McButterpants

Here are my numbers at the three month mark: Down 38 pounds from surgery Down 44 pounds from start of 2 week pre-op diet I'm nearing my 6 month surgiversary and here are my numbers...I'm slowing down. Down 49 pounds from surgery Down 56 pounds from start of 2 week pre-op diet I find that measuring helps keep things in perspective when my loss is slow - I've lost a total of 48" since surgery, including 5 inches when I showed no weight loss on the scale.

The types of foods could have led to the additional hunger by way of acid in your stomach - often time new sleevers think they are feeling hunger, but it's really acid. Many get a prescription for a proton pump inhibitor. For me, I can now tell the difference between acid and real hunger. I agree with Roo above...you should follow your doctor/NUT diet. Don't tempt fate - it's not worth it. You could get sick, but you could also injure yourself. The mental part of this process was so much more than I expected - it is really the hard part and required the most work for me. I had to address issues that I didn't want to confront - why did I overeat? Why did I plan to eat by myself?

One thing I was not prepared for was the emotional part of this journey. When I was 2 weeks post-op, I felt overwhelmed. Trying to get the Protein and liquids in is a full-time job - the logging/tracking gets to be a chore. But, please believe me when I say - it will get better. I'm nearing the 6 month mark next week. Honestly, I really don't feel like a weight loss surgery patient any more. This is my new normal. I'm not saying I haven't been frustrated with slow loss, angry that I can't eat faster or something that I crave - that happens. But, I can say with all honesty, my life is so much better today than it was 6 months ago. Hang in there, sweetie. You're doing great - get thru the new few weeks as best you can. Be kind to yourself. Make sure you follow your doctor's/NUT's orders. You got this!

It will get better - when I was a month out, I felt the same way. Eating, counting, logging, drinking...OMG, it was difficult, tedious and annoying. I can remember wanting something "quick and easy" because I was in a crunch for time - yeah, that doesn't work. I'm almost six months out now and am doing well - life is pretty normal for me. I don't feel the same way I did at one month out. I enjoy food. I don't obsess about it. Be patient. You need to learn how and when to eat. I think I started feeling normal at around 4 months.

I was self-pay and had the same fears. If you look at the incidence of complications as a percentage, it really is very low. I had no complications, no issues - life is good for me now. This was the best decision I could have ever made. Best of luck to you!

Hi there. I am 5 months post op...I had similar feelings and concerns. I think that's normal. For us, food has/had a hold on us. My life revolved around food - I mourned with food, I celebrated with food, I ate when I was happy and I ate when I was sad. I can tell you that now, at 5 months post-op, food no longer has a strangle hold on me. I eat for nourishment now. I still enjoy food, just much, much less of it. As far as the "no-no's" in your post...bread, Pasta and candy. I do eat some bread, but not a lot because I don't feel good when I eat a lot of it. (I was a breadaholic pre-surgery.) Pasta - I can eat it and do, but not like before...I'll order a pasta dish with chicken and eat mostly chicken with a few bits of the pasta. Candy - I can eat it, but don't because I really don't crave sweets any more. I had a piece of carrot cake at Easter - I ate 4 small bites and gave the rest away. I didn't feel deprived - I ate what I wanted. There will be sacrifice on the front end - pre-op diet and immediately after surgery. Once you're cleared for foods, you can start opening up your diet, staying within the guidelines your doc provides. My doc doesn't outlaw food - she preaches moderation and keeping within my Protein requirements daily. Best of luck to you! This is an amazing opportunity - I was scared in the beginning, too. It's normal.

Happened to me as well - I'm 5 months post-op and I still don't have to urinate like I used to. My doc said this is normal.

What you could be feeling is acida. You may want to talk to your doctor about it. I know when I felt hunger, if I took a Prilosec, that feeling went a way. Hunger feels different for me post-op...it's more like empty than hunger that I felt before. When I feel like I did before surgery, it's usually acid and goes away with a Tums.

That is so true! I know a couple of days before surgery it seemed like very commercial was fast food. For me things changed immediately after surgery - I don't even notice food commercials any more. Best of luck in your surgery!

I went very low carb at about 2 months - I felt like crap. I up'd it to between 40-50 and felt much better once I did that - my doc said I was restricting too much on the carbs. Once I increased I had more energy and just felt better overall. I'm a rebel now at 5 months and rarely track my food - I would say I'm still in that 50 grams area and feel great. The carbs I choose are different than before surgery - I select low glycemic fruit to put in my shakes (berries usually) and low glycemic veggies (bell peppers, onions, romaine lettuce when I can tolerate it). Oatmeal is not a bad food - it gets a bad wrap...It's not a bad carb (I eat Health Wise Protein Oatmeal, but no every day). I rarely eat anything with flour or sugar - I feel better now that those are out of my life.

Call your surgeon - My NUT freaked out when I hit 5 days with no bowel movement. I had difficulty right after surgery - Metamucil and good quality pro biotic usually helped.

Mine started at just over 2 months post-op and I'm still losing at 5 months, although it is slowing now. I can see regrowth which is promising, but it's depressing. My doc OK'd taking Biotin and Folic Acid, though some docs say nothing is going to help with the loss. I use Nioxin shampoo and a product called Toppik to hide the bald spots.

I'm sitting here with a piping hot cup of coffee right now. Yummo. I had to give up caffeine prior to surgery - I went thru withdrawals and it sucked. After surgery, I wasn't cleared for regular coffee until week 12, but I had to pinkie promise my doctor that I wouldn't go back to my old habits of 4-5 cups of regular coffee per day. I was really frustrated early on - it would take me about an hour to drink a cup of coffee (decaf). I didn't enjoy it. I'm now 5 months post-op and I enjoy my coffee, even a Starbucks skinny Carmel Macchiato on occasion. I drink 1 or 2 cups of regular strong coffee daily - I sweeten it with honey or Splenda and add a little milk or coconut creamer.

I think it's perfectly normal to 2nd guess your decision. I did multiple times during my process. I decided to have surgery in mid-August and set a tentative date of mid-November, so I, like you, had plenty of time to think about it. But on the flip side of that, I had plenty of time to prepare...That was a good thing. I had food funerals - I went to my favorite places and ate some last meals. In retrospect, I didn't need to. But, I certainly understand why we do it. Take this time to prepare...this is my advice to all pre-oppers: * Practice mindful eating techniques (eating at the table w/ no distractions...no TV, no radio, no phone, etc.). This will help you feel fullness easier than mindlessly eating in front of the TV. * Start exercising. The better shape you're in before surgery, the faster you will recover and get on your feet. Recovery will be easier as well. * Work on trying to find a Protein shake you like - don't over purchase, your tastes may change after surgery. Find different ways to make your shakes - play with different combinations of low glycemic berries, sugar free syrups, temperatures, etc. * Start chewing your food 20-25 times per bite and taking smaller bites. * Slow down your eating (I used a free app called Eat Slower - it will chime when it's time to take a bite) This is a life-changing decision you're making. It's not to be taken lightly, that's why you're feeling this way. Research the procedure, come to forums like this, attend a live support group meeting if one is available, etc. Know that you're going to have ups and downs between now and surgery day. I honestly almost backed out in admitting - I'm glad I didn't. I documented my process from the time I decided to have surgery to present on my blog - click the link below if you care to read about (you will read about my ups and downs and questions I had during the process). Best of luck to you!

You should follow the advice of your doctor - different doctors have different rules and everyone's recovery is different. With that said, I was cleared for walking outside (not on a treadmill) immediately after surgery and was up to a mile about a week later. I was cleared for treadmill and elliptical at 4 weeks. At my 8 week appointment I had no restrictions on exercise.

I'm a rebel - I don't do reduced fat. My doctor's theory is I eat so little of everything and if I'm doing my Protein the little fat I'm getting from cheese or the little bit of mayo I might add isn't going to hurt. I do 1% milk in my shakes and coffee.

Hi there. That's a great start! I would also suggest starting to add a shake in your day - perhaps in the afternoon. I find that if I do a shake in the afternoon it curbs my appetite in the evening. Making a few little changes in your diet and activity now will help you maintain for the new few months with little issue. The next 3-4 months are a great opportunity to start incorporating some of the necessary changes to prep for pre-op and post-op living. Here are some of my suggestions... Start practicing mindful eating techniques - eat at the table without distractions (no TV, radio or phone). I found that I ate less because I was feeling the "full" trigger faster than when I mindlessly east in front of the TV. Chew your food - 20-25 times per bite and eat slower. Exercise - if you're doing 30 minutes this week, add 5 minutes next week and 5 the week after that. Be in the best physical shape you can be in prior to surgery. It will make the recovery from surgery easier and faster. Start trying different kinds of shakes and experiment with different textures and flavors. Don't over purchase - your tastes may change post-op. Try adding some low glycemic fruits, sugar free Torani syrups, different temps, etc. Variety will help you when you're on a lot of shakes. Best of luck to you!

I'm a sucker for a BBQ chicken and Bacon pizza. I think I just had an orgasm.

I was approved for soft scrambled eggs immediately after surgery - they didn't bother me at all (to make them soft, just a little bit of milk). My daily breakfast is a Jimmy Dean Turkey sausage patty and one scrambled egg with a little cheese on top. When I was at 2 months I couldn't finish all of this - I could probably finish 1/2 or 3/4 of this. I still have this for breakfast almost every day and now can finish all of it. It satisfies me for a few hours until I can eat again. I also purchased some oatmeal from Pantry Selections (www.mybariatricpantry.com) - it has 15 grams of Protein. It tastes great. I add a little bit of banana (like 1/4 of a small banana) and a couple of chopped walnuts.

Compression pants are your friend...I like the G9 compression pants and capris at Target.

I'm 5 months out and people notice how little I eat - I usually say, "I ate a late lunch" or "My eyes were bigger than my stomach." My incisions healed very quickly - I was lucky enough to get 3 micro incisions...they were about the size of a pencil eraser. I only had glue, no strips. I was able to bath 2 days after surgery. It took a long time for the glue to finally come off - about 4 weeks on the largest incision. Now you can't see 2 of my incisions. The largest one just looks like someone took a red Sharpie and drew a line on my stomach.

Hi there. Congrats on getting your date. It will be here before you know it. A couple of tips that I give are... ** Ween yourself off caffeine - it took me about 2 weeks to get "clean"; you don't want to go thru withdrawals if you have a pre-op diet to follow ** Start practice mindful eating techniques - eat your meals at the table, without distractions like the TV, radio, phone, etc. Savor your food, concentrate on how the food feels in your stomach and try to recognize when your hunger goes away. ** Start chewing your food 20-25 times - this is in preparation of your post-op diet when you introduce foods. It's a good practice anyway. ** Take tiny bites - I purchased appetizer spoons and forks. ** Start incorporating shakes into your day - maybe one per day. Start experimenting with different flavors and textures. Try some sugar free Torani syrups to change the flavor. I caution you to not over purchase your Protein shake mix - your taste may change post-op and you don't want to get stuck with a huge tub of something you don't like. ** Start a walking program - be in the best physical shape you can be in. It will help you recover faster. This is such an exciting time. This is life changer. I wish you luck and look forward to seeing more posts!

Look at you! Congrats on your awesome success!

@@PdxMan has some good points (he usually does!). For me right now, at 5 months post-op, I find it's fairly easy to make good choices because I'm in tune with how I feel when I eat something. I once took a class about mindful eating and one of the things they said was to "eat like a skinny person"...there have been studies that show that skinny people often think about how they are going to feel after they eat something as opposed to the obese who don't. I can now think about how something is going to make me feel after I eat it - I won't eat it if I get a bad or gnarly reaction. pizza was a go-to meal for me pre-surgery - we would have it once or twice per week. I loved pizza. I loved Pasta. But now, I really don't think about it. Here's what happened last week...my husband wanted to go to our favorite pasta place and asked if that was OK. I really don't care much about food any more, so I was like sure, I'll just order something with chicken in it. I took a couple of bites of the bread (pre-surgery, it was multiple pieces), we shared an entree (of which I ate a few bites of chicken and a couple of bites of pasta - the pasta did NOTHING for me), then came dessert...the dreaded "D" word. The Zappolli at this place is amazing... I had 3 of the smallest pieces I could find and dipped them in raspberry sauce. It was delicious...but I knew if I had more, I wouldn't feel good, so I stopped. I left feeling perfectly normal and perfectly satisfied. I am thankful for my sleeve - it makes me think before I eat. It doesn't make decisions for me, but I have to make decisions for it's sake and I have to treat it with respect or it gets angry with me. You'll be able to eat all kinds of foods eventually - it doesn't mean you should. There is a certain amount of fear for me with my sleeve - I don't want to abuse it, I don't want to waste this opportunity I have been given. Right now, food just doesn't mean that much to me.