Shanibani

My family went out to dinner the other night and I felt so jealous that they could. I still am eating the exact same meal every single time I eat. I've spent the last month or so like this because I just can't find meals that work for both my son and I together. So he eats what he eats, and I make my little meal in the microwave every day. I finally got up the courage to ask my family to go out to eat a couple weeks back with my son and I, and hated every minute of it. Felt like I wanted to cry the entire time because every meal I looked at was breaded chicken, burgers, pasta and seafood (of which I despise.) The only other thing that I could eat was a salad, and quite frankly, the idea of trying to eat a salad when everyone else was having nachos, pasta, pizza, meatloaf, breads and french fries just brought me even lower. And you KNOW those salads that they bring is 90% lettuce, maybe 1 tomato, 1 cucumber (which I'm not allowed to eat yet) and 2 spirals of green peppers. It might be my own fault of putting too much "mental" thought into what I eat every day, as I'm the pickiest person I've ever known, and I've mentally told myself, I can't eat burgers (even without the bun) cuz they're not lean. I DEFINITELY can't have fries or onion rings or nachos like my family ate... pasta isn't permitted at all, and all I eat at home is my egg/chicken/peppers/onion mix. Being only 2 months post op, I'm still in the soft foods label... so trying to find things you're allowed to eat outside the safety of your own purchased items is daunting. - I spent over an hour trying to figure out what to eat only to get talked down to by the manager of the restaurant for wanting a piece of grilled chicken and steamed carrots, when they normally have to add all this extra sauce and stuff to their meal... that just made me want to go out to the car and cry even more because here I am trying to have an evening out with my family, and this lady looks at my overweight self and says "So... you JUST want a little piece of chicken and some carrots?" I mean COULD I have even eaten all the extra bits and sauce and everything else they add to their meals 2 months post op? - wouldn't that have just fueled the addict in me for food? I mean sure, the smaller portion would be a huge difference, but that nugget of knowledge would have me say "oh, it's okay if I eat the burger, because I'm only eating a small amount" "It's okay to have nachos and cheese if it's just one or two" At this point, I've stopped going out, declining when my family asks, but let them know my son can go... saying I have to work late or do something else important.. the only time I get out is to go to the gym... Maybe I'm taking it too extreme... or perhaps I'm justified in requesting the piece of grilled chicken alone and steamed carrots... either way, I feel way too nervous to even try again now because of how I was spoken to and feel like it's just not time to try to go out with family and have a nice meal together.

I was given the little medicine cups at the hospital to use every 15 minutes.. - I'd keep 3 medicine cups beside me at all times - one for water, one for protein shakes, one for hot broth. - I'd keep a to go mug of hot broth beside me and a bottle of water at all times. - in the beginning I'd set an alarm to make sure I drank every 15 minutes, but after a while resetting that got real annoying, so I'd take sips every little bit, not letting my stomach get overly full. One thing I noticed VERY early on, I had significant pain that would wake me up in the middle of the night, and could only be fixed by having a protein shake. Water and broth did nothing to dissuade the pain. My doctor could not explain it, as he'd never heard of such a thing, but it would wake me silently screaming in the middle of the night until I finally got up and grabbed my bariatric protein shakes. This lasted for quite some time for me, and I ended up buying the little protein shakes they carry in the pharmacy section at walmart... keeping them beside my bed so if I woke in the middle of the night I could immediately grab one. It finally stopped about 3 weeks after surgery and I no longer needed it at night, but I don't want to scare you, as since my doctor had never heard of such a thing, you might not even have that issue but in case you do, Ensure was a savior for me.

I'm a January 11th surgery-baby. - I can definitely feel where you're coming from with the isolation thing!

Hello, My name is Shannon but everyone calls me Shani. I am 34 years old and my start weight was 335 as of January 09, 2020. I didn't get to have my surgery until January 11, 2021 due to Covid and other medical issues... I'm sure a lot of people have had frustrations over that... I could've had it in July, but sadly, that didn't happen. Instead, I had my surgery January 11th, 2021 at which time I weighed in at 309. - I'm a 5'8 female, so I'm kinda tall... built more like my father than my mother... I don't have another appointment with my doctor until mid-April, but my family keeps freaking me out saying I'm losing weight too fast. I'm down to 265.4 as of today's date. - I've been watching the scale every day (not as a bad thing, just to check every day... if I lost, I lost, if I didn't, oh well) and I've noticed my weight can range anywhere from .80 of a pound to 2.0 pounds in a day.... so, like I said, I've lost about 44 lbs as of this conversation... Obviously, I'm only 2 months (and a couple days) out from sleeve surgery so I'm still in soft food diet area... and I know my ideal weight is gonna be somewhere around 160-170 most likely... At the rate I'm going, if I didn't plateau somewhere, in six months, I'd be at my goal weight. I am the pickiest eater to begin with, so when the doctor told me I'd have to go on a strict diet, I had no issue with this... I told him, just give me one to three things I'm allowed to eat, and I'll be fine... he said, eggs, canned chicken, soft veggies... so, that's exactly what I do. My meal every day consists of 2 handfuls of frozen peppers/onion mix, 1 egg, and a third to a quarter can of chunk chicken, mixed together like an omelette, with a few dollops of salsa on top for the spicyness of it and two tablespoons of spicy sauce (only 25 calories per 2 tablespoons). I eat that in a bowl twice a day RELIGIOUSLY - nothing else. If I eat a third bowl (like for dinner) I start gaining weight. ( tried eating 3x a day for 4 days, I gained 5 lbs). I can only get down 2 bottles of water (16.9 oz) every day, else wise I get nauseous from the water intake. I gym 2 times a week, basically because I don't have a car, and my mother or sister have to take me but I do simple things at home to try to exercise as well... Gym days I plateau. I don't lose weight. Like at all... and yes, I know muscle weighs more... so it's a non-issue for me... But my family makes me wonder if I'm losing too fast, too soon... My sister had the bypass, ( she only had to lose 70lbs though, where as I have to lose 170 to get to my ideal weight.) When I first spoke to the doctor back in February, he saw no issue with my weight loss amount... Said he sees it more in men than in females but it's not uncommon (ergo why I said I'm built more like my father than mother) and that each person is different... Should I be worried that I'm not eating that third meal? I'm not hungry for it, so I don't feel like I need it... not to mention the weight gain it gives me that I don't like... I've even tried just doing some hummus and carrots as a third meal, and still gained weight... so I dropped it back down to 2 meals, and boom, I'm back to dropping 2 lbs a day for 3 days straight... today I lost .8 lbs... which brings me to 265... Any thoughts?

Well, I definitely am not hitting my protein amount. 6 grams in an egg 6 grams in a third of a can of chicken .21 in my 1/8th cup of cooked peppers and onions 1 gram in my 4 tablespoons of milk x2 because that's 2 meals.... .... I'm basically getting 26.5 grams a day... and I'm supposed to be at 60... how do people DO that???? AND still lose weight??? - I'm still in soft foods - no protein shake because they took me off it... That's so confusing! - a third meal would only have me at 40 grams per day... and at 3 meals, I gained 5 lbs... What did others do at soft foods?

Thank you @jaelzion My family has had me so worried as of late, telling me that I'm going to end up in the hospital like my mother's best friend's daughter (who had the bypass) because of my fast weight loss, that it's not only worrying me, but also upsetting me... I would tell them my weight via text all the time when I'd hit a mile marker, and then once I did, they'd message me saying something like "holy crap, that's a lot of weight." until finally tonight my mother called and was so worried... Mind you, they're all incredibly supportive about the weight surgery, but now they think I'm restricting myself so much, and not eating enough, that I'm going to end up sick. I haven't had to have bloodwork since well before surgery... so perhaps i'll talk to my doctor about it at my next appointment to see when/if I need it... - I will say I have a hard time with these supplement chewables that I'd much rather just get swallows, but I know these are what they want me on... Sad to say, I hate taking anything from a bottle, so even the swallowable ones would probably never get taken either... I need to start remembering to take them.

I actually seem to be on the opposite spectrum of everyone else... My sister had the surgery first (hers was bypass due to medical necessity of throat and stomach issues, mine is elective sleeve) My sister and my mother were the ones who pushed ME into getting the surgery... I didn't want to at first, just because I knew how grueling it was for my sister and I felt too lazy/too scared to live a life where EVERYTHING would change... finally, I sorta gave in to their pushing and said "Fine, I'll do it" and it's been the best decision of my life so far. I finally had my surgery in January of this year... was supposed to be July of 2020, but Covid 😡. I told EVERY person on my Facebook page back in January of 2020 that I was going through with it, and (knock on wood) every person has supported me through it. I'm 2 months into the post surgery, and down 44 lbs from surgery, 70 from January of 2020. - I still have about 100 lbs to go before I hit my goal weight, but the fact that I'm at 265 already has me FLOORED! - And I actually do little "Updates on my Life" on my facebook about every month or so updating all of my family and friends about where I am in my post surgery life. I hate seeing so many people who have had to feel like they've got to hide it due to the stigma that society has created for obese people but frankly - I don't give a damn who knows. - To me, it's definitely not cheating... could I have technically eaten the same thing I am now? - Sure.... would I have without being forced into it by tinier stomach? - No.... The push of being forced into doing something "Against my will" was EXACTLY what I needed to keep me on this path. Even if I went back in time, and told my old self "you 100% want this" I wouldn't believe me.