blackcatsandbaddecisions

I lost a lot of weight prior to surgery following a diet similar to this: Unsweetened almond milk latte for breakfast One string cheese as a snack Premier protein for lunch High protein/low calorie dinner like eggs and a vegetarian sausage It sucks but it’s effective!

I was by myself the whole time as well- Covid has really made things crazy. I ran into someone today who’s husband got sleeved in August. She told me his weight loss has stopped-because he has started drinking soda again, and eating snack foods it sounds like. It just really highlighted for me how vital it is to not try to find ways to go back to how I was eating before. This surgery is not a slam dunk, and it requires a huge change in our relationship with food.

I lost a lot prior to surgery (50 prior to the pre op diet) during my six month period. I didn’t treat it as a last ditch effort, but as setting myself up for as much success as possible. I timed it well and didn’t fall below 40 BMI until after insurance approval. It never crossed my mind to be like “oh I lost it on my own so let’s cancel the surgery”. I think mostly because I’ve done it on my own before! And then regained. And then done it again! And regained. I know I need help keeping it off, not just losing.

All my days are about the same, since I’m still on the 4 week post op liquid diet right now. My current biggest treat is to add some PB2 into my chocolate protein shake. Now that’s excitement! I think with waiting for surgery, waiting to lose weight before/after surgery, and a lot of things in life, patience is the virtue it was always said to be. I used to play chess competitively and I remember the coach telling people so often that the only thing that lost them the game was impatience. Look to your end goals and work backwards to figure out your steps to get there. If you can’t do anything to advance right now, then look for an action that at least won’t hurt your progress. And when you get an opening to move forward with your goals, be ready and go!

Post op liquid diet during thanksgiving! I had bariatricpal tomato soup. I’m thankful for a lot, but also grateful our big family thanksgiving was cancelled this year so it was just me and my husband/kids. No need to explain turning down the turkey! Not a traditional thanksgiving in ANY sense, so I hope to be looking back next year with a good sense of humor at my Covid-cancelled tomato soup thanksgiving. We all have years of great thanksgivings ahead of us.

Oh yeah, I absolutely am losing slower as a result of previous weight loss. I’m at 16 days post op and I’m down 11.8 lbs from surgery, most of which was lost in the first week or so. I am fine with it, because overall I’m down 70 lbs. I just hit 38 BMI, from a high of 45 or so. This isn’t a race, it’s a marathon. It took me so long because I started the process, couldn’t afford out of pocket, waited to get my husband a job with bariatric coverage, got through the insurance waiting period, then the 6 month diet, then finally surgery!

I kept it private and I also know a ton of people at my local hospital. I chose to go to a doctor and hospital a few hours away from here. Realistically however this MD was recommended by many people and he has been doing surgery longer than my local surgeons so that was my final deciding factor. I didn’t have any issues with having my surgery away from home. We did most preop via zoom, I went for a full day for the actual tests a week before, and for the surgery itself we rented an air bnb in the area. I had surgery on Tuesday and we checked out on Friday, I had my post op appt, and we headed back home. Pick the doctor you feel best about, then consider the location.

Black vomit or stool is listed in my bariatric materials as a sign of a severe problem and to go to the ER right away! Please take her to a different hospital if you can.

From the time I was starting the process to finally getting the surgery I timed in at 23 months. 😅 My best advice is start losing weight NOW. I lost the max amount of weight I could before surgery (eventually) without dropping my BMI below what insurance would approve, and I am so thankful I did. If you have a lot to lose, you’re only going to have so long on your surgery “honeymoon”, so whatever you can lose now is weight you don’t need to lose later. Also, I feel like it made it easier to deal with things like the pre op diet, post op diet, eating smaller amounts, etc.

In the end, this surgery is a very personal decision. I’ve been married for some time so I understand how I’m a long term marriage most things become a joint venture, but in the end you are still an individual and you will be responsible for making this decision about your own health and future. I’m sorry to say this is also likely the first of many people who will have lots of opinions about how you should just diet, try harder, etc. to be perfectly honest, none of us are making the popular decision by having wls. I made the decision to tell nobody except my husband, mostly because this isn’t anybody’s business but mine. If a morbidly obese person in the future asks me how I did it, I’ll be honest with them, but that’s it. Take time to make the decision for yourself. If you decide to proceed, tell your husband your reasons. Long term you’ll need to rely on your own decision making, not necessarily others approval.

My MD doesn’t even have a puree stage at all. It’s 4 weeks post op all liquid. I’m at day 15 post op and cottage cheese sounds amazing, but oh well. I wouldn’t recommend picking and choosing different diet plans from different surgeons. I trusted my surgeon enough to let him surgically remove most of my stomach, I’ll trust his post op advice as well. Plus, I need all the boost I can get with weight loss as I still have 100 lbs left to lose, so liquid diets suck, but they sure do get rid of those lbs.

Every morning. I’ve noticed that my large weight gains in the past are all this mysterious weigh-in free time. I literally have almost a decade of data on MyFitnessPal showing drops in weight then a missing 6 month period that then reappears like 50 lbs heavier...then weight loss for a while, missing time, huge weight gain, etc. I try to stick my head in the sand about weight gain. I need to make it a daily habit or I just stop weighing in and I know where that leads.

Thanks all, I’ll keep on just drinking then. Every once in a while I take a huge drink and just sit there with a mouth full of protein drink like, are you stupid? What are you thinking? And slooooowly have to swallow the mouthful a little bit at a time. Love that.

So I have a dumb question. I know we have to wait 30 minutes after eating to drink, but do protein shakes and broths count as “eating” for having to wait to drink? Thoughts?

It’s my one week sleeve-aversary! How I can go from laying in bed in severe pain, throwing up on myself, miserable, convinced I had made a huge mistake, to happily cleaning the house, easily drinking my protein and water, and feeling great is crazy. What a difference a week makes. I have lost 8 lbs since surgery, and 65.8 lbs overall!

I’m still in the liquid phase, but the only “protein soup” I’ve actually been able to stomach is the bacon and cheese one (for sale on this site). I saw the first ingredients were cheese and I was sold! It actually took care of my cheese craving I’d been having. Would I have liked an actual piece of cheese more? Of course. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

I’m brand new to the game but I’ve been having some thoughts about my long term plans around some foods. For me this whole process has really made me look at the way I treat food and how I act around certain foods. I have parents with alcohol addiction, but I never made the connection between that and my chronic overeating until recently. I have addictive tendencies, and there are certain things that will cause me to spiral out of control. Long term, I’m not sure I can ever reintroduce candy. I binge on candy like nothing else on this planet. Chips and crackers, I have a lesser but real problem with. Does this mean I will never eat anything sweet or salty ever again? Doubtful. But I’m not sure I can ever bring home a bag of gummy bears or sit in bed with a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips again, nor do I need to. This wasn’t bringing me the happiness I thought it was.

Day 4 felt pretty ok, day five felt really good. And we just won’t talk about day one or two, it’s over now and I won’t have to do it again.

I didn’t use this MD but I had a similar experience. I honestly had all my appointments with the PA and wasn’t 100% sure who the MD was in the OR until he introduced himself...and then it was lights out for me. I was fine with it, I care more about his surgical skill than I do if he spends time with me while I’m awake. I think it’s not uncommon!

Oh man, I am craving meat, which is ridiculous because I eat meat so rarely most people I know think I’m a vegetarian. Time for an exciting dinner of bone broth. Good luck to everyone who has upcoming surgeries this week! You are going to rock it. I would have never believed I would feel this good on Saturday after my Tuesday surgery. On Tuesday I was miserable, in pain, and nauseous. Wednesday I was still not feeling well at all. Thursday I was feeling a bit better but still struggling. Friday I started feeling pretty ok, and today I feel great. I’m on track to get in my protein and liquids and vitamins, I feel good, and my incisions aren’t bothering me at all. If you have a rough time the first few days, please know it DOES get better, and at least in my experience, fast!

For me, I’ve finally found that the only way for me to get in my drinking is to sip, wait for a pain in the stomach, small burp, then on to the next. In general I’m in so much less pain every day. Except when I cough. Horrible, tearing pain in my lower left abdomen with every cough.

I am struggling mightily to get in my fluids, never mind the protein. The pain is a lot less today but my stomach hurts with every single sip. I have a feeling I’m going to get lectured tomorrow at my post op appointment. My goal today was to finish a 20 oz Gatorade zero and a protein water but I’m not even half done with the Gatorade yet. Sigh.

I’m officially sleeved! The pain and nausea were pretty bad yesterday, and I threw up liquid pain meds once. 0/10, do not recommend. Feeling a bit better today. I’m trying to drink a protein shake right now, just still really hesitant because of the pain in my stomach. I’ve had a lot of burps and they make me feel so much better. I feel like it’s like burping a baby. Passed the swallow test this am so hopefully things are looking up!

I’m officially sleeved! The pain and nausea were pretty bad yesterday, and I threw up liquid pain meds once. 0/10, do not recommend. Feeling a bit better today. I’m trying to drink a protein shake right now, just still really hesitant because of the pain in my stomach. I’ve had a lot of burps and they make me feel so much better. I feel like it’s like burping a baby. Passed the swallow test this am so hopefully things are looking up!

I know this is a self inflicted problem, but I’m getting tired of all my coworkers being nosy about my vacation time and talking about how I’m going to enjoy it so much and how lucky I am to be taking time off. But it makes me even more glad I didn’t share anything with them because I can’t imagine the gossip and drama they’d be starting if they knew I was getting surgery. I’m almost all packed, just have to finish up today at work, pick up the kids, check into our air bnb a few hours away, and off we go on our “vacation”.