moonlitestarbrite

i am great now. i still take reglan for stomach emptying, but i most likely had sluggish stomach emptying before the surgery. i think eggs was what i ate first. pureed foods make me gag, so i ate stuff like mashed sweet potatoes, eggs, hummus, cottage cheese. shakes were disgusting to me, so at some point i ate bars, as approved by my nut. i ate them very slowly, chewed really well and ate only half at a time.

the doctor had to remove a lot of scar tissue from my belly from pancreatitis 11 years prior. my spleen and pancreas were literally stuck to my stomach. he said in my case, it made sense i was having extra trouble and was most likely from swelling. and i had two xrays where i swallowed a contrast dye and they could see the swelling and the places where my stomach wasnt squeezing to empty. he was pretty sure i just needed to be patient and heal, but i was miserable at the time, since i was nauseous and dehydrated for several weeks. but he was right!

it took 5 weeks for my constant and severe nausea to go away. i was on the patch and zolfran. i had fluids in the hospital at 2 weeks post op. i had excessive swelling in my stomach which was causing my stomach to not empty. which was causing all the symptoms you describe. it took me longer than many to feel better and be able to get in both fluids and any food at all. luckily, my doctor was wonderful, he came from surgery to see me special, arranged for me to have fluids in the infusion center and had his office calling me every day to see how i was. the extra nausea meds and fluid really made the difference. and time. i needed extra time to heal.

i have BPPV, it never ever involves blurred vision or shakiness. this sounds like blood sugar, blood pressure, or dehydration. of some combination of all of these things. the blurred vision def sounds like low blood blood sugar. try taking a spoonful of honey and holding it in your mouth a bit before you swallow. if its low blood sugar, this should help. but frankly, i would be very concerned. i would ask for blood work and a blood sugar monitor ASAP. and if you have another episode, call someone to take you to the ER immediately. with a 3 year old, i would not take any chances. you could pass out while driving or fall and really hurt yourself.

it also help to prevent your metabolism from slowing down. easy to have happen on less than 1000 cal. a day.

FYI my doc said 6-8 weeks until the fatigue goes away. he didnt tell me this until after the surgery though!

9 weeks. 5 -6 months before i could actually drink a glass of water or cup of tea without feeling like i swallowed a cow.

your relationship to food is going to change dramatically. you arent going to care much about the food at weddings, parties or tailgating. you are going to start focusing on things other than food at get togethers. the importance of food is going to fad into the background. really. dont worry about it now, you will have plenty of time to adjust after your surgery. just focus on getting through things right now. after surgery your priorities will shift and it will become clear how you want to proceed regarding social events that revolve around food.

took me 4 months to lose 50 pounds. however, you might want to decrease your working out a bit, you may be putting your body in starvation mode with so much working out. either increase fat and calories or decrease exercise and see what happens. experiment with it and see what happens.

dieting assumes a temporary eating plan designed to reach a goal weight. despite everyones focus here on their goal weight, what will you do when you reach goal? go back to how you were eating before? well, you sorta might be able to go back to being mindless about how you eat and not exercising, but you wont ever be able to eat like you did pre surgery, even if you can eat around your sleeve. if you want to be successful, you will need to PERMANENTLY change how and what you eat. i dont see that as a diet. i see that as a lifestyle change. its not about depriving yourself for a while to eventually go back to a different way of eating, its about making life long changes... my goal isnt a number on the scale (though i might be in the minority here), my goal is to live a healthy life by making daily healthy choices.

disordered eating has nothing to o with how much you weigh. (ever heard of anorexia nervosa?) its about a disordered relationship with food. that isnt my opinion, i worked for 17 years in human services, mental health and chemical dependency. i was referring to her post that pdxman posted called "why am i still obsessed with food." she listed off her behavior regarding food that troubles her and they are all symptoms of an eating disorder. i wasnt commenting on her weight loss, i was commenting on her discomfort. there is a big difference between losing weight and being healthy emotionally. please reread what i wrote.

marci, i read the post the pdxman posted. what you listed are all symptoms of an eating disorder. every single one of them. (i noticed no one actually used those words when responding to you on the thread) maybe what you are reacting to (in this thread) is feeling bad that others have been able to let go of their pre surgery eating habits, but you havent been able to, despite losing weight. dont feel bad, get the right kind of help instead. you wouldnt feel bad if you wanted to learn russian and a spanish teacher couldnt teach you, would you? you need to find someone who actually specializes in and has a good track record treating eating disorders. plenty of therapists and psychs claim to be able to treat eating disorders, but the fact is, only someone with specialized training and experience is going to be able to really help you, they way you need to be helped right now. many areas have eating disorder advocacy groups. they usually maintain lists of people who specialize in treating EDs. maybe start there. good luck!

i have been telling people for years... its not what you eat every single meal or even every single day... its the overall composition of your diet and lifestyle. if 80% of your diet is whole foods, with an emphasis on quality Protein, whole veggies, fruit and grains, you are doing great. even 100 pounds overweight, my cholesterol was 2 points away from perfect. i must have been doing at least something right! that being said, there are plenty of people here who feel that junk food, processed carbs and sugar are trigger foods for them and they need to avoid them totally. i believe that crappy eating begets crappy eating. engineered food products are created with the specific purpose of making you want more of them, not to nourish you. if you are willing to go through this surgery to get healthy, feeling your body nourishing foods is a must. avoiding trigger foods is a must. not to be perfect, but to be successful.

i dont think knowing what you can and cant handle is being a failure... i think having the surgery and then not being able to follow through would be much worse than postponing. when we feel like people arent there or us, usually the case is, we arent there for ourselves. start being the person you think you need others to be for you. you are doing this for you. you need to show up for yourself. you can do this without others, but you cant do it unless you are totally in the game for yourself.

i eat dark chocolate!! every day!! i ate a clean whole foods diet before my surgery. the major changes i made were portion size, (of course) no Pasta (i cant tolerate it), not more than 2 tbsp rice, way less sweets, fruit and raw veggies (cant tolerate). less coffee and wayyyyyy more tea. am i perfect? nope! did i ever want to be? nope. i went out for ice cream the other day with my family. i ate 1/2 of a kiddie cup. it was exactly want i wanted to be able to eat. so, maybe i am perfect. the next day we had a birthday celebration and had BBQ. i did 2 pork ribs, a few bites of mac and cheese and corn bread. yum. again, perfect, for me. do i always get in all my Protein? nope. all my Water? nope. do i count coffee as a Fluid? yup. for the people who are able to do it better, more power to them! i Celebrate their control and good choices. i am happy, for the most part, with my choices too. i didnt go through surgery to use my stomach as a garbage can. nope. it was a life altering experience and i have gratitude every day for my second chance in life and i do not plan to waste that by making crappy choices. nope, i am not perfect, but i am making a hell of an effort!

i am long past Protein shakes, but never heard of a super supplement store... we just call them health food stores here.

i would avoid juice, its pure sugar. you are going to have to relearn your body's physical cues. it could take some time. you are not likely to ever feel the same fullness you felt prior to surgery with 80% of your stomach gone. it just wont ever feel like it used to. if you are feeling like you can fit more in there, drink more water or tea. (you are not on Protein shakes yet?)

whats a super supplement store?

beeteroo, here is a good article on using grass fed gelatin: http://www.foodrenegade.com/gelatin-healthy-protein-powder/ you can get the great lakes on amazon.

i dont have PCOS, i have other hormonal imbalance issues that caused me a lot of problems pre surgery. now that i have lost 80 pounds, my hormone issues have pretty much disappeared. i dont know what the surgery's track record is with PCOS, but guessing similar results are likely. good luck!

yeah, i should clarify that this was post op. i was not required to do a pre op diet.

i did not do any "sugar free" stuff. i dont even do stevia. i did do a Protein shake with sugar alcohols in it. i used coconut sugar post op. its a low glycemic sugar. i dont eat jello, or SF pudding or popsicles or "lite" yogurt. i did do grass fed Gelatin, eddies fruit pops (the ones with 60 calories.. not splenda), cottage cheese and vanilla or plain greek yogurt. i have juiced cucumbers (and other veggies), made lots of bone broth and drank plain coconut Water. i made popsicles with coconut water and yogurt too! i have lost 80 pounds post op and so feel like i must be doing something right! my nut agreed she doesnt do artificial sweeteners and so encouraged me to find low sugar whole foods to eat post op.

i just stumbled across this. its perfect. i am hanging that mantra up where i can see it every day. http://www.bariatricpal.com/page/articles.html/_/support/developing-mental-toughness-for-long-term-weight-loss-4-quick-steps-r185

i find that really strange because when i met with the personal trainers at my gym, they were all really supportive and emphasized strength training and commitment. no one made any suggestions about diet. now that i am studying to become a personal trainer, my training manual is very clear that anyone who has special (ie medical) dietary needs should not be given any suggestions or guidelines about diet unless its general knowledge about things like what foods are Protein versus carbs, etc IF and only IF the client asks. i recommend a place like the YMCA or JCC where trainers are much more likely to only train you, not dispense dietary advice. and if they do, just stop him/her and say "i am under a doctor's care for my dietary needs, thank you." i cant imagine going through this surgery and NOT going to a well equipped gym to swim, do yoga, dance class, lift weights, cycle, do elliptical, etc. i do love bike riding and hiking, but i would go crazy in the winter without my gym.

what is your pre op diet? veggies, fiber and lots of water will help you keep full, but what are you allowed?