Berry78

{Hugs} this is the longest road for you, but you are such a trooper! Have you gotten used to not eating or drinking? I bet it will feel strange when you start again...

March 20th, have lost 69lbs, and am feeling great! I haven't been going to a gym, but feel more motivated to clean house, etc. Food is down to a science, and I am having no trouble with it. Life is grand!

Yes! Those first weeks, hardly 15 minutes would pass that I wasn't working on something. Just kept that cup full of water or milk or whatever

Remember, they (who is "they" anyway?.. but I digress..) they say a "healthy" weight loss is 1-2lbs a week when dieting. This equates to 4-10lbs a month. Bariatric patients definitely push the envelope with our rapid weight losses, and it's not always healthy or graceful. Many times we end up in the hospital with malnutrition or dehydration. Excessive loose skin, hernias, gallbladder removals, overuse injuries (from overworking ourselves in the gym).. etc. etc. Ease into your new life gently, be kind to yourself. Pay attention to your nutrition, and don't overdo everything. Get plenty of sleep. This surgery is for the rest of your life. There is no reason you can't continue losing weight for 5-10 years, if it were to take that long. Bariatric surgery begins a journey, but the journey doesn't end at goal weight, rather, it endures as long as you do.

Has your caffeine consumption changed? Coffee, tea (black, green, or white), chocolate, etc. We can develop sensitivities to foodstuffs that never bothered us before. Artificial sweeteners are something to consider...

The average patient loses 15-20lbs the first month. Congrats, you're right on track! Think of it this way: It will take you around 20 months to lose your 200lbs. That's an average of 10lbs a month. The first few months may show more loss that that (as you've proven), but then you'll be losing more like 4-8 lbs a month after the first year... IF you stick to program. Exactly how much were you expecting to lose, and where did those expectations come from? (Your doctor, friends, family, television?)

Your stomach is NOT healed at 5-6 weeks. It takes a full 6 months to actually be completely healed, but the scarring process is well underway at 8-9 weeks. Leaks are still possible until about 9 weeks postop, so you really have to be extra careful for the entire first 2 months. 1. Fluids: It sounds like you're probably getting in your 64oz. Good. 2. Protein: 4oz greek yogurt has about 12g protein? 4oz meat has around 26g protein. So you're only getting in about 38g protein for the day. That is nowhere near enough. I'd recommend drinking something with protein. A protein shake, or 4 cups of regular milk, or 3 cups of fairlife milk, or 4 cups of bone broth, or a bottle of Lifeway protein kefir, etc. The drinks count toward your fluid goals (except maybe the extra-concentrated protein shakes). Instead of filling up valuable real estate with oatmeal and watermelon, take fiber supplements with your drinks. By time you are 8 weeks postop, you will find you can eat more, and can move away from drinking your calories. Early on, it's necessary, unless you can get in 6 small meals that each have 12g of protein. (Which is almost impossible at 5 weeks postop, but you might set as a goal for the next few weeks).

OMG, you look fabulous, darling! (Sorry you ripped your beautiful new pants ). I LOVE your top, and the earings are over-the-top gorgeous!

In my experience, they tend to happen more when you're stressed. I'd say surgery qualifies as a stressor. I like to either dab straight salt on them (burns), or rinse with salt water. Try to make sure you are getting plenty of rest and relaxation. Of course you can always bring it up with your doc.

It takes liquid to digest protein. 2 days postop we need to be working on our liquid goals. Protein is so filling that it might keep us from getting in the fluids. The first week out of surgery, dehydration is a much bigger concern than malnutrition. Either get your fluids up to 40-70oz, then bring in protein shakes/purees, or eat a little, then drink, eat a little, then drink. Milk and broth count as both protein and fluid since they have relatively little protein to the amount of fluid. (A protein shake has about 16g protein to 8oz. Milk and bone broth have 8g protein to 8oz). I guess you could water down your protein shake as well... The same applies to pureed tuna and the like. For every 1oz of tuna (about 6g protein), drink 6-8oz of fluids. (So if you ate 2 cans of tuna in a day, that's about 8oz of fish, to drinking 48- 64oz of fluids..). You don't need to drink as much when consuming carbohydrates, because when carbo-HYDRATES are broken down in the gut, they release some water. BUT, early on we need to consume a minimum amount of protein and there isn't room in our tummies for carbs, so it's a moot point anyway.

Yes, the preop diets vary widely according to the surgeon. Your surgeon should provide your post op meal plan instructions. Sometimes they don't really give it ahead of time since they want to be able to explain it to you. Ask your team about it. If they turn you loose without guidance, be sure to come back and ask...

Your stomach is still numb from having had nerves cut. Even though yogurt is soft, you don't want to irritate things by going too quickly. Try to eat half the yogurt, then eat the other half a couple hours later. The v8 should be fine since it is a liquid. Going slow and easy now will pay dividends later.

Nuts were one of the last things permitted on my plan (I think at 7 or 8 weeks out). I found cashews to be the easiest, since they are soft and skinless. Smooth peanut butter blended into a smoothie is easy at 4-6 weeks.

I bob like a cork when swimming.. my kids could hang off me like a raft... sorta reminded me of the mom on The Incredibles.

If something actually gets stuck, you'll likely feel the need to vomit. I think you just ate a bit too much. Go slow and chew well, you'll get there

Female waist measurement under 35 inches (at bellybutton) indicates low risk of weight related health issues. What is your waist measurement?

I frequently have to wait an hour or two to drink after eating a heavy meal. Because of this, I'll drink right up until just a few minutes before I eat. If you start feeling dehydrated, you can always go back on full liquids for a day (no waiting to drink at all). Things will gradually get easier, in the meantime, think outside of the box to get what you need..

Just skip your vitamins for the next two days to see if that helps. That way you'll have more info for your surgeon. Two days won't make a difference to your nutritional status... I wouldn't advise someone to avoid vitamins longer than that without their physician's ok. If you still feel sick without vitamins, then you know to look elsewhere. Keep us posted!

I just wanted to point out that, although you want to lose 45-50lbs, you are only 33lbs away from a healthy bmi. Most of us lose around 15lbs on the preop diet, so you seriously want to risk life and limb over a measly 18lbs? Please visit the complications forum before making your final decision. Everyone really should do that.

Ahhh.. I see, thank you for clarifying. Two weeks before my sleeve surgery, I had my "last meal". I truly meant to only eat a slice or two of pizza.. but I ate half a large pizza, and washed it down with an entire blueberry pie (left a bit of crust around the edges.. go me! Lol!) 7 weeks later, after enduring the nightmarish 2 week long 3-shake-a-day preop liver shrink diet, and 4 weeks of liquids, and a week of soft food of which I could only eat 3 bites at a time... I began to be disgusted by the portions (and bite sizes!) that others were consuming. I used to be just like them, but I was changed. Now, I'm used to what I eat, and what they eat.. I'm no longer disgusted, and I'm finding my new "normal". I agree it will take years to eat the plate you are describing, and that was also my goal before surgery. My focus has narrowed now to simply "getting everything in" that I need for the day. Food truly feels like fuel now, and if I go too long without eating, everything goes to heck in a handbasket. I get angry, tired, etc. Even though I'm eating small quantities for "fuel", I'm truly ENJOYING my food, like never before, and when I'm full, the idea of "one more bite" is a turn-off, completely and utterly. It's like a switch.. one minute I'm hungry and having a great time stuffing my face, and the next, I'm DONE. It's a revelation, because that never happened before in my life. I NEVER truly got full before. There was ALWAYS room for more... guess that's why I turned into a 300lb sack of jello! Lol! As for buffets, at least at this point, I'd be safe. It would just be silly to spend that kind of money when I can only eat a single cup of chili. My hope is that the sleeve keeps my restriction in place long enough that even when I CAN eat more than a cup of chili, that I WON'T. Only time will tell with that one.

Not sure exactly what you mean by this, but it sounds like you may not really understand what this surgery does. Your tummy will be so small, that it makes almost no sense eating more than 1 thing per meal (meat OR veggies, not both) for quite a while. (at least for me, I can't fix a bite or two of something.. I'd rather make 4oz of the single item, then next meal fix the other thing. I'm 4 months out, so maybe over years things will slowly change...) The people that eat a bite of veggies with their meat have the veggies ready to go, already prepared. That works too, it's just not my personal system. But the idea of going to a buffet and eating a bite of this or that.. it's almost laughable.

When I get discouraged by stalls and what-not, I keep the rule of thumb in mind: "When you are dieting, a safe, healthy amount of weight to lose is 1-2lbs a week". Which translates to 4-10lbs a month. Even our slowest losers are in that range while losing.

Ok, found something interesting today. In another thread, people are asking about getting a runny nose when they eat after surgery. Doesn't happen to everyone, but isn't uncommon. I was looking for information on the vagus nerve to mention, as it could be the root cause of the drippy nose. Here is part of an article that I feel applies to you. Here is the link to the whole article: https://paleoleap.com/vagus-nerve-for-health-weight-loss/ The good news is bariatric surgery does seem to change the vagus nerve signalling. So maybe this is part of why many of us seem to get so much healthier after surgery (beyond just weight loss).

Oh, and I forgot to mention the potential role of the "vagus nerve" https://books.google.com/books?id=pgbbPeyPOLcC&pg=PA61&lpg=PA61&dq=vagal+nerve+running+nose&source=bl&ots=Wd5SdrOWD5&sig=qbNyvpZXrhEejyf1E5bXb1euCA0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqoMK9o5_VAhXGQD4KHU0wDdoQ6AEIWzAH#v=onepage&q=vagal nerve running nose&f=false

Those first few weeks, I also had "tunnel vision". If it worked, great, just keep doing it! Really push to get your water up to 40oz today. That's the minimum to keep you out of the hospital, especially in the summer months. (And if you are in the heat, then that's probably not enough). If you start feeling dizzy or getting dark urine, you may want to swing by some place to get a bag of fluids on board. You're doing great!