Creekimp13

I think one of the reasons I really felt I had to take control of fast food....were the conversations I had with my therapist about how I used fast food in the past. It was a huge reward/comfort/coping mechanism (read binge trigger...disordered eating symptom). If I was having a challenging morning, I'd promise myself to make it easier with a Mc Big Breakfast on the way to whatever difficult day awaited me. 766 calories of what felt like self nurturing, but was really self sabotage.....particularly when paired with the rest of the day's stress eating. If I had that day when I had a million errands and the dreaded task of buying groceries.....I rewarded myself, justifying that after carrying in groceries and putting everything away, woe is me Cinderella....I DESERVED to have the monster bucket of KFC with all the sides for dinner....because it was self nurturing to let someone else make dinner. (self nurturing turned into 850 calories of chicken meal, plus ice cream...oye) Anytime I had to do something unpleasant...I'd build in the silver lining. A doctor's appointment isn't so bad if you get fries and a fancy coffee afterward. Even after seeing the veterinarian, I had to stop to get the dog a plain burger as a reward for being good....and of course, something for me for undertaking such a task. You can justify fast food with hospitality and generosity. Oh, I knew Suzy hadn't eaten, so I stopped for her. If you're being considerate to others it's a perfect excuse to reward (sabotage) yourself. Hey, I'm being a good doobie, good for me, I deserve fries, too. Sometimes the fast food was an enhancement to happy times. How many times have I celebrated a little good news with fast food or a donut? Take the kids to the zoo, everyone's tired, let's get a burger and make it an extra fun afternoon. And of course you get fast food nonstop while traveling or on vacation to bring a little of home with you. Oye. Fast food was a huge emotional reward. It represented medicating stress, it represented enhancing pleasure. It represented nurturing that I needed and wasn't getting. And it represented a metric feck ton of over budget calories and addiction behavior. So yeah...fast food is complicated. There's a reason we crave it and it's not all about it tasting good. Sometimes after surgery we feel tired and overwhelmed and want that comfort habit, that celebration, that medication for stress. And that is NOT the way to eat any food if you want to break the cycle of disordered eating. Promise yourself other ways of nurturing yourself. Try to avoid food rewards/coping....but at the very least, if you do a food reward...make sure the calories and nutrition can be balanced. Make part of nurturing giving yourself a nutritional win. Also...if you nurture yourself with food, learn to ask for help with nurturing instead. At my house...whoever does the grocery shopping now is exempt from cooking that night. Someone else has to cook...which makes the grocery buyer feel appreciated and cared for....and keeps her from bringing home junkfood. Do other stuff that makes you feel good. Have yourself a deep bath, order a good movie or book, schedule a massage....do something nice for yourself that gives you a similar warm fuzzy feeling without the colossal calories. At the end of the day.....fast food isn't the problem. It can be consumed sensibly if we're ready and understand why it's dangerous. Lots of places are offering some healthier options. The real problem is unmet need, stress that needs soothing, celebratory traditions that are ingrained but unhealthy. I did a lot of talking about fast food and modifying fast food traditions with my therapist. It genuinely helped.

I eat fast food all the time. But I make better choices. At McD's I'll eat an egg mcmuffin and a coffee with cream and splenda. At Wendy's, I love their grilled chicken strawberry salad and eat about 2/3 of it. At KFC, I've been known to eat two chicken legs, original, no sides...and an ice tea. At Burger King, I'll eat half an Impossible Whopper. For some people....stopping at fast food is too triggering and leads to free for all binging melt downs. For me, I've found that I need to face my triggers to feel in control of my eating habits. I purposefully go to fast food places for lunches (not always, but regularly when working) and order sensibly. I know exactly the number of calories I'm eating and make sure the rest of my day fits. I read the nutrition information before I order, make a plan, and stick to it. Fast food places don't bother me anymore. I don't feel threatened with feeling out of control anymore. I feel like I can eat there and still eat responsibly. I like fast food. In moderation. With my eyes wide open. I like feeling like I've slayed that dragon and it holds no control over me anymore.

Though regain and difficulty with maintenance is very common....Few people who are struggling with regain stick around and post on this board. Most folks here are new to surgery and excited about possibilities, going through the process...high energy. You will see a few people talking about regain on the veteran's forum and revision boards. If you want statistical information about percentages of people who reach goal, regain, what is considered "a success" in the industry...talk to your bariatric surgeon. They are excellent, tough questions that you really should ask.

I never experienced pain or spasms of any kind. Do you just mean it's hard to swallow? Difficulty swallowing, or feeling like you can't swallow anything else because your esophogus is full of saliva....is pretty normal for a couple weeks after surgery. Can you describe what you're concerned about in more detail? Do you have someone at home set up to do your post-op care and answer bariatric surgery questions medically? If so, I'd contact them. If not, I'd try to find a bariatric group here to establish a relationship with in case this needs follow up.

Also...this is gonna sound old fashioned....but if she's a creative kid....send her some puppets. You guys can do an online puppet show together, make believe play is still something 10 year old people enjoy....which is why they are so much fun:)

Get her lined up with an app where you can video chat while playing a game together, like checkers or something simple. You could read her your favorite kid's books. You could try fun novelty items together instead of food...puzzles, little toys, new art supplies. And heck...there are lots of fun snacks that aren't that bad for you. You could send her bariatric snacks to try with you...get an honest opinion!

My surgeon's group wanted us to reach 1200 calories a day as soon as we could. I did this at around 3-4 weeks out...eating 6 little 200 calorie "meals" a day. We were told to stay at 1200 during all of loss phase. I know this is VERY different advice than what many clinics give their clients. Some want people to stay below 1000 calories for a very long time to "take advantage of the window of loss". My doctors are part of a study addressing how extended periods of very low calorie diets may be corelated with rebound weight gain due to negative metabolic shift. They believe that for the best LONG TERM outcomes....eating calories closer to maintenance for healthy weight sooner...is better. I eat 1600 calories a day now, and have maintained the last two years with no weight gain. There will always be individual experiences and exceptions to every rule.

Measure out one ounce of water/tea/sugar free jello/broth....into a little one ounce medicine cup. Drink this in ten tiny sips...over 15 minutes. Do this EVERY 15 minutes. Make your entire day about focusing on this one task. Four little cups per hour. If you do this, and you are awake for 16 hours (16x4 ounces)....you will drink 64 ounces in a day. It takes a LOT of effort. Essentially, it's all you do the first week. Just wait until the next sip...all freaking day. But it will keep you out of the hospital for dehydration, and you'll feel pretty good.

Nerves are normal. Big emotions are normal. Get prepared as much as you can, and expect to work hard and have challenges. You will need to employ patience. It won't be easy. Most important advice freshly post-op. Sip. Sip. Sip. Use the stupid little cups, make the chart on paper, and put all of your attention and focus the next week....into drinking as much as you're supposed to. Drink one teenie little one ounce cup in ten teenie little sips. Do this every 15 minutes, all day, as long as you are awake. 4 ounces an hour...if you are awake 16 hours = 64 ounces. But you have to pay attention and do it. Every. Single. Hour. Your job the next week is to watch the clock and drink. Sip, sip, sip. That's how you stay out of the hospital for dehydration. Best wishes and congrats!

You're eating less than 500 very low carb calories a day. That, in itself, will cause a little weight loss in 6 days. But the bulk of what you've lost is likely water. Because of your low carbs, you are stripping your liver of all the glucose stored there...so it shrinks. (Which is really nice, because there is a little more room for the surgeon to work with the liver reduced) As the glucose in the liver is used, a lot of water is expelled, too. This "instant significant weight loss" when we mostly eliminate carbs from our diets....is why people are so delighted when they go on a Keto diet and instantly lose weight and inches around their waists. But they're not losing fat....they're just losing their emergency glucose and the water it's stored in, and just shrinking their livers. Your loss is normal and I wouldn't worry about it. Keep following your team's instructions.

Could therapy help? Have you given it a try? Can't hurt...

Bariatric Surgery patients represent a surprisingly increasing number of patients in inpatient treatment for anorexia according to John's Hopkins. Yes, anorexia and other eating disorders are a serious risk for our population. Yes, treatment....including eating more.... will be a help even if you gain a little weight to find a managable maintenance level of calories. Passing out is incredibly dangerous and can kill you or others if you drive. It's also incredibly unsafe on stairs, around heavy equipment, and in the company of unsafe people. Being that low on nutrition is hard on your body, particularly your heart. You can do permenant damage in short order. Take your condition seriously. Your very demanding job and thinner body are of no use to you if you imperil your safety, health, and eventually your life. (it's tough on relationships, too) Wishing you the very best.

Congrats! ❤️

I ate 1200 calories a day at 3 weeks. I still have terrific restriction. I was chew my leg off starving....until I hit 1200 calories.

Pure Protein Chocolate Delux bars. Love them. 180 calories, 21g of Protein. Also...hard boiled eggs. Carrots and hummus. String cheese. Almonds. Chia pudding.

I'm 3.5 years post op. Super glad I did it:) Wish I'd done it years ago. I wish I'd known the true statistics of what percentage of people have outcomes they are happy with. I'm extremely happy, but I know several people who are struggling and revising and in my opinion have not gotten the help they need to address the core issues....the disordered eating that drives obesity. This surgery will fix your guts temporarity so it's difficult to overeat. It doesn't fix your head. Eventually, you will be able to eat pretty freely again and can easily self sabotage if you don't fix your eating issues. I do think I'll be able to stay at a healthy weight for the long term. Last year, my yearly exam was a phone exam due to Covid. This year I went in and was weighed for the first time in two years...and was within one pound of what I weighed two years ago. I'm stupid proud of that. If I gain five pounds, I see the bariatric therapist ASAP. I talk about all the events leading up to the gain and try to figure out what triggered it and how to avoid the behaviors, and replace them with different coping mechanisms. I always feel better, and in short order, am back down 5 pounds. See the therapist. It works and can be just as important as the surgery. If you qualify for the surgery, I would absolutely recommend it. Best wishes!

Refried beans, lowfat cheese, salsa.....I ate them all at 3.5 weeks. I did not eat tortillas in weight loss phase.

Water. Has the temperature changed? The amount of water you carry can change with the temperature.

The more weight you lose before surgery, the better. I think most people do a food funeral or two...a big goodbye to something they love....but it's actually pretty silly. I've eaten pretty much everything I've ever eaten, just much smaller amounts and a lot of it I don't like as much anymore. Have a food funeral or two...but don't go crazy. Stick to your diet as much as possible. I never did bed rest. LOL. Not even the day of surgery. Day I had my surgery, I walked over a mile in the halls of the bariatric wing. I pretty much got back to life. Lay in a supply of your favorite protien drinks, sugar free jello, bone broth, tea, Mio...stuff you can have right after surgery.

Just had my annual Bariatric Team visit. At my clinic, we do this once a year for the rest of forever. Every year, we run a bunch of labs on vitamin and nutrient absorption to make sure everything is still good, have a consult, answer a million questions for research, discuss any health concerns, and get weighed. I was within half a pound of my weigh in last year. They were delighted. I was delighted. I don't mind doing this, and I think it's extremely helpful to keep tabs on folks so that assistance can be offered as needed. I think monitoring nutrient absorption is a really good idea, too, since it can take a couple years to develop issues. How do other folk's bariatric groups handle distant post ops? Do they want ya'll to come once a year forever after that first year? I'm always curious how other clinics do things.

I do love me some green beans! Hit these guys with a little sesame oil, some minced garlic, some balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Crack beans. Love them. If you have some lean ham or turkey bacon, dice it up and throw it in. Have leftovers? Throw them in a potato and green bean soup. Can't go wrong with these...and you can get the nice pretty tender little whole beans frozen at Aldi on the cheap. Enjoy!

Oh Lordy! I hope the OP found a bariatric treatment team that understands vegetarian diets. My team had an entirely vegetarian plan option and guess what some of the first foods were? Beans. Brown Rice. Oats. Potatoes. Hummus. Why? because they have a terrific metabolic index...are loaded with plant based protien...and have FIBER. (they're also much better tolerated right after surgery than meat by many folks) I'm not a vegetarian, but I like the Mayo Clinic Diet and the Mediterrainian diet....so my pre and post surgical diets were sort of a hybrid that included a lot of vegetarian influence. (I still eat meat, but I also eat a lot of beans, oats, nuts, seeds, etc) Thankfully, I had a team that did their homework on different ways up the mountain and didn't suggest keto was the only way or that carbs were the devil. Whew! So thankful for that! Cause the diet that many of ya'll describe is not something that I could have survived. I remember posting some of my sample menus...from my freaking dietician....a few weeks out and getting slammed by people here for the things (and amounts...1200 calories by end of first month) I was eating. A month out of surgery, I remember existing on refried beans with lowfat cheese and salsa....black beans with salsa and canned chicken....split pea soup....tofu chili with white beans....tofu chop suey over a small amount of brown rice....steal cut oats with dried cherries. Fruit. My clinic was absolutely fine with fruit as tolerated, but they wanted whole fruit, not just the juice. I ate a lot of baked oats with blueberries, strawberries, pecans and low calorie maple syrup. I ate 100 calorie whole grain english muffins with peanut butter. I ate boiled potatos with lowfat cheese or nonfat yogurt. ****, I poured caramel Premier Protien shake on my oatmeal and liked slurping it warm. But you know what I didn't eat? Sugar. White flour. Processed foods. Prepackaged sweet carbs. Stuff that spikes your insulin. I also didn't add animal fat like butter. Most of the stuff I ate was pretty low fat with the exception of tiny amounts of olive or grape seed or sesame oil. All of my carbs in weight loss phase were full of fiber and not processed. I ate a little fruit everyday. I added a lot of herbs, made sauces replacing sugar with splenda, I put every kind of vegetable and fruit in my kitchen in the smoothies I drank....and a glob of nonfat greek yogurt or tofu or chia seeds for protein. My clinic was activingly fighting the notion that super restricted calories and keto in the first months after surgery were necessary. They did things very differently than I hear routinely described here. I know we're all gonna have a different experience and I know for MOST of you guys....a super restricted calorie diet in the early days and keto, keto, keto, carbs are the devil....is what you were taught is the only way. And I know for most of ya'll...it's what worked and what you believe like a religion. I'm here to tell ya... There are other paths up this mountain. I'm working on being tolerant of everyone's preferred path. Anyway you get it done....you deserve serious kudos and I'm proud of you all. But I've gotta say.... it can be easy to feel defensive when post after post after post here...is so negative about what worked terrific for me and others like me. A few of us have lost weight successfully and maintained really well...on a diet that includes a buttload of (unrefined) carbs and a pretty high calorie allowance started early in the process. What's more...as a group, it appears we're having really good luck not regaining. That's no small thing. Keep an open mind about your carb eating brothers and sisters. We do ok with this whole process, too;) As always...to each their own. Peace and best wishes to all.

Protien drinks can be dairy heavy...and some people get a little acid from too much dairy. Likely your nerves are doing a number on your digestion. Take a minute and breathe. You got this. You've been working and preparing for a long time. You look young and healthy. Surgery should go great! Do some things to take your mind off obsessing about it. Watch some funny shows, read a book, do an activity that you enjoy that occupies your brain. You're gonna be fine. Best wishes!

Woot! Well done!

If you meet your protien goal, you will protect your heart. If you go to your appointments, do your tests, do your best to follow instructions, and take your vitamins as directed.... you will likely be a lot healthier than you've been in years. There is nothing more strongly linked with early death, cancer, stroke, heart disease and diabetes.....than significant obesity. Also...some doctors don't do a "starvation diet" (which I personally agree could be metabolically terrible and probably unwise). My doctor wanted us eating 1200 calories per day as soon as possible. I did at three weeks. (6 little 200 calorie meals) I think where most of the people who have issues run into problems...is when they don't follow up. They have an unexpected gain or feel unhappy with results and don't continue to get their labs checked or do their follow up appointments. Yes, a few problems can arise as a result of these surgeries....most are very treatable. Always weigh benefits vs risk. And also consider the risk involved in doing nothing.