kiel_d-01

Hey y'all! Glad to see some updates around here. It's been 4 months and some change, and I've lost 70 lbs since surgery! Almost 125 since my highest weight. I feel better than I have in years. I started off as a 5XL and now can wear 3XL and even some 2XL! Went from a 30 in jeans to 24 (which are loose on me, so I think I may be 22 or lower now - I still need to update wardrobe) I had a stall in mid-December and just recently had another that lasted 10 days where my weight only went up and down or stayed the same! Finally started trending downwards again a few days ago. My pouch tolerates everything I've given it. No problems there. I eat whatever I want at this point but still do 1 protein shake/day. I'm hovering around 800-1000 calories per day. Pros: I used to get horrible pains in my lower back and hips and now I have a ton of stamina and can actually walk around a grocery store to go shopping! Sex is a lot more fun! ☺️😆 I can feel my bones. Especially when I sleep on my side at night, my kneecaps actually touch each other (can also be a con lol) I can cross my legs! I can sit on the floor and not feel like I'm going to fall over backwards! It's fun to jiggle parts of my body 🤣 Physical hunger still gone and full cues still intact. I know to stop when the hiccups start. Food bills are so much cheaper!!! I'm content with a happy meal. No heartburn (yet)! Cons: My mood is ALL OVER THE PLACE. Hormones from fat loss make me up and down all the time. I never know what kind of day it's going to be when I wake up. I also have a mood disorder to begin with, so that doesn't help either. Loose skin everywhere!! If I'm too "active" it will make a clapping noise. Like it's cheering me on. 😂 I'm a bit self-conscious about the skin under my neck The rest of it I can deal with, lol. My boobs and butt are leaving. Mental hunger is rude! I have to carefully watch myself from grazing. Some days are harder than others. I think my food addiction has turned into a shopping one. I'm still lazy and don't really work out. I do a lot more than I used to though, so it balances out I think. 😅 Food isn't fun anymore. But that's also a good thing... I can say it has been way easier than I expected it to be though. I thought I'd be more upset about it. Here's some before/after pics! They're from last month, but I don't think I've lost much more 10 lbs since then anyway due to the stall I had. This one was right before the liquid diet and the after is the end of January, so about 75 lbs difference. This was on my way to my first appointment in early 2022 and then last month. I've lost 105 lbs between those 2. This is a fun graph of my weight loss since the beginning of the liquid diet. I weigh myself everyday using this app (Libra) so I can see the trends. Then I only record my actual weight every week in MyFitnessPal. It's worked well for me so far. My current goal is to hit 100 lbs lost before my 6-month surgiversary! 30 lbs to go!

I'm 3 weeks and a couple days out now and I think I'm hitting the dreaded "3 week stall" or at least for me, the 3 week slow down. I was losing 1 pound a day before and the past few days it's been closer to .1-.2. I'm okay with this still even if it does come to a halt for a while. My stomach healing seems to be going backwards though. It has started cramping a lot while eating and drinking, and even occasionally when I'm just sitting here doing nothing. My team told me to go back to liquids for a couple days, so I've been doing that. ☹️ I was supposed to start soft foods next Tuesday but now it looks like I won't be able to.

I love the fruity syntrax nectar flavors! Crystal sky, twisted cherry, roadside lemonade, and strawberry kiwi are my favorites. I like that they are just a flat 100 calories per scoop with water. They do foam up a bit after shaking but I usually let them settle for 5-10 minutes before I start drinking. I can't stand the milky protein shakes anymore since post op so I can't suggest those. I want to try the fuzzy navel one but it's always sold out! ☹️

Sounds like a good hobby. I wouldn't worry about it! 😊

I had my 2 week appointment today and I've lost 14 pounds since surgery! I'm pretty happy about 1 pound per day. 😁 Can't wait to be cleared for exercise - my PA says no sweating so I'm basically stuck with short walks. I'm not allowed eggs in puree either. I'd love a scrambled egg. 2 more weeks and I can go to soft food... 🤤

I was mostly curious if my pouch was working. I've had very little issues since the beginning and I was starting to wonder if they made my pouch too big or something. That's the only reason I went for the whole .5 cup. Which was stupid in hindsight. 😅 I do struggle with eating too fast though. I ordered some little sand timers so I can slow down between bites. I was always a fast eater before surgery so that transition has been a bit difficult.

I ate a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese today and ooooof did I feel that. I was full the rest of the day and almost had a hard time getting my water and protein in. I'm glad my pouch is working as intended. I won't do that again. 😂

Yep it's the same for me with the protein shakes! I can finish off a 8oz shake easily. Liquids just go straight through ya

I'm the same way. One week out and I'm easily getting my water in (70-90+ oz a day). I don't need to sip and feel like I can drink a lot at a time. I can't necessarily chug anything (tbh I haven't tried cause I'm scared) but I have caught myself gulping a few times and it was fine. I contacted my team and they say to be grateful to be staying hydrated and that some people handle it better than others. And liquids run through you quicker. It should be way different when we get to solid foods. Mashed potatoes are pretty thin compared to something like a chicken breast which should fill us up more. I have my moments where I worry about it too though. I'm really trying to trust the process and follow my programs recommendations. Mine recommends no more than 1/4 a cup per meal so I'm sticking to that. I'm not full but satisfied enough that I'm not starving. Puree stage sucks lol.

So update on puree... it was... not as good as I expected. The texture of everything (besides the ricotta bake) squicks me out. I can't get over the "baby food" thing especially with the puree chicken I put in my chicken enchilada puree. The crab rangoon was a no go. I threw them away. Tried making deviled egg puree cuz it sounded good. Ended up being gross. I took some buffalo chicken dip and thinned it out with cottage cheese and that was ok I guess. The best was the ricotta bake. The texture isn't so bad but it's just kinda meh on flavor. Next time I'm gonna try adding more italian seasoning. I was able to handle 2 tablespoons eaten over a 20 minute period which left me satisfied. So that was a win. I'm kinda bummed overall but at least it's not forever.

That sounds great! Lots of yummy flavors. My program has us using 3 shakes a day even in the puree phase. 6 weeks/soft food I can bring it down to 2/day. 6 months/solid food I can go down to 1 shake but that continues for a year. Then it's whatever we feel like. So for right now I can only do 2 meals a day that are real food (supposed to have 5 meals/day). I know I'm gonna be sick of protein shakes by the end of it all. lol I had my breakfast protein shake today and will be eating my first puree at lunch time! Wooo hooo!

This is the one I used https://www.food.com/recipe/shellys-baked-ricotta-324036

I am soooo ready to start pureed tomorrow! I prepared some in advance. Crab rangoon (just the inside part), chicken enchilada (canned chicken, enchilada sauce, cheese, and refried beans), and the ricotta bake everyone talks about! 🤤 I let my husband try them and he said they were good! So hoping I feel the same way cause I made a lot. I have about 30 little 1/4 cups in my freezer right now. 😬 Also hoping I still like spicy food cause I miss it.

I've found keeping on top of the pain the best way to go. I skipped a dose thinking I'd be fine but really regretted it. The worst pain is in the incision they pulled my stomach out of. The surgeon said they have to cut through muscle and that's why it hurts so bad. I can't wait to be able to sleep on my side. I made a mistake yesterday thinking I could drink one of my Ghost Protein Fruity Cereal Milks and gosh it was disgusting. Tasted like drinking pure chemicals. My tastes really have changed a lot since surgery. I only lost 3 pounds this week. I know my body has a lot going on but I can't help but be a little disappointed. I keep reminding myself I lost 19 on the pre op diet. But ugh. I'm consuming less than 500 calories a day! I think I need to stop obsessing over the scale. I've been weighing every day. It's not good for my psyche. 🥺 Good luck to all the 10/31-ers tomorrow!

I didn't like them preop either! But they taste really good to me now. Glad I didn't stock up too much cause I figured my tastes would change. My favorite is roadside lemonade and strawberry kiwi 😁 I really want to try the fuzzy navel one but it's always sold out!

I had to arrive at my hospital at 630am and my surgery was at 830am. They did a pregnancy test and gave me some medication for anxiety to calm me down. They had to get an ultrasound machine to put my IV in. The nurse had to stick me a couple times because my veins like to run away lol. That was kind of uncomfortable but it happens to me nearly every time I have to get blood work so I anticipated it beforehand. Then the surgeon came in and talked to me and I asked her to take a picture of the part of my stomach she takes out. That ended up being pretty cool to see. They wheeled me to the surgery room. It was super bright in there. The anesthesiologist asked me where we would be going on vacation to. I said Disney World! And he said, alright everyone we're going to Disney World!! And then everything went black lol. Immediately after surgery I woke up in a lot of pain (no idea what time it was at this point). They gave me IV pain med pretty quickly after hearing me shout IT HURTS lol. It wasn't so bad after that. Fell asleep. Spent probably a couple hours in the holding room before they put me in a private room around 230pm. I got the hiccups a few times and that was not fun. I had nausea every time they gave me a pill. I got that "watery mouth" thing that comes with nausea. Luckily I never threw up. I would just call for a nurse every time and they'd give me IV zofran which shut that up real quick. I barely had any gas pain, but I got an ice pack to put on the top of my stomach where it was. Didn't need it after the first night. They put IPC thingies on my calves to prevent blood clots (they squeeze you on and off), which made me feel anchored to the bed. I didn't really want to move around anyway. They fed me diet juice and jello but I barely touched them because I didn't feel hungry at all. When I finally peed they had to do an ultrasound on my bladder after to make sure it was voiding enough. Mine ended up being fine. They woke me up every 4 hours or so to check my vitals, even in the middle of the night. The next morning was uneventful. I felt way better and could drink the Boost Glucose Control protein drinks they were giving me. I had no issues getting them down other than not liking the taste very much. They gave me these little 1oz medicine cups to keep track of my water intake. Every time I drank one I checked a box. Their goal was at least 11oz every 4 hours. I doubled that with no problems. They also gave me a ton of drink variety that I didn't even touch; lemon tea, chicken broth, jello, diet cranberry juice, and sugar free popsicles. They took me off the IV and IPC things and I was able to walk around every hour or so. I watched a lot of tv. Then around 1pm the doctor cleared me to leave and an hour later I was finally discharged and got to go home! The only thing I'd really suggest to bring is a long phone charger chord. I didn't end up needing much else! Good luck with your surgery! I know I spent a lot of time reading other people's surgery stories beforehand so I'd be prepared if anything came up. I can say the whole process was a lot easier than I expected it to be!!

My surgery on 10/25 went pretty well. I'm hitting my liquid and protein goals easily every day. Before surgery I was all about the milky vanilla/chocolate protein flavors but now after I can't stand them. They just taste off. I'm enjoying the fruity syntrax nectar flavors a lot though! The incision where they pulled my stomach out has been the worst part of it. Pain meds help a little, but it's bad when trying to bend over/stand up. Manageable though. I try to get up and do a lap around the house every 2 hours. I need to start putting more effort into walking more. Not gonna lie though this has all been a lot easier than I expected. I had almost no gas pain at all. My brain had no problem switching from gulping down water to sipping it (I was worried about that). Food cravings don't control me anymore. My hunger is non existent. Before surgery I read so many horror stories and negative things that mine seems like a cake walk in comparison. I'm not complaining, just pleasantly surprised!! 4 more days until I can advance to puree! Already got my fridge stocked. I think I'll try refried beans first. 😄

Awesome! Good luck tomorrow. I passed my covid test!

Hello I'm new here! My surgery is on the 25th. Any surgery buddies? Just around the corner. I'm so excited for this new chapter. I'm on a full liquid diet and doing better than I thought I would. Love my jello 😊 My covid test is tomorrow. Hopefully I pass!