Lee

Ali, have fun with Liz today! Be sure to come back and wow us with your surgery date! :smile2:

Hello, I'm six weeks out. I had the runs from day 5 to 10 but realized it was from a whey Protein shake that I added on Day 5. When I stopped that, everything was better. By around day 14 I could tolerate it again and now I'm just fine. Hunger for me ... I felt it return on Day 10. When I moved to pureed foods on Day 14 it really stopped. Now at 6 weeks, I eat 3x a day and I do get hungry right about the time I should eat again. Lighter Proteins like fish and I tend to get hungry a little sooner. That said, it's nothing like pre-op hunger, just a little nagging feeling that it's time to eat. Nothing wrong with that!

Darn you girl, not a single picture! I'm so glad to hear that you all had a great time. Linda, hope your little one is feeling better this morning.

Hello, I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter or Happy Passover, depending on what you celebrate. Doing ok here except that I've been home with a cough for three days. This is the same ailment I had the week before surgery. It sucks that nobody wants to play with me while I'm sick! Upped my Protein and calories and got the scale to move again. Eating has been fairly easy. Three meal w/no Snacks. My challenge is to not eat that One bite too many. Even measuring 1/4 to 1/3 cup doesn't guaranteed that it's not too much. Wishing you all a happy week! Kaiser Richmond is this Wednesday.

Hey, so we want to know how it all went? How fun was it? Inquiring minds want to know.

Welcome Moka! I don't need veggies, but I definitely need all of the wonderful people here for success with my new Sleeve. Congratulations on getting your Sleeve next week. Please be sure to let us know how you're doing!

Citygal, Oh my goodness. Thank you for reminding me about Dress for Success. I have a lot of business type clothing. I'll remember to donate to them! Thank you again and good luck with your revision!

I do a few things with my clothes. 1. Donate to the Aids Thrift Store. I love knowing that people can go get free Aids testing. 2. Take things to a monthly OH luncheon that I go to. 3. Sell them at a Large Size Consignment shop that my friends own. 4. I send them to a friend back east. I did a lot of closet cleaning pre-op of things that I hadn't worn for awhile that I hoped I wouldn't fit into for long. Now that the 22's are too big and I can fit into 16 or 18 pants, it's time to do it again.

Thanks for the link!

Good luck with your surgery. You'll be waking up in recovery before you know it. How smart of you to plan a spa day to help you relax. I had to remove all nail polish pre-op and couldn't wait to get back for a pedicure and manicure! I'm thinking it's about time for a good massage.

Hi Scorch, Welcome to VST! I work a desk job too. I had surgery on a Wednesday and started back to work at my home office the following Tuesday. I work around 6 hours a day that week, then returned to my office the following Monday. We all heal at a different rate. I'm 59 and I think that as we get older it takes a little longer to heal. I don't have any answers to the credit as I had mine done at my Kaiser. Do you have health insurance at your job? Might they cover it? You may want to explore that option and see what you come up with. hair loss? I'm only 6 weeks out. I bet others will come and throw in their opinions but you've already gotten good advice from QueenDiva, go find a wig! You may want to find a wig now and start wearing it so that it will be familiar to you once you have the surgery. Good luck and please let us know how you're doing! :blushing:

I was able to get my 64 oz of fluids in by Day 5 as recommended by my program. I took it as mandatory so I sipped all day and ate no sugar added fruit popsicles (2 oz each). I also drank a lot of Sobe Lifewater 0 no cal Fugi Apple Pear flavor which tasted like pear juice to me. The 20 ounce bottle has 15 carbs but I was more concerned with getting in my fluids than the carbs. On day 5 I moved to full liquids and used greek yogurt to get in Protein. At that point I had lactose intolerance and couldn't do whey shakes. On day 10 I moved to Muscle Milk Light and could tolerate them. By around day 14 my body had adjusted and I could start back on the Whey Protein Shakes. I really didn't worry about the protein much until I got to the pureed food stage. My Kaiser program doesn't believe in protein supplements but I'm using some shakes now at 6 weeks or I wouldn't be getting in the protein that other programs advise. Anna, while I tracked everything in myfitnesspal dot com, I didn't worry about the calories or carbs until I was several weeks out. At your stage I was getting under 200 calories a day. Maximize your weight loss in these first weeks as it's the easiest time to lose. Keep hydrating and you'll be just fine.

LOL, great post. I loved reading this. :blushing:

Yes yes yes, surgery is a big shock to every system in the body. When is the last time you lost 22 pounds in two weeks? I bet the answer is never. Why not find an appreciation for the 22 pounds that are gone? Stress helps us hang onto the weight as well so turn to appreciation instead. Weight can even bounce up a bit for a few days, then it will come back down. Our new Sleeves are swollen and need tender care. Are stalls normal? Probably for most of us the answer is yes. But what is an actual stall? People say it's two weeks or more without any loss at all. So most aren't actually stalled, just in a slower losing pattern. My weight release was going along great until week 4 when it was only 4 ounces. Week 5 was only 6 ounces, so that was 1 pound in 2 weeks. This week I'm already down 1.2 since Wednesday so maybe things are rolling again. Don't dismay, in a month or two you'll be marveling at how easy this all is. Make sure you're getting in your 64 oz of fluids at this point and try to up your Protein and see if that will help. A Protein shake give you both fluids and protein and will help keep your energy levels up. Just hang in there until your body comes out of shock. I forgot to mention that while I only let go of one pound for 2 weeks, I did drop a pant size. If you haven't measured your body, do it today!

Tia, congratulations on your Sleeve. Your scale will move when your body is ready. The frustration won't help you. I lost great for my first two weeks, then in weeks 3 and 4 it was around 2 pounds a week. Weeks 4-6 I have only shed one pound. I'm trying to appreciate the changes in my body, the pants that are down two sizes from surgery day and my waist that's getting smaller. Have you taken measurements? I would highly recommend it because sometimes the scale is just plain evil and will not tell you what you want to hear. The weight loss is going to happen. I think the best thing we can do is follow our plan, exercise and relax. Neither of us is going to be the one person for which the Sleeve doesn't work.

Congratulations on getting Sleeved!! I waited until my NUT cleared me to move to pureed foods. I figured that I couldn't see what was happening to my staple line and my tender little Sleeve. I didn't want to risk hurting myself. I figure there's a reason why most NUT's keep us on clear and full liquids for the first two weeks so I respected that. I knew I'd have plenty of time to eat those mushy foods. My clear liquid stage allowed thinned Cream of Wheat or Grits and plain yogurt as well as Soup, so it wasn't too difficult to follow. I didn't have any hunger or interest in food until day 10 when a little hunger returned.

I'm not as far out as you Mini. I just hit 6 weeks on Wednesday (2/17 surgery) and I average between 500 and 600 calories a day. Carbs generally 20 to 30. I have only let go of ONE pound in the last two weeks so I'm wondering if I should up my calories a bit to see what happens. I'm down from a 22 to 18 in pants with some of my 16's fitting me now, but that darn scale is stubborn.

My user name is the same as here: Lee~

YAY Cajun!! I'm so excited for you. What a wonderful achievement!

Lydia, the orientation classes can be booked ahead so if I were you, I'd call and ask very nicely if there's a possibility of getting into the next class. The first time I was told no, then I called another time, got someone else and they let me come to class. Be a sweet advocate for yourself. :thumbup:

I had surgery at Kaiser Richmond. My PCP recommended WLS in October. I took the mandatory 2 hour class in October and asked to be referred to the Bariatric program. Orientation was 11/19/09, Surgeon consult 12/11/09. After that it was psych consult, then lose to my pre-op goal. Once I got there I met with the case manager, then took the 2 hour surgery prep class and had a pre-op physical. It was only two weeks from the case manager to my surgery. I had surgery on 2/17/2010 so it was only three months from start to finish. Every Kaiser is different so I'm not sure how Fremont works. Good luck!! I love my Sleeve. :thumbup:

YAY! Congratulations on a great start. I remember that on day 10 my hunger started to come back just a little bit.

Congratulations on a great start!!

ishary, I post over there daily. I joined there about the same time I joined here.

Hi Ed, congrats on your Sleeve! I was told to use Benefiber, but to wait two weeks post-op before I started using it. I found a huge container of it at Costco for $20. It's clear and flavorless and can be added to anything hot or cold.