Inner Surfer Girl

Welcome back!

This is definitely something only a surgeon can answer. Maybe you could invite her to attend a seminar.

Congratulations and welcome to your new life. Go slow, sip, walk, and sip some more. Be gentle with yourself, do everything you are asked to do and sip some more. And walk. You are going to feel some different things. Your have a newborn stomach so everything will be different, for a while. Just keep sipping. Getting in your Protein and fluids, walking, and resting are your primary jobs for a little while. Your moods and emotions may go haywire for a little while, too. It will pass.

A NUT is a nutritionist.

Run! I recommend reading some Melodie Beattie. She writes a lot about codependence.

Me, too. She is seeing doctors at Duke, so I assume that someone may have mentioned it to her as an option. I know that for me, it took a very long time for me to be willing to consider WLS. Most of the conversations I had about it were in the context of a therapist appointment or a group therapy session, though. Unless she is undergoing some counseling or therapy that we don't see on the show, she may not know much about it.

Welcome to the forum! This is a great place to learn and get support. Just how clueless are you? Have you had any pre-op education? Have you met with a NUT about what you will need when you get home from the hospital? Have you talked with your NUT, surgeon, and psych about expectations? Have you read anything about the surgery you are having? Rather than type all night, I recommend you do a quick search on this site about what to take to the hospital (chapstick, a pillow, a heating pad, a change of underwear, your phone charger, etc.) and read some of the pre-and post-op pages. Best of luck and keep us posted.

I watched the first season and swore I wasn't going to watch the second. But, here I am responding to a post about a show I can't look away from. Somewhere, deep down, Whitney seems to be a young woman who is trying to learn to love and accept herself. Her message of self-acceptance and anti-bullying is timely and laudable. Unfortunately, her immaturity, need for attention, and self-absorption get in the way of what she wants to accomplish. She is willingly on a reality TV show, but all I see is someone who is in a lot of pain and literally starved for attention. Her choices and decisions are not very wise. Plus, she happens to be loud and obnoxious, not qualities I admire in a person. Some examples of things that annoy me: -Living with her parents at age 30 and behaving like she is 12. -Accepting a job she knows she cannot physically perform. -Demanding that her friends drop everything to cater to her whims. -Whining about how awful it is that she has PCOS and is pre-Diabetic (as if she is the only person in the world to have health issues). She doesn't even seem to be a very good dancer or dance teacher. She is also in serious denial about her eating habits and food addiction. My opinion: she really needs some serious therapy. Of course, I still watch.

I was sleeved April 20. I have never been diagnosed with low metabolism, but I am sure I have one. Like most of us, my metabolism has been wrecked due to the disease of obesity. Whichever procedure you choose, you will need to exercise. Even though your diet plays a large part of the weight loss, as my NUT pointed out, we can't expect to be healthy without exercise.

http://BariatricPal.com/index.php?/topic/351046-Embrace-the-Stall

Stalls are a normal, natural, and necessary part of the process. Embrace the Stall! http://BariatricPal.com/index.php?/topic/351046-Embrace-the-Stall

Give up and do what? I guarantee that you will feel much worse if you DON'T follow your program. You DON'T want dehydration, severe malnutrition, or complications due to erring the wrong things. Things do get better. You just have to go through this phase. Avoiding it will only make it worse and prolonged your discomfort.

What does your NUT advise? I don't eat soup very often but I am no longer on liquids only. Because I have the sleeve, I don't have the strict no liquids with meals rule that bypass folks have so soup is fine. I just avoid noodles and rice. I prefer chili. But, I have had chicken tortilla soup (without the tortilla) at a restaurant. I will repeat a question from above. Why are you only eating 500 calories? Are you getting in all your Protein and fluids? Getting in all your protein and fluids is much more important than restricting calories for healing and weight loss. I also agree that your weight loss so far seems great. I'm not sure why you think that you haven't lost much. You may need to recalibrate your expectations.

My surgeon didn't give me anything, but I use Palmer's cocoa butter or Palmer's cocoa oil.

I know someone who had WLS and later died but do not know if they were connected. My surgeon was very frank about the risks. According to him, the two biggest risks are pneumonia and blood clots. Much of what you are asked to do post-op (walking, using a spirometer, staying hydrated) is geared toward minimizing those risks. He also said the biggest risk for leaks was other doctors who prescribe steroids and/or NSAIDs without understanding WLS. My attitude was to do everything I was asked to do by my surgeon and his team, even if I thought I couldn't because their primary job is to keep me alive and help me to recover. The binder of materials and pre- and post-op classes and consultations provided by my program was full of information geared to helping me have a successful outcome.

All I can suggest is to ask lots of questions. I am sorry someone thought I was condescending. I thought I was answering your question based on my experience. As to being confident, how confident do you think you should be? For most of us, this is a completely new experience. There is nothing wrong with asking questions.

I am not sure what your question is. You can easily get in that amount of Protein eating six times a day if you eat meals of 20-25 grams of protein and Snacks of 5-10 grams of protein.

Knitting is great at home. Not so much at work.

You would "increase" your calories to 1000 from 800 at four months post-op? That may be your problem. What is your Protein goal? Are you getting in all your protein every day? You may not be eating enough calories. What does your NUT advise?

My sister and her family just climbed Mt. Leconte last weekend. She climbed it last year, too. I want to go with them next time. I grew up West Virginia and lived in the woods as a kid, I'd love to go back and explore.

I participated in something similar at work several decades ago. Talk about a huge set-up for disordered eating. As someone above mentioned, I am in the camp that no good can come of a weight loss competition.

Another important thing to know about Protein is that we can't digest more than about 25 - 30 grams at a time. So, I try to eat small, frequent meals of no more than 20-25 grams of protein at a time. The most I get is if I drink a Premier Protein shake which had 30 grams. Early out I got my protein from shakes, Protein drinks, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc.

My surgeon gave a protein target of 100 grams to everyone who started with a BMI of over 50 and all men. I THINK the lower BMI women have a target of 80 grams.

Adding: were you at least given a Protein and Water goal? Mine is at least 100 grams protein and 64 oz. water/liquid.

Did your surgeon provide any post-op nutrition guidelines? Do you have a NUT? This is how I understand the reasoning. First, we have post-op stages (clear liquid, liquid, soft foods, etc.), because the texture of what we intake is very important to help us heal. Second, we require three macronutrients: Protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Our bodies are very good at storing energy (carbohydrates and fats), the reason we had surgery in the first place, but cannot store protein. Protein is critical for healing, maintaining our muscles (which includes our organs, skin, and hair), and losing weight. If we do not get enough protein our body thinks it's a time of famine and stores every bit of energy it can (even if we already have hundreds of pounds of fat stored) and consumes protein from those organs and muscles. Vitamin supplements are important because we cannot eat the volume of food required initially to get all the micronutrients. Lastly, but most important, we need to have enough Water to make everything work. I hope this helps. Please see if you can find a good bariatric NUT. Even if your surgeon thinks you don't need it, I would make sure he or she gives you the post-op support you need. I am surprised you weren't provided with at least a post-op eating plan.