Arabesque

I was told that post surgery the caffeine is too harsh on your healing tummy. Said it was best to break the habit before surgery as you have enough to deal with afterwards without adding caffeine withdrawal. I drank green tea so wasn’t an issue & I was allowed to drink it after surgery too.

That was me too. Equal opportunity snack craver. 😁 PS - I used to like the chocolate covered pretzels way too much so I had to ban them from my shopping trolley. Oh and that sweet n salty popcorn. Mmm!

Over the counter meds aren’t strong enough to counteract the extra acid your healing tummy is producing. They only work for ‘soothing’ heartburn. You need PPI meds that work on reducing the acid production & maybe a stronger dose as @catwoman7 suggested. You may only need to take them for a month or so until everything is healed.

Liquids tend to go through you more quickly so you don’t feel any restriction or real sense of fullness which is why you need to tread carefully. All because you can doesn’t mean you should. Remember all those sutures & staples holding your tummy together. Were you given any recommended portion sizes? Are you getting in or close to getting in your protein goals (usually advised from 60 to 80g)? Over what time frame are you drinking this fluid? We’re usually advised to consume 64oz/2litres of fluids including shakes, soups, broths, herbal or green teas, water, etc. which you are exceeding (if my maths is correct) which isn’t really an issue. Remember sip slowly. Leave a few minutes between sips. If you are really concerned call your surgeon & your dietician. Glad you are recovering so well. PS - Some people struggle at first because of swelling from the surgery & breathing tube. I struggled to swallow for a couple of days & then wasn’t interested in eating/drinking which why it was tough to meet my goals to begin.

I had injections for the 24 hours after surgery only (also did after my gall surgery). Nothing after so it seems strange to be having them for a month to me too. Blood thinning injections are renowned for causing bruising. Try a hirudoid or arnica cream to help the bruising. Make sure you draw your surgeons attention to the bruising & any issues you feel the blood thinners may be causing you. (Make a list before you go so you don’t forget anything.) Some people struggle with certain brands, lots of side effects, & have to trial other brands to find the one that works for them.

Lactose intolerance can cause excessive wind & foul odours so I agree it’s something worth exploring. Have you ever spoken to your surgeon about this because it isn’t a common experience. If not, i think it is something you need to seek medical help with from a someone who specialises in gastroenterology like your surgeon. Hope they can find some answers & a solution.

Started at around month 3 or 4 & persisted for about 3 or 4 months. Just noticed more hair in my hands when shampooing. According to my hair dresser I lost about 40% (I think it was more 30%) but I had heaps to begin. You may lose more or less. It’s very individual. I cut my long hair to just above my shoulders so it wasn’t as noticeable. The hair the sheds is hair that you were going to lose anyway - your natural hair loss cycle is just accelerated. Your new hair is growing at the same time but at it’s usual rate so isn’t really noticeable for a while - you’ll start to see fluffy new growth after a month or so depending on how fast your hair grows. Remember all the hair on your head is actually dead & naturally sheds. The live part is root under your skin. So all the vitamins & supplements may do is strengthen your new growth. Fertiliser won’t save dead leaves on a plant or stop them falling off but can promote new leaf growth. Some people swear by vitamins & supplements but they still lose hair over that similar 3 or 4 month period. I never had a problem with my teeth. I go to my dentist every 6 months & he gives me a gold star every time (he was my PE teacher at school & we laugh about it as he never gave me a gold star at school 😆😆). My skin didn’t get drier actually the opposite. Always had dry & itchy arms & legs & those little bumps on my arms regardless of how often I exfoliated & moisturised. Don’t exfoliate at all now. My skin is soft but I do moisturise but not as lavishly. My legs have started to get a little itchy again but I think it’s more to do with shaving than anything else. The better diet. More protein & little or no sugar are why. You will look a little drawn & tired while losing but this settles once you are in maintenance & eating a little more. Everything seems to need time to resettle again.

First meal probably about the same but second meal more. I could only eat one egg & nothing else. Remember ordering 1/2 a grilled tomato as a side to an egg at 8 months but I could only eat one bite. But that was me & we can be very different. How much I am able to consume also depends on the food I’m eating. Portion size & (approx) calories still dictate how much I put on my plate. Usually it’s all I need but sometimes I can’t eat it all.

My surgeon is like this too. After 12 months he said I could have the occasional NSAID if needed. I was to take them rarely (maybe every couple of months or so). Only take one tablet at a time & keep to a low total daily dose & only for a day or 2. Last Wednesday, my oozing discs decided to throw a tantrum. Took a NSAID mid morning, another one mid afternoon but no more. Battled through it on Thursday but the pain wasn’t quite as bad. Only twinges now.

The dehydration occurs if you’re not getting in or aren’t close to getting in your 64oz/2L. Some people struggle at first because of post surgical swelling (hurts to swallow) & for many it’s a new habit to drink that much &/or to sip slowly. I always drank a lot of water so I probably went into surgery being long term hydrated. For the first 24hrs after surgery my surgeon pumped me full of fluids. I had a lot of swelling & wouldn’t have drunk 1/2 cup of any liquid. Slept a lot & wasn’t interested in consuming anything. Day 2 maybe drank a cup but peed all day long. Day 3 could have a little more & each subsequent day I was getting closer to goal. Probably took a good week to be reach or be close to goal. Was never dehydrated. Sip all day long. Set an alarm on your phone so every few minutes you sip. Keep fluids beside you at all times including by your bed (sip whenever you wake through the night - I still do). Some people find ice cold liquids easier to drink. I preferred them to be warm - more soothing. My first mug of green tea was glorious. Remember your fluid goals include all the liquids you consume: shakes, water, herbal or green teas, broths, soups, etc.

I only took ones I could swallow so tasteless. They were capsules, not those dry horse tablet size ones & I started taking them a few days after surgery & my swelling had reduced.

Bread was always my PMT craving. Peanut paste, Promite, honey, cucumber, apricot jam were my go to toppings. Sometimes I felt like a whole loaf wouldn’t satisfy. At almost 3 years I still don’t eat bread (too heavy). Fortunately I don’t get the PMT cravings any more. Even though I generally avoid sugar, I find desserts can be a real temptation. Last night I watched my family eat jelly, custard & pavlova with fruit & whipped cream (early Easter & s-I-l’s birthday dinner) & fought the voice in my head saying a little serving won’t hurt. I won over the voice but …

Yes, there are a lot of variations & factors that influence your rate of loss. I’d lost all my weight by 6 months so 31kg (68lbs). I lost another almost 12kgs over about the next 11 months (got slower & slower). Wasn’t intentional. Just trying to sort out maintenance & it seemed to be where my body wanted to be.

After surgery your tummy can be fussy . You may eat or drink something one day but the next it’s tummy says no. Then a few days later it’s fine again. This can occur for a little while after you get onto solid foods. Also a lot of us experience temporary changes to our tastebuds &/or your sense of smell can become extra sensitive. So foods you always liked suddenly taste or smell disgusting. I couldn’t wait to have vegetables when I got to solid foods but I could stand most of the ones I used to love. After a couple of months they were delicious again. Also foods can taste super sweet. I embraced that to get off the sugar train & still avoid it a lot of it including artificial sweeteners & sugar alternatives. Can’t advise on the premier shakes or the yoghurt as we don’t have them in Australia but I really struggled with shakes full stop. A lot of dieticians here recommend Chobani yoghurt with 15g protein but I found it too sweet. I discovered Yopro by Danone which has 15g & 20g options. They used to do a 22g yoghurt drink too but no more ☹️. I am fussy about the flavours I like though (mango, passion fruit, banana or lime are my favourites). Maybe buy a few individual protein shake sachets from different companies in a variety of flavours so you have options.

My 12yr old niece excitedly told me about some pumpkin breakfast biscuits she had made which her family devoured & said she’d make me some. She did that night & bought them round the next day. Didn’t have the heart to say I don’t really eat biscuits anymore so I ate half of one with her (they were huge like palm size). It did taste pretty good & thankfully not too sweet. It’s a Good Housekeeping recipe with pepitas, cranberries, coconut oil, brown sugar, oats, pumpkin spice (she used cinnamon & nutmeg), can of mashed pumpkin (she cooked & prepped her own pumpkin). First ‘sweet’ thing I’ve had since Christmas. The smile on her face was worth it.

My 12yr old niece excitedly told me about some pumpkin breakfast biscuits she had made which her family devoured & said she’d make me some. She did that night & bought them round the next day. Didn’t have the heart to say I don’t really eat biscuits anymore so I ate half of one with her (they were huge like palm size). It did taste pretty good & thankfully not too sweet. It’s a Good Housekeeping recipe with pepitas, cranberries, coconut oil, brown sugar, oats, pumpkin spice (she used cinnamon & nutmeg), can of mashed pumpkin (she cooked & prepped her own pumpkin). First ‘sweet’ thing I’ve had since Christmas. The smile on her face was worth it.

Just keep sipping. My surgeon was ok not meeting goals for the first couple of weeks as long as I was making a concerted effort & was close. But if you’re drinking your three shakes a day you should be fine. (I diluted mine cause I found them to thick & I got more fluid in.) Some find setting a time on their phones helpful so they sip every day 5 minutes. I keep water beside my bed so I drink during the night too. I also found it easier to drink warm/hot drinks than cold. I even heated my shakes (the chocolate one & pretended it was hot chocolate😉).

That’s interesting but maybe that’s just your surgeon’s preference. Being given opioid meds at hospital & then a script for a few days supply is usually what happens. You’ll likely find you only need stronger pain meds for a few days (about 4 or 5) then over the counter pain meds (not NSAIDS - you can’t have them anymore) will be enough. On day 4 I only took 2 out of 4 opioids I was to have over a day but on day 5 I had a single over the counter med & never took another thing after that. Most of the pain comes from the surgical gas & muscle pain from you being pushed, pulled & prodded during the surgery. Ask them why & if you need stronger pain relief will you be given it?

Those high fibre carbs like non starchy vegetables & fruit certainly helps with the constipation we all experience while losing. That was a big win for me. 😉 But you’ll find by the time you get in your protein, you won’t have much room for vegetables or other carbs for a while. I think it was a good month or more on solid foods before I could eat more then 2 green beans or a small cauliflower floret after I ate my protein.

Watch the high fat content of the keto diet when you are losing. As you lose weight the fat dissolves into your blood stream & many find their cholesterol level goes up & your liver function is affected because it has to work harder to try to get rid of it without addicting additional fats to your body. The increase in protein (animal) you will be consuming will be enough extra fat for your body to cope with. Most diets while losing focus on high protein, low carb, low fat, low sugar. Maybe look into keto when you get to maintenance. But talk with your dietician.

I eat salads almost every day & have since maintenance so after 6 months. (I held off because I like salad dressing! 😉) But I always chop my lettuce. I find iceberg lettuce the easiest to eat - almost too easy. But others like rocket, radicchio, romaine (unless baby leaves), pea tendrils too coarse & get ‘stuck’ so I can only eat a couple of pieces . Spinach is ok but the stalks have to be removed.

General aesthetic in Australia too. I had a 5 min phone call with the anaesthetist a couple of days before surgery to confirm the facts in my medical history which my surgeon had given him. He actually charged me $400 for the call alone. I was appalled. I’m happy I was fully unconscious during my surgery. I wouldn’t have wanted to have been semi conscious.

I was eating cucumber pretty early out (smeared cream cheese on smoked salmon & wrapped it around a cucumber wedge yum!). Lettuce & other raw vegetables were much later. I preferred to focus on getting cooked vegetables in dishes from soft food & then as a side from solid foods. My tummy was fussy & I could only tolerate steamed green beans, cabbage or cauliflower as a side for a few weeks but most vegetables when cooked in a dish. Hard crunchy raw vegetables like carrot, radishes will take you a lot longer to tolerate because they are almost too scratchy on your throat & too fibrous so harder to digest. Softer high water content vegetables like tomatoes, peeled cucumbers, lettuce will be easier to eat raw but watch the skins on tomatoes. I eat lots of ice berg lettuce but some other greens like rocket, romaine (baby is ok), etc are too coarse & can cause me problems except in tiny amounts even now.

Starchy vegetables are usually root vegetables (formed under the ground like potatoes, turnips, carrots, etc.) & vegetables that naturally taste sweet like green peas & corn. My program didn’t set carb requirements either but I was told to avoid all high processed carbs & limit carbs to low or no processed fruit & vegetables (including legumes like lentils) for the fibre content. I was not allowed starchy vegetables. I was able to introduce nuts, seeds & whole or multi grain low processed carbs in maintenance (2 serves). Though I could have rolled oats from purée (instant during purée then traditional or cut oats after). But definitely check with your dietician for clarification.

My pre op diet was keto so high protein too but also high fat which I struggled with. No calorie limit though. Why are you focussing on mushy food? After surgery you only eat purées & then soft foods for about 4 weeks & believe me that’s too long! Ensuring you meet your protein goals will be life long thing so I say enjoy any & all proteins in all forms. The protein snacks I go to are cheese, high protein yoghurt, hummus, liverwurst or pate (with crudités or a couple of multi grain crackers), protein bar (be careful some have a lot of sugar or artificial sugars). Occasionally I’ll have nuts or roasted fava beans or chick peas. You can also nibble on some meat like some chicken (watch deli meats that are cured or fatty like ham, salamis, etc.) or a boiled egg. Hope you get a surgery date soon.