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I'd say drink all you want of actual liquids, but stick with no more than 1/2 cup of the cottage cheese, pudding and cream of wheat. I'm two years out and don't think I could eat a whole cup of cottage cheese, so take it easy.

I went to Obesity Contol Center. It is an International Center of Excellence in TJ. My surgeons were Dr. Ariel Ortiz and Dr. Arturo Martinez, both Bariatric Surgeons of Excellence. Dr. Ortiz is also a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and has actually taught laparoscopic surgery technique in the US and Canada. Fantastic care while there - the entire staff is dedicated exclusively to bariatric surgical care, they were friendly, incredibly helpful, skilled, and spoke perfect English. The followup communication is also great. They have been available for any and all questions I had both before and after surgery via phone and email, including the surgeons, cardiologist, nutritionist, anesthesiologist, office manager and followup Doctor. Much easier to get a hold of than the US surgeon that removed my gall bladder! My PCP has taken care of my postop bloodwork. That's really the only followup care I've needed. My OB/Gyn actually offered to do it, too.

I had my gall bladder removed at 23 months postop. Suffered through 4 excruciating attacks over the previous year before doing it (yea, dumb idea). But recovery was a piece of cake. Surgery at 8am Wednesday. Discharged at 12:30. Stopped at the grocery store and then went home and puttered around the house for 3 hours before making myself lay down. The next day was Thanksgiving, went to grandmas and ate a little bit of everything. I was tired that day but that's it. Made myself couch surf the next three days and back to work on Monday. But my VSG was a pretty easy recovery too. Shopping days 1 and 2 postop. Traveling days 3 and 4. Back to work in 7 days. I'd say the gallbladder surgery was about 25% discomfort of the VSG surgery, if that. No change in appetite postop. Can't tell you about weight loss cause I was already in maintenance. The biggest difference for me was coffee. I had to give it up because it gave me heartburn. But after having my gallbladder out I can drink it no problem. Yeehaw! Good luck! Be glad you don't have to go through another attack. Nothing is as bad as that. (And I say that after having broke my back and having two vertebrae in my a neck fused)

Nope. Just trusted my surgeon to do an excellent job. And he did. Easy recovery, not a single complication. Even my PCP is impressed. Just had my 2 year surgiversary and am maintaining 10 pounds under goal with no problems whatsoever....other than needing my gallbladder out 2 months ago. But that's a normal side effect of losing so much weight and my regular insurance covered the surgery.

Liquids are not meals. Liquid runs right through your sleeve into your intestines within a couple minutes. The "meal" size refers to solid food. Just keep drinking....as much as you comfortably can. Be thankful you can hydrate so well and so easily.

Not using Protein supplements is always something I've disagreed with. Sure, I can see their point in that they don't want patients to be drinking their calories. Liquids can be slider foods and staying away from slider foods is something we should all do. It's easy to down 500 calories in the form of a "healthy" smoothie. BUT if you can get 24g protein in just 100 calories AND 12-24 oz of Fluid in one drink then why not? That's what I get from just 1 Syntrax nectar drink. Not to mention that whey isolate is the absolute fastest, best absorbed form of protein available. Better than beef, chicken, fish, eggs, soy, or dairy. So in the early stages when getting food down is so hard, I feel it's downright irresponsible for a medical team to discourage patients from getting proper nutrition through Liquid Protein supplements. Just MHO. And, BTW, I STILL get 1/3 -1/2 of my daily protein from shakes and bars. That leaves me free to eat fruits, veggies and grains rather than HAVE to eat protein at every single meal. 2 years and 10 pounds under goal....how is that doing it "wrong"?

Congrats! You are pretty darn cute, just like me I've always enjoyed your posts and even smile when I see a "like" from you....just knowing you're around. Your attitude and no nonsense encouragement has always been an inspiration to me. Thanks!

I know this is an old thread, but I hate excercise, too. So you know what I do? I don't excercise. Simple. I have an active, physical job that I Spend 60+ hours/week doing, I have horses to feed and to ride, I have a yard to take care if, I have snow to shovel, I have a house to clean, I have laundry to do, I have grocery shopping that needs done. Why would I want to spend what little free time I have doing something I hate?

You definitely sound dehydrated and undernourished. Have you tried Syntrax nectar Protein? They are like koolaid so they may not fill you up as much as the milk-based shakes do. They come in variety of flavors. 2 scoops in 32 oz Water would give you 40g protein you could sip on all day. Add in a couple cups of decaf herbal tea (warm liquids went down better for me), another couple cups of water and you've got your fluids in. Try adding unflavored Protein powder to some Soups. They may not fill you up like dense Proteins do, so you can get more in. Plain Greek yogurt flavored with vanilla protein powder would give you a big protein boost, too. I had to sip all day long from the moment I Woke up till the minute I went to bed. I never didn't have a water bottle in my hand and I rarely ate/drank anything that didn't contain protein. And I did not go to bed until I got my 64 oz and 60+g. You have to make these a priority. They are WAY more important than excercise at this point.

I was afraid of smoking after surgery since eating everything not nailed down and then going to bed was my usual experience with marijuana. That and laughing at EVERYTHING. But I was in Denver over Christmas and smoked every day (my sister and her kids are a bad influence). Turns out different strains definitely have different effects. I still experienced physical and mental "relaxation", and found humor in most everything, but did not get the munchies! I am very excited to have found a vice to treat myself to on occasion that is compatible with my weight loss goals.

I had a super easy recovery....shopping day after surgery and back to work in seven.....so sleeping and energy wasn't a problem for me. But with a 20 pound lifting restriction for 3 weeks, that would have caused an issue. And my lifting restriction was a lot more liberal than most I hear about. What does your surgeon have to say?

Thanks for posting. I've been thinking about starting a similar thread myself. I'm only 2 years out and I've already noticed this. I have stayed within the same 5 pounds for the last 14 months but over the last couple months it seems my legs and butt have gotten a bit thicker. Still in the same size jeans but they are definitely more snug. I also feel I have a bit more tummy flub....ab muscles not as defined. It's kind of like the opposite of when I would lose inches during a stall. The only logical answer I can think of is that I'm losing muscle but gaining fat so my weight stays the same, but my body grows. Don't know why this would happen....I'm not any more or less active and I still exceed Protein goals every day. However, I am in my late 40's, too, so maybe the hormone thing has something to do with it. Interested in what others have to say....

I was lactose intolerant for about 4 months postop. My surgeon said it's pretty common. I Used lactaid during that time. I was, however, able to eat cheese and Greek yogurt, but they contain much less lactose than milk. (And Regular yogurt has more lactose than Greek yogurt) I also couldn't tolerate artificial sweeteners or plain water, but that passed after about 4 months, too.

Congratulations...you look great! Hitting goal was so anticlimactic for me I don't even know when I reached it. The date on my ticker is just made up because I think that's around the time it happened. And maintenance is so boring....oh well. Good for you for setting up a new goal. I've been a slug for most of the last year and unfortunately am not motivated enough to even go through the facade of a New Years resolution. Nothing to do with my weight, though. Just a byproduct of a sucky life. Losing weight didn't change that. But it's great to hear your success story.

All of mine have 20-30g protein per serving and less than 5g sugar. I also mix mine with twice as much Water or milk as instructed. Otherwise they are just too thick and sweet for me. Brands I like....Muscle Milk, Syntrax nectar, Syntrax Matrix, Spurutein, unjury, Syntha-6, Body Fortress, Quest, Chike, Raw Fit, Raw Protein and some Jay Robb flavors. Brands I didn't like....Isopure, Bariatric fusion, Bariatric Advantage, SDC Nutrition, SAN Raw Fusion, Celebrate ENS, Protizyme, and some Jay Robb flavors. But like I said before, taste is very subjective.

There are so many flavors and options out there all you can do is try till you find ones you like. I've tried at least 2 dozen different brands and flavors and I'd say I LOVE about a 1/3 of them, another 1/3 are OK, and the last 1/3 are totally gross and you couldn't pay me to drink them. I currently have unflavored, vanilla, chocolate, cake batter, cherry, lemonade, peach, strawberry, piña colada, banana, grape and apple flavor powders in my cupboard and use pureed fruit, Torani syrups and PB2 to add even more variety. But taste is so subjective, what I like may make you gag. Nashua Nutrition offers dozens of sample sizes. unjury and Jay Robb sell starter kits with different samples. You can get variety packs of Syntrax nectar on Amazon. Lots of whole food and health food stores sell individual packets.

I didn't like the chewables either. I was taking capsules starting at two weeks and tablets at 3 months....all OKd by my surgeon.

I used my blender. I have a Hamilton beach dual mixer than has two small containers....more or less like a nutribullet. Used it to puree everything....even tuna fish. I actually ate a lot of soup in my liquid and pureed stages. Added unflavored protein powder to them after blending them smooth. However, I didn't puree things like eggs, cottage cheese, refried beans, oatmeal, etc. they were just fine as is in the pureed stage.

SOTFS!

I did chewable calcium for a little while. Just your basic calcium citrate. I don't even remember the brand. I switched to the tablets after the first bottle of chewables ran out.....maybe about 3 months postop. As for probiotics, my Vitamin Code contains them and I don't take any extra. (except when I had C. diff and then I took RAW Probiotics capsules). I was OK'd for capsules at 2 weeks. For B12 make sure you do methylcobalamin, not cyanocobalamin, as it's better absorbed. And even though it's in most multis, you need to take sublingual or injections since we no longer have the intrinsic factor needed to absorb oral B12.

Come on people. You really need to give credit where credit is due.... 1) major kudos to ANYONE that can lose that much weight AND maintain that loss. Hell, I couldn't do it....you couldn't do it. The guy deserves every ounce of praise and congrats he can get. 2) give credit to whatever surgery you had to accomplish your weightloss goals. Sure it wasn't "easy", sure we have to work at it every day, but we all know darn well we couldn't do it without the surgery. If we could have, we would have. Face it....surgery is the reason you are successful this time. I give credit to my sleeve anytime I'm asked about my weightloss. Without shame or embarrassment. And IMHO anyone that doesn't give credit to their surgery is simply buying into and perpetuating the stigma of WLS.

Sorry I didn't see it. But I did run into the ignorant stigma of going to Mexico for my surgery by just one single person..... The surgeon that removed my gallbladder. Everyone else, including my friends, family, PCP, OB/Gyn and gastroenterologist were all congratulatory and supportive. But this @ss hole flat out said I was "lucky to be alive". Then he had his nutritionist contact me because I couldn't possibly be doing it "right" on my own, despite passing goal, maintaining for over a year and having perfect labs, normal BP, etc. When I told her my stats and what I'm eating she didn't understand why he had her call because according to her I was going great! And here's the ironic part.... This "skilled" US surgeon left me with an incisional hernia that is going to take a second surgery to repair. And he is actually denying it's a hernia (despite being confirmed by my PCP, the ultrasound tech and his own nurse!) Can you imagine what a fit he'd throw if my Mexico surgeon had done this! What an arrogant pr ick. Really wished I had gone back to OCC to have my gallbladder out.

"....good that you did it the old fashioned hard-work way and didn't take the easy way out by having WLS." Did he actually say this or did he just say "good for you". What was he supposed to say?

I didn't use the Vitamins recommended by my surgeon. I've always preferred whole food based vitamins rather than chemically synthesized vitamins. Not only do they provide micronutrients and cofactors that you can't duplicate in a lab, mine have digestive enzymes and Probiotics for better absorption and overall GI health. I was using Source of Life Gold chewables before and immediately after surgery. But my tastes changed and I no longer liked the chewables. I switched to Garden of Life because they come in capsules and tablets. I currently take Vitamin Code for Women multi, Vitamin Code Raw D3, MyKind Organic Plant Calcium and Source Naturals methylcobalamin (B12) sublingual. I also used to take Vitamin Code Healthy Blood, but my labs showed high Iron at 6 months out so I stopped taking them. Labs been good ever since. The biggest thing is to make sure you follow through with annual bloodwork forever. Studies show that 40%-90% of gastrectomy patients develop deficiencies within 5, 10 and even 20 years postop. Iron, B12, D3, calcium, folate, zinc and magnesium are the biggest culprits.

Unfortunately I am self employed. My boss sucks. (Although I did get a really good Christmas bonus)