BlackBerryJuice

Yeah, I feel you. I've seen those, but have no desire to broadcast my surgery to random people with potentially no benefit.

Wow, great post!

That anorexia comment was pretty stupid. What if you actually had anorexia or had someone close to you struggling? That'd be pretty hurtful. I can now eat enough that it doesn't look TOO weird. Plus my boyfriend polishes off anything that's set in front of him, so I'm always offering him bites of my food so it looks like I ate more than I actually did. I remember getting some weird looks when we first started going out after the surgery, when I could only have a few tablespoons of soup or like 2 pieces of sashimi in one sitting. The only time I got a comment was actually only 3 weeks ago or so. I ordered a humongous salad, but by the time it arrived, already had a slice of my boyfriend's thin crust pizza, so I only ended up taking a few forkfuls of the salad before the evening was over. The server was like "Oh no! Did you not like it!?" I said it was great, but already had some pizza and generally can't eat very much. She exclaimed "That wouldn't be very much fun!" I wanted to say, "TRUST ME, it's a LOT more fun this way!" LOL.

Your fruit and vegetable intake is 0, which isn't exactly a healthy diet. The low-carb myth is quite frustrating; if you look at the research, low-carb makes you lose weight faster in the beginning, but at the 6-month mark, it is no better for weightloss than low-fat diet, portion control, or really any other diet that results in lower calorie intake. Plus it just doesn't make sense to avoid healthy carbs like vegetables or whole grains for the sake of "carb-counting" but indulge in unhealthy sugary treats that are devoid of fiber and vitamins on the weekend. I don't understand why surgeons keep pushing it on people who are long out of the surgery, because the data just isn't there to support it, but there's a lot of data promoting fruit and vegetable intake to decrease the risk of many cancers and other health issues (high blood pressure, etc).

One thing I didn't see you mention was your activity level. Do you exercise regularly and what type of activities do you engage in? I find that exercise 1) takes up time that could otherwise be spent snacking 2) decreases my appetite (if it's intense exercise, anyway) immediately after for a good 2 hours 3) makes me want healthier foods rather than nasty stuff. Not to mention, you get all the benefits of endorphins, which it sounds you could use. I've always been a grazer AND a binger. The sleeve took care of my binging (my biggest problem), but the grazing is still up to me. I understand you mentioned many healthy foods cause reflux, but I'm sure there are other fruits and veggies you haven't tried yet. Check out the spread at a local ethnic store and see if you can find a new fruit or vegetable to try for Snacks. I wouldn't have citrus fruits, as they are much more likely to make your reflux worse, but other things are an option. If you are grazing on apples instead of bread, it's really not that bad. One thing I also do to fight mindless eating in front of the computer is drink tea. I'm sure you know that coffee is a reflux trigger, so it's good that you are aware that you need to quit that habit if you want to decrease your reflux frequency. I like fruit tea or flavored green teas with milk. In fact, I'm sipping some right now! I also don't know if your doctor has brought this up, but there are surgical treatments for reflux. Maybe there's been some mechanical damage to your lower esophageal sphincter that can be fixed surgically. The surgery I'm aware of is Nissen fundoplication; however, as it involves wrapping stomach tissue around the esophagus, you might not be a candidate because you don't have enough. But it's worth seeing what else the surgeons can do, they do all kinds of crazy stuff these days - maybe they can fashion a ring out of some other tissue.

That's very interesting, I'll look into that.Thanks!

I bet the reason you feel so weak (not counting the fact you just had surgery!) is that you aren't getting in enough fluids. 16 oz is NOT enough. You need to drink more. If you don't like water, drink tea.

I had trouble falling/staying asleep the first week post-op, but since then, I've been sleeping the same as before. I've always been a very light sleeper - I have to wear earplugs and I can't share a bed with anyone - and tend to need more sleep than others (9-9.5 hours works best for me).

Bread is a crapshoot for me. Sometimes, I can eat it without a problem; other times, even a bite of tortilla or naan makes me uncomfortable.

I'm 9 weeks out and have had tacos a few times already. My first one was a homemade hard-shell one with ground beef; it went down pretty well. I could only have maybe 2/3 of it. My second one was a hard-shell one with chicken from a restaurant maybe a week later - went down without a problem. I actually had a few bites of a fish taco from a restaurant this evening. That one was made with a soft corn shell and it made me a bit uncomfortable for a few minutes. Based on my experience, I say give it a shot, but start with a hard-shell one.

I eat 5-6 meals a day. I don't think I could eat enough protein if I ate less often. I dislike protein shakes - only drink them post-workout - so protein intake is a challenge, even though I do eat bars. My mindless grazing is usually the bulk of my fruit and vegetable intake (I like cukes and apples for snacks), so I don't really worry about it.

To be honest, the anesthesia kicked in so quickly for me, I didn't have time to reflect on anything! They gave me an IV saying it had something to relax me, and by the end of that sentence, I was fast asleep. I half-woke up for a few seconds shortly after because I felt them rolling me over and poking needles in my back (spinal). Next thing you know, I was in the recovery room drenched in sweat and covered in some sort of pink stuff speaking French and Spanish, lol. When I was more coherent, my very first thought was "thank god this is over and by the looks of it, everything went well." It was the first surgery I ever had, so I didn't know what to expect. I also had a lot of family drama immediately preceding the surgery - my father actually threatened to fly to Mexico and stop the doctor from operating on me, lol. I was just glad the surgery happened and there was no way back. One thought I kept having while in the hospital was "Holy crap, I can't believe how easy this was."

So about a year ago, I signed up with Gold's Gym. Then this summer I realized I was 1) gonna be out of commission with the gym for over a month due to my surgery 2) not really going there as much because it's hard to get to when it's -50, so I was going to do workout DVDs this year. So I went there to cancel; my 1-year contract had already expired, so I didn't expect this to be particularly laborious. First off, they tell me that even though I'm there at that very moment, I have to go get a registered letter ($9 and an hour of my time) stating I want to cancel before I do. Then they say they will charge me for another 30 days before my account is closed. Get the letter out (whilst swearing a lot), sent it, Canada Post said it was delivered the next day. 1.5 months pass and suddenly I notice my credit card has been charged for my membership yet again - even though the 30 days have long passed. Call them, 1) they claim the letter only got to them a week after I sent it (translation - they didn't check their mailbox OR it lay on someone's desk for a week while they were too busy fake-tanning) 2) they announce to me that it's actually 90 days and not 30 before they stop charging me! I explain to them what was told to me back in August, they asked who said that - I describe the person and they tell me it's the manager. They tell me she'll call me in the next hour. 8 hours later I get back from school and of course she hasn't called. I call there and she tells me that yes, indeed, it is NINETY days. This weekend, I'm planning to dig up my old contract and stir up some shit. Incidentally, a friend told me just last week they had a "stay away!" report about these types of gyms on our local TV station. In the meantime, the least I can do is save other people $250 and a whole lot of hassle by spreading the word about this crap!

I asked mine about it and he said it's hard on the stomach and not to take until I'm 6 months out. My weightloss has already slowed down to a reasonable rate, and by 6 months, I should be pretty close to goal, so I'm not even really sure of the benefit at that point.

Wow, he's so insensitive, especially with that "flabby arms" comment about the person who lost her excess weight. Sounds like my father who's put me down about my weight since I was about 4 and then when I got the VSG claimed he never once said I was fat and had the gall to say my boyfriend must have forced me to get the surgery (!). He'll just find another thing to terrorize you about when you lose the weight - saggy skin, criticizing you for dressing too provocatively, whatever - the emotional abuser will ALWAYS find something. I'm not surprised to hear about the 10% divorce rate - lots of people shed the toxic people in their lives along with their bad habits. When you get healthier and more attractive, you'll suddenly realize there's lots of other options around, and he must be afraid of that. And I can't believe he's trying to put you down for failing before you've even had the surgery! Who's he to say that you won't lose weight? It's practically impossible NOT to lose weight with this surgery, unless you sip fraps all day. It sucks that you are stuck with someone who's so discouraging.

Just curious. I was taught that 25% of obese people experiencing fast weightloss (and 50% of gastric bypass patients) end up having gallbladder stones - and I've seen a few folks on here get their gallbladder out. I had gallbladder sludge as a child, so I'm a bit worried about this. I don't eat super low-fat though, so I hope I don't have an issue with bile getting stalled in there for days. Would be interesting to see the stats. I don't know whether at 2 months I'm in the clear, or if there's still a good chance of me having gallstones.

Just to inform those who haven't had the sleeve, constipation is not a guaranteed fate after this surgery. I've had no problems save for maybe 3rd or 4th week post-op. I generally go daily, every once in a while it's once every 2 days. I also exercise regularly, though, and that tends to get things moving (ever heard of runner's trots? hehe). I don't take fiber supplements, but I do try to eat 3-4 servings of fruits and vegetables daily and I don't eat low carb.

Sign up for a bootcamp if you want to get your exercise covered without having to think about it too much. I got a huge discount on one month unlimited bootcamp and signed up my boyfriend and I. We went for the 3rd time yesterday, it was great! There's a good mix of high intensity cardio and various bodyweight exercises, plus light weights. And they mix it up every day, which is great for a creature of habit like myself - I tend to fall into a rut with workouts and do the same thing day after day.

Haha, yeah. I'm not very tall, so it's on the higher end of the healthy BMI range, but I have a lot of muscle from years of weightlifting and boxing competitively, so I think 145 would be good for me. Last year I got to 165 and could see an outline of my abs, so I don't need to be 100 lbs to look fit. I actually have wild fantasies of maybe doing a natural bodybuilding competition sometime in the next year, we'll see where the sleeve gets me. I've always wanted to do that, but cravings always prevented me from following the uber-strict diet. Now that I don't have cravings, I think this could actually be something to strive for. For now, I just want to see where normal eating (i.e. 90% healthy 90% of the time) will get me.

Yay! I keep telling people there's no need to starve yourself, good to see it's working for others and not just me.

I had major nausea issues right around the same time - I even went to the emergency room because I almost passed out on the street. Nothing was wrong according to the ER doc (no imaging was done). Dr. Aceves wanted me to get an upper GI, but I had to wait 2 weeks before I could get an appointment. After a few days, my nausea completely went away so I postponed my upper GI to 3 months out. I'm still not sure what caused it, but I've seen other people here have it around the same time (2nd-3rd week post-op).

Pop is evil.....At some point, I was drinking 2-3 cans of diet a day, and within a month, my teeth became super-sensitive because my enamel began to erode. It didn't go away completely until 2 months of soda abstinence and brushing with Sensodyne instead of my regular toothpaste. I tried pop (not diet) on Sunday for the first time - was at boyfriend's family's house and it was either pop or wine (which I don't like and which tends to make my stomach feel funny after the surgery), so I opted for the pepsi. I've been craving it since! It's so addictive, best to not even try it once you've quit.

Not quite. Upper GI is 3 months out according to my surgeon's instructions. While a potential leak is always a concern, this will also identify any abnormal scar tissue, such as strictures, which would be much more likely than a leak at that stage. "Upper GI" usually implies a barium swallow.

Haha, wow! Was that thin crust? I find that I can have a normal-sized slice of thin crust pizza.

I would just throw it away or sell it on Ebay, personally. You won't need it to lose weight. And you have no idea what's in it and how it's going to affect your body - it's an unregulated industry. Remember the phen-fen deaths?