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Are you on a PPI (like esomeprazole)? Stomach acid can make you think you’re hungry with hunger pangs. Stomach acid is often greater at night because of the fasting period when there isn’t any food in your tummy so the acid isn’t being used to breakdown it down. Also a growling tummy in most instances don’t indicate you are hungry (like we were always told) - it’s just our digestive system working. The hunger could actually still be head hunger. Our heads are a very powerful organ & can really mess with us. Your hunger could be caused by your emotions. The surgery & change of diet is stressful & the hormonal flush can make you emotional. For many of us we used to turn to food in stressful/emotional situations to sooth & comfort us. At the moment you can’t do that but your head is still telling you to eat. Also you can be simply wanting/craving what you can’t have. Subconsciously, you can also be questioning how such a little serving of food can actually be enough to satisfy you. All your head messing with you. I discovered my real hunger feels very different than the ‘hunger’ I used to know. I get restless, think something is wrong but aren’t sure what at first. There is always a reason I am hungry (missed a meal, delayed eating, didn’t eat enough for the day, etc.). I never crave or want to eat a specific food, flavour or texture… except I find I only want something high in protein. Distraction can be helpful. Read, go for a walk, undertake a hobby like gardening, drawing or crafting, play some games board or online, ring a friend or family member, clean out a drawer or cupboard, check social media, etc. Sometimes a warm drink can help.

Hi there! Congratulations on 7 weeks!! You didnt say what it was you ate other than "only good things". :) I personally followed my meal plan to the letter and still do almost two years out. But that is what I needed to do for myself. 7 weeks is not a long time, but there are a couple of things that you couldve been doing. 1. eating too fast. This is an ongoing challenge for myself. My jobs have always been such that time meal breaks were pretty much non existent and as a nurse we usually "ate on the fly". This is a bad habit from bootcamp and beyond that I work faithfully to control. Its not easy but I put a bite in my mouth, put my fork down and concentrate on chewing the food in my mouth to the consistency it needs to be for my pouch. 2. drinking too soon after eating. I have gotten good at this, I don't drink anything an hour after I eat, even now. In my preop class this was shown to me and it has stuck with me. If you have ever "forgotten" and drank after or during a meal once, you tend to not want to repeat that process again. LOL https://youtube.com/shorts/oNdeGkkwqlw?feature=share 3. not paying attention to the cues your body gives you when you are full or eating more than 1/4 cup (example). Or if you are eating veggies not cooking them. 4. check your macros with your dietician. That seems to be a lot of carbs. Relax!! Stick to your meal plan and touch base regularly with your Reg. Dietician.

Oh yes, I don't like the sugary drink once it gets flat either. I've tried to drink the zero sugar drinks but they upset my stomach and are very sweet. I enjoyed my cirkul but it isn't carbonated. My husband and my daughter eat a lot of fast food or highly carb filled foods, so I can understand when they think that you eat something weird. Even though they are supportive it's still very difficult to not eat or at least take a bite or 2 of it. I did get them to try the chicken meatballs and cauliflower rice and they liked that so it's a start. I'm really really trying to change my habits but I'm finding that I'm not meal prepping enough. I feel like I need to take that modo "a boy scout is always prepared' and apply it to my eating habits. 🤔

Mine only lasted about 8 days. My doc prescribed Tramadol for pain but it was only 18 pills ( I think). It was only supposed to last for like 3-4 days. The dosage was one every 4 hours for pain, but I would only take it at bedtime so that I could sleep through the night. That made it last much longer. I did not ask for a refill. After that, if I did feel something like soreness or dull pain, I'd just take the rapid release Tylenol. They dissolve really fast so that more of the medicine is absorbed.

I can more or less tolerate anything now, but there are a surprising number of things I don't want anymore. I lived on fast food pre-op. Now, I have zero interest in burgers, fries, and such. I might have the occasional pastry item, but it is very easy for me to go to a bakery and not get anything or see a plate of cookies and not grab one. Unheard of pre-op! On the flip side, I never was really keen on ice cream pre-op. Now, I love it. It's one of the few sweets that goes down easily.

Hello @LibrarianErin, you’re not a failure, you are trying your best. This is a major surgery and it is going to take time for both mind and body to adjust! You got this!! :)) I also struggle to get my liquids for the day and I recommend Nectar daily hydration water packets as adding it to a water bottle multiplies the intake (1 oz is 2; 2oz is 4 etc) which has helped me reach my water goal without having to drink that much to where my stomach feels uncomfortable! It also helps with that dry mouth feeling as it works fast in terms of hydration. (I added it to my gatorade on days I couldn’t stomach water) There are other brands but this brand is 0 calories and sugar free which I find to be very bariatric friendly! And they have a variety pack so you can try different flavors. May you have brighter days ahead! ☀️

i chose an arbitrary number of the mid-point of healthy BMI for my height: 120 lbs (which was more or less the weight i was up to my mid-twenties...im 50 now) By the time i got to 127, i called GOAL cuz i felt i was looking too gaunt and skelator-ish for my liking. I did continue to lose more weight, however, and for some reason or another, got down to a lowest-post-op weight of 109 around 1.5 years post op. fast forward a few years (i'm almost 5 yrs post-op now) and i've basically bounced around 115-120 for most of that time. This morning, i clocked in at 119.8 lbs oddly enough, despite the fact that i weigh about 7 lbs less than the time i called goal due to looking too sickly over 4 years ago, i actually look much, much healthier now. the rapid weight loss phase did a number to my appearance, i guess, and now that i'm on auto-pilot and eating more "normally" (i'm looking at you, carbs!), and getting a decent amount or regular exercise. everything sort of shifted around and settled so i no longer look like dead man walking. oh, and another observation: when i was a teenager, i weighed about 110-115, and looking as past pictures, i believe i actually look bigger back then despite actually weighing more today. soooooooo....that was a long winded way of saying that the number on the scale isn't always the best thing to determine the best goal weight for YOU. but of course its a good starting point, if one is realistic about it. Good Luck! ❤️

I very truly feel your pain. I was sleeved in 2009 and I did fantastic the first 6 years. I lost 149 lbs and 9 dress sizes. At first, I wasn't even exercising and the weight just melted away daily. When I got down to the weight limit that could not be exceeded on an elliptical machine that I borrowed from a sister, I started exercising on it. Eventually, I was using the elliptical for an hour, non-stop, 5 days a week. Everything began to change in December 2014. My father passed away and he was the be all end all of existence for me. I am the youngest of 13 kids and was totally a daddy's girl. He was very ill already, but he ended up dying on my mom's birthday from a heart attack in his sleep. I was the first one to get to his house after my brother who was taking care of him called us all. When I got to my dad, his eyes were still open. My brother was dealing with the coroner and the police officer. I really freaked out and thought I'd better close his eyes before my other sisters or my nieces and nephews saw him. So I did. I closed my father's eyes. My heart broke in half right at that moment. I kinda lost my sh*t. My doc ended up putting me on Xanax and Ambien. Fast forward a few months to April 2015, I ended up getting divorced. Then 15 months later in July 2016 my mother died. Her heart stopped, and during CPR administration, her ribs broke and one pierced her lung. It filled with fluid and because she'd had respiratory issues most of her life, they couldn't help her. She died after 3 agonizing days in the hospital. Then in 2017, I was transferred from one job post to another. They weren't even going to tell me until right before I showed up for work, I found out sooner by accident. I'd been at that post for 10 years. It was a retaliation from a supervisor who knew that I knew too much information about illegal activity that went on under his nose. Literally, every year something horrible was happening to me. The anxiety, depression, and meds led to me not giving a sh*t about what I ate and a lot of drinking. I was drinking every night. I wasn't exercising anymore. I was eating anything I wanted to eat. It was still very little food, because I had a lot of restriction. But I was eating every kind of junk food you can think of. I was eating at all hours of the day. I was grazing, as they call it. I could eat every 3 hours. And the alcohol was just straight shots of tequila. By 2022, I had regained most of my weight and gone back up 6 sizes. You can lose weight again. You can detox from carbs. You can go back to protein shakes. This past May, I started dieting (on my own) because the doc wanted me to lose weight before he'd do the revision. I was drinking a protein shake for breakfast and for lunch, then I was eating a good, solid, very low carb (even zero carb) dinner. No alcohol. In 30 days, I lost 30 lbs. And this was before my surgery. It is absolutely possible, but you have to make the effort and you have to have the discipline. The first 3-4 days are tough as you detox, but then it just gets easier and easier. I wish you luck, friend.

Mine was 7 months. I didn't think it would EVER happen ! The last month - everything was rush rush and I was in surgery so fast,my head was spinning !

I was told a year, but I sipped a beer at about 6 weeks, hated the taste and still do 8 months post op. Had my first official drink 8 weeks post op, a margarita with lots of ice to dilute the drink. It will hit you fast, 2 sips in and I started to feel a tingling sensation in my nape, that's how I still know I'm getting tipsy. I did notice that even though it hits faster, it also metabolizes faster. I tasted wine about 4 months post op, prefer not to do it, cheap wine its not the way to go, my palate separates the alcohol and it taste like a sip of juice, followed by a sip of alcohol. Since then, I had done a skinny mojito twice. I do try to limit the amount of alcohol I'm consuming because of the empty calories, and because I do not want to go back to bad habits, socially I think is fine.

Hi just now seeing this. I went pack to basics and intermittent fasting. The two protein shakes and one meal is what you have to do to get weight moving. Also you can never eat regular again to maintain the weight loss. That’s what I found works for me. I keep my calories around 1000 or less per day and I’m fine. If I splurge one day I only eat a little of the bad item. Also no leftovers of not good food choice items.

I was ignorant about the differences between procedures when I was looking into doing the surgery, however had a close friend and family member who each had done one procedure both in April of last year. Based on their experience post op, the rerouting of the intestine and the fact that I didn't want to loose it to fast with the idea of giving my skin time, and learning to fuel my body, I went with the sleeve.

Yeah that's me anything thicker than water makes my stomach gurgle it's so weird I thought because I was eating too fast so I'm trying to introduce small things but I haven't had any beef products yet since that's supposed to be more harder to digest I don't know I'm still at a standstill with the weight and it's irritating me Sounds delicious I'm still with my broccoli cheddar soup I mean the veggies in there are so dang soft you can just smash them with your tongue and it's pretty delicious with the protein I'm still trying to graduate to all of this extra stuff it just feels so weird going down if it's not Blended and I'm a month out already minus a couple days

@Carla Ogwin it’s weird everything was fine with the sugar free packets until this week so idk what happened. I’ve had ground beef but it was low fat and I just had alittle in a bean meat and cheese keto street taco. Today I had 2 spoon fulls of refried beans, 2 cut up grilled chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-A with alittle cheese and it was so good. I thought I was drinking too soon, or eating too fast as well but I think it’s just the sugar free drinks. I might try them again in a few weeks. There was about 5 days were my weight didn’t change and I was so sad but then it went down but it’s definitely going down closer now than it did which idk if I like that.

Yeah that's me anything thicker than water makes my stomach gurgle it's so weird I thought because I was eating too fast so I'm trying to introduce small things but I haven't had any beef products yet since that's supposed to be more harder to digest I don't know I'm still at a standstill with the weight and it's irritating me Sounds delicious I'm still with my broccoli cheddar soup I mean the veggies in there are so dang soft you can just smash them with your tongue and it's pretty delicious with the protein I'm still trying to graduate to all of this extra stuff it just feels so weird going down if it's not Blended and I'm a month out already minus a couple days

Before you know it, your tummy will heal. Your appetite will come back. And then you'll be scared that you're going to overeat and regain all your weight. Take this time to work on your mental relationship with food. We've only got a small window and it goes by so fast.

When I had the Petersens hernias (which create blockage because loops of intestine have slipped through a hole in the sac that keeps your guts in place / sorry forgot name of it!) I had intermittent pain. It was hard to describe- crampy mainly, pressure a bit - I’d get relief from going on hands and knees and rocking my hips- looking back that may have helped loops to slip back in. anyway I went to emergency departs twice or three times - showing a text from my wls surgeon which said Petersens hernias likely please do a cti. They did x/rays which won’t show the issue - or the tear which causes it and sent me home. Another time they said why wasn’t surgeon seeing me himself - was past date when he had to under the private contract- they said he’s a rich man he should see you. (He’d just retired as senior consultant at that hospital which is a bariatric centre) my pain had gone by this time as I’d not attempted to eat or drink in 24 hours (I’d told them that too) and they sent me home insisting I did it properly with a go referral. which I did. got an appointment at same hospital -told will re it’s d be in touch within six weeks. Call next day - oh we have a cti cancellation can you pop in. Did so and they then had another magic cancellation to schedule repair op. Turns out half my small intestines had migrated through this tear. Shiny new doc told me this and older once shushed it down as they were obvs worried I’d litigate. I was just pleased not to have died. Petersens used to happen after peptic ulcer ops and were common- changes in treatment of ulcers made them more rare - they’re increasingly common again as post wls issue. so - point of this long post - intermittent issues- and this happened over a six month period- need checking out too. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out which foods caused it and it was actually just the food moving - or intermittently not, through my small intestines…

I know that sounds like an obvious statement, but despite the preparation, the consultations, dietitian advice as well as discussion with various doctors including the primary surgeon, I realized how much of this is on me and changing my thinking in relation to food. I never thought of myself as food fixated, or dependent. I certainly understand addiction and dependency from other things but food was always not only fuel, but a joy. I have fond memories of meals past; some of the great restaurants of the world, and the funky dives where I got a good meal. I'm in a new place. I can only eat a few bite before I feel almost full. Cross that line and it gets disgusting fast. So, food, for now, is something I have to be very careful of consuming. Some things are readily digestible, other things, not so much. (I'm 8 weeks out from surgery, a baby but I gotta be responsible). I realized that part of this is my mental attitude toward what I put into my body. It's like I have a much finer, more delicate filter. I certainly haven't gone to extremes but realize how sensitive my system is and it is my responsibility to follow through from the surgery to small steps in eating and exercise. Given the hiatal hernia repair, I'm still a time slot away from weight lifting. That's what draws me to the gym- treadmill stuff is a joke- there's a thing called a speed board that is not motorized, and requires your leg power to make it move. It require balance as well. Very expensive to own one, and none of the gyms where I am seem to have one. So I walk in mega stores. But I'm planning ahead-- I'll plug in with a couple different MD types over the next couple weeks- checking bloods- I feel undernourished, but I can't handle the volume of food I would ordinarily consume without thought. So I have to be mindful- and that is my main point-- you have a duty to yourself to be cautious about what you intake- both in terms of texture and in terms of volume. It seems like a couple of bites of 'regular food" gets me close to full; soft stuff, like soup, is easier. I'm taking all the supplements but am interested to see what the blood work shows. In the meantime, I'll say that this is a huge upward learning curve that I have taken on, despite the preparation and I think I had good medical and related advice to prepare me. It's just the transition from intellectual to real world. I'm learning.....

I was always able to drink more than they said I'd be able to it. I was worried about it as well, but the PA at my clinic said not to worry about it - fluids go through you pretty fast. He said my stomach would tell me if I was drinking too much/too fast.

you're also what we call a "light weight". You started out at only 209 lbs. Many of us started out at 250+. Starting BMI is one of the factors that determines how fast or slow the weight comes off. Given your starting weight, I'm not surprised at all at your loss so far. But as long as the overall trend is down, you're good!

Hey all, back from my 2+ week vacation and wanted to give an update: First, you look awesome Lindsay! Second, the update (2 weeks traveling around Germany and Italy): Protein was VERY hard to hit. The "on the go" protein mixes that I brought got real tiresome real quick. I wasn't able to do them everyday. Thankfully, I got approved to have protein bars the day before I left, so I made use of those pretty heavily. Water was also VERY hard to hit. I wasn't keeping exact track, but based on the color of my urine, I wasn't doing great. I was also sweating a substantial amount too, so I needed even more water. The 30m no-drink after eating restriction was a killer. We would stop for some food, I would grab a nice cold bottled water, then have to wait 30m for it to warm up to 80 degrees before I could drink it (I never realized how spoiled I was with cold water) Exercise was easy. Nothing specific, but we averaged 15000 steps a day so I counted that There was a significant amount of cheating: I would usually order a meat based meal, but then try a bunch of different pastas from my family (tiny bites, but 3 or 4 different ones usually). I also occasionally had a bite or two of bread, and ate a piece or two of pizza. I drank wine...quite a bit. We had a couple of wine tastings booked, but I would also do wine before dinner with all my family. I had a grand total of 3 bites of gelato (which I am pretty proud of). The kids got gelato pretty much every night, and I only stole 3 bites as I wanted to try the flavors (coconut, stratiacello, and milk???) In addition to wine, I did have a glass+ of champagne (so double dip of alcohol and carbonation) I had unapproved meats. I didn't always have good options for meat, so there was a couple of nights I shared steak with somebody, or had some other non-approved meat. That being said, I only ever had one stomach issue on the whole trip. I ordered a plate of various meats (ribs, bacon, sausage). I am not sure what the problem was, if I ate too fast, didn't chew enough, or it was too fatty, but I had a pretty quick reaction and didn't feel good at all. There was pain in my stomach area for about 15 minutes. After getting up, walking around, and burping a WHOLE lot, the pain passed. Overall, I was very happy with how it all went. While I have a decent list of cheats above, other than the wine, I really only had a bite or two of non approved stuff each meal. My stomach felt great 98% of the time, and....I lost 9 pounds!!!

I agree with Arabesque. You need to go back. Ask for blood work and make sure they check your kidneys. Too much protein is also bad. I had my sleeve done 14 years ago in Mexico. He sent me home with nothing but a regular multivitamin once a day. Two years later, though, I lost my gallbladder due to the fact that all I was consuming was protein. My sleeve was tiny and I lost a lot of weight really fast, but my diet was nowhere near balanced because all they tell you is to concentrate on "protein first." Consequently, I didn't care about fiber (or anything else) and I put a horrible strain on my gallbladder, liver, and kidneys. It's a really tough balancing act when it comes to nutrition. * Edit: Maybe because you already don't have a gallbladder, you're straining your kidneys?

Hi all, my name is Carrielee. I’m 32, from TN. I’ve been overweight/obese since childhood and the weight keeps piling on as well as the co-morbid diagnoses. I was finally referred to Bariatric surgery earlier this year after an Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension diagnosis and just finally scheduled my initial consult. I’m scared and anxious and overwhelmed and questioning things but also don’t want to die early and that’s where I’m headed with things as they are so it’s time for a change. At 5’1”, I currently weigh 298 pounds, putting me at a BMI of 56.3. I currently have Hypertension refractory to medications, Type II Diabetes, angina, high cholesterol and triglycerides, sleep apnea, arthritis in most joints, past history of pulmonary embolism, IIH, fatty liver disease, tachycardia. I’m on a fast track to early death due to obesity like my mom and grandfather faced and that isn’t what I want my reality to be.

Hi all, my name is Carrielee. I’m 32, from TN. I’ve been overweight/obese since childhood and the weight keeps piling on as well as the co-morbid diagnoses. I was finally referred to Bariatric surgery earlier this year after an Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension diagnosis and just finally scheduled my initial consult. I’m scared and anxious and overwhelmed and questioning things but also don’t want to die early and that’s where I’m headed with things as they are so it’s time for a change. At 5’1”, I currently weigh 298 pounds, putting me at a BMI of 56.3. I currently have Hypertension refractory to medications, Type II Diabetes, angina, high cholesterol and triglycerides, sleep apnea, arthritis in most joints, past history of pulmonary embolism, IIH, fatty liver disease, tachycardia. I’m on a fast track to early death due to obesity like my mom and grandfather faced and that isn’t what I want my reality to be. i considered it about a year ago and started the process for surgery to happen, but backed out, gained more weight and lost more health. I’m literally eating myself to death and it’s not what I want for myself.

Hi all, my name is Carrielee. I’m 32, from TN. I’ve been overweight/obese since childhood and the weight keeps piling on as well as the co-morbid diagnoses. I was finally referred to Bariatric surgery earlier this year after an Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension diagnosis and just finally scheduled my initial consult. I’m scared and anxious and overwhelmed and questioning things but also don’t want to die early and that’s where I’m headed with things as they are so it’s time for a change. At 5’1”, I currently weigh 298 pounds, putting me at a BMI of 56.3. I currently have Hypertension refractory to medications, Type II Diabetes, angina, high cholesterol and triglycerides, sleep apnea, arthritis in most joints, past history of pulmonary embolism, IIH, fatty liver disease, tachycardia. I’m on a fast track to early death due to obesity like my mom and grandfather faced and that isn’t what I want my reality to be.