clairec

Hi, Great to hear from you Dreamingbig. It sounds like you are doing really well with weight loss and eating. Such a really hard week for you, and losing your Papa is so very sad too. Tammy, I think that as you say listening to our bodies is key, but it sounds like you have been having a bad time too. I find it so reassuring knowing that I am not alone and we are all struggling a bit. We are all fighters though and we WILL make it. We are all strong people and we have so much to lose in terms of weight, and so much to gain in terms of life experiences. As you say it would be great to meet up, though probably not in any way possible, but it is still good to have friends out there who understand. We are planning a trip in Aug/Sept around the Deep South, so we will be travelling through 7 states then. A new area for us so I am really looking forward to it. Don't know how food will be on that trip but normal life must go on. We will all get through this together, take care Claire

Hi, Erin you are doing so well in terms of weight loss. incredible to think that you might be there by August, that is great. Mine will take longer but I have further to go. This eating marlarky is so hard isn't it!!! I feel so sorry for you Zom with your dumping, I am so scared of that, and both of you with puking up. I hate being sick so much and have managed to avoid it so far but I am sure that my luck won't hold. I seem to be ok on one crispbread and Philly cheese and raspberries for Breakfast and lunch and have a smoothie late afternoon. It is the evening meals which are a real challenge. I am trying new things every day, with variable success. Salmon and cous cous got stuck after 2 teaspoonfuls and that was not nice. I have managed moussaka and macaroni cheese and they are my biggest successes. Everything is a worry though, particularly if we are out. Will something get stuck/ will I dump/will I feel/be sick/ will I have urgent diarrhoea. Still taking food like medicine, I am not hungry and there is no enjoyment. However... we have all come a long way in just a few weeks and each stage is hard but I am trying to believe that it will get better. I agree with Kim that slow and steady seems to give the greatest amount of success. I do hope that you are ok if you are out there Dreamingbig? Let us know how you are. Take care all of you Claire

I agree with everything that everyone else has said. I am also really pleased that you feel able to post those thoughts Dreamingbig. I am on another forum in the UK which is run by the company that carried out my bypass and everyone seems so positive all the time, even when things are going wrong! Before my surgery I was reading those and thinking how can they be talking about these things that are definitely not ok and saying how delighted they are to have had the surgery. These things don't coexist at the same time in my mind, though they can both be true at different times. I think people feel the need to put a positive spin on things when they do not always feel that way and that can feel very lonely. I really enjoy the honesty of this forum, if you are having a bad day then share it and others will be there to support you. As Erin, babygurl and zoe have said honestly we have all had those days and things really do get better. It is horrible to not eat when others are and 4 weeks down the line I am really enjoying being able to do just that. Very small amounts and I have to pick what those things are but I feel so much more normal and I have my social life back, yay! The pain subsides too, although the tiredness and lightheaded feelings are still there at times, for me anyway. We just have to be patient with ourselves and allow ourselves to feel bad when we do and celebrate the small successes every day. People seem to struggle with certain foods even years down the line, and unexpectedly. Someone on the my other forum dumped on branflakes 5.5 years down the line, now that's not fair at all! She is moving house so stress might have been a factor but that is last thing she needed. Those things worry me, because I just want to know that certain foods are ok and always will be, particularly when I am out and about. Last night everything I tried got stuck and I hardly ate anything so my protein levels were down, however I am sure that today is another day. So do keep sharing your feelings, bad ones as well as good ones and you will feel better as time goes on. I think people saying that it is early days and you are bound to feel ... makes it difficult to express just how you are feeling. Well it did for me, and I think you have earned your right to say that you are having a bad time at the moment. Keep going and you will have much better days, honestly you will Take care Claire

Hi, I don't really know what is normal but I really struggled with pureed stuff. I tested myself once a day with those sort of foods with variable success, sometimes only managing a couple of teaspoons. The rest of the time I just had soups, shakes and yogurts. However... luckily for me my regime allows me "anything a fork goes through" and crispbreads from around 4 weeks. That is just so much better and since late last week I have been having moussaka, cream cheese and crispbreads, small amounts of fruit etc. I can now eat small amounts with other people which is just wonderful. I have found that my pouch copes with this much better though I do worry each time I try something new, which is a lot of the time at the moment. So I don't know if that helps at all but I was worried about the fact that pureed food was not going well and it seems much better now that I can have more variety and more real food. Erin, I am not constipated, rather the opposite in fact. However, I am having a lot of abdominal cramps which are painful and more than a bit difficult to cope with because I need to dash to the toilet. I am glad that I am not constipated like you are but abdominal cramps are horrible, it is over more quickly for me than for you, but much more often. I think it is still much easier for me than for you though. Claire

Hi Sammy, My goodness you are going back to work after only 2 weeks! I know that Erin did that, and to a new job so that was amazing. I did not stop work after my operation but I tried to time my surgery between days when I need to go in to teach and everything else is on line. I left my previous role in November and that was so all consuming and full on I really don't know how soon I could have gone back to that. I still feel tired and lightheaded at 4 weeks post surgery but I don't let that stop me doing things, however I am not working the long long hours that I did, that would have been a real challenge. Glad you are doing so well Sammy, we are all here for each other and that is so reassuring. Take care Claire

Hi, Welcome Mena and Lallie, you sound like you are doing really well. Dreamingbig I do hope that you are feeling better every day. I am so sorry about your grandfather, what an awful shock for you when you had just had your surgery. It sounds like you you will miss him so much. I am thinking of you. Just take every day at a time because you have had all your pre op concerns, your grief for your grandfather and getting over a major op to cope with over the last week, as well as your eating and drinking to get your head around. Kim, I am not sure what calorie levels i should be aiming for. Since I started more solid food my calories have gone up a bit, and my protein down a bit. I am still managing 40g protein without the protein shakes that I was having but as I can't really have too much meat yet, and I really couldn't cope with the pureed forms again, I think this is a temporary thing. My calories are under 1,000, but I was having 500, again with more proper food but less protein However, this is probably only short term too. I am not sure whether this is right or wrong though, and all our regimes are different. Erin, I think you did really well over the weekend. I don't think that safe always means healthy, and not having a problem while you were there was much more important than whether you were having chips or not. I think that you are absolutely right about rejoining life and the positive impact on how you feel , as well as not letting your bypass rule your life. I am 100% with you there. I think that the advice is not clear, and can be conflicting. I really want to know what might cause dumping, what is bad for my pouch and what are healthy eating principles separately. Then I can make decisions. If alcohol is something that is fine in moderation, as long as you don't dump and are careful to sip it, then why not. I really am coming to the conclusion that if all our regimes are so different that this is not an exact science. On top of this we all respond differently on an individual basis so surely we just need to carry on listening to our bodies and push the limits gradually. I think the weekend was everything you needed and you have realised that you can do these things without anything untoward happening and that is so positive and empowering. I am also pushing the boundaries in little ways and had tiny bits of meals out over the weekend which was a real relief. Not sure why I have diarrhoea after meals but it is better than constipation. Just a little difficult to cope with when out and about. I hope that is temporary! We are booking holidays like mad so I am hoping that I can continue as I am going and can eat and drink something wherever we go. Life is too short and I was so worried that I would be unable to do these things so I feel so much better knowing that I am rejoining the normal world. Take care all of you. Claire

Hi, Welcome to Jessy, now nice to see you on here. I had my bypass a day after you, on the 11th Feb. Dreamingbig, sooo glad to hear from you, i do hope you are feeling not too bad today and that the pain is getting a little better. Looking forward to more of your updates when you feel a little better. Zom, I have heard that about shoe size. We don't want to be replacing all our shoes when other clothes buying is so important. However shoes are nice too. Take care all of you Claire

Dreaming, You have probably left by now because your posts have been overnight here. I think we all felt the way that you do at some point. I felt so desperately sad and had a huge feeling of foreboding throughout the weeks beforehand. I couldn't tell in the end what I was worried about, but really I think it was the food/fluids issues afterwards, rather than the op itself. My op, and the recovery from it, went so well. However the eating and drinking thing is still a work in progress but there are minor successes every day. So now I do feel better than I did beforehand on an ongoing basis. Part of that is knowing that I have made the decision and I have done it. If you are still around I think it is normal to feel really anxious, and in many ways that is much more realistic than feeling that it is just wonderful to get to this point. I know a lot of people feel that way too, having struggled so hard to get the surgery agreed, however it is a big change and I think maybe you are just preparing yourself for that. The first few weeks are not a breeze as you will have been reading here, but it is not terrible either. People seem to turn the corner once they can have more variety. I really hope you are ok Dreaming and we will see you here after the op as quickly as possible. We are all here for you. Take care Claire x

Hi Zoe, It sounds as if you are doing really well. Having soft normal food is such a major step isn't it! I have just tried some hummous and an oat biscuit, I couldn't have much at all really, but it is normal food, so that is brilliant. Going back to work must have been difficult, tiredness suddenly hits you doesn't it, well it does me. I have never actually been off sick but that is because I planned the timing between teaching face to face days and the rest of my role is carried out from home. I think I have been overdoing that a bit though, even so. I hope today at work is going well and your weight loss sounds great. Take care Claire

Hi, I am lucky I suppose because I have never felt hunger, or head hunger since my op. In fact I am having to force it down. I agree that having to eat and drink seems a challenge, if I eat I can't drink for hours and drinking seems to have an impact for longer than it should. I am taking chewable fruity Vitamins which are much easier and i am not on any other meds so I haven't got a problem there. I stopped the pain meds very quickly because I wasn't in pain and I hated the gloopy liquid meds so much, they made me feel rally sick. I am sick of the purees and don't manage them well at all, I am much better on Soup, yoghurts and blended berries and shakes. I am hoping that next Tues I will manage things like crispbread and "things a fork will go through" much better because purees have not been a success. Soo looking forward to that! The Protein shakes we are making into an ice cream with home made custard, I quite like those. Would that be an option? Claire

Hi, Yes I am very cold a lot of the time, it is normal I have heard, here's to better weather for us all, this is the worst time of year. Erin, you are looking really good, I can see it everywhere too. I think we will all always have a difficulty with seeing it as much as others do for us. Picking clothes which are too big, unless we are encouraged to try something smaller I think might also be an issue. I seriously can't imagine myself thinner, having never been that way since puberty, and I think a lot of people struggle with this. Dreaming, where else would you be, than with us all?! We wouldn't have it any other way. Really hope your surgery goes as well as mine. I had no gas pain, though a lot of people do for a few days. In fact I had no pain at all after the first couple of hours. I was lying on my side after a couple of nights, which was great. I felt better once the drips were out, but I had no drains. I think every surgeon is different in their approach but just follow the advice you are given and honestly I think most peope find it much better than they thought it would be. Soo looking forward to seeing you back on here, take care and let us know how you are as soon as you can. Take care all of you Claire

Hi, Erin, that sounds absolutely wonderful, and Size 14, WOW! It sounds like your weight loss has been great, but I know we all want more. Yes I have hard lumps under my op sites and occasionally one pulls a bit. Also if I am a bit hunched over, like while using the computer, the area can ache and pull a bit. We would all love you to post a photo. Welcome to Healthybran and it sounds like you are doing so well Delillieflower. FAB, that sounds so exciting, eating new and non mushy foods sounds great. I can start to have crackers/crispbreads next Tues because I will be 4 weeks post op. So I can also have anything a work goes through so non pureed potato, minced beef, hummous, guacamole etc. That is so exciting! Though I will have to step up the pureed things before then because I have trouble coping with them. I presume that is the stage before, but maybe I just have a problem finding them appetising, so maybe it will all slot into place next Tues which is a great day to look forward to. Only a week to go! Right now for my weights: HW 425 SW (pre op assessment 1 week before 11th Feb surgery date) 379 CW 350 and a half. So 28 and a half pounds in 4 weeks from pre op assessment, 3 weeks since surgery. Take care all of you Claire

FAB and ncbabygurl, To add to suggestions from others... I have found the egg/cheese thing suggested on here very helpful. It wasn't puree which was a relief, is high in protein and is very nice. I agree that pureeing things puts you off so yogurt and berries with frozen protein drink made with home made custard base, fruit milk shakes and thicker protein based soups have been my staples. I have tried to have something more pureed once a day though. I have found having some potato to help the chicken/fish etc go down is helpful as is upping the taste with mustard/soy sauce/cheese/BBQ sauce as separate sauces or to increase the flavour has helped too. I hope that helps a bit Claire

Hi, Oh Kristin, Patti and Nikki life must feel so hard for you at the moment. Nikki I can't believe you are just on Protein 3 weeks down the line, that must feel miserable. It is such a difficult time but it will get better, it happens in tiny ways i found and it is still gradually improving. These are hard weeks though. I feel encouraged by seeing that others are having difficulties too. that makes me feel that I am not alone and that my feelings are normal. Kristin, your husband surely needs to avoid the things that you are craving for, at the minimum! I am 3 weeks on Tuesday and I should have been having more pureed foods almost since day 1. I could not tolerate that until a few days ago but now i am trying much more. The egg/cheese combo suggested on here has been my biggest success, but BBQ chicken seemed ok if I made it fairly runny with odd spoonfuls of mashed potatoes. Otherwise Soups, shakes, yogurt and Protein drinks are my staple things. Apparently I can have a cracker or two in 2 weeks, I don't know why that feels great but it does. Hummous and guacamole etc would be fine then with something to eat it with. Congratulations zom! That sounds great, 2X, that is fantastic! Welcome Sarah and you will lose those fluids soon. Take care all of you, and keep posting. I think if you just retreat into yourself and don't say how you feel it feels much worse. Everyone on here knows how you feel in a way that it is difficult for others to. Try to see the small victories, baby steps I know but once you start to see them they do build up. Thinking of you and try to stay as positive as possible, but it is far from easy. Claire x

Wonderful. May you have a speedy recovery. I hope that your pain goes away quickly and that you start to feel much better soon.

Hi, Sundance kid, sounds great, well done. Kim, Erin and I are obviously feeling the same about social life stuff. I am doing the opposite Kim and arranging everything possible, in the hope that life will feel more normal. I am 3 weeks on Tues and things are improving a bit now, I am now able to have more solids which I could not tolerate before. I think that we are all on the up, but anyone who thinks this is the easy option clearly has no idea at all! Take care all of you Claire

Hi FAB, I will google as you suggest. It is good to know how others are coping and what they are managing to eat. You sound like you are doing really well and I think you are a week ahead of me. Thanks Claire

Hi Erin, Well that sounds so familiar to me too. I was expecting to feel this way, but it doesn't make it easier. I have been struggling to have pureed foods at all, which on my regime i should be. Soups and smoothies seem ok so that is good because it means that I haven't had any problems with any particular foods. I am still aiming strongly for crab cakes on holiday in May, in fact it is the only thing I am hanging on to! When people are rushed or stressed, even years down the line they seem to have difficulty keeping things down, from what I have read on my other smaller forum in the UK. That is deeply concerning, because I just want to know that things are "safe" when I am out and about. Like you I am relying on soups and yogurts when I am out of the house. I am trying to have pureed stuff when I am at home. The other night I got close to what some people talk about in terms of things getting stuck, and I only managed 2 teaspoons of it before it happened. Last night I did manage something better than that. It was BBQ chicken but made sloppier with soured cream with a little potato which felt easier to swallow. So that was more of a success. I just want to see progress on the eating front and to rejoin life much more. It feels like even when I am out that I feel left out of things. I think that having done 3 weeks of the pre op diet it feels like forever now and I can't imagine being able to just eat something (anything!) without worrying about what it might do. It feels like it has taken over my life and I was eating healthily on my Slimming World Plan for almost 4 years before but that was a walk in the park in comparison to this. I know it is early days and I am impatient but it is thinking that problems won't necessarily go away completely in the future that worries me, even if I stick to small sizes and safe foods. Thanks for posting this Erin, I thought it was just me. I hope you are enjoying your new job. Take care Claire

Hi to you all, Hang on in there. I was lucky I didn't have gas pain, or really any pain at all. Getting your fluids up is a challenge I know, as is food. 2 weeks down the line those are still challenges but in every other way I am feeling better, just a bit more tired i think. Take care all of you and see you on the February post op surgery thread soon Claire

Hi to you all, So glad that you are all doing so well. My bypass was just over 2 weeks ago too. I am still finding it difficult to have more than soups and smoothies, but I am trying. On my regime I should have doing this from Day 1, but they all vary. Otherwise feeling fine and haven't been in pain since the day of the op and everything else is great. Take care Claire

Hi, It seems all of us are having similar problems with not always losing weight like we would like, that is very reassuring! Interesting about normal foods. I had BBQ chicken pureed last night and managed a very small amount of it. It was good to have something with more flavour. I am planning to have the salmon croquettes and the egg/cheese thing as soon as possible, thanks for the recipes. Claire

Hi Kim, It must feel so hard because you just need the positive vibes of losing weight so much when you have been through so much. I am a week behind you and not losing more than a pound or so in Week 2 is not brilliant either. So I do understand ( I think). Are you losing inches? I think some people find that reassuring for when the scales do not show them what they want to see? I hope you feel a better and more positive very soon Claire

Glad you are feeling ok Patti, and positive thoughts to shmily and blueyz and all the rest of you having surgery this week. Take care Claire

Wow Zom, you are looking so different already. I think the fact that this week has not been so good on the scales has been counteracted by the number of inches you have lost. Congratulations!!! Claire

Hi Zom, I wanted to be sure before I wrote this, but I am in the same position. I lost a large amount in week 1 but I am now almost 2 weeks and this has not really changed much in the last week. If I am honest the weight loss in the first week was really a bit alarming because I was worried about how much of my nutritional requirements I was actually getting, so I was a bit relieved when it slowed down. However, the lack of loss in the past week I can identify with, but if I average it out I can't complain really. We just all need those positive signs of progression. I hope it starts again soon for you (and me) Claire