vikingbeast

Well, my leg itch turned out to be sodding cellulitis... so now I'm swallowing giant horse pill antibiotics.

Following for updates, because even just 27 pounds down I can see what's going to happen and I will absolutely 100% need a tummy tuck when I've been stable long enough.

Hi everyone! It's two weeks past my sleeve, and I thought I'd post some of my observations. THE GOOD - Down 27 lbs. from surgery weight (357 to 330) - Down 2" on my neck (!), 3" on my waist, 6" on my abdomen - Had to size down in shirts and do my first closet purge - One blood pressure medication cut completely, the other at half dosage - Able to meet protein target of 80-100 g per day and liquid goal of 64-96 oz per day THE BAD - Brain fog and fatigue (will discuss with my surgeon later, could be vitamin deficiency) - Sick to death of liquid diet but have another week of it left - Itchy dry legs THE UGLY - C O N S T I P A T I O N - The one incision (the large one where the unwanted stomach is withdrawn) has started hurting and pulling again, but is not inflamed I am back to work at one job (from home) but not yet at the other (outdoors, physical). I'm back in the gym but not doing anything that requires abs, abdominal pressure (so no weightlifting)... a lot of walking, running, and stationary biking, and a lot of stuff with the 10-lb. dumbbell I'm allowed by my surgeon. My time on an 800m run went from about 6:30 to 4:45... running feels totally different! Overall, despite the rough first couple of days (all. that. gas!) this is clearly the right decision for me and I love seeing myself literally deflate.

I also was given ondansetron and took them the first two-three days. They also put a seasickness patch behind my right ear before surgery that lasted 72 hours. I believe you can buy them over the counter.

Each person is completely different. The higher you start, the more you're likely to lose right away—but not always. The first week or so is basically your body in trauma. You were pumped absolutely full of fluids and gas during surgery (if you had weighed yourself immediately after you probably would've gained 5 pounds!) and your body has to get rid of it. But if you're concerned, ask your surgeon or your bariatric center. I noticed that my weight tumbled the first week, then was more consistent the second week (today is two weeks out). I'm sure the three-week stall is right around the corner, but that's okay.

I literally just ignore the question. Totally pretend I don't hear it. (I have hearing loss anyway so it's believable.) People don't generally persist.

Nuts and avocados are high in fat and high in calories (1 g of fat is 9 cal)... check your portion sizes and switch to something else maybe.

I'm in the same boat. My surgeon, when I brought this up, sort of smirked a little bit and said, "I will tell you what. Go and scramble an egg. See how much you can eat." Three bites later I was DONE. Like, maybe a third of a scrambled egg. This, from a guy who would easily knock down 6 or 8 if I was in training for a competition. So strange, yet so strangely comforting. He also was completely nonplussed that I was consuming 600-800 calories. Quoting verbatim: "You were probably eating 5,000 before, so the difference between 400-500 and 600-800 is negligible for you. When you lose more weight the calories will be more important. Right now, eat protein." The hunger is a lot better two weeks out than it was the first few days.

I am nine days post-op for a VSG. I read all the comments about how people take all day to finish a protein shake and I just don't. I have no troubles swallowing. I don't feel full (wasn't expecting to on liquids) but do know when I am full. But it only takes me about 30 minutes to finish a protein shake. I feel like I'm eating too much—about 600-700 calories a day, about 100g-120g of protein (which is what my doctor suggested), and getting 96 oz. or so of fluid in me. I obviously cannot chug anything, but I can take full mouthfuls of liquid. Am I just weird? I know I won't feel my restriction until I go on foods (which is still not until the end of October, three weeks of liquid and three weeks of purées), but... am I failing?

That's a much more correct way of stating what I was trying to say... you can eat it, but chances are pretty good you'll just herff it back up. And when my pouch gets full, it sends me a very painful reminder that it's full—it feels like chest pains.

That is exactly where I am at post-VSG... wow, that shrimp and veggie stir fry smells amazing... OH GOD I DON'T WANT TO EAT IT. I mean, I even baked a peach tart for my daughter and didn't try any! Agree about the sweet things... I'm so glad there's broth and strained soup.

You have a window of time after surgery where you literally could not binge eat even if you wanted to. But that is time you NEED to be spending getting your impulse to binge eat under control, because if you don't, when the restriction eases and you can binge eat once again, you'll gain weight again.

I swear I live on the Fairlife stuff... it's milk, so if you're lactose intolerant that won't work for you, but it tastes like the chocolate milk that we used to get from this amazing (and sadly defunct) dairy in northeastern Pennsylvania. And it's 26g protein per 14 oz.! I buy it at Safeway or Sprouts or Target.

What does your surgeon say? You might just be a slow loser. As long as you're logging literally everything that goes in your mouth and it's really 500-600 calories, it WILL come off.

I'd say it's unusual, but your weight can fluctuate for any number of reasons. Are you drinking a lot of salty stuff (broths)? Are you close to getting your period, if applicable? Are you under more stress than usual (duh)? Are you walking?

We have the same deal where we get rebates for 'health activities'. But I would have reported her for that suggestion. Even if I were still eating 2800 cal a day, cutting 1000 cal a day is TOO DRASTIC and completely unsustainable absent other factors like the 'honeymoon' post-op period.

The protein bar call is good. I drove across the country twice this year and discovered that nearly every truck stop and convenience store now has a rack of protein bars... even in places where I might not have expected it (the tiny gas station in Lost Creek, WV... a tiny mom-and-pop general store along the road in the Navajo Nation...).

Our support group went to Zoom. I'm glad they did the support group that way but it does lead to the usual Zoom problems. ("Hannah, you're on mute." "Hannah, you're not on mute." "Sorry, you froze..." "CAN YOU ALL HEAR ME?!")

Oh my God, it's so true, and such a relief. My daughter made a box of Annie's mac 'n cheese. I tried one tiny bite (and chewed it into a paste) and it was disgusting... tasted like moldy sawdust to me! Before surgery I would have killed a whole box on my own. I'm dreaming of shrimp and snow peas for some reason... it'll be a while before I can do that. I made her a peach crostata with the last of the summer peaches and had literally zero urge to try it.

I think you can do it alone, but there are some considerations: you need to have a friend you can phone in case something does happen, and you need to 'pre-stage' anything that won't be possible after surgery. As an example, we were being threatened with a boil-water order due to wildfire, so before surgery I went and got three cases of bottled water that would be much too heavy for me to carry with my 10 lb lift restriction after surgery. I paid a neighbor kid $10 to take my trash barrels out to the curb and back (though this week I think I can manage). That sort of thing. You'll want to have a bunch of Gas-X on hand. And have a variety of protein drinks because my tastes did change after surgery (Premiere Protein was fine pre-op but post-op tastes like non-lemon Pledge.)

No issues at all with sleeve recovery. I am 12 days post-op. As Tomo said above, I had two or three days of really dismal gas (my poor fiancé!) and ate Gas-X/simethicone like it was candy. My stomach was sore but not painful, I was able to change positions immediately and could sleep on my side (though the first night I had to turn in several smaller turns). I did not have GERD before it and have only had 2-3 occurrences of it since, all of which were related to Gatorade Zero, which I've since deleted from my life. I am still on liquid diet (3 weeks liquid, 3 weeks purée/soft food) so we will see if that changes afterwards. My heavy weight was 178 kg, I started looking into VSG when I had got down to 170.5 kg, had surgery when I was 162 kg, and as of this morning (I weighed just for you!) I am 151 kg. (I am 183 cm tall.)

It's a less complex bypass that has one fewer "connection" (so not a "y" per se)... they staple off part of the stomach to form a pouch and then bypass a smaller amount of the intestines.

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Exactly what he said. You're taking in maybe 400-450 calories a day. It WILL come off. They pump you absolutely chock full of fluids and gas and it takes a while to pee and burp it all out. Honestly half the reason to take time off work is so your coworkers don't have to deal with your disgusting personal noises! Just keep doing what you're doing and only weigh in once a week. Tony B - NJ... congrats on reaching the halfway point!! (I looked at your ticker.)

If it's delayed- or extended-release, you won't absorb enough of it before it passes through. I don't know the formulary for Cymbalta but I had to change from Wellbutrin XL to Wellbutrin SR (which spiked my anxiety) to Wellbutrin IR. Talk to your psychiatrist.