Coexister

1. Posting your personal goal: 145 lbs

2. Add your surgery type, status (pre/post op, losing/maintenance): VSG on 12/26/2018

3. Weight and BMI (not necessary but encouraged): 180 w/ BMI of 30

4. Choose between the easy or advance squat routine: easy

5. Tell us your favorite flaw: I don't know how to respond to this? I don't have a favorite flaw.

So I have been stalled pretty much for the past two months and it scares the blank out of me - anyone else in the same boat here with me? Back to the basics for me, back to diving into this forum for support and inspiration. I know that I have ventured to far off into things I shouldn't eat and am aware of the error of my ways. Definitely got to keep those small bags of chips out of my house (the rest of the family will just have to go without) as they always call out to me in a weak moment and they being a slider food well they are freezing my weight in the moment.. Water -gotta start tracking again .. I have been limited in exercises per other medical problems (shoulder surgery & hernia)and not able to do any weight training but am thinking if I just do lots of repetitions of small weights and increase my walking. I need to lose another 10 lbs in a month so I can get my abdominal incisional hernia repaired. This hernia has haunted me for a very long time and is the reason why I got the sleeve surgery in the first place as Surgeons would not repair the hernia until I lost a bunch of weight as it was a previously repaired hernia with mesh that had to be cut through for another surgery that eventually became another hernia that has haunted me. AS I lose the weight it becomes more prominent. I call it my little monster. Also been dealing with some emotional stuff as I was just recently diagnosed with PTSD due to trauma and Major Depressive Disorder so I have been working on not eating my feelings and am working with professionals to get that back under control as well. So 9 months later, I am currently at a cross road in my journey and hoping to get back on the right path. Hoping to find that I am not alone and that others may be dealing with the same.

MOM - milk of magnesium if what our doctor has us use and we also took a stool softener (colace) daily. Really important to make sure you are drinking minimum of 64 ozs of Water daily.

Yes this is normal for awhile and it will pass. Do your best to get your Protein and Water in. It took me several weeks to feel like I had any energy after my surgery. My doctor recommended no exercise for the first 6 weeks for this very reason as your body is trying to adjust / heal and your hormones are going through some extreme changes that will affect your energy as well as your mental. Hang in there, it will get better! It will be worth it!

Love hearing that everyone is doing so well! Summer is so much more fun with the weight loss!

I love this forum! Thank you to all the December 2018 Sleever's that come back and update! I can always find truth and support here. I love the chart as it validates that I am doing good even if progress has slowed. I agree with Deblearn - will have to look at this chart often to keep my sanity. Onward we go.

19 hours ago, SteveT74 said:

@coexister If you're struggling with carbs, maybe you need to reevaluate whether they should be in your diet and, if so, what kind of carbs should be in your diet. I think the best approach to food is to plan out your menu in advance (the night before or something like that). If you have a plan of what you are going to eat and how much of it (you need to weight things out so you know what you're consuming), then you're more likely to stick to the program and not go off the plan. You can't blame "saboteurs" for screwing up your diet. Ultimately, you're responsible for what you put in your mouth.

@SteveT74 - You rock! Thank you! I needed that.

I am glad you guys have updated. My weight loss at this point has been so so slow and I have been so worried that I have done something wrong? From what I am reading it seems to be the norm? I do need to get better on track though as my bariatric doctor wants me to be at 180 in July or they will give me some medication to help me lose more as the goal is to do a incisional hernia repair at my belly button without mesh and that's the weight they would like me at. With the weight loss and having this fist size hernia it doesn't look like I have lost as my belly lump looks so gross. So guys thanks for updating and normalizing things for the rest of us! I am not able to do weight training per I can't pick up more then 25 lbs per hernia and then I am still recovering from a a shoulder surgery and not allowed to pick up anything over 10 lbs with that arm and so all these limitations on exercise is not helping. I am walking almost everyday. My biggest problem is my saboteurs and the carbs they keep trying to temp me with as I have learned carbs go down real easy on the sleeve.

Hi December Sleevers! Just checking in to as my saboteurs keep trying to hit me with everything they got and I do find myself eating a little of this and that here and there. I told myself this week that I need to get back on point and eat more at home. It seems like such a waste to go out and eat as I find myself paying for big meals that I end up taking most of it home and then end up throwing it out per not tasting as good as it did the first time around. My daughter is bringing in chocolates and sugar in the house and Snacks and foods that I find so tempting. I have given in here and there but I am going to resolve to do better! Anybody else struggling with saboteurs or old habits even though eating much less volume but still worried that in time....

NuMe2 you are so rigtht about varying calories to break stalls! I too was at a stall for many weeks but when I eat a little more and bring my calorie count up I seem to lose weight! For instance - yesterday my daughter brought home for pizza for dinner and even though I know it's a big "no, no" per carbs, sodium processing and such I went ahead and indulged in a slice and it upped my daily calorie count to 1120. I woke up this morning with a loss! I always make sure I get the minimum of 64 oz especially since I had a Shoulder Surgery this month on Feb 12th and am on pain pills as I got to make sure I don't bind up because well many of you know that although Milk of Magnesium does a great job of breaking the dam open withing a matter of hours it is still very messy. So I noticed that if I dip my calories up once in awhile it makes a difference. I vary between 800 to 1200 daily. I always, always make sure I get my minimum Protein of 70 grams and am taking all of my Vitamin and supplements daily. I use Bariatric Advantage HP Meal Replacement , Premier Protein shakes and sometimes GENEPRO Protein Powder in yogurt to meet these needs. I worry about getting all the supplements and especially since having 2 surgeries in 3 months and worried about Hair loss. I have also noticed that my skin is super super dry but and I am still trying to figure our that battle! If I don't feel like cooking and want something fast have been buying the Smartmade frozen dinners from Walmart such as turkey, and roasted vegetables as this is low carb and high protein, RealGood also makes a chicken crusted pizza that is also low carb high protein. I also like the Lean Cuisine herb roasted chicken but this one only has 16 protein where the others are higher carb. So these types of things help me out a bunch and in a pinch. I also still eat a lot of Beans, LOL! (need that fiber). Some days I can eat more then others and other days I just can't put much in and it is so weird how it all works like that. Just this morning upon waking it was a little more difficult swallowing Water then most. I think this surgery just put's you on a see-saw like that and after reading so many post in this forum I am comforted by the fact that it is not unusual and so I do not stress it anymore. I have yet to throw anything up but have eaten too fast, too much and had the sweats, chest pains and miserable feeling of needing to. Like many some days I question whether my stomach was really resized and then others I definitely know there is a restriction. I still fight head hunger and bad habits but have made great improvement here. I have been to a restaurant and ordered a full meal and then find that I barely make a dent in it too the point the waitress asked me if there was something wrong with my food, LOL and felt like "wow that was a waste of money - what am I doing!" I am so looking forward to the day of eating Salads and raw vegetables which for me is not until 6 months post op per doctors orders! So because of 2nd surgery and having my arm in a sling it has slowed me way down in exercising. I am doing my best to try and walk 30 minutes daily but when I have a bunch of doctor appointments in a day and everything takes me forever to do it falls by the wayside. I like most worry about loose skin and wish I could start some weight training but all of that is on hold for now. Once my energy levels get back up I need to figure out how to work strength training in. I just know that it will make all the world of difference. I am so grateful for this forum and you guys sharing your stories and struggles as this has helped me so much! Well guys that is my journey thus far from having a hiatal hernia repair and gastric sleeve surgery December 26, 2018. Shoulder surgery February 12, 2019 to repair a rotator cuff, SLAP and Labral tear.

On 1/22/2019 at 1:40 PM, Hopping To It said:

I am also a fibromyalgia and lupus patient I am having the sleeve February 5th. I have numerous meds to take. How do you all deal with getting all of it in. The gabapentin and cymbals are large capsules. I appreciate any feedback or ideas

I am not able to take capsules and so I open these up and mix them in Water and drink it. This is what the nurse did for me in the hospital. pills bigger then an aspirin as long as they are not ER - extended relief I crush and mix with water and drink. I am not allowed to swallow capsules until I am 6 weeks out from surgery. I don't feel like getting all of my meds in has been a problem since I am mostly mixing with water which makes them go down easier.

On 1/31/2019 at 3:23 PM, Binglebug1977 said:

What about your weight loss? And does your pain and fatigue make it difficult to do everything you need to do with the drinking and food prep and excercise?

Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app

I think the Lyrica has stalled my weight loss and I don't feel like it is helping at all with the pain. Not sure if it takes awhile to work but have been on a couple of weeks with no relief and yucky side effects. Pain and fatigue do make it difficult to to do food prep and exercise - I just have to make myself do it as I want to be successful.

I’m in!

I had my surgery December 26th, 2018 with Dr. Reddy from Dr. Patels office. I work out the Killeen, Tx office but still had to travel to San Antonio for surgery. Dr. Reddy is awesome and the surgery went very well. Yes his office staff is terrible and you really have to push to get things done. Now that I have had the surgery, it doesn't bother me as much as I have crossed the finish line and I just don't have expectations of his staff. The Doctor is great.

I have Fibro and I am 5 weeks out. I still have issues with pain and flare ups. I was on Gabapentin before and after surgery and then last week my Doctor switched me to Lyrica. Because these are capsules, I am having to open them up and mix them in with Water to take. I can't wait till I am able to just swallow the capsules. I am not sure if the Lyrica is working for me yet but I am experiencing fuzzy headed and fatigue with these pills along with dry mouth. I am hoping as time passes these symptoms will lower as well. I am also on Tramadol x2 pills every 6 hours or as needed as I have pain in my right shoulder for which I will be having surgery Feb 12th to repair. So with all that I have going on, I can't say that the surgery has helped me with Fibro yet.

3 hours ago, notmyname said:

My labrum in my right shoulder was torn half way around and I was looking at surgery to fix it. In fact, that's one of the reasons I had WLS - I felt like I was too big to take care of some things left handed after my shoulder surgery. Both my sleeve surgeon and my shoulder surgeon were 100% comfortable with my having shoulder surgery around 6+ weeks after WLS. Luckily, somehow my shoulder has been feeling much better since WLS, so I haven't had to worry about it. I don't know why its better (one guess is the gas used in surgery migrated and helped stretch the joint so it wasn't pinching my tear - happened when I had my MRI with contrast, too. Other guess is that resting it for about 3 months - the 6 weeks to recover from surgery and 6 weeks recovering from a broken foot - helped).

So, no direct experience, but I know both my surgeons said that after about 6+ weeks from WLS, I'd be healed from that and OK for shoulder surgery.

Good luck!

Thank you for that post. So happy you were able to avoid shoulder surgery and comforted by the fact that your surgeons also said 6 weeks to recover was enough to have another surgery. So sorry about the broken foot and glad to hear its healed. Keep me posted if any thing changes on your shoulder and wishing you good luck as well.

I stopped my BP pills after surgery and just monitored my BP as my PCP advised. I have had no issues with my blood pressure and it remained stable after surgery. I also use my CPAP religiously and have been using it for over 10 years. I am glad you brought up this topic because it reminded me that I need to make an appointment to get checked out again by a pulmonologist. I had quit smoking 2 years ago and now that I am loosing the weight, I hope that I can get off the machine myself. After so many years of being on CPAP it would definetely feel strange not to have to use it anymore.

I am having surgery to repair my right shoulder rota tor cuff as it has caused me more pain then the Gastric Sleeve and Hiatal hernia repair surgery did. I am on pain pills daily with little relief so I don't want to put it off any longer. I will be a day shy of 7 weeks post-op (Sleeved on Dec 26, 2018). Anyone else on this forum have a surgery following your bariatric surgery? If so how did it go? Do you feel it caused more Hair loss? I know this is going to slow my weight loss down as I will be limited in my exercising. I am right handed and it's going to be challenging to to use my left arm for everything. I'll make sure I get my Vitamin and supplements along with Protein and Water as I fear having another surgery so close will wreck havoc on my hair. I will also have my first Grand baby born at the end of March or early April. Hoping that I will have healed enough and have use of my right arm to hold that sweet baby girl.

My bowels are all over the place! Sometimes constipated and then loosy goosy . I have the feeling of having to go and then there is barely anything there and a lot of gas. I have advanced to puree and I wish my bowels would just regulate themselves. Sometimes when I feel stopped up I take the Milk of Magnesium and then its so loose and messy. I have IBS and my body doesn't seem to know what to do with all of this? I would take Fiber supplements but I feel like that stops me up. I do drink more then 64 ozs of Water a day. Anyone know how to regulate this stuff?

I had a weak moment today and I ate a mini shredded chicken quesadilla and almost all of the fiesta cheesy potatoes from Taco Bell. I am almost 5 weeks post-op and supposed to be in the puree / soft foods stage and so I chewed it up thoroughly before swallowing. I am surprised that I was able to eat that much and now I am worried that maybe my pouch isn't working because from what I seen of others post it seems like that was too much to eat in one sitting. So now I am mad at myself for giving into Taco Bell and terrified that I was able to eat that much. Anybody else have a slip up?

Today I ate a mini shredded chicken quesadilla and almost all of the fiesta cheesy potatoes from Taco Bell. I am almost 5 weeks post-op and supposed to be in the puree / soft foods stage and I chewed it up thoroughly before swallowing. I am surprised that I was able to eat that much and now I am worried that maybe my pouch isn't working because from what I seen of others post it seems like that was too much to eat in one sitting. So now I am mad at myself for giving into Taco Bell and terrified that I was able to eat that much.

Thank you all for the information on stalls as I have been stalled for over two weeks and wondering what am I doing wrong. From the post I can see this is normal. My clothes are definitely fitting different and getting loose so we are definitely heading in the right direction. Now I am just waiting for the 6 week mark when I am allowed to increase exercise and exert more. I am sure this will make a big difference.

My surgery was 12/26/2018 . I have also experienced a stall since advancing from liquid diet to soft/puree however have noticed my clothes fitting looser so I don't think it is all about the scale? I have seen post where people can't get in past 400 calories and am wondering how that can be? I have to drink a minimum of 2 Protein Drinks a day and the Bariatric Advantage powder (because these have 200% of DV Vitamin requirements needed) itself is 150 calories along with 80 calories for the fat free milk (Mootopia) I mix it in with so that's 230 for each shake and a total of 430 along with all the required Vitamins & supplements that total 120 calories just for those alone. So for me to get the minimum required vitamins and Proteins ( which I will make sure I do per less chance of loosing hair and other problems with deficiencies) that's 580 calories by itself. Throw some food in there and it's easy to get almost 800 or more calories in a day. I don't always walk like I should per bad weather and I think if I would remain consistent here it would help me get out of this stall. I am also diligent with drinking a minimum of 64 ozs of Water a day and many times go beyond this. I am not having much trouble keeping any food down but usually find that I can only eat about a 1/4th cup amount of food. I haven't pushed much beyond this unless it's applesauce or yogurt. I am still trying to figure out what all the grumbles and noises my digestive system is all about? Not sure what hunger pains feel like or if it is just digestive unease? It is like me and my body are getting reacquainted and I am forced to now listen to it more and decipher what is actually going on?

I keep seeing where people post about adding Protein powder to foods to increase intake. Where does one find flavorless protein?

Doing good here and trying to navigate the soft food phase. Seemed so much easier in liquid phase as I didn’t have to think about what to eat as it was the same every day. I don’t seem to be able to eat over 1/8th a cup of anything. Made a scrambled egg today with some bell peppers & onions and chicken sausage crumbles. I was only able to eat half and my food got really cold as I had to eat so slow. My weight is at a stall for about week but reading other post it seems this is to be expected. Sleeved Dec 26 - lost 28 lbs overall.