Arabesque

Thanks @GreenTealael. She’s on the mend as she hasn’t stopped telling me what to do today & then asking if I’d done it yet! Mind you she coughed all night long so neither of us had any sleep. 🙄

I’m concerned you may not be following your plan & may be stressing your digestive system & hindering your recovery but plans do differ so …. Please check with your team about what you can eat at this stage & also how much to be sure. Portion size is always important but more so when you are still healing (& you will be for some weeks more). For example I was advised to eat 1/4-1/3 of a cup of food from puree. Think of all those sutures & staples holding your tummy & digestive system together. If you had a sleeve your tummy would have several inches of staples & stitches - imagine that on your arm or leg. The staged return to eating is to protect our tummy & support our recovery. Another consideration is that many nerves are cut during surgery so all our old signals of feeling full or that you’ve eaten enough & hunger aren’t getting through as well & usually are different to how they felt to you before surgery. This includes feeling your restriction (which is a tightness &/or heaviness around your chest - you may feel you want to thump your chest to ease it). Most of us don’t feel our restriction until we’re on soft food, usually around weeks 5 & 6, & when we’re more healed. But the goal is not to eat until you feel your restriction. You need to learn to stop before that, when you’ve had enough & don’t need (not want) to eat more. I’m a believer in a all because you can doesn’t mean you should thinking during this whole experience. There is a heck of a lot of things to learn & especially about yourself. You’re only three weeks in & you’re not expected to know it all straight away. I’m still learning four years out. Missteps are understandable & allowed. Never be afraid to ask your team for more information or clarification. And everyone here is always happy to make suggestions, offer support, etc. All the best.

I have a delayed eating schedule. I don’t work any more which makes it easier to manage. I don’t have breakfast until around 8:30/9 because it doesn’t seem to sit as well earlier in the day. I ‘mid morning snack’ at around 1pm, mini snack at 3ish, lunch at around 4pm, dinner at about 6/6:30pm & final snack (protein bar) at 7:30ish. One thing about this whole experience has been to realise my old eating routines (like breakfast at 6am, etc.) didn’t work for me at all & I feel so much better for starting my day later & eating regularly. I drink all day & night. I keep water by my bed & drink every time I get in or out of bed (which can be a few times as I pee a lot 😁). I drink in the car (sip when I get in & out, at traffic lights, etc.) PS - I watched a medical documentary last year that advised that coffee can inhibit the absorption of iron by 70 or more percent. So if you’re going to do coffee as part of your breakfast routine, may be best to leave your iron supplement,if you take one, to later in the day,

I think that’s a pretty great loss too. We all lose at our own rate & there’s no really wrong or right rate of loss just what’s best for us & our body. If your team is happy with your loss you’re doing fine. Remember it took a long time to put all your weight on so it’s going to take time to lose it too. It’s not over yet. I reached my goal at 6 months but kept losing for almost another 12 months. In that additional year I lost another around 11kgs (24lbs). Yes it was very, very slow but it brought my total loss to 42kgs+/- (90lbs). My starting weight was on the lower which affected my rate of loss. What was your starting weight?

Well I did make soup from those lamb cutlets (mixed vegetables, cumin, rosemary, mixed herbs, barley). Trimmed off the cutlets to dice the meat & threw the bones in with the sautéing onion, celery & garlic. I had a bowl for dinner but had to pack up the rest to take to my mum’s this morning. She was taken to hospital last night for a few hours with a chest infection because she has limited lung capacity & is prone to pneumonia. At least I won’t have to cook for us for a few days while I’m keeping an eye on her. PS I’ve decided this is more a potage than a soup because it’s is so thick & chunky. No pxt cause it just looks sort of brown. 😁

I lost 42kg so just a little less than you asked for. I don’t enjoy exercising. Never have. Still don’t. Over the years before surgery I tried lots of things: walking, yoga (one I enjoyed most), aerobics, swimming, cycling, etc. They never helped me lose weight or maintain my weight so I really wasn’t all that surprised when I discovered exercise only contribute to about 10% of any weight you want to lose. Of course there are many other benefits to exercising but don’t rely on it to help with your weight loss. Did I exercise during my weight loss? Nope. I just upped my everyday activities: parked further away from where I was going, walked up & down escalators & travelators, made multiple trips up & down my stairs (why carry groceries up in one trip when you can do it in two or three), etc. I still don’t exercise as such. I exercise snack at home by doing 5-10 minute sessions about 4 times a day of stretching & using resistance bands. I have loose skin (not a lot but enough) but my arms look more toned from using the bands - I just don’t wave my arms about. Too many factors influence how much loose skin you’ll have. Age, genetics, how much weight you lose, how long you were at your higher weight, your weight loss & gain history, etc. You can’t stop it. Your skin has already been stretched. You may get a little snap back if you’re younger & still producing elastin. Think of your lose skin as a well used & over stretched hair band/elastic. Can’t fix that. As to exercising helping with it, your muscles lie under your skin & your skin drapes over the top. You’ll need a lot of muscle to fill your skin out. My thighs would have to be three or more inches larger to fill out my loose skin there but I don’t want large thighs again. Nor do I want a large butt again to fill out the loose skin there. Surgery is your only option if your lose skin bothers you, limits your movements or gets infections, rashes, etc.

You should just be taking a sip every few minutes of all your liquids. No gulping mouthfuls or downing glassfuls so you won’t feel full. Liquids go through your digestive system more quickly too. Plus many nerves were cut during your surgery so messages about hunger, satiety, fullness, etc. don’t get through in the same way or at all. This is why it’s very important to stick to the portion sizes & the eating & drinking guidelines (sipping, eating slowly, etc.) you were given most especially in the first weeks while you are healing. (I still sip & eat slowly 4 years out.) Actually not eating or drinking until you are full is an important learning. It takes time for the message to get through that you are full so by the time you realise you are full you are more than full & have eaten or drunk way too much. Listening to your signals & signs as to when you have had enough & don’t need more (need not want) does take time and they may be different from what you know them as. If you had a leak you’d know about it. Symptoms include: fast heart rate fever chills stomach pain chest pain shortness of breath of breathing difficulties nausea & vomiting If you have some or all of these symptoms contact your surgeon & go to your nearest medical centre. All the best.

I have to clean out my freezer too @ms.sss. Am defrosting some lamb cutlets I bought 6 months ago - yikes - which I found this morning deep in the frozen depths. I’ll make a dukkah paste & cook them tonight … and then freeze a few of them again. Ha! The circle of life. Actually they are a bit icy. Maybe I’ll make a lamb & barley soup instead in case they’re not tender now. (I blacked out the price because it would horrify you all. 😱)

Try adding in an electrolyte drink to your fluids to give you an energy boost. Low blood pressure (postural hypotension) causes the dizziness on standing. It usually passes as you start eating more (I have it all the time but I always tended to low BP so nothing new for me). Make getting up slowly a habit & wait before moving. If my vision starts to narrow I reach for something solid like a table, chair, walk (or person), to ground me for those few seconds. I also bend over so my head is lower or equal to my heart until everything starts to right itself again. As an example of what I meant by the portion not being right for you at this time: I used to take hours to drink a protein shake. I’d dilute it (double the water) to make it more palatable & easier to drink. But there was no way I could drink one as a 20-30 min ‘meal’. I still take up to an hour to eat a tub of yoghurt & then sometimes can’t eat the whole tub because it can suit a little heavy or I just don’t want more. Try making the yoghurt into a yoghurt drink by blending it with milk (extra protein bonus) & sip it for ages too. Both count towards your fluid goals as well as protein. Meeting your protein goal gets easier as you progress & are able to eat a little more & a little more easily.

I used to over produce acid (didn’t help I was a meal skipper so nothing in my tummy to absorb the acid) & when that occurred I experienced very strong cutting pains across my stomach. If this is what you’re experiencing, your meds may not be strong enough. What are you taking out of curiosity?

I had sleeve & am just over 4 years out. my weight has been pretty much stable aside from a small gain of a good 2kgs after a medication absorption issue (& lost about half of it when the meds were adjusted). I never was required to measure & track my food intake. I only did it & still do randomly out of my own interest. While portion size is important equally important is calories & you can’t judge or make decisions about one in isolation of the other. The importance of nutritional value goes without saying of course. Generally I say I eat about a recommended portion of most foods & tend to eat predominately low processed food with the exception of some things. As an example I eat about 3-4ozs of protein with a good cup or so of vegetables for dinner. I have a half serve of rolled oats made with milk & blueberries for breakfast. Lunch may be 4 steamed prawn gyoza, a tub of yoghurt, 12 mid sized prawns, 1.5 egg omelette with vegetables, etc. I snack about 4 times a day (to get in additional protein, nutrients & calories). It’s usually some multigrain crackers with labneh or liverwurst if I haven’t made labneh, macadamia nuts, protein bar, string cheese, peanut paste, fruit, beef jerky. I don’t eat dessert, cakes or biscuits (except on very rare occasions), rice, bread, pasta, potatoes, chips, popcorn or other traditional ‘snack’ foods & don’t drink soda. Nor do I eat fast food & very rarely have takeaway (maybe 5 times since my surgery & not through my choice). Don’t really miss them either. Also I still take 30 - 45 minutes to eat a meal. If I eat more quickly, how much I can eat is reduced & I can end up with the foamies. I still aim to eat 60-70g of protein & to get my fluids in every day. I eat about 1500 calories to maintain my weight. I’m 5’3”, have a finer build, am 58 & aren’t really active. If I was taller, weighed more, was more active &/or younger I’d need more calories. Anyway that’s what I do & found works for me. It may not work for you. There is no right or wrong way to eat only what is right for you & allows you to maintain your weight & health, is sustainable & doesn’t limit or restrict the life you want to live. PS - Earlier this year I checked a BMR calculator out of curiosity. Interestingly, it suggested I’d need to consume about 1500 calories to maintain my weight which confirmed I was on the right path.

I had a very dark & smelly bout of diarrhoea in hospital on day 3 which was from old surgical blood. Literally ran out of me as I was walking to the bathroom to pee. No warning at all. As they’re cutting & reconnecting your digestive system there is going to be blood. While they suction away a lot of this blood there will always be some left within your digestive system which you ‘poop’ out. If it persists I’d go back to your surgeon or a medical centre to ensure there’s no lingering bleeding.

Congratulations on your weight loss & maintenance. To lose more, go back to the basics of what you were eating & doing when you first stabilised. Your old protein & fluids goals, watch portion size, keep your carbs, fats & sugars low & track your food. You’ll then need to reduce your calorie intake to lose weight. (Remember, exercise only accounts for about 10% of your weight loss so upping your activity to help your weight loss will only help with the loss of about 2 lbs in your case.) Given that you’ve been stable all this time, the weight you’re at may be your body’s set point - the weight it is happiest at & functions best at. It’s easer to maintain this weight & much harder to lose more & then maintain a lower weight simply because your body doesn’t want to be at a lower weight. To maintain weight lower than your set point will require you to always work at it & to eat fewer calories than you do now to maintain. Will this be sustainable & manageable? Will a lower weight & reduced calorie intake limit or restrict your lifestyle? Just something to consider.

I wouldn’t think it’s all that normal at 3 months out. Sure the odd bout of nausea or feeling a bit off, or some foamies if you eat something too dry, coarse or eat too quickly but full & regular vomiting …no. I’d go back and ask for some testing to be done to work out what’s going on. Being on such a narrow diet & vomiting could mean you’re not getting in all the nutrients & fluids you need. Has your surgeon at least given you some anti nausea meds or something to stop the vomiting?

It could be from eating too quickly but it could also be that some foods just seem to sit more heavily too (potatoes, bread, rice & pasta still do for me) & make you feel uncomfortable. Check your portion sizes too. Not necessarily that you may be eating too much but more that it’s too much for your healing tummy to manage at the moment - we all heal differently & can mange/tolerate different foods & portions. Try smaller portions & try some different purée options. Sometimes we just have to be more tentative in our choices &/or go a little more slowly through the stages.

Okay, I’m going to go down the straight talking path first so be warned. Cheating is cheating. A slip is different. A slip happens once & then you work to ensure you don’t repeat it. It’s understandable & relatable - everyone slips along the way in some way or other. Cheating implies you are doing it repeatedly. Only you know which category you fall into. This is just the beginning. After surgery you have at least 6 more weeks of restricted eating then months of following a eating plan to support your weight loss & your adopting better eating habits. Not everyone loses their appetite & has no interest in eating in the months after surgery. Our battles with eating do continue in some form or frequency even for those who lose their hunger in the beginning. The surgery isn’t a magic cure. It’s just a tool which works best if you put in the work. It isn’t easy but so worth it. When you reach for that chicken, etc., remind yourself why you’re doing this. Also reflect on why you’re reaching for it: a craving, an emotional need so for comfort, are you bored, angry, sad, annoyed, stressed, is it a habit, etc.? Try looking for a distraction. Go for a walk, read, ring a friend, craft, play a game, garden, check social media, etc. Try having a hot drink instead too. These can be useful habits to adopt long term. Now the softer path: Some plans do allow one meal of lean protein & vegetables & two protein shake meals on the pre surgical diet. (Some surgeons have a preferred plan they put all their patients on while others put different patients on different plans based on individual needs & circumstances.) Speak with your team to see if they would be willing for you to follow a modified plan instead of the all shake diet. It doesn’t hurt to ask & they may say yes. You can do this. All the best.

Some people do struggle with eggs. Not sure why just our sensitive tummies I think. They can be quite rich. They also may not have been runny enough for the purée stage. Sometimes we’re (our tummy) just not ready for certain foods even though our plan says they’re okay to eat. Leave them a week or so & then try again. It may take a few attempts for your tummy to be able to tolerate them. You may have similar experiences with their foods too.

Is it the incision on the right side? This is the one where they usually pull your tummy out so it may be additionally bruised & strained if it’s that one. (It’s often a little larger too.) But yes, if it is warmer to touch, inflamed, etc. you may have an infection & will need antibiotics.

I cooked with mushrooms from soft - omelettes usually but also mince dishes & casseroles. I would think it would be a no to wings for some time. One of our biggest enemies is food that is too dry & coarse especially in the first months. It can sort of get stuck & cause the foamies. Chicken breast, even skinless, is a common culprit. So a wing which is traditionally drier would be worse & then frying it, even air frying would make it more dry & the crispy skin would be dry & coarse as well. Even in soft food, you food should be moist, tender & have some sort of gravies, sauces to help you chew & swallow the food. If you want chicken, try thigh (boned or deboned), baked or sautéed in a pan & flavour with any herbs or spices you usually enjoy with your wings. Thighs are more tender (& flavoursome). Of course check with your team. Plans can be different as we all know & then it depends upon what we can tolerate.

Oh yeah the constipation. I swear I never thought about, read about, wrote about, talked about constipation as much as I did for the first years after surgery. You can add some Benefibre to your shake to help with the constipation. Ensure you’re getting in your fluids or are close to your goal. And as @catwoman7 suggested a stool softener or other laxative medication. Start with a gentle one & see how you go. But it’s too be expected that you don’t need to go every day in the first months. You’re not eating a lot & therefore don’t have that much to poop out. Your weight loss is never consistent @Siberian1. If you graph it you’ll notice it goes up & down, zigs & zags, & sometimes is a straight line. This is just how it goes. A lot of factors influence your weight from fluid retention, pooping or not pooping, hormones, drinking a little more or a little less, etc. As long as your general trend is downwards you’re doing okay. If the numbers on the scale are messing with you step away from the scales. Weigh yourself once a week or fortnight or even monthly.

Had a thought. You could possibly have an egg flip. Blend egg, milk vanilla & a little nutmeg or cinnamon. But check with your team.

Unfortunately no. Eggs are a solid food. Liquids mean you have to be able to drink the ‘food’ - no chewing.

I echo the advice to go back to your surgeon for guidance & if you haven’t got one, find a dietician/nutritionalist with experience supporting wls patients. There are differences in plans, your very quick cycle through the return to eating stages as an example. But we ourselves are very different & consequently have different needs. For example I’m shorter, probably older, likely had a different weight loss/gain history, had no comorbidities before surgery & aren’t very active. I wasn’t given calorie goals only portion size: 1/4 - 1/3 cup from purée slowly increasing to about a cup at goal which was 6 months. I remember for months it would take me three days to eat two scrambled eggs. I could eat one egg at 6 months - just the egg nothing else I didn’t have to track calories but I know I was barely consuming 300 in around the soft food stage & was barely eating 900 calories at 6 months. My plan did not allow for any rice, pasta or bread at any stage while losing. Beat advice is to go slowly & be more tentative with your food choices while you are healing (& it does take a few weeks). The staged return to eating we work through is to protect & not strain your healing tummy & support your recovery. Remember all those staples & sutures holding your tummy & digestive system together & all the nerves that have been cut too. All the best with your recovery & weight loss.

Yeah, chicken especially breast can be too dry & cause problems for many. Chicken thigh is more tender (& tastier too) & can be easier to tolerate if you really want chicken. Salmon can to be too rich & oily but try poaching it in milk or stock with some fresh herbs. Otherwise any flaky white fish is good. I can’t recall my first real meal but I think I made a chicken casserole. It had white wine in it which was a bad decision to include - it was all I could taste & was awful. I also ate a lot of beef mince dishes in the soft food stage (rissoles, bolognese sauce with zucchini noodles, etc.). Generally I was able to eat most meats without issue from when I could have the. including steak which causes problems for some. Just make sure you have a sauce or gravy with your meat to help it go down more easily & keep it tender.

It can be difficult to hit those goals in the first few weeks but as long as you are making an effort & slowly getting closer you’ll be fine. You’re only a couple of days out so relax. I could only consume one shake & a soup a day during the post surgical liquid stage but slowly after that I found I could eat a little more & more. Try not seeing your shake only as a meal but as a liquid you just keep sipping. I used to dilute mine (sometimes doubled the water) because it tasted so awful & then sipped it for a couple of hours. You may be able to get more in that way.