Bufflehead

Have a protein shake, not a milkshake. If you go right back to eating crap food after weight loss surgery you will not be successful in the long run.

I get probably 3-ish "standard" size servings of fruits/veggies in maintenance mode. I usually have a half serving of green veggies with lunch, and a full serving of green veggies with dinner, plus a small apple as an afternoon snack. If I have the calories for it at the end of the day, I have a couple pieces of dried fruit. This plan works well for me. So far it is keeping me fit and healthy.

The bypass has somewhat better stats for weight loss, but it also has more complications. On the other hand, even though the bypass has "more" complications, still, overall, it has a very low rate of complications and is a very safe surgery. I know several people who have had it and they are all perfectly happy, healthy, and slim. There are so many facets to this decision -- you definitely want to talk with a bariatric surgeon about your options, and probably more than one. Good luck!

Honestly I think you are trying to eat way too much (in terms of volume) and way too many kinds of food. Stick with simple, high protein meals (NO BREAD) that are 3 ounces or less in size. Chicken or tuna salad in a little tupperware container with a fork, yogurt (eat half the container at most), cottage cheese, a couple ounces of sliced deli meat, turkey burger (just the meat, no bun, eat half the burger at most), baked or grilled moist fish such as salmon, Not everyone is ready to eat *all the foods* at six weeks out. I would guess most people aren't, and most people certainly aren't even trying with things like sandwiches! If you don't have one, get a kitchen scale so you can keep your meals very small -- even 3 ounces is probably pushing it, I had a maximum of 1.5 ounces at that time -- simple, and high protein. Good luck!

When I was on pureed, I mostly took Greek yogurt or cottage cheese to work for lunch. I had more interesting stuff for breakfast and dinner, but yogurt and cottage cheese were easy and portable. I had a serving size of 1.5 oz maximum, so I would often do 1 ounce of yogurt or cottage cheese with .5 ounce almond butter or cashew butter or similar stirred in.

"Dietitians" that hang out in gyms, as a rule, know nothing about bariatric surgery patients or life long obesity. They usually tell you things like, you need to eat more, you need to eat more carbs, here, eat a peanut butter sandwich, have some crackers, drink this "gainer" protein shake, blah blah blah. I would rather have no advice than have advice from a typical gym-based "dietitian." If they can show paperwork that they are a Registered Dietitian (NOT a nutritionist), preferably with a certificate in counseling bariatric surgery patients, I would listen to them. Otherwise I would run fast and far away.

Each insurance company has their own list of approved co-morbidities, so see if you can get a list from your insurance company in writing. I've never heard of GERD or a heart murmur as a co-morbidity, but I am far from an expert! Good luck.

It'll serve you well to get out of the habit of "munching" while you watch movies or tv. Especially now when you have a golden opportunity to lose weight, recreational eating might be better foregone. If you really need to eat something because you are hungry, have a protein shake, a hard boiled egg, or some cold chopped chicken breast.

Yes, it would be crazy. Don't do it.

I have to confess I did something similar with no ill effects. I bought what I was required to buy and threw a lot of it away and used products I could actually stomach. I was very careful to count up what I would have ingested: calories, carbs, sugar, and protein -- and made my numbers as close to identical as possible. The only magic Bariatric Advantage has is to extract money from your wallet and place it in your bariatric team's pocket. I'm usually all about strictly following the orders you get from your team, but I pull way back from that when they have a direct financial interest in a product they are selling you.

@@Inner Surfer Girl I stayed under 800 calories a day for the first six months per my team's instructions and never had any health problems. That's my team's plan for most sleeve and bypass patients, and they have one of the best rates of excess weight lost and lowest rates of post-op deaths and complications in the country. They are very aggressive about follow-up check-ups and blood work, though, and I think that contributes a lot to the safety of the program.

Don't try to force yourself to eat more than you are comfortable with. Usually the serving sizes listed in documentation from a bariatric program is a maximum, not a minimum. And stomachs do not come in "one size fits all" configurations, either pre-op or post-op. Your goal should be to *never* eat so much that you feel uncomfortable. And Dub is absolutely right, there is nothing wrong with supplementing with protein shakes to get all your protein in, or swapping out a protein shake for a meal, as long as you are staying within a reasonable calorie limit for the day.

When I started I had a BMI of 61. I had a one year pre-op period (insurance misfires etc.) and by the time I had surgery I was at 49. It took me about a year and a half post-op but I got down to a normal BMI (barely). I won't lie to you -- it was extremely hard work after about the first 8 months post op. I engaged in hand-to-hand combat with every single pound I lost. The sleeve made it possible for me to do what I never had been able to do before, but it did not make it easy. You really have to be willing to work hard and fundamentally change the way you interact with food. Good luck!

When I was on weight loss phase I was given a max of 60 grams of carbs daily by my program, plus a minimum of 30 grams of carbs (the dietitians at my center are not big fans of ketosis). Every program is different though!

What food stage are you on?

myfitnesspal

You can't remove a hormone. It's true that they remove the part of the stomach that is most responsible for producing that hormone (ghrelin), but other parts of the body also produce ghrelin, and they will eventually start making even more of it when they figure out that the main ghrelin production area is gone. So, how much hunger is gone varies a lot from person to person. Here are some clues as to whether you are experiencing acid, head hunger, or true hunger: --Have you tried multiple different PPI's -- and if you are on omeprazole/Prilosec, are you taking at least 40 mg per day, 20 mg in the morning, 20 mg at night? Many people need at least 40 mg per day in order to stop excess acid production, or they need a PPI that is stronger than Omeprazole, such as Nexxium or Protonix. Until you have tried a max dose of Omeprazole or a new PPI, don't rule acid out. --When you are hungry, would you be willing to eat just about anything to satisfy your hunger (dry chicken breast, roast broccoli, an apple)? Or are you thinking things like "I sure would love a piece of cake" or "a burger sounds good right now"? If you aren't hungry enough for some dry chicken breast (and happy to eat dry chicken breast), you aren't experiencing true hunger but head hunger. Hope this helps -- good luck!

I had a couple of similar plateaus in my weight loss. Not sure if it was hormonal, some weird thing with water weight, or what, but one time I stopped losing entirely for 3 weeks and another time for almost 4 weeks, even though I was following all my instructions (similar to yours) to the letter. I upped my exercise, but not drastically. I only weighed myself once per week. And both times, I eventually got on the scale and after not losing for 3 or 4 weeks, found myself down 5 - 7 lbs. If you keep doing what you are supposed to, eventually the weight will have to drop off, absent some strange thyroid problem or something. Give it another couple of weeks before you start to worry too much. Good luck!

For the first several weeks I used liquid multi-vitamins, iron, and calcium. I used Wellesse brand. I took a double-dose of the multi-vitamins, one in the morning, one at night. My labs have always been great. I've stopped taking calcium supplements of any kind entirely (not convinced they are useful to anyone, sleeved or not, but they appear to have some dangers). I still add in the liquid iron supplement, in addition to my regular iron pill, when my iron panel numbers are not good, and it always seems to help.

My first "soft solid" was a couple bites of spicy turkey sausage. No problems. I was adding sriracha to my chicken broth within a couple of days after surgery and never had any problems with it.

Have you checked with your surgeon? That sounds like it might be serious, especially if it persists.

In my experience people don't notice weight loss on obese people until you've lost about 20% of your total body weight, so you may be in luck. If people know you were out for some kind of surgery, but don't know what kind, you have a couple of options if they ask you what kind of surgery you had: "I'm sorry, I'm really not very good at discussing personal medical matters, but I am fine now, thank you for asking" "I'm sorry, HR advised me it's best not to get into personal medical matters at work, but I appreciate your concern. I am doing fine." --pretend you just received a call or text on your cell and walk away while talking/typing into your phone as you apologize "excuse me???" said in an air of mild disbelief, repeat as necessary If someone flat out asks you if you had weight loss surgery, you can either lie, tell the truth, or say something like "wow, that's personal! Do you think I needed weight loss surgery?" If they just comment generally on weight loss, say something like "hey, thanks for noticing! I've been working really hard!" If they comment generally on your being gone, just say, thanks for your concern, I am doing great and am happy to be back at work. Keep in mind that most people will figure out or assume you've had weight loss surgery eventually, and flat-out lying about it may make people dislike or distrust you. That may or may not be of concern, depending on your workplace, whether you want to count on any of them for referrals or references, etc. Good luck!

Fruit smoothies are an excellent way to mainline a lot of sugar and carbs and calories into your system . . . if I were you, I would stay away. Muscle Milk Light has good numbers but just regular Muscle Milk is relatively high calorie, so you would want to be careful about your intake to make sure you aren't inadvertently taking in too much. Good luck!

What are you thinking people will say to you?

@@chuswysly is there a reason you are trying to force yourself to eat 3 ounces of chicken? I couldn't eat that much until well after a year post-op, and I think I'm pretty normal that way.