Beni

Even though I was 270 pounds I couldn't eat much in a siting. My largest meal was like a Chipotle Burrito or 3 slices of a large pizza. I never had more then 2 pieces of fried chicken. However. I could eat all day long. Every two hours or so. My danger foods were sweets. I could eat an entire home made apple pie. It would take the whole day but I would usually have the last slice before bed. Now my refrigerator is Tiny Leftovers Land. There are so many tiny containers in there, all with food I would not have not even saved before. Who saves two tablespoons of mashed potatoes. I bought 4 potatoes last week. Well, one potato makes enough for 4 meals as a side. I still have 3 potatoes left. Next time I'll have to buy 2. I don't even have pots small enough to make one mashed potato. A can of Beans will last and last. Jeez, I'll have to freeze leftover beans because all I need is 6 or 8 beans at a time. I made Pasta with tomato sauce last night. One jar of sauce will last until next century. I have not gone out to eat yet but but I fear the worst. An appetizer would still be huge for me. At this point costco tastings are my best bet. 99% of the restaurants would have ridiculous sized servings. I'll need to find some more upscale restaurants with the very small artsy servings. You know the ones with an entree comprised of a single scallop and a few bright and tasty sauces squiggled about. If that is not a first world problem I don't know what one is.

It will be a happy day. You will have underestimated how wonderful it feels to finally be in the process of claiming your life back. Any worries regarding surgery are just that "worries." Statistics are in your favor and you will do fine. On the practical side make sure you have some comfortable shoes to slide into to walk around the hospital. No flimsy slippers, you don't want to slip. Obviously shoe laces are not a good idea as bending will be difficult for a few days. Wear comfortable outfit to hospital with soft elastic pants to hospital and wear the same thing back home. I couldn't wear undies to my waist because of the incisions. A bikini size would have been better. Don't bring changes of clothes, you won't wear them and then you have to get all that back in the car. The one thing I did love was a short sleeve fuzzy robe I wore during my walks and most of the time. I cut it along the shoulder line all the way down the sleeve and placed velcro tabs along. I made a "hospital gown" out of it. I found the hospital a little cold and the hospital gown provided is only thin cotton. My shoulders were cold but you have to figure out how to wear stuff because you have an IV line on your arm. Maybe a wide scarf or lap blanket. All they have in the hospital is additional bed sized blankets. In a pinch you can drape them over your shoulders but they are scratchy cotton. Good luck! I brought books and magazines but did not touch them at all. I slept mostly because the pain meds make you so sleepy. I just rested.

I have lost 42 lbs and I have noticed my back hurts less. I can also stand for much longer. Just before surgery I noticed I could go grocery shopping but had to have a break after. My back and leg joints would hurt and Aleve was often my friend. Now, I can hit the grocery store and 3 others in the same trip without breaks in between. This is something most people take for granted. Well, I couldn't do that before and I am only 6 weeks post surgery. I can not wait for the 6 month mark after my exercise gets underway in a meaningful way.

If the trainer needs to know yes, but if you think you can handle it I don't think it has to be a yes. You could always say, I had surgery recently and have to start slower then your average person. What kind of surgery? Stomach. Leave it a that.

Water, drink more. I have noticed my calves hurt when I use the treadmill. It's worse when I use it early in the morning. If I am well hydrated it goes so much better. Also, I do a warm up before starting. Our high Protein diet, I have been told, causes this extra muscular discomfort and drinking more water is the solution. I could go over the medical lingo but I'm sure you have heard it before. As we lose weight we lose muscle and if you don't use it goes. You have to build the muscle back up with weight training. Those machines at the gym will be your friends and don't skimp on the stretching. Getting back up is a process but you will get there. Baby steps!

I had some food issues in the last couple week and threw up a few times. I figured it out. I learned five VERY important things that I would like to share. 1. No matter how much I chew I can't chew enough and the chunks irritate my pouch, I think. For now, I place my tiny meal in a mini food processor to blend it. I do add a little Water to allow it to come together into a puree. However, I did place it back in the pot to heat up and evaporate the extra water as it was too liquid. Last night it was white fish, black Beans and broccoli. It was a strange shade of grey but tasted nice. I was fine! 2. I have to make sure I don't overeat. I measure my 1/4 cup and place on plate. then I add a tablespoon to the side. I eat my 1/4 cup first and give it a nice break before I try another few little bites from the tablespoon pile. Because it takes time for my pouch to tell my head I have had enough I allow time for the last few bites. Works! 3. It is very important that what I eat is fairly solid and high in Protein. It's blended but not a Soup. It takes 20 to 30 minutes to eat. This combined with a fairly thick/solid meal fills my pouch and keeps me from not being hungry for the 4 hours needed. If I eat yogurt or anything too liquid I am a little hungry in a couple hours. It goes through my pouch too quickly. 4. I also do not drink after a meal for a full hour. Now that drinking is not as difficult I can do this and I'm still getting the min 48 oz per day. It preserves my meal in my pouch to keep hunger at bay and allow for proper digestion. I don't have as much gas as a result either. I was drinking too early and washing my meal down too quickly. 5. I have to have my meals at a fairly set schedule. If I'm all over the place, I mess up and Vitamins have to be taken at 2 am and it all falls apart. It's only 3 meals, hello! it should be easy but I get busy and forget. NOPE, have to think of me first or my WLS will not be as successful. Hope this helps. I am 6 weeks post surgery. I know lots of people can eat chunky food. I cannot yet but I will start to try again at the onset of week 7 which is Thursday. I will start with 2 or 3 solid bites at first and build from that. It could not stop throwing up after my meals. It was making my life depressing and miserable. Sometimes you have to step back a little, right?

I didn't have to do blood thinners (except while in the hospital) and my doctor said only the patients with a history or a need which will be established in the hospital will take them. It is rare. If you do please monitor your Bms carefully. A black stool is a sign of internal bleeding. It is serious, don't blow it of as, it maybe because I am eating so little.

Dristract, distract and distract yourself some more. We used food for comfort and the full feeling to relax us. Can't do it anymore. This means you have to find a replacement. I have tried everything simply because I don't know what will work and I'm still in the process of figuring it out. It goes all the way from knitting (which have not done in 20 years) to organizing drawers. Lots of window shopping and I have gone to tons of support group meetings. Anything to avoid being around food. I am not really hungry but my head does want to taste so favorite things. My son made a batch of brownies yesterday and boy did I want to have some. I had a crumbly chunk and went out shopping right away. Imagine that taken out by a brownie.

I had horrible constipation the first 4 weeks post surgery. It was much worse then the surgery itself. I am now on Peri-Colace once per day in the evening. If nothing happens in the BM territory by 7 days start taking something. I had to take so much stuff including two full bottles of Magnesium citrate which burned all the way down because I could not go. I needed to go but the stool was too hard. Not having enough fluids and the morphine pain meds slow the GI track causing even more fluid to be absorbed. The combination creates legendary constipation. Having said all that most people only go about twice a week (some less) because our food intake is so small. I go about every 4 days now.

It is easy and absolutely understandable that you are frustrated. I would be a reck myself but when I am in a situation like that, I try to remind myself that my goal is above all the fallout and the details. I stick to the plan and keep going. If it doesn't happen today, I work on the next day and so forth. This will happen and that's all that matters.

Wow ! I'm almost 6 weeks, I can barely get a 1/4 cup of food down. If I try even a couple bites over I am in so much trouble (pain and vomiting). I have noticed I can drink faster, if I have not had a drink in a while, but when my pouch is full, I have to wait at least 5 minutes for the next sip. I wonder if it's because you are not getting the full feeling that you were used to before. I don't get it either, well, it's a very gentle one. But I do know it's kind of - well, I think am not full, I should try another bite and hello, I have fallen over the cliff. For me this means the last 4 or 5 bites have to have at least 3 minutes between them. That's how long it takes my brain to know I am full. You really have to listen to your body.

No dumping but I have vomited. Once it was pretty bad with baked salmon. eggs used to be fine but not anymore. It's very easy for me to get foamies. A couple bites and I'm there. Also, I can't tell when my pouch is full. One minute all is well. Next baby spoon and heck, oh no. It takes about 3 minutes for my pouch to tell my brain enough. Not sure why because I am following my plan. Even yogurt this morning caused it and I only ate 1/2 of a yogurt.

Me too. I am taking a Peri-Colace pill for constipation every evening. I have had one event that required Magnesium Citrate and it took two bottles of it. It was like 11 days without a BM. It was worse then the surgery. If things don't settle I may require a new surgery and I did not have a problem before.

I am at 5 weeks and this week has been horrible with exactly that problem. I can't tell when I'm full until the chest pain comes. I have lost my Cookies several times. I guess I too am a slow learner. I can eat about a 1/4 cup but with some foods it's even less. It's like a moving target. Some times I only eat two bites but then I know it's not enough. I ate some yogurt this morning and for the first time I thew up with the yogurt. I only ate 1/2 of the container but apparently that was too much. It wasn't yesterday as I ate 2/3 of the container. I don't get it. My pouch is becoming smaller and smaller. Hey just like me! The only problem is I have developed an aversion to food. I don't want to eat at all because I fear the pain and vomiting. I only eat because I have to. Now I get why some WLS patients only eat slider foods and graze with small bites all day. Eating is soooooo hard.

Not hungry but at times I do get head hunger. I see a food I used to love and I want to have it but it's silly because I can't eat it. If I did it would likely make me sick anyway. I had a tiny bite of corn bread yesterday, the size of a dime. I was okay with it, didn't make me sick but hello, I really didn't need to eat it. I guess, what I'm saying is I have cravings but no hunger at 5 weeks.

Thank you everyone for the kind words regarding my weight loss. I so needed them. You are the best!

I am 5 weeks post surgery. I expected to go see one but it turns out I am not hungry at all. The stress eating thing is completely gone. I eat because I'm supposed to but not because of hunger. In fact, it's easy to forget to eat. That never happened to me before surgery.

I am 5 weeks and 2 days post surgery and I have lost 40 lbs as of today. I started at 270. But lost 14 lbs on pre-diet. I have gone from 2x to XL. and from 20W to 16W pants. My exercise is still spotty but I am going to do better. Next Tuesday is 6 weeks and I will commit to 5 days of exercise per week. I was only cleared for exercise at 4 weeks and will only be 2 weeks behind. I have to exercise or all be so droopy. I can see it on my thighs already. My tummy is perhaps the biggest change. I had a big belly and now it looks flatter. I feel great, no high blood pressure or pre-diabetes meds and I am having a sleep study as my doctor thinks I either don't need my cpap anymore or the pressure has to be reduced significantly. Even though I have had some issues with solid food I feel great most of the time. Hello, try walking around with a 40 lb backpack and then remove it. Imagine how much better you feel. That's me!

Not really, I have tried several times. I don't seem to get going on a groove. Some days I do exercise, some I do not. I purchased stretch bands and a full set of hand weights. I also have a treadmill at home. However, I had planned to join a gym by week 4 when I was cleared for exercise. Well, this last Tuesday was 5 weeks and I am not signed up yet. I am afraid I may not have enough energy to go to the gym. I think I just need to set a deadline and stick with it. I just made my mind up while writing this post. At 6 weeks I will join a Gym or commit to 5 days of exercise of some sort. This week I will do 15 minutes a day because I need to build up my endurance again. I have been so busy with Christmas shopping and decor. I also run out of steam by mid afternoon and have to take a nap. I have 2 kids at home and one in College. Still doing the run around to lessons and sports.

Green Beans are horrible. I cannot tolerate them not even if they are boiled for 1/2 hour. I even tried canned. NO WAY. I also tried fish in the food processor with egg and cooked carrots. Can't do it either. I can only eat yogurt, oatmeal and apple sauce. Everything else I try one or two bites and have to stop. I top my 1/4 cup meal with yogurt. I have to eat something. I figure two bites and then yogurt is better then nothing. I find I throw up mucus. It's like my pouch fills up with it when I eat solid food (chewed to death mind you). It's like a reaction to the food.

Hello everyone. Big day for me. My scale this morning says 230 lbs I started at 270 lbs that means I have lost a 1/3 of the weight I need to lose to get to my goal of 150. That's 40 lbs gone baby, bye. This certainly helps my state of mind because I have been having a hard time with food. I eat what I'm supposed to and very very slowly but I have thrown up a few times. I am back to week 2 foods because I am too scarred to eat more solid stuff. Yogurt is my best friend and broth. Will talk to the NUT today.

Wow @ amylynns that arm looks bad. So sorry.

It is a private matter. Period. I wouldn't ask someone how their sex life is going why should it be acceptable to ask, how are you losing weight? If I want to share i'll publish a book and become a public figure until then I'm a private individual and that's the way I like it. If anyone asks (surprisingly an annoying number do) I tell them I am doing a medically supervised diet and it's going well, thank you. How much did you lose? I tell them am not sure because for me it's about being healthy and I don't want to be tied to a number on a scale, but my clothes fit so much better and that's wonderful. If anyone presses, I discuss the health problems associated with being overweight (the ones I had too) and the powerful motivator they are to making chances towards a healthier me. I find that people are just curious and just having a friendly response is enough. Keep the conversation light and chance the subject towards something about them. Ask how are they doing and they'll drop you as the subject matter. Works like a charm!

Congratulations on your weight loss. You are doing fantastic. Lots of folks have trouble with the last 20 lbs and I think exercise is the key from what I have read in this site. If you don't mind how was your year's progression in terms of weight loss. I know everyone is different but I have never had the chance to see a month by month or even any sort of weight loss story that's not just a snap shot of one scale reading at a date. I try to piece together from different posts but I never get a good sense of an overall picture. I think everyone would love to see that.