redhead_che

Self pay. First appt was October 12th, surgery was November 28th. Little over a month

The pre-op diet for my surgeon's office was terrifyingly awful, but mine was only one week. If I remember correctly (I try to block it out because I hated it with a fiery passion) all meals were replaced with a protein shake until 2 days before surgery and then it was "basic" liquid like broth until surgery. I was the most tired, miserable, headachy person for that week. I just kept telling myself--if you can't make it through a week of this, how do you expect to make it through a lifetime of healthy lifestyle? And every time I wanted to eat ACTUAL food and CHEW something I just said it again....and again...and again.

I was drinking Premier Protein RTD pre-op and then early post-op due to convenience and more protein with less oz. Then I got sick of them and switched to GNC powders...but I don't really enjoy them. I'm dairy sensitive, so even the whey isolate is bothersome, but my sleeve hated the other options like egg white based or vegan even more. I do a scoop of protein with 1/4c blackberries and 1c kale now to attempt to mask how much I hate it

At 6 weeks I ate the way I do now, 3 meals a day, no snacks. Breakfast at that time was always a Premier Protein (11oz), which took about 2 hours to drink. (6a-8a ish) Lunch/Dinner were only 1.5 to 2oz per my surgeon's program. I ate a lot of good quality lunch meat like turkey or ham. Lunch was 11a and dinner 5pm. I never felt hungry in between. I tried to eat some veggies on the side like green beans or steamed broccoli, but if I recall I wasn't usually successful because of the "protein first" rule.

The breakfast smoothie after everything turns into liquified grossness gives me at least 20oz (which I totally count towards my 64oz requirement). When I remember to use my food scale I'd say lunch/dinner are 2-4oz. I'm still feeling quite restricted in terms of how much my sleeve feels like letting me ingest. But I'm okay with that and I'll ride it out as long as I keep losing! My kale smoothie and I are frenemies. I really don't like kale, but it's got fiber and it's freakin' good for you so I suck it up. Recipe for meatballs: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/real-meatballs-and-spaghetti-recipe-1946027 I ignored the whole "put these on top of spaghetti noodles" part, but my boyfriend appreciated not having to just eat straight up meatballs

4 months out from sleeve. Calorie intake/day anywhere from 450-600 calories. Macro goals: 60 protein, less than 70carbs (Under 50 is my preference), less than 30g fat. TBH I don't always hit my protein, but I get at least 50, so that's close? :| Breakfast: Daily protein shake: GNC protein powder, 1/4c blackberries, 1c kale Lunch: This past week has been italian meatballs with a whopping 26g protein each. I eat 2 and I'm full. Other times it's a random protein based recipe I make. My go-tos are mushroom chicken and wonton taco cups. Dinner: More of the above protein based dishes, or most recently it's been 1/2c fiber one cereal to get my fiber in...to stay regular...which is super important. PSA: 1/2c serving has like, 18g fiber in it! I'm not a huge fan of cooking, but I'm an avid pinterest-er and all of my protein based recipes come from there. I highely recommend searching "high protein meals" or something if anyone out there is struggling with food choices.

I had a glass after 2 months, which was the minimum my surgeon's office said to wait. They encouraged no alcohol until after 6 months, but it wasn't harped on. I made myself a goal before surgery (because I too very much enjoy wine!) that I could have a glass when I lost 50lbs. I probably have 2 glasses a week now, my tolerance levels are waaaaay lower and I'm not complaining.

Today is the day—time to buy some “new” pants! I went through all my 16s...then 14s...now the 12s are falling off and I went to my closet and realized 😮 I don’t have any 10s! My budget tells me I can only go to goodwill or something right now but it’s exciting! Only 32lbs to goal now. We are rocking this November sleevers!

I didn’t wear a bra for 3 weeks after surgery. Even going out to walk or errands. So yes!

I’m 4 months post op and able to eat a varied diet now. I mostly stick to lean meats and fish for protein. The past 3 days I’ve had extreme difficulty tolerating foods ive been fine eating since I reached solid food stage. I get headaches and nausea frequently after a few bites of what I had been considering a “normal” dish for me. For example, today I couldn’t tolerate lean ground beef. Yesterday it was an egg dish. I am wondering if anyone has had something similar happen around the 4 month or so mark? I was debating going back to more bland foods for a few days to see if that helps. Also considered a few days of just protein shakes and liquid. Signed, The nauseous redhead

I hover in the 400-500 range. 4 months out. Still losing. My nutritionist says it’s more about meeting your protein and fluid goals, not a calorie goal.

My loss has also slowed, but still down 60lbs. I’m also dealing with some hair loss. And currently unexpected food intolerance. Foods I’ve been eating since like, month 2 are causing me headaches and nausea. Considering doing liquids for a few days to see if that helps reset whatever I broke inside

Just had my first cup of black coffee in 6 months. I stopped all caffeine back on October 1st in preparation for surgery. I just couldn’t shake the tired afternoon slump today and decided to get a small cup since I’m 4 months out now. Holy cow what it did to me! I am like bouncing off walls! I don’t think I’ll be doing this again for awhile 😂 The jitters are real!

I read this and it was definitely a good read.

Painting my house this weekend haha. That’s a present to me! Getting rid of the blah brown!

About 50. Everyone is so different though.

I agree with FluffyChix--if a person isn't 100% on board mentally the surgery may not be as successful. I was 100% do or die, still am 4 months out. It's weight loss or bust! I will add though--you mentioned not following the pre-op diet "right". I'm wondering if your surgeon would cancel it just because of that. My surgeon stated if I had any cheating at all my surgery would be cancelled due to the risk of injury to the liver if it was still enlarged. Might be worth calling their nurse line depending on how much you didn't follow the plan. That was one of the questions the nurse asked me on my pre-op call (2 days before surgery) was if I followed the diet.

I took naps every day for my 3 week post op time off. That doesn’t seem unusual to me. But I was doing laps around the main level of my house every hour the first week and then the second week I was outside walking as far as I could. It wasn’t pretty. But I didn’t do hardly anything besides get my fluids and protein in the first few weeks and do my laps. And id fall asleep in the recliner during the day. Naps aren’t the devil. I was just as tired as you described. But as long as I was walking and moving every hour and getting my fluids I was fine

I have a crockpot mushroom chicken recipe I loved. And I make “cups” a lot of different ways in a muffin tin with wonton wrappers. This week it was spicy taco cups. I’ve done lasagna and pizza cups as well as egg cups, but the spice of this one was on point. And I put cute little garnishes on

I don’t have any problems right now, but my surgeon said approximately half of sleeved patients will need their gallbladder out post op at some point. Yikes!

Did you consider chopping it all off? I have medium length hair, which used to be thick hair. But now I’m losing chunks of hair lately :/ I know it won’t last forever..just wonder if having shorter hair might make it a little less distressing for me

For the first few weeks my protein shakes counted towards my fluid requirement, I'm not sure if hers do, but that saved me early on...so did sugar free popsicles. But now that I'm almost 4 months out, I have a water bottle with me all the time and set timers. I also put Mio flavoring in it. I also use 32 oz sugar free Powerades as my "water" some weeks when I don't feel like Mio.

7 day liquid diet and that was it. I was trying to make smarter choices as soon as I got my surgery date though.

That no one has mentioned! Most of the people I know that've had hair loss have had thick hair like me, so the number one comment has been just feeling noticeably thinner. I'm sure there are other threads on here regarding hair loss that might talk about that!

My program said it's pretty common to see hair loss start anywhere from 4-6 months post op, regardless of which procedure you chose. I'm almost 4 months and mine is just beginning. Hopefully it stops soon. The duration of hair loss appears to be different for everyone. Some people don't get hair loss at all, but everyone I've talked to had some degree of it.