Blue Door

I LOVE this!! Congratulations!!!

The first time I was able to buy clothes at a "regular" store was one of my NSVs (I only just learned what NSV meant. lol!)

I'm a nurse who works in the OR and we wear hospital scrubs... with colour coded size tags on the back for all to see... ugh
Pre-op I've worn size "dark green" or XL for years.
I had my first day back at work this week and... I wore "light blue" tag pants. LARGE! I was so excited. I probably could have worn a large top as well, but there weren't any. lol
Pre-op, I made a list of NSV to look forward to and this was one of the first things I wrote down. Can't wait to scratch more off the list!

Wanted to update on getting RMR testing. I had my 2 week follow up visit with the surgeon and nutritionist today. I mentioned to the NUT that I wanted to get RMR testing done. She said they do it right there in the office, and I could do it right then. I went ahead and found out my RMR is 1615, which is in the middle of the average range for women my size. I am pretty pleased with that. The best part is that she said we can do it at every visit to watch for changes. Also, it was free as it's included in the follow up services. She had never mentioned it, and I don't think she would have if I hadn't brought it up. I don't know if the testing is something a lot of bariatric surgery offices offer, but it can't hurt to ask!

I had surgery on 3/28 also. I had a rough night last night, and tonight I am starting to turn a corner and feel better. I hope it happens for you right away!

Yes! I thought it was just me. I walked by the dog food aisle in Target yesterday and it made me wretch. It reminds me of the heightened sense of smell that comes with pregnancy. I had my surgery 9 days ago. I'm hoping this passes soon!

Yes, you had something major done and your body needs time to heal and recover. It was only 2 days ago you had 80% of your stomach removed. People take longer than that to heal from a paper cut.

The first few weeks for me smells were horrendous. I could tell from far away when someone had garlic ewwww. It does get better or it did for me.

@Blue Door
I had it tested.
I see you are in Illinois. You can have it tested in Sports Medicine cheaply at any of the local Universities.
I also get DEXA scans so I know my exact lean mass.

I also got sleeved on March 28th and the hunger pangs started yesterday along with headache and general shakiness. I believe this is real hunger combined with low blood sugar. It gets better once I have a Protein Shake but it starts up again not too longer after. It's not in my head

Im glad it was useful. Its just my opinion, but I was so scared that I was the only hungry sleever out there until some soft foods filled me up! Yay!

That's exactly how I felt on liquids. Everyone's said its head hunger.....I disagree. When I recently started my puree phase the hunger for the most part stops for a really long time after a tiny portion of approved whatever. My 2 cents are that we feel hungry on the liquid phase because we ARE but the liquids pass through our stomachs so fast we never get full enough for relief. Maybe head hunger happens when we actually eat food and still crave, but in my experience the first 2 weeks it is hunger. Stay strong! It is WAY BETTER on the puree phase!

Ha! I had the classic just now. I was walking through my living room with my daughter in arms, and could feel my jeans inching down on one side!!!! and then.... wooshka! down around my ankles they went!! *hysterically laughing* and there it is...my first real embarassing NSV (lucky I bought some very neat smalls in a smaller size last week!!!!)

Thanks to everyone who responded I tried smaller bites today and no pain. Will keep that In​ Mind going forward

A favorite quote of mine is, "The problem with Slimfast shakes is that they go so well with cookies."
This is going to be a long time recurring issue. And it just never seems to get less annoying to me either.

Unfortunately, I screwed up my metabolism a long time ago from overly strict dieting from a young age. Add to that legitimate endocrine issues (pituitary and thyroid), and that's one of the reasons I decided to do this surgery. My body has to have a very low amount of calories to survive and even fewer to lose weight, even with exercise--and while I used to be able to do that for a certain amount of time, it's not sustainable over the long haul to do it from sheer willpower.
VSG is the tool that allows me to keep my calories where my body wants to be. I haven't thought much about maintenance yet (I'm so far away), but I have a feeling my weight loss phase will stay around 700-800 calories and maintenance may be 900 to 1100. Your mileage may (definitely) vary.
I probably would have weighed about 200 lbs more than I already do if I had been eating 2000 calories on a consistent basis!
My mom says if there's ever a famine, she and I will probably be stepping over the bodies bc our bodies seem to be able to sustain themselves so well. Great in case of a famine but not so great for regular life.
I love my sleeve!!!! Sometimes I think of it as the stomach I should have been given to accompany my very metabolically efficient body. Sort of like how I got LASIK so I can see like other people do with hereditary normal vision.

I'm 3 days post op and have not been able to get in enough Protein. Today I tried a cold Premier Protein but my stomach started to hurt then I warmed it up and was able to drink it like a hot chocolate

Sleevy, during my first 5 days post op recovery I dealt with two different waves of gas pain:
The first wave came immediately after waking in recovery. The problem with this pain is that the gas isn't within your digestive system (the gas is what is leftover from what was used to expand your admonimal cavity so your surgeon could move around in here) so passing gas, using gas-x strips, none of that will help. This pain presents as pain in/near the diaphragm (especially when taking deep breaths) and in the shoulders.
Three main things help: Walking, elevation and deep breaths. The walking will help to move the CO2 around and out from under your diaphragm. The gas will slowly be absorbed into your respiratory system and exhaled. This is where the deep breaths come in.
While in the hospital I was given a device called an incentive spirometer which resembles a reverse breathalyzer. The point of the device is to take the longest deepest slow inhale that you can. You can replicate the resistance that the device creates by pursing your lips together like you are going to whistle, and then inhaling with some force, but slowly and as deeply as you can. Hold the breathe for a few seconds and then exhale as slowly. This will increase the amount of oxygen that your body receives, allowing it to expel more of the absorbed CO2, which in turn will notify your body to absorb more of the trapped CO2 and the cycle can repeat (with more walking of course). When I first started using it I could barely take 1/3 of a full breath without a crazy amount of pain, but within a couple of days (sooner I'm sure if I had not slept so much) I worked my way up to a point where I could get to a nice slow deep breath with only minor irritation
The elevation that will help you with the gas pain is keeping your body in a reclined position, even when sleeping at least for the first week give or take a day. I found that laying on my back made the pain much worse and it slowed my elimination of the gas.
The other thing that can and did help me during this initial round of this Intraperitoneal gas pain were pain medications. Because this pain is outside of your intestines the use of pain killers won't make it worse.
The second wave of gas pain (called intestinal gas pain) is exactly how it sounds. This pain is due to the actual buildup of gas within your intestines. This pain is usually felt much lower in the abdomen. Abdominal massage helps a lot with this. Just be sure to do it in the right direction. If you look down at your belly button your colon forms almost a large square around it. The right side of your abdomen is the ascending colon, it goes up from the bottom of your belly to right below your rib cage. Then the transverse colon moves from the right across the belly to the left side, and then the decending colon goes downward on the left side. So if you massage that area from the bottom right, upwards, then across to the left, and back down the left side it will help to move the air through. If you've ever seen a kitten kneading with its tiny paws you have an idea of how the massaging should be. Small kneading movements along that line.
For intestinal pain, Gas-X strips would probably help, but when I asked for some once I knew the gas pain was intestinal the nurse gave me a sad look and said "I'm sorry, but we can't give you that. We NEED you to pass gas to show us that your digestive system is in working order"
So I continued my regimine of walking, breathing, Water, and massage. The upside was that once the majority of the non-intestinal gas pain was gone, getting in and out of bed became much easier. After about a day or so I felt the gas moving to its exit portal and i don't think I've ever had a more relieving passing of gas in my life. A bit loud but I didn't care. LOL #sorrynotsorry. I was more embarrassed when the nurses cheered when they walked in and I told them it finally happened. From that point on i felt better with each passing moment.
As for your lack of a bowel movement I didn't have one until about 5 days after surgery, and the last one before that was I believe 3-4 days before my surgery. Being on that liquid diet will do that.
Hopefully, you didn't fall asleep too many times reading this novel of a post and that some of the information will help you at least understand the pain and know that it DOES get better but only YOU can make it happen.

My doctor joked about making me walk home from the hospital until we told him we live almost 40 miles away. Then, he dialed it back to walking the last block.
He's a real comedian.
Ive been walking probably a cumulative 30 min a day on better days but some days I'm so exhausted, I fall asleep for the night before my evening walk.
So how much did you all manage to walk that first week? When did the surgical fatigue start to lift?

It's like childbirth everyone knows someone that's had a bad experience. Wls is no different lol

I'm not telling people either. The only people who know are my husband, kids, and closest friend. My co-workers know I'm having surgery, but not what type. I just really don't want any one else's opinions. My plan is to lose slowly and if people ask just tell them I'm eating high Protein and low carb with smaller portions. All of that is true!

I'm not telling people either. The only people who know are my husband, kids, and closest friend. My co-workers know I'm having surgery, but not what type. I just really don't want any one else's opinions. My plan is to lose slowly and if people ask just tell them I'm eating high Protein and low carb with smaller portions. All of that is true!

I decided to come back here and start posting again because this is all I hear. I'm really nervous to tell anyone that I'm going to try to have VSG because of my previous experience - I had a lap band and had to have it removed due to intolerance... it's been 2 years band free, and I still hear "we told you that wouldn't work" from friends and family members. I also hear the "you're just fine the way you are" and of course the horror stories. If I wasn't at a point where I was able to lose the weight and keep it off on my own, I wouldn't be looking at this! The very small chance of risk outweighs the horrors of possible bypasses, liver failure, etc that I face if I keep gaining!