Vertical Sleeve Stomach Operation/ Lost 20 Kg already but...

lax2dxb, thank you so much, I will email you now :)

I have never throwed up but too much of lack of enjoyment of food and discomfort in the stomach. I wanted to see if anyone who did exactly the same surgery still gets what is called "Hunger Pain" because this is the most what is bothering me. It is not the normal hunger pain which I used to feel before surgery, this one is kind of squeezing my stomach and makes me feel that I want food NOW.. One more thing, few months ago I stopped eating all healthy food (like grilled salmon, any kind of fish, chicken..) and most of the day I was chewing on digestive biscuits because biscuits doenst upset my stomach at all. After 5 months of surgery I was eating most of the day cornflakes because at that time it made me feel full and any type of food used to cause a terrible pain, my luch consisted of 2 bites of tuna and the rest of the day, whenever I get that hunger pain I chew cornflakes.. When I went to follow up with my dietician back home she asked me to stop cornflakes and gave me a diet to follow, and I followed it for 2 months without loosing 1 kg!! So that's when I started the biscuits thing.. I am now with Health Factory for 2 months on their 900 calories with chewing a biscuit or cracker or an apple during the day, I will stop immediately all kind of biscuits and see if there is any improvement. To be honest, the follow up with my doctor back home and the nutritionist didnt do much so I will not pay any more money to them (the operation's cost was 8000$ in addition to dietician follow up and doctor fees!) If anyone knows of a doctor who can do a blood test for me and tell me WHAT IS THE FOOD THAT I SHOULD COMPLETELY CUT, this will be great. And what I think I am doing wrong, is that when I eat, after few bites I feel full so I wait for 10 mns and then complete eating, resting and eating.. What I will do, is that when I feel full, I will stop eating immediately and when I feel the hunger pain then I go back to complete my meal.. Your replies are really helping me to understand my problem with eating better. DesertRose, I have seen people who did your operation and my operation and both had major changes in their body and they didn't put on weight again, it depends on the person itself and also on the body. Dentro, I am ok with size 12, at least now I look at myself in the mirror and I dont see a super fat girl :) but this was not my aim when I did the op. I want to be size 8, I want to wear nice dresses, I want to see slim arms, slim legs, I want to wear once in my life that skinny jeans :D If I loose more weight, I will be a happier person.. maybe some people doesnt really care about how they look and I have many of them around me, but this is my dream.. I am 30 now and I am planning to get married this year, I don't want to get pregnant with the extra weight that I have, I want to loose it before getting a baby :)

Oh I wanted to have the band but the doctor advised that "As per my eatings' habits", Sleeve would be better for me :( Also my 2 cousins who did the band, one of them lost weight but then she gained it all again, she was able to swallow food somehow :D The other one lost sooo much, she became so slim but she was visiting too much the hospital, the band caused infection in her stomach and she was vomitting every meal she eats so after 2 years she removed it so she can live a normal life. It seems that Sleeve is a good option for extremely obese people.. I just need to loose these 15 or even 10 kgs.. I think what I need to do is when I feel hungry (which is almost every hour - 2 hours) eat one bite or 2 bites of an apple or banana or whatever and dont complete on eating it slowly.. I will have a bite and stop.. when I feel the hunger pain again, I can have another bite.. maybe this will help.. The hunger pain which I am having is really painful, it makes me feel "I have to feed my stomach".. Thank you for the link, I've seen it sometime back, not good news though :)

DesertRose, I know your point and I will write down anything that I eat other than what I get from Health Factory.. but I want to say that my total eating habits changed after the operation.. I used to have a heavy lunch everyday (pasta with cream sauce), then a chocolate muffin in the afternoon, on my way home in the evening a big meal from burger king.. then again at 10pm order something else.. and you won't believe it.. I was able to eat 7 bars of chocolates (if not more) every night while watching TV, a big chips of doritos.. and sometimes 3 icecream galaxy one after the other.. and forgot to mention during the morning croissant + a big cafe latte. I don't eat that now!!! I feel more healthy, more energetic, I don't sweat anymore when I walk from the car parking to my work, I sleep good (which was not the case when I had the additional 20kgs, I always had nightmares), I used always to wake up very tired in the morning.. Lot of things changed in my life style..

Dentro, my size before the operation was 18UK (trousers) and 16UK (tops). In August 2010 I reached 70.2kg and I was wearing 14UK trousers, but slowly I started to fit into 12UK with the same weight!! Actually it might go up sometimes 1 kg and then after few days drop the 1kg but that's it. I don't go more than 71.5 and not less than 70.2!! I am hoping that the exercise which I am aiming to start will do some change but I really need to loose those extra kgs. If not 15, at leat 10. I will be super happy if I reach 60kg Regarding the groups, I will search for that again, I have searched in the past and didn't find any useful, most of people do gastric band or Bypass and the thing is, they all talked about amazing results with photos for before and after... Only me and my stupid body.. If there is a test I can do at least that anyone is aware of.. they tell me which food is not making me loose weight, I will cut it totally from my life.. but I have already erased a big huge options of food. I don't eat at restaurants, I can't!! It hurts my stomach so it has to be a food cooked with no oil.. no bread, pasta, pizza.. yes I can eat rice but any not any rice, it has to be the one from Health Factory.. They make healthy food and they give me 2 daily meals (lunch and dinner) which consist of 900calories a day and most of the time, I don't complete my lunch.. When I go out with friends, I order salad and I never eat it.. They even keep laughing at me and asking me to stop ordering because I don't eat it.. and the more furstrating thing, is that I feel hungry and it is a terrible hunger pain but when I eat, another kind of pain starts and lasts for 15-20mns then I am fine.. after an hour the same hunger pain starts and.. the same story.. all the day long. Some kind of cookies, icecream (light only from london diary) are ok, they don't upset my stomach but these are not food.. In addition to all that, I am taking all sort of vitamins but my hair is falling too much, nails are not growing/ breaking.. so lot of issues but my main problem is not solved. I always wanted a slim body and I still want it!! Any input from someone who did the operation is greatly appreciated.

Thank you AdviceSeeker, I didn't think about a step counter so will go get one in the coming few days, that's not too much exercise though better than the personal trainer's idea :) I wake up at 6am everyday, I work from 8am to 6pm (office hours) and in the evening I had to dedicate at least 2 hours to my personal little business so really no time for a personal trainer and for hardwork exercise.. In fact I did that operation because I thought if I stopped the junk and the full of fat food, I will become slim like the teenager girls.. which was not my case (but lot of others).. I am being honest here, I hate hard exercise and with the work pressure that I have on my shoulder, I would prefer going on a ride on the bicycle instead of exercising very hard with a personal trainer!!! I have tried personal trainers before and they are too tuff.. and I get angry from them after few minutes :) As for the dog's idea.. Oh I wish I can have one but it won't be fair. I have 2 cats already, I am involved in helping stray cats and I cannot commit myself to an additional pet in the meantime.. I love how loyal dogs are and when I see dog owners walking their dogs, I always wish I have one so we can walk together :( Maybe it will be a good idea to put an AD and see if any dog's owner lives in Springs 2 and wants me to take his dog for a walk everynight, free of charge :) Good for the dog, its owner and me :)

So ladies, I need advice/ help from anyone who did the above operation to share your experience with me, what do you, what you don't eat.. I was never a slim girl but didn't reach obesity until I came to Dubai. I grow up in a village and we didn't have all this junk food so when I came here, in one year I managed to put on 15kg in the 1st year. Anyway to cut the stroy short, my height is 154cm (yes I am too short) and in 2005 my weight reached to 81kg. I did a lipsuction at that time, did a strict diet but I lost only 7kg.. After one year of liposuction, and due to lot of stressful things that I passed through, my weight increased again so I was dieting from time to time, loosing 5 kg then putting on 8 kg.. until in January 2010 I reached 90kg and my ideal weight should be 54 - 55!! After consultation with the best doctor back home, I took the decision of doing the above mentioned operation and they removed around 75% of my stomach. The first 2 months after the operation were terrible but the results were amazing. In 5 months I lost 20 kg... and that's it :( :( I am very upset because the people who did this operation kept loosing weight more and more every month, except me (I think).. I dont really understand what on earth is my stupid body problem! I still can't eat bread (only little cruchy toast and not all brands), no meat, no oily food, no burger, no fries.. nothing fatty I can eat.. only very healthy food + sweets. Sweets doesnt upset my stomach (in little quantities), a little piece of fish, etc.. All I eat is healthy food except sometimes I have a small Lays chips, digestive biscuit... My doctor back home told me before that I should exercise and I didn't commit to that because of the lack of time, but I just bought an outdoor bicycle and I started using it few days ago.. My doctor also advised that I should loose the extra weight (additonal 15kg) from now until August. I have questions to people who did the same operation: 1- After One year and 3 months from doing the operation, do you still feel kind of pain in the stomach from hunger every hour? 2- Did you stop loosing weight? 3- Do you have any advice for me? What not to eat.. As I said, I DONT eat fatty food at all, except bars of chocolate from time to time, biscuits, and rarely a small chips.. Can you tell me anything to motivate me? Am I going to loose this weight ever? What is upsetting me, is that I don't enjoy food at all.. I just came back from Shakespear, I ordered that plate of watermelon and feta cheese, I had one bite of cheese + one piece of watermelon with shisha, I had an upset stomach after few minutes and I had to run home to go to toilet :( I dont enjoy food anymore, it takes me one hour to eat 2 spoon of rice + little chicken (healthy chicken from HEALTH FACTORY).. and yet I dont loose weight.. <em>edited by JS on 24/03/2011</em>