Blueslily

If you do a quick search on this site, you will find MANY posts about stalls during this process, especially during the 3-5 week period. It is quite normative. Check out the site and those postings. Hopefully that will help reduce your anxiety and help you consider realistic expectations of this process to help reduce your frustration.

What kind of foods did you eat in the soft foods stage?

Do you all eat avocado or homemade guacamole in the soft food stage? How about homemade hummus?

Thanks everyone for your informative replies and all the best to everyone going through this process right now. Step by step and day by day is the name of the game. Doing everything we can to protect our new pouches and support our bodies during the healing process. I try to be gentle on my body by treating it kindly. After reading your responses, I am a little less nervous about returning to work. The main issue for me is that I talk to people allllllll day long. So, I will try to adjust my schedule some so I will have time to take care of myself during the day. I will focus on slowing down and making some time for me.

Hello all, I had the sleeve surgery plus a hiatal hernia repair on April 6. I am at the two week Mark and I am thinking about returning to work at the 3 week mark. At work, I'm sitting most of the day, but talking all day. I have appointments with clients most if the day and run various meetings, so it's a fairly busy day for me. It's already a nice challenge when I'm home to fit in all my water and protein. Whenever I have a doctor appointment, I fall behind with both so I am worried that if I am at work busy all day, how on earth will I be able to focus on myself enough to get everything in. I'm thinking about starting with a test of just working part-time like half days to give myself an opportunity to adjust. Quick Questions: How do you all fit everything (water and protein amounts) in while at work? How do you track intake at work? How do you sip water all day if you happen to talk a lot at work? I also wonder about walking, since I'm pretty tightly scheduled at work all day. I'm just concerned that I will be so distracted by work that I won't take care of myself like I am now. I've been home for 2 weeks since surgery. Working a little bit from home this week. Help! Thanks!

Hmm, my next stage is called Soft Foods, not pureed foods. I just called it that because so many people on here say purree foods. Stage 1 - Clear Liquids for one week Stage 2 - Full liquids for two full weeks Stage 3 - Soft foods for three full weeks So, I guess I dont have a purree stage maybe.

So, how do you purree shrimp, fish, scallops, etc. for the purree stage? What do you add to make it softer?

How did your body respond to the oils that they use for the crab cake?

All the best to every one scheduled for surgery next week. I'm 2.5 weeks post-op. Feeling stronger each day.

Oh, so sorry to hear that you're having such a hard time. Did your program give you a prescription for something for the acid reflux? I was sent home with a prescription..well, I picked up a med the week before surgery. Does walking help anyone? Heating pad? Standing in warm shower with your back to the water to at least help you relax some. I love the feeling of warm water running on me. Helps me relax and feel rejuvenated. I dont use broth straight from the cartons in the store. I like the broth from Campbell's Chunky Chicken Noodle soup. Not the regular chicken noodle that seems to have a thicker, oily broth. I add a little protein powder to that broth. I just pour all the broth out the can of soup and put the noodle part in a bowl for whatever will be done with it, lol. I ate sugar free kello for flavor in my mouth the first few days at home. Helped me. I really like the two broths that I picked up from the Thai restaurant today. Strictly broth for their chicken and rice soup and their tum yum soup without any spice added and no tomato. A lot of thai restaurants make tum yum with tomatoes, but I sought out one that does not use tomatoes due to trying to stay away from acid right now. Some people say they add water to the protein shakes to thin them out some. Maybe that will help. Hope you feel better soon. First week can be a challenge for sure. I had my share of unpleasant moments the first week also. I'm just one week ahead of you.

For people in the soft foods/purree stage, any tips or suggestions? I want to get some veggies in since it's been a while but will focus on protein of course. I want to try a soft fish instead of tuna. Any fish recommendations? Something soft so it will slide down easier.

Hi April Sleevers, How's everyone doing? I'm feeling better. Looking forward to starting purree stage which is Stage 3 for me next week. I'm curious about how my body will respond. I picked up some broths of Thai soups today for the weekend to give me a little variety this weekend for the last few days of my Full Liquids phase. Did not walk the past two days and it will rain all day tomorrow so I'm feeling a bit bummed about lack of walking. Hoping for at least a small break in the rain tomorrow so I can get outside and do some walking in the park. If not, Sunday seems to have better weather forecasted. Attempting to work a few half days next week to see how my energy level holds up. Starting Tuesday and only committed to a three day, half day trial next week. I can see in my face that I've lost some weight. Interesting. Will take first after- surgery pics at One Month. Only weighing once a week at this point. I don't want to create stress or anxiety by checking daily. There are a lot of posts on this site about the negative impact of scale watching. I got this surgery for health reasons, not numbers on a scale. So, I'm not fixated on numbers on a scale. Scale watching can easily become a transfer addiction so I hope that everyone is being careful with that and not putting unrealistic pressure on yourself to lose weight super fast. Let's do this healthy! Throat pain situation seems to be about wisdom tooth extraction one week before surgery and the impact of surgery on that process. Still no BM without assistance. So, will probably use assistance every other day until I start solids which should help. Vitamins make my tummy feel a bit unpleasant or unhappy. So, combined with the nasty taste, I think I will need to switch. Talking with dietitian next week about the situation. I really want to use patches, but my surgeon isn't a fan of that. I have to stay on myself to get in all my water and protein each day on the full liquids stage. If I get distracted by doing a task at home or have a doctors appointment, I get off track and it's hard to catch up since we shouldn't guzzle anymore. I can get liquids down pretty quick. But, really trying to be kind to my tummy and not drink too fast. I watched a couple good videos on YouTube last night by Dr. V. The most helpful one was about the texture scale he created and deciding what to eat based on the texture and dryness, mainly after our initial stages. Hope everyone is resting and adhering to stages suggested by our WLS programs so that you are protecting your new tummy. Let's be kind to our bodies. 🙂👍 Protect your healing. Make healthy choices! (I only share this because I've read some interesting stories on this site about food off plan that folks ate early on and the negative impact or sometimes no impact which gave false impression that it was ok to do that to their recovering bodies when its definitely not.) No judgement. Just hoping we will all be safe during healing.

Thanks! Yes, I've seen several people on YouTube talk about patches. My surgeon does not recommend them because he said they don't offer enough of what I need, but he told me to chat with the dietitian to discuss in more depth.

Thanks for the encouragement! That sounds like a lot of protein at one time. Actually sounds a little scary to me. Is there a such thing as a limit or too much protein at one time? Just asking because I'm cautious about my little pouch in the early days of recovery. I just dont want to try to make my little stomach try to take on too much at one time. Thanks!

Ok. Then maybe look for the other disciplines that are trained to offer therapy like clinical social workers and folks with LPCs or whatever masters level counselors are called in your state. Psychologists are great, but if they are too limited, then I would certainly look for other trained and licensed therapy professionals that might be helpful.

I have glue also. I am at 2 weeks and the glue on the incision on the left side under my bra came off yesterday as well due to the bar sliding against it. It seems to happen on my left one, but not the right one. The incision is totally closed. I put a bandaid over it yesterday so the bra does not irritate it going forward. If concerned, you can message your WLS team. I'm messaging my team today. When I saw them last week for the one week follow up, they said my incisions looked great. I actually asked for more glue to be added since my bra was rubbing against the left one. Honestly, I wear a bra as little as possible at home due to the rubbing, but must wear it when leaving home.

Thanks! Yes, I've seen several people on YouTube talk about patches. My surgeon does not recommend them because he said they don't offer enough of what I need, but he told me to chat with the dietitian to discuss in more depth.

Yes, awful throat experience. I guess I can try to swallow the vitamins and see how my new tummy reacts. With my program, we start with chewable vitamins one week post surgery

Anyone still have an throat pain? Mine is still here and I'm 2 weeks post surgery. Met with an ENT provider today. I reported sore throat l, pain in right ear, pain when swallowing, and sometimes pain when opening mouth - just right side. He put a scope down my nose to my throat. He said he saw a little bit of swollen tissue on the right side of my throat, but that's it. No infection or damaged tissue. No issue in my right ear that has the pain. He said just to wait it out for maybe another week. Just very uncomfortable pain. Worse at night. Throbbing at night. Took pain meds the last two nights so I could try to get some sleep as it hurts worse at night. Ugh.. Everything else is ok. No stomach pain. No incisions. Pain. Gas pain is down to maybe just 5-10% not very frequently. Oh, my chewable vitamins are nasty. So, deciding if I will just deal with that OR order a different flavor. Also, I cant imagine working and trying to get everything in each day..any day that I have a doc appt, I get behind with fluids and protein and cant just chug down more when I get home so I usually end up not meeting my goal that day. I take water and a protein drink with me everytime I leave home. But, finishing them is harder when not home. Oh, did a 1 hour walk for 3 miles around a lake at a state park yesterday. Hahaha. Could not believe it. Felt ok. I usually just walk 45 minutes a day in my neighborhood. But, Sunday and Monday went to parks to walk. Both had great water views. Crazy tired Sunday after my walk. It was just maybe a 30-40 minute walk plus lots of resting at hreat water views. I was tired because I did not get enough water or protein before the walk. Yesterday was hike through the forest around a lake. I had taken in more water and protein before. I felt fine. Shocked myself. Hahhaha. Took a protein shake and bottle of water with me to use during the hike.

All the best for your recovery

Also, honestly, I was so focused on just trying to cope with just having surgery, that I didnt even care to look at a scale. Hahaha. Walking, drinking enough fluids, and getting rid of gas pain filled my days. Hahahaha. I just had surgery April 6 so Im still focused on recovery mainly and getting in everything each day. Good luck resting and allowing your body to heal. Hope you are making progress with getting everything in per your program.

Hi there, congrats on your surgery. Yes, since it's just Tuesday, that is common per lots of posts on this site. Many folks say there is an increase in water weight from IV fluid. Maybe a search for the related topic on the site may help you see some of the prior discussions about weight right after surgery. I dont know for sure how long it takes to lose The IV fluid weight. Everyone has such a different experience. Searching for the topic might help. Again, just know though that everyone has different experiences. I think a common recommendation on the site is not to weight yourself until your first follow up appt with your WLS program.

All the best to everyone having surgery this week!

What does your surgeon say about what you are experiencing? May be helpful to get checked out by your team.

At Day 8, I still had not had a BM. So, that night it took chewable Senokot. Had a BM the next morning. Nothing the following morning. Nut a BM this morning. So, hoping my body is getting back on track. When I had my one week post-OP appt with my program, they say no BM for 4-5 days is normative after WLS. But, not 8 days. So, that's why I took Senokot.