BriDawn

I'm 5'8"!

I'm about 2.5 months in. Down from 240 to 206. From a size 16/18 and an XL top to a size 12/14 and a M/L top. Feels great! My goal is a size 6 or 8, hopefully by the Fall!

I'm not that far out but I think I can answer you just as well. In the first two weeks, I was miserable. I roamed these boards trying to see what people farther out were eating to gain some hope for myself. At two months out, I am SO happy. I can eat pretty much anything. I've had issues with some things like soft bread (toasted is fine) or ground beef (homemade burgers HURT). I still have a snack every now and then, like chips or frozen yogurt. But I can easily moderate my portions now. I'm working out like a crazy person (loved it before surgery so love it more now!). I'm down 31lbs and have about 40lbs more to go. It does get easier. And most people can tolerate all foods eventually.

Stalls just seem to happen. I hit one at about three weeks that lasted two full weeks. I lost 15lbs the first three weeks. Eventually the stall just started moving again and at eight weeks, I'm 31lbs down. I can eat anything too. Except beef still kind of bothers me. But I've had wine, chips, ice cream, Pasta, etc. obviously not all on the same day but I so indulge once in a while (that's the whole reason I got this surgery!). I've been doing kickboxing twice a week and am adding bootcamp in this week too. Along with 30 minutes to 1 hour of walking a day. I've steadily lost 2-3lbs a week since that stall. Just keep moving, keep your calories and carbs low and it'll eventually move again. I usually eat 1200 calories a day.

I get tipsy much faster. Like one full glass of wine versus two pre-op. But it wears off much faster too, I find. Other than that, not much different than pre-op. I haven't tried hard liquor though but I got sick from it before surgery so I'll probably continue to avoid it anyways.

I lost 15 lbs the first month. Almost 8 weeks out and I'm down about 27lbs total now.

I'm almost 8 weeks out and I had my first glass of wine about two weeks ago. No problems. Since then, I've drank twice more. One night I had two small glasses (got pretty tipsy off that) and then one glass another night. I've just been drinking Riesling or moscata wines. All went down fine and were quite tasty.

I'm at 7 weeks and I definitely have started facing similar problems, but I just know not to overindulge. I had this surgery so I could still live a normal life. So I don't feel guilty if I have a small ice cream or frozen yogurt, or a 100 cal bag of popcorn. It's all in moderation. Stuff like the goldfish... You can have goldfish, but measure then out and track them! Don't start that habit of picking out of the bag all day. I track everything. Some days it's 8PM and I'm at 70g of Protein and only 1000 calories, so I'll allow myself a little bedtime treat. I usually hit between 1000-1200 and 60-70g of protein. I also do kickboxing and bootcamp several times a week. I've lost 27 pounds (only 40-50 more to go!) and still lose 2-3 lbs a week on average. It's all about moderation and balance. I make sure I work out and don't exceed my calories every day.

This is my telltale "stop eating" sign. Burps but also BIG hiccups. Like loud obnoxious ones. I'll usually hiccup one loud time and then just stop eating and it'll stop.

The only ones I've had are literally called Pop Chips!

Without a doubt, this can happen. I'm 7 weeks out and I can already see how it could happen. To eat dense Protein like chicken is somewhat of a "chore" because I have to chew, chew, chew and then I get full much faster. But I can eat a bowl of popcorn or chips no problem. Same with drinking your calories! So watch out. I haven't had issues yet. I do allow myself a treat but never too much. This surgery was to help me control my portion sizes, which were always my biggest struggle. I still lose 2-3 pounds a week and have gone from 240 to 213 today and down about 3 sizes! I'm super excited, but I know I'll forever have to keep myself in check. On the plus side, the whole experience has given me a lot more appreciation for good food. Fast food and greasy foods make me sick to think about. I've become a bit of a food snob. When you have to chew more and taste more, that greasy chicken wing doesn't taste so great anymore!

I was different day to day at your stage. Some days I wanted to eat everything and anything. One day my family ordered pizza and the smell made me feel sick though. Now (~7 weeks), the smell of food doesn't really bother me one way or the other. But I do hate crap food now. I have to chew so much and eat so little that I want TASTY food. I had a grilled chicken wrap from McDonald's once (had no choice that day!) and it was revolting. I had a couple chicken wings at Boston Pizza and they tasted disgusting to me too. Very weird. I had fish tacos at a higher end restaurant tonight and they were fricken delicious! And some salad... Man I missed salad!

If you're on liquids, stick to liquids. It's not a fun stage of the diet but it'll pass. Get creative and switch it up. Milk, Soup, Jello, pudding, smoothies, etc. I wouldn't try Cheerios, honestly. I think it will really upset your stomach. I'm about 7 weeks out and tried to eat some cereal the other day and had a few spoons and chucked it. It just wasn't sitting well. And I can eat pretty much anything at this point so that's saying something. You need to stay pretty strict this first week at least. I started trying more "substantial" liquids/purées in my second week... Like greek yogurt and refried Beans.

I'm about 7 weeks out now and I've had a glass of wine now and then. I had a Riesling and a sweet red and both went down fine. Didn't feel buzzed from it at all either (heard rumors of becoming a cheap drunk!). I haven't tried hard liquor but I got sick from that before surgery anyways so I'll probably steer clear.

I bought it at Safeway. I live in Canada but I'm assuming most grocery stores would probably have similar? It was called Genisoy. Also, the key for me is definitely to make it in a smoothie, not a "shake". Just mixing it with milk was always inedible for me but when I mix it with the fruit, yogurt, and juice, I can't taste it at all! I also use it in baking. I made Breakfast "cookies" with pumpkin and oats, Splenda, and some other stuff and used 1/2 cup of the soy protein in place of flour. Turned out quite well. I think I'll try it with oatmeal raisin next time.

It's like a spicy pepperoni stick, but has a bit more fat and sodium than I like!

It gets better. Don't worry too much about it right now. Just so the best you can. The fluids and more important than the Protein right now, so work hard on that. Try sipping skim milk all day. I drank 3-4 glasses a day in my liquid stage. I also added skim milk powder to my soups and puddings to up protein too. (I HATE protein powders, and still avoid them.) Sip all day. It gets better and easier soon!

I'm almost six weeks out and I'm similar. But honestly, I'm happy I don't have really really small restriction. I had this done to live a normal life but with smaller, healthier portions. And that's what I'm doing. Here's today's menu for example: Breakfast: Fruit smoothie with greek yogurt and soy Protein (300 cals) Snack: cheesestring Lunch: 2 oz chicken, 1 piece low sodium bacon, few pieces cucumber, 1T low fat mayo.. All on a small tortilla (I ripped off a lot of the tortilla when I was getting full though). (200 cals) Snack: 3 hot rods (not the greatest choice but I got myself a treat when I got groceries today!) Dinner: 2 thai chicken bites (leftover from boston pizza last night, basically 2 small chicken tenders), 30g Brie cheese w/ 5 low fat crackers (300 cals) Snack: 1/2 protein square (homemade, basically Peanut Butter and Splenda melted and then stirred into Special K protein Cereal. It's tastes like those puffed wheat squares. Very tasty dessert-like snack!) My whole day ended up at 1095 cals and 84g of protein. Usually I hit 1000-1200 and 70-90g protein a day and I'm happy with that. I do feel hunger too. After a couple hours, I get an empty growley feeling in my stomach. Not like the old hunger feeling, but I can recognize it now. Which is why I make sure I have snacks! So far, so good. I'm enjoying the restriction I have right now. Down 23 lbs since April 22.

I'm almost six weeks out too and I'm the exact same. I've had great success with everything except hamburger. Not even need perse, but hamburger! I can eat beef bologna or sausage but I tried to eat a homemade burger (plain, no bun) at about week 4 and I felt horrible after a couple bites. I was up pacing the room trying to keep it down (mild puking phobia here!) and eventually it subsided. Haven't tried beef since then. I'm not a fan of red meat so I don't care too much, but I did find it odd. I've even started introducing grains. I had chicken on a tortilla today and it was excellent! Gonna avoid hamburger for a while though.

That was my main source of Protein for the first three weeks. I tried to make Protein drinks but they nauseated me. I asked my dietician and she was actually surprised I was doing protein drinks. She told me that getting my protein from natural sources was far better for you. I drank probably 5 glasses of skim milk a day. I also added skim milk powder to Soup and pudding for some extra protein. I usually got at least 50g of protein in doing that. And I felt MUCH better than I did when I was trying the protein drinks.

I remember researching this long before surgery. I'm a little over five weeks out now and I smoked again for the first time last week. Since then, I've smoked twice more. Honestly, it is something I will probably always do. I am not a big drinker and my body responds good to weed. I get relaxed and it's something that can really make a night out with friends more enjoyable. As for the munchies, I haven't had any issues. I went to dinner with my friend and had my small plate of food. I ate slow and really relished the taste of it. I actually think I ate slower than I would sober because I was so aware of everything. Honestly, it's not for everyone. I get that some people will always frown upon it. But I personally think alcohol is far worse for you AND for your sleeve. To each their own!

All right. So I'm due back at work next week and I'm definitely ready to get out of the house! My question is, what did you guys tell people when you didn't want to reveal the real surgery? I'm at a loss. Some coworkers can be inquisitive. I won't say "nosey" because they're all very nice, but I'm sure they'll ask where I've been for 3 weeks and notice the ~15 lbs lost! My thoughts were to say something about stomach ulcers. Or maybe something about my PCOS. I DO have PCOS and that's a major cause of my weight gain, so it's not a huge lie. And then part of me wants to just tell the truth... Worded in a way like "my PCOS was bad and my insulin was skyrocketing (all true!) so I had this surgery to help me lose weight and fix the issues." I'm sure I'm worrying over nothing but was just interested in what you guys told others. I'm a "lightweight" so I feel like this may confuse some of them or even insult some of the ladies who are larger than me. Any tips?

I couldn't stomach Protein shakes either so I called my dietician. She was actually surprised I was even using the shakes. She just recommended I get protein from real food sources instead. Also you can add skim milk powder for any extra boost. During my liquids stage I drank a lot of milk. I would also make pudding with extra skim milk powder in it, same with any Soup I had. Plus greek yogurt. I was usually hitting at least 60 g a day.

I would say definitely not. At 11 days you should be on full liquids or maybe mushy food depending on your doctor. Either way, we're not supposed to eat raw fruit or veggies until at least a month out I'd say. And I've also heard that watermelon is a troublesome one for a lot of people. I'm a month out and all I've tried is soft stuff like bananas and avocados.