Hi,

Today I met with my surgeon for a 5 week post-op check up. I am happy that I have lost 31 lbs. total and also broke my stall. I am only 8 lbs away from Onderland! Looking forward to that!!!

I asked my doc a few questions and I was wondering what others experiences were with these questions.

1. I have no idea how many calories I should be eating. I asked and they told me that I don't need to count calories or carbs! I should only look at fat grams and sugar grams and make sure they are under 5 grams. And of course, I should look at Protein and it should be as high as possible. Hmmmm I thought that was interesting.

2. Advil! They told me I could not take Advil....... Tylenol only. I finally had my cycle this week. Most all of my cycles are quite debilitating. They always have been and Tylenol doesn't even scratch the surface for pain. Do your doctors advise against Advil? If I knew I could never ever take Advil again, I would have thought twice about this surgery. They told me never to take it again. I thought it was just while my stomach was healing.

3. I have a horrible sore throat and cold coming on. I love my Nyquil for just that. They told me no Nyquil. Anyone have experience with Nyquil after the sleeve?

4. They released me to eat all foods. I am so excited I can eat salad! Did anyone have trouble when they started eating Fiber again? They told me that in the beginning to eat it only at home, it can go right through you. Anyone have problems with salads at first?

That is basically it. I did find out my bougie he used is a 32. I have no idea what that even really means. I knew I wanted to ask though, because I hear you all talk about it on here. I need to research that a bit more. Time to educate myself on that!

I hope someone can offer some experience and advice! Thanks!

Tracy

Hi,

Today I met with my surgeon for a 5 week post-op check up. I am happy that I have lost 31 lbs. total and also broke my stall. I am only 8 lbs away from Onderland! Looking forward to that!!!

I asked my doc a few questions and I was wondering what others experiences were with these questions.

1. I have no idea how many calories I should be eating. I asked and they told me that I don't need to count calories or carbs! I should only look at fat grams and sugar grams and make sure they are under 5 grams. And of course, I should look at Protein and it should be as high as possible. Hmmmm I thought that was interesting. I do track my calories and carbs. I am averaging around 800 per day and try to keep my carbs at 50 or less a day (closer to 30 if possible). Our guidelines was no more than 5 grams of fat, 15 grams of carbs (which is sugar) per 100 calories. This is based on my NUT.

2. Advil! They told me I could not take Advil....... Tylenol only. I finally had my cycle this week. Most all of my cycles are quite debilitating. They always have been and Tylenol doesn't even scratch the surface for pain. Do your doctors advise against Advil? If I knew I could never ever take Advil again, I would have thought twice about this surgery. They told me never to take it again. I thought it was just while my stomach was healing. We have a huge list of no medications. My husband use to take Aleve and we switched to extra strength Tylenol. I still would chose this over any other surgery.

3. I have a horrible sore throat and cold coming on. I love my Nyquil for just that. They told me no Nyquil. Anyone have experience with Nyquil after the sleeve? So far I have been lucky with no colds this winter. When I did get a sore throat, I upped my intake of Vitamin C with OJ, apple juice anything to increase.

4. They released me to eat all foods. I am so excited I can eat salad! Did anyone have trouble when they started eating fiber again? They told me that in the beginning to eat it only at home, it can go right through you. Anyone have problems with salads at first?

I am 4 months out and my first experience with lettuce did not sit well. It did not go right through me but it did not digest. I do take benefiber every day to not become constipated.

That is basically it. I did find out my bougie he used is a 32. I have no idea what that even really means. I knew I wanted to ask though, because I hear you all talk about it on here. I need to research that a bit more. Time to educate myself on that!

I hope someone can offer some experience and advice! Thanks!

Tracy

Sounds like your doctor was pleased and you should be happy with your results so far. Good luck.

Hi,

Today I met with my surgeon for a 5 week post-op check up. I am happy that I have lost 31 lbs. total and also broke my stall. I am only 8 lbs away from Onderland! Looking forward to that!!!

I asked my doc a few questions and I was wondering what others experiences were with these questions.

1. I have no idea how many calories I should be eating. I asked and they told me that I don't need to count calories or carbs! I should only look at fat grams and sugar grams and make sure they are under 5 grams. And of course, I should look at Protein and it should be as high as possible. Hmmmm I thought that was interesting.

2. Advil! They told me I could not take Advil....... Tylenol only. I finally had my cycle this week. Most all of my cycles are quite debilitating. They always have been and Tylenol doesn't even scratch the surface for pain. Do your doctors advise against Advil? If I knew I could never ever take Advil again, I would have thought twice about this surgery. They told me never to take it again. I thought it was just while my stomach was healing.

3. I have a horrible sore throat and cold coming on. I love my Nyquil for just that. They told me no Nyquil. Anyone have experience with Nyquil after the sleeve?

4. They released me to eat all foods. I am so excited I can eat salad! Did anyone have trouble when they started eating fiber again? They told me that in the beginning to eat it only at home, it can go right through you. Anyone have problems with salads at first?

That is basically it. I did find out my bougie he used is a 32. I have no idea what that even really means. I knew I wanted to ask though, because I hear you all talk about it on here. I need to research that a bit more. Time to educate myself on that!

I hope someone can offer some experience and advice! Thanks!

Tracy

You have 2 kinds of carbs: complex carbs, like oatmeal, bread, potatoes, etc. Then you have simple carbs, like candy, Cookies, any white sugar, etc. I guess your Dr. only wants you to count the simple (sugar) carbs and let the complex carbs slide.

My answers are below ... please remember these are my experience only & should not be used over your surgeon's advice. But, you might want to question on why????

Hi,

Today I met with my surgeon for a 5 week post-op check up. I am happy that I have lost 31 lbs. total and also broke my stall. I am only 8 lbs away from Onderland! Looking forward to that!!!

I asked my doc a few questions and I was wondering what others experiences were with these questions.

1. I have no idea how many calories I should be eating. I asked and they told me that I don't need to count calories or carbs! I should only look at fat grams and sugar grams and make sure they are under 5 grams. And of course, I should look at Protein and it should be as high as possible. Hmmmm I thought that was interesting. I was told to keep protein above 60g and fat under 5 grams per serving and carbs below 15g per serving. Honestly, those first few months I only counted my protein ... eventually, I looked at protein and calories (800 until about 4-5 months, 1000 5-7, then 1200 for 8 and then 1200-1500 for 9-11. I'm maintaining around 1500-2000 now.

2. Advil! They told me I could not take Advil....... Tylenol only. I finally had my cycle this week. Most all of my cycles are quite debilitating. They always have been and Tylenol doesn't even scratch the surface for pain. Do your doctors advise against Advil? If I knew I could never ever take Advil again, I would have thought twice about this surgery. They told me never to take it again. I thought it was just while my stomach was healing. I have no medical/rx restrictions now that everything is healed. Sounds more like RYN guidelines to me. I would question this.

3. I have a horrible sore throat and cold coming on. I love my Nyquil for just that. They told me no Nyquil. Anyone have experience with Nyquil after the sleeve? See #2. I wonder if it's due to the alcohol content in Nyquil?

4. They released me to eat all foods. I am so excited I can eat salad! Did anyone have trouble when they started eating fiber again? They told me that in the beginning to eat it only at home, it can go right through you. Anyone have problems with salads at first? I don't have a problem with salad, but I don't each much of it. Too filling for very little nutritional value. I'd rather have raw veggies instead of all the filler of lettuce.

That is basically it. I did find out my bougie he used is a 32. I have no idea what that even really means. I knew I wanted to ask though, because I hear you all talk about it on here. I need to research that a bit more. Time to educate myself on that! A bougie is the tube that the surgeon uses when cutting/stapling your stomach. There are lots of threads out there if you search on bougie.

I hope someone can offer some experience and advice! Thanks!

Tracy

I am on week 5 myself and had a soft taco supreme from Taco Bell pureed (no shell of course) with lettuce and I had no problems with it, although my tummy did make a little more noise than usual, but my diet has been fairly bland. I have also had a bit of cabbage from an egg roll when eating the pork from it and had no problems. Going out for chinese has been great, egg drop soup is so yummy, and I feel like a normal person again

I think the bougie's range normally from 32-38 or so. My doctor said above 40 there is not enough restriction. I found out today mine uses a 32 also. Nive and smll!

1. I have no idea how many calories I should be eating. I asked and they told me that I don't need to count calories or carbs! I should only look at fat grams and sugar grams and make sure they are under 5 grams. And of course, I should look at Protein and it should be as high as possible. Hmmmm I thought that was interesting. I didn't have to watch fat intake at all, sugar was pretty non-existent because I stuck with sugar free stuff. I watched carbs and protein. Calories were between 600-800 calories, no more than 30-40 grams of carbs, and 60+gr protein. I avoided all fat free products because the carbs and sugar counts were almost double. When they remove the fat, they load with other crap to make it taste better. To this day, I refuse to eat low or fat free.

2. Advil! They told me I could not take Advil....... Tylenol only. I finally had my cycle this week. Most all of my cycles are quite debilitating. They always have been and Tylenol doesn't even scratch the surface for pain. Do your doctors advise against Advil? If I knew I could never ever take Advil again, I would have thought twice about this surgery. They told me never to take it again. I thought it was just while my stomach was healing. Many people win appeals for VSG against insurance companies because NSAIDS including Advil are allowed with VSG. We do not have a pouch that can ulcerate with NSAIDS. Our stomach is just like before, just smaller. It's advised to take NSAIDS with something on your stomach, so I eat a couple of crackers or a few bites of yogurt, pop whatever NSAID I need be it Aleve, Advil, or 800mg RX Ibuprofen, and a little sip of Water to get it down. I've never had issues with NSAIDS. Some surgeons, err on the side of caution with NSAIDS and the sleeve because of their RNY experience. It's well-documented by the pioneers of VSG that NSAIDS are allowed, and just to protect the stomach just like we would if we had our big stomachs.

3. I have a horrible sore throat and cold coming on. I love my Nyquil for just that. They told me no Nyquil. Anyone have experience with Nyquil after the sleeve?

I've taken Dayquil and Nyquil liqui caps for nearly 18 months out of my 22 months post-op and I've never had any issues with either. I've taken the Advil sinus/allergy as well.

4. They released me to eat all foods. I am so excited I can eat salad! Did anyone have trouble when they started eating fiber again? They told me that in the beginning to eat it only at home, it can go right through you. Anyone have problems with salads at first?

I wasn't released for salads for 3 months. I still avoided them for the most part because they did seem to be difficult to digest. I burped up little partially digested pieces of raw veggies like pickles, carrots and the lettuce. Plus, it took up room that I needed for protein since I got all my protein from food sources.

** DISCLAIMER** this reply is based on my own personal experience and directions from my surgeon. I'm not advocating to take NSAIDS, or go off plan, but to offer my experience and what I've been doing for the last 22 months.

My experience / responses:

1. I have no idea how many calories I should be eating. I asked and they told me that I don't need to count calories or carbs! I should only look at fat grams and sugar grams and make sure they are under 5 grams. And of course, I should look at Protein and it should be as high as possible. Hmmmm I thought that was interesting.

I don't really count calories anymore - I did at first because I was afraid I was slowly starving myself to death :-) My diet is somewhere between 600-800 calories, because that is as much as I can physically get in my body. I don't do Protein shakes because I can't stand them so all my cals come from real food. I don't count fat at all. Full fat, low carb is how I roll :-) I do have a packet of plain oatmeal once a day to keep my fiber up and I am perfectly regular (if you know what I mean).

2. Advil! They told me I could not take Advil....... Tylenol only. I finally had my cycle this week. Most all of my cycles are quite debilitating. They always have been and Tylenol doesn't even scratch the surface for pain. Do your doctors advise against Advil? If I knew I could never ever take Advil again, I would have thought twice about this surgery. They told me never to take it again. I thought it was just while my stomach was healing.

Dr said no advil for 6 months while the healing / scarring is taking place. I did take some advil before I knew about this rule and it wasn't a problem (also around my TOM). After that I have been taking tylenol, which NEVER used to work for me and now it seems to work just fine. You can take Advil again, but you may want to wait until your stomach is healed?

3. I have a horrible sore throat and cold coming on. I love my Nyquil for just that. They told me no Nyquil. Anyone have experience with Nyquil after the sleeve?

Sorry, no experience there. I wonder why it would be a problem? It is tylenol based, isn't it?

4. They released me to eat all foods. I am so excited I can eat salad! Did anyone have trouble when they started eating fiber again? They told me that in the beginning to eat it only at home, it can go right through you. Anyone have problems with salads at first?

I have had bits of lettuce on other foods, but have never tucked into a salad. The lettuce bits seemed to go down fine with no problems. I have also had a couple of grapes without issue. The problem with salad is that you will fill up on lettuce which doesn't hold much nutritional value for you. You have to keep protein at the forefront of your diet and have just a bit of veg along with it - there just sin't enough room in there for everything :-) You may want to have your first salad at home just so you know how your body will handle it - then you will be comfortable venturing out into the world.

Congrats on your progress!

Lara