Arabesque

A couple of years ago I’d pay $6 for a punnet of blueberries. I didn’t mind as the quality was always excellent. I usually ended up tossing any cheaper $2 punnets I’d buy after a day or two - bruised, overripe & sometimes mouldy - yikes! We don’t experience seasonal price fluctuations on lots of our mainstream fruits & vegetables here. So a head of broccoli costs about the same all year round. My family is contracted to a major supermarket chain to provide12 month continuous supplies of a number of vegetables across most of the country. So they produce in several locations. For example corn & green beans in summer in SE Queensland & in North Queensland in winter where it’s still warm enough to grow them. Supply can affect price though it’s usually due to extreme weather. Supermarkets will do specials on random fruits & vegetables but the cost is carried by the producer even though the store chooses to put something on special. The reverse is true too. The supermarket puts up the price but the producer doesn’t get paid more.

Everyone loses at their own rate. There are many factors that can influence your rate of loss (constipation, diarrhoea, fluid retention, your body’s reaction to the surgery, starting weight, medications, etc.). Though it can be difficult, try not to compare yourself with others. It will only lead to frustration & feeling you’re failing. You’re not failing. You’ve lost 4lbs in 11 days - yay! Remember too that many nerves were cut during your surgery so messages about feeling full or eaten enough either aren’t getting through or the messages are distorted. It takes around 8 weeks to be fully healed & when your messages start to come back they may be different to what you remember. It’s why it’s important to stick to the portion recommendations you were advised & to eat slowly (takes a good 20+ minutes for a full message to get through when you’re healed). Portion sizes do differ but 4-6oz at 11days seems a lot. My plan was 1/4 - 1/3 cup of food from purée slowly increasing to a cup at 6 months & 3 meals a day. Fluids were just sip, sip, sip, regardless of what I was drinking. So it took me a couple of hours to drink a shake or a cup of soup too. But that was my plan & plans differ. Check your plan for portions & also the foods you are allowed at each stage. I could have cottage cheese at weeks 3 & 4 purées & chili at the soft food stage at weeks 5 & 6. Congrats on your surgery.

I spent about $100 ($64 US) on just a few vegetables (handful of green beans & sugar snap peas, bunch of broccolini & asparagus, some grapes, tub of baby tomatoes, 2x tubs labneh, 2 pork chops & 3 chicken schnitzels). The grapes were the most expensive but will last me a couple of weeks. Then went to the grocery store & spent another $130 on 2L milk, pack cheese sticks, macadamia nuts, mixed seeds, 3 bottles sparkling water, tub of hummus, 8 protein bars, bag of frozen mixed vegetables & a few other bits & bobs (deodorant, toothpaste,…). Two large bags worth. All for just one person. And I’ll be at the shops again next week (to get those cucumbers 😉.)

What a productive morning @ms.sss. I had a fridge clean out this morning too but there was no saving my leftover cabbage or sugar snap peas. There are two limes I’m giving another few days. Was considering making some pickled cucumbers a couple of weeks ago too but turned out I had eaten the two I had. Now I’m thinking I should just buy some more. Mmm?? PS. How are vegetable prices in the northern hemisphere? Still recovering from the $14 punnet of blueberries 125g/4.4oz last week.

Can’t stand the smell of rum. It’s just blech! And tequila. No, no, no. That came from a hideous experience. I had to clean up after my then boyfriend was violently ill after heavily imbibing tequila. It’s been 30+ years but smelling or even seeing a bottle & the horrors of that night/morning come back. I’m emotional scarred from it. Enjoy whisky though. Neat. No ice, no water, nothing added.

May be best to go to your nearest hospital emergency centre ASAP. Surprised they released you from hospital with a blood oxygen level of 91%. (Anything below 92% is a concern.) And to add to that you had existing breathing issues. They’ll help with the constipation too (though it is common).

I don’t really understand drinking to excess either. I don’t really understand why people take drugs or smoke either. Logically I realise for some, just like many on this forum did with food, it’s to comfort & soothe. To forget or avoid, at least for a while, the challenges & issues in their lives. Yes, I drank & still drink after surgery. I don’t enjoy it as much but I was never a big drinker as such - never large amounts. No I’ve never been drunk & only to the edge of tipsy. Personally, I don’t like the potential of losing control of what I’m doing or the situations I’m in (control freak). Also if I did drink more than a couple of glasses, I’d end up with the most hideous hiccups & that would be the end of my night anyway. We’re not a family of big drinkers either so that’s likely an influence too. I do find enjoyment in the flavours of alcohol much like the flavours & ingredients in an interesting recipe/meal. Can’t stand sweet wines or adding sweet mixers (except tonic & soda water in Gin 😉) to spirits but that’s the personal taste aspect. Much like I don’t understand people who say they love coffee but add syrups, cream & sweeteners to drink it. I’m more of a purist that way. I get the drinking, smoking, using & eating to fit in or feel more confident in a situation. I briefly smoked cigars. It was the 90s & I admit I did it to fit in & for attention. I was changing some of my friendship circle & wanted to be accepted. I look back & shake my head but during that time I came to realise a lot about myself & my needs. Like I didn’t need or want to smoke & if those people I was trying to impress didn’t like me for me I didn’t need or want them. Thankfully I only smoked a handful of times over a bout a year. Have no desire to do it again. And came out of the whole experience a stronger person. I’m not going to judge if someone drinks, smokes or uses. (Or mixes cola with scotch or lemonade with vodka.) They’re adults & it’s their choice. I’ll worry about them for sure & ensure they’re safe & not harming themselves or others. I might have just added more fuel to the discussion. Sorry @jparadigm, your original post has been hijacked.

Your plan should list the foods you are able to eat & those you need to avoid at each stage. It should also say how long you stay on each stage. If it doesn’t, contact your team & ask for more specific information. Your tummy lets you know pretty quickly if you’re not ready. It may be discomfort on eating, a feeling of heaviness, you may regurgitate what you’ve eaten. It’s a lot of trial & error honestly. For example, most plans tend to advise 2 weeks on each stage. Some people stay a little longer on a stage or go back a stage simply because we heal differently & their tummy just isn’t ready for the foods (texture & density) on the next stage. Some foods are on the avoid list because they can be hard to digest by your healing tummy (bread, pasta, rice, seeds, fruit & vegetable skins, etc.). Other foods are off the list because of their nutrient content & calories (many plans are no starchy vegetables for e.g..). There may be foods on your list your tummy can’t tolerate (chicken breast, eggs often are a struggle few a while). Your tummy can be fussy while healing & the temporary change to our taste buds &/or sense of smell can make foods extra sweet, extra salty or just plain disgusting. Textures can be off putting too at this time. Many of us ate the same meals or rotated through a small selection especially in the first couple of months. One because we eat such small portions there’s lots of left overs. Two, because our fussy tummy & you can’t tolerate a wide variety of foods. Three it means you don’t have to think to much about food & what your going to eat & you know how much protein & other nutrients you’re getting with each meal. I still eat a lot to routine & often have the same meals & I’m almost 5 years out. It’s not that I can’t eat a variety of foods it’s just easier sometimes (or maybe I’m lazy LOL!). I struggled in purées to find foods that tasted good because the taste or texture was awful. Thank goodness for runny scrambled eggs, milky rolled oats, yoghurt & soups. In soft foods I ate a lot of minced meat dishes - savoury mince, meatballs (rissoles in Australia), bolognese (no pasta), etc., slow cooked stews, thick meat & vegetable soups, omelettes. Try some savoury egg muffins (add cheese, mushrooms, onions & other pre cooked vegetables you like) & a lot of people swear by ricotta bake (someone will have a recipe they’ll happily share).

If you follow your plan, you won’t put on weight. You are consuming so few calories & even when you progress to purées, soft food & then solid food, you’ll still be eating so few calories & such tiny portions, that again you won’t put on weight. Not consuming calories, not meeting your protein goals (or at least being close to it) will actually be doing you more harm. Affecting your recovery & healing, putting your body into starvation mode, being nutrient deficit, etc. These will impede your long term health & weight loss. May be get in touch with your team & ask if you could see a therapist to work through this fear of eating. You don’t want to swap one set of poor eating habits with another & create new health issues. Trust the program. It works.

Whether you drink alcohol or not or how much or how often you drink is really a personal one. You know yourself best & you are best placed to see how & if it affects you. I was a big glass of wine every night person before surgery. Never a big drinker as such but would enjoy a glass or three if socialising over a couple of hours. After surgery I had a gin & tonic at about the 2 month mark at my cousin’s 40th. Literally sipped it for hours. Had another 1or 2 gin & tonics over the next 4 months while losing, always nursing the glass for hours. Honestly, I lost my taste for it. Think I was only able to tolerate the rare g&ts because of the bitterness of the tonic. Now I usually have a glass of something about once a month when out or celebrating something. Still usually only one & I drink it over about an hour now. I have a fridge & a cupboard full of alcohol I just don’t drink. LOL! When I do drink I go for quality over quantity these days. A glass of real champagne, a glass of good quality scotch or a good gin (they’re my go tos). Certainly addiction transfer is a consideration. As is the increased effects of the alcohol on your body & how fast it can affect you is another. Then there is the calorie & nutritional impact. But again, your choice, though if your plan says no alcohol while losing, I’d probably stick to that as closely as possible to take best advantage of your losing phase.

I call it hot girl fit (stole & twisted it from some recent movie). Look good, have muscle definition but have no strength or stamina. Gym fit but not life fit. Lol! Oh, yes the changing body shape when your body resettles. I remember looking in the mirror bemoaning the loss of my hour glass figure. I was all straight up & down when my weight first stabilised. Then one day I realised I had a definite waist & hips again (breasts remained larger - E cup & smaller band - just empty on top). Yay! Still no butt. And like @ms.sss, if you look at me sideways, you can’t tell my front from my back around that area. There are trousers I can’t wear because I have no butt to fill out the back & have that saggy, baggy butt look from the excess fabric. PS - Hate to tell you @ms.sss, your dental issues may be related to menopause & being in that ‘certain age’ bracket. It affects so many parts of our body besides the obvious cessation of our cycle. Pretty crappy really. Men get it so easy!

This was my first thought too. Many surgeons use an internal scaffolding/bracing type suture which can cause a pulling sensation in many, discomfort &/or a dent. It’s placed in the muscle around the incision through which your tummy was removed. Is it around the larger of your incisions (on your right side)? When healed it will ‘pop’ which you may or may not be aware of but it is supposed to do this. Check with your surgeon to be sure.

Water can almost seem ‘heavy’ to drink after surgery and make you feel nauseous or just generally blah. I found switching up what I drank so I wasn’t only drinking water helpful. I drank green tea (herbal is good too - peppermint or ginger may help with general nausea too) and I used to let sparkling water go flat & drink a glass of that throughout the day (liked the mineral taste) as well as plain water. Often had two different drinks going at the same time to mix it up. Others find adding a flavour with water helpful (a little citrus, or berries or a low/no cal flavour additive like crystal light). Others may have other suggestions of fluids you could add to your daily routine you could try. It does get easier to drink water but it may take a little while. Just depends on your tummy.

I’m sorry you’re feeling this way. Break ups can be very hard. I had a bad one when I was about your age & went through a period of depression & anxiety. Ended up leaving my job & moving back home. The depression coloured everything in my life. It may be doing the same for you too & causing you to regret the surgery & a change of behaviour that has bought you many benefits (weight loss, health improvements, more active, fewer restrictions, etc,). Yes, I’m considerably older than you & that means I can look at things differently than you so I don’t mind if you think I’m talking rubbish & don’t understand. 🙂 My friends are big eaters & drinkers & the first couple of times we went out after my surgery I felt a little uncomfortable & conspicuous because I sipped one alcoholic drink for hours, took a while to eat & ordered small plates. Then I realised, I wasn’t going out with them to eat & drink, I was going out with them to spend time with them. What I ate or didn’t eat & what I drank or didn’t drink was irrelevant. It was our friendship that was important. We socialise often (though likely not as often as you). At each others’ homes, bars, fine dining restaurants, etc. My surgery & food choices haven’t stopped us or slowed us down once (oh, except when they wanted to go to an high tea with unlimited champagne - I rarely eat sweet & one glass of champagne would be ample so not worth it. We did dinner instead.) Actually one of my friends decided to have surgery the year after me though she is more flexible in her food & drinking choices than me. Another one wants to have the surgery. And the fourth in our group, has slowed her eating & is making better food & alcohol choices. Not for anything I’ve said. I guess I’ve become a bit of a role model for a healthier life. LOL! Maybe have a chat with someone, like a therapist, about how you’re feeling to help you work through this.

It takes more calories to run your body at a higher weight & fewer to run your body at a lower weight. So yes being able to lose at a similar calorie intake at a higher weight but then being unable to lose still eating the same at a lower weight is to be expected. It’s like reaching maintenance. Remember too,1800 calories is 1800 calories regardless if it comes from a burger & fries or three nutrient dense healthy meals. The quality of the food matters for the health benefits & ensuring your body functions most effectively. I’d hammer your surgeon & dietician for help & answers. Maybe GLP 1 meds may be of help or a revision. If my maths is correct, you’ve lost 8 stone in total? That’s great! Don’t forget to celebrate that.

No there is no norm or standard plan for before or after surgery. Much like there is no standard for how you will recover, how much weight you’ll lose, what ‘fun’ side effects you’ll experience, etc. There’s just generalisations & averages. There will be similarities across plans & differences. Like in the pre surgery eating plan. Some don’t have any. Some do three shakes a day while others do two shakes & one meal. Me I had to do keto. Same with the post surgery stages. Differences can be around how long each stage is or even what foods you can or can’t have at each stage. For example potatoes are allowed on many plans but were a big no in my plan. I do know my surgeon adjusts his plan depending on the individual patient & their specific needs & situation. My friend who saw him was on the 2 shakes one meal plan. Her friend, also same surgeon was all shakes. Our ages, starting weight & general health were different. It’s why we say it’s always best to follow the plan you were given and if you are having difficulties to contact your team to see if & how you can tweak it to better suit you & your needs & experiences.

A protein shake is really a meal replacement so you are having more than a meal or two. And no, don’t load up on junky snacks or empty calories. Look too foods that will add additional nutrients: fruit, complex carbs i.e. whole/multi grains, good fats like avocado & nuts, boiled egg, cheese stick, etc. Keep the deli/luncheon/charcuterie meats intake low too - highly processed, high salt & high fat, lower protein. Better to buy a bbq/rotisserie chicken& package it up in single serves & eat that. Give your body time to settle. It takes time for your body to work out what it needs to function effectively & for you to physically be able to eat appropriate sized portions & meals. My hunger didn’t really come back until about a year so after I reached goal at 6 months & it played a part in my continued weight loss. And it took a while to work out the calories I needed. When my weight first stabilised at around 18 months I was eating 1300 odd calories - it took me all that time to eat that much. At 4 years I was eating 1500/1600 & still maintaining much the same weight so it took that long for my body to work out what it really needed. Your lowest weight may not be your final weight either. There’s the quite common 5-10lb bounce back regain around the 2 or 3 year mark. Or lifestyle choices may mean you settle a little higher. And finally, your goal weight might not be your body’s goal weight (your new set point). My new set point was 11kg/24lbs less than my goal.

Life just throws it all at you some times & I’m sorry you’ve been through a lot. Unfortunately the pouch reset is a fairy story/old wives’ tale. What needs to be reset is not your tummy but your head. Remember all that head work we had to do in the beginning? The stress, emotions & changes you’ve been experiencing has likely meant those old bad habits have snuck in again & you’ve been turning to food to comfort yourself. It’s easy to become complacent too. All completely understandable. Don’t know if you were a food tracker or not, but tracking even for a couple of weeks like @Spinoza suggested will help you identify what you may need to adjust - food choices, protein & fluid goals, portion sizes, nutrition. Then start by making one or two changes & another one or two a couple of weeks later. Small changes are easier to adopt & adapt to. Probably aim to get back to about where you were when your weight stabilised & how you initially maintained. Maybe contact your nut/dietician to help you get back in the right mindset. Therapy may help you manage & better cope with the stress you’ve been experiencing too so you don’t turn to food. You’ve been successful for ten years. You can do it again. All the best.

If you strain all the meat, noodles & vegetables out of it you can have the broth now. A friend ate lots of wonton noodle soup in the liquid stage post surgery - well she drank the broth & her husband ate the wontons & noodles LOL! Just make sure you strain it very well. In time you can have the meat & vegetables but still no noodles. (The noodles are way too filling to your smaller tummy, have very few nutrients & are a simple but more highly processed carb.) Once in maintenance you may be able to enjoy the noodles too on occasions but it will depend on whether your tummy tolerates the heaviness of the noodles. But check with your team first & be aware you may find it crazy salty because your taste buds can become very sensitive to certain flavours like salt & sugar. Congrats on your surgery.

Not hundreds but thousands of posts about it. I never understand, when it is something that almost every single person experiences after their surgery & it can be so demoralising, that surgeons & support teams don’t warn & prepare people for it. Yes, it generally occurs around week 3 +/-. The stall can last 1-3 weeks. It likely won’t be your one & only. Your body shuts down to reassess your needs as a result of the weight you’ve lost so far. This is when your body resets things like your digestive hormones, etc. The stall will break when your body has made the adjustments & is ready to move forward again. Stick to your plan. Don’t stress your body more by making additional changes to your activity or food intake other than what your plan recommends or requires. While waiting fir the stall to break, celebrate the weight you’ve lost so far. It’s a fabulous achievement.

Yes it’s a forever thing. And yes, I think there are behaviours we have to also adopt forever. Like tracking for you & weighing myself regularly for me. But it’s easy to get complacent, or life throws crap in our way, old eating habits return, health issues & medication changes, etc, can get in our way. I’ve been a little complacent lately. Not sure why except weakening & testing things to see if I could be a little less narrow in my choices & how it would affect me. Learnt some things like I still can’t eat bread - hot cross bun sat like a ton weight & made me constipated - not Easter fun! I’m a proponent of adopting the small changes approach. Easier to adopt & adapt to one or two adjustments at a time than diving in the deep end. The pouch reset is a fairy story. You can’t reset your pouch but you can reset your thinking. Won’t be easy but we’re used to the hard work around losing & maintaining our weight. You got this @MandoGetsSleeved.

I was told the same thing too @ShoppGirl. It could be just another one of those some can & some can’t or depends upon what you’re eating (more or less dense food) or how far out you are. Like @ms.sss I can drink fairly close to eating, have the odd sip while eating solids but have to wait a while after to drink again. I still eat soup by drinking most of the broth component first then the solids. lol!

Used to take me 3 days to eat 2 scrambled eggs so I get it. It’s so strange to not want more than that. The portions slowly get larger though it took about 4 years to almost be able to eat 2 scrambled eggs & no sides. Lol!

Lots of nerves were cut during your surgery, so messages either don’t get through or are not like you know. It takes a good 8 weeks to heal from the surgery so this period of not understanding your cues will persist for a little while longer. It’s why it’s even more important to keep to the portion size recommendations you were given. (Mine was 1/4 - 1/3 cup from purée maximum). You don’t want to risk straining your poor tummy & all those sutures & staples holding it together or hindering your recovery. But if you feel discomfort or pain stop eating regardless of how much you’ve eaten. You can always have a little more of your portion later. Remember to ensure you’re taking small bites (I’d dip my teaspoon in so maybe a half teaspoon) and eat slowly (leave a couple of minutes between bites - aim for 20 minutes or so). Congrats on your surgery.

Yes, plans vary though generally the stages seem to be two week cycles: liquids, purées, soft, then more solid. Some stages are longer or shorter, some skip a step, some allow or advise avoiding different foods. Some plans are adjusted depending upon your progress & recovery. Have to say I’d go back to the surgeon & ask for clarification before the dietician at the moment. They know your medical situation better than the dietician & it is your surgeon’s plan you’re following at the moment. All the best & hope you get answers soon.