Sai

I haven't had any tastebud changes. I was worried about that before the surgery... Sent from my SM-N910V using the BariatricPal App

That's interesting and you are not the first that I heard that anything but water gave no problems. So strange. Awesome your recovery was super easy too.

Only one night, otherwise nope. I was too tight once, and every time I fell asleep the acid and food would rush up my throat. I went to the doctor the next morning and got some liquid taken out asap.

Yeah the sweet spot is synonymous with the green zone. Just keep seeing your doctor to find the amount of liquid that you can go 3-4 hrs not being hungry. It really helped when I was filled during a fluoro.

I went back and checked out my records when I first had my lap band. I've lost weight faster with the sleeve so far. The first couple of months of my lap band I was still trying to find my sweet spot so I didn't really lose. Total I lost 129 lbs with the lap band, with the first year I lost 70 lbs (averaging ~6 lbs a month), and the second year I lost another 59 lbs. I'm post -op day 18 sleeve, and with these 18 days and the pre-op diet, I've already lost all the weight I gained by being unfilled for 5 months (~25 lbs). Maybe a stall is in my future but having the band for so long, with the slow but steady weight loss, with many stalls hehe... I feel pretty much immuned to worrying about them. All I care is that I don't go over average ~1400 cal/day. Weight loss for me is insured at that amount of calories. With the sleeve, I'm having a hard time going over 800 calories so I'm good to go.

My program (everyone else is different): First 24-48 Clear Liquids, if tolerated well, move to full liquids, Protein shakes//broth/strained creamed Soups. At the pureed stage 2 oz protein (eg. cheese, egg, cottage cheese... etc.), 1/4c vegetables (eg. cauliflower), 1/4c starch (eg. cream of wheat, quinoa, while grain cereals), 1 tsp fat (eg. Peanut Butter, hummus, mayo).

So far everything I've eaten is well tolerated. No nausea, nothing. It's like having a normal stomach to me. Since I haven't moved to solid phase, I don't really know the true feeling of being "full" per se (we don't experience "full" until the solid stage) but I had the lap band for a long time before my sleeve so I just naturally stop when I feel satisfied.

I am 4 days post op being sleeved and I feel great! I have some incisional pain discomfort but not too bad. I have not had any nausea, vomiting or reflux. I have had no problem tolerating my fluids, even my Protein drinks. I feel like I could eat regular food, although I won't because I know my stomach is healing. I almost feel like I didn't even have the surgery except I don't get hungry, which is great. I am down 10 lbs from my pre op stage till now. I see so many posts with people with issues post op. Is it normal to feel this good so soon? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App It's normal to me. After day 2 (which I slept most of), I really felt like "Did I really have this surgery?" Of course, there is the incision pain and the feeling like you've done too many sit-ups (which is no biggy) but I have always been able to drink Water and Protein shakes with no problem at all. Just a note from my recent experience: After a few days, you may or may not experience a little head hunger and for a week or so, you may experience "mimicked" hunger but that's only because a swollen stomach and/or the stomach increasing its acid due to having 80% removed gives you a false feeling of hunger. At day 16, my appetite dropped off big time. My incisions on my tummy have healed and I'm going to guess that my insides have healed about the same rate, hence that crazy "Am I hungry?" feeling is gone. Congrats and great to see you on your way!

I am curious to those who are 2+ years sleeved, how much can you eat at a given meal? Is it still ~8 oz total? Thanks!

hehe You know, I read something you wrote very similar to this awhile ago. I had just put lots of different protein powders in my shopping basket and a lot of other things excited for my new surgery, but after I read what you wrote, I deleted all but one. Omgosh I am so thankful! lol My taste totally changed, and it would've been a complete waste of money. Now I just do what you suggested, little by little. Thank you

I've used fitday.com (no good phone app, just on laptop) every day since 2009 (lap band surgery was in 09), and I just recently had a sleeve revision. I wish it had a good app, but I like it because it has graphs, pie charts and stats that I love to "study" through the years. I track everything I put in my mouth: Calories, carbs, fats. They have a really good database and I input all the foods I buy at the grocery store. I also put in my exercise, and in my journal there I put in any changes of my day (like if I have a cold, if the dr. changes my meds). It's really an invaluable tool and I find it to be "calming", strange maybe?

I was forced to pay $224 for 3 wks worth of Protein Meal Replacements. Of all things I had to pay for, this bothered me the most because I do not eat/drink anything with sucralose, and the protein meal replacements my surgeon wanted me to use contained it... And of course, my insurance wouldn't cover it. But other than that (Had to gripe haha), I have already saved so much by just what I order in dining out (which unfortunately is a huge part of my current job). Example, a small bowl Soup vs an appetizer plus a meal. On my days that I don't work, I eat at home instead of going out, and right there, I save ~$15 a meal. So in the end, we'll save money, and we'll save our lives too.

I know I answered you in another thread but I might as well answer here too. If anything, just in case someone who has the same questions reads this. My lap band to sleeve revision was done in one step and as outpatient. Checked in at 5 am, surgery was at 7 am, walked at about 11 am, and released at 4 pm the same day.

I wish you well and a great recovery too. Ask away, I don't mind at all. Nope, they didn't... I wish they did. I have 7 incisions vs 5 tiny ones from my lapband. My lap band ones disappeared all the way. This time I have railroad tracks (aka staples). I bought some mederma to put on them since they look pretty bad. They seem to be much larger this time around too. I can understand why though, the sleeve is way more invasive than the lap band.

Recovery was pretty easy except the first 4 hrs. Mouth really dry, had to keep sucking on ice chips, felt like I got ran over by a truck or two lol. I had an outpatient band to sleeve revision, I was there like for 11 hrs. total. I slept all of the 2nd day, and the 3rd day on was a breeze. Stopped pain meds after the 3rd day. I'm on day 18 now.

Done as outpatient: Check in at 5 am, surgery at 7 am, released at 4 pm same day. 11 hours. Sent from my SM-N910V using the BariatricPal App

I had to have both, but I think my insurance required the endoscopy only because I had a lap band and had to prove there were issues (like gerd or whatever) to prove that the revision is best for me at this stage. I had an upper GI, it showed I had a dilated esophagus (2nd time in 9 years), but it wasn't enough since the doctor can remove the liquid, rest my esophagus for a couple of months, and then put the liquid back in. The sleep study wasn't mandatory by my insurance, I think I had to have it done because my surgeon is ultra careful. I had no history of sleep apnea. Do you have to have a cardiac clearance for surgery? That seemed to be the most important to my surgeon...

haha omgosh I did that at a All you can eat buffet, I had to attend (work meeting). They had 4 types of soups, and I couldn't eat or drink anything else there, so I kept going back up taking all the broth of the 4 pots.

So funny that you mentioned this. I've already been making the miso broth. I'm going to check Amazon for the red miso paste and give that a try. Being married to a Filipino for 20 plus years I would go crazy without some sort of Asian based soup. I have made a couple of his favorite tamarind based soup dishes (broth only for me) and it's helping a bit. Also I have individual servings of hot and sour soup made by Mishima. I just have to strain the goodies out, but it does seem to help with the head hunger. Does the sodium have any negative effect on you? I would think all the Water we consume would just flush it out. Going to try creamed soups next as mentioned above. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App hehe cool. I love a good sinigang soup . It's actually my favorite soup of all time! Re: Sodium I track the sodium in my fitday.com and the miso soup isn't too salty at all. With one soup a day, I rarely even hit 100% RDA daily sodium. Like you said, we drink a lot a lot of water so that should also offset it as well. No longer do we consume tons of salt through chips (cry lol) and all those salty goodies. Also, since most of us are low carbers (at least during the liquid phases), the higher salt is actually a good thing since low-carb diets lower insulin levels, it forces our kidneys to excrete excess sodium and if you don't intake enough, you can get a sodium deficiency. https://authoritynutrition.com/5-most-common-low-carb-mistakes/ lol I actually typed sinigang, but changed it to tamarind because not a lot of people know what sinigang is. I'm currently in the process of making nilagang baka right now. Hehehe Is Fit Day like My Fitness Pal? That's the app I use. I'm also at the point where I can't even watch regular television. I can't stand all of the food commercials. They are non-stop! Needless to say, I'm finally getting my money's worth from Netflix. Ha! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Hehe. I've been using fitday for more than 10 years, it's why I don't change, all my stats/history/graphs are there. I don't think they have a great so app yet like fitnesspal does, so unfortunately one has to use it on your laptop instead. I like it because of the stats and graphs... Etc. If you want to check it out, it's fitday.com, and it's free but not sure if it's superior to anything out there these days to be honest. I saw your other question about creamed soups. I don't know, you can ask your doctor but the majority of liquid post op diets allow them. ^^ Sent from my SM-N910V using the BariatricPal App

So funny that you mentioned this. I've already been making the miso broth. I'm going to check Amazon for the red miso paste and give that a try. Being married to a Filipino for 20 plus years I would go crazy without some sort of Asian based soup. I have made a couple of his favorite tamarind based soup dishes (broth only for me) and it's helping a bit. Also I have individual servings of hot and sour soup made by Mishima. I just have to strain the goodies out, but it does seem to help with the head hunger. Does the sodium have any negative effect on you? I would think all the Water we consume would just flush it out. Going to try creamed soups next as mentioned above. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App hehe cool. I love a good sinigang soup . It's actually my favorite soup of all time! Re: Sodium I track the sodium in my fitday.com and the miso soup isn't too salty at all. With one soup a day, I rarely even hit 100% RDA daily sodium. Like you said, we drink a lot a lot of water so that should also offset it as well. No longer do we consume tons of salt through chips (cry lol) and all those salty goodies. Also, since most of us are low carbers (at least during the liquid phases), the higher salt is actually a good thing since low-carb diets lower insulin levels, it forces our kidneys to excrete excess sodium and if you don't intake enough, you can get a sodium deficiency. https://authoritynutrition.com/5-most-common-low-carb-mistakes/

20-30 min. every day, 1-2 miles. I use the Gazelle edge indoors because unfortunately, I have tons of stairs where I live.

Ah and another suggestion is get a tub of Miso soup base (I get mine from Amazon or the local Asian grocery store). It tastes waaay better than regular chicken broth... I dunno, maybe I'm bias because I'm asian pacific islander but it's far more tastier, and it's really healthy. There is an organic red miso paste on Amazon that I highly recommend, there is also a white miso paste. I needed variety at the early stages because otherwise, I'd go crazy. o.O

Tabatha, I'm so sorry you're feeling this way and all of you who are going through it. Please know that the healing phase of your stomach, when it's swollen, and the extra acid you're body is producing to try to make up for the 80% stomach removed is mimicking hunger pains. The first week or so was hard, and like you, I didn't want to deviate or cheat either because it can cause catastrophic and grave consequences on a healing stomach. I'm on day 17 now, and the mimicking hunger pangs just dropped off in the last few days. Hang in there, we're all here for you.

When you mentioned creamed soups, are you talking about the Campbell's cream of mushroom and creamed of chicken types of soups? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Yuppers, and then put them through a strainer to make sure all the little bits and pieces are strained out. Many say preferably the fat free soups but I have no issue with fat, well, not as much as carbs anyway hehe. Campell's Soup to Go has no lumps or bumps, and gets ready in 1:15 min in a microwave. Those are pretty good.

When I had my lap band, the area was a little tender all the time, but not too bad. The last few years I started having serious muscle pulls at the site, perhaps due to scar tissue building up through the 9 years I had it. I'm not sure. I found a sip or two of pickle juice helped the spasms (as it does for my exercise related muscle pulls). They will find out a lot about your band/stomach/esophagus by your EGD. It's pretty painless since they just put you to sleep, and I like that I got to keep my pants on the entire time . I did have a sore throat for 2 weeks after, but only because I was one of the rare cases that my throat fought the endoscope the entire time. Bleh. Also, I had bad acid reflux for a couple of weeks after as well, but that went away eventually by taking an otc antacid.