terry1118

Immediately following surgery and while you're healing you'll need to sip, sip, sip. Further out you'll be able to drink more normally. I'm eight months out and drink normally. Gulping too fast can still cause pain for me so I try to avoid it (but sometimes forget if I'm thirsty). I carry a water bottle with me wherever I go, morning till night. Your doctor or someone from his office should go over everything with you before surgery. If they don't, ask them questions.

I'm feeling the cold so much more this year and it doesn't help that we're having a colder than normal winter. :-p. I can't wait till Spring so I can walk outside! I usually hate the summer but maybe this year will be different. I'm looking forward to feeling the warmth of the sun again! :-)

It's tough to feel 'homeless'. This time of year doesn't help either. My brother lives in Breckenridge CO and loves it. He said they're having their snowiest winter in years - and they are no stranger to snow! They measure it in feet, not inches! It may be different where you're going. My brother's town is WAY up there around 10,000ft. When my son visited him a couple years ago he had to use oxygen canisters for a few days till his body adjusted to the high elevation. :-) Beautiful state w/excellent Mexican food! :-)

Mine doesn't like chicken, tuna, or anything w/rice or rice flour. :-p An old favorite that I miss is grilled chicken salad... I'd love to have it again!

I bought four large cooked shrimp and had myself some shrimp cocktail for dinner! :-)

In my support group it was suggested that a hot (or warm) drink be the first thing you have on the morning if you feel queasy. It soothes your pouch which has been without fluids or food for many hours. Then have your breakfast or protein shake 30-60 mins later. Supposedly it helps. :-)

It sounds like a lot of you December people are struggling. I'm almost eight months out - here are some of the things I learned: Emotional problems are common in the beginning. In addition to dealing with cravings and mourning old food favorites you are experiencing hormonal issues. There are hormones stored with the fat - as you burn the fat these hormones are released into your system making you feel as if you're on an emotional roller coaster. Everyone experiences food issues like vomiting, nausea, pain, foamies, and getting stuck. While you are introducing new foods and experimenting with what you can tolerate it's inevitable and part of the learning process. It's also a sort of 'aversion therapy' - if you eat something that makes you miserable you don't want to experience that again! So that also helps change how you look at certain foods. I had a relatively small list of 'safe' foods. By week five when I moved on from mushy foods I could to tolerate tilapia, scrambled egg (as long as it wasn't cooked too dry) pea soup (good protein for a veggie soup), chili (Wendy's or my own homemade), hummus, ground meats like turkey or chicken, meatballs, meatloaf, broccoli, cauliflower, zuchini 'pizza' (zuchini stuffed with diced tomatoes, feta, mozzarella, turkey pepperoni, and basil - Yum!) and deviled eggs. I couldn't do hard boiled - too dry. Very bad foods for me were tuna and any kind of chicken except ground. Special food instructions from my team were no raw veggies for 3 months (veggie fibers can get caught in the pouch staples), no nuts for six months, no caffeine for six months (diuretic, pouch irritant, acidic can cause ulcers), no alcohol for one year (liver working overtime to process toxins released w/fat loss - alcohol can cause liver failure during this time, alcohol is an irritant that can cause ulcers, and high cross-addiction risk for some people). Also no white anything EVER - white potatoes, white bread, white pasta, white rice. No nutrients in anything white. Always choose whole grains, brown rice, quinoa. Don't try to find substitutions for old favorites that are too similar to them. From there it's just a short jump back to old bad habits. Instead find new favorites that are totally different. Become as gourmet - savor your food, eating slowly. We eat so little that I don't care what something costs. I only eat a tiny bit anyway, so I want it to be awesome! I can make a whole meal out of 4 cocktail shrimp and a little cocktail sauce. Most of all, celebrate your successes! Each pound or inch lost, meeting protein, water, or exercise goals, avoiding a temptation or solving a problem, donating one more bag of clothes to charity, not taking that med anymore, doing something you could never do before like wear a seatbelt, or play with your kids, walk that mile, or wear that dress, or so many other things that each of us find amazing when they happen. Celebrate all those things - you work HARD for them!!! Don't compare yourself to others. We are all different. We lose at different rates. How we lose is affected by so very many different things - age, health, activity level, abilities, gender. Comparing yourself to others will only make you unhappy with yourself. Your journey is about YOU. :-)

I told my hubby and two of my three adult children. My son is a marine stationed on the other side of the country. I didn't want him to worry so I didn't tell him till he came home on leave, a month afterward. My doctor requires a support team of friends and/or family at home AND work so I also told my manager (who had the band surgery and supported my decision), my immediate supervisor, and one coworker who I consider a friend. I needed support at work so if I got sick someone would know why and would look out for me, offering encouragement and filling in for me till it passed. I had at least four separate incidences of food getting stuck at work, with nausea and vomiting for several hours. I couldn't have managed without help and support from my 'team'. I told no one else, but word got out eventually. My daughter accidentally spilled the Beans to my mother-in-law and within a couple days everyone she knew heard. A bitter coworker eavesdropped on a conversation between my friend and supervisor and proceeded to blab it to anyone with ears (she was reprimanded by HR and my boss for invasion of privacy). But the story was out and spread quickly. When anyone tries to talk to me about it I redirect the conversation. When that doesn't work I tell them it's personal. If they still push me then the polite responses stop and it's time to be firm. It's private and personal and it's my business, not theirs.

My decision to go with RNY was based on a few things. Number one was it had the highest long term success rate when compared to other weight loss surgeries. Number two was the high volume of people who had band-to-bypass conversions. I found so many while doing my research. Number three was the many years the procedure has been around, combined with the experience of my surgeon and the very low complication risk because of that experience. That being said, my decision was made based on my wants, needs and preferences. Everyone needs to make their own choice. We are all unique. No one knows you like you.

Don't be discouraged. Following my surgery I gained 11 pounds from IV fluids. It took me a whole week just to get back down to the weight I was the morning of my surgery! After that the REAL losing began. :-)

I considered myself a slower loser in the beginning. Everything I read here indicated that there were many factors in how fast people lose weight :-) age, gender, starting weight, general health and/or existing heath issues, and activity levels, to name a few. I may have felt I was losing slowly but I was losing steadily each week an never stalled. Then suddenly (so it seemed, but it was actually seven months later), I had lost 100 pounds! I still find it hard to believe that the petite and fashionable woman I see in my mirror is ME. Relax, follow your plan as closely as possible, Celebrate your successes (you work hard for them), and don't compare yourself to others. You are uniquely YOU. And you will get there. :-)

I finally broke out of the 130's - I weigh 129! I haven't seen the 120's since 1982! This is surreal. I can't believe I'm this small! When I try on clothes in the stores I hold up something and think 'No, that's too small' and grab the next size up. Which never fits! I need to wrap my head around being 'normal'. :-)

Puking happens often with the foamies and for food-related reasons which is different from dumping. Dumping happens when sugar, simple carbs, and sometimes fats are released quickly into your intestine. Because of the bypass that section is not used to processing those things. Foamies and puking happens from eating too fast, eating too much, not chewing well, and dry foods that get stuck. I have puked many times in the last eight months. I've never dumped.

My WLS team used to have cream of wheat on it's list of recommended foods until last year when they removed it. It was removed because it caused dumping. It didn't matter to me - I always hated the stuff! :-)

No rice for me either. I can't even eat any product that has rice flour.

Thanks for sharing. I love wine and I can't wait to have my wine back in May 2014. Coming from a family of alcoholics I don't drink much - 5 out of 7 of us are alcoholics and three are dead because of it. My biggest fear is to become one myself. I do love my two glasses of wine on a Saturday night! I'm a cheap date - I have a very low tolerance to alcohol even before surgery. I hear it'll be even worse so my two glasses of wine may have to be cut to one. I only drink at home so I'll be safe enough there. If we go out I'm the designated driver. :-)

I'm almost 8mos out. I thought I had this whole eating thing down. I hadn't had any food issues (foamies, vomiting, etc) in months. Then, out of the blue last Sunday I got the foamies after 2-3 bites of yogurt. I was eating too fast (and knew it) because we were going out and to make matters worse, I still went shopping with my hubby. I threw up at home before we left, again at Sam's Club, and again at Walmart (barely making it to the rest room that time!). Two days later I threw up at work after eating my lunch of chili (always a safe food for me) and on Thursday it happened again. I'm thinking maybe all that upset irritated my pouch so I've decided to go back to mushy foods for a week to give things a rest. Then I'll reintroduce my normal foods gradually, being conscious of bite sizes, chewing well, and eating slowly. We'll see how it goes. If nothing changes I have my 9mos follow up soon and will discuss it with my doctor.

Not rare at all. VERY common! It happens when you eat too fast, eat too much, or eat food that is too dry. And sometimes it happens for no apparent reason at all. I haven't had it happen for months and this past week it happened three times. :-p

I'm almost 8 months out and never dumped. I don't know if I will or not - I've never tempted fate. I follow my plan, avoid sugar like the plague (it's my trigger food), ditto simple carbs like bread, Pasta, and rice, and I always choose low fat foods. I've heard that combining Protein with carbs helps prevent dumping too. When I have a little (love those skinny little pretzel sticks) I also have protein with it. I dread dumping - it almost seems inevitable. From personal experience I know bad things ALWAYS happen at the worst possible moment. I was told to stay below 15gr sugar - I try to keep it under 10gr. I was avoiding high fats anyway but since having my gallbladder out I'm even more conscious of fats. I've had a couple instances of severe gas/gas pain and thinks fats are to blame. I've been told it can take a while for your body to adjust to the bile being added continuously to the intestine instead of being stored and released as needed. It's best I stick to a low fat diet for a while. :-p

My surgery was May 2013. For snacks I like Cracker Barrel cheese, CrunchO's Protein snacks in BBQ and SC&O flavors (12gr protein), Think Thin Bites (small protein bars), Greek yogurt, and hummus. I eat the hummus w/a spoon. :-)

I'm super-carb sensitive. If I have simple carbs, even a little bit, it triggers cravings for more. It doesn't matter if it's low calorie or sugar free - if it's sweet tasting or any type of bread/cracker I get uncontrollable cravings. I do best if I avoid them completely. If I stay away from them I do fine and don't miss them. Maybe you are the same?

You may, or may not. I didn't get worried about the surgery at all. My only worry was that I might get turned down for approval. Once I was approved I worried about getting sick and not being able to have the surgery. It was all sort of surreal until I made it to the losing side. I looked forward to getting it done. :-)

Good heavens! With all that cleaning out did you lose a couple pounds instantly? Lol

'Frigid in the 50's'? Lol

Like Patticake, I gained 11 pounds post-op from fluids given at the hospital. It took me a whole week to get back down to my pre-surgery weight. Even not exercising or eating you will lose but the fluids go first. Be easy on yourself, rest and heal. You've just had major surgery! As you heal and begin introducing foods you'll feel better enough to walk. Take care! :-)