Losebig

I would recommend some miralax or stool softeners. I was happy on day 10 when I went, but a week later the second time was NOT fun! Since them miralax has worked well, but I wish I had started earlier.

Interesting, I hadn't seen these. Do they taste like the regular ones? Will have to try some.

I'm jealous of your carbs. My program has us mostly carb free for 6-16 months, which means all the calories are protein, vegetables and a tiny amount of fruit. At this point (3 weeks out) I get around 800 - 1k calories most days.

Mix up flavors, or even brands. You can also freeze them, which at least gives some texture.

Wow, what a journey. Happy you're on the upswing. Are there two drains from the most recent surgery? Looks like they hooked you up to everything!

I went back into the office after 8 days, but have a desk job and can work at home if I want. The hardest part I found was remembering to get the liquids in. I think 2 weeks is good for non physical jobs

Liquids go right through, so once healed as you noted it's slow but you can consume a lot. Puréed food is similar. You really start to see it when you move to soft foods. Just pace yourself the first few times you overeat can be pretty unpleasant

For nausea if it's more than just passing they usually do zofran (prescription). For acid there are a bunch, my program has us on Pepcid the first few weeks. Not sure on the diarrhea but my sense is the only big one they want you to avoid are NSAIDS.

Good job through the holidays, it's a tough time of year. Hopefully the next 10 days are easy!

I think it varies quite a bit... For me I'm only a few weeks out, but I definitely have hunger, but it is different than before, it's easily ignored if I busy myself and it is satisfied fairly quickly (for example I just ate .5 oz of ham because I was hungry). I've been trying to really focus on the feeling and make sure it's not just a habit or head hunger. I also make sure it's been at least 3 or 4 hours since my last meal. At this point I'm just eating whenever I feel true hunger, but due to portion limits that still has me at 600 to 800 calories, which is fine. One tip my nutritionist had was that if a little bit of protein doesn't satisfy it, or you don't want protein then it's not real hunger. Fullness is hard to 'feel' too!

Glad it went well. Now every day it'll get a bit better. The gas is the worst, walk as much as you can and keep sipping!

Thanks!!!!

I had a slow down week 2, but lost 20 in week one, so definitely some water weight. At this point there's a lot of water fluctuation as you get rehydrated and start to intake more sodium etc. The protein shakes are really high in sodium too. You may want to try and measure to see if that's changing or taking a weekly picture. Even though the scale stayed the same I'm definitely seeing a difference. Week 3's weigh in is Tuesday so we'll see how that goes now that I'm on soft foods and off shakes. Anyone else feel like they're freezing to death? It's extremely cold out right now, but I'm not comfortable unless I'm 5 feet from my wood stove where it's 80 - 90 degrees!

Really interesting, I'll have to see if my group does anything like that (I doubt it). I have the same issue as I used to lift weights and have always been very active. I set my goal based on a weight I had been in the past when I lost all the excess weight, I was still considered overweight based on the charts, but at the time I was as thin as I could have gotten.

Interesting. Do you get nutrition labs as part of your program? If so you could check the most recent to see how your calcium levels are. When I had them last time it was because of too much calcium (I was using tums with Calcium a LOT). I'm a bit worried now actually as they have me on calcium supplements. Hope they go away soon.

It is kind of funny.. If you had cancer and there was a treatment that worked, would people say "they took the easy way out" and be negative about it? Cancer is probably somewhat out of people's control - but what about smoking? Weight at the level where you're getting surgery is a disease / addiction and if surgery is an easy way out (at this point I don't currently believe there's much 'easy' about it so far) - then why the heck wouldn't we be pushing people to do it and supporting them. Any way out of a life threatening disease is a good thing, if surgery makes it easier then everyone should be super supportive. For whatever reason there's a pretty big trend around looking down on fat people and some sense that they're weak willed or whatever. Luckily for me I'm not worried about what anyone else thinks and want to use whatever tool is going to work best long term to help me be and stay healthy.

I had these pretty severely and would get into these spasms where I'd dry heave for hours and couldn't stop. The biggest issue was once they started swallowing anything was impossible, so IV meds were the only answer. Zofran helped (you can get a dissolving form, which helps if you can't swallow) and we found in the hospital that Ativan (like Valium with some anti nausea properties) helped to stop the spasms. The good news is that it was almost entirely gone by day 4 and I've been fairly Nausea free since Day 6. One thing to be aware of is that the dry heaves can be triggered by some of the pain meds (dilaudid - I had an oral form due to issues with Oxy). It'll get better soon!

Didn't have one of those (or even knew they existed)! So far no issues that it would have helped.

I was the day after you and have been able to eat a lot of puree items. I pureed lentil soup and could eat 2 cups of it (VERY slowly). The DR said that purees are almost liquid and go right through, which is why you can eat much more. I'm now doing soft food and that definitely sticks more and I seem to be able to eat between 1/4 and 1/2 a cup, which is about right. I think you're right on track. Weight loss wise - I'm down about 30 lbs from start and 17 down from the surgery (my weigh in day is Tuesday, so I'm probably a little less). Right now your water weight is going to fluctuate a lot based on fluid intake, sodium etc. I'm getting a lot of sodium (soups / broth / shakes) and plenty of fluid, so last week my weight stayed the same, though i can see I'm noticeably thinner. My team says that around 15 per month for the first few months is typical and then it may be a little slower. I am tracking calories just to make sure and I know that at 600 - 900 calories per day I'm not maintaining or gaining so I'm not too worried about what the scale says... you shouldn't be either. You may want to take some key measurements, which will help you see the weight loss even if the scale hasn't caught up (I do bicep, thigh, chest and waist).

I'm still pretty new at this, but have the same problem. I have been pre-measuring portions to make sure I don't overdo it and then taking big pauses (5 - 10 minutes) during the meal to see how I feel. The second I feel anything (slight fullness, discomfort, pain) then I stop immediately. So far its working pretty well. Meat does seem to be the hardest as I think its the least forgiving. Chewing 25 plus times also gives some time to think about how things feel, with meat I usually put down the fork, chew and then wait a bit between tiny bites (I use cocktail silverware). I've heard it can be months until real feeling comes back.

Right after I had to sleep on my back with my upper body slightly elevated (a recliner didn't work for some reason). Now just a little further out I'm sleeping on my back or my left side (my left side only has one incision, my right side - which I can't sleep on has 2 including the bigger one). I accidentally laid on my stomach for a few minutes last night and that was a mistake.

Anyone have severe left shoulder pain (top of the shoulder where it meets the neck feels like someone is pinching as hard as possible). I'm 2 weeks out tomorrow and while I had the pain slightly in both shoulders after surgery it's now much worse (crippling in fact) and only on the left side. It gets worse if I eat or drink and f I have a food that doesn't agree with me, or eat too fast it becomes so bad that I can't move that arm. Guessing it's referred pain from the sleeve or Hernia repair - going to DR in a couple days, but wanted to see if others are experiencing it. Everything else is fine. Thanks

Awesome. Great attitude. Stay positive and hydrated!

Had the same. The thing that helped was that Ivirtually everyone more than a few months out says it's the best decision they made. Even people who had severe and weird issues say that. You can still eat what you enjoy eventually, just a lot less. I was very nervous in pre-op waiting (it was hours), but then realized that my dr does like 5 of these a day and luckily was able to talk to other folks waiting for the same surgery too.

Hang in there. Things for me got way better around day 10. I still had shoulder and neck pain until a few days ago. Take your pain meds and it will pass with time. Drinking or eating too much or too fast may make it worse, as will certain sitting or laying positions. It does get better and quickly. Yogurt already is good I wasn't even close to water or protein goals until day 8, a few days out and even tiny pills stuck in my throat.