lizonaplane

Thanks! I wasn't sure if I just was so messed up from maskne and lines on my face from the mask or if the app just failed. But my initial guess was losing 95lbs

That is not an appropriate post. We are not here to judge other people's decisions to have or not have surgery. OP discussed this with their surgeon and they feel that surgery is the right answer. Keep your opinions on whether people "need" surgery to yourself. We deal with enough judgement in the outside world.

My doctor said he recommended sleeve because I take medication for bipolar disorder and it might be hard to figure out dosing with the malabsorption with bypass. I was worried because I have had issues with GERD. I'm four months out now and I haven't had to change any of my meds and I haven't had any GERD. But ask your surgeon what they recommend for YOU and WHY and then get a second opinion if you want (I did, and they agreed).

You may not be able to "build" a lot of muscle definition. It's actually really really hard to "gain" muscle weight, especially for women, people in their 40s or older, and people on a low calorie diet. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do strength training; it absolutely is important for maintaining muscle mass which is often lost when you lose weight quickly. Also, you may have lose skin which could interfere with measuring any muscle gains. Maybe I'm wrong - but don't expect to see a huge gain even over many months Good luck!

You're not dumb; it's very confusing and people have different opinions. Your surgery center should have given you some written materials specific to your surgery, which will have different vitamin requirements than a sleeve or RNY (Bypass). If they have not given you these instructions, please get in touch with them and request it so you can order what you need. I suggest you order a small amount of a few different brands because I found some of them to be intolerable, and even the ones I take now make me nauseous!

What form of liquid protein are you using? Have you tried dairy, soy, and bone broth? There is also pea protein, and egg protein (Trutein) powder which can be blended for a "shake". Congratulations on your surgery!

Actually, it's not the days when I'm flying that I'm inactive. I walk a TON in airports, way more than is strictly necessary. It's the days when I get up in the hotel and go to the site and sit in a room all day then go back to hotel, eat, and go into bed to work or listen to podcasts with nary an extra step. (Today I managed to get up and go to the hotel gym and get on the elliptical, even though the fact that no one besides me was masked totally freaked me out!)

At one month out I was getting anywhere from under 500 to over 1100. I ate a lot of protein drinks to get my protein in. If I didn't eat protein drinks I never got enough. I still don't, and I'm 4 months out. I'm eating around 850-1500 calories a day now (usually around 1000). My dietician said there is no good research on how much to eat in the first few months after surgery. I would say to try to get your protein and fluids in, minimize sugar, and be active (I have a really hard time with the last one...)

I bought one of those... then I read the ingredients... it's full of rice flour! Not low carb at all. I bought the green giant or birds eye cauliflower mash (I used to buy it pre-surgery too!) and cooked the whole thing but ate about 1/4 to 1/2 cup with most of my meals for a few days. It was good with the spicy chicken I made because it soaked up all the sauce. it also went well with the barber chicken cordon bleu (I eat half of one for a meal).

I can totally relate to this thread! I was a 3x, but maybe I was a 2x and I just got used to things being big? Now I'm a large... and I only have a few things left from when I had lost 100lbs 7 years ago. However, I have decided not to buy anything except food and COVID supplies (I bought masks and tests) for the month of January, so I'll have to wait a few more weeks. I wish we had a good re-sale shop near me, but the thrift shop I found doesn't have changing rooms so I find it very frustrating to shop there. I should look around more. I've been trying to get things from my local buy nothing group, but I haven't gotten anything good yet. I don't understand the juniors vs. misses thing. I always thought that juniors was for teenagers, so the styles were very "young" and the fits were not curvy, but I see a lot of people on this site saying they are wearing juniors clothes, so maybe I'm wrong, or it's changed since I was a kid. I am sort of a conservative dresser; I tend to wear Talbots, LL Bean, Chico's, J Jill... or, maybe I'm just old!!! Maybe it's just that I'm used to these stores because they all had plus sizes? I look around the mall and I feel like most of it is just junk and pretty trashy looking. What are some other US brands that are high quality?

I agree with @GradyCat. You probably have not stretched your stomach out. Those calorie calculators are pretty much fiction. So much depends on your height, age, gender, activity level, weight, etc. The first thing to do is track EVERYTHING you eat and drink, to see where you are. Talk to your nutritionist/dietician. Don't be embarrassed; this is incredibly common especially during COVID. They have seen this before, I guarantee it. Talk to them about how many calories you need to lose weight and what your macros should be. I was told not to do a keto diet as the fat is too high. I currently try to reduce the amount of carbs I eat and make the carbs I do it complex carbs or fruit/veggies. For me, it's still hard to get much carbs in since I'm still trying to get enough protein at 4 months out. Don't try to be perfect: aim for 80% of your food being "healthy" with 20% "fun", or maybe 90-10 if that feels better. If you try to be 100% perfect, you will set yourself up for failure. Good luck and keep us posted!

Having had surgery, I find I am not nearly as cold as I anticipated. I'm actually warmer now than I was prior to surgery, which I can only attribute to the fact that I'm more active. I know that muscle mass is what keeps people warm, more than fat, but I know I have lost muscle mass (I fly a lot and now it's hard to lift my suitcase into the overhead bin) and yet I'm not nearly as cold as I was.

I have bipolar disorder. When I was diagnosed at 14 I was started on a lot of medications that all cause weight gain. I gained 100 lbs in 2 years. I lost 50 lbs prior to surgery and have lost 45 since (I had surgery 4 months ago). It's possible to lose weight on psych meds. I found for me they caused cravings for carbohydrates and I find that if I don't eat sugar, I crave it less. Maybe that would help you?

I call my parents or a friend, I allow myself to wallow a bit, I try to distract myself with reading or podcasts. I go the mall for mall walking. I take a nap. Feel better!

Me too, but I take them at night so I have a snack then. It's easier for me to remember them at night and then if I am nauseous I usually just fall asleep.

It's normal to have "buyers' remorse" after surgery. It took me 3.5 months to finally feel comfortable enough that I didn't regret my surgery. It's definitely not the easy way out. I had lost 100 lbs a few years ago "on my own," and this is definitely harder. There is so much to adapt to. But I gained that 100lbs back and there's a good chance I will not gain the weight back after surgery. I too have had tiny pieces of cakes and other sweets. I have to be careful though, because these foods "slide" right down even if I'm full.

I just bought a standard scale from Amazon. Lots of people buy these fancy scales that automatically upload your weight to your phone, but it's so simple to just type in your weight into MyFitnessPal or something like that. You can also buy a body fat percentage scale, but most of those are highly inaccurate because they don't measure your upper body; they just extrapolate from your legs and hope it's the same! There are some where you hold a handlebar out from your body for a more accurate result, but the one I have is a pain to use. You can get a DEXA scan occasionally to get a more accurate result. Don't try to go to the hospital to get one; it will be really expensive. There are private companies that do them for $100-$150. The most important thing is that when you weigh yourself, it should always be the same time of day (you will weigh less in the morning) and wearing the same outfit (I wear just my birthday suit!). Some people will weigh once a week. I weigh every day, but I make sure I'm focusing on trends rather than the change from the day or week before.

You lost 17 pounds in 5 weeks and the surgeon is disappointed?!? Also, it's normal to gain weight right after surgery because you are pumped full of fluids that cause water retention. If you can't stomach sweet protein shakes, consider broth/soup with unflavored protein powder added (just follow the direction on the powder because if you microwave it, it's totally clumpy and gross!). I can understand the surgeon's concern with the sugar in the drinks. Light and Fit makes a sugar free protein shake. It's pretty small, so maybe you can drink that? Also, make sure you are getting enough liquid. If plain water doesn't taste good (I don't like it now), try flavoring packets like crystal light, or tea or coffee (decaf if necessary). Like @Kaguragetshealthy_87, you should be gentle with yourself. You just had major surgery! Beating yourself up won't help your progress. Good luck!

There was a study a few years ago, I only read the summary, but basically what they said is that people who aren't normally breakfast eaters will still eat the same amount as they would normally later in the day, but it addition, they'll be eating the breakfast too, so it will be more calories total. However, those who normally eat breakfast will eat MORE during the rest of the day if they skip breakfast. In other words, you need to do what comes naturally to you if you want to reduce calories. This study did not look at people who have had bariatric surgery, and I know my surgery center says to eat breakfast, but I tend to drink a protein shake around 9 and then sometimes I have a "snack" around 10:30 if I drink the protein shake too early. Of course, I also tend to eat lunch around 11:30 (later recently, as I've gotten through the worst of the post-surgery hunger I had).

I think @GradyCat means 64 ounces of water! I agree with what she is saying. Also, one thing many people find helpful is to track your eating on an app like MyFitnessPal. You need to know what and how much you are eating and it's so much easier if you track it in an app. We were told to limit refined carbs (white rice, pasta, bread, crackers, etc) and eat very little sugar. We should emphasize lean protein, veggies, fruits, and complex carbs like quinoa, farro, brown and wild rice, etc. If you did self-pay for surgery or depending on what country you had it done, you may not get enough support from your surgery center. If that is the case, then try to find a nutritionist/dietician to work with. Please keep asking questions and good luck!

You will have room for the pills in your stomach! I have to take 10 pills every evening, and I was able to take all of these a few hours after surgery. I had to take one pill a time and it took me an hour to take all of them at first, but now I'm back to taking all ten in one go.

I'm not sure what the situation is now with the transition to "mighty spaces". Those of us who were on the Facebook group previous are waiting for their invitations to the new site; some people have received their invites but I have not yet. If you check out some of Erin's YouTube or Amazon videos, she may have more info!

There is a zoom group with MyLevel10Life. They are just switching from Facebook to some other platform for the group itself, but I find it really helpful! It meets twice a week.

I know of others who didn't have a pre-op diet, and my preop diet was just low carb high protein, not shakes. Like others said, you will have a long time without "real" food after surgery, so I wouldn't spend more time limiting your eating. (I LOVED salads pre-op, but now I can't eat them!!)

I have had physical hunger since right after surgery. My doctor said it's the case for about 20% of her patients. But it's more likely to be head hunger or thirst. My hunger has gotten better since surgery both from medication (metformin) and being busier. Hope you feel better soon!