JamieLogical

Okay, whoever told you you won't be hungry for a year is a big fat liar. However, there are a few potential explanations for being "hungry" this early. First, it sounds like there is NO WAY you are getting enough Protein if you aren't drinking Protein shakes. Almond milk is all well and good, but it only has like 8 grams of protein per serving. Protein is what fills you up and keeps you from getting hungry. You will need to find other ways to get in your protein if you can't find a shake that you like. Second, are you on a proton pump inhibitor? Acid can often mimic hunger, so if you are not on a PPI like Nexium or Prilosec, it could be acid. Third, are you getting enough Water? Thirst can often mimic hunger as well.

I was told to strain my cream soups during my full liquid phase. I wasn't allowed blended stuff until my pureed phase.

@ I'm pretty jealous you can see daylight between your thighs! I will never get that, since I carry so much of my weight in my thighs/legs. I was, however, super excited recently that I can get my hands all the way around my thigh just above my knee now! Just barely touching the tips of my middle fingers and thumbs, but I can do it! Do you truly plan on a tummy tuck in the future? I had one 4 years ago and it was rough, but well worth it! I love love love my flat stomach!

@@demleonard How are you doing with your exercise? I'm 11 months out now and what I've noticed is that I can slip a *little" on food OR exercise, but not both. If I'm diligent about both food and exercise, I lose at a pretty decent pace. If I slip with food OR exercise, I lose very slowly or not at all. If I slip with food AND exercise, I gain.

On the day of my surgery, I weighed 236 pounds and had a body fat percentage of 48.2%. That means I had 113 pounds of fat. Today I weighed 168.8 pounds and have a body fat percentage of 24%. That means I have 40.5 pounds of fat. I have lost a total of 67.2 pounds since my surgery. I have lost 72.5 pounds of FAT since my surgery. That means I've GAINED roughly 5 pounds of muscle. So explain to me again how WLS causes muscle loss?

Surgeons like this are the reason Mexico gets a bad rap and we all fear telling our friends and family about our decisions to go there for surgery. It's so unfortunate that one bad apple can spoil the bunch. I went to donate, but it appears her $500 goal has already been reached. Please post again if she starts another campaign to cover any other expenses associated with this process.

I was allowed caffeine back at 30 days post-op, but my fatigue was mostly resolved at that point anyway, because I was on soft foods by then.

I had to do day-of pre-op testing at OCC. They did an EKG and blood work. They gave me the results of both to show to my PCP once I was back home. I had also met with my PCP prior to surgery just to make sure she didn't have any concerns.

@@LAG4ahealthierme Welcome! This site is an amazing resource. I don't think I could ever have made it through this past year without the knowledge and support I've found here.

Definitely just eat on a schedule/timer for now. Do not rely on hunger to remind you to eat!

Thanks for all the posts so far. It really is interesting to see the variety of sizes, even in people with very similar stats.

So it sounds like you are on full liquids now? During my full liquids phase I was allowed strained creamed soups, drinkable yogurt, and, most importantly, protein shakes. I would usually get in two ready-to-drink shakes a day, some of one pouch of drinkable yogurt, and maybe a half cup of soup at lunch and dinner? I tried pretty much every single kind of cream soup my grocery store sold for variety.

That really is kind of a bummer, but I guess the bright side is that you now know you should qualify as soon as you are ready to take time off work. I guess it's better than being told you won't qualify for another six months or something?

Week one I lost 7 pounds. Week two I lost 0.4 pounds. After that I averaged about 1.5-2 pounds per week for the first couple of months. Now, 11 months post-op, I'm happy to lose a half a pound a week!

You didn't get any post-op diet instructions prior to your surgery? I've not seen/heard of a program that didn't give you dietary guidelines for your pre and post-op diets..... I could share my post-op diet plan with you, but every program is different, so if you got instructions from your surgeon, you should definitely follow those.

Yeah, it's usually a good 40 minutes for me if I eat a full meal. I can usually drink a little sooner if I've only eaten a smaller snack. I think the real key is to not eat and drink at the same time. That's when you really get into trouble with flushing food through your stomach too quickly and not feeling full as long.

Where are you in the process?

In the early weeks, it's important to just eat on a timer. Your stomach is still healing, so you won't be getting proper "full" or "hunger" feelings. Measure your food and eat on a timer to make sure you are getting in what you need.

Congrats! That's a huge milestone!

2 hours? How are you possibly supposed to get all your Water in like that? My nutritionist told me 5 minutes before and 20 minutes after, but in reality, I can rarely ever drink sooner than about 40 minutes after, because I still feel too full from my food. Edit: seriously.... let's do the math on this. Say you eat 5 times a day: three meals and two Snacks, that's 12.5 hours a day that you aren't allowed to be drinking (not even counting the time it takes you to actually EAT). If you are awake for 16 hours a day, that only leaves 3.5 hours to get in your minimum of 64 ounces of water. That means drinking over 18 ounces per hour during the times you are allowed to drink. It was WEEKS post-op before I could get in more than 1 ounce in 15 minutes! Even now, 11 months post-op, it's pushing it for me to drink 8 ounces in a half hour....

Yeah, I know someone who had surgery with the same surgeon as me and had the same nutritionist and was told 65 grams of protein, but by the time I had MY surgery, they were saying 100 grams. I think it's definitely best to aim high. I usually get 85-100 grams of protein per day no problem and haven't had any hair loss beyond month 5. Of course, there are so many other things that could be a factor in that as well....

What does getting WLS have to do with losing muscle mass? Everyone I've ever seen/talked to has been instructed by their surgeon and medical team to increase exercise post-op. As long as you are exercising and not JUST relying on the eating restriction to lose weight, you will retain muscle while losing fat. My body fat percentage went from almost 50% to under 25% and I still weigh over 170 pounds (I'm 5'6").

I was severely fatigued the first several weeks after my sleeve. There wasn't really a lot I *could* do about it, other than get a lot of rest after work. Things really turned around for my once I was allowed solid foods and I was able to get in more calories each day. In those early weeks, I was lucky to be getting maybe 400 calories a day. Once I was closer to 800 calories a day, I felt human again.

You should definitely just weigh/measure out your food and eat on a timer in these early weeks. It can take a while for your nerves and swelling to heal after the surgery and for you to get proper "full" signals.