JamieLogical

I was cleared for all foods except crunchy foods and nuts at 40 days post-op. You should definitely try to get a hold of your surgeon's food phase guidelines to see where you might be at 7-9 weeks post-op. I doubt you'll be throwing up at the dinner table at that point unless you have some sort of serious complication. I never threw up once post-op. I did have two bouts of dry heaving the day after surgery, but that was it. As for Water intake, I only had issues with that in the first two weeks post-op while I had a lot of internal swelling. As soon as the swelling went down, I was able to drink water pretty normally, though I did find that I was more sensitive to the temperature than pre-op. I could do hot beverages like tea and broth. Or ICE cold water. If there wasn't literally ice floating in it, then it would sit very heavy in my stomach for what seemed like forever.

First off, you shouldn't have to stay on that amount forever. My nutritionist made the same recommendation for immediately post-op, but once I was able to eat more real food and get my calcium in that way, I was able to cut down to one dose (2 pills) of Citrical Maximum per day. Second of all, even with taking less Calcium eventually, you will still be taking pills 2-3 times a day for the rest of your life. One good way to establish a routine is to set timers on your phone. There are even apps that are specifically for the purpose of taking meds/vitamins on a schedule. For me it's pretty easy to stick to my routine with meds unless I'm on vacation or traveling. Then I get thrown off my game a little.

Definitely sounds strange to me. It is well documented that sleeve has an increased likelihood of overproduction of acid. Some people do experience a lessening of their GERD with sleeve, but it seems that FAR MORE people experiencing a worsening or a new onset (for people who didn't have GERD pre-op). I didn't deal with GERD regularly pre-op (just occasional heart burn), but I have had to be on 20mg of omeprazole twice daily since I was sleeved 18 months ago. Every time I have tried to reduce my PPI, the reflux has been terrible.

All normal. Just hang in there and try to do as much as you can. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, getting up and walking a bit ever hour or two will really help with the fatigue.

That's not the same then... that's not a clear liquid...

This isn't an option for everyone, but my retirement account allows me to borrow against it without paying any fees or penalties and I am basically paying myself back most of the interest. If you have a retirement account, you should call and ask if that's a possibility.

Well, that show is definitely on the extreme side of things. Most of those patients have lost over 200 pounds, which is a whole different ballgame. My husband was actually worried that people would watch that show and decide not to lose weight because they were so worried about excess skin. My response was "extra skin never killed anyone, but obesity kills thousands of people a year". I really hope most obese people realize that. I wouldn't want the concern over excess skin to cause someone to stay an unhealthy weight and die a premature death because of it. Skin can be addressed in so many ways, but obesity can only be countered with weight loss.

No Protein shakes? That seems completely insane!

Must be nice to be allowed veggies and fruit on your pre-op!

I do great with protein bars. I know not everyone advocates them. Some have too many carbs. Some have too much saturated fat. Some people treat them like "candy" and eat too many or too often. But they have served me very well. I find that, unlike shakes, they keep me full feeling all the way through to my next scheduled meal/snack. They are high in protein. And they are the perfect amount of food for my sleeve in one sitting. I never feel overfull on them, but also am not still hungry after eating one. Long term you have to figure out what works for you! I highly recommend that everyone follow their surgeon and nutritionist's guidelines through the post-op food stages while they are healing, but ultimately, you are the one who has to be able to live the rest of your life.

Pretty sure EVERYONE who had a liquid pre-op diet had a hard time with it. But you are supposed to be on CLEAR liqiuds for two full weeks? That seems extreme. How are you supposed to get protein in without shakes?

It seems like it would be VERY hard to meet Protein requirements in the liquid phases without protein shakes. My nutritionist was very insistent on me switching over to getting protein from "real food" as quickly as possible, but I was allowed shakes in the early days/weeks post-op. Definitely have a conversation with your surgeon about some potential options for liquid, puree, and soft food stage food that can get you to your protein goal.

Who told you that? I exercised every day, both cardio and strength training all throughout the process of losing 90 pounds over the course of a year. I was only 30 years old at the time. And I still had plastics to remove my excess skin. There are no guarantees. Can exercise help some with loose skin? Maybe. Can it prevent it entirely? Definitely not! Mostly exercise just allows you to "fill in" some of the loose skin with muscle. If you have close to 100 pounds to lose, no amount of muscle is going to fill in that much skin!

Ideally you want to be stable at your goal weight for a good six months, preferably 12 months before plastics. You want to give your skin a chance to contract some on its own. If, when it's all said and done and you are all healed up, you are below goal, then great! But being at goal to start will definitely help. Don't count on plastics to get you those last few pounds to goal. That's really not how it works.

You shouldn't count on any significant weight loss after plastics. The thing is, you will have swelling for MONTHS, so in the end, you won't really know how much impact the skin removal had. You aren't going to have 12 pounds of skin removed (that's how much I had) and then come home weighing 12 pounds less. You are probably going to weigh a good 10-20 pounds more. Then you are going to be laid up for a long time and unable to exercise. Lose some muscle, maybe gain some fat? 4-6 months out, you may weigh the same, you may weigh less, you may weigh more, your body composition will be different...

What an idiot. If no one could be successful with WLS who was unsuccessful with Weight Watchers or other diet plans, then no one would be successful with WLS. Why would anyone even have WLS if they could be successful some other way? That doesn't even make sense!

One meal of anything isn't going to stretch your sleeve. It's possible the pasta didn't agree with you. Five weeks out is very early to be trying pasta in the first place. Definitely best to talk to your surgeon.

That's certainly unfortunate. Did you have a pre-op liquid diet? If so, I can't imagine having to continue that indefinitely!

Most of what you are going through is pretty normal. You probably have it a little worse if you were already suffering with depression. That post-op buyer's remorse is VERY common and it definitely takes more than a few weeks to adjust to not being able to eat for comfort. That was probably the issue that lingered the most for me, even once I was healed up and through all the food stages and back to work, it took me good 3-4 months probably to finally adjust to not eating my feelings.

Yep! Got to where it was hard for me to lift my arms to wash my hair and I often had to sit down for a bit after my shower before I could get dried off and dressed. I had that all through my pre-op and for the first several weeks post-op until I was finally able to move onto more solid food and get in more calories.

@@BlueEyes502 Glad to hear things are going well so far. It really does get noticeably better every single day in the first week or two. And then better still as you move through the food stages. You will be feeling whole and human again in no time!

I wasn't allowed anything by mouth, not even water, after midnight the night before my surgery. Definitely ask!

I lost 47 pounds in my first 6 months post-op. But everyone is so different. It really is just impossible to predict.

Salt is fine as well as any other spices in terms of not damaging the sleeve. What he'll actually be able to tolerate is a different story. I was able to handle really spicy stuff right off the bat. When I was on strained cream Soups during my full liquid phases, one of my favorites was my local grocery store's Buffalo chicken Chowder from their hot Soup bar. But I have read where others had a hard time with spicy things immediately post-op. So some experimentation might be required. With ANY food post-op, it's a good idea to take a tiny bit, chew well, swallow, and then wait a couple minutes to make sure all is well before taking the next bite. It's slow going, but beats throwing up or dry heaving! All of the things on your list sound delicious, so hopefully he can handle them okay. I like the idea of subbing avacado for mayo with tuna. Sounds yummy!

Thanks very much. The support group at the bariatric center gave us a bunch of information and tips, but it's very vague. I have a lot of little questions, mostly about the pureed phase, I think I'm pretty clear on the clear and full liquids. But, like, how do we handle avocados within any purees? It's a fat, but a healthy fat. Ya know what I mean? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using the BariatricPal App In the puree phase, the focus should always be on Protein, protein, and more protein. So it's going to be pureed meats (a little broth to moisten it), soft cheeses, Beans, eggs.... Probably won't be much "room" for veggies or fruits of any kind, because he'll be able to eat only tiny amounts (about 2 oz. at a time) and will be struggling to meet his protein goals. All through my liquid, pureed, and even some of my soft food stage, my husband and I just ate completely separate things. We made no attempt at preparing meals we could both eat. Once I was on to solid foods, it became really really easy. I just always had the meat from whatever my husband was cooking for dinner. I usually had about half of the meat portion he had for himself and saved the other "half of my half" as leftovers o have for a lunch later in the week. So if he was having chicken and rice, I just had the chicken and about half as much as he did. If he was having Pasta and sausage, I just had half the sausage he did. If he was having shrimp and veggies, I just had shrimp. If he was having meatloaf and mashed potatoes, I just had meatloaf. You get the idea. We eat dinner together almost every night and I just have the protein portion. It works out great for us. But, again, that was only really manageable once I was back on solid foods.