Introversion

My total time on the operating room table was about 31 minutes according to my surgeon: 30 minutes for the sleeve and 90 seconds for the hiatal hernia repair. I slowly lost 100 pounds over 17 months, reaching my goal weight. I wasn't scared or anxious, although this was my first surgery ever. For me, remaining obese and miserable would have incited more anxiety about my future.

Some people lose their affinity for certain foods/drinks after surgery. Meanwhile, others still enjoy the exact same trigger treats with a vengeance after surgery, so it all depends. Those who cannot kick their regular (sugar-sweetened) soda addictions usually regain a substantial amount of weight based on anecdotes and observations.

I am 2.5 years out...soda doesn't bother me one bit. However, I don't drink it nowadays because it doesn't taste that good to me since I've been sleeved. Prior to surgery, I was a Diet Pepsi addict. It's amazing how our tastes change...

Silders are foods, usually simple carbohydrate snacks, that provide no fullness or satiety since they don't stay in the sleeved stomach that long before 'sliding' into the small intestine. Chips, crackers, pretzels, popcorn, cookies, donuts, cupcakes, wafers, and similar foods are sliders, a.k.a. slurry foods. A sleeved person can eat 25 cookies (1250 calories) and never feel full because a cookie is a slider. A sleeved person cannot eat 25 pork chops or 25 chicken breasts or 25 cucumbers because dense meats and veggies are not sliders.

I eat anywhere from 120 to 200g of carbs daily...but I'm physically active via 20+ miles of running per week and heavy weightlifting 3 times weekly, so my body uses the carbs. I also maintain a body weight of 118 to 122 lbs while eating in the 2000 to 2300 calories-per-day range. Lifting heavy weights allows me to eat more without storing it as body fat. You best believe I'd curtail my carb intake (and caloric intake) in a New York minute if I lived a more sedentary lifestyle because I know it would probably spell REGAIN.

I suppose different surgeons have different expectations...the staff at the bariatric surgery practice was pleased when I had lost 55 pounds at my 6-month follow-up appointment. You lost 52 pounds in 6 months...at that rate, that's 104 pounds yearly. Your weight loss is to be commended, so keep up the good work and keep working at it. Good luck to you.

While 100 grams of carbs per day is not low-carb, it's certainly less than the standard for the carb-controlled diet commonly prescribed to certain patients / clients in healthcare facilities. Anything below 250g of carbs (CHO) per day is considered carb-controlled, especially considering the US govt food pyramid recommends a whopping 300+ grams daily (6 to 11 servings). For instance, the house carb-controlled diet prescribed by University of California at San Francisco Medical Center contains 1800 calories daily with 200 to 250g of carbs: http://nutrition.ucsfmedicalcenter.org/internalsite/inpatient/StandardTherapueiticDietDefinitions.pdf Anyhow, sorry for digressing...I tolerate popcorn without any issues and could graze myself to the bottom of a 5-pound bag if left to my own faulty devices, so I don't eat it.

Thanks. I appreciate it.

Popcorn is a definite slider for me. I stay away from it because it provides me zero in the way of fullness or satiety and I can eat unlimited quantities of it. My mantra is "Protein first."

In addition to seeing a counselor, I exercise for stress relief and emotional soothing. Exercise is a natural antidepressant: https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/exercise-is-an-all-natural-treatment-to-fight-depression So far, it has worked...my mother died earlier this year and I regained no weight, not a single pound, during the ordeal. It was because I used more adaptive ways to cope with the loss. My way of coping with negative emotions is to allow myself to feel them. Food, drugs, gambling, risky sex and other compulsions are ways to escape negative emotions when the focus should be on feeling the negative emotions and partaking in self-discovery. Joy and pain are parcels of life. To fully embrace life, we must feel the pain as intently as we feel the joy. Escaping the pain or distracting ourselves from it with food is a fast path to nowhere.

Genetic predisposition...my maternal grandmother was 400+ pounds well before the modern-day obesity epidemic, and my mother was obese. Many of the women on my mother's side of the family are overweight or obese. Hypothyroidism and certain medications that promote weight gain Insulin resistance (it caused insatiable hunger for me) Poor lifestyle choices such as chronic yo-yo dieting, bad food choices, overeating, frequent fast food runs, etc.

Soft foods include yogurt, cottage cheese, tuna with light mayo, creamed soups, mashable vegetables, canned chicken, canned salmon, etc. Basically, soft foods are soft going down. Did your surgeon's office or dietitian or nutritionist give you a pamphlet or handout that listed the allowable soft foods for their bariatric program?

I'm 2.5 years out and eat between 120-200 grams of carbs daily. Due to your high level of physical activity, you may need to double your carb intake to bring your weight loss to a screeching halt. Of course, your mileage may vary.

I'm 2.5 years out and able to eat anywhere from 8 to 10 ounces. However, just because my stomach can accommodate 8 to 10 ounces doesn't mean I regularly eat that much in volume. I feel full after eating 4 ounces of dense protein (e.g., chicken breast, steak, pork chops). If it isn't dense protein, my sleeve can easily accommodate a lot more of it.

Has your surgeon prescribed you a PPI such as Lansoprazole, Esomeprazole, or Omeprazole? If not, I'd visit Walmart or Walgreens or CVS and get some Omeprazole (a.k.a. Prilosec OTC). Most of us had to be on acid reducers for several months post-op. You can also take the Prilosec in conjunction with an H2 blocker such as Famotidine (Pepcid) or Ranitidine (Zantac), also sold over the counter at Walmart & Walgreens.

There's definitely a remarkable difference in metabolic rate between a tall 270-pound woman and a short 220-pound woman that cannot be ignored. Per common TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) calculators, a middle-aged 270-pound woman who stands 5'7" tall burns an average of nearly 2700 calories daily, whereas a woman who stands 5'0" and weighs 220 pounds burns about 2300 calories a day. Taller people have a metabolic advantage: http://bradpilon.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-science/the-unfair-metabolic-advantage-of-being-tall/ Also, heavier people have a metabolic advantage because more caloric energy is utilized to move a 300-pound body than a 200-pound body, and bigger people generally have larger mass/organs that increase their metabolisms: https://fitfolk.com/what-is-tdee-total-daily-energy-expenditure/ So, yes, there's a huge difference between lightweights in the low 200s and their heavier counterparts. Starting weight makes a notable difference. Also, genetics plays a major role. People with two beneficial markers on chromosome 15 are rapid responders to bariatric surgery and lose quickly. Those with one beneficial chromosome 15 marker lose at a slow to average rate, and those with no beneficial markers are nonresponders who lose less than 30 pounds.

My body fat percentage was tested in October 2016 via hydrostatic testing, a.k.a. water displacement. I basically donned a swimsuit and submerged myself in a tub while the technician conducted her analysis. My body fat percentage was 17.8%, a massive improvement from the 49% it had been prior to surgery. A mix of running and heavy weightlifting drove my body fat percentage downward. I plan to have it re-tested next month to see if any further body composition changes have occurred in the past year.

I was sleeved. I took 2 weeks off, although I could have gotten away with returning to work in 1 week because I sat behind a desk most of my shift. My pain was gone in 4 days. Diarrhea and loose stools weren't an issue for me.

Why would you be upset at 10 pounds lost per month? Have you ever lost that kind of weight that quickly without surgery via old-fashioned diet/exercise? My guess is that the answer is "No." 10 pounds a month is a whopping 120 pounds a year. Realistic expectations are important throughout your weight loss journey. Since you're a lightweight who is starting out at 220 pounds, I guarantee you'll never be one of those rapid losers who drops 30+ pounds a month, or even 20+ pounds a month. My starting weight was 218 pounds on surgery day. Most of my monthly losses were single digit (1 to 7 pounds lost each month). It took me 17 months to lose 100 pounds and reach my goal weight. And you know what? I'm dancing on a cloud, but not because of the weight loss. I'm happy because this is the most realistic opportunity I have to keep the weight off for life. Good luck to you.

You are not legally required to reveal the reason you undergo surgery. I told coworkers I was having a hernia repair. This was partially true since I did have a hiatal hernia repair along with the sleeve. However, I simply omitted the part about being sleeved.

During my eval, the psychologist basically asked about my growing-up years, focusing on any childhood trauma or adverse experiences that may have happened. She asked about my typical eating habits. She asked if I started making changes to my habits. She asked about my living situation and whether or not I had social support to uphold the lifestyle changes that surgery entails. She asked about my motivations for wanting bariatric surgery, questioning why I didn't just "stop eating when I wasn't hungry." She was a thin person who had likely never been obese, so she probably didn't comprehend that my physical hunger was insatiable and I felt hungry all the time. She probed about my relationship history and wondered aloud why I wasn't actively dating at that time. I shared my personal experience of dating presenting more challenges as an obese woman compared to when I was normal-weight. She agreed with me. She asked about my career, goals, and educational level. Since I once worked in psych, I know how the psych eval is formulated. She likely listed my potential strengths (college degree, professional career, realistic insight, having sought professional help in the past) against my potential drawbacks (childhood trauma, living alone, history of emotional eating) to make a recommendation. Honesty is a must. The psychologist prefers you to admit to overeating than hear you say, "I eat 1000 calories a day and can't lose weight!"

I chose the sleeve because I wanted my pyloric valve to remain intact... Also, I didn't want to end up metabolically challenged several years from now. In gastric bypass patients, a phenomenon occurs that is called intestinal adaptation. Essentially, the gastric bypass patient's small intestine adapts to being bypassed by increasing the size and surface area of the villi to efficiently absorb more calories. Several years after the surgery, they start regaining on a very small intake of food and wonder why it's happening. When a sleeve patient regains, it's due to overeating junk food. When a bypass patient regains, it's often due to their bodies absorbing more calories due to intestinal adaptation. I like the fact that I can maintain a body weight of 120 pounds on 2000 to 2300 calories a day. Many bypass patients who are several years out must keep their intake below 1400 calories daily or they'll start to regain their weight.

Even if the juice is cold-pressed, our bodies cannot tell the difference between the sugar in juice and the sugar in soda due to the lack of fiber. Once you convert an orange into orange juice, the lack of fiber removes any health benefits whatsoever. You're just drinking a sweet liquid.

Orange juice is a grossly unhealthy drink, even if cut/diluted with water. It has the same health benefits as a can of Coke or Mountain Dew...plenty of sugar and empty calories. Those who habitually drink their calories often regain their weight. I'd personally learn to live without the orange juice. https://www.treehugger.com/green-food/if-you-think-orange-juice-healthy-its-time-reconsider.html

My sipping phase lasted no longer than 3 weeks. After the first few weeks, I was able to drink liquids of all temperatures (from steaming hot to iced cold) normally.