SpartanMaker

The U.S HHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion created a generic recommendation for all Americans: For substantial health benefits, adults should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) to 300 minutes (5 hours) a week of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) to 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. Preferably, aerobic activity should be spread throughout the week. Additional health benefits are gained by engaging in physical activity beyond the equivalent of 300 minutes (5 hours) of moderate-intensity physical activity a week. Adults should also do muscle-strengthening activities of moderate or greater intensity and that involve all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week, as these activities provide additional health benefits. To provide more structured advice, I'd need to understand a few things. First, what do you hope to accomplish from an exercise program? Some common goals might include: Improve overall health (e.g. lessen risk of heart disease, diabetes, etc.) Get stronger / Make day to day living easier Help control weight regain (notice I didn't say lose weight as you can't out exercise a bad diet) Improve mental health / reduce anxiety & depression Sleep better / Have more energy Improve body composition (more muscle mass = more calories burned even at rest) Look good naked Next, are their specific activities you like or don't like? Some people hate gyms, others love them. Some people like to "play" to get exercise (think sports/outdoor recreation), while others love the solitude of walking/running by themselves. Basically what I'm asking is for you to do some self-reflection and think hard about what you think might work best for you. Finally, can you be more specific about what resources you have available? You mentioned a gym (which is not entirely needed), but beyond that? Do you have or can you get: A heart rate monitor (e.g. fitness watch or strap) A place to walk outside or access to a treadmill Other exercise/recreation equipment such as a bike or stationary bike, kayak or canoe, Nintendo Ring Fit Wii Fit, etc. A set of exercise bands and/or dumbbells, Sufficient space to workout at home if you don't go to a gym I'd also really like you to fill out your profile here on Bariatricpal. Details matter. In addition to that, it would be helpful to know some things like: Your age How you'd rate your current fitness level If you have any specific physical or health issues that might impact what exercises/activities you're able to do In short, the more details you can provide, the more tailored I can make a recommendation. Best of luck.

Rather than determine what you can eat to "satisfy" that craving, maybe it would be better to try and first understand why you're craving sweets at all? Some thoughts on possible things that may be driving this feeling: Forbidden foods: If you think of sweets as "forbidden", this can actually intensify your cravings for them. You might need to rethink your relationship with certain foods if this is true. Stress or a desire to self-soothe: Stress as well as physical and/or emotional pain can definitely drive you to crave things you see as comforting. For many, sweets may do this because eating them can trigger endorphins and dopamine in your brain in the same way powerful illicit drugs can. Contextual associations: We sometimes associate certain food with certain things. Examples would be people that feel they have to eat dessert or the meal isn't "done". Another example would be people that eat popcorn at the movies. Boredom: Typically boredom doesn't drive specific cravings, but can absolutely drive you to eat when you're not really hungry. Nutrient deficiencies/poor hydration: While there's a lot of anecdotal references for the idea that your body will crave certain things if you have a specific nutrient deficiency, there's not much scientific evidence for this belief. (In fact there's a lot of evidence that it's not correct. If that was actually driving cravings, we'd all be craving kale and broccoli instead of sugary, salty, fatty foods) That said, there are studies that show both poor hydration or insufficient protein or fiber will increase hunger. In this case however, your cravings would most likely be less specific and more "I'm hungry", vs. "I want sweets". i think once you understand the WHY, you'll be better armed on what you can do to address the craving. In some cases, distractions like @Arabesque mentioned may actually work better than finding a sweet thing that "satisfies" your craving. In other cases, you might be better off eating off plan if the "forbidden" food is the culprit. Only you can really know what's driving this and how best to deal with it.

Can you explain what you mean by false equivalency? A lot of the things @Nepenthe44 mentioned seem to be listed as warning signs for ED: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/warning-signs-and-symptoms https://www.allianceforeatingdisorders.com/8-signs-you-may-have-an-eating-disorder/ https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/common-eating-disorders#signs It's plain to see that some of the things bariatric programs (and this forum), encourage are also listed on those pages. Certainly those things alone don't equal an ED diagnosis, but I do think some of them may cross the line into disordered eating, especially if they lead to or cause issues in other parts of our lives. For example: Do you worry about "messing up" on your bariatric program to the extent that it's causing severe anxiety issues? Alternately, if you do eat off plan, do you express self-disgust and make plans for how to "make-up" for what you ate through extreme exercise or fasting? Are you constantly worried about "going over" your calories and/or macros and do you spend hours every day (to the exclusion of work or family), tracking these things? Do you actively avoid eating or drinking in public because you don't or can't eat like a "normal" person? Do you compulsively weigh and measure yourself and freak out when something is off a bit? To me, these are just a few possible examples of how "what's expected of a good bariatric patient" may just cross the line into an eating disorder. Regardless of the reason or intent, when our relationship with food or our bodies becomes an obsession, we have an issue.

I think we don't talk about it because what is there to say? I'm pretty sure we all recognize that WLS does not fix eating disorders and that therapy is the recommendation. Beyond that, what would we discuss? I don't agree with this assessment, but for what it's worth, the medical community seems to believe that full blown eating disorders are fairly rare in the obese patient population. This is one of the reasons the clinical recommendation is to screen for eating disorders prior to WLS. If an eating disorder is discovered during the psyc eval, it can be a contraindication for proceeding with WLS, depending on the severity and the behavior in question. My personal belief is that you just about can't become obese unless you have some level of disordered eating. Perhaps for many of us the level of disordered eating is sub-clinical (in other words, it's not to the point where we would formally be diagnosed with an eating disorder), or perhaps lots of people aren't fully truthful during the psyc eval to avoid being told we don't qualify for surgery. Either way, I think we have a lot of people that complete surgery and have disappointing results because they only treated part of the problem,

I'm really worried that you're overtraining. While physical exercise is a good thing, it's absolutely possible to overdo it. Some possible warning signs for you to watch for: Feeling tired all the time Trouble sleeping Constant muscle soreness Symptoms of depression Mood swings and/or feeling irritable Feeling stressed all the time Why should you be concerned? Due to your weight, you are at a lot higher risk of injury when exercising. Overtraining ratchets up the likelihood of injury quite a bit more. A significant injury right now could set you back months. Due to reduced food intake, you are at a pretty significant disadvantage recovery-wise compared to someone that does not have to contend with a very low calorie diet. Calories from food (not just protein), is absolutely needed to help post workout recovery. Overtraining can actually be counterproductive to weight loss because it significantly increases cortisol levels. I won't spend too much time talking about why cortisol matters, but even slightly elevated levels of cortisol can negatively impact weight loss. Plus, if you're impacting your sleep levels, this negative effect is exacerbated. Overtraining can actually be bad for your heart. We tend to think that if some cardiovascular exercise is good, more should be better, but that's not always true. Among other things, people that overtrain can cause problems like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and AFib. While I don't think you're quite to this level yet, it's something to watch out for. Overtraining can actually impact your ability to fight off infection. Getting sick could also set you back quite a bit. If all of the above weren't enough, the likelihood of you stopping training altogether is significantly elevated if you overtrain. I certainly understand you think you're doing the right thing, but hardly anyone that's overtraining realizes it until they suffer the impacts of it. I also think many formerly obese individuals may be more likely to overtrain for a few reasons: We are typically starting from a poor base fitness level, so it does not take nearly as much to overtrain. Most of us have tendency toward addictive behavior. (Yes, overtraining can be due to transfer addiction.) We are trying to "makeup" for a previous lack of exercise. We think that this will help us lose weight faster. As I mentioned, this behavior can actually slow down fat loss, rather than speed it up. Instead, our goal should be to build a sustainable level of fitness that accomplishes a few things: To develop a good level of cardiovascular endurance that keeps our bodies and minds healthy To strengthen our muscles to make everyday living easier and more sustainable for the long-term To decrease the risk of illness and injury To burn more calories, both during exercise and at rest To look good naked (okay, for some of us, maybe that's pushing it!) One of the best ways to do all that is to ensure your current level of exercise is sustainable. From that sustainable base, we add in something called "progressive overload" to ensure we are actually benefiting from the exercise. When we overtrain, there's no room for progress, meaning eventually you either burnout, or your body adapts and the benefit becomes lost. Sorry for the long post here. I know to you I'm just some random person on the internet and you're not likely to pay much attention anyway. Even so, the risk is real, and I encourage you to research this to make sure I'm not just blowing smoke. More than anything, even if you don't think you're overtraining, I'd hate for others to come away from this thread thinking your exercise workload is what they should be doing too. For 99% of us it's not.

Keep in mind that 'weight loss' does not equal fat loss. I would be skeptical that you lost 7 pounds of fat in a week, but some fat, some fluid, and possibly some muscle? Sure. We wrongly think there are only 2 types of "stuff" in our bodies, the good stuff that never goes away and the bad stuff (fat), that we want to go away. It's a lot more complicated than that, and scales are just not a great way to really know what's going on inside your body. Unfortunately, scales are the tool most of us have, so we have to make due. I guess my point is don't overthink what the scale is telling you in either direction. As soon as you hit a stall, you're going to start questioning if you're doing things "right", but you may be having the same issue with a scale not really telling you what you need to know regarding fat loss. If that happens, it's better to just stick to your program and remember that you're using a tool that's pretty lousy at measuring fat loss.

I don't have any experience with this particular product, but it's probably best to talk to your surgical team. Some are a lot more strict about caffeine than others. For those plans that want you to avoid it, at least early on, the rationale given is typically based on a few things: Caffeine is a diuretic. Since most people struggle to get in sufficient fluids early after surgery, it's probably best not to make the problem worse. Caffeine can lead to diarrhea, also exacerbating problems getting in sufficient fluid. Most caffeinated drinks are acidic, which can contribute to gastric reflux. Note that caffeine can also contribute to reflux. Especially for sleeve patients, reflux can be a significant issue. although the effect is minor, caffeine can impair the absorption of certain minerals like iron, calcium & magnesium. This is more so an issue for bypass patients that are already at a disadvantage for malabsorption. Best of luck.

Interesting. I didn't have anything like this, so it's not universal. You might want to update your profile so we know more about your surgery. While some things are consistent between sleeve and bypass, not all are.

From start to surgery took almost 3 years for me, but I know I'm an exception. From the time I completed all the requirements and tests, it was about 4-5 months until my surgery. My chosen center is the largest in my state and they have a serious backlog just submitting things to insurance. That alone took 6-8 weeks. After we got the insurance approval back (which took another 2 weeks), it took a few weeks to get on the surgical schedule. At the time, they were scheduling 2 months out, so I had to wait another 2 months before my surgery. In short, I understand the anxiety your feeling. It was nerve-wracking having to wait so long for a procedure that has been life-changing. I felt like I was waiting to get my life back and the constant waiting was very stressful. That said, it did allow me time to learn a lot about what to expect in post-op life, as well better prepare myself mentally for the upcoming changes. In retrospect, I think I would not have done nearly as well if I had rushed into surgery.

I'm curious, is this just a sleeve thing? I'm a bypass patient, but I've not had anything like this?

Not sure about this one? Unlike most of the rest of your skin, your lips have no oil glands, meaning they don't rely on sebum for lubrication. I do think there could be something to the comments above related to protein drinks, especially if you find yourself licking your lips more. (Excess saliva can actually cause chapped lips.) In addition, this could also be due to nutrient deficiencies. If you're not currently taking a multivitamin, a lack of B vitamins can lead to dry, chapped lips.

So in this sort of situation, as in many other human interactions, there are 2 things that took me a lifetime to learn. I want to share those with you in the hope it will help you if a similar situation happens again. The first is to always assume positive intent (until proven otherwise). What I mean by that is that most people don't intend to me mean or hurtful, it's a lot more likely they just suck at giving compliments. (Some also don't understand personal space!) In your specific situation, I suspect they thought they were being complementary to you and really just could not understand that you'd interpret it any differently. This is also likely why they responded awkwardly when you didn't do what they expected and acknowledge their "complement". Note that I'm not saying you were "wrong" for feeling how you did about this. I think comments like this can feel pretty cringy and it's normal to feel what you did. It's just that I've reached a point where I've both been on the receiving and giving end of these sorts of conversations. For my own personal wellbeing, I have found that if I assume they meant well, the overall interaction tends to go a lot better. The second thing it took me a lifetime to learn is that if I assume positive intent, I also need to approach human interactions with a heart of curiosity, rather than resentment. What I mean is that is that I like to strive to understand why they felt the desire to interact with me. Are they looking for weight loss advice? Are they flirting with me? Maybe they just were hoping to make me feel good, which makes them feel better about themselves? Maybe they were interested in starting a new friendship and this was a conversation starter? The point I'm trying to make is that taking a few moments to have an open conversation couldn't hurt and may lead to other positive interactions in the future. Best of luck.

This is such a critical issue that my team literally put it at the very front of their bariatric pre-op binder. I'm attaching their guidelines for dealing with constipation. There are no copyright marks anywhere in their document, so I'm going to assume this falls under fair-use guidelines. Sorry for all the poop emoji's! I think it was their way of trying to lighten the mood on a serious subject that people feel strange discussing. One thing you'll see over and over in this is if you're having trouble, call your team. It may feel weird to talk to your nurse about this, but constipation is one of the most common questions they get. They are very used to talking about it. For what it's worth, my surgery was a few weeks before you and I still take one colace and one peri-colace daily. BM Guide.pdf

If you're on the website, look at the top of the page for your profile name. Click on it. All the things you might want to update or change should be in one of the options that show up. Probably the most important one is labeled "My Surgery". This page has multiple tabs on the left-hand side. Different info is found on each tab. You may want to go through all of them to find the various items you're looking for such as weights, surgery dates, etc.

It's not unusual to have trouble with certain liquids, so as long as you're able to keep at least something down, I'm guessing that's why your team isn't overly concerned. Now if you couldn't keep any liquids down and it lasted more than a day or so, that would be considered a medical emergency. Separately, the intense pain on eating is concerning. That's not normal at all, so I'd be pushing them on that. Especially when combined with the liquid issue, I have to wonder if you may have a stricture or maybe some other complication.

This will depend on the restaurant, but your best bet is probably a soup of some sort. Even if it's not a pureed soup, most restaurants should be able to puree just about anything for you, including their soups. Just keep in mind that some restaurant soups can have a lot of fat, so make sure you know what you're getting if you have problem with fat content. Also remember that it probably won't have nearly enough protein for you so try to remember to supplement your protein intake some other way.

Actually I think it is gas pain, just not the kind you may be thinking of. It's not gas in your intestines, it's from the gas (most likely carbon dioxide, a.k.a. CO2), that they pump into your abdominal space during surgery. This puts pressure on everything inside that space, and can irritate things like the peritoneum (the lining over the abdominal organs). That said, I think for most people, the worst pain is the pain they feel in the lower chest, or even up into the shoulder. This is again caused by the surgery gas putting pressure put on the diaphragm, which irritates the phrenic nerve. Eventually this gas will be reabsorbed back into your tissues, then into your bloodstream, and will eventually be processed out by your lungs. In short, you'll actually breathe it out. For most people this can take up to a week or so, but it should be getting better every day. In the interim, 2 things seem to help most people: Walking. This helps move things around, especially the CO2 that may have settled under your diaphragm, but keep in mind that when you walk, you are also turning over more oxygen & CO2, which speeds up the process of removing the CO2 from your blood. Most recommendations are you walk at least 15-20 minutes every 2 hours, but more is better. Hot pads. This can help as well, and it works for many of the same reasons walking does. You are dilating blood vessels which helps your body process the extra CO2 and pull in more oxygen. You may also be feeling some incisional pain, but for most people this is more minor in nature. I will close by mentioning that if it's NOT getting better every day, contact your team ASAP. There is a possibility something else is going on with you and they will be in the best position to advise you. Best of luck.

It may not be, but please don't ignore the rest of what I mentioned. You need to get your RMR tested or you can't really know how much you should be eating. You also need to find out your current percentage of body fat, start tracking it, and stop guessing how much you should weigh based strictly on what a scale is telling you. % body fat will be a much better way to measure your health. Finally, start strength training. The first 2 recommendations are tools to better understand where you're at today and where you need to get to, but strength training is likely the "fix" for your issues. I didn't mention it before, but you may be a good candidate for intermittent fasting. There are plenty of resources online so I won't go into details here, but it's worth a try.

Obviously from the reaction of others here, this is a common thing. I really feel that what your mother said was said out of love and concern. She probably had no idea how hurtful this felt to you. Now that it's been a few days and you've hopefully moved past the initial hurt, I wanted to give you a few thoughts on how do deal with this both now and in the future. Start by addressing your own emotional state. Even though, like I said, I doubt her goal was to hurt you, that doesn't lessen the pain you feel. There are a few things you can do to keep this from becoming a deep or long-term wound: Take some time to acknowledge your feelings. They are legitimate and NEVER bad or wrong (in other words, NO, you're not overreacting). Show yourself some compassion and acknowledge that your feelings are legitimate. Be as kind and understanding with yourself as you would a close friend or loved one that was hurting. Remember (as you've seen here), that this is incredibly common. Instead of saying "I shouldn't overreact" when you feel hurt, acknowledge that most people on this journey have had a similar experience and that every one of us felt hurt by it. Don't blame yourself for others inability to express love and compassion in a helpful way. This was a failure on your mothers part, NOT yours. Don't make it personal. Your mother was reacting to an action your took, not attacking who you are or saying she hates you. Again, show yourself some self-love and remember that she simply misunderstood. Her comment was coming from a place of concern. Here are some tips for ways you might be able to have a more fruitful discussion if this occurs again: ALWAYS start by assuming good intent. For example, you might respond by saying (with sincerity): "Thank you mom for your concern. I'm glad you're worried about my success and appreciate the support. These are actually a key part of the recovery process as recommended by my doctor so that I stay hydrated." If this doesn't help, or she reacts negatively (which is probable), take time to understand why she is concerned. You could say for example, "I know you love me and want to help, so I want to better understand why this is concerning to you. Can you explain? At this point you have to truly listen to what she is saying. Your job at this point is to understand HER feelings. (Yes, what I'm saying is you may need to be the grown-up in this relationship.) Where the conversation goes from here is up to you, but hopefully once your truly listen and understand her feelings, only then will you potentially have an opportunity to both explain your position, as well as (if you're lucky), use this as a teaching moment. This latter part will only come once she feels heard. You could, for example say something like: "Thanks mom for taking the time to share your concerns and for helping me through this journey. Would you be okay at this point with me explaining my reasoning for eating these? Good luck, on your journey.

The 2019 clinical guidelines from the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgeons (ASMBS), calls for bariatric surgery patients in active weight loss eat 1.2 g/kg of bodyweight. For those in maintenance, the range should be .8-1.2 g/kg. I don't know how much you weigh, but 135 g a day sounds like it might be a bit on the high side based on those recommendations? There is research that intake levels between 1.2-1.5 g/kg may maximally stimulate muscle protein synthesis, but there's not a lot a data to suggest rates over 1.5 g/kg are beneficial. Rates above that might be necessary in certain people such as if are a professional strength athlete or top tier fitness competitor trying to maximize muscle growth. Especially if you're just trying to lose some fat, you probably can't metabolize that much protein. I can tell you from experience that many trainers will push this recommendation up to 2 or even 2.2g/kg of lean mass, because they believe if some is good, more must be better. The reality is that your body can't store extra protein, so any above the minimal needed just gets converted to fat. My recommendation would be to follow the ASMBS guidelines for your weight. Unless your trainer has extensive experience working with bariatric surgery patients nutritional needs, I'm afraid their recommendation may be targeted more at a different population.

That's awesome! Hope to be right there with you soon!

Never heard of this device, so had to Google it. Price is an individual thing and only you know how well this would fit in your budget. The thing that gave me pause was the nature of the device. It's supposedly an "all-in-one" machine, but in my experience things that make claims like that are about like "one-size-fits-all" clothing. I think a more appropriate description would be "one-size-fits-none". My thinking is that I can't imagine this will do as good a job with most cooking tasks as a dedicated tool that was designed for each purpose. If I want to slow cook, I have tools for that. If I want to sous vide, I already have that covered. Weighing, whipping or emulsifying? Covered. Same with sauteing, browning, caramelizing, steaming, etc. There are appliances I use almost daily like a mixer, and others like my sous vide cooker I only use a few times a year. Unfortunately there are others that, like @Arabesque and @catwoman7 have been relegated to my small kitchen appliance graveyard. (Breadmaker, I'm looking at you!) Ultimately only you can decide if this is worth it to you, but it might be worth pondering what you'd actually be getting here over what you already have.

Everyone is different. A lot of where you both gain first and where you lose last is genetic.

I told my wife before I had surgery that I would at some point or another regret my decision. I told her that her job was to remind me why it did it in the first place. Thankfully I didn't have to rely on her reminders too much, but there were definitely some times when I questioned if it was worth it. The good news is it does get easier and the bad days are a lot more rare now. I mention this because I think it's important to remember that some of the best things in life are also REALLY hard. Losing weight, whether it's with or without surgery is one of those hard, but ultimately satisfying things. Part of that satisfaction comes from knowing you endured the trial and came out a better person on the other side. I"m now coming up on 3 months post op and I can legitimately say that even though I still struggle sometimes, living with WLS is so much easier now than it was at 4 weeks. You can do it, but you just have to grin and bear it for a while. These sayings may sound trite, but reminding myself that "This too shall pass", and "It's a marathon, not a sprint" are what got me through the hard days.

I think this is good advice until you figure it out. There are both electrical (via the vagus nerve), signals, as well as hormonal signals to your brain that tell you when you are full. The signal from the vagus nerve happens pretty quickly once triggered, but it doesn't really kick in until you're full or even overfull. That's typically what you're feeling now. The hormonal signals are different. They are only triggered as food starts to be absorbed, so it takes a while. This can take up to 20 minutes, but it can vary depending on what you ate, and certain individual differences. If you can slow down your eating, you're more likely to get these hormonal signals to stop BEFORE you get the uncomfortably full signal from the vagus nerve.