Not Worth It - Angry Rant about crappy sleeve

I appreciate your words and find myself frequently distracted by your ticker. 80+ pounds lost!! Wow! That's an impressive amount of weight. Good for you!! That's awsome!

thanks :-) i lost 24lbs on the pre-op diet and 57lbs post op.  even though i was thin in my other life (i'm a veteran and maintained my weight at 140 - 150lbs while i was active duty) - this is the most weight i have ever lost in my life.  i was just commenting on another post yesterday that i'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around it - but it's sure fun to say - 81lbs - ROFL!!!!

i've had a few short stalls (retrospectively they were short - but they seemed to last forever when i was in it - lol) - so i'm just riding the pound-dropping wave right now. i can't wait to weigh in each morning - i run to my computer to update my profile! lol

i'm determined i'm gonna enjoy the ride!

So soon out of surgery,I wonder if it's possible that you're still swollen on the inside and you're not feeling the feelings of physical satiety/restriction? Anyone know if that's a likely reason?

I had my surgery on February 27. I've been on solids for quite some time now and am just now staring to feel what I think is good restriction after eating an ounce or two of meat or Wendy's chili. Some foods are nearly impossible for me to eat more than 5 bites (such as oatmeal or grits) and others seem to sit lightly in my tummy and I feel like I could eat a bushel of it. I think this is a common thing that we all have to learn how to deal with in our heads. It's hard to tell which foods will and will not give you that feeling of satiety or when those feelings will start. Like you, I was convinced that my surgeon didn't make my stomach small enough or that the surgery wasn't working for me, but it is. I'm starting to realize that now. I did (and sometimes still do) have physical hunger pains. My stomach STILL growls from hunger from time to time and I do still crave and think about food a lot. It's an emotional journey that a lot of us probably weren't prepared for.

I hit my first stall at about 2.5 weeks out and I believe I'm in the midst of a second one now. It's INCREDIBLY frustrating but given time, I think you'll start to see and feel the difference postoperatively. It does get better though. Hang in there.

Lowbrass03 said it best, "I don't think that you were "not ready for this surgery",I think you were not ready to give up control. and I can relate to that too."

So very true. It's so very hard to just let go.

Awww, the infamous 3-4 week stall, the sleeve sucks and I"m not ever going to lose weight topic. If you check out the other forums, you'll see that this is NOT only sleeve issue. This is a surgery, huge calorie deficit, hormone dump, glycogen process happening in your body and well, I would venture to guess that 90% of ALL surgery patients go through this.

1) Your stomach has been amputated. The nerves have been cut, stapled off, traumatized. You might not feel much restriction due to the fact that physically, your stomach just can't feel. Practice eating the prescribed, measured amounts and learn satiety over fullness.

2) Read this, it explains the "why" behind this what 4 day stall?? http://www.dsfacts.com/weight-loss-stall-or-plateau.html Be prepared, I've seen the stall last 4 weeks for some people.

3) Find out what size bougie was used, if you went to skilled, experienced surgeon then don't blame the sleeve, if you went to an inexperienced, hack of a surgeon then you could have a botched sleeve and well, it's not completely unheard of for people to have huge sleeves because the surgeon wasn't experienced enough.

4) The best way for me to explain this "restriction" thing: Think of your stomach like your kitchen sink, Frisco has a more scientific explanation of the pyloric valve, but it doesn't appear that you're really interested in the why behind this stuff happens so I'll keep it short and sweet:

Your stomach is like the kitchen sink;
Liquids go right through, that pyloric valve opens up and slides right on to your intestines, just like water from the tap

Mushies/purees/liquidy food particles kind of sit there a bit, the stomach starts mechanically mushing it down and that little wonderful pyloric valve opens up and it slides right down, Kind of like if you threw some yogurt in the kitchen sink drain, it'll go down, a bit slower than the water, but it doesn't take long for it to slip through

Dense protein, now picture tossing 2-3 ounces of dense, chewed up protein, say 3oz of chicken or ground beef into the kitchen sink drain, what's it going to do? It's going sit there, that pyloric valve (the drain) is NOT going to open with that solid food sitting there. You're going to have to grab spoon to churn that food up, maybe add a little water from the tap (your digestive fluids in your stomach that's working vigorously to get that food soft/liquidy enough to open that little valve) to get that meat through the drain, you're going to have stir it around, and pu**** through, just like your stomach is going to do. I hope that helps.

Also, it sounds like you've healed really well, no issue getting in fluids and mushies at just a couple of weeks out. Means your swelling has decreased, and your well on your way. I hope you bookmark this topic, and then reread this in 6-12 months once you really wrap your head and emotions around the fact that this is a process, and if we all lost 1-5pounds every day from the moment we wake up after altering our guts, none of us would be here. It's a battle every day. You have to be prepared for the long haul. I can promise you losing stage is way easier than maintenance, things change once you get further out, life happens, and the sleeve works, and will continue to work as long you get to a place you can accept the facts of the procedure and process.

 Can I just say how happy I am to have you back and posting!

Thanks bunches. . . It's good to have the mister home, well him and the laptop HA.

One of your finer posts, Tiff!

I'll second that.  Good to have you back!

 Hi,

i just want to say hang in there.  You are having a bit of a rough spot- just remember that it is a really big adjustment and you are smack in the middle of it.  I have a larger stomach and I could eat noticeably more right out of the gate, and also had hunger at your stage.  I can also vouch that once you are allowed to eat dense protein it will make a difference for certain.  Just make sure you follow orders on the timing of these foods though- don't hurt yourself!  

I hear your concern about the sleeve only restricting dense protein.  Remember though, once you are able to eat this if you start with the protein you will eat significantly less of the other food as well.  If you start with carbs you will be dismayed at how much of that you can eat, and it really does not feel like there is restirction much at all in this cir****tance- at least not with a larger stomach.  Dense protein first!

You have done an excellent job with the weight loss in such a few short weeks- I hope you can feel that at least thus far the sleeve is indeed working for you.  

Careful with your calorie consumption.  If you do have a larger sized stomach then the capacity goes up considerable a few months out.  Actually, I think it does with many people but it is particularly evident for the larger stomach folks. 

Even if you have a larger stomach you can totally make it work.  I have lost a little over 100 pounds so far (including pre op loss) and I am just over 5 months out.  i do remember feeling like losing 10-14 pounds a month was possible without the sleeve and I could do that before surgery, but the HUGE difference is that the sleeve doesn't go away or quit.  I would have been so far off the wagon and starting to regain by now if this was my typical presurgery appraoch.  

Hang in there and give yourself a chance :)