Shaydi.Laine

Only 7 weeks??!! ONLY? Wow, that is a long time to be on a liquid diet, especially with a normal sized belly. That just sounds cruel to me. In the states, the common time frame is two weeks, and some do not require it at all. If it were me, i would get back on the wagon right now and not say a word to the surgeon about it. At your weight, you probably knocked off significant weight on that 4 weeks of liquid, but you can pack it back on fast doing what you're doing. Good luck!

@@RhondaF I got a mixed 12 pack of Isopure from netrition,com for about $46 I think. Be warned however, they will not suit all tastes. I personally find them disgusting. The Protein aftertaste is gag-worthy IMO. Anyone who wants to stop by my house can have my remaining 6 bottles for free! LOL

I'm not much of a drinker to begin with, but I'll admit that I had a sip of wine at 5 weeks out because it was my birthday. It kinda burned a little going down but otherwise did nothing. It was one sip of wine, no need to slam me. I had my first real drinks at 3 months out. I had 3 glasses of wine over the course of an evening. Guess what.. no difference at all in how I was affected. Nice little buzz but I wasn't falling down drunk, blacking out, or acting stupid. I haven't tried hard booze yet, but I can say from experience that wine affects me exactly the same way it did pre-surgery. If I want to get stupid drunk on wine, I'll have to drink a considerable amount of it. Fortunately I have no desire to get stupid drunk (or pile in all those extra calories.) As for weight loss, drinking is bound to have an adverse effect. Calories aside, the body will burn alcohol before anything else, so while you are burning alcohol, you aren't burning through those evil carbs or, in the absence of carbs, attacking the fat. All that said, I WILL be drinking 4th of July weekend and I might maybe possibly even choose to get drunk. If I gain weight over the weekend, it will be my own fault and I will pay for it and fix it. Even we sleevie peeps gotta live a little once in a while. Again, I'm not much of a drinker in any case, but I would say that anyone who has a great liking for alcohol should just avoid it entirely.

They were fine at 9 weeks. I was cleared for all foods at 7 weeks post op. I haven't done pizza toppings again yet, but I definitely will, probably this weekend in fact as I have a couple of big-eater male friends coming to visit and who am I to stand in their way of a late night pizza. I'll probably have one or two slices of pizza toppings (depending on the toppings) and throw the crust on their plates. I really don't have room for the bread part and I don't need it to feel happily pizza-fied. I lost plenty of weight eating pizza toppings on Atkins in the past and I've basically put myself back on a low carb/high fat diet now. It works best for me.

Soft foods.. cottage cheese, mashed potatos, pureed refried Beans with melted cheese on top (my favorite in that phase), soft fish like haddock,any melted cheeses - have a ball, tofu is delish with a tasty sauce, egg drop Soup (sans mushrooms), eggs any style, tuna salad and egg salad (no veggies in either of those).. pureed roast beef hash with gravy.. bit tricky and ugly looking but tastes awesome That should be enough to get you through soft foods! I would save hot dogs for when you are cleared for all foods. Or ground meat stage at the very least.

My goal weight puts me at a BMI of 26.4. I have been there before. I looked fantastic and was the picture of health. The only surgeon who would operate on someone your size would be the back door shady type just out to take anyone's money and damn the consequences. I wouldn't trust any surgeon who would say yes to you. I really think you should seek some mental/emotional help for whatever issue it is you are really having. If you are dead set on having WLS, come back when you are 80-100 pounds overweight.

Who says that's your ideal weight? If you're going by the bmi chart, forget that silly thing. It's bunk. With a bmi of 27, and considering wls, I think you may have bigger problems to address.... You do not need wls, but you may want to look into therapy.

I was instructed to leave all jewelry (and contact lenses) at home. Wedding rings were the only jewelry allowed and I'm not married. I feel more nakie without my jewelry than without my undies.

Month 1: 17 Month 2: 12 Month 3: 11 Working on month 4 ☺

5, no drain. Using a suite of ScarAway products. Healing beautifully. One of the tiny ones is almost invisible already, and the rest are fading well.

I did the same thing ☺

I'm almost 3.5 months post op and I eat mainly whole foods. I avoid carbs like the plague (except for a rare cheat) and eat plenty of fat. I keep a few atkins shakes on hand for rush out the door emergencies, but those are even rarer than my carb cheats. Personally I think whole foods are the way to go as soon as they are tolerable.

I went with the ever popular pizza. A whole small roni, shroom, hamburger and onion with xcheese. Then I had 1.5 slices of just pizza toppings at 9 weeks post op and it was just as tasty and plenty satisfying.

Oh seriously with this question lol. I have had numerous surgeries and you are always completely naked under the gown. Leave your modesty at the door, the medical staff does not give a hoot about seeing your "privates". And trust me, if you are lucky enough to not be catheterized, you won't want to be pulling undies up and down when you go to pee. Bending is rather uncomfortable if not impossible after surgery. NO UNDERWEAR. Jeez lol

I have a hunch the protein drinks won't freeze well. I used protein shakes for the first two weeks, then I wa so over those. I managed to finish one can of unjury powder in that time. I have one full can left that I will likely never use. I also have half a dozen isopure clear drinks still hanging around the fridge waiting for me to throw them out. That stuff is all pricey trash now and I'm glad I didn't go even more overboard stocking up on protein supplements. I know its easy to get overzealous pre surgery, but I would definitely warn people against stockpiling protein junk.. Once I hit puree stage, it was easy for me to get enough protein through actual food.

I did the whole thing alone as my immediate family lives far away and I didn't want to tell anyone else what I was up to. I WAS required to have someone pick me up, (no taxis, no ubers, no bus) so I eventually had to tell a nearby relative who also agreed to stay with me for a couple days post op. Honestly the whole procedure was easy peasy and you do so much sleeping and doping on pain meds that you won't really care so much about having people around. When I wasn't sleeping, I watched a little tv, texted people, or played on my tablet. It goes by really fast. 2 days after getting out of the hospital, I went clothes shopping.

Relax and pay no mind to the scary stuff. We all probably wondered at some point pre-surgery if we were doing the right thing. Personally I was terrified, but once I was on the other side I was like, "what was I so afraid of?" For me it was really a breeze. Recovery goes by fast, and you get to watch the scale fly downward which is pretty fun stuff, but not nearly as fun as all the new clothes! This was the best decision I've ever made! Genius really. Just breathe and focus on the positive. You'll do great.

I would skip it entirely. Grab a yogurt or at least stick with carb smart ice cream. Give it a few minutes to melt a little then whip it up to soft serve consistency yourself. Getting past the cravings is a huge part of the battle. Don't give in!

Wow. 12 days out and I was still on full liquids. I have to echo everyone else about pizza being a crazy thing to try at this stage. Im 13 weeks out and avoid all bread like the plague. If you want to potentially hurt yourself and/or screw yourself out of success, keep eating whatever you want. Otherwise, get with the program and stop messing around. Pizza... really?!

I stalled at the same point too. After 3 weeks frustration, I ditched the carbs, upped the fat, and ignored the calorie counting. Stall broke in two days and I dropped 7 more pounds over the following week or so. Imo, carbs are pure evil and fat makes for awesome fat burning fuel!

@@aster I have lost weight successfully doing every diet under the sun, and Atkins was by far the best of the bunch. I also achieved my lowest weight that way by 20 pounds (except for the total starvation diets - stupid stupid, do not do that) and managed to keep most of the weight off for 4 years. Most successful diet in my history. Then I decided to eat bread. Now that I am sleeved and fully healed, I have put myself back on Atkins. The low fat diet after surgery while fine during recovery, had me feeling hungry all the time and I was stalling out constantly. After 3 weeks of no weight loss, I switched to a low carb/high fat (induction level) diet as an experiment, my stall broke in 2 days and I promptly dropped 7 pounds in a week and a half. This past week I started adding back a few carbs.. mainly fruits and veggies, and not only did I stop losing, I gained a pound. As of today I am back to nixing the carbs entirely. My point is that even with the surgery, if carbs are a problem for you now, they will likely still get in your way later. And things like chips, pretzels, crackers and such, are the easiest foods to eat and still feel like a bottomless pit. The benefit now tho, is that if I can control myself long enough to eat Protein and fat first, I get satisfied quickly and have no room for anything else. Best of luck!

Personally I would recommend a bariatric center of excellence close to home. Proper pre-op and post-op care are just as important if not more important than the surgery itself. I realize some people have no choice but to go to Mexico, but it wouldn't be my recommendation at all. The notion terrifies me tbh. Is this a last resort?

You know, it really wasn't that bad and it went by very fast. I really enjoy cream Soups and that's what I mostly thrived on. I did spend a lot of time during week 2, dreaming of cottage cheese tho.. and boy did I enjoy the first half cup of that! What sounds worse to me than 2 weeks of shakes and soups post-op, is the pre-op liquid diet that so many have to go through. At least I didn't have to do that! I never would have made it, I would have cheated and lied about it. Without a doubt. I was about to add, "I'm nothing if not honest".. then I realized the absurd irony of that statement LOL.

@ You are clearly a genius ^5 @@Kaze My program was full liquids only for weeks 1-2, purees weeks 3-4, no veggies even pureed, till week 7. I don't know of programs allowing purees right off the bat, if yours does, have at it. I will however caution about stocking up on sugar free canned fruit. That stuff is, at least to me, bitter inedible grossness. I tried them before surgery and thought "never again", then recently I foolishly decided to try again (Dole no sugar added peaches - 4 pack). I seriously don't know what I was thinking. I managed to gag down two of them (the second was no better than the first) and the other 2 are sitting in the fridge waiting to pass their expiration date so I can throw them out without feeling bad about it. Alternately if you live in NH, come on by and you can have them. Yuck.

Wow so that leaves a whole lotta nothing to eat! I suspect my reply may be a bit controversial, but for one thing I avoid anything that says fat free or low fat, unless that is naturally the case. Otherwise it usually means added carbs and fillers. I have adjusted my own diet to what has worked best for me in the past and that is.. a low carb, HIGH FAT diet. Yes really, high fat. I eat real butter, real mayo, bacon, sausage, whole milk yogurt, and the like. I know this is going to freak some people out (OMG THE RULES!) but know what happened when I got off the low fat bandwagon? I broke my 3 week stall immediately and dropped about 7 pounds in one week. I also experienced a great reduction in hunger! I did this at about the 2 month mark. Today is my 3 month surgiversary. So anyway I confessed my rebellious diet switcharoo to my nutritionist yesterday and she didn't have much to say about it other than maybe by eating more fat I was bumping myself out of starvation mode and needed the extra calories to break my stall. She may be partly right but I can't agree entirely because I am, as I keep saying, A Professional Dieter. I know my body better than anyone and how it reacts to various percentages of macronutrients. Doing Low Carb/High Fat in the past was by far the most successful plan for me. I was able to drop 50 pounds in 5 months, without surgery and reached my ideal weight in maybe 7 or 8 months. (How did I gain it back? I ate carbs again.) I guess my point is, in the end we should all do whatever works best for us. I learned pretty early that I was in no danger of dumping, I also learned pretty early, that carbs such as crackers, fruit, and even vegetables were causing me to stall, but that didn't surprise me because it's not the first time. Early on you should just do whatever your team tells you to do (there's not much chance of sticking to low fat, low sugar, and low salt tho - good luck with that) Once you are more "on your own", you can choose to continue following their rules if they are working for you, or make your own if that works better. I make sure my team knows what I'm doing, and as long as I'm getting such great results, I will continue doing what works. Ok go easy on me.