WendyJane

I'm not to drink any carbonated beverages, and that is okay since there is too many chemicals in those sodas, and they make you more thirsty. I stopped sodas years before surgery anyway and have been drinking crystal Light, all flavors for the variety. I urge you to try that and some have caffeine if you need the caffeine. I'm not to drink any caffeine until I am about 6 months out. But you go with what your team says, or do what you think is best.
Wishing you the best.

After a year, it will be on special occasions. I am not a big alcohol drinker to begin with, so it is not too difficult for me. I take pride in not drinking. I live my life how I want to, but even communion at Church, I take the grape juice instead of the wine. But you do you, just keep in mind that it could become a transfer addiction if not being aware of your drinking. Wishing you luck.

After a year, it will be on special occasions. I am not a big alcohol drinker to begin with, so it is not too difficult for me. I take pride in not drinking. I live my life how I want to, but even communion at Church, I take the grape juice instead of the wine. But you do you, just keep in mind that it could become a transfer addiction if not being aware of your drinking. Wishing you luck.

Congratulations on your journey and thank you for sharing! Very motivational for us that are not even a year out yet but reaping the benefits already. Thanks!

After a year, it will be on special occasions. I am not a big alcohol drinker to begin with, so it is not too difficult for me. I take pride in not drinking. I live my life how I want to, but even communion at Church, I take the grape juice instead of the wine. But you do you, just keep in mind that it could become a transfer addiction if not being aware of your drinking. Wishing you luck.

If you are getting in your hydration, good for you. After surgery there is swelling and healing going on to your stomach. So you would "feel full" and may have discomfort. I had no problems, no pain, no discomfort when in the liquid stage of post op, and still I am drinking a lot of fluids. I'm not sipping any more, I'm taking in gulps, but not overdoing it. It is normal for some to completely feel nothing. Liquids are running right through the stomach you have left, so feeling full will be fleeting. Once you are eating soft or pureed foods, you will feel the fullness and that's when you stop eating, regardless of time. Good luck and welcome to Bariatric Life!

Get yourself a personal trainer and practice doing strength training and weight lifting. As you lose weight, you lose muscle mass too, so be sure to eat your protein and work on the strength. It will do you wonders.

I had no problems with stairs post surgery. I stayed in the hospital only for 23 hours and was discharged home, and rode home easily, walking was easy and stairs were good too. I had no pain with my surgery, just a little discomfort, it is nothing like a C-section since there are only 5 small 1-inch incisions and they never used sutures on my body, they used Dermabond, a super glue for skin. I showered the next day and felt great. Got dressed every day and was off work for 2 weeks, but I didn't need to take but a few days off. I was driving on my own on day 3, with seatbelt and all. No issues. Some people have problem with the gas that they blow up the abdomen with, but I didn't have any problems with it.
Wishing you well!

Without going into great details, we all hear about the texture/consistency of our stools and what we are to aim for. Then on the other side of that conversation, we all hear about how the color is also important. So what's the priority if you can't have both be perfect? Texture/Consistency or Color?

Hi,
I have surgery in just over 3 weeks and have a few questions if anyone has any answers. 1.) When will I be able to be up and moving again, or at least walk around? 2.) Do ice packs help at all? 3.) How do you handle the hangry or irritability from cutting out things or food cravings? 4.) How long was it before you were able to go back to the gym? 5.) Any advice or things to keep in mind for the surgery or after? I know that was a lot, but I just want to ask these questions beforehand so that I can be as prepared as possible and settle my nerves a bit. Thank you!

As a birthday gift to myself, I went a head and got myself a gym membership on Monday, and to make sure that I don't flake out on going, I paid a full year upfront, it was a pretty penny, but now it will be on me if I let my money go to waste

Anyways, I have zero experience working out, aside from the treadmill I haven't really done anything else, what are some exercises or equipment that you would recommend as a beginner?

After 7 long months of going through all the pre-op paces and one denial, I got the call yesterday that I am approved for gastric sleeve! Now I am just waiting for the call to schedule! EEK! ?

Hi everyone,
I’m ready to make a change and start living healthier. I’ve let fear and anxiety hold me back in the past, but now I’m focused on taking small, steady steps toward my goals. I want to feel better, gain confidence, and be a positive example for the people around me.
Looking forward to learning from your tips and sharing this journey together!

Wow. I was just checking this site out, since I haven't been on here in forever. Someone posted their journey 15 years post surgery. That's when my little brain said hey wait, I'm 15 years out now too! Anyway, a quick recap. I too went to Mexico for my sleeve. Dr.Alvarez was his name. All went well, very minimal pain, easy recovery. My max weight before surgery was approximately 230 lbs, which was hard on my 5'2" frame. My weight had been a problem my whole life, with 50 lb. swings at times. I was 55 years old when I learned about the sleeve surgery and made the plunge. Even though my whole career was in health care in the US, I chose the Mexico option because the red tape in the US was daunting, and I just wanted to get it done. My weight was 190 when I had the surgery. It took maybe 8 months to reach my lowest weight, which was 120 lbs. After a year, once my hormones were back up and running, I had some issues with regain. The sleeve is a tool, not a cure. After a few years I was up around 170 and decided to get serious about control. Since then I have been maintaining at around 150-155 lbs. I'm happy with that. I feel good. I don't feel like everyone is looking at the fat girl. I just feel like I'm free of that long, dark time. I think having the sleeve was a great decision. Yes, it still takes perseverance and mindfulness, but I have no regrets. I do have GERD, but I had bad reflux before the surgery, I am on Omeprazole, probably for life. I'm trying to figure out how to come off it, if that can be done. I try to exercise regularly, walking at least 2 miles most days. I'm turning 70 next week, so all in all, I think I'm doing great. So blessings to all of you on this journey. You can do it. It's a marathon, not a sprint!

I haven’t been here for a long time!
I’m 12 years post op!
I had a Gastric Sleeve
It’s been a good journey. I started at over 19stone. Its success was great I lost weight consistently and got down to around 12 stone 7lbs. In about 29 months. Felt fantastic and got married and had my dream wedding and lived life. I fluctuated up and down a few pounds over the following few years. I noticed alcohol really affected me extremely quickly making me very intoxicated and soon noticed I was drinking 5 nights a week. I then decided in Nov 2022 to get my weight back under control as I had put on a couple of stone and part of this new decision was to take alcohol out of my life. This was the best decision I’ve ever made. I lost the remaining weight and feel and look so healthy. I’m a regular exerciser now swimming, cycling with Pilates classes. I include the colour of the rainbow in my daily fruit and vegetable intake plus protein and milk and healthy carbs. No ultra processed foods just clean home healthy cooking.
I feel like a new women now age 62 but feel in my 40’s…
I strive everyday to be healthier,fitter and look forward to to longevity 🤗

My pre-op was a waiting game, and I joined BariNation. I watched their podcasts and thought I would try it for a month. I have been there ever since, and am glad to have people to learn from, licensed therapists to talk to and nutritionists that are registered dieticians to get recipes from and information about nutrition. There are physicians that give answers to questions, and peer meet-ups that keep you involved and are very helpful. I spend most days there because there is always something to attend during the day or in the evening. It is depending on the time zone you are in as to when these zoom meetings take place. There is a lot to learn, and one thing I learned is that I have a lot of Non-scale victories both before surgery and now after surgery. I have made friends that get me, and we talk, instead of write, and some I have numbers for and when we have some head work involved, we call and talk to each other to help us past the hard stuff. I would recommend it to help you during your waiting period. Isolation is not a good thing.
I learned over the months that isolation can actually be detrimental to your work and progress. You want to continue to progress before your surgery that is nothing more than a tool. Being in groups helps to keep you grounded, and you can learn about emotional eating to help you to get some work done in the emotional eating realm of our lives. We used to use food as comfort, and we can't do that now, once you are post surgery.
Wishing you the best.

I'm drinking well over the required 64 ounces of water, actually now I'm at a gallon....possibly more if you count the water in the shakes and broth. My meal I'm doing at 6 pm, so it aligns with my husband's dinner. It's really not bad aside from the thirst and having a full stomach. I just feel a little lost because the dietician told me what to do, but not much abouts what to expect and that's frustrating. I've had to figure it out on my own. One perk is my tummy is visibly shrinking in just 4 days!

I had the same issue with the Libre 3. Accuracy was all over the place until I figured out the right spot to place it. Since then, it’s been way better.
I also switched to the Libre 3 Plus and noticed it’s more reliable. I wear it because I used to get reactive hypoglycemia.
What’s crazy is that ever since I started taking 2.5 mg of tirzepatide weekly, the hypoglycemia is completely gone.

Did you go in to the clinic and did your doctor do a full physical? If not I would consider a second opinion especially being 9 weeks out. At 9 weeks you should be on solid foods unless you were advised to do liquid/puree for longer and you didn't? A second opinion can never hurt.
You said mentally food makes you want to "gag"and you find food " disgusting ", perhaps not only having a complete physical but talking to the dietician or a mental health professional would also help... Also, you never stated what your average meal menus consist of...and quantity..other than low fat meats and protein drinks. Are you getting enough fiber to assist with those " accidents"?
I'd at the bare minimum set up an appointment with the dietician. Good luck hope you start doing better soon!

Thanks to the replies I received, I spoke with my Dr this morning who has referred me back to my puree stage for 2 weeks which he says should take care of the situation I'm having

Thank you. I bought a HEPA filter with added charcoal filtration. I've had zero exposure that I know of. I literally freaked when I got out of the car yesterday and someone was smoking and I had to walk by. It's like everything is fighting it. He hasn't taped anywhere near me or in the house at all since Monday (not that he did much at all before) but enough, I guess. I've washed all surfaces, changed linens, used clarifying shampoo all over my body, washed dogs, and am not walking barefoot inside in case of carpet exposure. I'm running the HEPA on high. It better be negative next week. Dr. Messaged me and said he just needs to see it stabilize and not increase and he will feel satisfied with what I've done, so that makes me feel better too. Fingers crossed 🤞. I appreciate your response.

Welcome,
I had some reservations before surgery, but I worked hard and remembered why I started the journey. I'm 11 weeks post-op and am grateful for my surgeon and the procedure. Everything went smoothly, my "anatomy was perfect" according to my surgeon and when he asked how I was doing and the pain, I said, "what pain, am I supposed to feel pain?" We both laughed. My diabetes went into remission, no insulin or oral meds since surgery. Stopped the GLP1 2 weeks before surgery, never got hungry, didn't phase me really. No hunger after surgery but a lot of weight loss by following my meal plan set up by my nutritionist. Clear liquids was the hardest, we didn't have puree stage, we went to soft foods/protein. This is definitely a lifestyle change, and after 6 weeks, I was able to return to the gym. I'm happy and the reservation I had quickly passed.
Suggestions, cut your toe nails before surgery, can't do it after surgery because you are not to bend or twist about while your stomach is healing, it is major surgery. Bring with the best lip balm you have as you will be dry after, and drinking should not be an issue. If you feel the need to have lots of support and good information from fellow patients or a licensed social worker, mental health provider or nutritionist, along with community, I recommend to everyone to join BariNation. It costs a little each month but the community is great. Barination.mn.co is the address. Hope to see you around the Nation.

Start out with a personal trainer, that would be the best thing to do so that you know how to do things the proper way and so that you don't hurt yourself. That is my suggestion. Once you are confident that you know what you are doing, then go at it on your own. It will also help you to get in a groove of going to the gym on a routine basis.

@DaisyChainOz Congratulations on your weight loss, but more importantly congratulations on your decision to improve your health and use all the tools possible to achieve that. I am 6 weeks out today and have not dropped as fast as I thought I would, but it is coming off and I am adapting to this new lifestyle. Once I (hopefully) get past this terrible fatigue stage I am in, I hope to be able to move more and see better results. I just don't have the energy to do much yet. Hoping when I see the doctor next week he will let me back into the therapy pool for exercise again. Keep it up Daisy! 😉

They say comparison is the thief of joy, but honestly, you are at about the same weight loss amount I was at 6 months. As you rightly pointed out, people who start heavier will also lose quicker. AT FIRST. Then they will be like the rest of us losing 1-2kg a month and then 1kg a month as they get closer to their goal.
But you have done really well! Every pound, oz, gram etc lost is a win.
You can see my numbers below, but I lost 11kg in the first month, and then at 9months out, i'm losing about 1.5kg a month on average. It really is a marathon and not a sprint.
My favourite thread here is the one about non scale victories as it really helps me to remember that I didn't do this for a number on the scale, but for a better quality of life.