Bufflehead

It really varies from person to person. I lost hunger completely for about eight months after surgery, but it gradually came back. At that point I was pretty close to goal and highly motivated not to give in to it. Other people never get their hunger back. Others start feeling hungry as soon as their stomach heals. It's not something that can be predicted -- but I would guess that what I experienced is more common than either never feeling hungry again, or feeling hungry right after surgery. My hunger remains less in intensity than it used to be, but it is there. I do have to work to maintain a slim, healthy body. I will have to work at it for the rest of my life. It doesn't feel like a life or death struggle, but it is work. I watch what I eat very carefully (no more plates of pasta!) and I exercise regularly. The thing is though, my surgeon taught me that if you live in the developed world and you are over 30 and have a healthy body weight, chances are extremely high that you work for it, and work hard. That applies to everyone, not just the formerly morbidly obese or weight loss surgery patients. I had to accept that this is my life going forward, it is better than morbid obesity, and it isn't unfair. It's just something I have to do to keep healthy. It's worth it, and it's not nearly as hard as I would have imagined pre-op. Good luck!

--lean meat, no sauces or breading --green veggies nothing else. Keep it simple.

I started with putting sriracha in broth as soon as I got home from the hospital, and kept going, adding spices, hot sauce, etc. to anything I think will benefit from it. Spicy has never bothered me in the slightest either before or after surgery.

I was tired and sore but otherwise okay. I could have handled travel but not lots of walking or carrying -- make sure you have a plan to move your suitcase around if you are taking one because you won't be permitted to lift it. Once I got to my destination I wouldn't have been doing much more than curling up with a book or in front of the tv -- no sightseeing or long shopping excursions or anything like that.

No, I just eat unprocessed meat (no jerky, bacon, sausage, or deli/lunch meat), eggs, and green veggies for five days. Much more satisfying and healthier (IMO) than trying to re-create your post-op stomach. Exercise is not terribly important for weight loss. Don't focus on that, instead focus very very hard on what you are eating and exactly how many calories you are taking in each day. Stop eating high carb and high sugar foods -- you need to do this or you will keep craving them. Don't drink your calories. Stay on top of your intake and you will lose weight. Good luck!

I started at probably over 350 lbs -- not really sure because it got to a point where I didn't want to weigh myself. After a couple of months of diet and exercise pre-op, I did weigh in at the surgeon's office at 339. I didn't really have a goal weight to start, but eventually realized that if I reached 139, that would be both a nice round number than I could pat myself on the back for losing -- like, why stop at 190 lbs when I could tell myself and anyone who asked, I lost 200 lbs!? Also, if I got to 139 that would put me pretty safely in the range where my insurance company's "partnership coaching" program would stop harassing me with phone calls from 20-something "health coaches" who lecture me about diet and exercise. So I aimed for 139. The last 15-20 lbs were HARD, I struggled with every pound, but I got there. These days I tend to hover around between 137 - 141. If I get to 144, I go into serious weight loss mode and get myself back down to 137,

@@theantichick sorry I wasn't clear in my latest post in this thread! No snacks *other than protein shakes.* I had 1-2 protein shakes daily throughout my weight loss period. I didn't mind them at all, as long as I had the right brand & flavor of powder. I did a lot of experimenting and some were much more successful than others!

-immediate family --a couple of close friends --anyone who asks me "oh my God, you look amazing, how did you lose all that weight?"

@@LisaMergs after (I think) 9 months they let me go up to 4 oz per meal, no snacks. Yes, it is intense, but their program is highly successful and it certainly worked for me! I never had any trouble losing weight and my lab work was always great so I don't think it hurt me in any way. It helped me get out of the habit of thinking I needed to eat all day or that it was unacceptable to be hungry. I'm really grateful for the very strict program they put me on.

You can be very terse with your work. Wait until you have your date scheduled, and say something like "I'm scheduled for surgery in ten days and my doctor recommends I be out of work for the following two weeks" or whatever your situation is. If your boss says: "what kind of surgery?" then you say, "err, it's personal." If they say "can you reschedule for January?" you say "no, my doctor and the insurance company say I have to have this now."

By then you should be able to get the protein you need from food. But if you need it, they have protein bars and shakes and powders in the UK too -- just read the labels carefully as the brands will be different from US brands (for the most part). Have fun!

If you can tolerate it, sure! I used (and still use) chewables -- but a very low cal chewable -- because I don't like swallowing big horse pills. But however you do it I think it is great to get away from those fake candy vitamins that are loaded with calories and carbs.

Don't weigh yourself. You'll drive yourself crazy with the scale in the first several weeks. Because of the IV fluids and trauma of surgery, your body trying to heal, etc. your weight on the scale will do very odd things and it can be psychologically hard to see the numbers on the scale when they don't reflect the reality of your food intake and so on. Just stay off it for the first four weeks after surgery is my advice. And I could not tell you how much I lost in the first week because "stay off the scale for four weeks post-op" was what my team told me to do. I had faith that I was following my plan correctly and the weight would come off, fast or slow. Good luck!

Are you taking a PPI? Stomach acid, which most people manufacture in excessive amounts after sleeve surgery, will make you feel hungry. If you aren't on something like 40 mg daily of omeprazole, you may want to talk to your surgeon or PCP about that. Or you can just buy it OTC.

The only way for most of us to stop craving high carb or high sugar foods is to stop eating them. It's hard to do! Here is what I do when I find myself going off the rails with high carb or high sugar foods: 1. Get all of those "off plan" foods out of the house. You can't be tempted by them if they aren't there. If there are other people you live with, well, no one *needs* crackers or frozen waffles or chips or cookies. If they want to eat that crap, they can do it outside the house at least for a little while. 2. For five days, eat nothing but unprocessed meats (no deli/lunch meat, bacon, sausage, or jerky), green veggies, healthy fats (olive oil, grass fed butter), eggs, herbs and spices. No sauces, no cheese, nothing like that. But for those five days, you get to eat as much as you want, whenever you want! That way there is no way you can experience actual hunger. This will help you re-learn the difference between hunger and cravings, and it will also help you re-establish your restriction. 3. For those five days, no liquid calories and especially no artificial sweeteners. This will help banish your cravings for sweets and carbs. 4. At the end of the five days, commit to logging all of my food intake on myfitnesspal. Set a calorie goal that will keep me in a caloric deficit. 5. Plan my food intake at the beginning of each day and pre-log it in myfitnesspal. This helps when I get hungry in between meals or snacks. I can remind myself: "yes, I am hungry now, it is no fun to be hungry, but I am not going to starve. I will eat an apple and some turkey jerky in a couple of hours and I can wait until then." Yes, this involves some planning, work, and change. But unfortunately at least for me there are no shortcuts or magic potions or tricks. If I stick it out, it works. Good luck!

My team said to stay off the scale until my 4 week check-up, which I did. They said that the fluid weight from surgery and then the stalls and pauses and even small gains caused by the trauma of surgery makes many people freak out, and that it's better for your mental health to just focus on following the plan as best you can for the first several weeks and worry about weight loss later when things are more normalized in your system.

It will be tough, especially the first few days, but you can do it! Once you get through the first several days it will get easier and you will start to lose the cravings for high carb foods and sweets. Good luck!

Many people with bariatric surgery exclusions save their money and go to Mexico as self-pay for the surgery. There is a whole forum here for it. You can get a package deal for $5K or less.

I was given straws to use in the hospital immediately post-op and used them with no problem. Since then I haven't just because I hate drinking from straws.

"Bites" and "teaspoons" are really not very precise measurements. The rules from my program were: puree stage (weeks 4 - 8): 1.5 oz per meal soft food stage (months 2 - 6): 3 oz per meal (I could rarely eat that much anyway) continuing in weight loss mode: 4 oz per meal maintenance mode: 5 oz per meal

I've heard of this happening to people after surgery, apparently because they were strapped so tightly to the operating table. I think it usually gradually goes away.

Here's a standard menu of mine from when I was in weight loss mode: 2 protein shakes =340 calories total (each protein shake is 1 scoop protein powder + 1 cup Carb Master milk, not regular skim -- could make it even lower calorie by using unsweetened vanilla almond or cashew milk, 25 calories per cup. Carb Master is 60 calories per cup). Breakfast - 3 oz grilled chicken breast, 100 calories Lunch - 2 oz grilled chicken breast, 65 calories, 1 oz grilled asparagus, 10 calories Dinner - 2 oz grilled salmon, 120 calories, 1 oz broccoli, 10 calories Total: 645 calories (approx.), 90+ grams protein I couldn't possibly eat 300 calories worth of chicken breast. Are you eating deep-fried, breaded chicken breast or something like that?

Get a copy of your "plan document" or "member benefit handbook" -- the part that addresses bariatric surgery coverage -- and make an initial appointment with your surgeon (you mention a doctor but I am not sure whether you mean your bariatic surgeon you want to use or a primary care provider).

40 - 60 grams of protein is actually well within the RDA for protein intake. It won't make you malnourished or weak to eat protein at that level. That said, it isn't optimal for weight loss post-op, so I am not trying to hand-pat you and tell you to keep doing what you are doing! Get yourself a good reminder app for your phone. Set it to remind yourself to eat your meals, snacks, protein supplements on schedule. And make yourself a priority. Stop making excuses (I know that sounds harsh but I promise you I mean it in a caring way -- I am confident in you, you can do this) like you have children or work or "it never works out." You can make it work out if you commit to it. Good luck!

Perhaps some food for thought for diet soda fans: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/21/well/eat/for-weight-loss-water-beats-diet-soda.html? --people on the same diet except drinking water instead of diet soda lost more weight, had better insulin readings, etc.