Tiffykins

The first couple of weeks is when leaks are most likely to occur. At 6-8 weeks the risk of a leak is very minimal. However, there have been cases of people having a leak diagnosed months post-op. Both of them went misdiagnosed for months. One of the cases I read about, the person was eating semi-solid foods and a few chips 2-3 days post-op and of course was puking because of it. I'm not saying it's what caused the leak because they never gave a "reason" why it happened and why it went undetected for so long. But, it made me definitely remember that the post-op diet is there for a reason, and I wasn't willing to risk it by cheating.

I stayed on mushy/soft solids for a long time, and only had one meal per day that was more solid. It was just easier for me to digest, and get in my Protein grams by doing it that way. During my losing stage, I ate 4 meals per day, no Snacks, and each meal had a minimum of 15gr of protein which gave me my protein grams.

With Beans and mushies, you didn't eat a huge amount at all. Even at this stage in the game, you're still healing so soft stuff isn't going to give you the same restriction that dense protein/heavier foods will give you. As time progresses, you will be able to eat larger quantities. At 13 months out, I can eat an entire 6-8oz of food in one meal. It has to be mushy foods, but I can eat that much. I've been eating that much for several months. I can still only eat 3-5oz of dense Protein such as chicken and steak. If I eat 5oz, I can't get anything else in, if I go easy on the protein I can get a few good sized bites of veggies/carbs. Don't fret, you'll do great. Just stick to your calorie, carb, protein goals, and you'll lose.

I have one LOL. It's been so long it seems like it anyways. But, John bought me a Dodge Nitro 2 weeks ago. Today, I wore a little dress with leggings because it's umm short, and I can't legally bend over in it. When I climbed in the truck today, I looked down to make sure my dress didn't hike up to my naughty bits, and sure enough I could see a good 5 inches of the car seat on both sides of my thighs. HOLY SNIKEYS, seriously, I have this much room in my seat? ? ? How did that happen. . . It was pretty cool. I need to also share that I had a shirt tailored down into this little dress I was wearing today. I can't believe that I'm wearing a dress that used to be a shirt, and it had to be taken in 4 inches on each side for it not look like a tent on me. CRAZINESS. . . If I haven't said it enough, I LOVE, LOVE my VSG ! ! !

Don't beat yourself up on carbs right now. If you eat high Protein foods, you won't have room for carbs. I did the same as Daisy, plus chili was staple in my diet. My instructions were to only introduce one new food per day. In case you do get sick, you can isolate what caused it, and to avoid it for a couple of weeks. Things may taste funky at first. I loved, loved, loved mustard pre-op, and to this day, I'm not a fan. Something changed, and I have to use it sparingly. Just take it slow, chew, chew, chew. Digestion begins in the mouth, just because it's mush doesn't mean we shouldn't chew it. This will help get the stomach ready to accept food. Start with 2-3 ounces, and work your way up. I get the hiccups as a full signal. Listen to your body, it will tell you what it likes and what stuff pisses it off.

I was only about 25lbs away from having a BMI of 55. I started the VSG journey as a revision patient at BMI 49. I did lose fast, and didn't ever have a stall. I attribute the no stall thing to pushing fluids, and low carbs. It's what worked for me. I didn't go one single week without losing something, it might have only been 2lbs, but the next week, I'd drop 7lbs. With more to lose, statistically, we lose faster. I dropped 142lbs in less than 11 months with VSG alone. I was set to lose 115lb to goal in a year, but I hit goal at 6.5 months post op and continued to lose for the next 3-4 months.

My doctor said depending on where the excess skin is located, I could contribute about 2-5lbs to excess skin. I am flabby in the thigh, arm and tummy department. If I'd get off my lazy arse and work out, I'd be firmer, but I hit a size 6 and said "ehhh screw it". I know that is "wrong", but it's true. Plus, I had gallbladder surgery, and just kind of screwed off after that, never got my work out mojo back. I plan on changing that soon, and getting back on program. I have a "baby fat roll" on my lower abdomen, it's fat, and skin and I would venture to guess that is where the 2-3lbs of my excess skin comes from. I try to figure it out by comparing a bag of flour or sugar, and it's lighter than the 4lb bag of flour in my cupboard, but it's heavier than the one pouch of oranges I bought last week. Yes, I am weird, and sit there weighing the oranges vs. my flabby skin. Congrats on being so close to goal. And, yes, to answer your "now what?" question. You just kind of go on living, and being healthier and happier. It's kind of weird huh? I sometimes literally forget I've had surgery. Eating the way I do is just normal now, it doesn't seem "different".

Nuts were off limits until 3 months post op. I did eat a bunch of peanut better, but raw nuts were a no go.

Thanks Terry. If you're active, you may just be in that dreaded stall. The scale will move, and you'll feel the difference in your clothing. I appreciate your kind words. This site was my lifeline last year when I began the VSG journey, and I am glad to be able to help.

I still have cravings, but a small amount satisfies me, and I go about my day. The biggest issue is that you can still eat a lot of junk food. The bad stuff slides right through, and none of the surgeries will fix that issue. As for rice, Pasta, breads, for me, and I know a few others, those are all slider foods. That just means I can eat a lot of more those things than I can dense Protein. I can actually eat twice as much rice as I can meat. I eat sushi, chicken/rice casserole, mexican rice, chicken fried rice, just about all rices work fine for me. I was a volume eater, and I enjoyed that stuffed, overstuffed, absolutely miserably full feeling, and then I would sleep. I loved going to sleep with a full belly. I have pretty much lost that desire, or enjoyment from being overstuffed. Believe me, I still love food, but a small portion of all my favorites more than satisfies me mentally. It does take some time to get over the changes. But for me, life seems very, very normal at this point. Eating isn't a chore, I don't obsess about my food choices, I just make good choices, and eat what I want. My surgeon and nutritionist do not believe that foods should be completely off our menus. They believe this is a complete lifetime commitment and lifestyle change. Deprivation diets do not work long term, and they want everything in moderation, and that is what works best for me. Even when I thought I'd never be able to eat certain things, I figured being fat and being able to eat pasta is much worse than being skinny, healthy, active, and not popping 4 different meds to control or treat obesity related conditions. I'd give up pasta, rice and bread if I had to do so, if my body wouldn't allow me to eat them, but I make a choice to eat small amounts, and go about my life. Remember, nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.

I stayed on mushy food/soft foods for a long time, and my staples were chili, chicken salad, tuna salad and egg salad. If the meat is tender and with some sort of condiment, it definitely makes it easier. I truly burned myself out on those staples, but it got me through until I get in my solid foods. I did 4 meals a day with 15gr of Protein per meal. I think that's why it was so easy for me to adhere to low carb. What little carbs I did eat came from dairy and the condiments that I added to food. I would throw in a string cheese, or chunk of cheese for extra protein. With chicken salad, and a chunk of cheese I could get in 15-17gr of carbs per meal. Egg whites seem to work better for me, the yolk is bulky, it tastes the best, but it's really fatty. 2 egg whites gives you almost 8gr of protein, toss in a chunk of cheese, and you're at roughly 14grams of protein. I couldn't do protein drinks so I had to get creative, and really eat slow, soft/mushy stuff to hit my protein goal. Another trick is to mix the chicken, tuna, egg salad with greek yogurt instead of mayo/miracle whip. I used the dry ranch dressing mixes to flavor the salads. It added more protein, and gave a smooth texture. Hang in there, it gets better.

This was my surgeon's exact reasoning for his conservative post-op diet progression. His exact words were " why fix something that isn't broken?". It made sense to me. While researching, I also found that some of the top notch surgeons shared his post-op diet plan.

Extreme abdominal pain (I'm talking bent over, intolerable, excruciating pain, not incision pain, or normal discomfort from having lap surgery) Fever Rapid heart rate vomiting extreme nausea

I did 600-800 calories for the first 4 months, no more than 30gr of carbs, and didn't have fat guidelines. The cheese I ate and preferred was the 2% milk fat cheese, and ate nonfat greek yogurt. I got in 60+gr of Protein. 4 meals a day, minimum of 15gr of protein per meal. I really didn't have room for carbs, or Snacks with all the Fluid and protein requirements which was my main focus. What does your surgeon/nutritionist recommend? I did add about 100-200 calories once I wanted to slow down my loss, but it only slowed it down from 5-7lbs a week to 3-5lb loss per week on average. It was tough to add more carbs just because protein kept me full for so long. I also didn't use Protein drinks. Protein from food sources, and it's how I lost so quickly without a stall. If you're working out, you may need more calories. I wasn't working out much for the first 4 months so 600-700 calories was good for me. Once I added strength training, and cardio, I needed more calories and carbs to sustain my energy levels. Still never got over 1000 calories the first 6-7 months, but I tried.

So very happy to hear of a wonderful experience ! ! ! Congrats on your sleeve, and best wishes for a smooth and uneventful recovery. Keep us posted on your progress. We're here for you, and welcome to the loser's bench.

That's absolutely fabulous ! ! !

Everyone's program is different. I was instructed to eat 4 meals per day consisting of a minimum of 15gr of Protein. NO snacking. It was easy for me to stick to this rule because I was never hunger, and eat protein foods so it stuck longer in my sleeve. At 13 months out, I still can not eat an entire chicken breast even with gravy unless I took at least an hour to eat. I can eat about 1/2 of a chicken breast half in 40 minutes, and can eat 5 chicken wing on the bone drummettes, and that's about it . I'm lucky if I can eat 3oz of chicken breast. I can eat 8oz of chili, but Wendy's chili meat is pretty chunky and I'm lucky to be able to eat 3/4 of a small container. I can only eat 3-5oz of steak or rib meat. meats stick with me the longest, and I still have to eat them slowly. I went through the same thing. It does get better, and your "appetite" will return even if it's not hunger. For me, everything tasted horrible, and bland. I really had to spice things up to be able to eat and kind of "enjoy" the foods I was able to eat. Once my taste buds returned to a semi-normal state, food started tasting better, eating became easier, I was able to eat more regular foods. I seasoned my food heavily with no salt or salt alternatives, lemon pepper was my favorite. Also, the dry ranch dressing mix really helped flavor stuff like chicken and tuna salad to make it more tolerable. I burnt myself out on those 2 things with just mayo/miracle whip, but the ranch sprinkles definitely helped. A little went a long, long way. The one trick that I did was drink warm liquids before every "meal", and then do not wait anymore than 45 minutes after eating to start drinking. I was told to wait 30 minutes, but sometimes it seemed too "soon" to drink. Again, I would drink some warm tea, and this helped. Celestial season makes a peppermint, herbal decaf tea, that is good warm or cold, and it really relaxed and soothed my stomach early out. I still use it, and continue to drink warm fluids when I know I'm going to be eating super dense foods.

So true, cream of wheat super thinned out was really great. Also, yogurt, sf pudding/custards, and creamy Soups made life much better.

It'll get better. Your stomach nerves have been cut/severed, damaged. You won't get a full signal on liquids, stick to the post-op diet, and you'll feel better soon. Just a few more days until you can get to fuller liquids which help. Also, the hunger hormone is still in your body and takes time to work it's way out. You'll feel hungry. Don't risk your staple line by cheating. Drink, drink, drink, walk, walk, walk, the Nexium will kick in, the diet will progress. Distract yourself, and know that you'll have foods in the very near future.

Hi there and welcome. I share the story of being a pro-dieter, but I sucked at maintaining my loss. I used to say "I'd rather be fat and happy than skinny and hungry." Well, the sleeve has given me the skinny, happy and never hungry. As for the Aetna stuff, I can't help you there without knowing the exact policy details and exclusions. Many people do have surgery without telling people. I tell people that are genuine, for the jerks and nay sayers/surgery is cheating types, I don't even entertain them with my wonderful story. I'm proud I lost my weight, I'm happy I chose to have surgery. No one would judge me if I chose to have my breasts removed due to cancer, what's the big deal with me removing my stomach? I can't have the hungry part of brain amputated, so I'll do the next best thing, and work the tool to the best of my ability. You may lose a lot faster than you did in the past. I dropped 80ish pounds the first 4 months, and had dropped 115lbs by the 6.5 month point. People will speculate, and whisper, and judge. It's just how it works, don't be ashamed because other people can't accept or choose to remain ignorant about obesity. Cheers to you for making a wonderful decision for yourself and your future health. Keep us posted on your progress, and we'll be here to cheer you on. For you ticker: At the top go to the link USER CP, click it. On the side bar, hit EDIT SIGNATURE. Open either another tab or browser window and go to tickerfactory.com Set up your ticker with a PIN Once you get to the last page, highlight and COPY the bBcode. Come back here, PASTE the code into your signature box. Hit PREVIEW SIGNATURE, if it appears to your liking, HIT SAVE SIGNATURE. Again, welcome, and look forward to getting to know you.

All the information is very limited, and most of the stats/studies that are out have excluded a number of the participants. There just isn't enough data yet. I posed the same questions as you about the damage being done to the stomach after suturing and pleating for how many ever years. My other issue is the ghrelin producing fundus is still intact. Imbrication and plication from everything I've read are the same procedure. The POSE procedure seems a little different from the information I've read. But, for me it's too close to the ROSE procedure being offered to RNY patients, and the failure rate long term with the ROSE procedure is extremely high that most RNY/revision surgeons aren't even offering it any longer. Best wishes in your research.

Yeppers, I'm still on Prilosec. I just had my 1yr f/u with my surgeon. We discussed it in depth. He agreed that I could stay on it until I'm comfortable with weaning off of it. He told me to go to one pill every other day and then 1 pill every 3 days etc when I'm ready to wean. He doesn't want me to deal with reflux or any issues with my sleeve. I think he's just as protective of my sleeve as I am. For now, I'm still on them, and have enough meds for the next 9 months. My next follow up is in December, and we'll revisit the PPI issue at that time.

Jane, you're 100% correct. I prepared as much as I could for most of this, just some of this is going to take more time. . . My brain has caught up with my size, I don't see the fat girl anymore. My eyes just don't like what they are literally seeing, well my brain doesn't like the images that my eyes are relaying at this point. I'll get there. I'll be nip tucking it here in the next couple of years. I have zero shame in admitting it. I want my boobs back, I want my stomach to look somewhat normal again. But, it can wait, and during that time, I'll adjust. I go to my dermatologist on the 19th, and getting a referral for a little botox doc down here. I'm seriously contemplating it for my deep set forehead wrinkles.

eggs suck for me most of the time except egg salad, and soft poached eggs. Dense meats, chicken breast, and steaks are my heavy fillers. Ground beef, or ground turkey do not stick as long. We don't eat any pork with the exception of ham on occasion, like deli meat ham, but deli meat doesn't stick as long as solid chicken/steak/ribs. Avocados seem to sit for a long time in my sleeve. I don't know why, but they do. I eat on average 2 a week (4 different snacks). Rice, Pasta, potatoes, breads, chips, pretzels, any type of candy/chocolate, pudding, yogurt, cooked veggies, chili, essentially anything mushy consistency for me are all sliders. The only thing mushy that isn't a slider that I can think of off the top of my head is stuffing or cornbread dressing. That stuff hits my sleeve like a brick, but I love it, and eat my ounce or 1.5oz, and am content. I still avoid fruit, I didn't eat a lot of it pre-op. All lettuces, spinach, romaine, arugula, bib, butter, red sails, and other hardy thick lettuces are all sliders for me. I do not eat iceberg lettuce at all, and only eat romaine if it's the only thing available. Cabbage (such as coleslaw or eggroll filling) are sliders as well. Broccoli and cauliflower don't stick around long for me. Protein bars are filling, but I'm not a fan. Granola bars are a nice snack for me. I prefer to just eat one of the Nature Valley Peanut Butter crunchy bar over anything else in "snack bar" type foods. Cake, cupcakes don't sit well in my sleeve. However, the icing does just fine. Cheesecake sticks pretty good, and I can only eat a small portion. Certain days with certain foods vary for me. It kind of depends on what's going on. I've isolated incidents that stress and my ovulation/PMS week, contribute to sleeve restriction. If I'm stressed, I might as well cook some mac-n-cheese and not even attempt meat. Drinking warm fluids helps me on these days.

Carolyn, I'm still with you on this one. I still see myself as too small, and I do not like seeing or feeling my shoulder bones popping out from under my skin, nor do I like that my ribs stick up more than my boobs do when I lay on my back. I know that I'm in a healthy weight range for my height, but that doesn't mean I'm happy with how I'm looking. My a$$ is literally non-existent. My knees are knobby now. I don't mind my skinny neck and collarbones sticking out, but the fact that nearly half of spine is protruding through my skin is quite disgusting. I'm still waiting for my remaining fat to redistribute some more. I had a friend hug me last week, and when she patted and rubbed the top of myback in between my shoulder blades, she flinched in shock. Now, talk about embarrassing, and really shocking when she asked me "are you not able to eat? Your bones are sticking out of your back, and I can feel them, what's goin on with you?" She knows about my surgery, she's been fabulous for the last 11 months since we met, but now she's freaked out. Imagine a friend actually flinching when she hugs you, I almost broke down in tears. Maybe I am used to seeing myself fat, but I do know that I am 120 times more critical of myself naked now than I ever was at 270lbs. I have no curves left, no hips, no boobs. Don't get me wrong, I am told all the time that I look amazing, but that doesn't change the way I see myself at 122lbs. I'm getting back on the workout wagon for the upteenth time, but I figure I'll build some more muscle and maybe that will help do something to make me feel better about how I look naked. My mother-in-law saw me at Thanksgiving at 165ish pounds, I think. We sent her some new pics, and her reply was "I don't want to hurt your feelings, but Tiff, you're looking sickly. Please take care of yourself." Hell, she called John to make sure I was eating. He assured her I was fine, but it doesn't make it any better. Sorry to hijack your thread with my venting. I'm only 5'2" at 122lbs, and I've tried to gain. I can't get above 125lbs. I also freak out when I hit 125lbs, it's a complete mind twist, and I'm trying my best to adjust. There's only so much my mind, heart, and body can endure in a year. I'm not pushing it with trying to just accept how I look at this point, and be content when deep down, I know people think I look sick, and flinch when they feel my bones sticking through my skin. I don't like, and I'm not going to pretend it's easy.