theantichick

Please note the section of the board. This is the designated area for ranting and raving. It can be incredibly frustrating to have people posting that it's okay to "cheat" on post-op diets, which if it's not countered someone else could read and end up seriously injuring themselves.

Less body mass Ah, of course. How could I forget, it's the whole point of WLS. So if you loose 30% then you get drunk 30% faster or with a 30% smaller drink. I've been thinking, and I suspect the stomach acts as a "holding tank", releasing its contents (alcohol) slowly over time, and that with a smaller stomach the alcohol now hits the small intestine faster at a higher concentration. So the liver hits its max faster and the brain gets hit with the difference. Thanks for indulging a nerd. I think it's possible the shorter route through the stomach is also a factor. But body mass has a lot to do with alcohol processing.

Less body mass sent from mobile device

I'm not a vet yet, but I can't express how much working with a therapist about food issues has helped me re-configure how I think about food. I was (am?) an emotional eater, and verging on binge eating behavior. As well as a PTSD type of situation around vegetables. I started seeing a therapist before I even decided whether or not to have the surgery because I knew I needed to address those with or without the surgery. I will probably keep working with her through the first year at the least. I don't want to blow this opportunity. It can be hard to find the right fit with a therapist, but I think it's absolutely worth it.

As a nurse, I'm appalled at the thought of surgeons doing a major stomach surgery without giving a list of approved foods to eat at the very least until the first check-up appointment (which should be 1 week post, 2 weeks post at the very outside). The stomach has to be given a chance to let the incision heal, and the progression to a regular diet needs to allow the stomach to get used to processing food with the new configuration. I encourage everyone out there to demand, prior to surgery, at the very least a list of allowable foods for the first 2 weeks post, and a general roadmap of how the surgeon likes to see people move to a solid "regular" diet.

I tested out a number of Protein shakes (powders) pre-surgery and stocked up on them. Post-surgery, I couldn't stand them. They gave me Premier Protein in the hospital, and that's been the only thing I've been able to tolerate since. I'm getting sick of chocolate, so I ordered a variety pack from Amazon with chocolate, vanilla, banana, strawberry, and caramel. I have only seen chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry in my local stores. The others are available through Amazon though. I'm finding the vanilla and caramel too sickly sweet, am going to try them as creamers in coffee. I don't care for artificial strawberry anything, and haven't tried the banana yet.

My surgeon has probably the most laid-back diet advancement plan I've seen, and I wasn't cleared for anything like that for over a month. My instructions: Full liquid (plus yogurt, pudding, etc. so long as there was no fruit/chunks) - 2 weeks. Purees starting @2 weeks and progressing to soft foods as tolerated - 2 weeks. So the end of the 3rd week to the 4th week was my first opportunity for eggs. Though my surgeon said that she has a lot of people who can't tolerate eggs that early. I couldn't until I was on solid foods for a couple of weeks. During this period I could start trying ground beef, tuna, shredded chicken, etc. but only after I'd worked up to it through purees and softer food. After 4 weeks I was cleared for a full diet, but was cautioned to add foods from soft/moist end first, working my way SLOWLY up to the harder/drier foods. I was warned that some meats like steak might not be tolerable for much longer. I had a egg/sausage/cheese taquito at about 6 weeks working through this plan. Most surgeons have a much stricter and slower food progression. I'd be utterly amazed if your surgeon would approve anything like this at 8 days post.

I know, right? A very long time ago, I used to LOVE Jack in the Box's Ultimate Cheeseburger. https://www.caloriecount.com/calories-jack-box-ultimate-cheeseburger-i53641 819 calories 49 g fat 44 carbs I would joke that it was a "cholesterol highball". And then eat it. Generally with fries or onion rings and a large root beer. Last time I got one because I thought I was craving it (a couple of years ago, long before my VSG), I couldn't even eat 1/2 and it made me feel gross for most of the day. I never really liked fast food, but got used to the convenience. I need to learn how to make healthy versions of the things I used to love eating out.

THIS.

You should follow your surgeon's instructions. There are medical reasons for the structured diet advancement after a major stomach surgery.

And you may not lose the way you think you will. I thought my tops would pretty much be okay for quite a while into the process. I was barely a month out when a lot of then started looking ridiculously huge. I've gone down in pant size too but slower than top size. sent from mobile device

Nutrasweet/aspartame is one of my main migraine triggers. sent from mobile device

I added it to chicken bouillon by mixing it with a little warm Water in my blender and then adding it to the hot liquid.

Also remember that statistics are usually dealing with averages. Almost no one is the average, LOL. I like to think I have a say over which side of the average I fall, based on my choices.

Long time hereditary migraine sufferer here, too. My daughter actually was hospitalized with a status basilar migraine for a week when she was 16. Her neuro gave us some of the best advice, EVER. He said don't get hungry or thirsty, those are sure-fire migraine triggers. Also, if you drink caffeine, stopping it cold turkey will absolutely trigger it. Then there's all of the triggers that are specific to the individual - processed meat (nitrates), red wine, beer, aged cheese, weather, hormones, what have you. The pre-op diet wasn't too bad for me, but I'm convinced it's because my surgeon doesn't have a strict pre-op diet unless you already have liver problems. I was only asked to replace 2 meals a day with shakes, and make my 3rd meal and any Snacks low-fat and avoid processed grains and refined sugars, fruit was fine. I didn't do all of that as well as I should have, but it allowed me to lose a few pounds. I also cut out caffeine, but I did it VERY slowly. If you're drinking plenty of Water (100+ oz a day is what I consider well-hydrated), and you're drinking shakes regularly, then I would suspect that the lack of carbs in your diet is the culprit. You didn't say if you're pre-op or post-op. If you're pre-op then I would suggest talking to your surgeon's team and seeing if there's some way you can add back in some calories and complex carbs to help with the migraines. If you're post-op, then all I can offer is to gut through it. I get VERY ill in ketogenesis, and the first 3 weeks post-op I couldn't get out of keto without eating stuff with refined sugar in it. So I just kept up the Protein and water and pushed through. Also, something my daughter's neuro told us... whenever you have a headache (migraine or not) it starts an inflammatory cascade in your brain that will turn into migraines or turn into a string of migraines. He told us on any day we had a headache of any sort, when we went to bed that night to take 800mg of ibuprofen and whatever dose of Benadryl we were accustomed to (I can take high doses because I've taken it forever, my daughter usually just takes one OTC). Obviously, you'll want to check with your doctor before taking any meds like that, but I like to share that tidbit because it has helped us reduce the string of migraines thing, or stress/sinus headaches turning into migraines the next day. Good luck!!

I asked my surgeon about it, she said the gallbladder doesn't need to come out as often as people seem to think. So it is not routinely removed during surgery. They'll sometimes take it out at the same time if there have already been problems with it.

I pack 3-4 small meals for when I'm at work. P3 snack packs are the bomb, as are greek yogurts. I always keep a cup (I love my Tervis 24oz cup) of ice Water beside me. I set a reminder on my phone to eat every 3 hours. I can eat at my desk while I work. It's gotten a lot better now that I'm on solid foods and can eat 4-6oz at a time.

For my birthday I thought I'd have a hard cider, since I am cleared for anything. I got about 1/4 of the bottle down before I fell asleep. I think my hard drinking days are over. LOL.

Alcohol should definitely not be in the pre-op diet. Alcohol is known to cause liver inflammation that lasts up to a couple of weeks.

Yes. Your body is likely retaining Water with the swelling from the surgery. My doc says it's a little surgery on the outside, but a BIG one on the inside. Seriously, stay off the scales the first couple of weeks, and just focus on getting your fluids and Protein in. The rest will come.

I can only afford to see my trainer every other week. We're still trying to figure out the line between no progress and sending my auto-immune into a flare with the weight training stuff. I've flared every time we've worked out. I think I'm going to have to insist that we back off how much weight we're doing on each of the machines. He's going pretty easy on me, but he is having me push to where the muscles are shaking by the end of the 3rd set each time. I don't know how to judge what's going to be enough weight to keep progress moving (even if it's at a snail's pace) and what's going to be too much other than the shaking point seems to be too much. Anyway, he hasn't given me "homework" to do in the meantime except to try and keep up the cardio 3+ times a week. I haven't ever done weight workouts except for rehab after surgery, and then they gave me VERY specific instructions about which machines, how to increase the weight, how many reps, etc. So I'm clueless as to how to build a program that I'm doing in between visits with the trainer. Having never worked with a trainer before I'm not sure what I should be expecting from him. Having never worked with someone with auto-immune arthritis, I'm sure he's not sure what to do with me. Any advice from the gym vets here on how to proceed? I signed a year's contract for the training hoping to motivate myself to stick with it, but I need to find out how to use it most effectively.

I need to do something like this. But nutrasweet gives me migraines. I've debated doing it with full sugar pudding and trying to make pudding from scratch with splenda or monk fruit.

Nurse here - usually if they're doing it for a surgery, they place it in the OR after you're asleep. If I had one, they took it out before I woke up. Each doc is different, lots of them aren't placing catheters for surgery anymore due to higher infection risks. Check with your doc, at the very least they should be able to place it after you're out.

OMG. I just posted about how I took a suitcase full of stuff. I had Protein drinks in there, because I'm a picky eater and worried that I wouldn't like what they had at the hospital. I took my laptop and my phone and my eReader. I took my CPAP (that we actually didn't end up using at all because I elevated the head of my bed). I took a sweater and slippers and my home meds and Water flavoring and gas-x strips and I don't even remember what all. I know it was a carryon bag stuffed to the gills. Do you know what I actually used from all of that? My smart phone. My toothbrush and toothpaste (I hate the ones they have at the hospital). A change of underwear. That's it. I do wish I'd packed a heating pad and maybe a nice pillow. If I'd not packed all the other crap, I'd have had room. LOL. I used a second hospital gown as a robe when I was walking, and they preferred I use the grippy socks they have. I wore the same clothes home that I wore to the hospital (since I was in them a grand total of 2 hours they weren't dirty. Ended up, post-op I didn't like any of the protein stuff I bought beforehand, and the Premier Protein they had at the hospital was what I could actually tolerate. I didn't end up flavoring the water, because I was only able to sip about an ounce at a time. I couldn't focus on anything to read, so I just zombie-watched whatever was on TV (a lot of Criminal Minds as I recall) and screwed around facebooking and such on my phone when I wasn't sleeping. Don't forget chargers for whatever electronics you take. Other than that, just think minimally. You likely won't need 1/2 of what you think you will.