Bufflehead

Why do you want to eat bread, rice, and pasta, especially this early out? For a post-wls person, they have little nutritional value and are prone to causing problems with weight loss, even if you can tolerate them.

Can you have a clear protein drink, like Isopure (yuck but it might be filling), Unjury chicken soup flavor protein, or Syntrax Nectar?

You are eating crackers, nuts, and desserts? Honestly, those are terrible choices. Stick with your protein shakes. What about meat? Have you tried things like chicken salad, tuna salad, and soft fish? What about yogurt and cottage cheese? You really need to try to be eating protein-forward, not carb-heavy stuff like crackers, dessert, and pasta. With respect to all the foods you can't tolerate -- it's hard to know whether it's normal, I think probably a professional should assess that. Have you contacted your surgeon or dietitian for guidance? I think they can probably help you better than we can. Good luck!

I was still napping every afternoon through my third week post-op. Make sure he is getting his vitamins (including B12, which should be sublingual) and let him rest as much as he needs.

What do the guidelines from your surgeon say? I was allowed milk starting the day after surgery, but your surgeon's rules might be different.

You look great and I love the blouse!

@@Elode every week day. On weekends I get wild and crazy: Saturday breakfast is scallops and Sunday breakfast is shrimp. Yes, I am totally a creature of habit -- I try to make food as routine as possible rather than a source of entertainment. That's what the psychologist I met with as part of surgery prep suggested -- he says that's what most non-obese people do. I do enjoy my food and change it up on rare occasions but for the most part I eat the same things every day with only minor variations.

It won't necessarily take up to a year. It sounds like that is the maximum time, not the minimum. Work with your doctor's insurance coordinator and ask what you can do to speed up any testing or clearances that need to be taken care of before surgery. Make sure you keep on top of all your appointments and the requirements that need to be fulfilled -- treat it like your job! And with respect to your current health, I know it's hard, but start trying to take small steps to preserve the health that you do have, instead of getting worse. It is great that your heart specialist gave you clearance! Be happy about that and focus on the good stuff instead of possibilities that may or may not happen. Try to improve your eating habits as much as you can -- get in the habit of eating high protein and low carb, with lots of green veggies. Try to be as active as you can without hurting yourself. Check in with your doctors as much as you can and keep asking for their help with respect to both your current health and how you can be sure you are on track for surgery as quickly as possible. I had to wait a year for my surgery and I had some of the same fears as you. But I worked really hard and managed to lose some weight before surgery and start exercising a bit. Everything went great for me. I'll bet it will for you too.

I am the laziest meal prep person! I get almost everything I need from Trader Joe's. Here's my standard breakfast, lunch, and snacks: early morning snack: FF hot coca made with cashew milk & FF whipped cream. under 50 calories breakfast: Trader Joe's grilled seasoned white meat chicken strips, 3 oz. I just chop up 3 ounces and put it in a Glad container with a plastic fork. No need to refrigerate or anything (I take this to work with me and eat breakfast around 11 AM). 90 calories. lunch: 3 ounces chopped Trader Joe's chicken breast + 1.5 oz frozen green veggies (asparagus, artichoke hearts, or green beans - defrost in microwave for 30 seconds on level 3 power) + .5 T light champagne vinaigrette. Throw all ingredients together in another Gladware type container. No refrigeration necessary (lunch is usually around 2 PM). 115 calories. afternoon snack: small Pink Lady or Honeycrisp apple (really small!). 55 calories. The longest time I spend on any of this meal prep is the approximately 3 minutes it takes to heat up the cashew milk for the hot cocoa and then blend it in the immersion blender.

If by "this same issue" you mean unrealistic expectations about constant weight loss, yes, lots of people have it, just read the forums here. Okay, seriously, yes virtually everyone stalls for a few weeks starting somewhere between weeks 2 and 4. Just Google "weight loss surgery 3 week stall" or "vsg third week stall" or anything like that. You'll see. And random stalls will continue in your future no matter how well you follow your program. You can't let it freak you out. Stay off the scale if it is going to bother you. Something that will probably NOT continue in your future is losing 38 lbs in 2 weeks -- so don't freak out if that doesn't ever happen again! Good luck.

There are a couple of different aspects. For most people who are post-RNY or post-sleeve, there is a period of 6 months to a year when they experience very little or no hunger. That is one aspect. (for the vast majority of people, hunger does come back at full force at some point). For post-RNY people, there is the additional period of time (18 months? Not really sure) where their caloric malabsorption is greatest. That is another aspect for them. You can still lose weight after your "honeymoon" period -- but it will take more work. That's why it makes sense to get as much as possible out of the time when it is easier.

Yes, it is very true -- and it is worse, there are studies showing that people actively discriminate against fat people, i.e., when shown college applications with identical qualifcations but one accomapanied by a picture of a fat person and the other by a picture of a healthy weight person, test subjects are more likely to grant college admission to the healthy weight person. The same is true for job applicants. Doctors are shown to spend less time with, and speak less with, their obese patients. It sucks but you are not imagining things.

Later foods are restrictive. Liquids pass right through your pyloric valve. The reason some people struggle with liquids post-op is because of the swelling and trauma of surgery. If you aren't struggling, it means your surgeon did meticulous work and you also aren't, for whatever reason, suffering the inflammation and swelling and bruising that many people get in their stomach tissues post-op. My guess would be that the fact that your stomach tissue is very thick (scar tissue?) has something to do with that -- it is not very delicate, so it didn't freak out like many people's do. Does that make sense? I promise you, when you get to solid foods, you will feel restriction.

I wanted to add -- I think that if your post-op eating plan is one of those really loosey-goosey ones ("eat oatmeal until you feel full" "eat 4 oz. mashed potatoes" "eat whatever you want in small amounts") OR if you have been given a strict plan and are not really complying with it -- then you need to weigh regularly so that if you are going off the rails, you catch it. I think those instances are not the norm though.

Actually the sleeve is the first step, for lots of patients, in the duodenal switch surgery,* not the gastric bypass. Many people do revise to bypass, mostly because acid reflux can be caused or exacerbated by the sleeve, while bypass usually cures acid reflux.] *most DS patients have their stomachs sleeved and their intestines re-routed at the same time, not in a two-step procedure, but for some patients it is safer to do the sleeve first, lose more weight and get healthier, then complete the second step of the DS.

Most people get to the point where they can. My team says that for continued success, it's an important rule to follow. I've done it accidentally a few times and it made me feel weird and uncomfortable, so I keep following the rule. Once you get used to it, it isn't a big deal IMO.

I used Wellesse liquid multi-vitamins (and liquid iron) for the first several weeks post-op. I did a double dose of each, one in the morning and one at night. I found they tasted better if they were kept in the fridge, and the best deal I found on them was on Amazon (I have Prime, so free shipping helped). My lab work has always been terrific FYI.

My guidelines I got were very similar to those from @@JamieLogical with the exception of fiber (no minimum but we were supposed to add 2 tsp sugar free fiber powder if it did not have 3 grams of fiber) and calories -- our max was 180 calories per serving.

@@theantichick just so you know, I let my sister pick my surgeon for me. She's a physician and I trust her judgment. She researched the four bariatric surgeons practicing in my town and said my guy, who had the least experience, was the best choice. She spoke to personnel at the hospitals where these surgeons practice and they all had terrific things to say about him -- and my sister also pointed out to me that as the person who was most recently in medical school and residency, he was the one trained in the most up to date techniques and practices. Anyway, I had a fantastic experience, at least as fantastic as major surgery can be. I had a very quick and easy recovery and zero complications. I absolutely adore my surgeon and have recommended him to three other people who all had similar experiences. So, long story short, the most experienced surgeon is not necessarily the best choice in every circumstance

That's exactly what I did. For the first six months, I only weighed in at the doctor's office when I had appointments. It was great -- I could feel my body getting smaller, and people commented on it, but if I ever had a stall, I didn't know about it. No stress. I highly recommend it!

@@beylove you need to distinguish between head hunger (cravings) and true hunger. Head hunger is along the lines of: I need a pizza! or I want a cupcake! or I need something crunchy to eat! or that commercial is making me sooooo hungry! True hunger is more like: I feel really hungry and I would be happy to eat a plate of unseasoned, dry chicken breast and steamed broccoli if you put it in front of me. That would be very satisfying. Most people lose true hunger for a period of time after surgery. However, even with true hunger gone, you may need to fight head hunger. They are completely different things, although most of us are so used to indulging our head hunger that we don't even know what true hunger feels like.

That sounds like me when I accidentally eat too much. Make sure you weigh or measure your portions, and try eating a little less than you have been.

If only liquid from H2O counts as "liquid," can someone explain to me why human infants don't all die of dehydration before they can start drinking water at age 6 months? It looks to me like their little bodies and digestive systems are perfectly capable of getting all the liquids they need from either breast milk or water mixed with baby formula. If they can get the liquids they need without having even a drop of (unadulterated) water, why can't I? Humans survive and thrive as long as they get (non-poisonous) liquid from just about any source. If anyone told me that only water "counts," I'd ask them to show me the peer-reviewed, published, double-blind study proving it.

I wouldn't have been allowed that drink, because it has too many calories and carbs. But I assume you purchased it because it was on the list your surgeon gave you, so it should be okay?

I don't know if this will make you feel better or worse, but my surgeon says protein has nothing to do with the hair loss that follows weight loss surgery (neither does biotin or any sort of special potion or shampoo). I ate high protein for weeks before surgery and hit my protein goal (75+ grams) starting the first 24 hours of surgery and every day thereafter -- and I still lost tons and tons of hair. So yes, you should be striving towards your protein goals but, IMO, because you need for post-surgical healing, not because it will prevent hair loss.