JillianMarie

Yes that is how i got most of my liquid consumption after surgery to maintain my lean muscle mass and preserve metabolism. I drank water based protein shakes instead of clear fluids and did great. They also give you the electrolytes, protein and vitamin requirements your body needs to fully heal

I went weeks without being hungry at all, now i seem to get hungry frequently. Most of it is probably out of boredom or depression, because if i have a very busy day i can forget to eat and go all day without eating until my blood sugar crashes and I'm so fatigued that i have to make myself eat something. I just wish i had more days like that!!

Bananas are very soft, mushy foods. I was okay'd by my Dr to eat them after surgery. Watermelon may be fine as long as you don't eat the seeds. I'm eating canteloupe frequently without a problem, but bananas go down much easier.

Pillows are the key!! Prop yourself up as high as possible, it was the only way i could sleep at the time. The reflux and pain was pretty bad. If you can get an RX for Nexium, it is a god-send. I felt the pain for about 2 weeks after surgery but thankfully it went away. I believe due to the swelling being so severe after surgery. I promise it will get better! I have no pain or nausea at all anymore!! Also, a little tip, when i had the severe pain and cramping, i got the Rolaids soft chews in the cherry flavor. They helped tremendously. I keep them by my bedside table and if i wake up with any discomfort i chew one up and it helps me get back to sleep quickly.

Oh, the type of popcorn i buy is ACT 2 94% fat free. It's much less expensive than Orville Redenbachers and the 94% fat free flavor for Orville has almost no butter flavor at all. My tip- get spray butter (Parkay or I can't believe it's not butter spray), lightly spray and add a packet of Hidden Valley ranch seasoning to it and toss the bag around. It's amazing! I have found that it is one of the only carb foods that doesn't spike my blood sugar, and helps keep me regular.

ive been eating popcorn almost everyday for the past week- im at 6 weeks. I thought it would be painful and get stuck- nope, it actually was one of the easiest things to digest that i have eaten. If you think about it, put popcorn in some water and watch what it does- it basically turns to mush. It moves through easily and actually is a higher fiber snack that is lower in calories than most (except for movie theater butter, which is wonderful on it's special occasions. So far the easiest foods for me to eat aside from mushies have been popcorn, pretzels and baked lays.

Tiffykins- I am really confused. My doctor supposedly used a 34 bougie for my surgery, does that make it a "tight" or "super sleeve"?

I had to quit Adipex after surgery. You will feel very sick if you take it after the VSG. What are you talking about the super sleeve vs. regular sleeve? I don't quite understand.

I didn't count calories most days, for the first two weeks i know that they were probably around 600, then after that around 1200 a day. Higher than a lot of people take in, but i didn't want my body to go into starvation mode from losing weight too quickly. I still managed to lose 16 lbs the first month with NO exercise at all.

Go to DietDirect.com. I recommend the Peanut Butter crisp bars and the cinna-crunch and chocolate snack. Those two Snacks are the BEST and are low calorie and loaded with Protein and taste amazing!!!

My boobs and butt are gone. Thighs and calves and shrunk and my arms are thinner, stomach is smaller, but I'd say that the most of my weight that has been lost has been in my butt and legs.

NTVTXN- I'm not Tiffany and of course won't have the genious reply that she will have for you :001_cool: But I can give you my 2 cents... in the beginning it's much harder to get your fluids and protein in because your sleeve is very swollen. I had the same problem and actually was afraid that I was going to be like that permanently. Not to worry- the swelling WILL go down and it will get easier. Try doing this- instead of drinking clear liquids- replace your liquids with a water based protein shake. Most surgeons will allow that coming out of surgery. I was allowed my protein shakes as soon as I returned home. Instead of sipping on water, I sipped continuously on protein shakes. It made it very easy to get my protein in, in addition to the liquids. It also gives you the added electrolytes and vitamins your body needs to heal right now. What i found that helped me, was to put the shake in the freezer until it got very cold, or pour it over ice, as the cold shake helped go down faster and really soothed the stomach and the inflammation. I hope this helps! :wink1:

Last night i consumed some jello and a couple yogurts over the course of the night, and before bed i had half a protein bar, chewed it very well. I felt fine, until 1am when i woke up extremely nauseated and with stomach pains like nothing i have ever experienced. I never went to sleep. I dry heeved many times throughout the night, took 3 Zofran, none of which worked, tried to sip on some water, which only made me get more sick. I am in extreme pain as if my stomach is trying to explode, and have a stuck feeling in my throat. I feel like my stomach is having spasms. I am not sure what to do at this point, if this is normal or not, possibly reacting to the protein bar. I have had them before and not had a problem as i get the soft and chewy kind. I am afraid that it is stuck. I am going on now on 0 hours of sleep and continuously sliming- it's awful- any suggestions please?? Should I go to the ER or is this just my stomach rebelling against a particular food? I am afraid i have done serious damage!!

I had a badly ulcerated stomach lining from the inside of my stomach being so damaged, it was ready to rupture. I've told people that i had very damaged stomach lining removed, which is true. If people ask about you losing weight, you can always tell them that after your surgery you needed to be on a liquid diet (true again) and that you started eating in much smaller portions (also a fact). You don't have to lie, just don't state the entire story. I told one of my Doctors that i had the sleeve and he said "you mean Gastric Bypass?" I laughed and tried to explain what the sleeve is. Doctors seem to be clueless about the sleeve right now because it's still considered somewhat experimental in the US. So coming home to the US and telling my Drs has been very tough, especially since few of them even know what the surgery is. If you tell them you had a gastrectomy, for any reason, they will understand that or at least know what it is!! Good luck on your surgery!!

Thanks Breezy, it's much easier than you think to take too big of a bite or swallow than you realize when you aren't paying attention to it. I've been paying attention since my "incident" and have been eating very SLOWLY, and chewing until food is completely mush, (sounds yummy huh!! haha!) To those who asked, i already did start my therapy, when i said "i'm starting", i didn't mean in the future, I've already started it, and see my psychiatrist twice a week. I am also starting a new medication to help with the OCD and compulsions, and another one that has been used to treat binge eating disorder. Hopefully with behavior modification, counseling, and the right medications I should be on my way to a good recovery. Today, I had a very small bowl of oatmeal, well cooked, eaten over the course of an hour, 3 Protein Shakes, some cottage cheese, and scrambed eggs, all in small portions at a time, and i felt great I'm trying to lose at about a rate of 2 lbs a week until i hit my goal.

Chicken and fish are great ways to stay full longer. I'm having to really train myself to chew, chew, chew.... i've gotten sick too many times now from taking big swallows of food without fully chewing first, and sitting there for an hour after that bite gets stuck is an awful experience!!! Now I'm so scared that if i feel like i may have taken one bite too many, I'll spit it out into a napkin instead of swallow it!! Pitiful huh! lol!

Goodlife- i agree- and i'm starting therapy to help deal with emotional and eating issues so hopefully it will help me combat those problems.

Thankyou so much. I'm so embarrassed and feel awful this has happened. Cannot believe i pushed myself to this level. I will be taking your advice and be buying some baby spoons and eating out of measuring cups!

Thank you all for everyone's replies- I did end up going to the ER. My stomach and esophagus was/are very swollen and I failed to mention that i had taken several soy capsules that i am taking as a natural hormonal replacement therapy, i am supposed to take 5 capsules twice a day with a meal, which is very difficult to do. I have only been taking it once a day, and only 2 capsules at a time. Last night i took all 5, and with only a small amount of liquid to get it down. I believe that is what got lodged, as did the ER Dr, but he also agreed with what you all mentioned above- that what i ate last night, a few yogurts, a few jellos, and a Protein bar, all within a few hours, and before going to bed, was probably really overloading my stomach at less than a month post-op. I'm having a lot of trouble with keeping the food intake so small, and i know that most of it is mental. I was such an overeater/compulsive eater before surgery and ate HUGE volumes of food at a time, that even what i ate last night seems like bird food to me, i never would have thought of it to be too much. But an entire night of no sleep, 8 hours straight of dry heeving and the foamies, severe stomach pains and a final trip to the ER were a huge wake up call to reality. I am not going to put myself through this again. I've really tested my limits and i know what I am NOT capable of doing. I believe that my nerves must be dead in my stomach because if i don't measure food, i will continue to eat much more than 1/4 cup, and that is obviously going to result in big problems like what just occurred. I'm going to have to go back to basics- measure food, and for a few days probably just stick with cold Protein shakes to let the stomach heal a bit from the trauma. Thanks everyone for your support and i'm sorry to be such a pain in the rear!!

Sorry I have to gripe here... I haven't been able to sleep lately which has drained all the energy out of me and prevented me from being able to exercise or be active during the day. I have to take medications at night before bed, and when i do, i take them with some water, and it seems like the pills don't want to go down unless i sit up. I've gotten to the point where i have to put 4 pillows behind me and completely prop myself up to sleep or i get some kind of reflux (liquid, food, pills, acid, i don't know what) that i can feel up in my throat, and it's really uncomfortable. If i avoid eating or drinking an hour or more before bed, i am unable to fall asleep out of hunger and thirst, and will actually wake up during the night periodically finding myself thirsty and hungry. I will get up once or twice a night needing to eat something, so i will grab a yougurt and have a few sips of juice or water then go back to bed, and i will feel great... until i lay down. Then i get the slimies and end up sitting up for 30 minutes debating whether or not i'm going to throw up. This is really aggravating. It's a lose-lose situation, either i go hungry and thirsty and can't sleep from that, or i give into it and then can't sleep from the indigestion/nausea. Does anyone else have trouble with sleep since surgery? I became so accustomed to night eating that it almost medicated me and put me to sleep prior to surgery, and now that "medication" is taken away from me and i'm left an insomniac!! For the record, i do take Prevacid, and i take sleeping RX's as well.

Do any of you find your appetite returning and wanting to snack or graze throughout the day? I'm finding this to be a big problem and i'm trying to combat it! I've got food on my mind like crazy right now and it's killing me!!

I was sleeved 2 days before you and I'm also at a stall. I've actually put back on about 2-3 lbs. I'm a little discouraged because now i find myself able to eat a lot more than i used to, and if i choose to eat something that is really easy to go down, like protein shakes, yogurt, or pudding, it doesn't stay with me at all and i end up eating large portions and then eating again shortly later, and my calorie intake ends up being too high at the end of the day. I've ended up with days with my calories as high as 1500-1600. I don't know if this means i should be moving to solids now, or what, as i get hungry easily :thumbup1: I wish i could have my filling veggies back, they always stuck with me on few calories!! I hate not being able to eat them!!

drastic reduction in calorie intake causes your body to go into starvation mode, your metabolism lowers and your body temperature does as well. Your body's way of conserving energy is to lower your core temperature. As long as calories are very low, or carbs, you will be very cold. If you can shift your body out of starvation mode, by getting the calories to a healthy weight loss level, your metabolism will rise and so will your body temperature.

I get really confused too! Some of the foods that i would think would be the worst are just fine while others that are supposedly easy foods feel like they get stuck and make me miserable! I still feel like im choking when i swallow a spoonful of cottage cheese, and that it doesn't want to go down. But solid cheese slices digest just fine. What gives? lol

I agree with WannaLise, I drank EAS protein shakes right out of surgery- they are made with water and my Dr. encouraged them. I drank them instead of water to get in my fluid and my protein requirement at the same time. They also help with electrolyte and vitamin requirements.