Bufflehead

There is no "we" in post-op bariatric eating unless you are talking to patients of the same surgeon being advised by the same dietitian. My instructions may be very different from yours -- you need to check in with your own team. My instructions were: no veggies until 8 weeks post op. Even then, green/low carb veggies only, they had to be cooked enough so that they were soft enough to cut easily with a fork, and no more than 1 oz per meal (the other 1-2 oz of the meal had to be high protein food such as soft meat or scrambled eggs).

You are doing great. You are only three days post op! Doing any walking is good. Don't put so much pressure on yourself, you just need to focus on healing right now

I had no hunger for about the first 8 months after surgery. It came back though! I was really glad I had worked hard during those months to build good eating habits and kick the carb and sugar monsters to the curb.

I've never heard of coconut coffee -- but this is a question for your surgical team, they are the ones who can tell you which food and drinks are and are not approved.

Packets of flavored tuna Cans of sardines Turkey pepperoni slices All kinds of jerky (ostrich, elk, and marlin jerkies are some of my favorites!) Greek yogurt with PB2 (NO BANANAS) Hard boiled eggs

What PPI are you on? I was on omeprazole 2x per day after surgery. It's a double dose of what the OTC instructions call for, but it's a pretty standard dose for the prescription version.

Everyone loses tons of water weight in the first couple of weeks of dieting, then it slows down. 4 lbs a week after that is a very high rate of weight loss and it will likely slow down sooner or later. And get ready for your first stall, because that's likely coming within the next couple of weeks. Don't let it freak you out! If the scale is going to stress you out, you may want to put it away for a while and just focus on the things you can control, like meeting your protein and fluid goals.

Trying to eat back calories is a loser's game IMO -- and I don't mean loser as in the weight loss kind of way. Exercise is great for your health but not for weight loss. I don't even count calories burned. I record exercise minutes in MyFitnessPal so I know what I've been doing, but I always change the burned calories to 1. http://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories

My program gave me a hard upper limit of 800 calories during soft foods (which for my program lasts through month 6). I usually hovered around 650-700 calories.

I was over 350 lbs when I started using DVD's to exercise at home. Leslie Sansone does great dvd's that are extremely low impact and easy to follow -- especially for a uncoordinated klutz who can't dance a step like me! She has a great variety and some of them do involve using hand weights and stretchy bands for resistance/strength training. They were a really good starting point for me.

I do exercise dvd's. Started with easier ones like Leslie Sansone and worked my way up to Kelly Coffey-Meyer and Cathe Friedrich. I also go jogging in my neighborhood. I don't do the gym and probably won't ever, but I get my exercise in daily. I will say that I don't think exercise is correlated with weight loss really at all, but it is great for your health and important for maintenance. Why You Shouldn't Exercise to Lose Weight, Explained with 60+ Studies: http://www.vox.com/2016/4/28/11518804/weight-loss-exercise-myth-burn-calories

Answers are going to be all over the place, here are mine: Are you in tons of pain? I wasn't. The nurse asked me to rate my pain 1-10 when I woke up post-op and I said 4. That was almost entirely gas pain. Pain gradually got better over the next few weeks. Are you eating the same foods as the 2 weeks before? I was on solid foods before the surgery, my surgeon doesn't do a liquid diet pre-op. I was on full liquids for four weeks after my surgery, then puree for another four weeks after that. Anything else I should know? Tons -- go read the post-op forum every day between now and your surgery. You'll be an old pro by the time your date rolls around. One caveat -- keep in mind that people are a lot more likely to post when they are having problems and issues than when they are not and everything is going smoothly. So don't take all the questions about "I'm having problem x" or "what does issue y mean?" to mean that everyone has all sorts of problems and issues after surgery. Most people have a smooth recovery and progression, they just don't run to post that sort of thing online! Post-op forum: http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/384-post-operation-gastric-sleeve-surgery-questions-answers/

Make sure you spend a lot of time before your surgery reading the Post-Op forum, if you haven't already! Some questions get asked every single day so you'll be well-prepared if you read in advance. Things like: --omg it's three weeks after my surgery and I haven't lost any weight for the past week, is my surgery a failure? --omg I can drink liquids easily, what is wrong with me? Did my surgery even happen? --omg I'm eating puree and I can eat more than two teaspoonfuls, am I doomed to fail? --my stomach is making weird rumbly noises like a dying moose, is it about to explode? --I had surgery two days ago and don't feel up to running a 10K yet, what is wrong with me? --I had major surgery three days ago where a big part of a vital organ was removed, muscles and nerves were cut and I have incisions all over the front of my body. I am in pain. Is this normal? Should I actually be taking the painkillers that were prescribed for me? --what should I take to the hospital with me? etc etc (as you can see I'm feeling kind of grumpy about endlessly repeated questions this morning, lol -- it is nothing personal, I promise) Good luck on your upcoming surgery! Check in when you can and let us know how everything went

Mine was about 90 minutes, but that included a hernia repair. The nursing staff at my hospital told me my surgeon is known for being meticulous and taking his time, so other surgeons might be a lot quicker. You can read 29 pages of responses here: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/326557-how-long-is-the-gastric-sleeve-surgery/

Long term, do you still have the benefit of getting full faster / with less food. Yes, absolutely. Now that your stomach is kind of back to a bigger size, do you feel it is all on you to eat well and exercise, or do you think the sleeve is helping you long term. The sleeve definitely helps me -- but I do still have to eat well and exercise. I have to make that choice and commit to it. The sleeve helps me keep that commitment. I hope that makes sense. And the hard to know question - if you felt exactly like you feel now (weight loss accomplished, control over eating, good routine in place), and your sleeve magically got replaced with your old stomach, would you be OK - No I would not be okay, I would be well on my way back to 350+ pounds if not there already. And would you swap back since your under control now so you don't have the odd things to worry about, e.g. Vitamins, drinking Water too fast, money back from surgery (if applicable) No, I would not swap back, I am a pacifist but if someone threatened to operate on me and somehow reattach the rest of my old stomach I would get myself a semi-automatic handgun and take them out. My only addition to my Vitamin regimen is a daily multi-vitamin, not a big deal IMO. I don't worry about drinking water too fast. I do have a couple of things I no longer enjoy -- bread and carbonation. Those are off the table. I no longer drink and eat together -- that's just a habit now, not something I worry about. But I cannot even tell you how little those things matter to me compare to my normal, healthy life, which I have every prospect of maintaining as long as I keep up my end of the bargain.

@@ld33 not high-carb, high-sugar fruit like mangos, bananas, and apples -- especially not early on. Later you might be able to add that kind of thing if you could fit it into your daily carb allowance, which is unlikely unless the only other thing you are eating is meat.

It's funny how instructions vary. My program has no problem with fruits like strawberries or raspberries -- my surgeon uses a double cutter/stapler tool (I think most surgeons do) so there is absolutely no risk of any seed or any other food touching any staple line. But if I had even thought about something like bananas, mangos, or applesauce I am sure the entire dietitian staff would have shown up at my house to give me 40 lashes while making me recite chapter and verse from my post-op handbook.

G2, Powerade Zero, Vitamin Water Zero, diet cranberry juice (my favorite flavor is diet cranberry mango), tea, coffee if permitted.

The first week after surgery you need to focus on getting your water and protein in and walking a little bit. You are going to turn yourself into an emotional wreck if you start placing a lot of faith in what the scale tells you this early out. Put the damn scale away and pay attention to what the important stuff is right now. You got this.

I had a consult with a surgeon who told me that FUPA (or as I call mine, DUPA - Droopy Upper Pubic Area) tightening is included as part of a 360 body lift or a tummy tuck/panniculectomy.

There are probably a couple of factors going into why you aren't feeling full. The first is that your nerves in part of your stomach were severed in surgery. They were chopped up and haven't healed yet. Therefore, they can't convey accurate information to your brain about any sensations in your stomach. That is why it is SO important to measure out small portions, eat them, and stop! You can't rely on your stomach yet, so you must rely on the guidance from your surgeon about how much to eat. It is doubtful that something like cottage cheese could damage your stomach, but do you want to risk it? The worst case isn't stretching your stomach, it's a leak on the staple line. Second, many people don't feel true restriction on puree type foods like cottage cheese. They are very liquidy so they just slip through your pyloric valve. So, it's quite possible to eat a lot of those types of foods without feeling much restriction, even later on when your nerves are completely healed. And that's another reason to stick with small portions -- if you choose to eat slider foods, you can eat enough of them to maintain your weight or even gain weight, especially later on. Right now it isn't so much of a risk, but you really need to use this time to build excellent eating habits. So, measure your food very carefully. Set out the amount you are going to eat and put the rest away! Also, you may want to consider whether the "hunger" you are feeling could be due to excess stomach acid. If you are not on a strong dose of a PPI such as Omeprazole (Prilosec) or Nexium, you may want to look into that. Many people experience excess acid after sleeve surgery and it feels very much like hunger -- an empty, rumbling stomach. Good luck!

It's your surgeon's preference. Based on what I have seen on these boards, I would say 50/50 whether your surgeon uses them or not.

I had to fail for insurance coverage as well. That part wasn't hard -- I've been failing, hard, at weight loss all my life and knew exactly how to do it. Like water off a duck's back! You should meet with your surgeon's insurance coordinator to explain the requirement from your insurance. They should be able to accommodate you in terms of not meeting the surgeon's requirement while you are going through the insurance approval process. I strongly recommend that you get what the insurance company person told you IN WRITING. Sometimes those insurance folks talk out of their behinds and just make stuff up. Get it in writing.

I did, it was taken out 24 hours after surgery. Not a big deal. Did you have specific information you wanted about it?

I use them in protein shakes. I make a lot of coffee-based protein shakes, i.e., 8 oz cashew milk + 1 scoop Chike iced coffee protein powder + 2 tsp instant coffee + 1 shot chocolate SF syrup + 1 shot hazelnut SF syrup = hazelnut mocha protein shake. Pretty darn good, too. I wouldn't use them in just regular coffee though -- I like my "real" coffee black.