teacupnosaucer

Scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, chili, ground lean meat in pasta or taco sauce, lentils, soft fishes (oh god was salmon ever good after weeks of protein shakes!), yogurt and soups and protein drinks same as on full liquids.

I'm six weeks and have had some. I went to the movies and got a kids pack portion and threw out the leftovers. I was able to eat it just fine, and I made the conscious choice to include it in moderation into my diet (I go to the movies less than once a month, and that's the only time I eat popcorn.) HOWEVER, there are foods I can physically tolerate post op that I WON'T eat "in moderation" because I can't trust myself with them. Oreos and other bagged cookies never come into my house. Never ever. Because I know if I buy them saying to myself "I'll just eat a single portion once in a blue moon" I'd be goddamn lying to myself. I would eat a whole bag in one go and I know it. I love Oreos SO MUCH, but there's no avoiding the reality that they are a binge eating trigger food. I've had to say goodbye to them. Some people take a hard line toward their diet post surgery whereas others are more permissive. That's an individual choice to make, and you have to take the pros and cons into account, preferably with the guidance of your registered dietician or other health professional. You know yourself. Are you opening a door to binge eating? Are you lying to yourself when you say you're going to eat this item in moderation and only on occasion? By eating this food, are you going to be foregoing a healthier choice to the point where you are not meeting your nutrition goals for the day? Have you planned for and measured your portion and limited your access/exposure to this food? Will this food be a gateway (ie. "well I can't very well have movie theatre popcorn and not get a large coke and a box of chocolate candies to go with it!") to more non-nutritious choices? I also do this knowing I may have to re-evaluate down the line. Right now my priority is to let myself eat certain "no-no" foods in moderation, but with the understanding that if that derails my progress toward health, I may have to add more restrictions to myself. And ultimately, I may not lose as much weight as I would if I'd resolved to have a stricter diet right from the beginning. You may think "well that's hardly worth the risk!", in which case you have your answer: bring a better for you snack and a bottle of water to the movies instead.

I won't speak to your specific surgery because it sounds like you've done your research and trust your surgeon's advice on it. What I will speak on is being healthy and getting bariatric surgery, which I know well. The first surgeon I met with didn't want to give me surgery. I am short and was about 80-100 lbs overweight. I have PCOS and struggled to lose weight for 5 years after giving birth to my daughter. I gained fifty pounds in that time instead. Even when I completely overhauled my life during my last pregnancy, I lost 20 lbs in two years... knowing full well that regain was lurking in my future, because that's just what the odds are. But my sugars are great, my blood pressure is fine, i have some joint pain but I'm not disabled by it, etc etc etc. The first surgeon I met basically said to me "I am looking at a woman who on paper is completely healthy, but obese, and I don't think surgery is worth the risks." He was speaking complete sense and I 100% respect his opinion and his choice not to take me on as a patient. The second surgeon I saw disagreed, though, and thought that I was a good candidate for surgery and had made a lot of changes that suggested I could be very successful post-op. Could I survive without surgery? Yes, definitely. With a lot of effort, I may have been able to maintain my lifestyle changes and my modest weight loss... but I could also backslide, regain, gain more, and get even sicker than I'd been at the very start. Type 2 diabetes is riddled through my family. My dad is on the verge of losing a foot to it. I saw the pattern of my life and was afraid. And I saw so many women in their mid fifties, sick and in pain and with BMIs over 50, saying they wished they'd done it earlier. I figured, what better time? I'm young, I'm healthy, I'm at good odds to get through surgery safely and bounce back in my recovery. I haven't done too much lasting damage to my body yet. Why wait for the stuff like the joint pain and insulin resistance and PCOS and depression to just get worse and worse and worse, perhaps irreversibly so? I'm not advocating for some twenty five year old who's 20 lbs overweight and is worried she might be 50 lbs overweight thirty years from now once she hits menopause to have this surgery, but I think if you are already obese and have good medical evidence you will continue to get more obese and MORE sick... then getting the surgery preventatively is a valid choice. I wasn't overly sick from my weight, but my life is still exponentially better now that those 50 lbs are gone off me, too. My knee pain has vanished. I have higher energy. But best of all, I'm not AFRAID anymore. Regain could still happen, of course it could, but it's not a given anymore. Type 2 diabetes isn't a given. I feel like I am in control of my own future, and that matters. I'm making healthy choices secure in that knowledge, and encouraged by that knowledge. As for "the nuclear option", my surgeon initially suggested the RNY because that's the surgery he does most and he considers it the gold standard. I told him no, I wanted the sleeve. I felt it was wayyyyyyy too invasive for my situation and tipped the balance of the "benefits vs risks" of getting the procedure, and I didn't think it fit the lifestyle I envisioned for myself after surgery. he respected my choice. if you're confident about getting the DS, then do it. but if you think it's too extreme for your specific situation, you CAN talk to your surgeon about that. I expected to have to argue my case for why I didn't feel comfortable getting the RNY, since my surgeon was so gung ho about it, but he immediately was on my side when I told him I wanted the sleeve. your opinion does matter. it's your body, and you have to live with this surgery for the rest of your life. so make YOUR decision. and if it aligns with your surgeon's opinion, then be confident about that!

I had almost no butt when I was fat, and now my butt is so flat I look like Hank Hill from behind. Boobs have shrunken a bit with weight loss but are still quite large. I think the reality is you retain your overall shape, but smaller. surgery isn't gonna magically give me an ass where there wasn't one, but it's not gonna turn my G cups into A cups either. (Saggy D cups on the other hand are a definite possibility...)

I'm down 22 lbs since surgery day on March 22nd. My weight loss has been slow but steady, so I'm happy. I've been tracking really consistently and am back swimming now with the blessing of my surgeon. and I fit into size 12 jeans yesterday! wahoo!

tracking didn't work for you in the past because your body was fighting you restricting calories (or weight watchers points, as the case may be LOL!), or you were like me and tracked on good days but then "forgot" on days you overate. or you tracked but didn't measure your food and thus underestimated what you were eating, or you tracked but then gleefully ate the 1200 extra calories your fitbit gave you just because you walked around the mall. I don't like to do it either (it seems so obsessive and time consuming, ugh!) but I don't like brushing my teeth or doing my laundry, either and I still do that! tracking gives you feedback on when and how you're eating. you can use it to see patterns, understand cause and effect relationships, and in the case of protein, making sure you're getting the nutrients you NEED to recover! I am a reformed former anti-tracker. It does get easier as it becomes a habit, and it DOES help. not on its own, no, but combined with the boost from surgery, it definitely allows you greater insight into what you're doing, what to change, and what to keep up on. I think about when I first started tracking and brought my journal to the dietician. I thought that I'd eaten out maybe three or four times in the last two weeks, which was a bit much but within their 0-2 times/week recommendation. looked in my tracker and I'd eaten out NINE TIMES. that's a LOT of unaccounted for empty calories.

I was very very scared... until suddenly I wasn't. It was so weird! I spent MONTHS beforehand agonizing, terrified I was going to leave my kids without their mother... then on the day before, when I thought I'd be my absolute worst, I was at total peace. I slept super well the night before and woke up that morning surer than anything. Which is very unusual because I have SO MUCH ANXIETY ABOUT EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME. It is normal to be afraid. Talk to your team about your fears. On the advice of someone else in a bariatric forum, I asked my surgeon straight up if he'd had someone die of complications. He said no. Not that it was impossible, but that no, it hadn't happened. And then he knocked on wood LOL. My psychologist also listened to my "life after surgery" fears and was very reassuring that my fears were normal and to her, healthy because they showed I understood how much of a life altering decision I was making. Talking to people will help. Surrounding yourself with loved ones will help. And if surgery day comes and you're a nervous wreck, you can always ask for an ativan

oh I know to sip throughout the day... in theory. in practice it is harder to remember. I have been working on it by bringing a water bottle with me wherever I go and I also bought an ULLA hydration reminder to go on it so it blinks if I haven't picked up the bottle in awhile. Not perfect, but better than nothing!

I was sleeved March 22nd. I'm down twenty pounds since then. Eating has been going great (haven't regurgitated at all), drinking wise I'm still a little behind on my goals because I'm not sipping as often as I need to. Back to swimming three times a week and that's going great. I'm very happy with my progress. Nobody has yet noticed I've lost weight because it's going quite slowly, but I don't mind, because I know I'm wayyyyy smaller than I started!

I started at 4 weeks post op. I was pretty much entirely healed by then, just a couple little scraps of scabs left.

He likes reality tv (storage wars, gold mining shows, fishing shows, trucking shows...), golfing, and wearing ugly sweatpants LOL. Oh and he really really likes going to movies with me and then saying "it was okay" even if it was obvious he was delighted the entire time.

Before surgery I got into the habit of food journalling, started and maintained an exercise routine, and worked on other unhealthy habits like eating out too often, eating in front of a screen, and drinking my calories. I made a LOT of changes, small and large, to my lifestyle, which I think greatly contributed to how well I'm adjusting to my post-surgery life. And hey, getting my sleeve at 196 lbs versus at my highest weight of 227 lbs means I'm ahead of the game and my goals are that much closer! Unlike others, I haven't cut any food groups entirely out of my diet other than carbonated and sweetened drinks. (Oh and Oreos, I don't have those anywhere near me because they are a trigger food for binging!) I still eat sugar and carbs... but my goal for this surgery was to maintain as "normal" a diet as possible while still leading a healthier life than I was living. Everyone strikes their own balance on that front, I think. There are people who go absolutely zero carbs post surgery, people who strictly limit their carbs, and people who still eat carbs but are choosy about where they come from or how often they eat them. One thing that pretty much everyone post bariatric has in common, though, is focusing on protein intake. "Protein first" is my program's motto. You eat your protein, then your vegetables, and THEN a limited amount of carbs with whatever room you have left (which in my case is gently waving a piece of potato in front of my nose and then putting it down on the plate again LOL). We pretty much all get some kind of protein goal to hit post surgery, since protein is important for your healing and for maintaining muscle mass as you lose the weight. So that might be something to work on now, finding out what in your diet is a good source of protein and what isn't, finding higher protein alternatives for your standby foods, and basically just being more aware of the protein value in everything you eat. And since you're dairy free, as well, now would be a good time to try out various vegan protein powders/supplements so you can find one you like or can at least tolerate, since in the early days post surgery it's hard to reach your protein goals without some form of supplementation. Do you see a dietician? It might be a good idea, especially with you not doing dairy. Just so you're prepared with a plan of how to get protein in when a lot of the typical post op suggestions for boosting protein intake (milk, cheese, whey supplements, yogurt) are all dairy dairy dairy dairy dairy haha. In later stages when you're back on solid foods I'm sure you can manage it with nuts and legumes and meats, but in that early stage some research on non-dairy liquid protein options can't go amiss. Good luck to you, and good for you on being so proactive! You won't regret getting started early, I promise!

I'd say in a job that's physically and emotionally demanding like that, give yourself at least a couple weeks. Even if the kids aren't climbing all over you, you might be quite fatigued or in too much pain to be as patient as you'd like. Or alternately, it may be hard to deal with twenty ankle biters when you're also trying to eat every two hours and drink every half hour and count every gram of protein etc. I work from home as a writer and started taking assignments again at about a week and a half out, though I had myself on longer deadlines/reduced hours, so instead of doing my assignment in three eight hour days, I took six four hour days to turn it around instead.

I was sleeved in March too! Down just about twenty pounds since my surgery. A hot cup of tea totally counts as a fluid! So does a glass of milk, or a protein water, or an iced herbal tea! Give yourself a break and expand your definition of fluid LOL! As long as you're not guzzling frappucinos or big gulp slushies, count it! I really like iced herbal tea and fruit infusions. Helps add a little bit of flavour to my water. But I do like plain ice cold water, too. If I limited myself to just pure water though, I'd definitely be struggling lol! My main struggle is I'm a gulper. I would drink lots of water pre-surgery, but not throughout the day, more like whole bottles at a time! Now I can't do that it's harder to get it all in. Or I forget I'm post surgery like an idiot and chug water and get that terrible forboding pain of doom reminding me I am no longer a person with a normal sized stomach capable of chugging a litre of water in the span of ten minutes LOL.

I'm losing weight super slowly so nobody's really asking questions, but my plan was to tell fellow fat people looking for a solution--after all it was my hairdresser's honesty about her surgery that lead me to learn how effective and life changing it is--but for the average joe, just say I changed my lifestyle. Which is 100% true. I realize doing that contributes to the myth among the never-obese that ~drastic permanent weight loss is totally possible if u just try hard enough~ but it's not my personal responsibility to combat that, especially knowing having to argue it over and over again with every joe on the street would be a huge time and energy suck. The information is out there, and if people refuse to take it in, that's on them, not me. But yes, I do plan on being honest with other people who could use the surgery to make their lives better. I want to share this feeling of hope and possibility with others as it was shared with me!

I have a husband a lot like yours. His opinion of my surgery has been "I don't think you need it, but I can't stop you." In general he's a very reticent, no-nonsense, non-touchy-feely person. He was DEFINITELY worried about the risks of surgery, and also a little disbelieving that it was the only way I could accomplish my goals. My mother is my support. She comes to many of my clinic appointments with me, she was there in the hospital when I had surgery, she's my workout buddy... She is 100% on board with my surgery and is happy I went through with it, and did everything in her power to get me there. But then, she is married to my father, who is obese like me and now has type 2 diabetes and everything else. She knows first hand what obesity can lead to, and obviously she's motivated to not have me go through what my dad has. When I came home from surgery, my husband cleaned house, brought me my protein drinks, and cared for our kids. He took a week off work just to keep the household running. He didn't participate in my pre-surgery process, but he was supportive in his own way, which was not letting me crash and burn once I'd made my mind up and gone through with this thing. His attitude definitely gets on my nerves or is disheartening sometimes, as he can be very hard to talk to about my insecurities and fears because he doesn't do platitudes or white lies either. When I was having a bad pain day he straight up said "you chose to do this" so I totally get it! But I think I have come to appreciate that his disagreeing with me but butting out... IS a form of support. It's not super involved cheerleading, but it is making an effort to respect my autonomy. He's not sabotaging me. He's not pleading with me or fighting me or discouraging me. If he's having those thoughts, he's actively keeping them to himself because he knows this is what I want for myself and it's my right to do it. My experience on bariatric forums seems to be that having surgery as a wife sometimes brings out the absolute WORST in some husbands. I'll take my dude making a concerted effort to stay neutral and mind his own business. So after all that, I'd say... find the kind of cheerleading support you need elsewhere. A family member, a friend, or maybe in a bariatric support group (we have a great local one, some of the ladies in it even came and visited me in hospital after!) Let your husband support you in his own way. Certainly don't put up with put downs, sabotage, and nastiness, but maybe alter your expectations and acknowledge what he IS doing. My man didn't go to my clinic appointments or encourage my choice the way my mother did, but he did stay on top of my pain med schedule! Another benefit to finding support elsewhere... sometimes your husband will come around on his own. Case in point: my husband doesn't dance. He refuses. Even at our wedding, he only did the one obligatory dance. Not his thing. So when I joined a local swing dancing class in an attempt to get active and make new friends, I invited a girlfriend along with me to be my dance buddy! And low and behold, a couple months in, here comes my husband asking if I'd like him to go to a couples class! After all that time badgering him and cajoling him and begging him and telling him he was hurting my feelings by not dancing with me... I just went my own way and suddenly he felt left out!

Take care hun! I hope it gets better for you soon and you get to be pain free!

I didn't want malabsorption, didn't want to alter my anatomy as much as the RNY does, and didn't want to deal with too many food restrictions. Everything I read said the weight loss is comparable and it all comes down to compliance, so I feel good about my choice. Losing slow but steady!

I brought sooooo much stuff i ended up not using, including the housecoat! My gown was big enough there was zero issue with my butt hanging out the back. I did use my slippers though!

Are the surgeons in the ER you went to experienced with bariatric surgery patients? I might seek a second opinion if not. I know in our city there is one hospital's ER we're supposed to go to if we have problems post-surgery as the doctors in other ERs might not have the same expertise to catch issues unique to bariatric patients. New or worsening pain is definitely on our list of red flags. Do you have any other symptoms, for example fever, redness, or hot spots on your belly? I'm four weeks out and have no pain at all. The worst I get is a slight tugging sensation on my big incision when I'm swimming, but even that has faded since my first swim. I hope you get it figured out! And good for you for actually going to a doctor about it! Too many people delay seeing a doctor...

I'm not saying you have to prove me right or wrong? I'm just genuinely saying to you I am glad to be proven wrong and happy for you that you are doing well breastfeeding post-op. I'm admitting I was wrong in my initial post. I didn't think you could breastfeed post-surgery due to the typical limitations of the post op diet where many people struggle to get in enough calories and fluids to maintain their own bodies let alone making milk for another person, but you're doing it and that's great. Honestly. I'm really not sitting here hoping you fail just so I can feel superior, okay? I'm really not that much of a b***h LOL. I didn't mean "choose breastfeeding or surgery" period forever and ever, I just meant... if you feel very strongly about breastfeeding as a mother, then postponing your surgery is the best way to make sure you are able to breastfeed as long as you want. For some people delaying the surgery 6 months to a year is better than potentially risking that chance to breastfeed. That's a fair comment to make. Not everyone is going to make it work as you have. For some people like you it will work and is working, and for some people they won't be able to make it work... and among that second group there will be moms who make the transition to formula without too much guilt or sadness, and others for whom that will be a much harder thing to deal with. Moms in that second group may very well say "it's not worth it to risk having surgery now when I can have it 6 months from now when my baby isn't EBF anymore". I'm sorry I didn't communicate that very well in my initial post, but that's all that I meant. Realistic expectations based on the typical experiences of post-op diet and fluid intake as per everything I've read and seen from people postop on this and other forums. As far as I'm concerned, the last thing a person needs to hear is "go ahead and have the surgery and I promise your recovery will go great and you'll definitely be able to breastfeed no problem!" and then that woman not doing as well as all that and feeling like a failure. So how about a balance of "it can be done but depending on your recovery it's not guaranteed so weigh the pros and cons for you and your baby"? My well wishes to you were and are genuine so there's no need for scare quotes implying some kind of ulterior motive or ill intent on my part. I've been nothing but genuine and polite to you in the course of this thread, but by all means, treat me however you like.

Good luck with your surgery! Coming up so fast now!!!

I know firsthand how hard but also how amazingly rewarding it can be. I'm glad you're working through your supply issues and have good support to keep it going. I would be very very happy to hear you prove me wrong that it can't be done post op.

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from anything. Someone asked for advice and I gave the most realistic, balanced advice I could think of based on my post op experience as a mom. I'm glad you're doing so well but you can't expect that EVERYONE will. Hearing multiple perspectives seems the best way to make a well-thought-out decision, is it not? Your perspective, the perspective of someone still having a tough time a month later... Plan for the worst, then be happy when you get the best, right?

I'm glad you're doing so well, then! If you have the blessing of your surgeon and it's working for you then it's obviously working for you. Wishing you all the success in the world at breastfeeding!