kcuster83

yea, I have been a slower eater but the meals are so small, now I try to force myself to take about 30 minutes. Sometimes it takes longer, when I am trying a new food I eat suuuupppeerrr slow. I do it hoping it disagrees with me before I eat too much of it.

I have slowed down a good bit but I have to actively pay attention to it, if I don't I eat quick. It doesn't seem to bother me though but I still try to eat slower so am still eating while the people are around me eating larger meals. If I ate my tiny servings as fast I did it would be a 5 minute meal.. if that. haha

Well good luck! I with I could always eat by myself just to not be around people eating. haha

Oh this sucks! I am sorry to hear this. This process is so much easier when people at least try to understand. I don't expect people to eat like me because we need to have control. But to at least the general situation and that everything can't revolve around food anymore. For example, if I am at a party we can't expect people to only serve foods we can eat we just have to have control to not eat it. But, we should have the choice to not attend the party without it being a battle.

Me tooo! Which is really exciting for me because for about the last 8ish years I have been suffering with constipation. I was really worried it would be worse after surgery and so far its normal without any meds or supplements.

I wish I was creative in the kitchen and could create my own. I am more of a recipe follower, and maybe slight modifier. haha

My gripe is bananas! All the smoothies, cookies, muffin, pancake substitute recipes have a banana base! I like bananas but that's it, only the actual banana. Nothing else banana flavored, not even banana bread.

I had diarrhea for a few days, then a bout of constipation for about a week and have been regular ever since.

Once I had all my classes and appointments completed, I had my last appointment with the surgeon (to be cleared for surgery) the following week (April 23rd) and I was scheduled for surgery within a month (May 21st). Now, 6 weeks later. No regrets! Good luck to you and your journey.

Oh man, Oh man. CHIPS! Any kind really. I love kettle chips, extra crunchy. I have tried quest protein chips after surgery, not an adequate substitute. We made nachos, they were ok that way. With the meat and cheese, etc. But Then I tried them again just with some guacamole and they were not good. They have a weird powdery texture. Luckily I don't really have any cravings right now, but I am sure that will change at some point. At that point, I will find a plan B. haha I also love skittles and starburst. The good thing is that I have always been ok just eating 1 or 2 starburst and walking away or a few skittles. So its not as bad as wanting to eat an entire bag of chips.

I am glad you are starting to feel better.

VERY well said. Kudos!

Yea.... it sucks but it passes.

I don't have any solid advice. All I can say is to weigh the risks of living at that weight with those health problems and see if it out weighs the risk of surgery or not. I don't think any decent surgeon would operate unless they were confident they could succeed. Not that there may not be some hiccups but still a successful surgery. I was 38, 6ft tall and 422 lbs but I had no health concerns other than high BP kinda controlled by meds. Not exactly the same stats but pretty close, less the heath issues. There were no emergencies that came up and everything went smoothly. I ended up having 3 surgeries in 1 too, per my surgeon. Hernia repair which was planned but it was much worse than they thought, I had massive esophagus damage (unexpected) that they removed and corrected and then I had bypass. My 2 hour surgery ended up being 5 and still went without a hitch. I really wish you the best!

I was trying to actually get a hold of anyone for the refill but at the time the medical assistant was on vacation so I don't know if she could or couldn't. As far as the medical question, she was the one who told me the surgeon would have to give me a call back.

My surgery center is great. Everyone is so helpful and responsive. The coordinator, nutritionist, medical assistant are all so helpful. I have emailed them so many times and get such a quick, informative and friendly response. They have a FB support group which the nutritionist does daily recipe videos and all kinds of stuff. ZERO complaints there. BUT LET ME TELL YOU.. the surgeon is an entire different ball game! ZERO response from him. I had to call EVERY day for 7 days for him to call in my prescription because the pharmacy "lost it". It took me reaching out to the coordinator and then I got it resolved the same day. I also had to call about a weird BM problem and that was over a week ago and I called 5 times and STILL no response!! I almost went to the ER to be checked out but I called my PCP and explained the situation and he helped me out. I have a 6 week follow up today and I plan on telling him how I feel about it too, it is ridiculous.

I think everyone above answered your questions so I will just say we had surgery the same day. I hit a stall around 2 weeks and it lasted about 2 more weeks. It is annoying but I know by (our) bodies are adjusting to everything. Just stay on track with your plan and all a sudden the weight will start dropping again. I have lost 30lbs since surgery and we had surgery on the same day. 4/5 lbs a week is great! I was given a graph which shows my projected weight loss over the first year on a monthly basis. According to it, I am ahead of schedule.

You got this! b***h away! There has been a DRASTIC change and trauma to your body. Everyone reacts differently and recovers differently. Do what you need to do but call the doctor about that leg swelling.

If you're diabetic and on meds then you need to contact your PCP. You need your meds adjusted or to come off all together, your PCP will tell you what adjustments to make. If you're not on meds you probably need to get some glucose tablets so keep your sugar stable while you're not able to eat or a sip of OJ might do the trick too. They told someone I know they can do either and it would not effect their diet but the OJ might bother her belly right after surgery. Either way, the safest move would be to contact your PCP. Blood glucose is nothing to play around with.

Surgery recovery for me was not bad but the gas pain for about the first 3 days was horrible. I also had a hernia (huge one) and major damage to my esophagus from years of GERD which was also repaired. My surgeon said he basically did 3 surgeries at once. I am 6 weeks post-op and no I cannot tell anything was physically changed inside my body. Everything works normal. Other than I obviously just can't eat much. I also eat about 1/2 cup of food at a time and have light cheese or meat and cheese roll ups for snacks. I drink a shake for breakfast to jump start my protein then lunch and dinner and usually 1 snack. (600-700 cals a day) As far as what you can and cannot eat that is drastically different from person to person. Each person handles different foods differently. On top of that, every surgeons team seems to have drastically different post-op diet plans which may or may not limit what you are allowed to eat. I was on and off the fence for years myself, once I decided to go for it I was full force ahead and dedicated like a pro. I have no regrets! Good luck on your journey.❤️

Yea that nerve block is probably nice. haha I never had one. Also, no babies here and don't plan on it. I have heard about the euphoria before though.

OH MY I had skin removal with muscle repair too and it was the worse of all my surgeries! The only surgery I actually used constant narcotics for! I even had my leg cut in half and rebuilt and used no narcotics. I thought I had a high tolerance for pain but damn you go girl!

WHEEW I would not want to relive that gas pain. All my surgeries have been open so no gas was used. They were all less painful than the gas pain.

Mine goes crazy too but it's never hunger. It is always when I am eating and sometimes when I take my first first sips of my fluid after eating. Last night you could hear it over the TV.

There's nothing you can do except just let it run its course. Not what you wanted to hear, I know. It sucks! Those deep breaths feel like a sharp bolder smashing and stabbing you at the same time. ☹️ Mine got much better after 4 days and then I just had a little annoying pain in my shoulder that went away in another day or 2.