Hello, Everyone! New here...so glad I found this site!! I have been researching the Band for years and was going to have it done in September, but have changed my mind and am now doing the SLEEVE! Yay! So, SO 'cited :Banane03:

My only questions are these - since I knew all the 'Band rules' inside and out and was totally prepared for that way of life, I need to figure out the "Sleeve Rules". For instance, with the band, you need to chew, chew, chew and then when you think you're done, chew some more, until your food is basically mush before you swallow. Also, your bites need to be really tiny, toddler-food style. All this to avoid getting stuck since your stoma/stomach opening is so restricted. Also, you cannot eat 'slider' foods or drink with meals as this will wash out your pouch of food, leaving you hungry again right away. No Soup, no 'runny' oatmeal. :sign44: And the other big band rule, you can almost never eat bread/pasta/rice, etc again as it's gluey and starchy and will get stuck, also.

Now, don't get me wrong here! I don't need a lecture about how you shouldn't eat those things anyway, as I know that, very well - been dieting for years, just like most of us . But my reason for doing this is so I can be a 'normal, regular' person and eat like a 'naturally thin' person. LIke the nutritionists, say, be good 90% of the time, play 10% of the time. Those times I may want to splurge and have a half sandwich, or some Pasta, or a piece of pizza, I want to be able to have a little bit every once in a GREAT while - like I said, be normal!! One of my main reasons for doing this is so I can have a normal, healthy relationship with food. Not obsess over soup or a roll, or stress if I'm going to party for crying out loud!! And no popcorn, my favorite food!! :scared0:

So, Sleevers, aside from the fact that you need to obviously eat slowly and we all need to take smaller bites and chew more within reason, are these things such a big deal with a sleeve? I am guessing it's not AS imperative since the stoma/stomach opening is not made any smaller with the VSG, but I don't know for sure?? Any band-to-sleeve revisioners that can outline the differences?

And, honestly, do you vomit if you eat too much, or don't pay attention to yoru full signals? With the band, vomiting and "PB''ing" are VERY common, but how common with the sleeve???

Thank you guys, so very, very much, for all your willingness to help, support, and share with us "newbies". SO many of us would be lost without our experienced trailblazers to lean on. Love you guys and so glad I found a 'home!"

Started 6 month supervised diet - 3/11

Psych Eval - 3/11

Band Surg Consult - 3/11

VSG Surg Consult - 6/11 (Dr. Lauter)

Final Insurance Approval - ??

Surgery Date - 9/?/11?

Yes, you do need to chew, chew, and chew some more. I am almost 2 months out and my dr. advised me to NOT chew so well so the food stays in my tummy longer. I was worried it would make me sick, but it doesn't! I chew good, but not to liquid constancy like I did in the begining.

If you eat past full, you WILL throw up or get the slimies. I haven't but there are a lot that do!

Good luck to you!

Kelly

Right after surgery, you have to chew to mush and beyond because your stomach is swollen from surgery. After you are healed, not so much. I eat pretty much normally now, except that I don't swallow big hunks of unchewed food anymore--like if I get a gristle in a piece of steak, I used to be able to swallow the whole chunk. Now I either chew it up small or spit it out. Still no drinking after meals, but I eat oatmeal sometimes and it's fine. Because I don't get hungry anymore I am less focussed on dense Protein to keep me full than some others and I mostly have to remind myself that it's time to eat. People here eat bread, Pasta, and rice--I don't yet, I am low-carbing until goal and the bread I had didn't sit well so I'll see. I have had a Lean Cuisine spaghetti dinner and it gave me no problems and I am planning on eating sushi when I'm at goal.

I have vomited three times and I am five and a half months out, all the episodes occurred within the first two months. Once I ate salmon that didn't agree with my sleeve in the first week of solid food, and up it came. Once I ate pork rinds too fast and up THEY came, almost immediately. Once I had the flu and everything came up. I measure everything now, partly to keep track of calories and partly because with the pork rinds I didn't measure and just kept dipping into the bag and look what happened! It's pretty easy to pay attention to a full signal now.

At over 5 months I can eat almost anything. I have lost the taste for the skins on apples and some other fibrous bits of pineapple and such. Bread and pasta are no problem, but I keep it whole grain or low carb versions. I have never thrown up but did slime once or twice from eating a little too much. I eat mostly slowly, and even when I bite off a normal sized bite, I swallow it in smaller bits. That goes for water and protein drink too.

If I overeat, it will come back up. But, it didn't take long for me to recognize when I should stop. Since we can't eat till we are stuffed like we used to, we have to listen to our bodies. Most people do get a "signal". For me it's a hiccup, for others it's a sneeze for a runny nose. I think one of the "rules" that helped me most was quite simple. In order to make sure that 75% if my meal intake was protein, I literally eat 3 bites of protein and then 1 bite of my veggies or fruit. Can't miss, lol. This way I can still put mac and cheese on my plate and not feel guilty.

Like people already said in the beginning I cut my food into tiny pieces and chewed until it was nothing at all. Now almost 7 months out I cut my food into regular bites but I still cut it up. For instance, one of my favs are turkey meatballs. While normal people would just take a bite off the meatball I still cut mine up. If I dont I tend to take a bite that is too big. No it doesnt get stuck. It just hurts when it hits my sleeve. I know this sounds weird but I feel foods and liquids hit my sleeve. My program introduces oatmeal in the mushy stage and we are told to make it runny. I follow the drink "rule" closely. 30 minutes before I eat I stop drinking and wait 30 minutes after eating. I have to set a timer on my phone to remind me to drink and eat but if I dont if I lose track of time and take a drink to soon or eat too soon then it hurts. Others from my support group said they ditched the rule or moved it up to 15 minutes but it hurts when I do it so I guess that is for LIFE for me. I had an "unhealthy" relationship with carbs so I am very very carefully but my NUT is insisting that I start adding them back now that I am at goal. I had one piece of pizza (thin crust veggie from papa johns). It was only a small square of pizza. It didnt hurt it just made me feel full really fast. So I think in the end, your research on the band will help you. At goal I do not think I eat like a "normal skinny person" but it is my normal now and it doesnt feel like a diet.

Good luck to you.