PorkChopExpress

I actually decided a couple of weeks before the two week pre-op diet that I was going to indulge my various cravings, as a sort of "last blast" before everything came to a stop. I must have eaten at Buffalo Wild Wings like four times, had various favorite dishes at different local restaurants, ate junk...just indulged, basically. Not the healthiest move, no...but I knew I was never going to do it again. That was going to be THE END. I was going to save my favorite sushi place for the last day. As the end of my splurge neared, I started finding that I had kind of "burned out" on it. I wasn't really craving anything, just eating routinely, and I started to come to the realization that by needing to do that splurge, I was acknowledging how great food's control had become over me. It was at the wheel, and not me. I started asking myself, why did I feel the need to do that? Was what I was giving up so important, in light of what it had done to me? I didn't go to the sushi place, my last day. I went to a Subway and had a turkey sub, chips and one last Coke. The next day, I started the liquid diet and no matter how hungry I got (and I got REALLY frickin' hungry), I never once cheated. Not once. I just buckled down, got serious, and dedicated myself to the change. The hunger was only temporary, I knew it was only two weeks, and after that I wouldn't be feeling it anymore. Sure enough...I don't. Surgery was 9 days ago, and I don't feel hunger at all. I'd be lying if I said I'm not going through my own mental process right now of sort of "mourning" food, and my old lifestyle and stomach size, but none of that did any favors for me...it just made me obese. If I list the pros of eating whatever I eat in one column, and the cons in the other, I easily fill the page with cons...and get maybe three pros. It's all in the mind. So for me, doing the pre-diet binge was helpful in clearing a mental hurdle and sort of preparing myself for the process...but again, not a real healthy thing to do. Still...upon weigh-in before surgery, I had lost 35 pounds from my high, a month earlier. So it didn't do THAT much damage

It's funny, I'm one week out from my sleeve procedure now and I haven't noticed a change in my taste buds at all. Seems like all the stuff on the liquid diet tastes the same as it did to me before the surgery. I don't know if I've noticed any change in my olfactory senses, either...although I think maybe my desire to have different flavors than this boring stuff I've been having for three weeks might be partly responsible for that! I do have to say, though, that my desire for sweet things is GONE. I don't have any hankerings for cakes and Cookies, or candy bars or anything I used to really like, now. That's a huge blessing. Really, what I'm feeling like is crunchy, chewy, salty/savory...flavorful texture, basically. But as far as junk, I don't really want any of that at all.

One week down and things are going well. I have good energy levels, I finally managed to hit 90g of Protein via shakes, pain is almost all gone and wounds are healing. The antibiotics and some unpleasant squeezing have the site with the seroma healing up now, as well. I have a whopping eight scars across my abdomen, evidence of the surgery team discovering my hernia mesh and switching gears, I guess. My mom (a retired career nurse) has been out here helping me recover, and it has been great not having to think about anything. I love my wife, but she isn't a caretaker in this way. She heads home tomorrow morning and on Monday, I go back to work. I find that it is easy to identify a lot of my eating triggers now. My mind isn't clouded with hunger. I am really jonesing for carbs, I find. Probably the all protein, no carb diet I have been on for almost a month. I want crunchy, chewy, tangy and spicy...sweet and sugary aren't registering at all. But as with a couple of days ago, it isn't driving me crazy, I am fine. I am just looking forward to getting some variety, and actual food. I have gradually upped my walking every day, till I reached 2.5 miles today. Next week, I will start on the elliptical at the gym. If any of the lifters here can weigh in, if you read this...how long did you wait, before you incorporated weights? I won't start before I feel fully healed, but was four to six weeks post-op good enough?

Well, had to visit the surgeon today and he had to open up one of the lap incisions and excise a bunch of Fluid buildup due to a seroma. He put me on an antibiotic and left the wound down open to keep draining. Wasn't a terribly pleasant experience but apparently not terribly uncommon and not super serious when treated. I'm supposed to keep working on pushing fluid out with dressing changes until it resolves. Such a treat. Thoughts of chewing and eating real food are coming back, though they aren't a preoccupation and I feel fine. I think after three weeks of nothing but bland liquids, I am just craving some actual food that requires chewing. I'm looking into a food processor for pureeing stuff, that should start in a week. Will be interesting to see if I can make things appetizing in pureed form. I really do miss chewing and texture, though.

Thanks gang! Each day gets a little easier and I feel a little better, and it is getting easier to get my water needs met. I did a mile and a half walking today total, and my need for pain medicine is reducing. Feeling decent. I appreciate all the encouragement, I am sure I will be asking questions as the weeks go by...there is so much to this entire process.

That's quite an accomplishment, to have done that pre-surgery. The best I think I ever did on my own steam was around 55lbs lost and it would slow to such a crawl...and either something would happen to create stressors in my life that caused me to fall off the wagon, or I'd get so discouraged about not seeing any result for my effort, knowing that I'd done everything right, while feeling incredibly hungry every day, that I left the wagon (usually intending not to do it permanently, just as a "break" - but as soon as I went off...I stayed off). This surgery is the tool I've needed, I think. The fact that I can get around six months of steady losses without feeling hungry is the key thing. Hunger is what has always made me lose my mind and make it easy to go off the rails. If I don't have that problem and I'm seeing results, I can handle the diet changes. Had the last meeting with the nutritionist today, tomorrow I start the Clear liquids only and then Thursday it's the cleanse, and Friday morning I'm on the table. Nervous, but I'll be really happy to get this all behind me finally and not have it constantly weighing on my mind.

Hey, I've read a bunch of posts on this forum over the past several weeks and decided, now that I'm only days away from my surgery, that I'd go ahead and join. The liquid pre-op diet has been the most brutal diet I've ever been on, I'm starving all day long and I never thought I'd miss chewing so much...but I haven't cracked. I've been doing everything by the numbers, so I can get the best outcome possible. My surgery date is September 23rd, and this diet has had the nice effect of making me welcome the surgery date, so that I hopefully won't have to feel this gnawing feeling in my stomach anymore, at least for a few months! I'm glad to find a men's forum, there just aren't a whole lot of stories out there on the web about men having the surgery and achieving fitness goals, and the like. I am planning to really get myself to a high level of fitness through this process - I love weights and even though I've been overweight most of my life, I know a lot about nutrition and weight training. I guess the challenge isn't gaining the knowledge, it's actually using it. My weight is such a difficulty now though that I'm basically carrying another full-grown man around all day long, it makes the compound lifts difficult to execute safely, without risking injury. So I can't do them. I can't wait until I can feel the relief of getting that guy off my back and pushing Iron, instead of flesh. Thanks to the guys on this forum who have posted photos of their progress. I plan to be around.

Yeah, I'm staying on track...it's taking all of my willpower, but I have resisted every urge to cheat on this pre-op diet. It's too important, and I know that it's really not going to be that long before I won't feel like this anymore, and I'll be back to square one with my eating. So that's helping me get through it. But man, it's hard...and probably part of it is just the difficulty of knowing the finality of it. I've drawn a line in the sand and I'm stepping over it, and I am not going back. But that's a pretty intimidating thought, some days. It helps to see guys who've done it successfully and are making huge strides in their fitness, especially guys who are in their forties and above. I know that in all likelihood, a year from now I'm going to be kicking myself for not coming to this decision a lot sooner...but better late than never. I'm really experienced with tracking my intake and all of that, of course most of us probably are after having done all of the traditional diets we have! Protein will be my priority because I want to preserve whatever muscle mass I can during this process.