Tiffykins

Best wishes in your research. I have zero personal experience with any of these surgeons, but have a few friends that have used them. Dr. Nick Nicholson Dr. Wade Barker Dr. David Kim There are members here that have used all of the above surgeons as well. You might want to do a search for those surgeons in the search box, and see if you can find some of their posts. I did research Dr. Nick and Dr. Barker pretty intensely when I was looking at self-pay for my revision vs. Dr. Aceves in Mexico only because my husband would freak out with me going to Mexico.

Just look at that tiny hiney ! ! ! Sooooooooooooo awesome, and I'm so glad you're here to share your journey with us.

60gr at the minimum. Anything extra will just help you heal faster, feel better, and sustain better energy levels.

Sure potato soup is good, high in carbs, but you won't be eating much. Refried Beans with greek yogurt with a little cheese is always nice. Just thin out the beans.

I had the band first because the sleeve was not an option. I personally would not/will not recommend the band to anyone. Not only because of my own personal horror story, but because the stats honestly just suck. You can check out my blog as I have an entire post with information from the band manufacturer in my blog with their most recent findings that 1 in 4 band patients will need another surgery to either repair, replace, or remove and revise to another surgery within the first 5 years. I chose the band because I refused to have RNY. As for pregnancy, I can't imagine being pregnant with the band. The food intolerances along would make me miserable, and I'm so grateful that I was able to revise to VSG when it was time to say adios to my band. I can now eat a very nutrient dense, balanced diet with my sleeve without any puking, sliming, productive burping, or food getting stuck and then having to wretch it up for a good 20 minutes. My blog also has tons of links for VSG research, and articles along with dietary guidelines, and other bits and pieces I've compiled over the 20 something months I've been researching and living with the sleeve. The post in my blog titled "Just to bookmark this stuff" is the band post, and the one that is more recent is all the research links that I found invaluable during my research stage. We are currently trying to conceive, and I"m only 17 months out and have actually been not preventing for almost 9 months now. We know that my body went through hell during my surgeries and rapid weight loss so we are trying to be patient. BUT, we're still hoping for a big fat positive test in the near future. Best wishes in your research.

I just had to do 1 week of low carb, high protein, then nothing but clear liquids after a big dinner the night before surgery until midnight then after midnight completely NPO.

23lbs in 5 weeks is fabulous, that's nearly 5lbs a week so you're doing great ! ! ! As for a goal, I had a number in mind when my surgeon and I set my goal weight, and I set little goals such as "need to lose 60lbs before my husband came home from his deployment", I lost 80 in those 4 months before his return. Then I wanted to set "size" goals, like be in a size 14 by Christmas, least to say I think I was in 10 by the time we were celebrating Christmas. For me, goals kept me motivated, and gave me something to work towards. I'm extremely goal-oriented in all aspects of my life, and wanted my life post-op to follow suit. Best wishes ! ! !

myfitnesspal.com was by far my favorite calorie counter. It also offers a smart phone free app so I can take it with me on the go and it syncs up with my online version without having to plug my phone into the pc. I only guidelines for calories, Protein and carbs. Fats were not a concern because we're eating minimal portions, and some fat is necessary for healthy body functions.

Once you get to your goal weight, you'll add in more calories, healthy fats and carbs. Your body will stabilize with tweaking your caloric intake, and exercise routine. I struggled for 4 months of maintenance, but it seems my body stabilized with changing up my intake, and cutting out cardio routine. Plus, over the months, I've noticed my "fat" weight has redistributed itself. A couple of months ago my spine protruded, and my face/neck area looked more gaunt than normal. But, now it seems that my weight has shifted, things have filled out, and I no longer have those issues.

I hit Goodwill and some consignment stores. Typically, the clothing at the consignment stores was better quality, and maybe just a few dollars more. I couldn't bring myself to pay full price for stuff because I knew I would wear things for less than a month. Old Navy has amazing clearances, and I would buy pants a little snug because I knew within a week or so, they'd fit perfectly. I wasn't working at the time so I was pretty set with just a couple pairs of jeans, and didn't have to worry about business casual clothes.

LapSF Two Year Study LapSF Five Year Study - abstract only LapSF Five Year Study - presentation (requires Windows to play) Literature review on the sleeve - requires $$ to get the full text unfortunately Sleeve best for over 50 crowd Video of a sleeve with lots of education discussion Video of a sleeve that is more about the operation Ghrelin levels after RnY and sleeve Ghrelin levels after band and sleeve Diabetes resolution in RnY vs. Sleeve Comparison of band to sleeve - literature review http://www.iabsobesitysurgery.com/Media/Forms/SleeveDietGuide.pdf http://www.cornellweightlosssurgery.org/pdf/dietary_guidelines_sleeve_gastrectomy.pdf Some of this is outdated, but some of it is great information: http://www.sleeveguide.com/ http://www.ssat.com/cgi-bin/abstracts/08ddw/O4.cgi http://www.hopkinsbayview.org/bin/c/a/nutrition_sleeve.pdf Eglin surgeons use small bougies so this is just for informational purposes: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18098398?ordinalpos=4&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ASMBS/20937 http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2791490/vertical_sleeve_gastrectomy_pg2.html?cat=5 5 year post-op stats http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20094819?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20338286

Yeah, those stories of real hardcore dumping scared the heeejeebies outta me. . . The whole transit time issue can cause this type of dumping with the sleeve from what I've read up on it. It seems to be sporadic with the transit time, and I don't know if it's something that will ever resolve for people that experience it. The only thing close to it that I have experienced is I need to sleep if I eat a bunch of ice cream, or say 1/2 slice of red velvet cake with butter cream cheese icing.

If you're talking about vertical sleeve, then it's very successful for patients with 35-55 BMI. My starting BMI was just over 49 and I lost all my excess weight plus some. Vertical sleeve is the first stage of the 2part surgery duodenal switch, and the reason it became a stand alone procedure is because patients were having great success without having to have the actual switch performed, and the sleeve was enough of a tool to get them to or below their goal weight. Vertical banding (lap band or realize) does not have as great success with higher BMI patients and usually only lose 50% of the excess weight over a 5-7 year period.

The only time I reveal to anyone that I've had surgery is when it's someone that hasn't seen me in forever, and they compliment me on how great I look yada yada. Because of me being open about my surgery, I've had 4 close friends choose to have the sleeve, and we all have this common little bond, and it feels good knowing that because of my openness they had the courage to seek out surgery to help them as well. We're military so people come and go, we don't see the same circle of friends all the time because husband's deploy, family vacations are happening year round when the Air Force lets the guys take leave so I might go several months without physically seeing someone, and they'll ask "what have you been doing to lose weight?" That's when I tell them that I had VSG. I don't tell strangers, or servers at restaurants, or people that want to know I'm only eating small portions when we are at a social function and I don't know those people all that well.

Sounds exactly what happened with me when I was having gallbladder attacks. If it was truly dumping, I think you would experienced long before now, and lean more toward you have developed an intolerance to certain high fat high sugar foods.

You can have your coffee after your Nexium, but no food at least 30 minutes after taking it. I think it's listed in the RX pamphlet for 30 minutes. I'm on Prilosec (generic RX), and my pamphlet says 1 hour before eating, or 2-3 hours after eating. I always take it first thing in the morning with a drink of water, start my coffee, and wait an hour to eat anything solid or thick like yogurt or a poached egg with cheese. I only "dieted" through the losing stage and I stuck to 600-800 calories, 60+ protein and no more than 30gr of carbs to achieve my goal weight. I ate mostly meat and cheese, with some green veggies thrown in there. I ate lot of Beans, and greek yogurt was a staple in my diet especially when I made tuna/chicken or egg salads. I used greek yogurt in everything I possibly could because those extra 5-8 grams of protein really add up over the day. I didn't feel like I was dieting really because I was so dang focused on getting in my protein that it didn't feel like dieting. The sleeve does work, but we have to feed it the proper foods to get the end result. Best wishes ! ! !

That's awesome chickee ! ! !

Try drinking warm fluids, it'll help with the swelling, and can help soothe your stomach. I found peppermint herbal tea was extremely soothing, and it felt really great on my sleeve. The first 2 weeks are tough, and the swelling will go down. Broths and warm drinks definitely made getting in my fluids much easier.

You may not lose your hunger, and cravings are mental so those may not ever stop since they operated on our stomach and not our brains. Protein will keep you full longer, and if you're watching your carbs that will also help with cravings. On the Nexium, are you taking it on an empty stomach, and waiting an hour before eating anything? Slider foods won't give you satiety, and will leave you hungry. You can still lose weight, but you'll have to work your sleeve. Increase your protein intake, eat your protein first, and steer clear of carbs/empty calories.

You gotta hide the scale. A stall isn't even a true stall until you go a minimum of 14 days without any loss. You can't expect to lose everyday of the week, it's too much for your body to take on a constant basis. Your stressing over it is just going to make your body produce stress hormones, and your body isn't going to let go of any weight.

When I was going through my pre-op stuff for my revision, I had to see an oncologist because of a clotting disorder. He actually told me I was decreasing my risks of cancer significantly by having VSG. He had studies from Europe, and told me it's one of the best thing I could do for my future health. We talked about medication needs in the future, my concern about having a small amount of stomach tissue, and he told me that VSG was the best option for people that need certain medications due to no malabsorption and no pouch to be damaged. I have a pretty twisted mindset of "cut to heal" meaning that if surgery can fix it, I'll go under the knife without hesitation. I was ready to lose my stomach, and figured that losing my stomach tissue was better than staying fat and risking co-morbidities and a lifetime of meds to treat numerous conditions related to being fat.

Was it the cloud bread recipes? ? ? I think that's what it's called, I just googled it and found tons of recipes. It's the low carb/atkin's approved "bread".

Creamy soups, greek yogurt, sugar free custards/puddings, GasX strips, those moistened wipes for the bathroom (with the liquids in, liquids out rule, they help prevent irritation especially if you have diarrhea post-op like some of us did). Lip gloss/chapstick my lips stayed so dry for so long and that was a lifesaver.