JanJan19

Pre-Op I only had a day of liquid. Post op I had two weeks of protein shakes & soup and I was nearly out of my mind. It's SO MUCH better on real food. I was hungry that first two weeks. Hungry & annoyed. Once real food was added, the hunger is sooooo much easier to control.

I assume it's different for everyone. I could drink (water/tea) way more than 4oz by week 2. Food wise, I measure most everything to 4oz. And I think I'm just a week or two ahead of you time wise. I do get anxious wondering how long 4oz will be satisfying & if I'll want more at some point, but one day at a time!

MeowAMR - I have PCOS & I was obsessed pre-op worried this wouldn’t work & trying to find examples & comparisons. I’m fifty-ish days post op & down 30 pounds. My weight loss has felt slow compared to many I’ve seen. I never had one great week with a huge loss. I think my highest week was 6 pounds maybe??? Some are 4. Some are 1.5. But it’s all adding up & im feeling very hopeful!

I didn’t have any classes, it wasn’t required by my insurance. Wait- I guess one nutrition class? It was like an hour at the doctors office. My first appt was March 8. My survey was May 23rd - and I could have been in 2 weeks earlier if it had worked for my schedule.

How much longer are you on liquids? And yes, it was the worst part. Foods are so much easier.

If you ever feel like you're surrounded by know it alls (here or in real life) and want to scream/type "just shut up already" you're not alone. You're awesome. You're doing great. If your journey is totally normal and you're freaked out because you're NOT experiencing the myriad of issues you see here, I feel ya. If you're having issues, I hope you're finding the non-judgmental support you need. If you're not, I hope you find it. Try & remember the people commenting on every freaking post to chastise & bully are really talking to themselves.

That is great advice.

Recently passed 50 days post op & finally hit 30 pounds lost. I was firmly stuck in my exact same size 20 pants for most of that 30 pounds, not even loose. Finally, finally I moved into the "smaller 20's" and then bam, just a day or two later those smaller 20's were sliding off and I'm down to an 18. Zero issues to report. Really zero issues since a day or two post op. I'm past the first month anxiety of freaking out because I DON'T have issues. I don't think even think that hard about any of this most days. Yes, I count every calorie & log it all with my protein & water but I'm already doing that without thinking much about it. I still see yummy pastries at the coffee shop & think "that looks great" but it's not in my carb/calories/protein so my next thought is "can't have that" and that's it. And I LOVE food. I do, but being off sugar and having a reduced stomach size has made all the difference. My fingers are firmly crossed that this is working.

Fluffy, honest to God... did you really take screen shots of other members on this forum for the purpose of making fun of them or am I misunderstanding your intent?

My surgeon said day after was fine - actually encouraged I have some to avoid caffeine withdrawal. I had prepped for surgery but cutting back to mostly decaf and then I eased back into coffee with decaf and trying to keep the caffeine to 1 cup a day. I'm 50 days post op now and honestly I drink all the coffee I want. I have a personal goal of trying to get to 64 oz a day of just water/tea. I don't count coffee or protein drinks towards that 64oz, so it helps me switch from coffee to water. But also, some days I have probably... 12 oz of hot coffee & another 16oz of iced coffee before I get to the water.

Mine ended once liquids were over because liquids were BS

This was me. I was so worked up by so many of the posts on this site that I was sure my totally normal experience must be abnormal & it wasn't working & blah blah. My doctor said the people chatting about issues on forums tend to be the outliers, not the norm. And I've noticed when I was in my manically checking this site phase how many people just sorta drop off after a few months & haven't updated. I think a lot of them just don't have any issues & thus aren't gonna hang out & talk about nothing.

My doctor recommended milk of magnesia for any constipation. It's over the counter. And expect similar after surgery. I used to poop every morning, now it's like every other day.

I think I was like this too. I'm not sure I was obsessed, but I was real into watching YouTube videos & Googling things. I wanted to watch every person on YouTube's journey, and then I'd go through their videos to see what their month one was like, etc. My surgery was May 23 - so... 6 weeks ago?? I think the "obsession" with looking at people's journeys & checking in here constantly dropped off 3-4 weeks post op. I'm almost "bored" with it now, if that makes any sense? I feel much more confident in what Im doing & much less concerned with checking here to get opinions.

There is not a single set of rules that are the same. Every doctor seems to have a different set, so? Mine didn't allow JELLO. No jello, no pudding. I could have yogurt if it was drinkable. And I could have all sorts of fattening soups, as long as they were blended. *shrugs*

https://store.bariatricpal.com/products/bariatricpal-15g-protein-shots-pink-lemonade I got 4 flavors of this in my bariatric pal box & I was hesitant but... I've had the pink lemonade & orange & they're actually really good. They can down the tiny bottle like a shot, but I dump it into a bottle of water & liked it. I wasn't as bad off as you my first two weeks with the protein- it didn't make me sick but mentally the taste of most all of it was just gross. I enjoyed the premier protein shakes prior - first 2 weeks after I didn't really want to drink them. (Now that I'm farther out they're good again). I also liked the premier protein clear drinks prior. I STILL don't want to drink those & now I've got 20 of them piled up in my pantry. Whomp.

I never even had a clear liquid phase. It was liquids from Day 2. Day 1 (surgery day) was nothing. Day 2, next day was water & apple juice. I don't think I wanted anything other than that. By day 3 I was on protein shakes.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I super appreciate your reply it so hits home and helps me! How are things going for you with your surgery? I have almost a month out and while I haven’t lost what I consider an awesome amount of weight I just simply feel great - I used to be a huge binge eater and fast food junkie, I could absolutely not pass up French fries no matter how much I wanted to! I would eat massive amounts of unhealthy foods until I felt sick but then would just keep eating. I do not feel that way at ALL now! It’s so refreshing! I took my kid to McDonalds and got him a meal and got some unsweetened iced tea for myself and had absolutely zero desire to order something bad for myself and just went home and had some low fat cottage cheese and went on my merry way. It’s really helped me change my frame of mind and I’m so grateful for that. I was very nervous about eating in restaurants but honestly now I think it’ll be fine and am so happy!! Thanks again! Everything has been picture perfect since my surgery. I too thought I'd have lost more - but I think I based that on this forum & seeing people talking about losing 30 pounds in a week. That has never been the case for me. I think the highest week loss was 6 pounds. I hit a stall a couple weeks ago & lost 1, this past week was 3.4. Surgery date was May 23 & my total loss is at 28 pounds. There's an app called get-2-goal which has been helpful in terms of where I should be. According to that I'm more than on pace. My doctor is happy with my loss thus far as well. Thus far, nothing has bothered me. I really don't think anything is going to bother me. I haven't yet had sugar (other than grapes or strawberries) but I'm pretty sure it won't bother me. So for me this sleeve is a tool to eat less, but it's not going to make me sick the way it does some people when they eat bad things.

I like the ONE bars.

Texas I was panicked my first couple days about not getting enough protein. My doctor was like don't even worry about it at this point. I don't remember it lasting very long- 2-3 days maybe? The idea of protein shakes sounded NASTY those early days when I'd enjoyed them prior to surgery. I like them again now too.

Alice, it gets better. I'm only 35 days out so I can remember that first couple weeks. The worst hunger for me was during soups and protein drinks. I still experience hunger now, but it's more manageable and is satisfied with a 4oz meal. Soup just made me angry.

I wish I had bought LESS of the protein waters. They taste disgusting now & I've got like 24 of them to go through. Just get enough supplies to last you up to a week. Soup. Sugar free popsicles. You definitely need a scale. I bought a small countertop bullet type blender & used it a LOT. Pureeing soups the first week & now I use it to add powdered peanut butter to protein drinks. A shaker would probably work, but blended is nice. I bought some small 4oz disposable containers with lids from Amazon. I don't use them much. I bought a lot of new pyrex storage containers with lids. I was sick of my plastic stuff & got a bunch of smaller sizes so I could portion out 4oz of beef or chicken & stick in fridge. I was allowed apple juice & gatorade the first couple weeks - watered down. The apple juice was really nice during that time period. I bought new dishes right before, not specifically for this but the timing was nice. The plates & bowls are much smaller than my old set which really helps visually.

I had NO issues getting water in & reading all those posts about people struggling to get 2oz in just freaked me out. I am currently a month out, but I've had no issues drinking since the first day. And I can easily drink 4+ oz in one sip. Easily. Like I wake up and chug a good 4-6 oz to start the day. WATER before anyone yells at me. I regularly get in 65oz of water per day, just water. I don't count coffee or protein drinks as part of my 65oz, it's just the goal I set for myself to encourage myself to switch to water after a cup or two of coffee in the morning. I spent my entire first month going NUTS over the posts on this site because you know why because I felt like my normal experience must be abnormal. I saw my doctor for my one month follow up & I was like WHY IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ME & he was like... you wanted problems? Logically, no I don't. I was just feeling like surely something is wrong that I've got no issues. Nada. My doctor assured me no issues is the norm.

I'm 4 weeks out & it got better for me. The first couple weeks the shakes and protein waters were not great. I'm still a little heh on the protein waters - the sweetness is weird - but the shakes are good again. I also alter them a lot - tend to put half a shake in an iced coffee kind of thing.

Hi Karen! I'm 30 days out & I've absolutely experienced hunger & get real annoyed when people claim it's head hunger. Listen, when you're eating 500 calories a day, there are going to be times you're hungry. BUT - it's still less than before if that helps. It's also different by day. Some days I can go hours & hours without needing anything. Others I'm legitimately hungry. Not bored, I just want a dang chicken breast. But again - manageable. I'm currently at 600-900 calories daily & it's fine. There's NO WAY I'd be able to eat this little without the surgery.