KarenLoh

My advice would be lots of breaks tomorrow. I'm so glad you are excited about going back but my first day I had to leave after four hours (I'm a big wimp though, I admit). The next day I made it six hours and the next the full eight. I was glad I had a four day week that first week so I could recoup over the weekend and then hit it for regular after that. One day I got woozy and wanted to go home but realized it was because I had failed to drink my Water as needed. I got some water in me and started feeling better right away. Good luck and congrats on doing so well!!

I get mine from Amazon - the Bariatric Advantage 500s. Love them. I'm ready to stop with the chewable Vitamins and go to a multi tablet. When did your program let you off the chewable vitamins? I'm nearly 3 months out (Nov 11th will be 3 months) and don't like the chewables and keep forgetting to have the evening dose.

Another issue I've noticed with drinking alcohol of any kind is that it lowers my inhibitions and I revert to old eating habits within the boundaries my stomach allows. For instance, I had no trouble with the wine but thought, "what the heck" and stopped for ice cream. The ice cream didn't stay down. I've had a few drinks since then and always ended up having an extra Protein bar that I wasn't hungry for and didn't need or some other over-eating. It's not worth it for me to have that result after drinking. I love a glass of wine a week or a margarita but it's not worth it at this stage I don't think. Just my 2 pennies. :-)

I hit a 3 weeks stall at about 2 1/2 weeks after surgery. It was so scary to think I was doing everything wrong. Do track your juice intake to make sure it's not getting out of control but other than that, be patient and kind to yourself. I hit 40 pounds in 70 days today (that included the 3 weeks stall) so it all comes off eventually. Good luck.

I get very hungry. It is not head-hunger. It is growling in the stomach hunger. The Doc and the NUT think it is a very acidy stomach that I have always had. It's not as bad as before surgery and I can tolerate it pretty well but I take Omeprazole to help control it. Right now it is 2:30pm, had a pretty big lunch but my stomach is growling and rumbling. I'll go eat a mandarin orange and maybe some cheese and that should take care of it but :::sigh::: I had hoped it wouldn't happen for me. C'est la vie!

I stocked up on Premier Protein shakes, Light Greek Yogurt (more protein than regular yogurt), and no-fat Refried Beans. The beans have a surprising amount of protein and I could eat them in little tiny containers and they filled me up and gave me a savory fix. I also got no-sugar-added applesauce and ate it daily for the first two weeks. After that, I got over it and gave that up. I still eat the other things regularly though. I bought little 2 ounce containers to split my yogurt and beans up into and it helped a lot psychologically. Now I use the 4 oz containers for food I make in advance on Sundays for the week. Yay 4 ounces!! I am also single and a mess in the kitchen but I have come a long way! You will too. Good Luck.

I am now two months post-op and it has been quite a learning experience dealing with my binge eating disorder. I have found a few things to be true: Drinking alcohol is not good for my eating. It lowers my inhibitions and I'm more likely to go get food I don't need. I still eat foods I don't need but I can't eat very much of them so it's an improvement. Still, it slows my weight loss and so I try very hard to keep those things to a minimum. I will always have an eating disorder and the surgery did not "cure" my desire for food. I am doing well (48 pounds down so far) but every day is a challenge to eat on plan (healthy, Protein, fiber). I'm so happy I did this surgery. It is nice to have a full feeling after just 5-6 ounces of food. I love food but I'm learning to be happy with just a taste or two and then move on to some other thing that brings me joy. Don't beat yourself up. You will have many opportunities to do well as you go along.

Thanks, JamieLogical. That makes me feel a lot better. I am already taking 40mg of the Omeprazole but I take it all at once around 11:30am to get me through the afternoon hungries. Maybe I should take it one in the AM and one around 5pm? I was hungry just now and had a high-Protein greek yogurt and feel better. Should be able to have a really light supper now and go to bed early. :-)

ShrinkingPeach - I'm able to eat about 6 ounces (by volume, not weight) of meat. More of liquid - about 12 of liquid.

The only way I was able to learn to do this was to DO IT for a while and have to sit with my emotions without food. I only seem to learn by practice and sitting quietly and mindfully while not eating helped me learn to go ahead and feel my emotions instead of burying them in food. I had to do it during the phase when I had to prove I could lose weight in order to get approved for the surgery. Then the big time was during the pre-op liquid diet -- I was so amazed at how emotional I felt and how I had to just sit with this stuff time after time after time after time until I could calmly accept my emotions and move on with my life. It's not easy. I did do some therapy around this but it didn't help except to help me realize that I'm really okay just the way I am and that I can handle whatever comes when it comes. Good luck to you. It is a journey but I have enjoyed this journey very much.

I share your fear and concern. I am two months post-op and have been experiencing the same hunger and ability to eat more than I hoped since the beginning. I have tried to limit myself to 4-5 ounces but now, at two months, I can eat 8 ounces without difficulty. I take Omeprazole every day and it doesn't seem to help with the hunger/acid feeling at all. I am pleased to be eating 1,100 calories a day instead of 3,000 but I had hoped to be more restricted than I am and to be eating fewer calories than that. I am trying hard to stay on program, eating at least 100 grams of Protein a day and not eating "bad stuff" (sugar, carbs, etc.) I'm down 47 pounds including pre-op, so that 25 since surgery. Not as much as I had hoped and slowing. It does worry me quite a bit. I have always felt like my stomach was too big post-op.

That is such a relief to hear but I'm worried. I am only two months post-op and I can easily eat 8 ounces without any difficulty. I'm losing weight slowly but find my days run about 900-1100 calories instead of the 500-700 most people are reporting at this point. It worries me that I'm stretching my stomach eating that much. I'll ask my NUT when I see her in November. I can't really eat much less though as I am experiencing hunger regularly if I don't eat enough.

I was chopping carrots and just picked up a piece and put it in my mouth RAW. As soon as I did I realized what I'd done and spit it out before swallowing. Such a habit!

Lots of August 11th folks on here! Yay. I too was stalled and disappointed in my post-surgery weight loss. As of this week, things are starting to get better on the scale and I'm a little bit less hungry than I was before. That's a good thing. I lost 22 pounds on the pre-op diet and only 19 since the surgery. I know someone will say, "only 19?" but as was pointed out above, when you are eating about 800 calories a day that seems pretty slow. Also compared to what others report. I had two whole weeks with no loss at all. It's back on track now though so I'm good.

I nuke my egg. Spray the bowl before cracking the egg in it. Nuke 30 seconds if you scramble it or 40 seconds if you don't. I put a little bit of reduced fat cheese on top of that and I'm good in less than a minute.

That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I didn't have peas specifically on any of my lists so I started eating them when Beans were allowed and had no difficulty. Weirdness.

I really wanted the RNY, but because of scaring from my hysterectomy my surgeon couldn't do it without opening me up and I did NOT want that. So far the sleeve has been good. I've continued to have some hunger which I was really hoping would go away (I've always had ridiculous rates of hunger from acid in my system). My brother had the RNY 8 years ago and did amazingly well and I would have preferred it but the sleeve is working out pretty well so far. Also, I don't have to change my medications like I would with the RNY as the stomach processes meds better in the sleeve.

They are worried about things that would interfere with the surgery/anesthesia. If you are generally healthy, it shouldn't be a problem.

So I have to pay 25% of the cost of my surgery with no out-of-pocket limit (there is an OOP limit for all surgeries EXCEPT bariatric - discrimination). So I called to find out what the cost would be knowing that the national average is $19,000 and ranges are $10,000 to $30,000. She quoted me $37,500!!!!!!! That is outrageous. I have called and left messages asking why the cost is so darn high compared to national averages but have not received a call back. I will wait until my surgery is approved by insurance and call them to ask if they put a limit on how much can be charged but basically - I can not afford 25% of that amount. PLUS, there will be the cost of the surgeon and the anesthesiologist. After a year of planning and finally getting close to actually doing this thing, I am devastated by this set-back. I weight 397 pounds and have not had success losing weight on my own in the last 25 years. I have almost no hope in my heart if the surgery can't go through. Oh, and I can't go to a different hospital because I work at a hospital and our insurance will only pay if we have the surgery at one of our hospitals. Any ideas out there? So very despondent today...

I'm in exactly the same boat as many are. Five weeks out, not losing weight. I'm able to eat more than I expected and get hungry (very hungry) if I don't. I'm getting about 800 calories per day, 100+ grams of Protein, plenty of Water. It is a little discouraging to be eating so little and still be stuck but I saw my MD yesterday and she and the NUT agree I'm eating the right stuff and just need to increase my exercise. I'm going to hang in there and keep on keeping on.

I took my cpap and a clean pair of underwear. It was glorious just being there with no distractions. It felt meditative and healing. I brought home tons of crap they gave me though. :-)

I'm having the same stall - a long one and I'm at week 5. I still weigh daily though and just take it for what it is and move on. Like someone else said, I can't do more than I'm doing... well, I could get more exercise but food-wise I'm on target. I can't imagine not having that information. I think it does help motivate me not to break the rules or go off track.

Low fat refried Beans were my best friend during puree stage. I actually miss them and wonder if they would help me with my hunger? They are warm, tasty and filling. 2 ounces of heaven in a little tiny bowl.

@@gabito said "It is like an out of body experience!" I remember the first time I was dissociating and on my way to binge and was able to disconnect for a second and engage my brain --- I was able to get back into my body and THINK. I ended up thinking for long enough that I was able to make a choice and not go through with it. I remember what street I was on in that moment. It was amazing. People don't realize sometimes how weirdly the brain works. Good therapy is a very good thing. It has helped me tremendously.

I'm 32 days out and hunger has reared its ugly head. And it is NOT head hunger, it is stomach growling, in the belly hunger. I am convinced it is just acid. I take omeprazole for it (takes it from a 9 to a 7) and Tums (not really helpful at all). I'm hungry one hour after a healthy (3 oz) meal. I use small Snacks but it seems like I'm hungry 70% of the day. They already doubled the omeprazole and oddly enough that worked pre-surgery. It's not working now. I'm looking for any suggestion too. Thanks for starting this thread. :-)