Arabesque

How wonderful for you. And congratulations on maintaining your weight too - inspiring! I remember my mum saying how horrendous the pain was with her knee reconstruction (she had both done at once - yikes). She was on opioids for ages & iced her knees three times a day for a couple of months. Hope your pain subsides soon & you have a speedy recovery.

My only thought would be how stuffed up you are which may impact your breathing. Give your surgeon/team a call & ask. You have a few days before your surgery so you you likely will be fine & over the cold by then. Fingers crossed.

I agree. Yes your relationship with food is supposed to change but the surgery doesn’t do this you have to do this work. The surgery just gives you the time to reflect on your relationship: the how, why, when & what you eat. Many find the support of a therapist helpful during this time. The pain in your tummy you feel is likely stomach acid not real hunger. Much like a rumbling tummy is often called hunger pangs/pain but usually is that excess acid & just your digestive system working & again not real hunger. There’s a lot to learn about your body & your signals. My real hunger signals are restlessness. I feel like something is wrong but at first I don’t know what & there is a reason I feel hungry - I haven’t eaten in a few hours or I only ate part of my earlier meal.. I never want a specific food, flavour or texture (that’s head hunger) just food & I choose protein dense food. I’m 4.5 yrs post sleeve & have basically maintained. Things I found that helped include eating to a routine. I don’t eat unless it’s time to eat. I eat slowly. I ask myself if I need the next bite or just want it. I watch my portion sizes & never eat more than the portion. (Don’t mind if I don’t eat all my portion.) I consider the value of the food I choose - nutrient dense, predominantly low processed foods. Highly processed food is know to suppress your satiety hormone & stimulate your hunger hormones. (Recently I read that an easy way to judge how processed a food is, is to read the ingredient list. The more synthetic ingredients or ingredients you don’t recognise as real food the more processed it is. Ingredients in traditional rolled oats are just oats so low processed. In Quakers instant oats, as an example, there’s oats, sugar, flavours, salt, calcium carbonate, guar gum, pyridone hydrochloride, etc. so more highly processed.) Just some things you might want to consider.

Congratulations @kcuster83. This is wonderful. Make sure you post some pxts of your sky jumping - what a great way to celebrate!

I could eat eggs so I appreciated very runny scrambled eggs & instant rolled oats from purée (again very runny made in lots of milk). Thank goodness for them & thicker soups during purées cause a lot of things just tasted awful. I even ate baby food a couple of times. Once in soft food I ate a lot of mince dishes, stews & thicker chunky soups. Remember your shakes & soups count towards your fluid intake so that helps. I still keep water by my bed & sip during the night (every time I get in & out of bed) so you’re drinking 24 hrs a day. Don’t worry if you don’t hit that 64oz at first. As long as you’re close & making an effort.

Simple answer is no to the peanut butter. I didn’t like the shakes either after surgery. I would have just one a day (diluted to try to help with the flavour) & then had soup (cream, bone broths, consumes) for the rest of the day. If you like milk you could make up your own shakes by adding a little Greek yoghurt & a little protein powder. Just keep it very thin. You could get some powdered flavours to add too like a peanut butter one. Only a week to go to purées which is when I never touched another shake again.

Yes, as @Tomo said it takes 6 (or longer) to fully heal. Besides all the sutures & staples holding your digestive system together, many nerves were cut during your surgery & your signals/messages, like you are full, any discomfort you may be experiencing & your restriction, just aren’t getting through. It’s why sticking to your portion size recommendations during these early stages are especially important. Check with your team if you weren’t given any. For example I was told 1/4 - 1/3 cup from purée (week 3) slowly increasing to about a cup at 6 months. But that was what I was told. Starting solid foods after a week seems incredibly early especially without the puree & soft food stages. Plans can be different but yours is the most different I’ve come across. Do check with your team just to be sure.

It may be time to discuss additional help such as with GLP- 1 medications. If your team isn’t being supportive have this conversation with your PCP. Dr Matt Weiner has some videos on you tube about combining these meds & surgery. See what you think & they may be helpful in your conversation with your doctor. But yes, definitely start tracking your food. If only to get you back I track. And maybe make an appointment with a dietician to ensure you’re getting in all the nutrition you need & advice on better food choices.

Oh that is so annoying. I’ve had that happen too. If they only go down to an XS I need an XXS & if they do stock XXS I only need an XS. Sizing is super frustrating. One of the dresses I bought is an Aust 4 & the other an UK 6 which is pretty much an Aust 6. Tried on a pair of tailored linen pants & the Aust 6 was tight around the waist & hips. I mean?? 🤷🏻‍♀️. At least I was in store with the pants so they went back on the rack and was in store with the dress I needed the 4 in. Hey but you got a cordless vac. That’s a win. (Is it wrong to get excited about a vacuum??? )

Go to your nearest hospital emergency centre. Better to know what’s happening & start some treatment. You may only need nausea meds & fluids - fingers crossed. Some do experience some vomiting. If it’s yellow it may be excess bile/stomach acid. If it’s dark almost blackish it could be remnant blood from the surgery. But again seek some medical advice to be sure. All the best.

Oh I still have tuck shop lady arms @KathyLev but you can really only see the loose skin if I raise & wave my arms about. Forgot to add I do my stretches & such in short bursts across the day. It all adds up & you may find it easier to manage than a single 30 or more minute session. Actually @ChunkCat someone who knows my dislike of gyms asked me suspiciously & a tad accusingly if I was now going to the gym because of my arms. Lol!

Yoga is great. Did it for years in my 40s - can’t remember which type but it was gentle & focussed on breathing & head/heart/body alignment. Kept me limber & boosted my general fitness. I enjoyed it & I really, really don’t like exercise. Just a warning. Exercise only contributes to about 10% of any weight you are to lose. So don’t expect it to benefit your weight loss greatly. It does help with many other things though like your cardiac health, muscle strength, bone density, flexibility, etc. Invest in some resistance bands too. Lots of seated stretches on You Tube you can do sitting. I do most of mine on the floor. Good for toning & muscle building. It’s not a great pxt but gives you a bit of an idea of what you can achieve. Now it’s summer here & my arms are on show I’ve been getting lots of compliments. My legs look pretty good too though my pant legs are getting firm LOL!

Aah head hunger. You know it’s head hunger when you crave a specific food, texture or flavour in your case sugar. All the conscious or subconscious emotions & the hormonal roller coaster from the surgery are probably making it worse. Of course knowing what it is & possibly why you’re experiencing it doesn’t help that much. Most of us find distraction helpful when head hunger hits. Go for a little walk. Craft, read, watch a movie, play a game, ring a family member or friend. A warm drink can help like a green or herbal tea if you’re allowed. Find a nice sunny spot to sit & sip so you’re away from those indulging in

The worst is keeping the first day sample in the fridge until you do the second day sample for the bowel cancer test. Yikes! Once you hit 50 the Australian govt sends you a testing kit every two years which you mail back. So that is a fun little visit to the post office to hand over the package so they can refrigerate it too.

What buys are you most excited about @ms.sss? Have to admit I bought two outfits for myself - both colour. I know the shock & horror. One is a pale blue linen soft wide leg pant & matching fitted singlet & the other a red fitted shift dress with an interesting side flaps. Will do pxts when I wear them. I did get all my Christmas shopping for my four youngest nieces on sale so that was a bonus win. Whoo hoo! Christmas shopping now done except for my mother who is extraordinarily difficult.

Yeah, I’m a stick to your plan person. There’ll be always be occasions where the food on offer doesn’t support your plan & your weightloss. You have to decide whether it’s worth it to just go for it & whether it could then become a thing to justify going off plan regularly in the future, whether you can make the best of a bad situation & carefully select the food item that’s best for you or whether you can not eat the provided food & still enjoy the social aspect of the occasion. If you decide to try one maybe just eat the filling. The corn meal dough will be filling & limit your ability to eat the important protein component & it may sit heavily in your tummy. Remember you are still healing even on the soft food stage.

Not for surgery but have done them to check for a bug in my bowel & for bowel cancer testing. It wigged me out a bit too but because of ‘you don’t play with your poop’ thinking. Once past the ick factor it’s not hard. You’re not actually touching it yourself cause you’re given a little scooper but you could wear disposable gloves. I found the blocked toilet afterwards more annoying (from having to line your toilet bowel with extra toilet paper or the provided shield so your poop doesn’t end up in the bowl water - they don’t flush away easily with low flush toilets).

Congratulations & thank you for sharing for your story. Fantastic achievement! 🏆

Could be a hypoglycaemic episode. I get lightheaded, cold sweats, weak tummy too. I have them randomly but usually with exercise though I can have them doing nothing remotely strenuous. (Had one on Sunday just standing & chatting 🤷🏻‍♀️.) I had them before so nothing new for me. Yes, an electrolyte drink can help. If doing something quite active I’ll pop a hydralite tablet in my water bottle. If I’m running to the shop before breakfast for milk or something I’ll eat a couple of blueberries. Certainly worth a conversation with your doctor. Try little bursts of activity a few times across the day - called exercise snacking. They all add up. Say you do 3 sessions of 10 minutes that’s 30 mins total. It’s what I do. I also use resistance bands to build & tone muscle. It works - my arms look great & my thighs & calves are larger. (I know cause my pant legs have got tighter which I’m not really happy about 😆.) Also try adding to your usual day to day activity. Going to the shops park further away. Walk/jog up travelators, escalators & stairs. Carry your groceries in do multiple trips instead of carrying all the bags in one or two trips.

Perfectly normal. As @Shanna NYC said they usually occur at week three but can occur before or after that. They usually last 1-3 weeks. And it may not be the only stall you experience. They are the time your body takes to assess where you are now & what it needs in regards to digestive hormones, metabolism, etc. When your body is ready to move forward again the stall will break. Can’t force them to break though some people say they did but they don’t know how long their stall would have lasted. Just stick to your plan. I agree stay off the scales for a week if nit seeing it move is messing with you. Try taking body measurements as some times the scale doesn’t move but your measurements do as your body realigns itself & yes including your fat deposits.

Unfortunately there are a small percentage who do feel hungry. First though you need to ensure what you’re feeling is real hunger. Many of us were so driven by head hunger we forgot what real hunger truely feels like. Head hunger can be quite strong after surgery especially if your eating was driven a lot by emotions & you ate for comfort. At the moment you are experiencing quite an emotional roller coaster (hormonal fluctuations, the actually surgery, stress, etc,) & you can’t turn to food like you may have previously. And of course you always want what you can’t have more. For many of us if we want a specific food, taste or texture we know it’s head hunger. Plus many nerves were cut during surgery so a lot of signals don't work at all or work differently at the moment. There are strategies you can use. Distraction is very useful as head hunger often will pass or reduce in intensity in time. Go for a walk as you’re able, craft, play a game, read, ring a friend or your family, etc. Often a warm drink can be helpful like herbal or green tea. All the best. PS - check your plan as yoghurt & cream of wheat usually aren’t allowed until at least the puree stage but there are differences in plans so…

Have a chat with your surgeon as they are they are who advises what you should take. Some will indicate what formulation (strength) you take & in what format for example you’re not allowed to swallow meds for a period of time so need patches or chews. Check also the information you were given before surgery as it’s often listed there. (There’s so much info it’s easy to miss.) Generally, they recommend a multi vitamin, calcium, iron, vitamin D but not all advise these. Some dieticians will make recommendations too. Me I was a multi & a vitamin D but only for a couple of months.

You are in a foreign place. What you are doing to completely alien to what you’ve done before. The surgery, eating plans, your recovery, and so on. Part of this journey is learning things about yourself & your relationship with food & eating. And add the hormonal flushes, it’s no wonder you feel lost & not yourself (or the self you knew). It may not seem like it will but it does get easier & better as you feel more comfortable & confident about what you’re doing in regards your eating & activity, you’re fully healed & your hormones are more settled.

This is exactly how I used to think about dieting. I was punishing myself for gaining weight. I was missing out on my favourite foods or on what others may be eating when socialising. ‘Diet’ had so many negative connotations to me. So I don’t use the word any more. This is simply the way I eat. It took a while to change my thinking but it did/does help a lot. There are foods I simply don’t eat or eat very rarely now that I loved to eat before. Do I miss them? Not really. Do I feel I‘m missing out? Nope. You may find it easier to make small changes to your eating & food choices instead of jumping into a full ‘diet’. Small wins are still wins. Change one or two things each week like reduce your portion sizes & increase your fluid intake (64ozs). Increase your protein intake. Stretch out the times between your snacking, or reduce how many snacks you have each day. And so on until you have adopted the recommendations from your surgeon/dietician. And be honest about your struggles with them & tell them what you are doing to incorporate their weight loss plan. They may have other suggestions on what you can do too. All the best.

Both methods have a failure option. You go off meds & return to your old eating habits, the weight comes back. With the surgery, you go back to how you used to eat, you regain the weight. Both require you to do the work to change your relationship with food, make better food choices, become more active, learn to recognize real hunger from head hunger & learn about what drives you to eat & develop strategies to manage those drives like your food obsession voices. Neither routes are true easy permanent solutions without doing this work. The class you attended seems like it got you started on this & on the right path. The win of the surgery for me was time. The period of time when I wasn’t hungry or interested in eating, the change to my taste buds, etc. allowed me to start doing that work. I learnt what my body needed, how to keep my boosted metabolism going & to keep my new weight set point stable. Certainly worth conversations with your doctor & a bariatric surgeon to see what they think is the best way forward for you. Also ask for a referral to a therapist who specialises in disordered eating to support you through doing the head work. Many who’ve had surgery find therapy very helpful & contributed to their success & it would likely be helpful even if you choose not to have surgery. All the best what ever you choose to do. PS - I second the Dr Matt Weiner’s Pound of Cure you tube videos. He’s also on instagram & has some great books. Dr John Pilcher also has some great you tube videos on weight loss & surgery. Another consideration is I understand the newest weight loss med is supposed to less expensive & is expected to help push down the cost of the existing ones.