bikrchk

You're probably not going to have an appetite for a while. You need to adjust your thinking around food. We as obese people try to learn not to eat when we're not hungry, (good advice for most), but your surgeon took out your "hungry"! Think about eating (or for now, drinking your protein) as part of your prescription, because it IS. Early on we do it because it's good for us and will contribute to the healing process. Would you allow your kids to skip their meds because they don't taste good and they don't "feel" like taking them? NEVER! Fuel your body correctly and it will respond. There are a plethora of Protein products on the market. Fine a few you can tolerate. Isopure is a clear one some folks like. I lived on Syntrax nectar Iced Lemon Tea for MONTHS post op while advancing my diet. You'll have more choices as you advance your diet. Now I just toss a scoop of whey in my coffee for a latte and enjoy a PowerCrunch Protein Bar (cookie) in the afternoon, but I still get at least 75g of protein per day even in maintenance.

I was surprised my recovery went as easy as it did. I had some really great mentors and a fantastic surgical team who educated me WELL. Maybe that's why I was surprised about my recovery, because I was prepared for what CAN happen, (leaks and other complications), but didn't, as well as what WILL happen, (stalls, emotional roller-coaster, learning your new limits, etc.).

I'd just turned 47 when I had mine done. May my 50's be healthier and sexier than my 40's!

BMI is a reasonable place to start for most folks, (unless you are a serious body builder that skews the tables), but not the be-all end-all either. I look at it this way... I have yet to meet a WLS patient who doesn't have body dismorphia. We pretty much feel fat at least some of the time. My body image is BROKEN. Based on the responses from some of my friends telling me I need to stop when I was only half way to goal, and hadn't met my Dr. goal yet, THEIR assessment of my size is BROKEN as well. They've never known me at a healthy weight. Ever. So what's a girl to do when setting her goal? Working with my Dr., I aimed for dead center of the healthy BMI range which for my 5'6" height is 135 pounds which I'd never weighed in my adult life. Seemed like a CRAZY goal at the time. Once I reached about 145, and a size 4-6 I decided to set a range a bit to the right between 135 and 145, my happy place being about 140 pounds. It would probably be five pounds less with plastics, but plastics are expensive and painful and I don't know that I'm gonna go there. I think you're not really going to know where you're "supposed" to be until you get close and even then, your body is going to shift around for a few more months as things settle down.

I took Centrum chewables and sublingual b12, d3, biotin etc, and calcium citrate chews early on until I was healed. Now I just swallow a handful of supplements morning and night and do a chewable iron with C mid day. I was swallowing the iron my my saturation was a bit low at my 1 year labs so hoping to absorb this one better.

I took 2 but only needed 1 really. FMLA will protect your job if you file for it. It's kind of a crap shoot. You never know how YOU personally will react to surgical trauma. Some folks bounce right back, some take a bit longer. Plan for the worst and hope for the best! Good luck!

I've not had a date come right out and say anything negative when I've told them I've had WLS. I even had one that was grumbling about his internal "thermostat being broken", (he was always cold), and it turned out he was a WLS patient too! That one didn't work out anyway. There have only been 2 I've dated seriously since surgery and both had lost a significant amount of weight themselves without surgery. They could see the lifestyle I live, (eat small, exercise regularly) and like the fact that I'm focused on maintaining my health. My current BF has told me he likes this about me because he eats smaller by his choice around me, (we typically split an appetizer when out) and it helps him maintain his weight loss. I'm a GOOD influence? Who knew? LOL

BCBS of KC took 2 weeks for mine.

I take a women's generic one a day morning and night along with an extra B12, D3, biotin and a probiotic. Once per day I take a time release calcuim citrate. I was taking a slow fe one per day (mid day with no other supplements as calcium can affect absorption), but I've gone a little anemic (just not absorbing as much as I should) so recently purchased a chewable iron with C (which aids in absorption) I'll take twice a day to try and bring up my iron sat. I get my vitamins at Walmart or Vitamin Shoppe, (for the probiotic and iron).

Protein powder can have that effect as can a decrease in overall volume of solid food you're getting. Try some Miralax. Long term, I found that adding a good multistrain probiotic has resolved the issue completely for me.

They found a hernia during my pre-op EGD and repaired during my sleeve. I have nothing to compare it to, but I was released from the hospital in 24 hours and never needed the narcotic pain meds they sent me home with. Meds controlled my nausea for the first few days and I was back at work the next week. I DID have horrible reflux coughing for about a month but eventually that resolved completely with time and a PPI.

I purchased a good quality exercise bike and have it in front of my big screen. I like to binge watch series on Netflix, so getting up to see the next episode of whatever I'm addicted to that week is helpful.

I have a dragon with lots of fine lines on my deltoid that has weathered the 95 pound loss really well. That's a very "solid" area to begin with. I think it looks better now, actually.

I found that post-op it was a little easier to get down a Water mix or clear product. Isopure makes a clear bottled product and Syntrax nectar makes multiple water mix flavors. Plus with the fruity flavors you can spike with lemon juice to cut the sweetness. I generally picked a Greek yogurt with the highest Protein content and lowest sugar content I could find. BEST site for post op food ideas is http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/. Have a look over there.

I also had hernia repair. Had horrible reflux coughing for about the first month, (sleeping with head elevated, they doubled my omeprazole to 40 mg 2x day). It finally resolved. Once the swelling went down (6 weeks maybe) and I was symptom free. Still take the omeprazole 2x day. Some PPIs work better than others for some folks. Has your doc tried switching out your prescription?

First puree was eggs. First solid was lunch meat.

Decaf within a few weeks. I waited a few months before doing any caffeine. These days I do about 1 large coffee in the morning. No caffeine the rest of the day.

Not anymore. I toss a scoop (or 1/2 scoop) of whey in my coffee in the morning as creamer and often do a PowerCrunch bar (cookie) in the the afternoon. Those, combined with a high protein diet typically get me 75+g per day.

Buy the smallest eggs you can find. Freeze leftovers in ice cube trays and dump the food cubes in a freezer bag for storage. Make a whole recipe and freeze half in tiny containers immediately for your own frozen dinners. Prepare 2 half recipes of something that you can cook in a crock pot and put each half in a crock pot liner bag. Cook one and freeze one to cook another time. Get a hungry dog, (lol) Don't feel guilty about waste. Your body is not a garbage disposal. If you're done with it, you're done.

No catheter that I remember. If there was one, it was gone before I was taken to my room. I was up to the restroom within hours of returning from recovery. No biggie. You'll probably stay in the gown, (necessarily) as long as they have an IV in your arm. When they removed my IV they sent me home hours later (this was 24 hours after surgery) so it really didn't matter. I did bring some comfy PJ bottoms to wear under the gown which made it more comfortable. Didn't have to worry about my butt hanging out when I went for a walk, LOL. I have no memory of the recovery room at all. No idea if family was allowed to visit.

I was eating about 600 at one month out and was told by my coord. I should be getting more. Try to work up to 1000-1200 I was told, (which seemed impossible at the time) but Protein is more important than the calorie count. I did as instructed bouncing between 1000-1200 with 80ish g of protein. Lost slow and steady without major stalls and have settled into maintenance with a metabolism that I hope will work for a lifetime.

I've always said, the mental mind fu that this surgery causes is far more traumatic than the physical recovery from having been "cut". I feel the same. BMI 23 and change, size 4 which I haven't seen since probably grade school and I'm BOTHERED by some loose skin? I dunno, I MAY decide to look into having something done with it at some point, but for now I try to ignore the devil on my shoulder that tells me "that's not good enough" and listen to my BF who never knew me fat and who tells me I'm beautiful.

Once in a while I crave pancakes, but my go to is 1 egg with a slice of cheese on it almost every day. I typically chase that with 1/2-1 scoop of whey in my coffee about 1 hour later. I feel better with a high Protein low sugar\low carb start to my day and lost well on that routine. If, (once you can eat again) you crave pancakes, check out Eggface's ricotta pancakes for a low carb pancakey alternative that won't kill your progress. They're VERY moist and a good choice early on as the textue is practically "puree".

Yes. it's called orthostatic hypotension and can happen when your BP goes a bit low. I had it pretty bad immediately post op and still occasionally today 1.5 years out. One of my comorbidities was High BP so this was the last thing expected. Can happen if you're not getting enough fluids. Try adding some G2 to your fluids, (electrolytes and a little salt can help) and increase your Water intake. If that doesn't help, see your doc.

It happens. In maintenance now, I have days where I feel like I've eaten everything in sight, (I'm OVER calories by around 500-700), followed by days, I'm right on track or a bit under. Then I weigh in and I'm ALWAYS amazed when I don't gain weight that week. Or occasionally I do gain a bit and that's motivation to reel myself back in. The next week I always recover. Success is about good HABITS and balance. You can succeed with an off DAY here and there, as long as you don't let it turn into an off WEEK or MONTH.