lizonaplane

I went to Mass General Brigham and Dr. Matthew Hutter was my doctor. I think the BMI is only an issue for your insurance - if you are willing to self pay, probably any surgeon would do the surgery. However, I am not sure I'd recommend their program as I had to wait 7.5 months, only part of which was for insurance. The rest was due to them being understaffed and what felt like disorganized. They are all very nice, but they don't return phone calls or messages through patient gateway in a reasonable amount of time. I was hoping they would be better after surgery, but this has not been my experience. The surgery went well and my only "complication" is that I'm hungry all the time. I also looked into the program at Newton Wellesley hospital and almost switched to them when MGB was taking forever. They seemed to get back to me much quicker and I sort of wished I'd gone with them. Good luck!

I didn't like the protein water either. It felt really chalky and sucked all the water out of my mouth. What are you able to eat/drink now? My surgery was 13Sep too and I'm eating soft foods now. I had taco meat with a tiny bit of cheese and some FF greek yogurt for dinner last night. It was delicious!

Best of luck on your journey, not just the drive. It's so hard to move emotionally and physically, but I hope you can at least enjoy some of the beautiful scenery. I love to travel and although I usually fly, I do enjoy all the beautiful things I see out of the car windows once I land. I hope you love your new home and adjust quickly. Also, I hope you can easily find a new bariatric clinic to help you move on in that part of your journey as well. Especially consider finding a bariatric therapist as I suspect that will be challenging with all the stresses of settling in!

I had trouble taking all my 10 pills at night at first, too. They would start to just dissolve in my mouth and I'd herk them up. It would take me almost an hour to take all of them at first. Now at 3 weeks out I can take them all in about 5-10 minutes, but it definitely takes a lot more effort than before surgery, when I would take them all in one gulp. It gets better quickly, or at least that part did for me. Good luck!

Yeah, I am 3 weeks out and I'm hungry all the time. I wish people would stop saying "you will not feel much hunger". I'm following my plan to a T and it's not head hunger - my stomach is growling and I am not craving anything in particular, I am just HUNGRY. Even when I've just eaten, I want to eat more, but I'm afraid.

I wanted to emphasize what @FutureSylph said. I have a cross-country flight planned for 5 weeks after surgery and the surgeon said to make sure I walked around every hour. I am not sure it's necessary every hour in the car because you'll be able to change positions better, but definitely get out and walk around a bit frequently because you don't want to risk blood clots. That's a risk after any surgery, and if you're at a higher weight (like we all are), it's an even higher risk. The food is a bit of a lesser issue, but I agree that you should be able to find things like protein shakes (Make sure the sugar count is low), cheese sticks, eggs, and order refried beans, ground meat dishes, fish, etc and just throw things out or share with a family member. If you stop at subway or any sandwich place you should be able to order a sandwich and just eat the deli meat (that's on my plan for soft foods, not sure about yours). I haven't found restaurants in the US willing to do half portions in most cases.

While I appreciate everyone's input, I wish people would stop saying I am feeling head hunger. I do understand cravings, but this is hunger pangs - where my stomach is growling and it distracts me from what I am doing, so I don't think trying to distract myself more will help. I have to work, and all I can think about is eating, although I don't care what I eat, so to me, head hunger is when I crave something in particular as @Arabesque said - used to be sweets usually. I am not craving sweets, just any food to fill me up and stop the growling (I should say that it doesn't feel like the sounds my new stomach makes after I eat or drink). The only thing that makes the hunger stops is going to sleep, which I obviously can't do while I am working. Drinking liquids helps a bit, and I understand what @The Greater Fool said about drinking more not helping, but I am drinking because my mouth is dry and I am thirsty, because I take meds that cause dry mouth, so I am still drinking less than before surgery because my swallows are still smaller. I never did starvation diets prior to surgery. I did lose 100 lbs at one point about 7 years ago, but I did that by calorie counting, and I never went into ultra-low calorie diets. I feel more hungry than I did prior to surgery when I was on the pre-op diet (although my diet was real food, not just shakes). I would love to discuss this with someone at my surgery center, but they are not responding to any of my messages, which I was afraid would be the case because they were so unresponsive prior to surgery. Again, I appreciate everyone's input, but I wish I had heard someone's experience mirroring my own...

@DJN3 Days is very early. I felt pretty terrible at 3 days too! I'm 2.5 weeks out now and I feel a lot better. The first few days I only got about 30 oz of water in, and that was just by keeping a bottle of water in my hand whenever I was upright. Have you tried Fairlife Nutrition Plan? They are the best tasting in my opinion. They are available in bulk at Costco. (There are a lot of Fairlife drinks but you have to be careful because some have lots of sugar!) The chewable vitamins were impossible for me. I ended up buying the capsules, even though I was supposed to take chewables for the first month. I could sort of tolerate the chewables if I took them with food, but even then, I was likely to gag and I felt sick for an hour or so. I tried two different brands of chewables. I haven't had any problems with the capsules (I'm using ProCare Health one a day with 45 mg iron). Good luck!

I would not spend $1000 for someone to "coach" me through fasting. What are they going to tell you? Don't eat? Also, fasting is not a long term plan to lose weight and keep it off. The only thing with a lot of evidence is surgery, although it is certainly not an easy fix. I'm 2.5 weeks out and I'm pretty miserable. I would go one of the two surgery routes, personally. Which you choose is up to you. I'm guessing you are in Canada. I'm in the US and I had private insurance, and waited about 7.5 months for my surgery. The wait was hard, but I spent the time working on eating better and exercising. However, waiting 1-4 years would have been unacceptable to me and I would have paid out of pocket. To be honest, the support I'm getting now from my supposedly top of the line surgery center is pretty lousy, so I wouldn't assume that you'd get amazing support from HealthCanada. I've heard from people in the UK that NHS provides really lousy follow up, too. But, I don't know how much resources you have available to devote to this process, and you definitely don't want to bankrupt yourself to have surgery. I know many people have gone to Mexico to have the surgery and been very successful, but it wouldn't be my choice. There are so many resources online, both these message boards and also I love the facebook group "my level 10 life" (the person who started it has a ton of YouTube videos but she's not always to my taste). You can also hire a bariatric therapist, and that's probably a good idea regardless of which path you choose. Good luck and keep checking in!

Whether you are allowed soup is up to your surgery center. I didn't ask... I was afraid they'd say no and I can't tolerate canned boring chicken broth, which was allowed. Hot and sour soup is a little thicker even strained and Tom Yum has a bit of oil, but it doesn't have any pieces in it as long as you put it through a strainer.

I can only drink so much plain water every day, so I switch it up with water flavor packets - I like Starburst and Walmart brand, also Kool Aid Zero sugar. The Starburst ones you can find at Walgreens and Walmart. I don't like Crystal Light really. I am 2.5 weeks out and drink at least 80oz of water or other liquids a day (including one 1.5 protein shakes, because I'm not eating much food at this point). Otherwise, talk to your surgery center about why you're gaining water weight. Not sure why that would be, since you said you're not eating salty foods. Are you drinking a lot of things like Gatorade? I believe that is pretty high in sodium, but I'm not sure. I can't stand the taste. Good luck!

yeah, they may want you to go back on it once you are getting enough fluid in. I would check in with them. Are you doing well otherwise? I've enjoyed reading your entries!

I'm happy you got a sensible answer from your nutritionist. Glad you're feeling better. Since you work in a hospital, you're probably walking a fair amount anyway, and often I've read that getting enough sleep is more important than exercise for overall help. I agree; this forum is great!

I had surgery 2.5 weeks ago. At first I could only take tiny sips but already I can take full swallows. I think many people can eventually take long drinks, but I don't think everyone can. I used to be able to drink a full 16 oz bottle in one breath, but I don't think that will be possible anymore. I'll live. I'm okay with my drinking pace now.

I found sucking ice cubes to be helpful. I used small ice cubes, but if you have access to crushed ice, that might be helpful. Also, crystal light or other drink packets might be good. I didn't like the taste of broth, but I liked strained Tom Yum and Hot and Sour soups.

I would be careful taking meds you were told not to take. At least talk to your doctor. Trust the process. It's normal for there to be stalls

I'm 2.5 weeks out and if I bend certain ways I have a slight pulling sensation in my incisions. But I agree with @Arabesque. If the pain is getting worse and not better, call your surgery center.

Totally normal. By the end of the first week I could drink 8 oz in a few minutes with no discomfort and 16 oz in 10 minutes with no discomfort. You will feel discomfort with solid food if you have a few small bites in a few minutes and get a tightness or feeling "stuck" in your chest unless you go REALLY slow (I am just learning this). The liquids just go right through your stomach, so this has nothing to do with the size of your stomach.

Welcome! Sorry this journey has already been bumpy for you with having to switch doctors. I hope you have smooth sailing from here. My advice would be to follow your surgery center's advice as best you can and get as much support as possible from friends and family. Good luck and keep posting and reading!

I would just follow the surgeon's advice. They will tell you if they want you to do a longer pre-op diet. For now, try to eat low carb and high protein, as that's what you'll have to do after surgery, and anyway, that's how they pre-op diet is (although it's also low fat, but I didn't find that tolerable long term). It will help you lose weight and feel less hungry (at least that's how it worked for me - I lost 50 lbs in the 7 months prior to surgery). Good luck!

Man, I wish I wasn't hungry! I'm hungry all the time except right after eating. I am 2.5 weeks out. I can eat soft foods, but all I've tried so far is refried beans, tuna, and cheese. I'm going to try eggs this morning. You will keep losing weight, but you will have some stalls along the way; that's completely normal. Don't skip meals... set an alarm if you have to. At least, that's what our surgery center said!

I also do not drink alcohol (I can't stand the taste), but I would be very careful with it from what I've seen on here and on other groups for several reasons: you can get drunk very quickly, especially at first. Alcohol gets absorbed very quickly and your blood alcohol can quickly go over the limit for driving and then for being just drunk to the point where you can't really function. And as you said, you're taking in empty calories and setting yourself up for eating other junky food. Plus there's a risk for cross-addiction. Some people become addicted to alcohol the way they had issues with food before surgery. It's not super common, but it definitely happens. That's not to say you should never drink, but maybe keep it to one small serve occasionally. I personally have told everyone in my life about my surgery. I just can't lie easily and if people see me losing weight, I knew I'd never be able to lie or even omit the surgery part. Plus, I was so excited to finally be doing it. I was not embarrassed. I felt like I was finally taking control of my life. The reaction I got was extremely positive except for one person I barely knew (I posted on Facebook). She has a whole "fat positive" view of life and has also had some sort of weight loss procedure that did not go well. I can't say whether you should or should not have the surgery, but I think maybe you should discuss with a bariatric trained therapist to talk about your concerns. Good luck in your decision!

I always felt so much better after I burped!

I had a fair amount of pain for the first three or four days home from the hospital. I took one narcotic pill each day for three days, but otherwise tylenol was fine. The pain was only noticeable when I got up from lying down (the worst!), when I sat on the edge of my couch, or when walking (my stomach jiggled and that hurt my incisions). By the end of the first week, I had almost no pain and was able to walk around the block easily. At 2 weeks out, I was walking two miles at my usual slow pace. It was very hard to drink water the first few days, but it got better fast. I had to take the tiniest sips and wait between sips. Taking pills was really hard the first week too. I was so hungry the first two weeks when I was on liquids and even now that I am starting solids, it's hard to know how much to eat. Still learning I guess!

I've never been on an all inclusive vacation but in the past I've always treated all of my vacations like "all you can eat" lol. I can't wait to stop doing that. I've been to 33? 35? countries and I've spent way too much of the trips focused on the food. It's too early now to go on a trip (still lifting restrictions) but I'll be traveling for work in 2.5 weeks and then we're going to Key West in Feb. Plus a lot of work trips in between, and holiday travel.