MSinger

I think this is great advice and could definitely work for some folks, but it would not work for me at all. The people in my life like to gossip, judge and sabotage my weight loss efforts. I have run into a lot of problems with them with prior weight loss attempts. I tried to educate them, show them exactly what I eating and how much healthier it was than what they were eating, I told them all about how much I was working out. They manipulated my words at every turn and even accused me of doing drugs. I decided the only person I would tell is my sister because she is understanding and I needed at least one support person. She totally understands why I do not want to tell the rest of the family. We discussed the possibility of telling them after I have lost all the weight I wanted to, but we both decided it's a bad idea. I'd rather they keep speculating. The only people I am willing to talk to about WLS is people who are actively looking into it. It just seems like talking to anyone else about it is a waste of time.

Congratulations on your weight loss! Unfortunately, just because people are family does not mean they will be happy for you or be willing to understand what you are going through. I hope you have better support outside of your sister, as she is in no position worry about anyone's health but her own. You look fantastic, btw!!

Welcome That first call to the surgeon's office is one of the hardest parts of the process. Just keep in mind you are doing this for your health, and future you appreciates how hard you are fighting for it right now.

My tastes have definitely changed since preop (I'm 5weeks post op now). Have you found your tastes continue to change the further you are out from surgery?

Insurance companies will not cover anything unless it's medically necessary. It's confusing wording, but basically, you have a chance at being covered. They usually have a medical policy detailing what criteria you would need to meet in order for your surgery to be approved. Calling your insurance company to find out what criteria need to be met is the first step. Good luck.

Hey all, I'm just wondering what foods/meals are in your regular rotation? Is it because they are high protein, very filling, you like the taste, your daily small guilty pleasure... etc..? I'm hoping to find some meal ideas. Foods in my regular rotation: I drink a premier protein shake every morning I have 4oz egg whites and 2slices of ultra thin cheese every day for breakfast I eat yogurt every day I add trulemon to my water every day because I (still) can't tolerate the taste of plain water. If you have any foods I'd love to know what they are. Thanks!

Well, everyone is different, but I feel that at 5 weeks out you should be able to tolerate more than 2oz at a time. Then again, if it's dense protein, maybe that's all your sleeve can tolerate at once. Hard to say. How many calories do you get on average per day? How are you feeling overall? I'd recommend running this by your surgeon just to be on the safe side.

I recommend talking to your Dr. It's tough since we are on a restricted diet, but there are foods you can also try to cut down (if you haven't already), such as chocolate, coffee, fatty foods. Sleeping with your head elevated helps at night as well. Sorry you're going through this.. I hope it gets better for you!

I have to eat with my vitamins otherwise I get nauseous. Eating every 3 hours has turned out to be very helpful for me. If I do feel hunger, I know my next meal is very soon. Here's what I started eating yesterday: 8am Breakfast: egg whites and 2 ultrathin slices of cheese 11am Snack 1 - yogurt 2pm Lunch: 4oz LF cottage cheese, 2oz apple sauce 5pm - Dinner: 3oz chicken. I made a small amount of potatoes but I couldn't eat them 8pm - Snack 2 - 4oz Halo top ice cream

I kinda feel the same way, but I noticed that I tend to get the sleeve fullness WAY after I've eaten. Like 40-50minutes later. I tried some pulled pork and was surprised at how well I was tolerating it and ended up eating past my limit. On the way home well after dinner was finished, I started to feel the pain from eating too much. Then another 20minutes later it passed and I felt hungry again. I can also eat 4-6oz of mushies, but I see people who were sleeved weeks before me saying they can only tolerate 3ish oz of food. I eat every 3 hours and don't eat to my limit, but I feel like I could eat more if I wanted to.

Just wanted to add, typically when I try a new food for the first time, my stomach starts gurgling quite a bit, so don't get freaked if it happens to you. The very next time I have the same food I'm fine. It's so strange...

I have the same thing, but strangely enough, it's gotten better since I had surgery. I spoke with a Dr about it and she referred me to an ENT who specializes in inner ear disorders (I still have not gone). I did notice if I have a few days of high-sodium meals it would get worse. I also have vertigo in my R ear.

I think I'm gonna stick to once a month weigh-ins as well. As long as you are accurately tracking calories and macros the weight loss will come. In the past when I weighed daily, yes, it did motivate me to lose weight fast, but I could never get past a week of doing this. When I weighed once a week, I used to be disappointed if I didn't lose an unreasonable amount of weight. This month was rough, but on the other hand, it was very peaceful. Anytime I started to worry about the scale I asked myself what I can do today to make sure I'm successful come weigh-in day, which has been helpful.

I'm a month out and still having mild pain at the large incision when I sneeze or get out of bed. As long as your pain is gradually decreasing instead of increasing you're on the right path, it just may take longer for some people.

I was a big plain water drinker pre-op. Post op plain water makes me nauseous. I've tried drinking it warm and cold, both times I take a few sips and get hit with nausea. I get my fluids in by drinking flavored water now. I wish it wasn't necessary, but it is what it is...

It's tough getting the fluids in the first week. I was drinking about 40oz per day my first week. It was all I could tolerate. The stomach gurgling and growling is normal. During my first week I'd have gurgling at just about every sip. They went down as my tolerance got better. The way I kept track of my fluids was to set a timer every time I sipped. At first, I believe I was taking 5mins between sips (I was in the hospital getting fluids so at least I was meeting fluid goals that way), and as the week went on I set my timer to 4mins, 3mins, 2mins, etc. And if you're gonna ask, yes, my phone timer was constantly going off the first 2 weeks after surgery, I just set the volume down so it wouldn't be too annoying. I'm 3 weeks out now and get gurgles now if I take too large of a gulp, drink too quickly, or if I introduce new foods. Just take it slow. If you really can't get your fluids in call your surgeon's office and let them know.

What are they going to do about the fluid collection? Are you on antibiotics? That would probably need to be resolved first. As far a second opinion on the gallbladder it wouldn't hurt if you are not sure about going through surgery. There's a risk of stones migrating out of the gallbladder and causing complications, but you need to discuss this with a surgeon and come to your own conclusion.

That sounds like a great idea. I have vanilla premier protein shakes and might start doing the same thing. Thanks for the suggestion!

Hiatal hernias are typically repaired with the sleeve surgeries, but are you sure you have a hiatal hernia? These hernias slide up through the diaphragm. The location you describe sounds more like an umbilical hernia.

Is the sharp pulling pain on the right side, where the large incision was? I had that and was also warned by my surgeon it would happen and is normal.

I work in insurance and see denial decisions overturned in appeals all the time. Always worth a shot.

I stopped taking narcotic pain meds on day 3, and stopped all pain meds after week 1. Any pain after that was just momentary on my incisions if I moved the wrong way. I'm 3weeks post op and only feel an occasional twinge of pain with movement, however, I still wear my abdominal binder when I'm walking because the movement makes my incisions sore.

Are you just asking for the time off, or filling out FMLA paperwork? If your Dr fills out paperwork saying you need time off for medical reasons and FMLA is approved for you, I'm not sure HR would still be able to ask questions like this, but really not sure. If you're not, I'd recommend filling out the official paperwork.

I respect anyone's decision on whether or not they want to go public with their WLS, but I am a private person. Right now, I wanna focus on me and do not have the patience to explain the ins and outs of my sleeve to a bunch of lookie-loos. 99.9% of the questions I would have to deal with would be a waste of time. Just people being nosey. I don't want people asking me questions about what I'm eating, how much I can eat, how I feel while I'm still trying to figure that out for myself. I don't want to have to field ignorant questions from people who have no interest in the surgery. I don't want people to stare at me while I eat. I don't want to feel pressured by people to drop major poundage and the drop of a hat. I don't want people to immediately think that there is something inherently wrong with weight loss surgery if I ever happen to be stalled. Weight loss makes the people around you turn weird as it is, and I want to minimize the weirdness as much as possible. If anyone wants to be open about it then more power to you. I prefer to focus on my journey, and try to be helpful to the people I know are going through the same thing I am. Just because you have surgery, does not mean you are obligated to put yourself out there and be a stigma buster. I had to overcome my own ignorance regarding WLS as I researched whether this is right for me. If you asked me even 6 months ago whether I wanted to have WLS I would have said no. but I did my research and promised myself if anything ever felt wrong I would stop immediately and find another way. I can be open on an anonymous board, but I do not want to deal with it IRL. Just like any other surgery, no one is obligated to publish their personal health history to a bunch of nosey people.

Yes... me too. I have had so many scale disappointments over the years, weighing myself is always a distressing experience for me. Just said this in another post, but I'll say it again - stay off the scale for the first month. I'd hate for all of the progress I've made outside of the scale could potentially be undermined simply because my body might be hanging onto water weight the day I decided to weigh myself. Focus on your water, protein, and activity. Your body is mending itself which tends to cause water retention, if your muscles are sore, that causes water retention, hormones, salt... there are just too many variables right now.