Sydney Susan

I miss those days! They pass...

I notice I can eat a lot of soups and yoghurts - far harder to get down salad and salmon! Calorie counting and healthy eating are important to me losing weight (and I think I need to do better at them both). I know I could get out of good weight loss range pretty easily otherwise... It seems you've refocused yourself and it would be great to hear what the results are. Good luck.

I went out to dinner with 4 girlfriends recently and felt v self conscious that they would notice I wasn't eating much. They didn't seem to notice at all, and I wasn't the only person who left a significant amount of food on my plate. I forget that many people are naturally small eaters - just not me!

May I ask what a "buffalo wing" is?? The mind boggles at the thought of flying buffulo.

No swelling for me... I guess both with and without can be normal, because at 7 weeks today I'm doing fine. Good luck with it all.

Don't worry about the pills - it improves fairly quickly. I remember being overwhelmed by that too. Congrats on doing well.

When did you start eating and had you "prepped" (emptied) your bowel before you had the op? If you did a bowel prep and have been nil by mouth for 4 days (as I was) you wouldn't expect a lot to happen yet - but otherwise you might. Keep it gentle for now - no laxatives (including senna). Good luck.

I am 6.5 weeks out and can eat more (before feeling full) than some who have posted here, but it's certainly a fraction of what I could eat before - less than a quarter I'd say. Of course you can graze all day if you want to, drink plonk (or fruit juice or hot choc) almost continuously, and eat liquid foods like runny icecream and creamy Soups, as they go down fairly easily. So discipline is most definately still required! I am not sure I've even had one episode of hunger since the op - occasionally I still think "I'd like that" (or more of that), but that's about enjoying the food, not hunger. I still enjoy food, and occasionally wish I didn't... Hope this helps.

I think most don't. But if you know you have a slow gut you might want to anyway. I did a 'bowel prep' but dr didn't require it. Sooo glad I did, but that might just be me.

I was still on soups/purees/thicker liquids... Till w4 actually. Soft foods week 5 and 6. I think my Dr is very conservative but I've had a dream run so far - I'm always a little ahead of what dr tells me I can do (just a couple if days), so never pressured to try foods. If in doubt just go through your food stages slower. You are probably just a bit more swollen than others - doesn't mean it won't all come right very soon. Good luck.

I don't have much of an appetite (5 weeks out), but occasionally I do have a little craving. It's winter here in Oz and the devil made me put baked apple and lite custard in the oven last night - curse him/her, it was fabulous in our rather cold family room (gas heater on its last legs). Now I can't get the darned stuff out of my head.

You've got me wondering if there's a bug-eyed, pink koala pic lying around the place that I can use to sweeten up.

19th June looking good to me (depending on actual time and location). Despite being an oldie I have young un's to get to and from school in the far flung 'burbs. Middle of the day or evening suits me best. I'll watch out for more details and look forward to meeting you soon.

Cathy1110 said: I was done may 22nd and I still have such bad back pain.Walking,standing for long periods is agony.Didnt have any before surgery. Hi Cathy, I hope you've spoken to your doctor by now. Could be "gas" pains but I believe back pain can signify other problems too, so best to check. I didn't have pain afterwards that I'd describe as "agony" and it seems most don't. Best to get it checked out pronto. Good luck.

I don't want to be rude to anyone but I can't see a thing in Vicks that would have the slightest impact on dehydration, cramps or DVT/clots (unless Vicks where you live is something completely different to the Vicks Vapour Rub where I live). In the last couple of weeks I've had a hospitalised friend develop blood clots/DVT in her calves without a lot of external signs - just pain/discomfort. I agree there are lots of possible reasons for this, but as you are only recently post surgery - so blood clots are a real possibility - you need to speak to a dr to ensure there's not a serious cause. In hospital this was closely followed for my drs VSG patients. Good luck.

When you get to some more 'normal' foods it will all start to seem doable again. Like an earlier poster scrambled eggs made my day/week/month. Baked Beans, chicken casserole, bolognaise sauce all good too and nice and soft - with my dr ok after 4 weeks. I really like Soup so am lucky with that. I bought some lovely Thai Soups and added natural (no flavour) Protein powder to those. Time will keep on passing and you'll experience lots of changes with it. With a bit of luck your 'new normal' will be much like your old one, but with smaller portion sizes. That's not too hard to live with.

Could be blood clots so best to see a doctor pronto, to be sure.

I heard its off putting so didn't. Embrace general anaesthetic... It you don't witness it, it didn't happen! Or at least it doesn't matter that it did.

As u say, it's going to be a long road - you deserve to take on board every 'tool' you can to make the journey easier. VSG has to help...

The sweetness of most Protein shakes gets me down too... I bought a 'natural' (unflavoured) protein powder and put it in yoghurts and soups and it's made a huge difference to me. They can be hard to find, but try online. After searching for a couple of weeks in the end I found mine 40% off in the health food aisle of an Aussie supermarket... I bought heaps!

Do you carry your weight in one particular spot - boobs, back, waistline, thighs or bum? If so the style you buy can have a real impact on how quickly sizes drop. 52 lb should be several dress/top/pants sizes... I'm a metric girl but from rough calculations that's about right. I have a friend who always loses weight off her waist last - skinny arms and legs loooong before she can get into a smaller sized nipped in top or dress. For me it's "thunder thighs"... My tops are a full size down from my bottoms, sometimes 2. Perhaps it's time to experiment with some different styles and see how that changes things. Good luck.

If you are feeling low and/or hungry, make getting enough Water and Protein a priority. Soups alone are not filling but add a tablespoon of natural flavoured Protein powder (plus another of Benefiber), ensure the soups are tasty (add some chilli, garlic or herbs or buy Vietnamese or Thai soups) and you'll find them much more satisfying. I add protein powder to soups, casseroles and bolognaise sauce (am on soft foods now), yoghurts, puréed fruit. Add a little water or skim milk to ensure you have a thin enough Soup in the early weeks post-op. . Dehydration and low protein intake can lead to fatigue and depression. And avoid carbs too - banana has a lot of sugar and will hit off the insulin cycle of highs and lows that make us feel hungry. I believe berries, apricots and kiwi fruit are all better than banana. I know regrets are hard, but no doubt you thought long and hard about the 'no way out' aspect of VSG beforehand - perhaps (like me) you felt you needed that to really get your health back on track. Try to have faith in that calmly thought through decision. You'll get there. There are too many success stories on this site to suggest otherwise. Good luck.

"food allergies are the worst"... As I've been telling my boy for years now, any food allergy that lets you drink coke, eat potato chips and ice cream and (sometimes) gets you out of the washing up can't be all bad.

We have coeliacs in the family (including my son, diagnosed aged 6 and now 14) and that sounds coeliac to me. It is possible to be "sero-negative" (blood tests negative but damage on endoscopy) and much more common is "silent coeliac"(no obvious symptoms but positive blood test and/or endoscopy), as with both my son and my sister's son. And a test at one point in your life doesn't rule out you testing positive as little as a year or two later... this happened to my sister. For this latter reason there is a growing school of thought that a positive blood test for antibodies means that you have or are developing coeliac disease - ie: even if endoscopy is clear now it won't stay that way for long. As I understand it a gluten intolerance is intestinal symptoms on ingesting gluten, but blood test is negative and endoscopy is clear. Personally I'd assume myself to be sero negative coeliac if that happened to me - to be on the safe side.

You work your way up very slowly with eating, and it's not been an issue for me. At the start of W5 I've only just gone on 'soft foods' (had chicken casserole with the family tonight, woo hoo!), and no issue at all. Even a week ago 'lumps' were not too good, but I would puree then and ate heaps of fantastic Soups (with a tablespoon of Protein powder and another of Benefiber in each). You only need to try new foods when you feel ready for them... Good luck