Arabesque

I was given them to put on as part of my pre surgical prep the morning of my surgery. I had to wear them for a week I think. But this is in Australia. You can buy them on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/b/ref=dp_bc_aui_C_4?ie=UTF8&node=23461500011

Were you given a plan to follow? Have you started meeting with a dietician/ nutritionalist yet? I know weight loss pre surgery (additionally to the specific pre surgical diet)is a requirement for many surgeons & insurances in the US. But the reality is we’re seeking weight loss surgery because we haven’t been able to lose the weight alone. If the surgeon isn’t happy ask for some help with an eating plan & referral to a dietician. This should show you really want to do something about your weight & are committed to the process. Start tracking everything every day too so you can show them what you have been doing. Fingers crossed for you.

I reheat all the time. I cook one night then eat the leftovers for the next two or three nights. Just portion everything up into single appropriate portion sizes. My freezer is full of leftover meals I’ve made & frozen to defrost & reheat to eat at other times. (I call my freezer my local take away.😉) The only thing is they recommend you only chill/freeze then reheat the same food once but that’s for everyone not just bariatric patients (because of the bacteria in food & possible food poisoning). Maybe that’s what was meant?

Oats are a great whole grain & complex carb to add to your diet. I was allowed instant from purée - just had to be runny so I made it with extra milk which gives extra protein - yay! A single serve sachet was three meals for me at first. The instant is more processed so goes down more easily in the beginning After a while (can’t recall when now) I switched to regular rolled oats because they’re considered better being less processed. Check with your team though to be sure because plans can be different. PS: I still eat rolled oats for breakfast everyday with a tablespoon of mixed seeds & blueberries. Funny thing is I eventually was able to eat a regular serve (1/2 cup dry oats) from close to almost 2 years out I think but then last year I started not being able to eat the serve. Then this year I’m only eating a half serve (1/4 cup dry oats). Don’t know why. Funny how our tummies works sometimes.

@hills&valleys hit the nail on the proverbial head about adjusting eating techniques. Eating slowly, taking small bites, watching portion sizes, avoiding food that is too dry or coarse, etc. is very important. otherwise discomfort or the foamies may occur. And yes your tummy may not tolerate certain foods, textures or flavours for a little while longer so food choices can be a little more challenging in the beginning. Difficulty with eggs, chicken breast, steak, etc, in these early weeks aren’t unusual. Six weeks is still pretty early out really. While able to eat soft foods then too, I could only manage my recommended 1/4 - 1/3 cup portion. Often that would be the protein only & it would usually take at least 20 - 30 minutes to eat. It does get easier & eating does become enjoyable again but you do have to learn the eating strategies that work best for you & your tummy. My tummy is a bit quirky & fussy but it was before surgery too. I still eat slowly taking 30 - 45+ minutes to eat what of course is a much larger portion size now, and take smaller bites. If I don’t because I’m distracted or not focussed on my eating behaviours, yep, discomfort & the foamies will occur.

No, I think you did the right thing. Yes, your surgery may be delayed while you have some additional appointments with your therapist, but you will be in a better place & mentally stronger to get the best from the surgery. As we often say, the surgery changes your tummy & digestive system but doesn’t change your head & your thinking. That’s the work you have to do. You’ve already started by recognising your issue & seeking help. Many surgeons & insurance companies require approval from a therapist before approval for surgery is granted. Also many have successfully continued with the therapy or started additional therapy after their surgery to help them work through their disordered eating & emotional issues which easily & quickly can sabotage weight loss success. All the best.

Your weight loss is never a straight line downwards. You’ll notice ups & downs & plateaus along the way. All perfectly fine & to be expected. I’d expect fluid retention at the moment too. I remember I’d put on a couple of kilos starting the day before my period & then have a day just peeing it all out just before it finished. (I’d also get constipated for a couple of days.)

Oops I meant to write whose plans don’t follow the same stages. Oh, yes you were lucky to not have to do it. It wasn’t the best. I changed tastebuds made so much just taste disgusting didn’t matter what I pureed some days. But God bless soups. They saved me many times and still are a favourite meal.

I did keto as the 2week pre surgical diet but my dietician said keto is a short term diet, best for kickstarting weight loss. It shouldn’t be followed long term. (Check research on effects on diabetes & insulin levels, cholesterol, etc.). Most post surgery diets are high protein, low fat, low carbs so probably closer to Aitken’s if you’re looking for a more formal recognised diet. One of the most important learnings I’ve had is that there is no one diet/way of eating that works for everyone. If there was the dieting wouldn’t be a billion dollar industry. Speak with your dietician, do your own research, & listen to your body & needs & the work out a way of eating that works & is best for you. As to your weight loss so far, you’re doing fine. The only people who lose very large amounts pre & immediately post surgery are those who began at a very high weight. There is really no right or wrong rate of loss. There are averages which only give you an idea of what you might lose. We all lose at our own rate. How many stalls you experience,how often & how long they last are individual too. And everyone’s’ rate of loss slows as they get closer to their final weight. I decided I would only worry about how much I was losing if my surgeon was upset but he wasn’t ever. All the best.

You won’t feel a lot of your old signals & your new restriction for a while (solid food usually) because a lot of nerves are cut during surgery & they have to heal. Secondly, liquids go through your tummy much more quickly so you don’t get full especially as you’re sipping slowly. When your signals do start to get through, they are often different to how they used to be to you. For example when your hunger returns, you’ll likely realise real hunger is not wanting/craving a specific food, flavour or texture (that’s head hunger). I feel restless as if something is wrong & there is a reason I am hungry & not because of emotions, boredom, habit, etc. I was advised to eat 1/4 - 1/3 cup of food from purée slowly increasing to a cup by about my goal at 6 months. Initially because of the lack of signals so I wouldn’t strain my healing tummy, & then to guide appropriate portions. Check with your team for portion sizes if you’re unsure - weight alone doesn’t always work or is easy to measure. But never worry if you don’t eat all of your portion - it all balances out & it means you’re listening more closely to your body & it’s needs. And in the beginning, same with hitting all you goals - as long as your making an effort & are close & getting closer you’ll be okay. It’s always harder in the first weeks. The goal is not to feel full or to feel your restriction, but to learn when you’ve eaten enough or what your body needs not what you want to eat. Of course you don’t learn this overnight. I found asking myself if I need the next bite or just want it very helpful. Still do this 4 years out. And finally, another thing you don’t learn overnight. It takes time for your full message to get through when it fully come back. So when you feel full you’ve already eaten too much & more than you need. Sorry long post.

Surgeons/teams have different plans. There is no right plan. Yes, a lot of us tend to go through a two week cycle through liquids, purée then soft. But there those who do 4 weeks liquids (2 of clear liquids) & then those like @BabySpoons who don’t have to follow every stage. Always best to follow the plan you’re given.

It is hard to hit fluid (& protein) goals at first but it does get easier. As long as you’re making an effort & getting closer it’s fine. Keep your drink beside you. I have water in my bedroom, on the kitchen best, on the coffee table by the tv, etc. so I just pick it up & sip wherever I am. I also found setting routines very helpful. Set a timer to help remind yourself to sip. Drink every time you do a certain thing. For example one I do is drink every time I get in or out of my car & at every traffic light. A friend to,d me recently she used to play the drinking babe in work meetings - sip every time someone said a particular word or words ( originally she said she sipped every time someone said something stupid but couldn’t keep up 🤣🤣🤣.) I also drink at night - every time I get in or out of bed I drink - it can be quite a lot because of all that peeing - lol! I also find it all balances out in the end. You may drink a little less today, but drink a little more tomorrow. Same with your eating. Don’t forget your soups & shakes count towards your fluid goals too. I used to dilute my shakes for more fluid & just kept sipping so no distinction between eating & drinking, All the best.

Amazing & inspirational!

I still pretty much still sip all day long 4 yrs out & I easily get in about 2 litres a day. It’s all about establishing new habits. Sip regularly - some find setting a timer helpful. Sip to a routine - e.g. I sip when I get in my car & when I get out & sip at every traffic light. Also sip during the night - e,g, I sip every time I get in or out of bed (which is often because of the peeing) so get in another good cup at night. You’ll work out strategies that work best with your job & in your life. Yes it is a little harder in the beginning, much like hitting your protein goal. but it gets easier. And remember, your shakes & soups in your post op liquid stage all count towards your fluids goal. We all should be aiming to drink 2 litres of water (liquids) a day to keep us well hydrated, or more if physically active, it’s summer or live in a hot climate, regardless of having surgery or not.

You look fabulous @GreenTealael. ❤️❤️❤️

Vitamins always made me nauseous (before & after surgery) & I threw up a couple of times. Make sure you take them after eating (or drinking your shake). Certain vitamins are more likely to cause the nausea (like iron, vitamins A,D, E & K). I also spread mine out over the day so I wasn’t taking a full dose of vitamins & other supplements at the same time which helped. Also don’t take iron & calcium at the same time nor take iron around the time you have caffeine (caffeine esp. coffee reduces the absorption of iron by 65% or more). I was so very happy when my surgeon said I didn’t have to continue to take them after 8 months. (I had passed my goal, my blood work was good & has continued to be good 4 years on & I have a sleeve.)

I didn’t have children to tell but I have several nieces & nephews aged 5-27 now. I never told them about the surgery though it’s likely the older ones knew. They all noticed my weight loss & changed eating habits of course but rarely made comments. At 7, niece #5 asked why I was so skinny now & I told her it was so she could give me bigger hugs more easily. She looked at me a little quizzically then wrapped her arms around me, squeezing hard & ran off to play. (She often also used to curl up next to me & squeeze the loose skin on my upper arms - it’s so soft & squishy she’d say 😆.) Niece #3 was offering everyone cake at her 13th birthday but when she got to me she simply asked if I’d like some of the strawberries. My mum asked nephew #1 when he was 19, what he thought about my weight loss & if I was different to him now. He looked at me & said nope, she’ll will always just be Sissy to me. Nieces #1 & 2 (in their 20s) & I have have had a few general conversations about nutrition, recipes & lifestyle but nothing specifically about my weight loss. Both are dancers & one has studied nutrition. These were very interesting, reassuring & also surprising conversations & comments. Their easy acceptance of how I looked, how I ate, etc. & also how to them I still was just me - their bestest aunt. I believe if they asked me more I probably would have focussed on the healthy eating aspect, making changes to be healthier & able to do more with them. Explaining I wasn’t making good choices in the past & have learnt a lot about what I need & what’s best for me. It’s what I tell people whether they know I had surgery or don’t. You may be surprised by your daughter’s reactions too & they may eventually adopt some better/different eating habits simply through the example of your new habits. All the best.

Yes, you will. It just takes a little time while you’re healing. You may find warm/hot drinks more soothing on your throat. One day you realise you are eating & drinking pretty much like you always did. I still tend to take smaller bites & sips but that’s a personal decision to eat & drink more consciously not because I can’t eat or drink more. Though I still can’t take more than two large mouthfuls of liquids at once. Not because of discomfort on swallowing but it seems to settle heavily in my tummy & my tummy gurgles & whines more. Just one of my quirks. Others can glug down glassfuls quite easily in time.

Your body is likely still producing the same amount of stomach acid for your smaller tummy as it did for your much larger tummy. Plus you aren’t eating much & what you’re eating (shakes, then purées & small portions) doesn’t require as much acid to break it down as part of the digestive process. A PPI, as everyone has suggested, is your best bet until you’re eating more soIid food & larger portions & your body has adjusted to your new needs re acid. Over the counter antacids don’t really help as they may sooth the symptoms of excess acid (heart burn) not the cause. PPIs reduce the production of the acid. But do speak with your medical team.

The morning after I got home so day 4. And I was able to swallow capsules straight away. (Thankfully by then my swelling had reduced & it didn’t hurt to swallow them but only one a a time.) But check your instructions or contact your team. Some surgeons are very particular about when you start your vitamins & what sort (chews or capsules, etc.).

Oh yeah, it’s common. I didn’t have an appetite for months. It probably came back before my hunger did but having no appetite or hunger helped me start to look at food differently: as a source of necessary nutrition. That whole eating to live not living to eat thinking became true for me. So even if I wasn’t really hungry or interested I eating I knew I had to eat something that was nutritionally dense. There were times I just ate the protein component of my meal. I also starting to eat to a routine which I continue to follow most of the time 4 years out. If it’s not a meal or snack time I don’t eat. Now, I’ll happily drop a snack if I’m not hungry because my meals are much larger & are more nutritionally balanced than they were when I was losing weight. My enjoyment of food hasn’t changed (still look forward to marks, dining out, eating socially). It’s more that there are foods I value more & enjoy eating more now & others I just don’t want to eat.

Food aversion are quite common so your so not the only one. I love vegetables & couldn't wait to have my first meal with my favourite vegetables. Nope they were awful. I found the only ones I could tolerate were cauliflower, green beans & cabbage. The oddest thing was smoked salmon. Before surgery I rarely had it as I found it too rich. After surgery it was fine & I often had it with cream cheese rolled around wedges of cucumber but a few weeks later it was a nope too rich for me again. So you can never tell what your tummy will or won’t like like fir the first couple of months. It’s a good opportunity to try foods you never enjoyed before. You may develop a real taste for them. Personally I embraced the aversion to sweet and never really introduced it back again. Don’t really miss it either.

Check with your team. Different plans have different requirements regarding fruit & also ask about portion size. Yes, juice is not encouraged - lot of the goodness of the whole fruit is not in the juice & it takes several pieces of fruit to make a cup of juice where you would only eat a single piece of fruit at a time. Vegetables should be okay if the taste doesn’t bother you. Just again check your allowed foods list first.

Check with your team because as @SleeveToBypass2023 said it depends on the fruit. And it depends on the plan your team has you on. For example blueberries were fine but not strawberries because of the little seeds on their skin for me. I was also allowed watermelon which you’d think would be a no so … 🤷🏻‍♀️Also ask about their portions recommendations too.

How heavy is your heavy lifting? Check with your team & ask for a weight limit so you can better gauge whether you can do your assigned work. You may be fine or you may be to do some of the lifting i.e. the lighter items that fit within your limits. Better to be safe than pull your internal wounds where you’re still healing.