elindoll88

The nurse case manager for my Bariatric program recommends that we do balance exercises like standing on tip toes or balancing on one foot to help get used to a new center of gravity. She also says playing with the Wii Fit helps.

Once I cleared out all my trigger foods from home, I realized that most of my emotional eating happened at work (I'm a teacher). Toward the end of the last school year, I made it a goal not to eat anything except the food I brought with me for lunch. The first student birthday after I started my program's pre op diet was very hard, but I realized that i would be OK if I didn't have a cupcake. The 2nd and 3rd birthdays were easier. Instead of celebrating small victories with food, I started buying myself flowers. I also made a little chart to record the # of days I'd ignored head hunger, kind of like a "this many days without an accident" poster. It helped me think about whether or not a food choice was worth going back to zero.

I'm coming up on the end of my puréed food stage. I've puréed chicken salad, tuna salad, and egg salad, all of which where pretty good. My program won't let us eat beans, so I've also puréed a few cans of Hormel no bean chili. A few times I've been too tired and lazy to purée anything so I've done baby food. I recommend the Beechnut brand, bland, so very bland, but it actually tastes like the meat. Gerber is very watery.

I've been fortunate enough not to experience the more usual difficulties. I've had no pain or nausea. Getting Water down is pretty easy and I'm happy on day 4 of purees. But my elbow is killing me. Woke up Tuesday morning and it hurt. It hasn't really gotten any better and I'm having a lot of trouble using that arm. Had to brush my teeth with the other hand, which was not easy. I think i strained it by using it for 2 weeks straight to push myself up to get out of bed. Blood clot seems doubtful as the only symptom- pain- goes away when I'm resting. I also want to ask if anyone else has problems getting their ears to pop. I was out shopping today and all I could hear was my own breathing echoing inside my head. Talked to a cashier and the popping kept going off and on from normal to the terrible echo and back again. It was just maddening!

I had the ear thing in the ER for a little while that morning, but it went away soon after I started drinking ice water. Had it for a few minutes this afternoon when I walked during my post meal water free hour. I do get it even when I walk and sip water at the same time. I'm definitely going to start a record of what I'm doing and how thirsty I am when it happens.

Sounds like a vasovagal response. Google it and you should find some tips for dealing with it. Be very careful: it can cause fainting as I found out Saturday when I headed for the sofa and woke up on the floor.

Thanks! I actually ended up in the ER on Saturday. Lost use of my arm Friday and woke up crying from pain in the middle of the night. Fainted Saturday morning when I stood up to walk from the kitchen to the living room. They think bursitis in the elbow from constantly using it to help myself sit up in bed. I'm putting ice on it; some of the pain is going away and I'm slowly regaining use of the arm. I think the ear thing might be due to thirst. I've been noticing that it happens when I'm thirsty. Gotta get used to carrying a Water bottle around all the time!

One more thing: if I had to do canned creamy soups again, I'd make them with milk instead of water. I always used to make them with water, but post op I got tired of them quickly.

Some say that tomato soup is too acidic and will harm the sleeve. That being said, my NUT didn't warn against it and I had creamy tomato my first 2 days of stage 2 with no setbacks. Instead of pureeing the broccoli soup, you could try just straining it. You can get small strainers almost everywhere. Putting it through the processor or the blender still runs the risk of solid pieces of food being present.

"The Emotional First Aid Kit: a Practical Guide to Life After Bariatric Surgery" by Cynthia Alexander

Sleeved on June 25, got the OK from my program's dietician to start puréed foods this morning. Chicken salad paste never tasted so good. Down 15 lbs since surgery.

I made a little tracker when I was pre op and trying to overcome head hunger. I imagine I'll go back to using it as soon as I can eat foods again. It says "Ignoring Head Hunger" at the top and has a space where I can clip up a numbered card to keep score of my days. I have it hanging on the pantry door. I went back to zero a few times, mostly because I had a planned celebration. It did help me with impulse eating when I was able to ask myself if something was worth going back to 0. I also used it as the basis for nonfood rewards.

Hi Natty! I was sleeved through Richmond Kaiser too. If you don't know already, we have a support group that meets the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month. Next meeting is 6:00 on Wed. July 18. All meetings are in room 317, probably the same room as your orientation.

I went through NorCal Kaiser (Richmond) and I was also nervous about the psych meeting, probably because I'd never seen a psychologist and had no idea what to expect. It was fine. We talked for about 30-45 minutes. She'll want to know about stress in your life, how you cope, what kind of support system you have, etc. The psych appt also screens for other conditions like OCD and schizophrenia, so be aware that some questions will be really weird!

I teach kindergarten. My big challenge is going to be remembering to drink all day. I'm too used to being able to swig a bottle of water before lunch!

I managed to lose 30 pounds from September to December of last year. I gained 5 pounds back over the holidays. My breaking point came in January when I gained 5 more pounds. I wasn't going to spend another year of my life trapped in the yo-yo cycle and I started looking into surgical options.

You'll mess up on your journey. I was 3 months, 10 days following a really reasonable pre op diet, no shakes, no liquid only, and I fell off the wagon, sometimes just a little, other times with a spectacular binge. Cynthia Alexander said it best in "The Emotional First Aid Kit". "You will fall off the wagon thousands of times between now and the end of your life. Falling off the wagon is not the problem. It never has been. It's how long you stay off that's the problem". So cheer up and remember that tomorrow is a new day.

I was sleeved on the 25th and my incisions are glued closed.

Congratulations! I was also sleeved on the 25th. I'm down 8 pounds since surgery.

My sleeve is scheduled for the 25th and I had my food funerals last weekend. My program started us on a pre op diet as soon as we entered, all food, no shakes, and I've been on that diet for the last 3 months. This weekend I ate my favorite foods and snacked away like I used to and it made me a bit sick. It actually relieved one fear I had about post op life- what would happen if I stopped liking favorite foods? I've already stopped liking them and they way they make me feel, and I'm OK with that.