Miss Mac

I can tell that this is going to be one of those polarizing posts where there are basically two very opposie responses. One is the "How could you?" response and the other is "What's the big deal?" response. My one warning to newbies is that on this forum, opinions and tact will vary. Both sides are worth hearing out. We "how could you" people are occassionally called 'goody two shoes' for following our plan as close as possible, banking on our bariatric team's expertise amd experience with many thousands of patients per year. For the "what's the big deal" people, it is easy to find converts because it is human nature, plain and simple, to not want to deny our mouths of the tastes and textures and volume that it is used to. There is generally no middle ground. To those who take the chance on going for it, you must be a gambler, hoping against hope that nothing bad is going to happen to you, just like tornado chasers, and teenagers who jump off the roof onto mattresses. To the original poster, nugirl 402, I hope you will consider that if you are straying from your plan and inventing your own, that you eventually may have to backtrack and start over. It happens. Nevertheless, you should participate in the forum as often as possible. There is a lot of valuable information here, from both sides of the fence. Your body - your choice.

This is one of your bariatric mothers speaking............... Bacon at 5 days?????? Are you kidding me? Dear bariatric daughter, please go to Youtube and watch a real video of the surgery you just had, to remind yourself of how brutalized your stomach is right now. You would not give bacon and eggs to a newborn, so don't expect to go complication-free if you are pushing your recovery schedule up by weeks. At five days, you might be considering purees. At least then you could take kitchen food and run it through the blender with broth so that it is still wet enough to roll off a spoon. Even those of us with progressive surgeons don't get to soft foods any sooner than two weeks. I know you miss flavor, crunch, and chewing - we all did. But you can't let your taste buds run the show. I don't know if you are into Bible stories, but consider the Israelites wandering through the wilderness (men did not ask for directions back then, either). God sent them manna from heaven. It was a completely nutritious edible (although strange) food meant to sustain their bodily needs for energy and health (kind of like our Protein shakes). But noooooooooo, they missed their leeks and onions and were very vocal about it. They were alotted so much per day (portion control). If they got greedy and gathered too much, it just rotted and got wormy. So whether you believe it as historical fact or Aesop's fabel, the point is this: can't do liquids anymore and don't want to do liquids anymore are two different things. I encourage you to be strong and resist the temptation to satisfy your tastebuds over the proper healing of your digestive system - you sort of NEED it to survive. If you don't want to be miserable, then don't jump your plan by eating foods your stomach is not ready for. A rupture is a lot more miserable than one more Protein shake. If you have to, put your shake in a blender and add some yogurt, vanilla, sweetener, very ripe banana, and make it thin enough to pass as a puree. Or get vanilla shakes and add your favorite flavor of fruity baby food. You will pass through these phases soon enough. This is only one month of your new lease on life. You knew going into this that it was going to be inconvenient and uncomfortable for a while. So, chin up.....you will heal in no time if you knuckle down and follow the plan your surgeon gave you. Our surgeons do enough of these that they know what works and what causes complications that you would not wish on your worst enemy. I wish you good luck and good health. Do you darndest to get control. Your new tummy is now the boss of you and will demand respect. If that is through vomiting, diarrhea, reflux, foamies, or chest pain then Tummy has spoken. Please be kind to yourself. I am guessing that you will do what the last poster just said and disregard the rest of us, but that indeed is your call. I would give you one caveat: at the first sign of distress, back off to the previous stage. You did this to feel better and be healthier, so if any food you eat hurts or your tummy gives it back, then you were not ready for it yet. Just be careful.

If the doctor died, you would switch doctors. Don't feel guilty like you are abandonning him. If he is not responding, he has abandonned you. My primary is an internist and well-versed in bariatric care. You are not obligated to anybody unless you have crapped out insurance that forces you to use a particular practice. It's your body. Why not look for someone who is patient-minded? I wish you good luck on your search.

Those are the ones where there is no questions, conversation or give-and-take about weight loss or bariatric surgery, just links to something an unidentified entity is selling or promoting.

Female here, 15 months post-op. Pre-op, I coud have eaten the table bread, a salad, a seven ounce steak, baked potato, a steamed veggie, dessert and two or three large glasses of tea or pop. Post op, I can eat 2 ounces of steak, and 1/3 cup of a steamed veggie. Closer to bedtime I may have a piece of cheese or a deviled egg. I may swish a little Water around in my mouth to rinse the spices down, but I save the rest of my beverage for at least 1/2 hour later.

You may as well, Irish. The band is not doing you any favors. Welcome back.

Welcome to the forum. There are a few of us on here in our sixties. I am 63 and had a sleeve 15 months ago after I had a stroke. I decided one stroke was enough. Two of my sisters had great success with the gastric bypass. One weighed over 350 and the other one weighed over 400. My older brother was not so lucky to have gastric bypass available. He died at age 47 of a heart attack. He weighed 420 and we had to delay the funeral so that a special coffin could be built. I am so glad to hear that you are doing something pro-active to improve your quality of life. I wish you good luck and good health.

I don't drink pop anymore because it has no nutritional value.

I agree with Blerdgirl.

I still have Protein shakes, especially on strength training days. I make mine with vanilla almond milk. Way less calories and fat and much more Calcium.

dema24, I am over 15 months out and I eat anything I want, but what I want has changed. My motto now is EAT LEANER AND TRAIN MEANER. I am working so hard at this - too much to ruin my efforts with excess crap. I have actualyl turned into a nutritarian. That is a person who strives to only fuel their body with real food that actually has some nutritional benefits in it. I won't say I haven't taken a sample of coffee cake at the grocery store bakery, but in my previous life, I would have baked the coffee cake myself and eaten 1/4 of it before Breakfast. Therein lies the difference. I am not perfect, but I certainly do a lot better with my food choices than I used to. My biggest change aside from volume is that I do not eat anything made in a factory if I can help it. There are some great recipes on this site that will help you find healthy and pleasant substitutions for foods that used to trip us up. (For the grammar divas, should that be uptrip us?) The World According to Eggface website has a bunch of adapted recipes and the woman who blogs it has her own bariatric success story that is very inspiring. I am saddened when I hear about our bariatric brothers and sisters who have green meanies for doctors. Mine was awesome and my team has been instrumental in my success. The odds are that you will be just fine. You let them give you a nice nap and when you wake up you will have a new lease on life.

I am using my laptop. I will try James' suggestion.

Pizza with a baked zuchinni crust.

Same here.

On days that Miss Tummy was disagreable, I lived on mashed potatoes and applesauce, but I put unflavored Protein powder in them. I agree that if you are having issues swallowing and digesting, this is not a good time for crunchy protein bars. Since you are past a month out, you might try some soft cooked chicken run through the blender with some broth to help you with the digestion process. I tried baby food in the soft food stage, but it was so bland and tasteless. I just ended up putting whatever was for dinner into the blender with broth. Also, it was easier for me to get fluids down if they were room temp or slightly warm. Cold things just did not work for me. I took Carafate for about three months, but at 15 months, I still take Omeprozole every day to prevent acid before it starts. A year from now you won't be so mad at yourself. Our surgeries are inconvenient and uncomfortable, but time will pass quicker than you think. Be easy on your tummy. I agree that for a couple of days at least, go back to full liquids, and then come back with something very soft - not crunchy. I hope you get better.

I am surprised that your team did not spell that out for you. My plan called for four or five Protein shakes a day. here were my options: 4 1/2 cans of "high Protein Slim Fast daily OR 5 1/2 packets of "No Sugar Added" Carnation Instant Breakfast OR 5 individual cartons of Atkins Advantage daily OR 4 1/2 bottles of "Glucose Controlled" Boost daily I hope this helps.

The purpose of the pre-op liquid diet is too reduce the size of your liver, which lays over your stomach. Your surgeon needs for it to be out of the way and easier to negotiate around so that he does not nick it with his surgical tools. Here is where the tough love comes in. If you are not ready to make the committment to follow your doctor's orders, then you are not ready for surgery. The first three days of the liquid diet are the hardest. After that, it's not so bad. If you can get past three days you can get past the seven that you have left. Good luck and be strong.

I have to pretend that I am allergic. If I eat that stuff, I break out in fat. Or you could save yourself the trouble and just tape it to your hips.

You are only four days out and probably still on full liquids. Your tummy is mad and swollen. The gas and tummy noises will last for a while. I said before that mine sounded like a dinosaur fight for two months. I did not feel hunger until I was well into regular food, after my tummy had healed and the swelling went down. Still, it is the size of a small banana, a bratwurst sausage - something like that. It really helped me to see the images when I had my one year barium swalo follow-up. I could actually see that my sleeve was small and narrow and shaped like that small banana. If I am eating properly with my protein first, then I typically am not hungry again for about three hours. At fifteen months, I still weigh and measure and log. There is a scientific principal that helps me with this: You cannot control that which you do not measure. swallow......I can spell but I cannot type.

Your new tummy is now the boss of you. It is the parent and you are the child. Go to YouTube and watch a video of your type of surgery to remind yourself of how brutalized your stomach is right now. It is an internal organ - vital for your survival - not a picnic basket. Please, please stop and be strong. The liquid stage will pass soon enough. Would you give roast beef, chips, and pop to a newborn baby? Of course not. Its little baby tummy can't handle that stuff yet. Well, neither can you right now and your tummy is trying to communicate that to you. Take care of it and it will take care of you. Now, young lady.......you behave today. Hugs from Chicago.

I miss that sausage, egg and cheese combination, too, but now I make up a large batch of scrambled eggs, sausage , shredded cheese, onions, peppers, and mushrooms. I put this liquid concoction in muffin tins (with cupcake papers) and bake it. They freeze and reheat well, and one is just enough for my Breakfast. Plus they would travel well for the working person.

They will give you a nice nap and then you will wake up with a new lease on life. The temporary inconveniece and discomfort will be well worth it. I wish you good luck and good health.

Fluids are more important than anything right now. The downside is that if you get dehydrated, you are going to end up in the hospital on IVs. I had a really bad day about six months in, when I was vomiting and pooing all day and into the night. During one of my bathroom trips at 3:00 in the morning, I passed out and hit my head on the bathtub. I was out for about an hour. I tried to get up and passed out again and hit my head on the tub...again....and was out for an hour and a half. I ended up in in the emergency room and kept overnight for a CT scan and IV's for dehydration. There was a bariatric brother on the forum last year who passed out from dehydration and busted his jaw on a coffee table. At nine days in, you should be about ready for soft foods. That will chirp you up as you begin to add real food back into your diet. Just watch the carbs though. We eat all this Protein for a reason. It helps us heal. Your body is a human machine and protein is it's major fuel. Sorry to hear about your other troubles. This bariatric journey is challenging enough without other worrisome events. Taking better care of yourself will help you feel better. Look on YouTube for exercises for the bedridden.

It will all go away and you will start to feel better. I gained twelve pounds in the hospital. I was weak for a couple of weeks, and did not really have any energy until I started regular cooked foods. The pain was not so bad. I did not need any pain meds at home after the third day.

Response to a rude question "Why on earth would you want to know?" Response to a rude statement: "Why would you care?"