BayouTiger

So at my (almost) 8 weeks they adjusted my plan and bumped my calories up by almost 200 a day... and my fat... and my carbs... and my calories, because I simply wasn’t getting much in, and had lost 80 lbs in 3 ish months and they said for me that was a bit faster than they wanted to see it come off especially since I still haven’t been cleared to exercise yet. Well that was about 11 days ago and I’ve been doing right by my new NUT plan and getting everything in... well I’ve GAINED almost 9 lbs since then. And it makes me sick. Honestly I’ve cried every time I’ve gotten on the scale so finally, I just put it in the cabinet and deleted the entries from my app. I keep telling myself they know best and just stick with it, but seeing those graphs going the red way and not the green way is very NOT encouraging. I just need some positive words!! Thank you eta: not cleared to actually do what I consider “work out” but still walk 2.5 miles AT LEAST per day!

No lie, I start week 8 today, and have made no fewer than 6 ricotta bakes so far (I wasn’t on purée til week 3.5!) it really is the BEST! I added an egg to the recipe and increased the protein by 2 g per serving. When I feel like the WLS foods are getting yucky and monotonous, I pretend that I’m eating a fancy lasagna and honestly it’s so filling that I don’t miss the noodles at all! And I’m a BIG pasta girl! I’ve moved on to more solid foods now, but you can betcha bottom dollar we have a giant pan of freshly made ricotta bake in the fridge as we speak. It’ll honestly probably be in my dinner rotation permanently when I’m done with these stages! Admittedly I do add some low fat mozzarella to the recipe to make it more rich and protein dense. That does add some fat and calories, but when broken down over the 6-9 servings, it’s not much at all. My NUT has actually said to add low-fat/skim cheese (in moderate amounts) to meals to increase the protein as long as I wasn’t completely out running the calories and fat. And like I said across my recipes, once you portion it out, it’s only +15-30 calories and a gram or so more of fat. But then 2 added g of protein. So that’s my tradeoff!!!

This was my whole point about including the excerpt about me being previously anorexic. It’s NOT a sustainable thing, and yeah I was 96 lbs for 3 years surviving on 148 calories a day as a 3 sport athlete... but I ended up at 263 pre-sx... so it doesn’t work and it IS counterproductive in the end and long run... me, case in point! I just don’t see 800-1000 calories as “starving yourself” if you’re getting the right macros. Perhaps it’s the warped mind from when I was younger and actually living through (intentional) starvation. But I think it’s super important that even if not a medical professional, in ALL medical instances that we focus on the individual PT and their unique makeup and PMH, and not generalizations or broad spectrums, to provide the best care and treatment. @Jaelzion well said about the speed of loss not being important, I learned a lesson in that this week. Had a -25 month, a -38 month, and then I gained 4 lbs in my last 21 days. Was losing at a very very very molasses-in-July type pace. Now it’s coming back off, but in like 1/4 lb increments. So I have had to tell myself it will happen, be patient, keep following your plan, drinking fluid, and taking vitamins!!!

The protein powder + yogurt + some PB2 is an EXCELLENT high protein option. Got me through like 2 weeks when savory foods weren’t appealing!! You’re doing GREAT Laurent (you too Aubrey)!! You will NOT fail! You’ve got this!! You’ve got a support system here. A lot of people (including me) lose their support systems after surgery because people suck, so this community is super helpful and important in recovery. I’d you need anything PM me. I’m a newb (8 weeks out) but since you’re behind me, I can give you some tips and tricks that got me through the first 2 months!!

Had to quote this ^^^ because my cell bio studying butt REALLY appreciated the shoutout to the metabolic processes!! Long: Just to add. Quite a few peoples nutritionists, surgeons and PA’s programs are VLCDs. Atleast for the first 6 months. Mine doesn’t have me going over 1100 til June. I have a biology degree with a chem minor, so I truly get nutrition stuff. However... If it’s recommended by the team, who am I to say no, you’re wrong, I need to be eating more... To a surgeon who’s been doing bariatric surgeries since they were invented, and a nutritionist with a masters in dietetics from Vanderbilt... I get where you’re coming from, I really do. And I think you’re coming from a very sincere and concerned place. But from a purely scientific standpoint we are all different. And we cannot be treated as a one size fits all. There are people with diabetes, cancer, chronic pain, mental illness, etc. who go through these surgeries and lifestyle changes. All of those pts need to be mapped out differently based on THEM and their past medical history and their familial history. Our metabolic rates, our sugars, body fat, all the stuff that people want a “baseline” for, really don’t have a true baseline. Because it’s not one size fits all. It’s never a one size fits all. What might help you lose weight might make me gain it. What is too much body fat on you might be too little on me. If it’s going lower on Cals and carbs to lose or jumpstart, I don’t see that as such a negative thing like you’re portraying. You don’t have to restrict to something absurd like 500 cals, but dropping your daily calories by a few hundred for a short period of time is proven to be a huge factor in re-jumpstarting your weight loss. There’s a distinct difference between starving yourself and not eating a lot. I was a dx disordered eater when I was a teenager. I know what not eating is. And (I’m gonna use me as an example but I know there are plenty more, but want to only speak for myself) the 750-900 calories I’m getting a day is a heck of a lot more helpful and nourishing than a single low fat string cheese wrapped in a piece of ham and one blue Gatorade per day for 2.5 years. And I am eating 750+ calories of sustainable, clean, organic veggies and lean meats/seafoods with no additives or anything fake—very sustainable over time. Was being anorexic healthy? Absolutely not. Not advocating for that but rather in the opposite direction. You need to eat, but the devil is in the details with each pt and not in the broad “calorie range” scope. I see a very big difference in starving yourself and not eating much because of that previous experience. Just my .02$... Like I said, I really enjoyed the post, I just have a hard time even thinking about telling my doctors and team they’re wrong with giving me the diet they have me on, when this is the plan that’s been laid out for me, and many others as well. And they’re professionals. I mean, I paid almost $28K for this surgery (thanks no insurance and 4 days in the hospital), I’ve got to be able to trust that what my team is doing is to help and not harm me. And that they wouldn’t put me on a plan that will ruin my metabolism and make me unable to lose properly and gain back ridiculously. And that’s where these posts get harmful. Because they can have people doubting the road they’re on. I know for a fact it freaked me out good and well. We are all on the same, but separate journeys. I have to remind myself of that daily. You’re a good person Creekimp and very very knowledgeable. I honestly learn something new every time you post. I hope you dont take this as hostility but rather as an open dialogue as you are a vet; and I’m 2 mos post op with a medical profession and bio degree so I only know what I know from that. I promise I’m not being contentious but I know online tone and inflection aren’t always picked up and seen!! Also, how do you force yourself to eat that much in a day. I eat 6 “meals” a day and have to literally force myself to eat to almost misery each time to meet my goals. Do I need to add more fat or something to increase the caloric value of my food?!

Long post but I wanted to provide what happened to me to try and help!!! Weeks 4-6 were exactly like that for me. Couldn’t even keep dissolvable zofran down. (Bizarre I know). Was getting like 100-150 calories & 15 g protein a day... if that. I ended up GAINING 6 lbs because my body was starving itself. Also ended up at urgent care with a banana bag 3x bc of it 😕 Basically I was told I had 2 options. Wait it out, or he goes in with the scope. I said no thanks to the scope. I’m at 57 days post-op now, I’m eating (750+ cals/90+ g protein a day) and cooking and smelling things again. That nauseous pit in my stomach and sinking feeling in my throat that was there 24/7 is gone! It just happened. I woke up one morning and my mom was cooking eggs and I asked for some. Wasn’t nauseous like I used to walk through the house holding my breath while there was food being prepared. Ate 1/2 of a medium egg and slowly built up my textures and flavors and added on to my meals from there! It’s tedious and it’s annoying and we have all these goals and rules, and we want to do it right so these things SUCK; but just stay the course, don’t get discouraged (I know that’s hard leaning over a trash can 5+ times a day, been there) but do the best you can with how your body is reacting post op, and hopefully with a little time and trial and error, it’ll get better like mine did. Have either of you tried like swansons sipping bone broth? It sounds weird but is packed with protein, it does have a slight flavor and I add garlic powder and a pinch of Cajun seasoning, but I was able to tolerate little sips of it at a time when I was sick! It REALLY helped. I couldn’t do warm stuff for 6 weeks so I let it cool to room temperature, but some people the warm is really soothing and good for them! Also, bari surgeon, NUT, and the 2 MDs I saw at urgent care all agreed that when you’re in that nauseous can’t keep anything down stage post op, the thing you should be focusing on isn’t protein intake or calories, but rather fluids. I didn’t even think about that. I’d get upset the protein shake made me sick; and quit putting anything near my mouth for hours. Trust me, severe dehydration is TERRIBLE. My lips and face were literally bleeding. My fever was over 102 and my pressure bottomed out. No hyperbole, one of those 3 days I drug myself to urgent care, I thought I was literally dying. I got on Amazon immediately and bought a 32 oz tumbler and I just keep it filled all day long and sip away. Not saying this to scare you, just want you to try and get your fluids in!! Sorry for being longwinded, I know how y’all feel and I just wanted to provide some encouragement!! It gets better!! I didn’t think it would, but the difference between week 6 and week 8 have been light years. AND once I started hitting my calorie, fluid, and protein goals again last week, I dropped 4 of the 6 lbs I gained in caveman mode! If y’all need anything, please feel free to PM me!

Hey y’all! Hope everyone had a nice Easter! I didn’t want to limit this to just Ladies in the title because I figured maybe if people just shared what they did, it could be a thread to help both guys and gals struggling with post op wardrobe issues!! So, today I sent 4 bags of clothes to the St Vincent de Paul shelter. Which was literally all of my clothes minus my “after” picture clothes I’m saving for reference. I’ve gone from a 24-14/16 since New Years so my old clothes are worthless. I’m worried about what to wear when I go out and about that’s not stretchy yoga pants and an oversized tee. If I’m losing a size or several inches every few weeks like has been happening I just don’t know what to do for ball games, drs visits, seeing humans IRL because anything semi-nice or structured that I buy, is gonna be pointless in a month! I didn’t think about it AT ALL until I realized, for Easter, I had to wear some workout leggings and a baseball tee because I have no real clothes! And even some shorts I bought less than 4 weeks ago don’t stay on my hips anymore. So I need clothes but don’t want to spend a million dollars on clothes that I’m gonna donate in a few months or less! Just wondering if y’all have any good ideas! I also don’t want to look like a slouch, but I don’t want to buy an entire new wardrobe til I’m way closer to goal than just 2 months out of sx. thank y’all!

Dont feel stupid! We are all humans. It happens. What i've found being a part of this community is the amount of information that we get from our respective programs are vastly different in many ways. Some get like NO info and no prep from a NUT or psych, some get TONS of info. Some plans do a calorie vs carb thing. Some dont allow any form of beef for 6 months. Some are a 6 step process to get you back to "normal food." Some say hey 4 weeks out, do what you can handle. What I've done over the last 6 weeks is researched from reputable bariatric centers across the country and kind of make a mishmash of the most helpful information and stuff that kept popping up. That, along with following some of the vets on here and reading through their posts have helped me greatly in the "What not to do" aspect. I honestly didn't get a lot of info for my surgery. Most of what I knew was from being with my ex who had the surgery a few years ago. But the packet I did get was not thorough and quite contradictory throughout. The nutritionist even got mad at me for using 2 T of 35 calorie mayo when it was ON HER RECIPE. So I totally get feeling and being misinformed and ill prepared. This isnt something thats easy and its not necessarily a line of thought that we're used to when we've struggled with weight our whole lives. So just give yourself grace, do your due diligence, and take care of that new and still healing stomach, you worked hard for it. The important thing is that you recognized your mistake, you did the right thing in calling your surgery center, and now you know. Like CatWoman said, most of us have been put on a no pasta, bread, high carb/dough NOPE list until months and months out, for example, mine is a nono til 8-12 months. Dont feel stupid, this community is amazing and super helpful. People can come off like theyre being harsh, but I truly believe that Its because they want everyone else to succeed too. Don't get discouraged. Keep your head up. And reach out to pretty much anyone on here and they're more than willing to help!! Goodluck, hun. I'm rooting for you!

Hey! congrats on your surgery and progress so far. Try not to freak out. I think at some point we have all messed up and had something we shouldn’t or too soon. I know what the nurse told you is scary about complications, but just monitor yourself and maybe give yourself some extra time for digestion before putting anything else in your body!! So my plan had me go from puréed food to “soft foods” so I just wanted to share a couple things you could try to bridge the gap between the puréed and regular food stage (I’m not allowed regular food til month 3 post op, but my plan is kind of strict) but what I’ve been eating in the soft foods/transitional stage has been like smothered green beans, moist soft chicken (I made a low-fat low cal gravy), sweet potatoes, ground Turkey (made some really good stuffed bell peppers with some this week but I’ve been really sick to eat more than half of one), I’ve done ricotta bakes (look it up, life changer), low cal/fat “lasagna” with egg instead of pasta, some ground chicken patties with spinach and green onions. what my NUT/surgeon told me is the new stomach is trying to learn how to digest properly for even months after surgery. So things very starchy or carby are dangerous because they can become gelatinous in the stomach!! So please don’t freak out, I know it’s scary! Monitor yourself and if anything starts feeling wrong besides being full, contact your doctor!! You’ve got this!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who has responded to this. But because of all of the helpful and incredibly kind comments I felt the need to update. I haven’t logged in in a while, I actually deleted myself off of all social media. I have an app that I take pictures every 3 days and I measure/weigh myself, and that is the only documentation that I need. At the advice of my Therapist (whom I’ve moved to seeing twice a week in these last 3 weeks) I did this to focus on me and my journey and not to let unsupportive people even enter my thought process. I can honestly say I’ve lost all of my people but my mom, dad and brother. One of the “friends” came around when she came to my house last week to pick up some tickets because I’ve been extremely ill the last 2 weeks (I’ve kept about 750 total calories down in 11 days and have had to get IV fluids twice, have to go back to the surgeon Monday 😕 I’ve gained 6 lbs back and have been so upset because NUT said my body is actually going into like “caveman mode”) When I walked out of the house she said “Holy sh!t, G you look absolutely amazing, I’m so proud of you.” And I’m not gonna lie, I busted into tears on my front porch. She then told me that I had inspired her to get back in the gym and she bought a digital food scale with the app like mine and same for the digital body scale. She actually looks really good as well. I’m really glad she came around. We’ve been supporting eachother now, in different ways (I’m not cleared to do anything but walk still— 47 days out) but keeping eachother accountable. The other 3, I don’t speak to anymore and the negativity that has left my life has been amazing. I don’t allow my family to post photos of me or anything anywhere so only the people that I have chosen (my family essentially) have been who have known so far. And that’ll be it. As you all know, this is hard. It’s SO hard. I was run over by a 1 ton vehicle and had 8 operations and had to learn to walk again 3 different times and that was a county fair cake walk compared to this. I just wanted to say thank you to all of you. I know you’re strangers on a message board, but you guys have been better “friends” and support system than I could ever imagine and I’m so so grateful for each and every one of you.

The most hilarious thing to me is that one of the “friends” gets Botox, fillers, and a second one just recently had a gingivoplasty because she “didn’t like the way her teeth looked.” How is having cosmetic surgery any different or cheating than WLS? They’re just cheating age and poor gum maintenance! But that’s all fair game, when we try to do something for our health it’s put in the “pathetic” and “vain” category. It’s so messed up.

Thank you so much for saying this. I really really needed to hear it today. It has literally made me cry. I still haven’t fallen asleep (it’s 8:15 AM here) because I tried taking my medicines for the first time since surgery last night (i can’t crush them) and it went absolutely horribly. Those negative thoughts are very prevalent this morning. I really appreciate your response, I know it’s probably frowned upon as far as a little white lie, but I decided I’m not telling another soul and from now on I’m just gonna stick to the “I had a hernia and diaphragm repair, and I’ve been dieting and exercising”

Thanks for the support :) talking to her today made me realize that ultimately what I’m feeling is pretty normal because of the massive changes going on, my natural issues with anxiety and depression, and being young and trying to overcome these health problems. Being told 4 months ago I would have a stroke in the next 6 months and probably die at 29 was a huge eye opener. Being reminded by my therapist of my WHY and not my WHO really helped me today. Because the WHO isn’t important. It’s the WHY! My sister used to be my best friend until I started being successful in life and she became jealous, cruel and even a slight saboteur. So I should have known it would seep into this. No contact is hard, blocking her number was hard, but truthfully blood only matters for transfusions and transplants. Doesn’t mean you have to keep blood around if they’re toxic. I agree that it will benefit me immensely in the long run to be mentally stronger, and really what’s weakened me has been these “friends/family” so hopefully with them all completely no contact, it’ll enable me to focus on myself and instill positivity in myself instead of being constantly being drug down!!! Thank you for being such a great resource on here, Hop!

Are you wanting to flub and eat the corn chips, or are you talking about flubbing and eating the fudgsicle? If just the fudgsicle, give it a few more weeks and try again, I know someone who had issues with dairy until like 3 months out and then she magically could tolerate it one day once she got on more solid food. Now if youre talking about eating corn chips, please dont do it. You went through a lot to get this surgery and something so abrasive like that so early is just a disaster waiting to happen. Remember, you have staples holding freshly dissected tissue together. Those staples are not invincible and are susceptible to tearing, herniating, leaking, and getting infected if you push it. This was major surgery. I know its hard to resist the real food. My dad showed up with gumbo, jambalaya, and chicken shawarma the other day. My nephews came over with one of those giant tubs of cheese puffs. At one point I had to get up and go for my hourly walk just so I wasnt tempted. You are stronger than you know just for going through with this major life change. Full fluids are only for a couple more days! You can do this. Please reach out if you need anything. Goodluck.

Mischa, I am not attacking you in anyway, infact, I enjoyed our conversation last night. But Nova hit it on the head. I dated someone who was almost 2 years post-op VSG when we met, and she had JUST started drinking soda again then, for the first time, as her program didnt allow it (at all, but she felt that at 2 years she was good). In the 3 years we were together, she gained back 66 lbs of the almost 100 she had lost. When she went back to her surgeon and they did a scope, her pouch had stretched to almost 3 times its size he had it post surgery. He attributed it NOT to her increasing her food volume increase, but rather resuming her ritual of drinking diet dr pepper often. And he's not some quack doctor, hes one of the foremost Bari surgeons in the United States. I'm not in any way saying that this happens to everyone or even a lot of people that returns to drinking soda after their surgeries, but I just wanted to give you a real life experience with it and why people are worried about you wanting to drink something so carbonated with such fresh incisions and so soon after surgery. Carbonation expands exponentially once its digested and encounters stomach acid and causes your stomach to distend to accommodate the pressure and volume that the gas is taking up (why it makes you burp so much)... right now your stomach is so small, that even a tiny bit of expansion can really be dangerous. Maybe not catastrophic, but I would hate for you to cause yourself more pain, as you're already nauseated and not feeling well. Might I suggest getting on Amazon and purchasing some ginger chews. When I was going through my hernia and nausea issues, they were a lifesaver! Goodluck hun, try and stay positive, I know some things may come off as harsh, but the people (the very very vast majority that I have encountered) really just want to see others (including you!) succeed!