AniracIre

I'm over a month out now and finding that there is lots of work travel and eating out too. It's not always easy to make the best choices, but I am finding that my eating habits have changed hugely since before having the sleeve. Both the quality and quantity of what I'm eating are so different now and it's hard to believe I used to eat so much previously. I'm also avoiding bread generally as it feels like I just cannot digest it and it just sits in my stomach.

Just checking in with those who have posted here and anyone else to see how their gout has behaved since surgery? I have had one flare up (big toe) 6 months before surgery, but since getting sleeved a month ago, my toe is really bothering me again and I can't do much walking. Not to the pain levels last year, but it's there nonetheless. I'm not due to meet my PCP for bloods for about a week and I'll manage until then, but I suppose I'm wondering if this is something that I'm going to have to medicate for the long term, or if it will ease once I get more weight off and stabilise.

Great job, you've done really well. You mentioned your workout regime earlier, but can you tell us what a typical days food intake looks like either in terms of calories in or protein/fats/carbs totals?

Go to www.weightlosssurgerypodcast.com HW 365 CW 331 GW 220 Sleeved 6 Mar '18

This is on my reading list, but I haven't got to it yet:- "The Emotional First + Aid Kit, A Practical Guide to Life After Bariatric Surgery, Second Edition, by Cynthia L. Alexander, PsyD" I picked up up the recommendation from the weight loss surgery podast by Reeger Cortell FNP, which in my view is the best podcast out there on bariatric surgery.

Best of luck to all getting sleeved in the coming days - it's an exciting time, so keep us posted on how it all goes! HW 365 CW 331 GW 220 Sleeved 6 Mar '18

My incision sites only got tender after all of the paper stitches had been removed and I was back to work. I had absolutely no pain before that. Nothing that painful, but I was aware from time to time of where my work shirt was rubbing against the largest incision site in particular. HW 365 CW 331 GW 220 Sleeved 6 Mar '18

The final two days of my pre-op liquid diet also followed a similar plan. It was skimmed milk with milk powder to make a "high protein" milk where we had to get in about 90g of protein in for each of those 2 days. Like as been said here - every surgeon seems to have a different plan! HW 365 CW 331 GW 220 Sleeved 6 Mar '18

Congrats on the progress so far! I've seen a huge amount of variation on here of what's recommended by different programs in terms of food choices at the different stages. Your programs advice certainly looks sensible. I'm curious though if you received advice only on calories and protein - was there any information given on the broader macros such as grams of fat and grams of carbohydrate? I probably wouldn't even be that aware of these other than the fact that I am using My Fitness Pal to track my protein, but it's giving me all of the other stuff on fat / carbs too.

I find that I do a lot better with my fluid intake if I vary the type of fluid and temperature of it during the day. What works well for me is to have some different flavours of herbal tea and the warm water allows me to sip much faster between meals. Experiment with ice cold and warm water too to see what works best. HW 365 CW 332 GW 220 Sleeved 6th March 2018

I went with some cold smoked salmon and avocado with a drizzle of lemon for lunch. I've also been trying out using protein powder with a decaf coffee...haven't decided yet if it works for me HW 365 CW 332 GW 220 Sleeved 6th March 2018

So, I'm back to work today, two weeks after surgery (6th March). I've been really lucky that my recovery has been without issue so far i.e. no post surgery pain or discomfort to speak of as I write this! My diet allows me to be back on regular food at this point, but it should be "mashable" or chewed to death before I swallow (probably stage 3 as defined on this site, but my dietician / surgeon don't use that term). That brings me onto where my head is at just now - what does my daily work food routine (snacks & lunch) look like. I'm on the road quite a lot (which is part of the reason my weight went where it did because I was always eating out), so I'm really conscious of starting on the right path and staying there. There has been a great sense of community and energy in this thread so far and I'd be interested to hear what others are doing as they move through these food phases!

Hi, what app is that you are using to track your weight loss? HW 365 CW 332 GW 220 Sleeved 6th March 2018

I was also given one of these by the physiotherapist at the hospital. He explained to me that the anaesthesia causes you to temporarily lose some of your lung function for up to 10 days. Doing the exercise ( inhaling, holding your breath and slowly releasing 5 times) helps to get phlegm up once you cough and reawaken the tiny hairs on the inside wall of the tube connecting to your lungs. I suppose the anaesthesia affects some more than others, but everyone is asked to use it. HW 365 CW 332 GW 220 Sleeved 6th March 2018

Good stuff, I had a few hiccups with Insurance after I did the Croi course also, but got there in the end. I assume you'll probably be under the same surgeon as myself - Chris Collins? HW 365 CW 332 GW 220 Sleeved 6th March 2018

Hi James, good to have you on here! I'm in Mayo and had a gastric sleeve in the Galway Clinic a little over a week ago. Whereabouts on the bariatric journey are you? HW 365 CW 332 GW 220 Sleeved 6th March 2018

You can look at the feedback you are getting from your new stomach as being a positive thing. It will tell you of any negative behaviours going forward. I'm also learning where the boundaries of what will work for me are..it's an interesting journey for us all! HW 365 CW 332 GW 220 Sleeved 6th March 2018

No catheter for me anyway, I got a nice pair of unisex one size fits all disposable undies to wear under my surgical gown though to spare my blushes [emoji4] HW 365 CW 332 GW 220 Sleeved 6th March 2018

Agreed. Before you can help anyone else, you need to fix yourself by making yourself healthy. Sometimes the hard thing to do is to stand back and let matters unfold, but you can't do anything about the views of others, you can only take control of how you decide to react in everyday situations and therein how you are going to deal with the stress. Good decision! HW 365 CW 332 GW 220 Sleeved 6th March 2018

I know exactly how you feel. As I went through the different pre-op checks such as bloods, ECG, medical history checks, (about 2 hours before surgery) I was sure that at each point something would be found and I'd be told that it had been cancelled! Even at the final consent authorisation with my surgeon when he casually asked "how did the pre-op diet go?", I wondered if there was a right or wrong answer! (I told him the truth that I have stuck to the diet btw!) Yes, the build up is intense right into the moment you go into theatre, so you are not the only one!

For those that have already been sleeved, how are you doing with protein intake since surgery? I've developed a little bit of an intolerance to straight skimmed milk, but I am tolerating low fat natural yoghurt and Greek yoghurt ok. Are you using protein powders to up your protein or have you some other "go to" fluids.

Same as@bradleyY, I just got home today from the hospital. I have five incision sites that seem to be healing nicely and I've almost no pain from these. The gas pain is a different matter altogether and it seems to be taking some time for it to sort itself out. My diet today in the hospital started with a natural yoghurt and half a banana smoothie with a teaspoon of honey. I could only manage about 100mls before I was full. It had the effect though of getting my bowels going and boy did they go! (Sorry TMI I know). My energy levels are fairly low at the moment and a 30 min nap in the recliner tuned into three hours. Hopefully that won't stop me from sleeping later, but given I felt like I was conducting a snoring orchestra in the 4 bed ward I was in last night, I'm not surprised that I slept today. Overall, I feel really happy about my decision to have the sleeve so far and I've had great support from my wife and kids. I haven't told my wider family group yet about the specific surgery that I had, but that's a discussion for a different day.

I watched quite a bit of it and found it very interesting to see the pre op arrangements and the day of surgery. Some of the "breakfasts" that they were having were scary - probably 2000 calories in one meal!! I have to say, it made me want to go out for a walk at one point because I realised that some of my own choices in the past weren't so different. The fact that we can eat take away food much cheaper than buying and cooking fresh veg / fruit is scary. HW 365 CW 343 GW 220 Sleeved 6th March 2018

@JD3787, thanks for your detail. It echoes my own experience (I was sleeved yesterday), but the only significant nausea I had was in the first 30 minutes after waking up in recovery...no puking though. HW 365 CW 343 GW 220 Sleeved 6th March 2018

Drink lots of water, if you're at day 7 since your last coffee, then you are nearly there. It took me about 7 days before I felt ok when I did the same. I think it's a great idea to kick the caffeine before surgery so that you are not battling too many lifestyle changes at the same time. HW 365 CW 345 GW 220 Sleeve scheduled 6th March