Cervidae

I'm 8 months out, 140 pounds down, and I have recently started being able to have a bite of something here and there. Even better yet, after one or two bites, I am fully satisfied. I firmly believe in taking at least a bite of birthday cake for good luck, and I did so for my boyfriend's birthday just a few days ago. If you do everything right while you heal, and learn to control your cravings, dumping isn't any kind of issue. In fact, I don't think I have ever dumped. I was very careful. And I have no regrets.

I didn't believe everything was going to go right and I was going to actually have surgery until I woke up and asked "did I have the surgery?" I never really believed it was going to happen until it actually did. So I totally understand!

I had surgery 8 months ago, but I'm 24. If you have trouble finding someone with the same surgery time but are still looking to talk to someone around your age, feel free to friend/message me.

Hello fellow poly person. Though I'm in a monogamous relationship right now and for the past 4 years, but that is beside the point. Just gotta do what makes you happy. Glad you're having a decent experience during your coming out!

https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/MediaLibraries/URMCMedia/hh/services-centers/bariatrics/documents/BariatricMealPlan_Liquid.pdf This was my liquid meal plan from my surgeon's office. But don't you have a nutritionist who has given you guidelines? Also, I would stay away from milkshakes/shaved ice because it has a ton of sugar, which will cause dumping. You don't want that experience, trust me! You should be aiming for 5 or less grams of sugar in everything you eat, or at least those are the guidelines I was given, and the same ones most people have. Sometimes 4 or 5 grams of sugar was enough to make me really sick in the beginning.

Most liquids, even water, gave me a little discomfort in the beginning too. For probably about 5 months, it was just something I had to deal with. I found that changing the temps of some of the liquids (like room temp water as opposed to cold) sometimes helped. Drinking tea was a lot easier than drinking room temp water. Unfortunately, it's sort of normal to have this from what I've seen. But not at 8 months out, I feel much better and that issues is pretty much gone. It's very rare that I have that pain when drinking anymore. Hope this helps!

a lot of people (myself included!) have big problems with sugar-free foods because the sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners are actually toxic. Hope you feel better soon!

some of my favorites during the pureed stage: -pureed turkey or chicken chili from Trader Joe's -cottage cheese/greek yogurt and canned pumpkin with cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice -cottage cheese and refried black Beans with a little bit of cheddar or mozz cheese thrown in I pureed a lot of cottage cheese, canned white meat chicken (it's much softer than cooked chicken breast), beans, and mozz/cheddar cheese, just in different combinations. Hope this helps!

regular black coffee was on my pre-op list but it was STRONGLY suggested I quit it altogether, as it's not something you can drink after surgery, and weaning off of caffeine while trying to heal from major abdominal surgery does not sound like a fun experience to me.

I was told to stay away from coffee in general, even decaf, as it's rather acidic and can seriously damage your healing stomach. Especially in the first many months of healing. It's pretty unfortunate but eh, I knew there would be sacrifices. Worth it.

@@JamieLogical unfortunately I have a pretty severe knee injury that may make it impossible for me to ever take up running, which makes me incredibly sad... I used to adore running. I was VERY fast. I'm actually having surgery to construct a new ACL and shave a large tear in my meniscus. The surgeon says running is pretty much never going to be a good idea for me, even after this surgery, because I won't have enough of a meniscus to protect the bones. :'(

OMG.. YOU'RE IN ROCHESTER NY?! I live here too!

I love this post. I recently started getting here myself. Happy for you!

I take opurity chewable Calcium, and use a Multivitamin patch from patchplus. I also take an iron/b12/folic acid capsule that was prescribed to me by my surgeon. I get my shakes from costco. They sell them online and at walmart but it's cheaper to go the costco or bj's route.

Very similar starting stats to me. My highest was 442 but I was 402 and 23 years old when I started the program at my bariatric center. I'm now 8 months post op and down 141 pounds since the day of surgery. I would highly recommend Premier Protein. Especially the chocolate. It tastes like chocolate milk and has 30 grams of protein and only 1 gram of sugar. These are still something I drink once or twice a day on days I'm having trouble eating. As for Vitamins, I started mine pretty much right after I started the program. I wanted to be as healthy as possible for surgery and have several months to build the habits I would need after surgery.

I didn't lose anything during my 7 months of nutritionist visits. I really, really tried too. My bariatric center only wanted us not to gain. Losing is great, but so many of us struggle so much with that before surgery, hence the reason we are there in the first place. Keep on keepin' on. Your time is coming soon.

My support person is my amazing boyfriend of 4 years. He went to EVERY SINGLE appointment with me. He even comes to my bariatric support group meeting every single month for the past 8 months. He went to the psych consult, he went to every check up, every nut appointment, he was there when I went under and there when I woke up. He eliminated bad food in our household and has adapted his diet to eat healthfully with me. He even sometimes reminds me to eat, and cooks different things for me when I'm having trouble making myself eat. I've told him twice today how thankful I am for him, and how lucky I am to have found him. I think I'll go right now to tell him again.

I often see people who get the sleeve revising to bypass because they are unhappy with their weightloss or feel like they don't have the restriction they need to be successful. I also see people who get the sleeve, lose the weight, and then gain it back and want the bypass, though I suspect that is more an emotional issue than an anatomical one. Personally, I first wanted the sleeve but chose the bypass because I wanted more bang for my buck, no chance of being cut open again for a second surgery (barring complications, of which I had none) and the highest amount of accountability possible. My surgeon's office doesn't do the DS, so bypass it was. I'm nearing my 200 pounds lost milestone, over 140 since surgery in August, still losing pretty consistently. Really, it's all about what you want. Either will be a great tool for you.

@@KrissieLong I would highly recommend finding a therapist. Someone with experience with wls but any good therapist will probably make a world of difference to you. I would also suggest you start tracking again. Are you on myfitnesspal? I would love to friend you there! My name there is TwasARunbyFruiting. Support is absolutely essential to us. Medical professional support, mental health professional support, and friend support are all really important on this journey. I'm so sorry to hear you've been suffering on your own, trying to shoulder all of this by yourself. But now you can seek the help you need, and get back on track. We are all just human! Don't ever forget that. We all screw up, we all make mistakes. Forgive yourself and move forward so you can do what is best for yourself and continue down the road towards health and happiness. Feel free to send me a message and/or friend me! I'd even welcome a friend request on facebook, if that is something you'd be interested in. My page is facebook.com/abbylynn113 Hang in there. This is just a bump in the road. Time to get over this hurdle and back on track. You can do it! You've come this far, haven't you?

I'm going to follow this just because I think some people will have hilarious ideas.

wow, you sure have been through a lot! Congratulations on your health and success.

how many calories, grams of protein, and ounces of water are you getting a day?

I think you may be sipping a bit too quickly. Hiccups has always meant my tummy is currently full and needs a minute to empty.

@@baconsher I rode it out. Whining about it made me feel slightly better. I also found that sometimes changing the temperature of the food/liquid reduced the cramping. I couldn't drink cold water for a long time, but room temp or even just a little warm was often easier to stomach.

I had the same issue. Every single thing I consumed, from soup, to water, to yogurt, made my stomach cramp and hurt. Didn't matter what I did to try to help it. Fortunately, my issues passed after a few months as well. Maybe 4 or 5. Now I can tolerate most things.