charliesunspray

Hi Helen, you poor soul, I wish you all the best. I'm generally a big fan of following proper medical advice, but it's true that the nurses on a general surgical ward in the UK often don't know what they're doing with bariatric surgery, or anything unusual. Nursing staff, even sisters, can be very rigid in going by the book. I mutinied a few times after the initial sicking up of that pill and made sure I checked with either the consultant or the dietician before I did what they told me. In particular they didn't seem to understand that "nothing but clear fluids" means "no huge pills". As for the milk and yoghourt diet, my consultant told me not to bother as she was happy to do the surgery without me going through that. Maybe at 22-odd stone I wasn't as obese as some who do it, but I thought it was an interesting difference - I missed all the pain that a lot of people seem to go through trying to maintain a really horrible diet. And I don't seem to have had any worse after effects than others, to judge from the boards. But maybe I was just lucky with my consultant; I wouldn't advise trying it if yours says differently. I have to say, having tried and failed miserably to stick to milk products only after the op, I certainly wouldn't have managed it with my whole stomach and ordinary appetite beforehand!

I love real Mexican food, I think I'll miss that the most. Well, I love food, that's how I got here, forty plus years of steady eating whatever I fancied! That Tesco squash is good too. How do you manage for lunches? I'm going back to work shortly and I'm going to need to take stuff in; no more large lasagna and salad. I can't stand Slimfast but I'm thinking maybe keeping a box of Oatibix at work?

It's the low sugar version of a very popular British blackcurrant cordial, full of Vitamin C and usually drunk by children. Helps get the daily water down without too much added calories.

I had a BMI of 38, high blood pressure and when I had a heart scare last year I found I had real difficulty losing weight. My GP gave me a choice of two hospitals, I picked the one with published bariatric research and the least awful reputation for general surgery and I had one meeting with the consultant who agreed to operate. Possibly it helped that I am quite health-literate and so was able to outline all the ways I'd previously tried and why they didn't work. She seemed mainly keen to ensure I was psychologically stable and understood all the implications. I actually went in for a band and she talked me into a sleeve, which I think was the right thing. The consultant was brilliant. The general nursing in the hospital was very variable and the aftercare is negligible, but then the system's overloaded. I think I got in at just the right time, because with the cuts coming up in the NHS bariatric surgery's likely to get deprioritised again - preventive stuff always is. I'm being good(ish) and not eating anything daft, but I had real trouble with all the milk (it was all so revoltingly sweet) so have improvised with yoghourt, Protein smoothies and some of the blander end of the mushy next stage. I've never drunk so much no-added-sugar Ribena in my life. I'll bear the advice about 6 weeks in mind and stick with this till then.

Hi - I had my op done on the NHS on the 9th of this month and am still off work recovering - I hope to be back at work full time from the start of July (I'm already interfering via the internet). Not had a band or anything before. I started at 139.5 kg and have lost about 12.5 so far - I haven't weighed myself in years, it's all a bit of a shock. I'm amazed at all the different advice out there so have decided to listen to my stomach at least as much as anything else, in terms of what it's ready for. I haven't thrown up since the second night (the nurse insisted I could swallow solid pills - boy, was she wrong).