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5'2" / 29 months PO/ CW 173.6 Friday jan 10 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Breakfast: coffee with milk / Keto cookie Lunch: 1 cup frozen strawberries, 4 oz Greek yogurt, .25 cup oats Snack: 1.5 oz salmon Dinner: .25 cup quinoa with 5 oz beef Snack: coffee with milk/ dark chocolate ------------------------------------------------------------------ Totals- 1105 cals / 67g protein / 69g net carbs / 56g fat ------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday jan 11 Headache from hell not much of an appetite ------------------------------------------------------------------- Breakfast: coffee with milk / keto cookie Lunch: less than half beef sausage/ salad Snack: zucchini soup Snack: dark chocolate Dinner: 2 eggs with jalapeno peppers/ coffee with milk Snack: coffee with milk ----------------------------------------------------------------- Totals- 953 cals / 43g protien / 39g net carbs / 67g fat Sent from my SM-G950U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

Hang in there, Rosy! I echo what everyone said about staying with liquids for a while. You've had a large portion of a major organ removed, and your body needs time to heal. Your new Baby Yoda stomach can't handle too much right now. I had a few tough days after the surgery mentally because I am so used to sitting down in front of the TV or with a book and snacking away. Or when bored, I used to automatically reach for food. Now that isn't an option, so I became quickly frustrated and went down into the "why did I do this" hole. After a few days of sitting down with a protein shake or Oikos Triple Zero yogurt instead, I'm starting to feel better about breaking my bad habits for good. And no regrets. I realized I have to create new, healthy habits. It took me about a week to turn the corner on that.

We’re glad your here Rosie, your not alone in this journey. I was not eating chicken yet at 3 weeks, but stuck with soft foods (2 bites) at most, of yogurt, avocado, or mashed vegan ball in bone broth. I mainly still did the liquid diet. I wish you the best of luck. You have been through a lot. Your body has been through even more. Big hugs, and remember to take everything one day at a time.

I am completely plant based now, but I could not have done this at only 4 weeks out. There is too much volume in a WFPB diet, and too many concentrated calories, with whole grains, nuts, and seeds. I still cannot even start to eat the vegetable volume that many WFPB people eat. I would suggest that you start by moving to plant based protein drinks and powders. Use plant based "milk" and yogurt, but don't try to get all the veggies in right now. You really do need to focus on healing, getting your protein, liquids, and advancing your food list. Move to well cooked legumes and very well cooked veggies when you are allowed. My doc did not allow any veggies at all until 8 weeks. Of course, you can make protein smoothies that are easy to get down - and when allowed, add greens and berries. I am using a pea based "milk,", oat milk yogurt, soy tofu and tempeh. I stopped soy milk and soy yogurt, as it looked like I was getting an allergic reaction in my esophagus. I really do think it was all the whey protein I was using, so I made the total switch off whey protein and dairy products about a month ago, after my last endoscopy. I have much less bloating and gas now, so I think I had also developed a lactose intolerance. But I was relying too much on soy, so switched to alternate plant based milk and yogurt. I have a very strong gluten intolerance as well - have been gluten free for about 5 years. No big deal there, but taking away all dairy and animal products has been a big change. I am doing fine and feel good, but it has been a bit hard for the family. They want to cook, but don't know how. Going out to eat is very limited. I was at a wedding a couple of weeks ago and there was NOTHING I could eat except some limp salad. The GF items had dairy, and the vegetarian dish had wheat! I made the mistake of not being prepared with my own protein drink and snack. I am convinced that WFPB is a very healthy way to eat and I believe it will be a long term change for me, but there are definitely challenges. There are so many great resources, however, especially some of the cooking ideas on YouTube. My two favorite videos are "The Game Changers" and "Forks over Knives." The evidence is pretty compelling. I found a magazine with a ton of really good recipes, but you are still way too early to use this stuff. Be patient. It will come. I did not add whole grains, nuts, or seeds until I was at goal weight, and then it was to help me maintain my weight while I was starting to exercise pretty hard. Keep in touch, I look forward to following your journey. PS: I have an appt next month with a medical doctor who has switched himself personally to WFBP, to rid himself of his own medical problems. He now helps patients with the same. After I get my 1 year labs done, I have an appt to see him. Hopefully he can help me navigate the WFPB world in a healthy way that takes into account my WLS and also my exercise goals. I want to do it right, and I hope he will be able to supervise my progress.

Thank you all for your advice. It’s a worry that no one knows or has heard about stomach stretching. I have to admit I don’t drink protein shakes. I did through my initial stages but once I got onto solid food I stopped drinking them. I found them very grainy & they would coat my mouth & back of my teeth. Plus I found they tasted terrible - it didn’t matter what I mixed them with - shudder. I used to heat the chocolate flavour so they’d be like a real hot chocolate ... it wasn’t. Lol. I know some people put it in coffee but I don’t drink coffee. I’ve tried a few different types, including pea powder, & flavours and I now have a shelf full of tubs in my cupboard. It’s why I started on high protein yogurt, yogurt drinks & bars to supplement my daily protein intake. My dietician hasn’t pushed me to drink protein shakes & was ok with my alternatives. Guess I’ll have to see what my surgeon says next week. Will keep you updated.

I'm a couple weeks behind you on my surgery date. I can handle about 1/4 cup of firmer foods, like egg whites. Closer to 1/3 of a cup of more liquid foods like yogurt or cottage cheese. I am still having two protein shakes a day, then have a couple of small "meals" to round out the day. My target is around 600 calories per day, but my real focus is on 75+ grams of protein and not stretching my pouch, so I eat and drink slowly and stop at the first sign of fullness (for me with my new pouch, it is the sensation that I need to burp, but it feels different for everyone).

Doing great since surgery. I could be doing better to reach my protein goals but make up for it with a shake. It's amazing how little I can eat still. I can just now finish an egg and haven't yet finished a chobani yogurt. I have about 18 more pounds to loose to reach my goal weight and may have to add in more snacks after that to stay in maintenance. I'm not counting calories just trying to reach my protein goals right now. Hope all my April 2019 brothers and sisters are doing good! We're almost to our one year anniversary! HW-240 SW-239.5 CW-137.9 GW-120

Thursday jan 9 5'2" / 29 months PO / CW 174.4 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Breakfast: 1 cup frozen strawberries, 3 oz plain greek yogurt, .25 cup oats blended to a smoothie / coffee with milk Lunch: 2 Tbsp bp powder, 3 oz plain greek yogurt, .5 cup oats, 1/4 banana blended to a smoothie Snack: 1 cup zucchini soup Dinner: Italian sausage with .5 cup spinach Snack: 1 oz hard salami Midnight snack: dark chocolate --------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals 1166 cals / 65g protien / 87g net carbs / 56g fat Sent from my SM-G950U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

So a little background: I am a 6'3" male who had my "Sleeve" done in July and ran into a small Pulmonary Embolism which kept me at the hospital an extra week. I have to take blood thinners for at least 1 year but thank god they have moved me off of the Lovenox injections (I hate and fear needles) and onto a pill so it's not that big of a bother now . A month before surgery I was 500lbs but got down to 455lbs on the day of my surgery. I honestly forgot what my weight was 3-4 months ago on my last surgeon visit and any scales I have had access to since then top out at 300-350lbs. I vaguely recall one doctors scale saying 375 almost 2 months ago but it could have been in error since it really wasn't built for that. I have a few concerns that you guys probably heard a billion times so please excuse me but I just don't want to screw up too bad. Despite access to a usable scale I know I am losing weight because I have had to buy smaller clothes. I wore a 5XL shirt pre-op and now wear 3-2XL, some other articles too small 30 days ago now starting to fit little by little as time goes on etc etc. I have also noticed loose skin and I keep getting told I have a noticeable reduction in my face. I am having a few issues that I can't tell if I am ruining my surgery or what but hopefully you guys can help and sorry for the novels worth of words ahead. Firstly I am worried that I may be stretched out too much. I am VERY picky eater and don't eat vegetables, but before you go on with the lecture let me say: "YES, I have "Re-tried" them all several times to appease people and in various different preparations but no matter what whenever I eat most vegetables the taste literally makes me sick" anyway, I knew this was going to cause some challenges .Once I could eat normal foods my diet was pretty much occasionally scrambled eggs for breakfast, 2 pieces of grilled chicken for dinner every night and fruit anytime before and after that. Mostly oranges but also apples, banana and the occasional grapes. Now that the weather has changed grilling enough for most of the week is not as easy so I have had to mix it up. I know it is shameful but a few days during the week I stay at my gf's apt and she has no way to cook in her apt so I try to bring as much "pre-cooked" food from home to microwave but often we have to order out and this is where being a picky eater runs into some problems. It's hard to find any healthy dishes I enjoy with most of the places mostly because most of them are vegetable based or vege heavy. I tried doing grilled chicken from halal place but it is hard to order food for 2 people when 1 person is not on a diet and the other does not eat most of the healthy options. Naturally I have had to get regular non-diet foods like an occasional burger, italian/pizza, chinese rice/soup and mexican. Obviously I am not able to consume the entire portion of whatever I get and it is a bit of a waste of money with all the leftovers not eaten again but I was always taught that moderation was the most important thing no matter what you eat and it has not seemed to interrupt the weight loss this entire time so I thought it was ok but I am often wrong. I only have this delivery stuff a couple times a week at most and I don't order out the rest of the week when back home but I have noticed lately that no matter what I eat I am able to eat larger portions than I did a few months ago. I am not talking about eating an "overstuffing binge" amount but def a bit more than I could eat a few months ago. For example I ate 2 decent sized chicken breast cutlets tonight with no problem when a few months ago it was a struggle to eat 1 and a 1/2 drumsticks. It seems to be inconsistent too, in other words some days I can only handle a smaller portion and then the next day it could be a larger portion and it will just randomly switch between the 2 all week. This has me worried I have done something wrong to my stomach with my eating. Recently most of my diet has consisted of eating yogurt, I will have a "fruit on the bottom" cup multiple times a day either as a meal or as a snack and other than that I only eat fruit or some "Popcorners" (they are popcorn somehow shaped into a "potato chip" shape) but the nutritional facts state they are not a junk food chip with the bad stuff. OH, I also forgot to mention that even way before my surgery I only drink water. I DO NOT drink any kind of high sugar drinks, carbonated drinks or even anything with caffeine like coffee, soda or tea. I may have a glass of orange juice once in a blue moon but aside from that it's nothing but water all day every day. Does it sound like I screwed up and ruined this whole thing? My other issue I have noticed is my hair started coming out in worrying amounts when brushing and in clumps during a shower. I do have long hair and it seems to be getting thin in some spots and much more scalp is showing through if I pull my hair into a ponytail. I never had this issue before and it is scaring me a bit. I take a daily "complete" multi-vitamin along with an extra pill of Iron and I know my protein intake is probably not ideal but I don't think it is low enough to warrant the hair falling out like this. Is this something anyone has experienced? Lately I have been experiencing some body dismorphia where some days I will look in the mirror and notice my weight loss but some days my head starts to tell me I am either "gaining weight", "not losing anymore weight" or just a general lowering of self esteem and I swear that I start to see these things in the mirror when logic tells me it is not possible. One other thing that has been really messing with my head is the whole loose skin situation. I feel like the loose skin is going to make me look disgusting or undesirable when all is said and done but also it's kind of like "what was the point of losing all the weight if I will only look as bad or worse than I did when I was obese?" It kind of makes me think I will be trading in one type of depression for a new one and still be in the same boat I was before and I really don't want that. I feel like all the positive aspects of the surgery will only be physical in it's results but still leave me in the same low self esteem state of mind I was in before. Any of you run into this? Did you figure out how to get past it? Thanks in advance and again I apologize for the long post but I just want to get everything out in one shot. I look forward to any replies.

So I’ve just been for a check-up with my surgeon’s offsider. My continued issues with low blood pressure and now poor liver function, high inflammation levels & general weakness are raising red flags. Add to this I’m still losing weight (54.1kgs this morning) even though I’m trying to eat more & more regularly. Plus I’m still losing lots of hair (even my eyebrows are thinning now so I’m having my brows microbladed on Monday). She’s made me an urgent appointment with the surgeon for next week suggesting that he may need to stretch my stomach so I can eat more & get in more nutrients. Yikes 😱. I am eating a little more at each sitting and tend to graze all afternoon slowly eating combinations of fruit, cheese, high protein yogurt smoothies or protein bars. I eat until I feel full. Sometimes I’m just not hungry so I eat to a routine (3 meals & afternoon snacks) to ensure I get in my protein & other nutrients every day & always protein first. I even stopped my exercise program (loose description - I hate exercising so I’m not devastated) because I’m still losing weight - couldn’t afford to burn off the calories. Has anyone had to have their stomach stretched by their surgeon? What do they do? Has anymore has these problems? I don’t want to put on weight again.

Wednesday jan 9 5'2" / 29 months PO / CW 173.4 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Breakfast: coffee with milk / lavish roll with greek yogurt and pb powder Snack: mozzarella cheese Lunch: eggs and jalapeno Snack: protien bar Dinner: greek yogurt, strawberry, oatmeal smoothie Snack: raw veggies / coffee with milk --------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals- 1177 cals / 77g protien / 96g net carbs / 47g fat --------------------------------------------------------------------- Finally started my period (only 3 days late, but I'm usually exact) the cramps are terrible making me want to eat everything in sight. Any non medication ideas to relieve cramps, or to avoid cravings? P.S. my throat is still pretty sore went to doc he said either viral or from the vomiting episode... Sent from my SM-G950U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

Being limited to exercise isn’t a problem, I’m unable to exercise due to my own limitations. I compensate in other ways. Three weeks out is early to worry about 2lbs. My weight has tendency to stall a few days sometimes backtrack a bit then I lose a little. It’s even more obvious in the beginning. Your body is adjusting to the drastic Changes surgery has caused. do you have a nutritionist? What concerns me is that you don’t seem to be getting enough enough protein and might be getting too much sugar? Dairy milk and most yogurts (even plain) are quite high sugar. You need to be getting 0.8 grams of protein per kg of body weight or 0.36 per lb. of body weight. Usually from protein supplements with little to no sugar. I’d suggest products but don’t know what’s available where you live. Icelandic yogurt or Greek yogurt is generally the least sugar. I buy ripple milk (unsweetened pea milk) since it’s little to no sugar and I like the taste. I usually mix TwoGood yogurt with PEScience protein powder. Also instead of plain broth, bone broth has more protein. But you can get protein soups like here on BariatricPal. I guess some surgeons don’t give dietary guidelines or ones that don’t say how important protein is, and recommend milk, and other carb foods that can stall progress. That confuses me because then it doesn’t teach people to use the tool the surgery gave them. you will do ok though this is just a bump in the road. Do get enough protein though. you can’t afford to lose muscle. All the best to you in your recovery from a stroke. My mom was in a wheelchair over twenty years, Due two two major spine surgeries after a car accident when I was a kid, then she had a stroke. Thankfully she fought hard and is walking with a walker now. I hope success for you.

I will be 5 weeks post-op tomorrow, and I am supposed to be adding a greater variety of foods to my diet, and eventually, increasing my calories. I am finding that it is becoming more and more difficult to eat. I eat either yogurt or cottage cheese for breakfast (1.5 ounces), and then something either mid afternoon or very early evening - again, 1.5 ounces. If I take even one additional bite, I have 2-3 hours of nausea. I do have my protein drinks, but I don't think I'm getting more than about 500 calories a day. My weight has also been stalled for two weeks. Has anyone else experienced this? Any suggestions will be gratefully received. Thanks so much.

Might have to try the granola idea. I’ve been avoiding yogurts all along because those are big-time sliders for me and they make me crave carbs (I only really like the flavored ones) but maybe I can test out adding some honey and granola and see where it takes me. It would have to be lunch though bc anything thicker than protein shake in the am “sticks” and gives me stomach cramps. Can’t be productive if I’m feeling like I wanna lie down and die for an hour in the morning. I tried peanut butter once a few months ago— didn’t sit well but I can try it again I suppose. Eggs are still an epic struggle for me. They used to be one of my fave foods of all time and now they don’t like me. 😭😭😭

I added high calorie granola cereal to a cup of yogurt. It added calories, good fiber, vitamins etc but also still slide down easy. I can get about a 1/3 c of granola in the yogurt. I started with just a tablespoon. To up calories I had peanut butter then later added nuts. Pumpkin seeds are good to up good fats too. I added graham crackers occasionally since they are sliders for me but we’re not too tasty to start craving carbs. Even eating a couple walnuts helped up the calories. I started cooking eggs with olive oil vs the spray too. I still lost from 128 to 125 but that took months and had I not pushed calories I feel like I would have slipped too low too quickly.

I think you must eat more. I don't know if your caloric density can go up in your eating window from very deeply healthy foods? (i.e. Full fat yogurt and other dairy, real eggs rather than egg whites, chicken thighs rather than breast, real bacon rather than turkey, real salad dressing on salads with olive oil, fattier cuts of pork/beef/fish/caviar, nuts 1-2oz per day, more avocado, nutbutters). I think you can also shift to a more "maintenance-style" IF where it's basically x number of days you do IF with our without caloric restriction and the other days you eat a "normal" diet with all the calories you need to adjust for those IF days. I'm talking about something like a 5:2 rotation. Also, you will need to configure how much more nutrition you need for training. But honestly, if you've been doing 2-3 pilates classes per day, your running might balance out...dunno...haven't looked at it. But I honestly think you need to eat or you will quickly find yourself in trouble...either bonking or not being able to train to your full max VO2 threshold, or even losing too much weight/muscle. I'm not saying stop IF, cuz it is also my security blanket. But for my still-broken metabolism, I'm maintenancing brilliantly while doing about 3 or 4 days in IF/ADF and the balance of days eating between 1200-1400 cals. Averaging about 1100cals daily. I think you're average is gonna come in closer to the 1800-2000 mark and that's a LOT of food for us. That means if you IF some days, you will end up having to have closer to 2500-3000 cals per day to average to 1800-2000. That sounds great...unless you're getting those cals from booze and sub-par (questionable) nutritional value. Then I think you might be playing roulette with your health down the road.

My laparoscopic RYN surgery is scheduled for February and I’ve been thinking about what it will be like post surgery. I would love to hear your perspectives on the topics below: Did you have a drainage tube or catheter in the hospital? No Did you have to go home with a drainage tube? No Were you able to sleep on your stomach when you came home? If no, how long was it until you could? No, but I can sleep on my side. It's been a week since my surgery and one incision is still tender. I'm a stomach sleeper, but I have been sleeping fine on my back or side. Your body will adjust. I’ve heard people recommend having a pillow for your stomach? Does that help if your surgery was laparoscopic? No pillow for me. And last but not least...is there anything you wish you would have known about what you would experience after surgery. Being on these forums, having a great team, and having two close friends having the surgery prepared me well for what to expect. The hardest part is smelling what my husband cooks. I've decided to go upstairs while he's eating. But, I keep telling myself that in a month I'll be able to eat normal again, albeit very small portions. I'm also still surprised at the fact that I CAN'T eat everything I intend. Last night, I attempted to eat yogurt and could only get through 3 oz. That's still weird to me!

In my case i measure by using only packed food. Premiere shakes, cottage cheese yogurt, all in individual sizes. I eat pretty much the same thing almost every day.

we can agree to disagree and this is a place for those who dont lose in a typical fashion I am losing slowly I NEVER said i haven't lost any weight at all but I can indeed go weeks and weeks without losing and since all of my food is premeasured by the containers i buy them in- eg. premiere shakes- i know their exact calorie counts. In fact except for having sushi maybe once a week all of my food (greek yogurt, cottage cheese, premiere shakes) comes in pre measured packets for that very reason so I CANNOT underestimate or overestimate my food amounts. So feel free to hit up another thread if you dont agree. Also please dont tell ME WHAT TO DO or not to do. Its my G-d given right to have my opinion and last i checked I live in a free country where speech is a constitutional right.... I am entitled to be frustrated and feel overwhelmed. I am HUMAN. Hence this thread is a Support thread - not a "please dont type something I don't want to read because Im a snowflake thread" Feel free to not visit this thread at all if it offends you so much.

I am 2.5 weeks post RXH. i Had my first negative experience today. Last night I ate a piece of sharp white cheddar cheese. All was fine and no pouch issues. Went to sleep and woke up several times nauseous. Woke up this morning and all was fine. Drove into work eating a yogurt. About an hour after work I had the worst stomach pain and could not get off the toilet, although BM were solid. Had to come home from work to rest. I didn’t vomit or even feel like I would just horrid stomach ache and lots of BM’s. ALL OVER A PIECE OF CHEESE!!! Went back on clear liquids today and will try again tomorrow.

Did anybody here come home with the draining tube from the hospital. I had surgery 12/31 and I came home with mine. I find it hard to get a comfortable sleeping position. Only two more weeks of all liquid diet for me. Mi can’t wait to have Greek yogurt or something more substantial.

Have you tried Genepro? It's unflavored and doesn't change the texture of the food. I literally have been putting it in everything but my water. Herbal tea, pudding, soup, yogurt, etc. I have really big issues with food textures and it's been great. I agree that I can't handle the taste of any of the other protein drinks. They make me want to gag. Sent from my SM-G960U using BariatricPal mobile app

Agreed. I also think I'm seeing a pattern where the sleeve patients need to be a little more conservative than RNY at first, but obviously not statistically significant. And even then, there seems to be a ton of variation. My Dr. had me on clear liquids the first 2 days (they actually had me on broth the night of surgery). Now I am on modified full liquids until 2 weeks. It's any liquid and then things like greek yogurt, cottage cheese (chewed REALLY well), strained soup, even watered down cream of wheat (although I haven't tried that yet).

I stick to very simple things, I’d have stuck to shakes for breakfast but because of dysphasia thinner liquids aren’t going off too well for me but I still do the occasional Koia RTD and I my evening coffee so I’m trying to figure things out. I like to do PEScience protein powder in TwoGood yogurt. I don’t need big variety. But change a few things up as I can get them or are available to me. and keep them handy either shelf stable or freezer. I’m a creature of habit. Not much food appeals to me. I keep it simple. Some days it’s small meals some days it’s just protein powder and yogurt and maybe some juice flavor protein. I did start to add 2.5 oz veggie burger and BariatricPal has protein mashed potato that pair well with it. I haven’t ordered it again yet. So I made a 2.5 oz veggie burger with a egg on top. just to add some veg. I just track my protein calories and weight each day and what I eat. I think we need to learn what works for our bodies and do it on a timeline that works for us. Slow is better than going too fast and rushing into “normal food” my nutritionist and surgeon were like why aren’t you eating normal food yet. Well A. I have medical issues and B, I’m not ready and C. I’ll do what I feel comfortable with. we all need to keep In sight why we went into this and not fall into habits that got us here. And slowly learn the new way of life for our bodies. Also I find it weird that some guidelines allow for a lot more carbs and sugar and moving faster into “normal foods” which can easily lead to failure ... my relationship with food is tenuous at best with having lost my proper ability to taste food years ago, weird food allergies, now dysphasia, issues with my damn sensitive esophagus so I have to eat foods that are easy to chew soft and I have very little energy to chew. I’ve been totally turned off by meat especially chicken. But salmon sashimi with wasabi was actually pretty good. I’ve always had issue with nausea ... I like vegetables but my body doesn’t seem to. I guess I will shut myself up. When we go on this weight loss journey we take a good hard look at our selves and we can’t just climb right back into our old way of doing things. Food is not everything.mits not the be all end all of existence. We eat to live not live to eat and it’s a hard lesson to learn. But yes we can allow our selves little things here and there. Like I put a little sf land o lakes whip on my yogurt ... but there’s no need to rush to “normal” rather, learn what your new normal is. And sometimes that changes moment to moment and day by day.

It sounds like everyone is doing well. Did anyone have a case of the "Foamies"? I just had my second time today at lunch. Not sure if the pain and the foam coming up was from overeating or what I was eating. Today I had 1/2 of a small veggie patty. It was soft but dense so I will hold off on eating this type of food for a few more weeks. Back to yogurt for lunch. Canned green beans are working out well. So I suggest those if you enjoy them and are craving something green.