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Hi, sleeves 2/11 lost 10 pounds in the first week. Seriously upset though bc the scale hasn't budged in a week. I do have a hard time getting in enough fluids and protein but I am walking 30 min every day on top of my normal housework. I have zero heartburn or difficulty getting my soft foods in. But for example yesterday was an egg w cheese a babybel cheese and a half a piece of cod but I was so full I couldn't look at anything else. Is my body that stubborn it won't kick the weight off? Aside from not being hungry I'm wondering why I did this! I just feel alone bc all my husband can say is "I don't know you're beautiful anyway" ... While I adore is answer I just wonder if I'm alone out there ... Sorry for the rant just very frustrated this morning

I feel like you were in my head when you posted the first part of your post! My bf will go with me when he can but being it is a 3 hr drive each way for us, it's not always going to be possible. He is educating himself daily though and asks me lots of questions. If I don't know the answer, we start googling together. When you said your fiancé brought you something bc he had something. So true here too! I love that he thinks about me but gosh it's gotta stop. I try not to sound like the nagging woman but lately I have told him he needs to ask if I want something first. He will learn! (:

I have it had it for 15 years now. When I exercise it gets horrible. Nut said my light string cheese paired with 6 cashews was perfect to balance and pick up the bsl fast. Its got Protein, Fiber plus some fat all in one. I would have to snack on those 2 things several times a day before. Eating something small every 2 hours was (and is the only way according to my nut) the only way for me to keep the bs levels even. Mine regularly run in the 60's.

Yes, people do die and have died from this surgery. It is a sad fact. There was a guy who was on here a few months ago who passed away, he had a blood clot after several other issues. There are some people that have leaks, and I did read one poster posted about here sister who had tons of issues and was hospitalized for several months after this surgery, and had to be fed through a feeding tube. I'm not trying to scare you by telling you these things, but it does happen. I was lucky enough to be incident free when I had my sleeve done, but I was also in relatively good health. That is not to say people in good health do not have complications. My mother had a tummy tuck in December, she used a wonderful surgeon that cam highly reccommended who I helped her choose after tons of research. Her tummy tuck went septic, she had to be recut open and the area had to be fully cleaned out. She spent over 2 weeks in the hospital, and is still not fully recovered, she still ahs extensive swelling and the scar looks awful. She just happened to be number 1 in a million. I would do this surgery again in a heart beat, and I will probably have a tummy tuck someday as well, but please do all of your research and know that unfortunately complications do exist in any type of surgery, and one of those complications is death. I hope you find a good trusted surgeon. Best of luck to you.

My surgery was November 2017 (VSG) and I've had issues with breakthrough bleeding on my usual pill, and still despite changing pills about 3 months ago. My provider thinks it could be an absorption issue, which I don't know if I necessarily agree with considering I had VSG and not bypass, but anyways... Has anyone gone to the Nexplanon (arm) birth control after surgery? Thoughts on it? I'm half a** looking into it (aka kind of not really) but wanted to see if anyone had personal experience on here going from pill to arm implant.

I got my first on my own period in a few yrs yayy, I praise God! No progesterone or bc pills to induced.

Hi. I had my surgery at OLOL in br. I'm 2 weeks and 3 days post op. Down 23lbs. I'm trying to stay hydrated bc I'm on verge of being dehydrated. I can hardly drink water it just doesn't go down well. Trying crystal light and powerade zero. Hoping it all goes well. How are u?

There are some references to bc/bs in the insurance forum, but I wanted to wish you the best of luck!!!

Banded 3/19/2012 this summer had to get all fluid taken out. Lost total of 40 lbs, gained back 30 recently. Dr wanted to do revision, bc of stomach coming up over band. Insurance wouldn't pay for new wls so, I said to keep my band. I'm all good now, it went back down with unfill and liquid diet. I go next week for another fill(3rd since unfilled), right now I still have no restriction. With my Dr hating the band now, and not doing them anymore, I feel so isolated. Started local support group this week, but no one has had the band. I feel like I'm on my own. Could anyone give me an encouraging lapband story?

Both my kids are high functioning ASD - I know what you mean! We mostly avoid artificial/processed food, but the pre-op diet was tough. I'd already picked up a few Sucralose products during the insurance mandated diet, but went full chemical sugar free for the last few weeks of super low carb. Man, it was *nasty*. But I've seen the pictures from my surgery and my liver looked FABULOUS, so I'm pretending it helped my liver shrink and am moving on. Like elisa5150, I did use sugar free stuff the first month or so - especially the sugar free popsicles - but also Gelatin, Protein powder, and some protein hot chocolate. Now, I use flavored stevia drops for kefir or yogurt (yay live cultures!) and a little xylitol (a sugar alcohol) in my tea. Some of Protein shakes (Orgain) have stevia and erythritol (another sugar alcohol) or monkfruit and inulin (Jamie Eason Lean Body for Her). Personally, I do really well with xylitol and okay with erythritol (though their "naturalness" is highly debatable). And while current research increasingly makes it look like sucralose and other traditional artificial sweeteners are really messing with gut health, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that stevia, monkfruit, xylitol, or erythritol have much effect one way or the other. There are natural(-ish) protein powders out there - as long as you can keep the carbs and protein where they're supposed to be. (My NUT recommended youbars - they make custom Protein Bars with options for natural sweeteners.) We love grass fed butter and cheese, though I'm sticking with olive oil and coconut oil for now. I do have a tub of natural coconut oil based vegan butter spread I use every once in a while, but I wouldn't give up grass fed dairy for margarine if I had a choice. Mostly, though, my new stomach prefers savory moderate to low fat food, so I try to work with that as much as I can. When I was still eating dairy, I discovered I could mix herbs (Penzey's Fox Point seasoning) into low fat Greek yogurt and use it as a dip. Still got my protein, but didn't have to sweeten it. Which is probably for the best. I don't think living on artificially sweet or fatty things is necessarily better than living on real sweet or fatty things. So, good fats when we eat them - grass fed beef; pastured eggs; olive & coconut oil - and all in reasonable amount. If a dish is too fatty, I can't eat enough to meet my protein goal. Sort of a self limiting problem, so I don't see the need to drag margarine into it. As for sweets... research just keeps making it look like artificial sweeteners wreck your gut and make you crave more sweets. Which kind of makes sense since some "bad" gut bacteria has been tied to increased sugar consumption/desire for sugar. And sweets have gotten me into a lot of trouble in general, so I feel like this is the time to develop better habits. Thank heavens I did full on high fat/low carb Keto before surgery - I rarely had sweet things anyway and it still kicked my butt! But it really did kick the sugar cravings and I am so glad I didn't have to deal with that post surgery! It's made it way easier to explore healthy options that don't involve so many chemicals. Now to try and get back on my gut health protocol and try and get my kids onboard. Wow - sorry this is so meandering - it's the middle of the night and we have a small herd of cousins over for the first Christmas break sleepover. Brain. Fried. Let me know if you need product ideas - I feel like I've researched them all . Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

There is aftercare but minimal is included. I will b speaking to him on the phone at one month post op. Blood work is done at 3,6 and 12 months. I went to my family doctor and she requisitioned blood work for me now bc of the transfusions. U have 2 nutritionist consults included in your fee w dr Gagner. I had the first one a week before surgery by telephone. It was an hour conversation. I did not feel rushed. The second one will b 2-3weeks post op. That one may b more helpful as iam now trying to put into practice what they sent to me on paper. I won't lie, drinking and eating at this early stage is so hard. U feel full a few sips in. It's unimaginable but totally true. So one small Protein Meal Replacement drink I bought takes an hour or more to get in. Iam constantly sipping. No straws! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

So glad to see you guys using this forum! The other night I posted on Atlanta Craigslist on the M4M section looking for other guys that have had WLS and some FU*#ER flagged It so it was deleted! All i was trying to do was find others that were gay and had WLS so I could find locals to talk to!! Pissed me off but anyway, I hate to hear your friends are not wanting you to lose a certain amount of weight bc u identify with the bear community, other communities, etc. . Honestly I've always been into the muscle bears anyway, just not other overweight guys, I've always liked thinner guys. As you all probably know I had my surgery 28 days ago today(4 weeks ago July 26th) and ive lost 26lbs as of Monday this week. Feeling better about myself already and I think it shows in my personality bc I seem to be getting more attention already, I'm actually on my way to Mississippi now to meet someone I've been talking to for almost 3 years who is the most amazingly sweet and Absolutely GORGEOUS guy!!! I myself have no problem not identifying as a bear anymore, I want to be thin! I want to feel comfortable walking around without a shirt, or getting completely naked and just strutting my stuff in front of other good looking men LOL...Bottom line no matter what, I'm me first, not a bear or anything else first, just me and that's most important, you all remember that! I hope this works out with this guy, we've both wanted each other for a while, We both thought the other wasn't interested after he stopped talking to me when my brother was really sick and before he passed. He stopped talking to me bc he knew I was stressed but I sure wish he had told me how he felt lol. Anyway, wish me luck! I'll post later to update y'all on how it's going.

I have to call tomorrow see if he wants to see me bc they knew I was going get fluids. If they don't will be for a 3mo visit in February You really should insist on going in. You shouldn't be having this much trouble.

I'd take him to your Dr appt with you and have the Dr chew him out! If he doesn't support you, this process will be extremely difficult. I feel badly for your situation. But you have to take care of yourself. If he feels the need to leave bc you are healthy..... then so be it. Extra weight on your emotions you don't need. Sent from my SM-G930V using the BariatricPal App

I bet it's from the 35,000 calories they force-fed you while under anesthesia....

I just came back from my check-up and I have lost little weight, so the “program” isn’t working for me. I left the doctor’s office crying after trying to explain about my IBS issues and why I cannot eat in the mornings. Right away the doctor wanted to blame me and he picked me apart in his office until I broke down and laughed at me. I asked him to help work the program around me rather than me for the program since not everyone is the same. I was humiliated and now I just don’t care anymore. I cannot get a physician to help with my nerve pain from a previous surgery that a doctor messed up on so I can exercise and I am tired of buying the expensive food, Vitamins, emotional; stress, and other BS this surgery has brought. I was told/accused of eating over what I should, which is BS, and that I must be responsible somehow, maybe the program should re-evaluate how patients are different, I was put on a high Protein and low calorie diet by the WL program and hit the floor as a result! I’ve held my chin up and made enormous changes to my life, but all that doesn’t matter-enough is enough, I just can’t keep letting this lifestyle drain me physically and emotional, I give up.

Hey girls. So, 8 years out now. I'm here for kind of a vent. I posted about my struggles before. I've been seeing a therapist and she's really been reluctant to contradict my doctor but she absolutely doesn't believe I have a full-on eating disorder. but I don't think there's any denying that anyone that gets to where we were has issues with disordered eating. and the control aspect after weight loss surgery is such a major thing. Anyway, my doctor's solution back when this all happened was to have me gain weight, and the way she made sure that happened was by putting me on a medication that really increased my appetite at the same time that she took me off of my mood stabilizer that suppressed my appetite and prevented binging. I didn't really gain much - 12-15 pounds - but I felt like I was starving all the time and the only thing I wanted were processed carbohydrates and soda. the medication is known to cause that issue. I guess my vent is that over the course of 9 months or so she feels I've gained too much weight. Like, there was some magical line four or five pounds ago that equals "healthy" and now I've crossed it. She immediately pulled me off of the Seroquel, put me back on the old mood stabilizer, and put me on a weight neutral substitute for the Seroquel. She's "hoping I'll be a better weight soon." Can I just say a really loud, emphatic WTF?! This neverending BS about our weight with physicians is probably going to drive me mad. My only health concern is that my a1c jumped from 4.1 to 5.1 over that time frame, so still healthy, but clearly indicative that my eating habits had taken a dive. I'm just doing my own darn thing from now on. To heck with it all. I'm still maintaining, still itty bitty, and never would have put on a pound if that idiotic doctor hadn't made me. my focus right now is eating 3 meals a day and 4 snacks. Just a little vent, and a reminder that no matter what size we are the garbage about our weight never seems to end! Cheri

Hi. It’s actually not uncommon for some WLS patients to feel depressed or anxious after surgery. As I deal with both, my nurse practitioner has been monitoring me closely. So far I’ve been well. Over time, WLS surgery can help relieve depression. So, be gentle with yourself. It can feel overwhelming bc you want to do everything perfectly. I napped daily for weeks. My biggest focus was (and still is) getting protein, fluid, and moving. I certainly wasn’t close to my 69 grams of protein initial goal nor my fluids goal. In fact, I still work hard to get it in and my surgery was 12/28/17. I saw my surgeon today and she is very happy with my progress. Of course, if your exhaustion is severe, you may need to have your iron and b-12 levels checked. Rest assured that what you’re experiencing is not uncommon. You know your body and should be concerned, please call your surgeon. That’s what he/she is there for. I’m happy to hear that you’ve moved about. Your body needs rest too and it’s perfectly fine to give it what it needs. Sending you [emoji295]️ [emoji304] and [emoji882].

I found this on Pinterest and tried it tonight...tasty. While I only made for me, seems like a good one that your family could have over rice. This is half the orig. recipe and my post-op stage (1 month, getting in 1/4 to 1/3 C) I will easily have 5 servings : 1 lb bs chicken breasts, cut into chunks 1/8 C ap flour 1/4 t pepper 1/2 T canola oil 1/4 C soy sauce 2 T rice wine vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar) 2 T ketchup ( I used hoisin, because was, surprisingly, out of ketchup) 1 T brown sugar 1 minced garlic clove 1/2 t fresh grated ginger 1/4 t crushed red pepper 1/2 C cashews Step 1: add flour and pepper to plastic bag. Add chicken pieces and shake to coat ( do this right before step 2, or it will get wet and gummy) Step 2: heat oil on med. high in large skillet and brown chicken 2-3 min. on each side. Step 3: make sauce (all remaining ingredients except cashews) Step 4: add all (except cashews) to crok pot and cook on low for 3 hours. Add cashews about 15 min. Prior to serving. Also, could see adding snow peas, broccoli and/or carrots to the pot halfway through cooking.

Ok - What I should have said was "Did you listen to bull-shit like that when you were fat?" I mean telling someone who is overweight that "Just because you can eat a lot does that mean you should"... is bull - did you listen to that crap pre-banding? Overweight people have a problem and the band is supposed to help us not "eat a lot"... that was the original posters point... is "why can I still eat a lot".... she didn't say "Should I still eat a lot?" Obviously, we shouldn't eat a lot with or without the band! The band is a tool to help us not eat a lot.... Yes it still takes the head to make decisions about not eating Ice Cream! (or milk-shakes or candy) So I agree it is a combination of the head and the band.... I just don't think BS "sayings" are helpful!

Awesome! Where are you from in Texas (only assume bc of your screen name)? Robyn

Hi debwin! Sorry it took so long to reply, I was away for work. How is your pre-op diet going? I am from BC (Canada). I might postpone my date though. I just got a promotion at work and I need to fly to our head office for training 3 weeks after surgery. I don't think this is realistic. If my body responds well to the surgery and to drinking all my fluids, it could work but that's if everything goes perfect. I don't know that 3 weeks is enough time to rest and recover though. I'll have to make a decision by tonight so I can change arrangements asap. How is your pre-op going??? Are you getting excited, nervous, both?

My port don't hurt neither is swollen, red or anything. My port is on top of my belly button n is uncomfortable with the pants rubbing n sometimes when I sit or the way I sit. I had breast redux 6 weeks ago n it's being challenging, everything is off. Sometimes I'm fine n in a second get a little pain in my stomach. I still bruise n swollen from the surgery since the nurse told me that older people takes longer to heal. If I touch my boobs or something my stomachs n sides will feel the discomfort. I don't want to get physc when I read all the postings. This has not being a picnic this is a journey. It's a long time since I vomit, I place myself on shakes broth etc after the surgery bc that is when all the little things started. I loved to get info on other cases get prep just in case. My blessing to all of you.

I had 2 weeks clears (actually did 17 days), and 1 week of full liquids then onto mushy/purees. This was after my leak repair, and not being able to have anything by mouth for over 20 days. I was fed via a central line and a TPN bag of 1800 calories with nutrients/vitamins/protein via IV to allow my stomach to heal after the leak repair. So, I went almost 3 weeks with NOTHING by mouth. No ice chips, no hard cardy, nothing more than my own spit. It was hell, but I survived, and if I can go that long with nothing, a couple of weeks of liquids seemed so trivial once I was able to have anything in my mouth ! ! ! My program normal guidelines are 2 weeks clear, 2 weeks full, 2 weeks mushy/purees then introduce regular solids as tolerated. No raw veggies, fruit or nuts until 3 months post-op.

i was banded in July 2009 and found out i was pregnant in March 2010 i had my daughter in dec 2010. i havent seen my lapband dr since 2010 bc i moved to NY and now im back in MA where i was banded i see him on thursday for the first time in years kinda dreading it idk how he will react to me basically breaking every "rule" i agreed to before i was banded but we shall see. during my pregnancy i had about 4CCs and no unfills i ended up with a dialated esophogus and am not loosing anything but not gaining either. Right now im also starting over and going back to basics and i feel no restriction what so ever, do you?