ursusmaritimus

I think it really depends on your pre-surgical age, body condition/health, and fitness. I have been fit most of my adult life despite being fat. I was able to walk four miles during my two days in the hospital. Since being home (I'm at 2 weeks tomorrow), I've walked between 1-3 miles daily--although much slower than normal. But, I was doing that, and more, before surgery. Plus, I'm terrified of forming a blood clot from inactivity. I do get tired, but I was able to stop napping about 11 days after surgery. I still get tired, but don't need a nap. If you're activity level is roughly where you were before surgery, I'd assume you're doing great.

It took me a few years of therapy prior to surgery to master that skill, and I still found it a daily-ish challenge!

Why don't you start going to the animal shelter volunteer/fundraiser events? They tend to be crawling with single ladies. To be honest though, from reading your poats, it sounds like part of the issue is confidence. Unless you're copy and pasting the worst message ever or only messaging yoga-instructor-models, I can't imagine you didn't get at least one reply out of 117.

I'm 12/13 days post-op and I've found myself looking at recipes too. I even purchased three cookbooks from Amazon. For me, I think it's because I'm so anxious about having to eat again. Food feels like my enemy and having no hunger has felt like Heaven. The thought of eating makes me feel like, "Oh my god! It's going to suck me in and I'll fail again!" or something like that. So, I find myself trying to prepare for when I advance to solids, which is in two weeks from now. Scary. #DontWantAny

I'm doing really well today. My weightloss seems to be zipping along. I'm not sure what's normal for most people at this stage though. Once I figured about the super tiny sip thing, I've had no pain. It's still annoying to have to be sipping, honestly, every 5 minutes to get my 64 oz water and two 11 oz protein shakes in. I've been walking ~1 mile every day, but in honor of Earth Day, my best friend and I went for a little 3-mile hike at a nearby national park. It went really well; today was definitely the first day since surgery that I feel like myself. I did take a 3.5 hour nap (sleep?) in the afternoon because I was a little tired after the hike and grocery shopping. I'm all for a support group on here for fellow April 10-ers! I advance to full liquids Monday. I feel anxious about it. Food feels VERY MUCH like the enemy to me. And having zero hunger feels like my (unwillingly) fat girl Heaven. My plan is to simply acknowledge my anxiety about having to eat again and follow exactly the plan given to me by the nutritionist. I bought plain fat free kiefer and two Trader Joe's soups today in preparation for full liquids.

I contacted my doctor's office about it. In my case, I wasn't taking tiny enough sips. Like...the sip amount is obnoxiously small. I no longer have the severe gas pain, but now I have thinly veiled rage that I can't drink more than a teaspoon of liquid at a time without pain, haha.

Has this gotten better for you? I'm having this issue now. I'm struggling to fight the pain-disincentive when I drink. I'm hoping it's very temporary.

If you eat a lot of meat, maybe papaya enzyme could help? Apparently, after surgery, some people can't digest meat well enough? Ask your physician about it, maybe? Also, in another post, you mentioned light colored stools, that is a symptom of gallbladder disease. But, from experience, that's a painful condition, so, you'd have felt the pain.

I had surgery on 10 April too. I have zero food cravings and even get nauseated if I'm around to many strong food smells. My surgeon's office has me on clear liquids for two weeks, full liquids for one week, and then "mushies" for six weeks. I've been instructed to consume two protein drinks per day for many months, probably a year at least. So far, it's been rather difficult to drink enough water or protein due to gas pain. I can't even think about regular food right now...ugh Do either of you have gas pain when drinking liquids?

I realized this tendency about myself years before surgery and spent three years working with a therapist that specializes in eating disorders and weightloss. Thoughts of food shouldn't plague you and I can verify that with good treatment, they won't. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND seeking therapy to ensure your surgical tool (the pouch) is most effectively utilized for the rest of your life. Good luck!

You didn't give all of your medical history, but assuming you're otherwise healthy, I'd question your GYN and get a second opinion. My GYN and surgeon were ADAMANT that I be on effective non-hormonal birth control BEFORE surgery because women become hyper fertile during massive weight loss. Apparently fat stores female hormones that cause increased fertility as they're leaving the body during the weightloss, Google it. I had surgery 5 days ago. While talking with my surgeon 6 days ago, he said, "I know you may have been told you have low fertility, but you have to use birth control. Just this year (in four months), four of his recent surgery patients became "surprise" pregnant. They were all roughly my age (mid-30s). The problem is that those pregnancies will likely end weightloss and are high risk because the mothers are having vitamin/mineral malabsorption and can't eat much still. I asked him why they risked their health and the fetal health so soon after surgery and his exact answer was, "Because they had all been told for years that they were infertile. Really, they were just severely overweight. So, they ignored my medical direction." So, chin up. Barring other issues, I can't imagine you have to choose wls or fertility at 35. That sounds ridiculous. Where I live, a lot of people don't have kids until 40, on purpose.

I had an RNY Monday (10 April) and the gas pains when I came out of anesthesia were horrendous. Luckily they sedated me pretty quickly. I had two other episodes which were less horrible, but still horrible. Thankfully, I've been home a full 24 hours and no major issues, just gas...not trapped gas, but gastrointestinal gas. I never knew I'd appreciate farting so much!

I'm 4 days post-op and I woke up in extreme pain as well. Fortunately, I can't really remember the pain the same day as surgery because I was well sedated, but I do have flash memories of crying out in pain for a prolonged period of time and having the medical team and my family around me. Even though I walked two miles my first day at surgery, I still had an additional 8-9 (pain scale) episode of gas pain. I stayed two nights at the hospital out of fear I might have another episode and no access to the right IV drugs to end it. Other than that, the last four days have been very tolerable.

Good luck with surgery. I was finally approved for 10 April. Ten and a half days of pre-op diet to go!

Hello. How much time off from work did you need? My surgeon's office hasn't been that helpful in providing specific answers. Maybe because it's different for everyone?

I haven't had surgery yet, but I'm thinking ahead to how I'll manage everything post-op. For pureed foods, has anyone ate the pouches of "baby food" like Ella's or Plum? I actually eat them when I'm out all day hiking because they're a convenient way to get veggies, fruit, and liquid while on the trail. They seem like they'd be a good solution to the weeks of pureed food too?

@Em_JW Thank you for sharing your experience. It's hugely helpful. Much like the original poster, I'm having serious second thoughts due to reading about ulcers, stomach leaks, thamine deficiencies, etc. It's great to read a real "90% of the time" account. Because, under best circumstance, I can't imagine it'll be a 100% happy situation. Thanks again.

Lucky! Mine was "submitted" on 28 February too. But, my insurance says they haven't received anything and the surgeon's office says the faxed it--not sure who is incompetent, maybe both.

Agreed!

My best friend's new boyfriend's wife had bariatric surgery in 2015. She drank a fair amount/fairly often before surgery and, according to mutual friends, became depressed after surgery/weightloss and kept drinking at the same rate. He came home from work one day and found her dead. The coroner's report listed it as a result of alcohol consumption. I don't know all the details (alcohol poisoning, a leak, etc?), but I personally have been terrified to chance it after knowing what happened. I like libations, but not that much. :/ But, I have another friend that's now 9 years post-surgery and she drinks pretty much whatever she wants, whenever. *shrug* Stick with the most conservative option I guess?

I am hoping that my hunger goes away. I lost 100 lbs over the course of about 8 months the "natural way" in 2007. For 6-7 or so years after that, I had CHRONIC hunger. Like, non-stop, distracting hunger. I told my doctors, reached out to friends, and even started therapy to try to figure out what was happening. Now, more than a decade later, my surgeon's office tells me that my experience is very common for people that manage to have extreme weightloss quickly; I was suffering from a diminished metabolism. Thankfully, my sense of hunger has mostly abated in the last 3-4 years. My biggest wish is that I lose my sense of hunger after surgery!

I'm so sorry! That sounds horrible. I hate complaining about things I can't change...buuuuuut, I can't stand the staff at my surgeon's office. They have terrible attitudes and whenever I ask questions, they ALWAYS act like I'm inconveniencing them. Honestly--audible huffs and eye rolling! I'm feeling afraid to call for fear the insurance processor will "forget" to get to my paperwork. Ugh. Unfortunately, my insurance requires I use this "center of excellence" (my a**). So, bottom line, my heart is with you and your not the only one dealing with incompetent and/or purposefully crappy medical office support staff.

The waiting is definitely awful. I don't know if this is happening to anyone else, but I've been fighting a serious case of "Last Supper Syndrome" since about halfway through the 3-month program. To make it worse, I've had almost zero binge eating issues for about 4 years (yay, ACT therapy!), but I've been SO STRESSED OUT during all the waiting process that it's been a neverending battle. I've gained ~10 lbs over three months! Which is insane because my weight hadn't changed by more than +/- 4 lbs in about 4 years. I think what's happened is that I went from being okay with my weight for 4 years (fat-and-happy) to a rush of hope that surgery could help me with this life-long issue...that I didn't have to accept obesity as inevitable. The hope is turning against me by becoming anxiety, haha!

I haven't had surgery yet but I have already experienced this type of negativity. One friend keeps comparing it to plastic surgery. Even though I tried to explain that her breast enlargement was not the same as cutting out part of my stomach so that I save my own life. My best friend, who is also obese, said, "But! Then I'll be the fat friend!" Talk about a painful thing to say. Assorted other people simply begin a Litany of all the people they seem to know who have died from bariatric surgery. If you listen to the stories people tell you it would seem that only one in ten people survive surgery. I've been tempted to write a research paper looking at how when you're fat you're criticized for being fat. But then if you take Extreme Measures to fix an extreme problem people criticize that as well. I lost a hundred pounds during college the "natural way." That previous experience has somewhat prepared me for how the world changes it's reaction to me based on my body. But it's still difficult.

I'm not confident that my surgeon's office's insurance preparer is particularly dedicated as I already alerted her to an issue that she didn't catch. :/ My paperwork is supposed to be submitted Tuesday, 28 February. So, fingers crossed.