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Hi everyone! I just wanted to introduce myself-- I am a 26 y.o. RN and I had the sleeve done on Jan 24th. I have been overweight and/or obese my whole life. Stressful does not begin to describe my childhood and adolescence... that plus genetics and family influences, maintaining a healthy weight was a loosing battle by conventional methods. And I have strangely unstable weight (no set point?). When I hit 300 pounds w/sciatica from hell I'd had enough. I knew what was next: metabolic syndrome diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure. Its all down hill from there.

After doing my extensive (obsessive) research in medical journals, I decided that the sleeve was the most logical choice for me. So far I am very happy with my decision, though my surgeon frustrates me. It seems his diet regimen is very different (and less logical) than other surgeons. 3 weeks on Clear liquids or untill you experience hunger and then move on to soft Proteins (ground meat, tuna, Beans, etc). Well I was hungry 3 days post-op. Since being on my PPI, the intensity has lessened a lot and I've made it to 2 weeks on liquids. I'm starting to add soft Proteins into my diet. I'm looking forward to the energy I'll get from the food-- more to burn :) I've got a LOT of Protein mixes coming this week (weather permitting) which eggface recommended and I'm looking forward to getting in the kitchen again and trying out her recipes :)

Since surgery, I have lost 18 pounds (god knows how much of that was muscle). I hope to kick start another loosing streak once I can get my Protein back to a normal level. I've been hitting Wii fit 30-45 min a day and I'm adding Dance Dance Revolution in the morning :)

Also, I hate my Bariatric Advantage vitamins!!! Some of them are sweetened with sorbitol and apparently I am very sensitive to its laxative effect. I need something better and I'd rather not throw them out. Any ideas? Thanks!

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Welcome! You did your research (like many of us) and picked the sleeve! YAY!!

Congrats on your loss so far! It sure is exciting to see those numbers drop. I can't imagine being on Clear Liquids for 3 weeks, but I am sure there are others who have done it. The best advice I received was to "follow your surgeon's recommendations" so that tends to be the advice that I give others as well.

I use Celebrate Vitamins but I don't know off the top of my head whether or not they contain sorbitol. I do know that several Vitamin sites will send you free samples (both Celebrate and Bariatric Advantage do, because I signed up for a free sample kit and there was a lot of variety in each kit.) But keep trying until you find what works for you, you do not want to skimp on your Vitamins.

Again, welcome ...to the losers bench!

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Congrats on your decision!

Don't be fooled by some diet plans, I had clear liquids for 2 weeks, full liquids for 4 weeks and only after week 6 I was allowed normal soft Proteins and food (and then regular food at my discretion) -- pretty much the same as yours or even a bit worst

You can do it!

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I take the Gummy Vites for adults, I recently heard Oprah saying she can't stop eating them, well they are good you don't get that medicine taste. I was tempted to buy the BA ones but I was waiting until mine ran out some people tell me I must take the bariatric specialized ones because they are better. My post-op diet was not nearly as strict as yours I mean I was on soft foods/mushy week 3. It's good that you are getting your cardio in I am a fan of Zumba if you have a Y near you check it out also I enjoy Dance Central on the Xbox. My kids have taken over the Wii not a chance I can get near it! The hardest thing for me to take is the calcium citrate wafers, those are going to require that I get botox soon due to the crazy facial expressions I make while attempting to get it down. But I wouldn't change a thing this has been the best thing I ever did for myself!

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You might appreciate the laxative effect of the sorbitol after you start eating more Proteins.< img src="https://www.bariatricpal.com/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif" alt="biggrin.gif" />

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kkkkkk you have a great point!

You might appreciate the laxative effect of the sorbitol after you start eating more Proteins.< img src="https://www.bariatricpal.com/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif" alt="biggrin.gif" />

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I have a full thing of BA chewable vitamines and had a horrible time with nausea. I just couldn't tolerate them. Like you... I didn't want to throw them out so I started sucking on them. On a full stomach I suck very slowly until the vitamine is about half gone.... then about 20 minutes later I slowly suck the rest. I have had no problems since I started this, I think it helps alot to have it hit your stomach slowly. I do't know if it will impact the laxative effect.

Once I'm finished with this bottle I will get a different brand

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I am using the Bariatric Advantage, our office sells different flavors and at our pre-op nutrition seminar, we got to sample them to see which flavors we liked. I never had any problems with the nausea. As for the laxative effect....I do not see this in me at all. I have had to Miralax to my regime twice a week to keep things moving nice and softly (TMI). I have been looking at the costco brand (Kirkland) and they appear to be very similar in the Vitamin % so I may switch them to as they are a little lower in cost.

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I take the Gummy Vites for adults, I recently heard Oprah saying she can't stop eating them, well they are good you don't get that medicine taste. I was tempted to buy the BA ones but I was waiting until mine ran out some people tell me I must take the bariatric specialized ones because they are better. My post-op diet was not nearly as strict as yours I mean I was on soft foods/mushy week 3. It's good that you are getting your cardio in I am a fan of Zumba if you have a Y near you check it out also I enjoy Dance Central on the Xbox. My kids have taken over the Wii not a chance I can get near it! The hardest thing for me to take is the Calcium citrate wafers, those are going to require that I get botox soon due to the crazy facial expressions I make while attempting to get it down. But I wouldn't change a thing this has been the best thing I ever did for myself!

I LOVE my vitafusion gummy vites! I agree with Opra. I need to take them with me to my dr's appointment for his blessing. I've also signed up for samples with those other companies.

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I will have to go and find other multis - I have the ones from Costco/Kirkwood right now and they are just huge.

At the moment, I am taking:

1. Multi Vitamin

2. PPI

3. Vitamin B12

4. Vitamin D (just a precaution because I was low on D before surgery, and they are tiny gel caps)

5. hair, Skin and Nails stuff (trying to fight the hairloss before it starts, it's Biotin with some other stuff)

6. Crazy pill (as my husband lovingly calls it, Wellbutrin)

The problem is 1 and 5 are huge - I often have to gag and don't get them down with one swig and it is driving me crazy. I dread taking them. Who likes to gag unless it is...well, never mind. Pill 5. screwed me over because I only realized after I bought them that the serving size is THREE HUGE pills - I only take 2 because I can't handle 3 of those. I love the Ds because they are those nice little gel pills.< /p>

I like the idea of the Gummy Vitamins but the only ones I can find are for children and don't have nearly as many Vitamins as the other one - which ones do you get specifically?

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I will have to go and find other multis - I have the ones from Costco/Kirkwood right now and they are just huge.

At the moment, I am taking:

1. Multi Vitamin

2. PPI

3. Vitamin B12

4. Vitamin D (just a precaution because I was low on D before surgery, and they are tiny gel caps)

5. hair, Skin and Nails stuff (trying to fight the hairloss before it starts, it's Biotin with some other stuff)

6. Crazy pill (as my husband lovingly calls it, Wellbutrin)

The problem is 1 and 5 are huge - I often have to gag and don't get them down with one swig and it is driving me crazy. I dread taking them. Who likes to gag unless it is...well, never mind. Pill 5. screwed me over because I only realized after I bought them that the serving size is THREE HUGE pills - I only take 2 because I can't handle 3 of those. I love the Ds because they are those nice little gel pills.< /p>

I like the idea of the Gummy Vitamins but the only ones I can find are for children and don't have nearly as many Vitamins as the other one - which ones do you get specifically?

I have been taking Vitafusion multi vites, Calcium and Vitamin C. I have also taken the prenatal ones and they rock. Costco's website is selling most of them right now with $2 off. The multi isn't as complete as most, but I'm happy to have more gummy goodness to make up for it ;) That sucks about the hair pills. I should probably consider looking into that as well. I'd love to avoid loosing my hair.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
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