Creekimp13

Your tray pic looks very familiar:) LOL! Best wishes on a fast recovery and excellent progress.

Don't worry. This, too, shall pass:) Just keep steady and try not to obsess.

My family and best friend have been amazing, but I have one very dear friend...who threw a negative schit fit. Really surprised me. People can be weird. I'm sure he's not jealous..lol..but he's one of those people who needs to be right and I think the surgery scared him. But yeah, he kinda blew a gasket about it and I needed to make some distance for a while. I need supportive people around me, not stubborn naysayers.

I'm a fairly new sleever, and i'm extremely happy:) I love that I can continue with my pre-surgical diet that I was having a lot of success with...while eating smaller portions and feeling great. I love that 4 ounces feels full and satisfied. I love that when I get stupid and eat a cookie or some other sugary crime (pretty rare thing, but it happens)....I feel a little gross. I don't get full on dumping syndrome...but I get a touch of nausea that reminds me that refined sugar and I are not friends. Also...if I'm smart and just have a bite of that cookie instead of the whole damned thing....I can really enjoy that bite and not feel crappy afterward. It's changing how I handle those situations, it's changing my preferences, and really helping me to stop a bad habit....or at least employ serious moderation:) I love that I'm off my meds and my health is better. I love that I have good energy to get my seven miles of walking in each day. I love that my clothes are getting baggy and that I look (not skinny...but) normal in a swimsuit, again. I love my sleeve:)

This is both true and false in my opinion. There are two schools of thought on caloric intake in the first year. The old tried and true idea is to severely restrict calories in the first year to effect as much weight loss as possible while eating is uncomfortable and restricted. The newer idea is to get people eating at a closer to normal caloric level to reset the metabolism at a healthier level. Both groups of people....the severely restricted and those who eat 1000-1200 calories early....will lose about the same amount of weight at the end of 18 months. The severely restricted will lose in spurts and stalls...but will lose much faster than the 1000-1200 calorie group. That said, they will also slow down faster. The 1000-1200 group loses slower and steadier and their weight loss period will be longer. But yeah....statistically, at 18 months both groups have nearly identical total weight loss. So, overall...either way produces a similar short term result. It's true that if your calories are VERY severely restricted you can hit metabolic stalls due to your body thinking you're starving to death and taking action to conserve every calorie. It's equally true that you can overeat and eat the wrong things....and sabotage yourself...even right after surgery.

I was one of those lucky weirdos who had a super easy sleeve. I'm 45. Within an hour of getting into my room after recovery I was walking the halls, laughing with my bestie who came to visit, and feeling sore, but shockingly good. Had no problems drinking, have had no problems eating. I had a super easy textbook perfect recovery. Orionburn is so right, though. Everyone's different. Rather than work yourself up over all the "what-ifs" about surgery...try to reflect on how much you'll be reducing your odds of getting a heart attack, stroke, hemorrhoids, diabetes, cancer, etc... Obesity related illnesses are far scarier to me than a quick trip under anesthetic and a surgical recovery. Also think about your increased mobility and health in general. It'll be ok:)

So sorry you're feeling so rough. Couldn't hurt to put a call in to your surgeon's office and see if they have any advice about going through a nasty tummy bug three months out. They'll likely give you signs to watch for if it's serious enough for medical intervention. Yeah, there are a lot of nasty gut bugs going around right now. They've closed schools around here cause it's so bad. My brother's whole house had it over Christmas. This, too, shall pass. Sorry.

Wishing you the best, Ashash, keep us posted!

The OP is a little over two weeks out from surgery. I'm guessing it's because jarred is cooked and has less of a chance of getting stuck. I'm further guessing that fresh will be approved at around 6 weeks post op.

Have to say my surgery was a 10. Super easy. Another poster said....my only discomfort was that it felt like I'd done too many situps the day before. That was me, too. Very easy recovery. Drinking was very easy for me, too, as were all the food stages. I'm really interested to see where most people self report they fall on this scale. I think it'll help those trying to decide.

If 1 is....I had horrible complications and wish I had never done it. 5 is...I had periods of difficulty and times I was really stressed and challenged, but I got through it. 10 is...I'm one of the luckiest ones. My surgery was an absolute breeze. No stress, very easy recovery.

Ultimately it boils down to two choices. Fewer calories in. More calories out. A little of both is a good strategy to stimulate progress. That said, if your calories are too low...under 1000...upping your food to 1000 and adding exercise might be the best way to go since eating too little can send your body into starvation mode and cease weight loss.

My breakfast today was Half a cup of Chia seed pudding, with half a cup of strawberries and blueberries, and two pieces of turkey bacon.

Wheat toast is much better than white toast because it has a lower glycemic index. So why is this better? When you eat refined sugar or refined carbs like white flower....the sugar hits your bloodstream really fast...and your pancreas reacts to the sugar spike by making a insulin spike. Unfortunately, the pancreas often will produce too much insulin in response to pure sugar....so it runs out of sugar to "neutralize" and then you have too much insulin...which creates a hunger spike and craving for sugar....and you end up in this nasty cycle of hunger/eat/hunger/eat.....that sabotages your diet and makes you feel kinda cruddy. If you stick with low glycemic carbs that take longer to digest and have slower releasing sugars...you don't run into this as much and feel much less hungry. Go for whole grain carbs:) My plan allowed peanut butter and whole grain toast in the soft solid foods stage...about a month after surgery.

Once I get into the 100's....ten or so pounds to go....my bestie and I are going to one of those indoor trampoline park places. I met her the first day of first grade. 40 years is a long time to know someone:) Of course jumping on trampolines in your mid 40's is sort of deranged....but when we're together everything is fun and we laugh way too much:) We're also going roller skating. Bahahaha! Oh! And I'm taking hubby on a replay of our cheapo and sentimental camping honeymoon 25 years ago this summer. We're going to a water park and doing water slides. Funnel of Fear, here I come:) Looking very forward to playing in Lake Michigan in a swimsuit and not feeling self conscious:) Will also do some horseback riding on the lake shore, ride the carousel, go metal detecting, read books to each other and play cribbage. Looking very forward to this:)

Shoot....I screwed up. I take 2 Kid's vitamins per day.

Thanks folks:)

And um...we also eat carbs:) No refined sugar, but beans, potatoes, whole wheat breads, protein pasta, oatmeal....low glycemic carbs that don't cause sugar spikes and boomerang hunger...I eat them daily. Fruit, too:) Bariatrics is an emerging field. There are some new ideas out there, and lots of old ones. Time will tell which ones work the best long term. And like everything else...I'm sure some plans work better for some people than others.

Note that these instructions are for Phase Four...which begins (for most people) at the end of the second week... Pureed/blended/mushy. Note the calorie goal. 1000-1200 calories. Lot of people think I'm making this up...I'm not. My group's protocol was created by a research hospital that studied outcomes 5 and 10 years down the road. People who eat more calories quicker lose weight slower than calorie restricted patients.....but they lose an identical amount of weight at 18 months post-op....and at 5 and 10 years post-op have less regain. Researchers believe it might have to do with metabolic reset. Whatever the reason, I'm glad I can eat a little more. I'm never hungry, and my weight loss has been steady. I really like my diet and think I can live with it for a lifetime. I don't feel deprived. I feel moderate, healthy and like I'm avoiding extremes.

1000-1200 per day:) I'm six and a half weeks out. My team believes in resetting the metabolism at maintenance calorie levels instead of starvation levels....and losing weight steadily over 18 months....instead of fast loss followed by slow loss. We are encouraged to try to eat up to 1000-1200 as soon as we comfortably can at our one week checkup. I hit this goal at week 3. Many surgeons still follow the tried and true oldschool protocol of restricting calories severely in the first year after surgery. I'm thankful my group doesn't do this. I am enjoying my normal calorie intake and losing weight well:)

I showered the following morning at the hospital at 7AM. Shampooed my hair. Blew it dry, styled it, and put on makeup (that I rarely wear) and a nice outfit. My strategy was getting my surgeon to spring me...and it worked:)

I'm so sorry you're so stressed. Try not to freak out until you make actual contact with actual people. Be patient.

Well Done! Wishing you a quick recovery and a successful procedure:) Sounds like you're doing great.

You've lost like...93 pounds in 8 months! That's amazing! Be patient, you'll get there. The home stretch is hard. If you want to up your game a little...add more exercise. You got this!

What was your starting weight?