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Some questions for a nervous nelly...



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I am scheduled Aug. 12 th. I only have two weeks off. Will I be able to go back to work after 2 weeks?

I have been reading about all this exercising .. Amen to those that do it but I can only manage 30 min on stationary bike 4x a week. Is that enough to loose.

I live alone, should I hire some help?

Finally is it true no beer forever?

Thanks any help would be appreciated.

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I am scheduled Aug. 12 th. I only have two weeks off. Will I be able to go back to work after 2 weeks?

I have been reading about all this exercising .. Amen to those that do it but I can only manage 30 min on stationary bike 4x a week. Is that enough to loose.

I live alone, should I hire some help?

Finally is it true no beer forever?

Thanks any help would be appreciated.

for any alcohol/ soda you can't have it for a while and its just extra calories but you can have it later on. However you will get drunk way quicker than before

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The carbonation in soda/beer is what helps to stretch out the stomach. I'd say use in small moderation or not at all.

As for going back to work' date=' I went back at roughly 2 or 2 and a half weeks and was fine. Just don't over use your abdominal muscles. I also suffered from fatigue. Get on a Multivitamin and sublingual B12 now. It helps!!! :)[/quote']

This is not true. The carbonation will not stretch your stomach but it may cause you pain. It will likely make you burp. Carbonation does not bother some people but other cannot cope with it at all.

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Carbonation does not stretch your stomach. May cause pain. Carbonated beverages inflame your stomach lining and can cause inflammation which will cause restriction. It is OK after 6 months to have 1 carbonated beverage a week. Per my Dr.

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I am an old guy and took 4 weeks and I am glad I did. However if your job is mostly sedentary, no worries. If you must lift or strain talk to your MD!!!

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Thanks everyone! Yeah I can't take more time off as I am a teacher, can just hear my boss. You had a whole summer! My insurance requires a certain amount of time so that us the earliest! Good to know I may have a beer once in awhile and it sounds like it will be cheaper to get a buzz!????

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I think 2 weeks should be fine. I felt 100% except for a little pain in the incision where my stomach was removed.

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I've not had any soda since 3 months prior to surgery, thought I'd get rid of it early on, and have not craved it since. I'm sure it won't hurt though in moderation down the road for you after surgery. Just be careful too early on due to the carbonation. My surgeon said to wait 4-6 months for any alcohol, which I waited 4 1/2 months and had a wine cooler and was fine. I drink alcohol very rarely and only have 1 or 2 over the course of hours of whatever it is I am drinking and I am fine. It doesn't upset my stomach. Oh, and I took 4 weeks off of work due to the fact that my job is not sedentary at all, so I'm glad that I did. Just be careful of not lifting too heavy. I was fine at home alone too. I drove after 4 days at home.

Karen

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Hi nelly, 2weeks will be fine but ask your doctor first, that's what I did. Also, even though I'm not a soda and beer drinker, I would tell you not to be surprised if your stomach can't handle the things you used to love. I am saying this cos there are things that I used to eat a lot that I can't stand anymore ie ice cream, I figured the other day to try ice cream being that I'm on purée. The whole ice cream came back up when I was on my last spoon and I only had half a scoop. Good luck in everything.

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30 mins of exercise is good but as time goes by, you will have more energy and you might not even realize when you are going to 1-2hrs at a time. I'm not there yet but there was a point in my life when I lost a lot of weight just starting with 20mins on the bike and increasing to 1hr on the treadmill. It felt good but I didn't even know when the whole increment happened cos I was having fun. Can't wait to have that much energy again. 30mins is better than nothing, it's excellent.

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I am a teacher as well! I'm only 3 days post op and don't have to go back to work till July 24th, however, I'm also worried because that's a lot of recovery time but I will have to get used to a real routine again. If you're a teacher, you're probably on your feet a lot. I have heard that Dr. Schouls inserts help so your feet and legs don't swell but I have not tried it myself.

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Hi nervous nelly. books helped me. Go to Amazon and look up Gastric Sleeve. You can also buy the Big Book of Gastric Sleeve, put out by the originator of this site. I found that the more I knew, the less nervous I was.

I live alone too, so I paid for my sister to fly up from Tennessee. That was strictly for moral support, as I really didn't need any physical help. If I had needed anything (like groceries or driving), my friends would have been happy to help. But I didn't really need anything. I had NO PROBLEMS after the surgery. No pain, never took the pain meds, and I was driving the next day.

On the other hand, a cleaning service/person is a nice thing to have. Give yourself a break!

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I am scheduled Aug. 12 th. I only have two weeks off. Will I be able to go back to work after 2 weeks?

I have been reading about all this exercising .. Amen to those that do it but I can only manage 30 min on stationary bike 4x a week. Is that enough to loose.

I live alone, should I hire some help?

Finally is it true no beer forever?

Thanks any help would be appreciated.

1. Depends on the type of work you do - I went back 10 days post-op with no problems, and my days consisted of a 3+ hour commute (total) and meetings, meetings meetings. Since you're a teacher, just know that two weeks out you'll still be exhausted easily...but keep up your Protein, liquid & Vitamins and you'll soon get back into the habit! (As a side note, I went back to teaching after 10 days of "recovery" after my LapBand surgery - piece of cake...I'm just not a teacher anymore!)

2. Losing happens in the kitchen - fitness happens in exercise. Get some kind of activity in and you'll be just fine!

3. I wouldn't have needed help - my surgery was relatively easy and my recovery was quick...only sleepiness and low energy were my enemies! You DO need someone to drive you home from the hospital, so make sure you have that! If you clean your house ahead of time and stock up on liquids, you'll be fine! My boyfriend lives with me and wanted to take care of me and, honestly, he was bummed I didn't "need" him more! I let him make me smoothies/protein shakes :)

4. Follow your doctor's rules and listen to your body - my rules were no carbonation until 30 days post-op and no alcohol until 6 months post-op. Even after those timelines, I'll go slow and see how my body reacts!

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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
      1. This update has no replies.
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