Bufflehead

Honestly, and I know this sounds harsh but I say it out of genuine concern for you -- you should be following the advice of your surgeon and dietician, not asking for permission to eat "off plan" from strangers on the Internet. This is the time to commit to following the dictates of your medical team rather than making up your own rules as you go along. If any of us (including you and me) were such great experts on healthy eating, we wouldn't have ended up needing bariatric surgery.

@@CowgirlJane the difference in cultures is fascinating. There is a third forum that is probably a bit more hard-ass than this one and there is basically zero tolerance for the "I'm bored with purees, I'm going to eat Fritos instead, is that okay?" type of posts, and people will pile on those for days. I enjoy that one a lot or tangling with a certain guy which i find fascinating. I don't know if it's the same guy but the scenario that I often see at that other place you were discussing is: 1. random poster complains about stall or not losing fast enough 2. A certain guy parachutes in, announces that we aren't on a diet and if you don't eat whatever the hell you want in whatever quantity you want, then you will fail, and you should probably go eat some pizza right now (okay I'm exaggerating but only a bit) 3. five other posters show up to tell the certain guy how brilliant he is and how much they worship him

I am very strongly against outright lying, especially in a work situation where, if the truth is exposed, you could seriously damage your credibility generally and your relationship with your boss. Maybe you could consider declining to discuss the exact type of surgery? Just do your best to flush, stammer, and say something like "oh god, if I told you what kind of surgery, we would both be terribly embarrassed, but I promise you, I will be fine once this thing is fixed"? -- they'll assume it's some sort of hemmorhoidectomy or something. But if you really can't do that and are willing to run the risk, "hernia repair" is probably your best option IMO.

now I'm on day 9 and it's like I never had surgery where fluids R concerned! Ice cream gives me awful gurgling noises Why on earth are you eating ice cream???

Your weight can fluctuate a few pounds every day just normally. In addition, yes, the human body can hold several pounds of poop and that does make a difference! You aren't going to see a drop every day, that's just not how things work. If it is going to make you crazy, either stick to weighing yourself only every couple of weeks, or use a site like trendweight to track your weight. With respect to hunger, are you on a PPI? If not, you might want to look into that. Stomach acid often presents as "hunger" -- your stomach has excess acid floating around and is telling you it needs something to digest. Excess acid does tend to be a problem for sleevers. Even if you are on a PPI, you may want to ask your surgeon about a different, stronger one. If it isn't acid, make sure you are completely hydrated. And then, sometimes people do retain real hunger after surgery. It is just one of those things. It sounds like you are doing a really good job of eating what you are supposed to eat, in the correct amounts, rather than giving in to "hunger" or trying to test your sleeve capacity. Your weight loss is incredible. That speaks for itself. Keep doing what you are doing and I bet you will be tremendously successful!

I love my surgeon and his team but for some reason I have always felt like I am being called into the principal's office when I go back for my follow ups. NOT because they are mean to me or tell me I am doing something wrong . . . because I am afraid they will. But they never do! They are always super supportive and kind. But I still have a tiny feeling of dread associated with them. Maybe it's spillover from a lifetime of being afraid of visiting the doctor and "talked to" about my weight.

Hmm. Five months at that level of calories with no weight loss would lead me to wonder if he needs a medical work-up (potential thyroid problem?) or, honestly, whether he is accurately measuring and logging his food intake. He could also try some of the suggestions from above such as varying caloric intake on different days of the week. I hope you can work it out, that sounds like a tough challenge.

I live alone and didn't even allow visitors in my house for the first week after surgery. The last thing I wanted was to feel like I had to be entertaining someone. I had no issues taking care of myself, my pets, or my home. I did make sure all the stuff requiring heavy lifting or effort was done in advance -- lawn mowed, kitty litter changed, laundry done, etc.

I took liquid vitamins for the first four weeks after surgery. No problems. But honestly, vitamin intake should not affect your energy level unless you are running a long term deficit. A few weeks without them should not make a difference, or at least not a big difference. However, it is quite common to be exhausted for several weeks after surgery, let alone one that results in drastically reduced intake of fluid and nourishment. Work hard at getting your protein and fluids in and resting and walking. If you need more time before you go back to work, don't be afraid to speak with your surgeon and your work about adjusting your return date. Good luck!

Yep. Fat cells are where your body stores hormones, and when you lose weight quickly, the hormones get flushed out of the cells along with the fat. This can lead to all sorts of emotional reactions, from weepiness and depression to mood swings to hair-trigger rages. Plus there's all the stress of surgery, giving up the comfort and stress relief of food, uncertainty about the future, etc. It doesn't happen to everyone but it seems to be pretty common.

There is a surgeon in Las Vegas (Umbach?) that a lot of sleevers here have used and they have seemed very happy with him. He is supposed to have very low rates. Looks like he would also be relatively close to you.

I stopped going a while back, but plan to go for my 2 year surgiversary in June and then maybe every 6 months after. I love my surgeon and the people in his practice but I think the support groups are kind of a mess. They do tend to get taken over by the newbies who are so overwhelmed by everything that they need to tell you their life story, how hard obesity has been for them, and end up crying over how awful their life is, or how grateful they are to get surgery, etc. I know I sound like a stone cold b*tch right now, and maybe I am, but I was spending an awful lot of time rolling my eyes.* Plus when I attended as a vet I got a lot of people demanding to know exactly how much weight I lost and how fast I lost it, which are not numbers I care to share for a number of reasons, so that got awkward. Finally, and I know I shouldn't let this bother me, but the last two times I went, I had people ask me (before the formal intro's) "have you had surgery yet?" and "what kind of surgery are you going to have?" and it made me sad and angry. I thought I was doing great, was happy in my size 10 clothes and hovering just 7 lbs over a normal BMI, but people still saw me as grossly obese and in need of weight loss surgery. It really got me down so that was another reason I stopped going. So to any newbies lurking on the vets' forum: never assume anyone is pre-op! Wait for them to tell you so. *eta: another problem is that there always seemed to be at least one person with a crazy conspiracy theory ("the government is poisoning our Water with fluoride!") or need to make a political diatribe ("Obama is the reason I'm fat! Thanks Obama!") and the moderators never even tried to get the conversation back on course. So that was another cause of my eye-rolling.

1. What is your capacity in measurement (cups)? I never measure my food in cups, other than liquids, so honestly I have no idea. Sorry! 2. What is your capacity in weight (ounces, grams)? About 4-5 ounces total, usually 2.5 ounces lean meat + 1.5 ounce green veggies is enough to satisfy. I can't eat more than about 3.5 ounces of lean meat, that completely fills me up and I have no room for veggies after that. 3. How many calories do you consume? Usually between 950-1150. I am still losing. 4. How's your hunger? As long as I stick to a low-ish carb diet, my hunger is there but easily manageable. It's when I go off plan and start eating crap that I just get more and more cravings. When I am eating right and get hungry before I am supposed to eat again (I maintain a rigid schedule), I remind myself of the lessons I have learned: hunger is unpleasant but it is not an emergency. I can live with being hungry until I get to eat again. I am not actually going to die of starvation if I wait another couple of hours, and I can find something else to do in the meantime. It is okay to be hungry.

At least for now, stop eating the high carb foods like cereal, Beans, and bread. Stick with lean meat, green veggies, and fresh fruit. Get the junk like pretzels and ice cream and Cookies out of the house completely. Your family will not wither away and die if they don't have crap in the house for a month or so -- they can eat that stuff elsewhere if they just can't manage without it. Going low carb will help cut the cravings for sweets and other high carb, high sugar, low-nutrient-value type foods. When you get hungry, allow yourself to eat lean meat or green veggies to your heart's content. If you don't actually want to eat chicken breast and broccoli, then you aren't truly hungry, you would just be indulging head hunger and carb cravings. Good luck! PS you need a certain minimum number of posts on this site to be able to post on the vets' forum -- maybe 100?

I'm eating around 800-850 calories a day. I try to limit carbs to 25ish and get 65-85g of Protein a day. Gosh that has to be super-frustrating. One thing I have found that helps me with stalls is to change things up pretty frequently. I did both 5/2 intermittent fasting and Up Day Down Day to get out of stalls and they both worked really well for me. Another possibility is to keep your calories the same but eat them within a limited timeframe (there is actually some science showing this works, although it was done on mice, not people!). So eat your 800 or so calories but only eat between noon and 8 PM. Something like that.

Try using the Eat Slower app. It's free for either iOS or Android, and you can set it for whatever interval works for you. I set it for 45 seconds between bites. Another thing that helped me was to make sure I was always focused on my eating -- only eat sitting down, no watching tv, texting, web surfing, etc. So I could pay full attention to what my body was saying about food. And you may just want to scale back how much you are eating as a general rule. I couldn't eat 3 ounces of soft solids until I was over 6 months out. Good luck to you!

My surgeon always says that *everyone* over 30 in our culture who has a normal body weight has to work for it. And for those of us prone to obesity, we are always going to have to work even harder. It sucks but it sounds like you are doing a great job being vigilant about maintenance. I know of some people who have been able to raise their BMR by very gradually raising the number of calories they take in each day. Obviously that is something that you would want to approach with great caution if you decided to try it.

My dietician said no, not for the first several months. YMMV.

My related pet peeve is people who are relatively early out from surgery who don't want to eat something or drink their protein shakes because "it doesn't taste good" "it's boring" "I need something crunchy" or "I can't tolerate it" (when "I can't tolerate it" means something other than "it makes me throw up."). Especially early on, food isn't about entertainment. It isn't supposed to keep you from boredom or delight your senses. It's supposed to nourish you and help you heal. If it doesn't make you throw up and it helps you meet your nutritional goals, choke it down and move on.

Well, I was very open to either sleeve or bypass. My surgeon recommended the sleeve because I have a personal and family history of autoimmune disorders, and the sleeve lets you take a broader array of medications after surgery. But I have nothing against bypass -- it is considered the gold standard of weight loss surgery for a reason! My niece had bypass and some other people I know did as well. They have all lost pretty much all their excess weight and maintained well, all look great and healthy. I haven't noticed them having any digestive problems. There are also a bunch of people in my wls support group with bypass and they are all doing great. If your practice runs a support group, you may want to go and talk to people who have had both surgeries and see for yourself, in the flesh, how folks are doing and what they have to say. Good luck! eta: I am not a band revision patient, hope it is okay that I chimed in!

Dehydration can lead to exhaustion and nausea. Are you getting in your required fluids? If I had to guess, based on your post, I would guess no. If that is true, really work on that -- consider it your full-time job. Try just about anything relatively low cal and healthy - decaf tea (hot and cold), warm broth, sugar free popsicles, light fruit juice, etc. And check in with your surgeon -- IMO your eating and drinking should be getting easier, not harder, and your surgeon probably wants to help if things are getting worse for you. Good luck!

That was definitely not permitted for me on full liquids. Get in touch with your surgical practice and see what their rules are. If you aren't given any guidance on that, I guess I would say take it slow and make sure that you account for all the extra calories and carbs you will be adding to your diet.

How many calories a day are you eating?

My surgeon has a very conservative plan for eating after surgery and I think that helped me a lot. I haven't thrown up once or felt like food got "stuck" or anything like that. I do stay away from yeast-leavened bread and carbonated drinks because they make me feel a bit uncomfortable, but to me that isn't "not tolerating," it's just that they don't agree with me as well as other foods do, so I choose to avoid them.

Talk to your surgeon -- if your surgeon isn't local, talk to your PCP.