of us are going to stumble from time to time. Get back up on your feet and stay on track. Hopefully you can find some healthy rewards of sorts as you can bring more foods back into your diet. I mean for me a Greek Yogurt with a little bit of Cool Wip is a nice dessert like treat for me. I'm a big love of mixed nuts as well and I allow myself to have them from time to time, but I have to do it as a treat now and then. Again...moderation. Another thing is treating it like alcoholism. Don't put yourself in situations that you feel you can't handle yet. I mean seriously, if you're trying to stop drinking you don't go hang out in a bar a week after you quit. If you're going to go out pick something where you have no choice but to eat something healthy. The sooner/better you get at controling your urges now the better you'll set yourself up for the long term.

Here was my wake-up call: As I was getting closer to starting my pre-op diet I started thinking of what I was going to do as my "last meal." I kept dwelling on it and thinking "I have to go here. No, wait. I have to here instead." In the end I just ended up getting some crappy fast food because I had a bunch of running around to do that night and we couldn't go out to anywhere decent. So a few days later I was feeling sad that I "wasted" my last meal. That's when I realized if I would have went to another place I would have ended up feeling the same way. That I didn't pick the right place and should have went there instead. And I would have kept doing that. And needing this to get my fix. Or that. Or, no, the first one was right so I'll have that again and be done. I dunno...for me I finally stopped for a minute and realized how pathetic I was being. There are a lot of things I've avoided in this last year. There are things I've allowed as a treat. I've had pizza (gasp!). But it's pretty much a slice and that's it. And it's like every other month I'll treat myself. Other things I've tried, didn't care for, and they're gone for good now. Doesn't bother me at all. All this sadness I thought I would have hasn't been there. It does help to have a plan in place because the mental struggles can be as difficult, if not worse, than the physical ones.

Head hunger is a real struggle even after surgery. For instance I can eat right before I leave work (and feel full), then get home an hour later and feel like I need to eat because I'm hungry. But...that's due to old/bad habits of always eating something as soon as I got home and sitting down for a few minutes to unwind from the day. Bare in mind different foods will make you feel fuller than others. I could a cup of cottage cheese and some fruit and not have any full sensation. However a cup of chicken and some greens would leave me feeling really full. My typical lunch is a salad, so about a cup or so of lettuce and some canned tuna. I'm stuffed from that. The thing my office always warned us about was grazing and giving in to head hunger. In the early months I had no choice but to eat 5-6 meals a day to get my protein in. Now I can do that in 3 meals and a protein shake no problem (some days no shake at all). Head hunger is something I'm always going to battle, so no matter how small our stomach may be it's the mental battle that is the real struggle.

Just had my one year anniversary, and no, nothing I would change. The restriction I get with my sleeve is more than enough, and with some foods I still struggle to eat much without filling up too quickly (and feeling miserable). I liked the idea of the sleeve because it required less worry/fuss with vitamins and I was also a problem child with portion control. If I was a sweet tooth junky I likely would have opted for the bypass instead. I also went with the sleeve because it was supposed to be less invasive. Then I ended up having some complications anyway so I guess in the end it didn't matter much...lol. Point is that in the end that was something I was really concerned about initially and then realized that it shouldn't have played into my decision as much as I thought.

That all those months of "food mourning" and thinking that my life was going so suck without being able to have X, Y, and Z in my life was a collosal waste of time. Things like fast food, my diet sodas...don't care. Sure, there are times when I'll get a "I miss..." phase but it's short lived. Like smoking I couldn't imagine doing certain things without food being involved. And surprise! Life went on just fine without them. The other thing is to prepare mentally for it. That plays a much bigger part than we realize. I had a big come to Jesus moment on my relationship with food during my 2 week pre-op diet and sadly realized how much control it had on my life. Head hunger will still be a demon that you may have to fight. Just remember that WLS is still a tool and if not used properly it won't do what it's intended to do. Lastly I did wait too long to work on cutting some things out. Diet soda was my crack and knew it would be tough to give that up. Would have made the pre-op diet phase a bit easier if I'd given it up sooner. Good luck to you!

That's the best way to look at it. It's tough but you can do it. I quit about 6 years ago after smoking for a good 20. The lozenges saved me. That was the only thing I tried but it worked. It's funny because I used to think life couldn't go on without smoking in my life and then you realize it makes no difference. Still can do all the things I used to without them in my life. Now it's like looking back on an old/bad relationship. It was fun for awhile, but I'm better off without them.

About the same for me. I remember getting back into the room, saying they're going to start the gas, and that was it. Then it's like waking up from a deep sleep. My WLS was the fourth time (I think) that I've been put under. It really is like falling asleep. They'll let you know when it's going to start and then you're out pretty quick. I do terrible waking up from anesthesia. I'm groggy for hours. Even a full dose of Nyquil before bed leaves me feeling out of it for hours the next morning. Look at it this way. You basically have a guy/gal there where their only job is to monitor you while you're out. They aren't going to be running all around doing other things, taking smoke breaks, etc. Honestly it's one of those things where once you do it you realize it's not that big a deal. You'll do fine.

My diet is plant based. I eat the animals that eat the plants. I will never to subscribe to any one diet being superior to another. Find what works for you and makes you happy. Want to be a vegan? Great. It simply doesn't make you better than everyone else. Nor does going carb free, or gluten free, of whatever else. If the guy was selling himself as being vegan that's one thing, but you can argue that his diet is plant based if the majority of his diet is fruits & veggies. Just because it does include meats doesn't negate the other 80-90% of his diet being plant based.