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Some people will try to steal anything! My husband is disabled and on the back of our car we have a wheelchair carrier. I have long red ribbon tied on to it so no one trips over it. (the only idiot who ever did was me!) I was at the grocery store and as I walked out I noticed a lady with three little kids standing by the back of my car. As I got closer I saw she was trying to untie the ribbon (it is dirty and frayed from blowing in the wind) I causally asked her what she was doing and she said her little boy loved the ribbon and wanted it!! I calmly said it is to make sure no one trips over the carrier. She laughed and kept trying to unknot it. That's when I yelled get away from my car NOW. She laughed some more. I yelled nice going teaching your kids to steal! She still didnt move. When I popped the trunk and pulled out my cell phone she looked at me and said sorry and walked away laughing. I must have stood there for 5 minutes in disbelief! Yes some people are are are well I just cant come up with a word to describe them!

Mine has been much crappy. 1 week post op- 258 to 246.5 2 weeks post 249.5 (that's right a three pound gain despite eating exactly on plan, averaging 400 calories and doing 40 minutes to an hour of walking or biking 6 days a week). We shall see what week three says. My NUT and surgeon warned there is big stall that happens happens around week three, and another around week 7, week 12, and every few months. Edited to say I know... Embrassing the stall Everyone loses at different paces Trust the program Don't be a slave to the scale Inches gone, doesn't mean pounds gone Check your fluids, check your Protein...

So I got about three sips of protein drink down. And tried to eat a yogurt but only could eat a spoonfull in 20 mnts. Wow. This is going to be harder than I thought to get protein. Anyone else on this finding it hard?

After reading up on the three most common procedures, I decided on the sleeve. I think the lap band has the highest failure rate; not because of the procedure itself, but because it's the easiest to misuse and cheat. I've seen/heard/read of many people converting from band to sleeve. The bypass seemed too extreme for the 110 lbs I wanted to lose and I worried about the malabsorptive aspects of the procedure. It seems that more daily supplements might be required to replace nutirients that aren't absorbed. Also, I got the impression that the skin used to create the new pouch is very elastic. I worried about it stretching and allowing me to cheat it as well. So the sleeve seemed to hit the Goldilocks spot right in the middle. It's permanent. It allows for more nutrient absorption than the bypass. The remaining portion of the stomach is less stretchy. And this is a biggie.... The area of the stomach that produces the hunger hormone ghrellin is in the section that is removed during surgery. The Wikipedia article on ghrellin states that the sleeve procedure reduces ghrellin levels 60% long-term. So that sealed it for me. You will have to decide which procedure is right for you based on your research and conversations with your doctor. As others have stated, the answer will involve the amount of weight you need to lose, your co-morbidities, and your ability to stick with different levels of follow-up care. Good luck with your decision!

I've done the liquid diet twice now; first for 13 days before the surgery was postponed (I was too sick for anesthesia to be safe) and this time for 9 days (postponed due to family issue). It's really not that terrible, or at least it wasn't for me. I honestly got to the point where I just didn't pay attention to it anymore- there were days when at bedtime I'd realize I'd only had 2 shakes all day. On a "regular" day I don't eat Breakfast at all and don't have lunch until around 2pm, so I am accustomed to going long stretches without eating. I had a harder time with the caffeine the first time around. The second time, I switched to half-caff for a week before starting the liquid diet, then switched over to decaf on day 5. No headaches the second time around. I'm not sure for when my surgery will be rescheduled. It might be as late as mid-September. I don't know.. need to look at the calendar and juggle dates. BUT I"LL GET THERE!!

My dr said 2 weeks. Mine were healed at 2 weeks and I had him okay me just in case

I had my surgery on May 7th also. Bad gas pains under ribs the first two days, but have been able to get alot out last night. Still feeling gas pains, but much less severe. I have no trouble sipping Water and no nausea, so I feel extremely fortunate. I lost 8-pounds during my 1-week clear liquid diet prior to the surgery. I weighed myself this morning and am down another 5-lbs! Havin trouble eating regularly; I have absolutely no appetite at this point; I tried a Protein drink and could only drink a few sips. I've also tried cream of wheat made with milk and didn't have any trouble with that, but I forgot to add the Protein powder to it. This is a whole new 'normal', and it will take me a few days to get used to the routine.

I was also sleeved July 18th. I've lost 40lbs, but this past week I am at a stand still. I have been released to eat anything I can cut with a fork. Doing better each day. Still feel I eat only protein. By the time I get my 1/4 cup of protein in, I can't eat anymore. I still do my shake in the am, but did try a protein bar yesterday. It did real well.

My husband is taking the week of surgery off and my mom is too, so yes I do have support. Now that I am thinking about it, I'm going to save my frozen stuff for when they go back to work. I'll let them deal with the feedings of the "animals".

Wow, I'm so sorry to hear that. I had surgery in Mexico with Dr Aceves. I had no pain after surgery, although I did have nausea the first two nights. Not during the day, just when I went to lay down for the night. Weird. I had a hernia repaired (didn't know I had it). I was in the hospital for three nights after surgery and had an hour-long van ride to the airport. I used a stuffed animal between my stomach and the seatbelt so no problems. The flight home was uneventful and I drove myself home from the airport (maybe 15-20 minutes). Still no pain, just tired and ready to lie down on the couch when I got home.

My wife was originally planning on having WLS (specifically VSG) after watching my successful recovery with relatively minor complications and successful weight loss. She was going to wait 6 months after my post op to see how things are progressing for me before making a decision to attend a WLS consulatation. Regardless, her latest decision is to not have WLS for a couple reasons. 1. Slimes and throwing up: She didn't like all the slimes and throwing up I went through when adjusting to the solids phase. It was mainly my fault because I am a fast eater and it took me a while to learn to "hear" the full signals. I had to learn how much to eat, how fast to eat and what types of food my sleeve an tolerate over time. Regardless, she didn't like seeing me in the bathroom so much after eating. I am better now, but still have issues with eating stringy things like roast bean or string green Beans in addition to fatty meats. Truely, it feels like dumping syndrome. I do try to explain to her that not everyone slimes and throws up and most of the time, it was my fault. 2. Auto-immune disease: She has at least 1 auto-immune disease. The one that she has requires an infusion of remicade every 6 weeks. This is one expensive infusion. It is called Ankylosing Spondylitis. You can follow the link for more details. It is basically an auto-immune disesase that attacks all the joints and there is no cure. When we talked to the surgeon during one of my pre-op visits, he said that people with auto-immune diseases might have more complications, but did not go into the details. She might also have PCOS. We do not know yet and will find out soon. This is where I could really use some advise from others. She has about 150 lb to lose as we both ended up in the same weight range at our heaviest earlier this year. Maybe it is because of life stresses? Who knows. The fact is that her extra weight may be contributing to other complications like high blood pressure, pregnancy issues, lack of desire to be outdoors like walking and hiking and on and on. There are plenty of reasons here alone that would make sense for her to consider it. She has tried manu diets (as I have), but has never lost more than 10-20 lbs on them. Atkins, weight watchers, etc. I've had fairly good results from the diets because I am very focused when something needs to be done, but then I lose my focus and the weight comes back. Hence, WLS was the only tool left for me in order to stop the up and down of weight gain and weight loss. She used to be "thin" (size 12) in high school, so I am pretty sure she remembers what that is like. She was a pretty hot girl in her younger days. In college she was slightly overweight, but still very hot and sexy (we got married then). We both put on a lot of weight in the last 12 years of our marriage. I don't hold the weight against her (never have), but I would like her to be healthy to avoid future weight-related complications. The weight does not cause her to be unhappy about her life (mainly family is what makes her happy). She is usually in a positive mood and certainly brings happiness and well-being to my life. I would like her to consider WLS because it is life-changing and truely opens up a lot of opportunities that did not exist before. However, I don't want to push her into something she is against. Any thoughts?

First of all I have so many questions, I decided to do this because of my weight, Im tired of being critized and I really want a change in my life and plus is for healthy issues. Im super nervous help with questions about pain and how much will I lose like in 3 weeks.

I'm so glad to see this post!! mine has however been lower back pain. I was sleeved on may 13. my back pain started a couple of weeks ago and got so bad I could hardly move. I started going to my chiropractor again last week and he said with my large amount of weight loss it causes my spine and hips to recalibrate how i carry my weight so everything gets out of whack. I've been getting adjustments every other day trying to get everything back in position. I'm glad to hear some of you have seen a decrease in pain over time. I hope that's the case with me.

I had surgery 5/5, so we're pretty close. ????. My doc says another week of liquids, but I broke that rule a long time ago. For work, I have my fridge stocked with premier protein shakes, the liquid fruit tasting protein shakes and cottage cheese. These get me through my day and I've been back since last Monday. Hope this helps.

Yes - I'm starting my 4th week out from surgery and I have back pain. I work from home and I cannot sit at my desk or at the kitchen table to work. I have to work sitting on the couch and moving around frequently. I'm going to ask my surgeon about it tomorrow.

Hello All. I had RNY on 5/4/15 with a weight of 245 so I'm exactly 3 weeks post - OP. And including the 3 day liquid diet, I have lost 25lbs. Admittedly the first couple of days were rough. A bit painful and I was prefer grumpy for a bout a week with nothing but water and protein shakes. ( God bless my poor family) I was a GROUCH ???? When I was able to wear some soft food and exercise, my mood changed. I noticed though that old habits called to me .... Like watching TV and naturally wanting to snack and commercials with food of any kind made me long to put real food in my mouth. All of the things that got me here were still in my mind trying to convince my stomach that I was hungry. I tried to recognize that and learn from it so far. I feel very lucky that I can easily achieve over 64oz water each day and pills and listed food items are going down without any problem . I was nervous with puréed food like potatos and oatmeal because I felt with the loose foods I could eat more than the restrictive Tablespoon ... I thought " oh no , was the surgery unsuccessful - why don't I feel full yet" I think my surgeon is just that good that the pouch wasn't too swelled from surgery and to accept that things were going well and that loose foods were just sliding through . Almost happily, once I introduced the pouch to Tuna.... That full feeling came quick as well as with eggs and a 1/4 piece of toast. I'm going back to work tomorrow an am planning what to pack for the day / week. 3 weeks out and I am starting to feel like myself again .... Still a little sore and get fatigued easier but stronger every day! I have my checkup this week and feeling all has gone well so far. With one exception , there have been no issues ... Sorry for the TMI but haven't had a BM in a week ( started taking Milk of Magnesia as authorized by doc. Yesterday) but still nothing ???? Starting to get nervous over this as well I should as I understand it. Let's hope this passes and fixes itself with a little help soon . I'm happy to have found this site and all of your great posts have helped so much early in this journey ... Thanks e-

Lisa, Thank you! I found inspiration from many I read about, watched on videos, etc. So, I hope you're correct-I'd love to offer that to others. Amazing...eh, lol. That might be a stretch, lol. But I walk 4 miles, three times a week; swim the other three days...taking one rest day. Now that is truly amazing! All the best to you! -Daniel Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

It took me years to get up the courage to go with WLS (I weigh 500lbs at 6' tall). My surgery is in 2 weeks. I start a 2 week pre-op of clear liquids with protein shakes on Monday. Not too worried about that. Did Optifast before and have lots of family support. But when I read post-op topics it seems that a lot of people are not doing well or are unhappy. Getting hungry all the time, having lots of cravings, only losing a lb a week although consuming 250 calories a day. Is that only true for newby's? Are people unhappy that they chose this after a month or two months out? I don't plan to back out now, but I'm starting to become more apprehensive than excited. This is truly my last resort and if I don't have positive results I have no where else to turn. I can barely walk right now and so it will take a significant weight loss before I am able to do any meaningful exercise which I know will speed up the loss.

Hey I will be the week before you, March 22, similar story to yours, so excited!!

Hi. I have 2 questions, First, I have been on food (soft meats) for over a week, and suddenly, I just don't feel like eating anymore. Is that normal? My surgery was June 14. And 2, I have been drinking Fairlife fat free milk, but since I am having trouble getting much food in, should I switch to the whole or low fat instead of fat free? For calories. I see the surgeon on Thurs and a dietition on Sat. Thank you. Sent from my SM-G930T using BariatricPal mobile app

I am I think 15 wks and lost 56 lbs don't regret a thing, do I sometimes wish I could eat something that I use to yes, but is it worth it to me NO so I get over it pretty quick usually just takes a look in the mirror and the feeling is gone... I can also tell you that I am never hungry I have to tell myself to go and eat... I haven't had a stall yet until this week, and yes it's sucks and I can't help but think OMG am I done losing weight, but you know what next week is or the week after when the scale moves i'll be fine... It is a matter of defeating your mind... I read some of those post to and all I have to say about that is some People need to make sure their minds are in the right place before having any wls, alot of our problems start there, it is one big head game...

Yes! I would love to hear from those that went swimming before three weeks post-op and what happened???

Today is was day one of the liquid phase. I am trying to get that momentum back if at all possible. SO! I had 52 grams of Whey protein and sugarfree juice and one popsicle. And I went running in probably 99-100+ degree weather. I pray I can continue...but I do have another fill scheduled for Wednesday the 28th of this month. This fill will be number five in over three years. Until tomorrow, Keep the Faith.

I started pretty much EXACTLY where you are. My surgery was 07/08/2011. 200 pounds was my goal weight, but 8 months post op, I was at 185. When I was at 200, I still was carrying too much fat, so I didn't go into maintenance mode until then. I bounce between 180 and 190 now 2+ years later. Sizing was a wild trip. My clothes fit fine for the first 40 pounds, which was so disappointing. But then, things started changing. Middle of September, I was in a 40 pants. 2 weeks later, 38. Month after that, 36. Two weeks later, 34. Shirt sizes dropping just as rapidly. I now wear a medium shirt and a 32 pant. It is difficult to wrap my mind around, but that is the reality. Thinking you will be an XL with a 40 waist is big man thinking. I can pretty much guarantee you will be much leaner than that. If you go to my gallery under my profile, you can see my before and after pics. Have you read THIS thread?

I'd say about 3 weeks when I started soft foods. I felt pressure in my chest and didn't realize it was a sign of full feeling. I thought it was gas lol. You will get the feeling soon