Spinoza

Our tastes change and change and change again in the months after surgery. As long as you can meet your team's goals you will be absolutely fine - don't worry.

Our tastes change and change and change again in the months after surgery. As long as you can meet your team's goals you will be absolutely fine - don't worry.

I honestly got no recommendations at all from my team. Just textures and a suggested set of menus for each stage. I learned everything here! Turned out OK for me despite the lack of information because people here helped me. I hope you do similarly well OP!

I also can't speak to co-morbidities other than some arthritis in my hips and knees. That's definitely better now but it wasn't my main motivation to have my surgery. I wanted not to become diabetic or develop any other weight-related disease. There's a definite risk of developing reflux after a gastric sleeve whereas that risk isn't there with bypass so you need to take that into consideration. We all react to surgery in different ways and it can be impossible to predict accurately in advance so do discuss bypass with your surgeon too. They'll have up to date stats about the likely relative effects on your diabetes for sure. The sleeve has been everything I wanted and more. My only regret, as we often say here, is not having it done 20 years earlier. I hope your surgeon can help you decide whether it's best for you.

Sounds grim. I hope you have a speedy and full recovery and feel much better soon. 🤩

This is absolutely normal. Almost everyone experiences stalls multiple times. So many factors contribute. Keep to your programme and you will hopefully be back on track really soon!

Oh at 6 days out I was still on liquids OP! Didn't get to puree until 2 weeks after my sleeve. Honestly - get as close as you can to your protein goal and don't worry too much about that. At this stage what matters most is not getting dehydrated, so focus on your fluids! Hair loss will happen because that's what our bodies do when we cut calories. Not sure what, if anything, stops that. It's not nice but it does stop eventually.

OK so I could eat most of that in one sitting these days! There's no way I could stop when you did, but I'd have a break of a few hours (3 approx) before having to eat again. How long after those three bites of the sandwich and few forkfuls of the greens did you need to eat again OP??

I've stuck to buying underwired bras - two at a time and only when the current bras were clearly ridiculously large - as I lost weight. I tried to buy reasonably cheap versions - sometimes that worked out and sometimes it didn't! I'm at goal now (regaining a little if anything) and buying 'forever' underwear, LOL. I've never needed anything officially compression but I know others prefer that. I don't mind a bit of saggy skin underneath my underwear. Nobody sees it!

Oooooh they look so good and yes tiny enough for a handbag! They do seem to be relatively high in sugar so maybe one for maintenance as opposed to the weight loss phase?

I second the suggestion of a car cool box/fridge. Opens up so many possibilities! Don't go with processed food unless that's all you can tolerate (our stomachs tell us what to eat 3 months out)! If you can go for fruit, cheese, deli meat, raw veggies and hummus then that will get you far. Good luck!

Amazing. Well done you! Is there more mileage in your sleeve do you think? I really hope you smash that goal right out of the park!

I did stick to very soft protein and veggies at 5 weeks. I needed a lot of liquid (soup or gravy) to get it down. I loved fish, it felt a lot lighter than meat for a main meal to help with my protein goal. Tiny portions though. Also I was still relying on protein drinks to make my goal. Scrambled egg (less than one) were a godsend. I was probably consuming 400 calories per day between 4 and 6 weeks. I soon progressed to 600, maybe 2 months out? Hope this helps OP.

Love love love that blog post, it's joyous. ✨

THIS! One of life's constants.

And do I spy a little salty tang of parmesan on the salad? 😍

They all look absolutely delicious. Will deffo try the boursin recipe soon. Hope you had much fun. My go-to puff pastry topping is goat's cheese, caramelised onions and walnuts. Might substitute your boursin, think it would be perfect!

It's absolutely normal to be scared. I think lots of us will have delayed surgery for years precisely because of the fear of one thing or another. Eventually the fear of being fat and unhealthy for the rest of your life overtakes the (very healthy and normal) fear of the unknown and we take this big big step. It is a positive step for most people and I hope it is for you both too. Keep posting, we all want to help.

I would second the idea of trying warm liquids - I found it much easier to hit my fluid targets this way. Have you thought about VLCD-type soups? They are high protein (because they're intended to contain a whole day's requirement in 3 servings). Alternatively greek yoghurt/skyr or protein yoghurts? One tub of the latter has 20g protein and I could usually manage one in two or three sittings at your stage. I also quite enjoyed the pureed food phase, although there's no way I would have come anywhere close to my protein goals on the volume I could manage a month post op. There are so many things to juggle with your new stomach. The first few weeks can be difficult, and we worry about everything at the start. I think you'll relax into it and be absolutely fine. Keep trying your best and asking for advice - there are so many people here with loads of experience to share.

At 5 weeks post op I was just having 3 teeny tiny meals and lots of fluids. When you say you *want* a snack in between meals do you mean that you fancy something in particular (head hunger) or that you can't distract yourself from proper hunger with fluids or random activities, or that even if you do that you still feel proper hunger? 5 weeks would be super early for proper hunger to return! In any case, and to answer your original question - I stuck rigidly to the 30m before *and* after rule for about 18 months. I found after that that I could drink right up to the point of eating so I relaxed that part. However I still wait for more than an hour after eating before I drink fluids. It seems to prolong my satiety. Best of luck - I hope you can find your way through.

I had christmas 6 weeks after my surgery and I just didn't go to the big family celebration that year. Birthday a couple of months afterwards and again I spent that with immediate family and stuck to my plan (3 months after surgery by then). 2 years post op now, I could have anything I want but honestly I find I'm happy with a small tasty meal and a glass of wine. I did try some sweet stuff this christmas but if I'm honest none of it was as fantastic as I had built it up in my head to be. A few bites of something sweet when you want it is unlikely to throw you right off plan. Beware dumping though - I have no experience and it's not as common with the sleeve but I would start with very small amounts of sweet or fatty stuff (not a whole cupcake perhaps!) And happy birthday! You've just given yourself the best present anyone ever could have.

This is all really informative. Thank you for providing so much detail OP. I hope you recover really well.

Oh we so need to see the finished product!!!! Was it as lush as it sounds???

I haven't read the research but in general terms if a food has proven health benefits then it might be better to just eat the whole food rather than add a powdered derivative to water, or to take pills with bits of it contained, or to drink the juice. Totally understand we're volume restricted after surgery but I hope you can get back to whole beetroot really soon!

Oh I think you've answered your own question there! Heavily plugged =back away??? 😂