vikingbeast

This is going to be really weird... but I got stuck in traffic (sudden road closure due to wildfire) and had nothing at all to eat for about seven hours. The feeling I got was CLEARLY hunger—it felt like my stomach grinding against itself. It's completely different to the "former hunger" signal. And now I keep emergency food in my truck.

My new 'full' signal feels like pre-op hunger. Driving me insane. I just force myself to wait 30 minutes. If it goes away, then I'm good. If I'm still hungry, I eat another couple of bites.

My pre-op appointment was twelve days before surgery, but could have been later. I got generic instructions (stop taking NSAIDs three weeks before, go off caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine, etc.) with the initial packet but then I got a call two days before surgery with specific instructions, and an even more specific call the night before telling me what time to show up and confirming everything was set.

So I'm three weeks out and generally feel great, but lately I feel a pulling, and if I bend forward, I feel a sort of minor stabbing pain, just to the right of my navel. This did not happen right after the initial pain wore off. Normal? Is this just the nerves re-growing?

Not a lady, but concur, don't take a ton. Of the stuff I brought, this is what I used: - Phone and charger with looooooong cable (some of those plugs are in freaking Timbuktu!). Alternatively you could bring a spare charged up battery. - Change of chonies, socks, and t-shirt - Chanclas to walk around in, because they never have non-slip booties in my size - Chapstick, Gas-X and Biotene - Deodorant - Pillow to keep the seatbelt from pressing into my incisions I did not spend the night in the hospital (reported at 06.30, was home less than 12 hours later) so showered at home.

LOL! I meant I didn't expect my blood pressure to regulate itself with only 33 lbs of weight loss! Yes, I'm well aware of the Dread Stall. I shall change nothing (other than moving to purées and soft foods which I do tomorrow). And if it stalls, it stalls.

Way back in the Bad Old Days, I was on whopping doses of not one, but two blood pressure medications, one of which had a water pill (diuretic) baked into it... and still my blood pressure was usually about 140/85, so barely controlled at all. When I had my VSG, my primary care doctor told me to take one dose of the one with the water pill the day after surgery to help me pee out the surgery fluid and then leave off taking it. I continued on the amlodipine at 10 mg. A week and a half later I had my blood pressure taken in the office and it was a bit low, so my doctor started me on 5 mg a day, but told me to monitor my blood pressure each morning before taking it. If it was normal, don't take the drug; and if it was normal for four days straight, to leave off taking the drug altogether and send him a message. Today was the fourth day. I took my blood pressure this morning as always, and it was 118/65. I am no longer on blood pressure medication, which was arguably my biggest reason for getting the surgery done! I've only lost 33 lbs. since surgery and have 84 to go, but apparently my circulatory system appreciated it and I went from barely-controlled-with-two-big-doses to no medication needed at all in a day short of three weeks.

Don't be worried, there's places, just not as many as east of the Mississippi. If you're taking I-10, after you leave San Antonio there's at least decent size truck stops at Junction, Sonora, Ft. Stockton, and Van Horn. Once you leave El Paso there's Las Cruces, Deming, and Lordsburg. In Arizona there's San Simon, Willcox, and Benson before you get to Tucson (and on I-8 there's Gila Bend and Yuma). If you're taking I-20, west of Fort Worth there's Weatherford, Ranger, Abilene, Midland-Odessa, and Pecos before you hit I-10. If you're taking I-40, west of Oklahoma City there's Elk City, then in Texas there's Shamrock and Amarillo, then in NM there's Tucumcari, Santa Rosa, Albuquerque, Grants, and Gallup, and in Arizona there's Holbrook, Winslow, Flagstaff, Kingman, and stuff both in Needles CA and across in AZ (fill up in AZ, it's like a dollar and a half cheaper per gallon... CA prices for gas are insane though sometimes there's cheaper gas on-base). But there's nothing in California at all between Needles and Newberry Springs/Barstow which is like 120 miles.

Oh no! PCS during recovery! A few options: 1. Pack a cooler with protein shakes in case you end up in some food desert (LOOKING AT YOU WESTERN TEXAS) with nothing you can eat. Also, get some Isopure which helps with protein if you're truly stuck. 2. Meal prep some if you can. Maybe you can freeze it and keep ice on it? I transported frozen pork roll from New Jersey to California in February in the cab of my truck. 3. Order small portions at restaurants and then just throw away what you can't eat. Wasteful, but better than starvation. Also, just to reassure you—truck stops have AMAZING c-stores with things like protein shakes and protein bars and cheeses and things. Like, I was blown away that in way-the-he||-and-gone western Oklahoma, the Love's Travel Stop had a HUGE range of stuff that would be bariatric-friendly. If there's stuff you can eat now that you love that's Georgia-specific (my dad used to live outside of Brunswick), take some with you for comfort. Boiled peanuts spring to mind... If you want, share the route and maybe I and other Bariatric Pals can share suggestions for places to go. I've driven all over this country.

Hi @lizonaplane (my almost surgery twin)... I totally get where you're coming from. And I have hunger too. So my rule now is if I can do something else and distract myself and half an hour later I'm not hungry, then I wasn't really hungry and it's my d-bag brain trying to get me fat again. If I'm still hungry half an hour later, I eat. I don't know about all these rules. I understand about not grazing, and I understand about eating slowly, but good grief. Set a portion size (one of those 4 oz. Gladwares?) and eat that, then wait an hour and see if you're hungry again. If you're not, you done good. If you are, and you consistently are, then adjust your portion size slightly. I will say that as I progress to "thicker" foods, I get full way faster—cream soups fill me up faster than broth soups, etc. You got this, sister.

Ya, this is an oldie but a common problem... and I did the same thing, ran over and gave my fiancé a huge hug and a kiss. If you're reading this and thinking the original post applies to you... there's an easy way to lose 200 lbs. really quickly via dumping syndrome... as in, dumping the unsupportive loser. Let him be jealous when you're a 10 outside as well as inside and he's stuck at a 4... maybe.

Don't worry. Stalls happen. Try eating a little bit MORE as Sunnyway said. Six spoonfuls is not a lot. Energy in vs. energy out - you are doing more than you are eating, so the stall WILL break and you WILL lose weight once again.

This is totally the "three week stall" that so many people (literally, there's more than 100,000 posts about it just here alone) talk about. It's not always at three weeks and it can last for a little while. Just keep doing your thing and sticking to your plan and it WILL come off. At the end of the day it's calories in vs. calories out and there's no way you're eating enough calories with a VSG to be able to overcome your daily metabolism. Much more likely that your body has finished dumping its excess water weight PLUS all the fluids they jam into you during surgery... the stall will break and you will lose weight again.

Congratulations! Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Remember in the old dieting days how many dietitians would say two pounds a week is a big loss? You’ve lost 66 in eight weeks… that’s incredible.

I wouldn’t pay one percent of that fee for a “fasting coach”. How ridiculous. You have a fourth option, which is bariatric surgery in one of the border cities in Mexico; most are in Tijuana. You fly to San Diego (now that it’s allowed), then it’s 20 minutes to the border and your clinic picks you up on the Mexican side. It’s much cheaper than self pay in either Canada or the US, and the doctors tend to be US-certified as well as obviously qualified in Mexico. You’d want to talk to your PCP in Canada before going this route to make sure she’s comfortable with ordering labs (for iron, vitamins, liver function, lipids, metabolic panel, etc.) afterwards. I am two and a half weeks out and having the sleeve has already given me so much of my life back. Between pre-op and post-op loss I am only 5 kg from the halfway point of my journey.

Filed under WAY TOO SWEET: Boost "Glucose Control" MAX. Tastes like melted vanilla ice cream, and makes me gag.

I am so glad you got a non-bull? answer from your nutritionist... and some real talk. You're absolutely gonna rock this. As lizonaplane said above, I bet you walk plenty. Do you have a pedometer? See how many steps you take just in one overnight shift. There's a reason nurses, NPs, PAs, and doctors all wear really comfy shoes!

We have a huge thread about NSVs (non-scale victories) but I wanted to share a scale-related one. As I posted in another thread, I had to go to the emergency room. Once I was in intake and triage, of course the first thing they said was "hop up on the scale please." And for the first time in my adult life, I didn't dread it. I didn't dread a nasty "guess what we found those 8 pounds you lost and they brought their cousins" number. I didn't even empty my pockets. It felt so liberating.

I'm two-plus weeks out and can drink mouthfuls. I try to take smaller sips, though, because it makes the 'full signal' happen before I get uncomfortable. But I can easily polish off a protein drink in 15-20 minutes. As The Greater Fool said above, it's not like before where I could drain a 500 ml bottle of water (or, uh, beer) at one draught. And I'm okay with that. But yeah, it does mean more water breaks at the gym.

I think he means mota... aka the devil's lettuce.

Oh, ? no. I couldn't. I just couldn't. I've given myself stitches but I don't think I could take out my own cath.

So I ended up back in the hospital last night... nothing to do with my bariatric surgery. A ?spider bit me and caused a huge flare of cellulitis. (I'm home now and now just on oral antibiotics rather than "nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure" IV antibiotics.) But while I was there I mentioned I was on a liquid diet due to bariatric surgery. I should have been more specific... a tray showed up with sugary Jell-O, clear broth (which I did drink), and regular ol' apple juice. My dismay must have been obvious because My Super Awesome Nurse frowned a bit and said, "Didn't you say you were on liquids because of BARIATRIC surgery?" loud enough for the nutrition person to hear. "Yes," I said, "I need a bariatric diet." And lo, they brought forth stuff I could eat... cream of rice, more broth, diet juice, protein shake, yoghurt, sugar-free pudding, sugar-free Jell-O. The breakfast tray was more than I could have eaten all day... and then three hours later another tray appeared! When I was discharged, My Super Awesome Nurse said, "That stuff is just going to get thrown out... put it in your bookbag and take it with you!" It makes me wonder what that hospital expects their immediately post-op patients to be able to consume! But hey, I've got food for two days now. Now I just need to get rid of all the fluid they pumped into me.

You’re doing the right thing. One thing my surgeon did that I would never have thought of is a seasickness patch behind my ear about an hour before surgery. It lasts 72 hours and you can buy them over the counter at any drugstore. I had a little nausea but nothing the seasickness patch and ondansetron couldn’t fix.

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.