thesuse2000

Yay! I slept on my stomach from day 1 - was SO relieved I could because that's really the only comfortable position for me these days. Congrats on your great recovery! I'm still pretty thrilled with this journey myself at 7 weeks out.

Yes! Congrats!

For me it's just a great way to understand my patterns and learn to make better choices. For example I've noticed that on days I eat a protein bar - like quest or think thin - instead of a real food meal, I eat more calories that day than usual. I guess they don't fill me up as much. I still eat them sometimes when needed, but I now know that it's something I should avoid. And various other things. I don't stress about meeting a certain daily goal, but I like maintaining that awareness. I know how easy it is to slide into habits without realizing their impact...

You look great - and happy! Congrats.

For me it just wasn't possible for me to lose and maintain without surgery, so the concept of "easy" just doesn't factor in - it's just possible now. I've been overweight since childhood and it feels like my body just screams at me to eat more than I need. I've had periods where I can fight through the screaming and get to a lower weight, but eventually some life stress enters the equation and I can't fight the internal screaming for food and continue to deal with the rest of life's challenges so I regain weight. It is maddening that people judge, but not surprising. Weight has become a twisted measure of some sort of morality or strength - so many people of all weights compare themselves with others and relish their relative superiority over others. How many times do you hear people talking about seeing HS friends on facebook and looking to see who got fat... I can't say I don't care about the judgement, but I know in some ways it's just natural for some people to look for any reason to discount others' success, so I will work to not care should I encounter those sentiments. But happily, I haven't yet. But I'm still pretty overweight - I can imagine that the more weight I lose the more some will want to discount that success. But I guess that I'll be feeling too good at that point to worry about it.

I wasn't given goals for carbs and fat, but I try for keeping fat below 25% of total calories and carbs below 35% - meaning Protein should always be the highest percentage, which means eating protein and veggies for lunch and dinner for the most part - with maybe the tiniest bit of a starchy carb. Usually low fat cottage cheese or an egg with veggies for Breakfast. This stuff is hard - I ate a little rice yesterday, and ended up going back and taking/eating a bunch more. Kind of freaked me out and I realized I really just need to stay away from carbs like that - they trigger me for sure. You can get yourself on track I'm sure.

Don't let the negativity take you further down. Make tomorrow - or your next meal - an opportunity to turn things around. My advice it to stay away from carbs as they (for me and many others at least) will trigger you to crave more. Try to re-establish your good habits that helped you lose so much weight - such as no snacking, high protein meals, limit sweets/high fat foods, etc. You have a tool now that will help you get back on track. You've done so well - give yourself credit for all the great work and your ability to get back on track. You can do it!

223 today! (happy) Thanks!

Ugh - sorry to hear this! Thanks for sharing with everyone. Wish you luck and success with the next surgery.

For me the anticipation was the worst part - congrats for being almost there! Wishing you a great overall experience.

I only lost 3 pounds in the first 10 days, and then lost at least 5 pounds the next week. I also lost a lot (about 15) with pre-op diet. At the beginning you're also still swollen and retaining fluids. Don't worry - the scale will move! Everyone loses at a different pace. I feel like I'm losing slow compared to others, but I just had a follow up appt and my surgeon was happy with my weight loss - she says she likes to see about 10 pounds a month - which seems so low to me compared to what I see on here... I'm a little confused, but trying to trust that I am on a good path.

You look great! They're probably just having trouble adjusting to the new you. Trust yourself to make the right decisions for you.

Hi there - my weight this week is 227. Thanks!

that's normal - it will soften and go away in time. I'm about a month out and I can feel a little denseness under my biggest incision, but it's almost gone - and it felt like a big hard lump right after surgery.

Oh - good to know about the oils - thanks!

Congrats! So nice to read such a joyous post. I look forward to hearing more updates from you.

I wish you a perfect surgery and a smooth recovery! It's a wonderful journey after all that.

I don't have any new suggestions, but happy to come commiserate! I just started using progesterone cream a few months ago, and I actually stopped after my surgery a month ago just because I was rubbing it on my stomach mostly and didn't want to do that with my incisions. I wasn't sure it was really helping anyway, but now that I read this post I'm thinking that I've maybe been especially bitchy this past week with PMS and maybe it was helping... Will be glad to see if anyone else has any good ideas. I think I'll start up with the cream again!

Hmmm... I'm 4 1/2 weeks out. Overall my journey hasn't been hard at all, but if I had to pick something I'd say the period before surgery. I was told that my surgery risks were a little higher as a band-to-sleeve revision, and so I worried about dying... My husband is disabled and dependent on me, and I didn't get life insurance before deciding to do the surgery and when I tried later I was denied due to the planned surgery, and that just ate at me. I was worried that I'd die and abandon my husband... ugh - so very glad it's all over and I'm on the positive side of this journey!

Yes, to follow on above comment, I was told to call the office if I had a fever over 101.

Good morning. Today: 229.5.

Day three I felt SO much better than the previous days, so I was kind of thrilled, but then I kind of hit a plateau and felt the same for the next week or so, and was less thrilled about it. I'm a month out now and overall I've had a great recovery, but I still get so tired. Everyone is different. Just hang in there and it will continue to get better. Use the pain meds when you need them - that's why you have them. You will slowly wean off.

I would vote for RNY. If your insurance is picky about what procedures they cover it makes me think they may not cover a revision down the road should you need to revise from band to something else. I had the band, followed the rules (I'll use the same 95% stat as above) and still had a slip and complications that weren't even resolved with revision surgery - and I know I am one of many. I'm so thankful that my insurance paid for my revision to sleeve. If you may only have one shot at this, I'd go for RNY for the best chance of longterm success. That said - and I'm sure this was mentioned above, with RNY you need to make a lifetime commitment to taking your Vitamins and getting regular check-ups and blood testing to stay on top of any issues stemming from the malabsorption. I attend two different support groups and have heard many stories from veteran RNYers about issues down the road if they didn't stay vigilant on these things. But none of them (that I've spoken to) regret the surgery. I wish you the best in your journey!

I had the band, lost about 70 pounds, then slipped, had a revision, but could never tolerate enough tightness to control my hunger/eating. I would have constant night choking issues with any fill. So I gained back all the 70 pounds plus a few more over the last five years. I was just sleeved a month ago and am thrilled with my progress and the overall experience. I was terrified beforehand too. Thought about it for about a year (back and forth) before deciding to do it. Then spent a few months planning and getting my head into the game - preparing to change my eating permanently from the point of surgery, and building my confidence up after my band failure to believe again that I can succeed. One of the nice things about the sleeve is the removal of the part of the stomach that makes ghrelin, a hunger stimulating hormone. I eat 4 small meals a day and feel very satisfied with about 800 cals a day. As far as reflux goes, I was concerned that I might end up with a permanent night reflux like I had with the band when tight. My surgeon said that wouldn't be an issue with the sleeve. I hoped that she was right (my husband was super concerned about that too) - and she was! I used to always have a discomfort issue with the (tightened) band when lying down in the 2 hours after eating, but I never have any of that with the sleeve, it feels pretty much normal to me. And no feeling of something stuck in my throat etc. I wish you well in your decision and journey!

Putting the fork/spoon down between bites helps me a lot. And don't pick up another forkful until you're done chewing the last bite. It just takes time and mindful practice