I thought it would be nice to be able to converse with others that got their sleeve around the same time so thanks for joining the group. My surgery was May 2nd. I am older and have a very poor tolerance to anesthesia and pain medicine so I knew it wasn't going to be simple. I was fortunate that I had no surgery complications but the nausea was severe (as I knew it would be for me) and the first week really really sucked. I didn't start feeling decent until a week in half and today is 2 weeks out and I feel good just fatigue easily. (I am a slow recoverer as well). I know a lot of people had a much easier surgery experience than mine so it is an individual thing. No more incisional pain now and easy to move around in bed and it doesn't hurt when I use my abdominals anymore. Used a mild pain pill (Tramadol) 1 at night for the first few night home mostly just to help w/ sleep since they don't do much for pain. Obviously there are a lot of physical changes going on as your body is freaking out trying to adjust to something it's never experienced before, but amazingly it starts to adjust. I feel like I am going through a lot of emotional changes as well and really miss my emotional eating like a drug addict misses their fix. I miss my food. I know this will improve in time but the head hunger has been hard for me. It's put me in a funk. I don't even know if I relied on physiological hunger cues in the past but rather what I was hungry for. It felt like I was always physiologically hungry (except in the mornings) but I think a lot of it was head hunger. I see there will be a lot of adjustments but I am looking forward to health benefits of these changes in the long run even if it's hard in the beginning. Health wise I was headed down the wrong path and needed to change it before it was too late. As it is I need joint replacement surgeries.
I am approaching this like I am coming off of some long addiction which is actually what I'm doing. Change is always difficult, even good change. Some good things I have noticed so far is that for the last week I am sleeping for longer periods of time. I was a big water drinker and woke up 4-5 times a night to pee as well as being awoken with hot flashes frequently from menopause, pushing covers off, then on. I was a very poor sleeper . So the combination of not drinking anywhere near as much (having to work very hard just to get my 64 oz of fluid in now), and perhaps less weight on my bladder???, no food in my stomach??? has already helped my sleep. Dare I say I've had less hot flashes as well. These were nice surprises that I wasn't expecting. I was hoping for decrease in joint pain w/ less weight but that hasn't happened yet, but I know it will and once I have the energy to go to the gym pool I can do gentle exercises in the water and that will help as well. So at 2 weeks now I am starting to see light at the end of the tunnel and that feels really good. Would love to hear other people's story and progress if you care to share. Kim

Hi Kim! It looks like the site finally did something to make these posts accessible....I got an email earlier in response to not being able to open the discussion posts.
I am at 2.5 weeks post op now and doing well. Graduated early to pureed foods when my 2 wk post op visit went well; no issues the first 2 wks. Getting in all my fluids and protein drinks. I have to admit it is a little harder to get the fluids in now with food and still protein drinks. But I keep pushing ahead.
I'm getting creative with my puree as it can be pretty boring. I made a refried bean layered dip; added a lil taco sauce, ff sour cream, smashed avocado & reduced fat shredded cheese. (I seasoned up the avocado w/garlic powder, cumin, S&P.) Today I baked some chicken breasts with a garlic, lemon, rosemary marinade and then shredded it up. Not sure yet if I need to pulverize it in the food processor or if I'll just chew it really well. I also made a buffalo chicken salad; a lil yellow onion in food processor, then drained can chicken, buffalo sauce, & ff ranch. It's pretty tasty!

Well Lisa, looks like the group is finally working but at the moment it's only me and you so far. I'll invite some more May people when I get a chance. I invited the first 1/2 of May. I am so going to try your bean dip, your ideas are greatly appreciated as I don't ever think of combining much together. I had chicken breast tonight with a little mashed potatoes and greek yogurt so it wasn't too dry. I don't even know what buffalo sauce is but sounds good and I didn't know there was such a thing as fat free ranch? These would really make my chicken more interesting. BTW I just cut the chicken up into small tiny pieces and chewed it well and had no problems. I am having some issues with reflux though. It doesn't feel like it's from the food as the food actually calms the burning for awhile. It's worse in bed. Yesterday I went to the hardware store and bought some 2 by 6 pieces of wood and put them under the bed frame at the top of bed just so I won't be lying completely flat. I think it helped. I also was told by nurse to change from the pepsid to prilosec so I did that as well. I just always feel as if there is a little lump of something stuck in the back of my throat, top of esophagus. (it's not food, I don't know what it is). It is tiring. For lunch I had little roll up w/ the deli turkey and cheese dipped in dijon. That was heavenly. And for breakfast while I'm at it (since it's exciting to have moved to this next stage), I cut 1/2 a slice of good uncured turkey bacon into small pieces and cooked on stove and then added scrambled egg. That was really good too. It sounds as if your puree stage is the same thing as the soft food stage no? Yet your able to have chicken now, that's great. BTW I go by either Kim or Alison incase that was confusing.

This sight has a weird lag time as now more members just popped up on the group member list. Weird. Anyway if anyone else wants to share their story so far please do.

Hi, glad this group finally works!

I got sleeved on the 14th and I am doing really well so far. I lost loads in the first few days but it has slowed down now. I am not bothered though as I know it will eventually speed back up.

I have gone a bit faster than I am supposed to but it doesn't seem to be having any bad effects. I did stay on liquids for a week as per my dieticians instructions but after that I kind of did what felt right. I have had blended and pureed food for a few days and then I also had some solids that I have chewed really well like tinned ham and wheat crackers with peanut butter. I had peanuts yesterday that went down without problems, I don't really love them but I was thinking of the protein.

I can't keep up with the shakes, I really hate the taste so I am drinking semi skimmed milk with added milk powder as per my dieticians instructions and she said that's ok and I will still be getting plenty of protein in. I thought I was well hydrated but I woke up last night and couldn't even swallow, I literally had the driest mouth ever, weird.

We have booked a holiday in a weeks time to Greece and I will be three weeks out by the time I go. We normally go all inclusive but that's obviously not an option! so we are going self catering, think it will be a very cheap holiday as I will be eating very little.

Glad to be here and hoping other May sleevers join in

"I don't even know what buffalo sauce is"

The brand I use is Franks Red Hot and it's the sauce that is typically used for Buffalo Chicken Wings. I like the spice (not too hot) to make chicken salad (especially pureed) not so boring!
Sorry, checked the bottle and the Ranch is actually reduced fat, not FF....but it's tasty I got the Hidden Valley brand. I have to admit I've always done full fat mayo, sour cream, milk, dressings, etc. but I'm pleasantly surprised that the reduced fat and fat free items I've been trying are pretty good. I've always worried about an 'artifical' taste, but so far, so good!
Hope everyone made it through the BBQ's of the day! I smelled a bunch and wanted a burger so bad, but not at that point yet. I was plenty full from my ground turkey with taco seasoning and a lil reduced fat cheese, plus a bit of cottage cheese.

Hi Alison. Glad to hear it is going well. Wow that’s very exciting and courageous that you are traveling to Greece so soon in this process. I haven’t even tried going out to eat yet let alone travel so I’ll be interested to hear how it went and how you order meals etc and what was easy and what wasn’t. Also I don’t like the shakes either but I still force myself to have one a day and then a clear protein drink like premier protein clear or isopure later in the day as my second snack.

Actually the Memorial Day bbq was a tad challenging for me. We went to a get together at a relatives house and she is a phenomenal cook. The salad and grilled carrots looked amazing but I can’t have either yet so I had some chicken breast. I put some other items on my plate which I didn’t eat but wanted my plate of food not to stand out as I really was just eating an ounce of chicken breast. The toughest part of the day though we before dinner being seated by this amazing cheese plate with all sorts of cheeses I love. My weakness. I was kinda happy when some flies landed on the cheese so it no longer looked appealing. It was definitely a mind trip only eating 1 ounce of chicken with all that amazing food there.

I feel for you!
We had a bbq on Sunday as it was very hot here in the uk and my hubby made the usual sausage and burgers. He had tons, I had half of a sausage and less than a quarter of a small burger. It was still great though as I felt like I had joined in and it also tasted lovely.

I am amazed at my lack of appetite so far. I was eating the burger which was delicious and I kind of wanted to carry on eating it but then I got the signal I was getting full and all desire to carry on just dissipated. Long may that continue but I am not holding out much hope!

Regarding the holiday, I doubt I will be eating out much to be honest. Where we are going (Rhodes) has a full sized kitchen and I am taking a lot of food with me like Ready Brek for breakfast, dried milk powder to add to the milk and a small plastic plate so I can pinch things off my husbands plate when we do eat out!

I am not eating very much at all at the moment and nothing bigger than an egg in volume so life at the moment is pretty cheap

Wow....I can see just amongst the 3 of us how greatly different each program is. I had one week clear liquids then one week full liquids + protein drinks then onto pureed foods. At my 2 week post op visit (which was actually 12 days post op) my surgeon's PA told me to go ahead and start puree early since I'd been tolerating everything and getting in the correct amounts. This week I have started soft foods and am doing pretty well so far. I definitely don't eat a lot. But I have been flying through eggs as I can have one full egg + 1 egg white for some of my protein each day and I usually do that for breakfast with a serving of fruit. Today I ate that around 0800 and didn't eat lunch until close to 1500 as I had gotten busy running errands and shopping. Didn't even feel that "starving" hungry I would usually get. I just kept drinking water until I got home to the healthy things I should eat.

Non-Scale Victory today - the pants/jeans I've been wearing are a size 22W. I tried on pants at several stores today and quickly found out that I am now in a size 16!!!! It really took me aback to try on 20 & 18 and find they were both too big. Granted the 22's are falling off me, but I had no idea that I would go down to a 16. A very pleasant surprise!!


AlisonJayne - I DREAM of going to Greece! I hope you have such a lovely time there. All the pictures are so beautiful, it seems you can get lost in all that and not have to worry much about food. Plus it's nice to be able to cook where you stay to make it easy.

Hi Mslisa an congrats on your huge weight loss so far, I am really quite envious!

We started off at similar weights I think but mine has been slower than yours. I haven't weighed myself for a week as I was on my period and didn't want that to depress me lol. I got weighed again today and have lost another 3lbs since last Tuesday, less than I hoped it would be but then I thought, am I just being stupid?!
I calculated that if I lost 2lb a week for the next year, I would lose over 7 stone! so maybe 3lb in one week isn't so bad, added to the original 13lbs I lost from surgery day

I am just packing as we speak and I have even added a bikini in as well as my swimsuit, what the heck, its a holiday!

My dietician has been very lax with me I think. She knows I have gone further than I should but has said if I am ok with it, then to carry on, so I shall

I kind of figured (rightly or wrongly) that as long as I chewed everything down to a mush, it was the same as me pureeing it or blending it in the blender, I know its not but I couldn't see the harm in it really. I had some white fish today in a fish curry that my husband made, I can still only eat an egg sized meal but it was very tasty!

Hi Lisa and Alison, you both sound like you are doing great. I don't think I am losing as fast as you though Lisa. I am making a conscious effort not to weigh myself so often so I don't get discouraged. I am 4 weeks out today and have a post op appt w/ my doc tomorrow and I'll weigh in then. I got to go up to 1/4 cup or 2 ounces of food per meal today (instead of the stingy 1/8 cup that I was on which didn't really fill me up.) Also allowed to start some new foods to the ones I already have. Get to add quinoa, couscous, high protein cereal, high protein bread toasted and corn tortillas. Today was definitely the best eating day so far. Got to make a little taco with the corn tortilla (mini slider size), cut up grilled chicken, LF shredded cheese, a little avocado and greek NF yogurt (my sour cream substitute). It was sooo good. My mind wanted about 3 or 4 tacos but after eating and waiting a bit I was sufficiently full.

I had my first falling off the wagon day yesterday... I sort of binged a bit. I ate my 1 ounce dinner and then after 1/2 hour wanted more food, had another ounce dinner and then after that kept getting several chuncks of this full fat mexican cheese that I used to make street corn for my son and his friends. I didn't throw up (probably b/c I didn't try to eat it all at once...did more of a grazing), felt kinda sick though, but that only lasted for an hour or so and then I was fine. Of course emotionally I felt terrible but then again my stomach was cut not my brain and my brain will just take longer to learn I guess. I think I did it b/c I was around so much good food this holiday weekend and couldn't eat any of it and just finally caved. I especially am missing fruit. I can see how grazing could cause a lot of weight gain or lack of weight loss. I am back to my 3 meals a day as of today.

On a good note I have been able to swim in our pool and at the gym. I have arthritic knees, ankle and hip. I walk with a cane and can't go for walks b/c of too much hip pain but I can stretch and do exercises and do some laps in the pool now and the weather has been warm and accommodating. I will still need a hip replacement in the near future but having less weight is certainly allowing me to be less sedentary. Seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

Alison - trust you are rocking Greece in your bikini!!!

Kim - I know my weight loss is really fast, so I'm reveling in it as I'm sure a stall or slow down will come soon. Been trying really hard to stick with my program. I have to admit soft foods are a lil blah...but I'm in it for the long haul! Returned to work today and had my lunch and snacks all ready to go. It was a good first day back. Of course, the oohs & ahhs from colleagues was very nice.
Falling off the wagon is natural at some point. Just don't let it derail you is what is important. Back on track!! Glad you can get in some water exercise; still a great work out but easy on the joints. I'll never forget the first time I tried a water class, it's a great workout, I could feel that for days! LOL
Seems like I stopped getting notifications of posts here, so I have to remember to check back in periodically.

Hi Lisa, Hope your return back to work went well. Did you share this surgery with your workmates? I know I am feeling so much better over all. It really took about 4 weeks for me. Good for you to lose a lot of weight now in the so called "honeymoon period" since our appetites are still so small. I asked the doctor at my check up if I'm suppose to be aiming towards a particular calorie count but he said not to focus on that for the first couple of months. I am curious as to how many calories others a month out are eating. Do you keep calorie count? I've been using myfitnesspal and I like the app and online site. I'm eating somewhere between 500 and 600. I have no idea if that is too high or okay? I am trying to get a lot of my protein drinks in so that I am getting a total between food and p. drinks 70-80 gms of protein as I don't want to lose too much hair, as that seems to be a byproduct of big weight loss amounts. I don't get posts either, I just check occasionally. Take care, Kim

I had surgery on May 16th. Doing well so far. The heat is the only thing that bothers me. Even tho I drink the required amount of water, I seem to get dehydrated in no time at all. 100 degree doesn’t help.
I don’t know how to join this group!

Hi SAMom & Welcome! The heat sounds rough...I'm up Seattle way where it's pretty mild. I can see where you'd need more fluids with that heat. Hang in there. Are you on puree stage? It seems the programs are so different, hard to know who is where when! LOL

Kim - I work in the OR for the hospital where I had surgery, so it was tough to keep secret being their patient. But it's okay with me because I have an amazing surgeon and literally hand picked my OR team and knew I was in the best of hands! My colleagues have been very supportive. There's only a few people outside my department that know, but my month long absence was noticeable. I interact with many from other departments. Any of them who ask, I feel like I may share, but I'm not running around announcing it. I have told close family and friends but not FB world as it seems so many people lean towards judgmental. I've had enough of that being the "fat girl" all my life, I don't need judgment when I'm making a positive change for my health and life. I feel like as time goes on I may be more open to sharing, but we shall see.
My first couple days back have been really good; I have a new Director who started the day I returned who was so gracious; she told me if I get tired out and need to leave early I should since my body is still healing. Bummer was finding out my surgeon is on vacation this week - I so wanted him to see my progress, but alas he returns next week. I did see one of his partners who was sufficiently impressed
My walking around the local lake has suffered the last couple days though, I was so wiped out yesterday that I couldn't do it. And tonight I ate quickly so I could change and then go walk.....bad idea on the 'eating quickly'. Suffered with the foamies for about 45 minutes. Since I have an early meeting at work in the morning, I'll be turning in shortly....the alarm will ring at 4:30am.
I looked through my tracking and I hit between 500-800 cals, but I really don't focus on it much. I focus more on getting in my fluids and trying to get as much protein from food as I can and then supplementing with protein drinks if need be. Also for soft foods (my current stage) my program recommends 8 protein servings, 1 fruit, 1 veg, 1 starch, 1 dairy & 1 fat per day. I do well in hitting each of those daily. There's a pretty good amount of options in those categories. I guess I can ask my nutritionist, but I'm also curious...if I eat 500 cals but work out to the tune of 300-400 cals burned am I eating enough? I've heard of people having stalls due to not eating enough.

Hi May Sleevers! I had surgery May 30th: lapband removal, vsg, and hiatal hernia repair.

Today I am officially one week post-op, and finally seem to have turned the corner on a difficult week. I am a planner/preparer by nature and felt I did everything I possibly could pre-op to position myself for a smooth recovery. Unfortunately, I hit a few snags.
It began in the hospital due to inexperienced staff. I was given 6 pills the morning after surgery and told to get them down, even if it took an hour. Being a good little soldier (and medicated), I did as I was told. I was not even tolerating ice chips at that time! The rest of the day was a nightmare of pain. Due to the length/difficulty of my surgery, my esophagus and stomach were extremely swollen. I now know that my post-op progress needed to be at a much slower rate than normal. I was discharged after 2 days, barely able to tolerate ice chips.
Well, things got worse at home. Unable to get fluids or any medications in, I went to the ER 4 days post-op for dehydration. Later that day at home, I took the advice of a friend that had the sleeve and was able to tolerate sipping hot chicken broth. I felt such relief to be able to drink something! I also found that warm gatorade went down.

Forward to a week later, I took in 64oz of clear liquids with 40gm of protein (bone broth and protein water) yesterday! Though grateful to have turned the corner, I can't help but feel that days of pain/anxiety/misery were probably preventable. I am going to share my thoughts on this with my surgeon at my 2 week post-op next week.

On to the positive! I am starting to feel like myself again. I took a slow 25 minute walk in the sunshine yesterday. I have figured out how to get meds/vitamins down finally. Things are looking up.

I have found this website so helpful. Thank you to all who have shared their journey!

Hi samsmom and katesjourney. Welcome to the group. Boy is everyone’s journey different. So sorry that it’s been such a tough ride so far Kate. You had a lot of procedures done at once. I had my lap and removed a few years ago as my insurance wouldn’t cover it being done at the same time as the sleeve. More surgeries but probably easier recoveries. I’m hoping as your swelling goes down soon and your able to swallow life will get better. Although I had different problems than you after the sleeve the first month was hard for me and now things have gotten a lot better. I remember the nurse who did my pre op class talked about the first month can be a time of buyers remorse and boy did I have that. So I tried really hard not to make final judgement about what I had done until 4 weeks out which really helped. Good luck in your recovery.

Samsmom stay hydrated. It gets easier to drink fluids a few weeks out.

Welcome Kate! Sounds like a rough first few days, I agree, it seems it could have been avoided. My program actually does all liquid or crushed meds for the first two weeks and that starts right away in the hospital. Then when you are discharged, they give you the medication crusher they had been using so you'll have one at home. Admittedly, the powder isn't "tasty" but its better than full pills! I would definitely bring it to your surgeon's attention so they can work with education for the hospital staff who are caring for their patients. Glad to hear you are getting liquids and protein in now and enjoying some walks. It's a good thing to be moving forward! Stick with it, the bumps in the road are just that...bumps. You will be progressing and be so glad you made this decision for you and your health! Have a good weekend ahead.

Good Morning! I hope everyone is doing well! I’m ok ��! Just slowly adding a few things to my diet. Very slowly. Tried canned water packed tuna mixed with Greek yogurt last night. Won’t be having it again but was glad I chewed it (no purée) and had no trouble keeping my 1/4 cup down! It’s surprising how little I can eat and still feel full. Yea!
Just curious, the bariatric vitamin my doctor said I have to take daily just about makes me throw up. Do we all that the same brand or are there other options? I take Bariatric Multivitamins with 45 mg of Iron. They are made by ProCare Health. It is really difficult to get down. I also have to take a calcium chew made by Bariatric Advantage. It was OK prior to surgery but I don’t like it now.
Does anyone have any other suggestions? I go for my 4 week checkup this Thursday and will ask my Dr. Just thought I would like your input first.
Thanks and have a great weekend!

Hi SAMom, in regards to the vitamins it seems to me that everyone's on something different. I'm assuming each program has their go to brand. I'm on chewable tablets by Bariatric Fusion. You take 4 a day, large tablets that you chew, I drink some water after I chew them though. I take 2 awhile after breakfast and 2 awhile after dinner. At first after surgery I wasn't sure if I liked them but now I really enjoy them. I have had both the mixed berry and the tropical flavors. 45 mg iron as well. 1200 mg calcium. I like these b/c I don't have to take anything else. Our program gave out samples of these vits of the different flavors. Not sure if you go to their website if they can send you a sample package or not. Good luck on your 4 week check up.

Hi Ladies, I'm back from my wonderful holiday to Greece and I enjoyed it so much!
I did struggle at first getting enough liquids in as it was 30+ degrees every single day, far too hot for my liking. Foodwise I did ok as we took quite a few tins of things I knew I could eat and obviously they lasted ages because I was eating such small amounts. There was a wonderful supermarket around the corner from the hotel and hubby made me some lovely meals. I had zero energy when we arrived and for a few days after but towards the end of the holiday I felt renewed and full of energy!
I did quite a lot of walking and for the last couple of nights, we joined other couples we had met there and went out for meals. It was a bit pointless for me really as I still can't eat much more than an egg sized portion of a meal but it was the taking part that I enjoyed the most and the company of the lovely people we met on holiday.
Welcome to the new members, lets hope we all do really well on our separate journeys