LittleLizzieLilliput

I haven't had a salad since my surgery. I focus on protein still. And I'm afraid. lol!

bacon. Hormel pre-cooked black label bacon. heat up in microwave, dab off all the grease. YUM!! Two slices of those and I'm happy. Not much fat or sodium in just two slices. I like to crumble them over some avocado sometimes too.

I'm 7 months out and I sometimes actually DREAM of drinking from the hose when I was child. Those long deep gulps for a good minute where afterwards you are out of breath and wiping your face off. lol! Yup, I hear ya and it's not nearly as bizarre as it seems. I LOVE water and not being able to gulp it is one of the more difficult hurdles for me. Sometimes I still do and then I'm hit with nausea.

So in our fat is stored hormones, when we lose large amounts of weight quickly those hormones are released and cause havok. Like for me? I've been getting spotting in between my regular periods, really bad cramps and emotional swings. I have a high-school level crush on a coworker now, even though I've worked with him for years. lol! My hormones. SMH. Calling your doc is the way to go on this one, IMO. There are some great anti-nausea pills out there.

I did! Get it all done at once. One Stop Shop. I had a very sick gallbladder that was killing. Ended up it was so diseased it was adhered to all the organs around it. I also had a massive hiatal hernia that was repaired. Did it extend my recovery by WEEKS? Yes. Would I do it that way again? YES!! And here is why: Rapid weightloss can cause gallstones and a gallbladder attack. If you already have a sick gallbladder than you are basically guaranteeing yourself that you will have an attack. And, not to try and scare you or anything, but I was in ICU for over a week and the gall stone caused my pancreas to fail so now I'm diabetic because my pancreas partially ate itself while the gall stone was blacking the digestive enzymes so they ate the cells that produce insulin for me. And then the damage to my liver and kidneys. So if you are asking me for an Opinion: Have it done with your VGS.

I stick with grilled or roasted chicken when I'm out. I can get sick from anything now, not vomiting but I get into this stage where I feel nauseous, can't catch my breath and then have to lie down and sleep for at least 30 minutes. So I only eat basic chicken when I go out. Or crab cakes. I do well with crab and chicken. Which have been my favorite foods since childhood so I'm lucky. lol!

I live by the rule of following my protocol to a T most days and every now and then I just allow myself to eat something decadent. Of course, I'm not "lucky" enough to not have dumping syndrome. Lol! I'm not sure if it's because of my gall bladder being removed or the VGS but I can get very ill post eating even from something innocuous like low carb chili if I have more than 5 oz. lol! But every now and then I have chips or some ice cream and I don't punish myself. I'm working hard so I CAN have those things every now and then.

lol! right back atcha...I don't considering me telling you you offended me a temper tantrum. hahaha! Again, I think your perspective is skewed.

I find this offensive on many levels. Your stereotyping and bias is deeply effecting your opinion here and is coloring everyone with the same brush. Offensive. JUst an FYI, I had a lot of fears and regret the first two months and it wasn't because I was throwing a temper tantrum cause I can't funnel food into my face anymore. But thanks for dismissing people's emotions and feelings and stereotyping everyone. ------------------------ To the OP: The first 2 months were very rough for me. I had been basically dying for the 16 months leading up to my surgery. The doctors didn't know what was wrong and I was in and out of the hospital. When they finally discovered it was my gallbladder that was destroying my pancreas, liver and kidneys they asked if I wanted to have the VGS surgery as well. Saying I was completely covered insurance wise and health wise it's what all of my docs strongly recommended. I have 4 weeks to prep with all my tests and milestones I had to meet for the surgery. After wards I had a very difficult recovery. And in that time I went through a week straight of full on crying regret. It was all so emotionally overwhelming and I just wanted to be a "normal" person. I wanted a normal life back after so long of being sick and then now recovery. And I had no way to sooth myself either. I was physically in pain, emotionally in pain and there was nothing I could do to make myself feel better. I could barely walk even. But then Trump was elected and that was it, I hit rock bottom. I was crying, miserable, in pain physically, emotionally and now we have THIS to deal with?? lol! I was just moving on to the full food stage and had been avoiding all carbs (My pancreas was severely damaged and I was producing almost no insulin at that point) but said SCREW IT!! I made myself some delicious mashed potatoes. Those mashed potatoes were like Manna to me, it was like my eyes were opening (and I was getting some real calories) and I realized that my life was still OK, that once I healed I could be "normal" again. I wasn't going to sustain on pureed ham and protein powders for the rest of my life, that I was going to feel better - and soon. I realized that my fears and pain and regret were a form of grieving, of dealing with such a huge change. I mean, we are REMOVING OUR STOMACHS essentially. lol! If you don't have a few moments or swaths of time where you regret it or have fears, than I say congratulations and I am so happy for you! But if you DO have some moments like that I think that is ALSO totally healthy and normal. It's OK to be human and have fears and regrets. You just want to make sure that you don't allow yourself to dwell in that space. Try to find the thing that will help change your perspective. I hate even admitting that Trump's election did anything positive for me but it is what it is. lol!

My doctor was explicit about this, no pills for 12 weeks. Crush them or take a liquid form. Then after that I was OK'd for pills and I just dealt with them slowly. He said that pills will sit on the seam of your stomach and has a great chance of causing irritation or ulceration prior to healing. I guess he had some patients have some bad repercussions because of this so now he doesn't allow it at all till the recovery period is over.

Have you spoken to your surgeon's office? The first few weeks were rough and I had a massive hiatal hernia repair (as well as gallbladder removal). I think that weird feeling of there being an alien inside my esophagus went away around 12 weeks. I didn't have much nausea. Are you on any anti-nausea pills? And what about antacids? Are you on a prilosec or something like that? I hiccupped a LOT when recovering from the surgery. I was told it was from the hiatal hernia repair and maybe if my stomach is too full. Have you tried the Unjury Chicken Soup? that was something I was able to stomach pretty well. Hang in there, it gets better!! Recovery isn't easy for everyone and the more you had done the harder it is. Walk walk walk walk walk. Even just slowly around the house. That will help as well.

Avocado was 50% of my diet in the soft food stage. I don't like eggs so I used avocado instead.

I'd just go buy the rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, that lasts me all week when I'm lazy. I also love to make low carb chili, that will last at least a week. Costs me about $12 and will last for at least 20 meals (I eat 5-6 small meals a day )

Question, Is the run worth risking your health? If so, than yes. If not, then I'd sit this one out. I missed out on the opening hockey game this past season because it was 2 days after my surgery. Now, if you know me you'd know that I actually did consider it worth risking my health. lol! But anyway, I think the point is this - what you had done to your body in order to gain control of your weight was an extreme surgery. You should give your body as much time as it needs to recover and heal so that you can be as successful as possible. While I'm sure you are in excellent physical shape I think you should allow your body to heal more before testing the limits of your sutures.

Don't freak out!! Your body is in shock. You just had an organ removed and you are now healing. You will swell, retain water and your body is trying to heal itself. Don't fret.

The trick is to realize that liquid has no mass really, nothing for your stomach to digest. Wait till your stomach as to work at something. don't rush it, and don't worry. Your stomach really is 85% gone.

I was scared of so many things. That's part of what makes us so strong to do this, it's actually terrifying for many of us on multiple levels. And yet we do it anyway. Because we are badasses.

I'm terrified of dating now, them seeing my body now that it's all melted. I'm having a really hard time emotionally with that myself. I am really into this guy and he's into me but I'm too afraid to pull the trigger because then I have to have to deal with how disgusting I feel I look without cloths on. But then I don't want to wait 2+ years for the full-body life to have sex. lol! Oh man, I'm such a mess. This is the one area where I have no idea what to do, how to start, etc.

yes you can hurt yourself straining. I hope you took a small dose. Good luck, I personally injured myself and set back my recovery by over a week. But the meds I took didn't really give me a choice on straining, muscles just worked as the medicine made them.

How do you maintain your diabetes? Those are very high dangerous numbers. Are you working with an endocrine specialist or even your regular doc? I was told my numbers needed to be higher rather than lower on surgery day because of the dangers of low Blood Sugar during surgery. I stopped all meds 48 hrs prior to surgery and went in with a 190 I think.

walk walk walk walk walk walk walk. lol! Walking is the optimum exercise. Honestly, besides toning muscles through weight exercises walking is all I've done. I mean, I jog sometimes but that's just for fun. lol! Seriously, now I just jog for fun. Like, how insane is that????

Awe, thank you MzCoffee, I'm so glad I was able to help!!!

I was gonna not respond because I don't know if it's OK for your protocol but then I came back because I thought of this: The last thing you want right now is food poisoning. The worst food poisoning I've ever had was from raw oysters. So I'd stay away from them because of that alone. I stayed away from anything that had the potential of making me ill and hurting my stomach in a severe way...

My surgery was 10/10/16, I've had more stalls than active weight loss weeks. Yet here I am in a size 14 about to move to a size 12. They aren't stalls, I call them Pauses. Nothing's stopped, your body is still working, you have done so much to it, it needs a little time. The first 6-12 weeks are about recovery and healing. You will lose weight but your body is also in shock, it will retain water, be swollen, sore and need time. But then it will happen again and you won't have a good reason. You will be following all the protocols and you will be walking and drinking your water and hitting your protein goals and yet you will hit another Pause. You need to be mentally prepared for that. It's not all a down slope. So to prepare you need to do a few things: Measure yourself, your head (yes, you lose weight there) your neck - super satisfying to watch it shrink, your biceps, your forearms, your writs, hell - measure your fingers too and your palm, your breast, under your breasts, your waist, your hips, your thighs, etc. All the way to your toes. Then do that about once every few weeks or so. And then when you hit another plateau you pull out that sheet and measure yourself again and see that your body is still changing and evolving. The scale does not tell the whole story. When I get discouraged I like to take a few moments and feel the changes in my body. I run my hands along my feet and ankles, my calves and knees. I feel the bones and muscle revealing themselves. I wrap my fingers around my wrist and feel how much smaller they are now. I run my hands along my forearms on the outside and feel my bones up to my elbow. I run my hands along my collar bones, revel in the fact I have them now! I continue on up my neck, circling it with my hands to feel how small it is now and then along my jaw bone, a bone I haven't seen in decades. I take these moments and remind myself how great this is and how great I'm doing even if I don't believe it in that moment. I move. When I'm discouraged I now move. I used to eat. Now I want to remind myself how much easier it is to move. So I go for a very vigorous walk, I put on the happiest, bounciest, fasted rhythmed music I have and get to steppin! Blast that brain with some oxygen, sun, music and endorphins. There are going to be MANY pauses and stalls and plateaus. It's our job to prepare your coping tools and mechanisms so that you can self-sooth and re-motivate without need for food or a serious mental adjustment. Before I let myself get that far I use these methods. They work for me, you will find what works for you hopefully. Good luck and congratulations!!!

Grilled Chicken wasn't on my approved list till 6 weeks. What does your protocol say what you should be eating right now? I was just transitioning to soft foods then and that took a week.