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Hello. I got the sleeve done in July of last year. I've had a hard time overeating because I don't realize I'm overeating until it's too late. It's like I'm hungry (I struggle badly with head hunger as well) or stuffed with no in between. I can get around 3 bites over the course of an hour before that 'oh ****, I overdid it' feeling hits me. I try to drink water but I run into the same problem as I sip too much water and then I feel sick as well. I've dealt with horrible stomach pain/heartburn and while I know it's my own doing, I keep messing up. I've also been stalling real bad as I have been maintaining my stats (SW: 230, CW: 168) for over a month. Does anyone have any useful mindful eating tips?

I had a VSG 12 years ago. I was 54 years old. I can make the math easier. I am 66 - quickly approaching 67, this spring. I was miserable, recently divorced, single parenting a teenager, working.... and my weight had hit 320. I was, at that time 5'3", and morbidly obese. I went on my own diet, and lost just over 20 pounds, went to the Doctor and requested weight loss surgery. I did their 12 week mandatory pre diet and classes. I was approved, and got my surgery. Fast Forward.... I lost weight to about 175 pounds. I went from a women plus 28 to a 14/16 petite.... depending on the clothing. I also Lost my younger brother, mother and then my father during those last 12 years. And I gained back weight. I weighed 220..... So Just before the pandemic, I decided to try to lose 10 pounds in a year. Thank goodness for my VSG. My body remembered how to do this. I lost the ten pounds in the matter of a couple months. I decided that since I had issues with regain, I would pause and maintain the weight loss for at least a month or more, before starting to lose weight again. I wanted to LEARN how to maintain the loss. Each 5 or ten pounds, I would stop losing ON PURPOSE - and maintain the weight I was at. I lost back to 173 pounds. I weighed that is graduate school. 1983. I maintained my weight for the past year between 172 to 175. A couple months ago, I decided to try to lose a bit more. The scale was reading 175 more often then I wanted. So.... I did it again. Even more slowly. Right now, I am doing my " lets maintain this for a while" thing.... and weigh 164 I think I might have weighed that in college... like maybe 1978.....before going back for the Masters Degree in 1981. My old Navy size 16 petite that I bought two years ago are too big. I just bought TARGET jeans in a size 14. Age does weird to a woman's body, as does loose skin.... But I can tell you this.... my VSG is still there. I won't ever be 'skinny' - but I am basically barely overweight (you get a few extra pounds on the SMARTBMI scale adjusted for age !) and I am more than thrilled. Do I eat perfectly ? Nope. I have a treat every darned day. A couple cookies or a small dish of ice cream.... or a bit more carbs than are necessary... But I am so flipping "normal" - I am not the heaviest human at work. Someone asked me to "slide" in to sit at a table that was close to the wall because I could "fit". I stood there staring at them..... If we have take out delivered to the office, I participate. I order something that I can eat for another two meals after having lunch. Challenges ? Plenty. Did I manage to raise a great kid, who is doing well ? Yes. Have I figured out how I need to eat to "DO ME" ? Finally. At 66 years young !!! 2004 pic.eml2022pic.eml I tried to put in pics 2004 and 2022 320 pounds and now 164 pounds

I am 65 and had my sleeve surgery 12/30/2022. I had to go back on Ozempic the second week simply because the cravings were driving me crazy. Worked nearly immediately. Do you what you must to make it work. The obesity is more dangerous, more debilitating, and more life enjoyment stealing than weight loss meds. Help your surgery work for you! [emoji4] Sent from my SM-S908U using BariatricPal mobile app

Hello everyone, I’m new here I am really struggling… I had surgery 3/7 of 2022 and started at 250. I am now 123 and seem to lose a pound or two each week which is way below my goal weight that was 150. I have so many issues eating pretty much everything. I can only eat or drink small amounts. I am extremely exhausted. I feel faint a lot. I can’t sleep. I had major issues eating at first, but around August my PCP told me eat what I can and stop trying to force the protein. I then ate - which was mainly fruits and veggies. I started feeling better for about a month and then got Covid. Since I have been struggling again to eat. I feel sick. Nauseous. Over heated each time I eat or drink anything beside water. My throat and my mouth get all mucous like or slimey. My arm pits sweat, but not under the shoulder it’s where your forearm meets the upper arm. Dizzy. Weak. My throat feels like it constricts a lot when I eat most things. This has pretty much been the norm for me since my surgery. I try and eat slowly. Chew every thing a million times. I can do any protein drinks because they make me sick. I dry heave and spit up foam. I can’t exercise for lack of energy and have zero muscle left. Any one else have anything similar? The doctors say it will get better. When??

Hi janice78. Is it 1 1/2 weeks, months, years?

Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond. That’s really helpful to hear. My doc is very conservative I guess as the no solid food till 12 weeks post op is standard for their patients independent of the bowel obstruction complication. Plus pretty rigid on the 15 minutes between 1-2oz bites or sips (haven’t bitten anything is 4+ weeks!). It’s just a lot to accept but I know at this point I have no choice. Just hopeful things will normalize in a few months. One day at a time as they say.

Not to be a party pooper but don't you have to be full liquid when you first come out of surgery? I had it for 2 weeks post, then pureed, then soft, then solid that I introduced very slowly. Just checking... I don't want you going to heavy too soon and hurting yourself. Every doctor is different so follow what your doctor says.

this is all temporary. You'll eventually be able to eat most of the foods you love again. I assume you have to wait until April before eating solid foods because of the bowel obstruction, not the bypass. My mother-in-law had surgery for a bowel obstruction a year or so ago (she never had weight loss surgery, though - it just happened), and she was on fluids and purees for quite awhile, too, as I recall. you've been in a very down mood for quite awhile now - since weeks before your surgery. I hope you'll start feeling better soon emotionally, too. If not, does your clinic have a therapist? You might find it helpful.

I presume your prolonged restricted diet is due to your complication & is to support a longer healing time. Remember this is temporary and as the weeks pass you’ll be able to eat a more varied range of foods & textures. After all you’ve been thorough though feeling down is to be expected. Certain foods are best avoided while you’re losing (rice & bread because they swell in your tummy, popcorn because it’s a slider, hotdog because of the bread & fatty sausage) but once you’ve stabilised you can eat these foods again with just frequency & portion size a consideration. Unless of course there’s an issue with you eating them. Like I still can’t eat bread, rice & pasta as they sit too heavily in my tummy - don’t miss them & I used to eat them a lot. There are always alternatives.

All programs are different, in mine I had to have 3 or 4 approved shakes and eat from a list of food. So I had shakes during the day and chicken and veggies at night or scrambled eggs in the morning. Sent from my SM-G960U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

I had mostly protein shakes the first couple of weeks. We were told to use those that were 100% whey protein isolate - I don't think many - if any - brands of that contain any beef byproducts.

Hi all, this is my first post. I have gastroparesis and am going in for an RNY in March. I've always had the pre-planned mindset, and I'm worried about the clear liquid weeks since I'm allergic to beef and beef protein is in alot of foods. No hospital jello for me! What is the normal type of protein supplement those first two weeks? I'm going to start cooking and freezing chicken bone broth soon, so I can eat easily. Thanks, and I'm looking forward to getting to know y'all!

Yeah the nurse told me I'd have to double up on vitamins if I bought them separately. She also told me the regular pill form of multivitamins don't absorb as well so she'd recommend the capsule form or the chewables. Which is what I'm going for and I really want the orange flavored ones first. I'd be spending more if I bought them all separately. Told me to not get it with iron and my surgeon is prescribing iron after surgery. My surgeon has his patients stay 3 days. When I had an abscess in my stomach, I had a drain and it was so uncomfortable when they pulled it out!. I had a feeding tube in my stomach as well and that one felt so weird when they pulled that one out!

Did your surgeon permanently remove those listed foods from your diet or for a short period? Week by week things will get better and you will eventually return to a normal routine but I understand completely. It is very hard giving up foods you like even for short periods of time. Hang in there! Glad you are doing well and recovering after the complications ❤️

It's a huge pain in the arse! I'm the same, but for me I just don't ever get the urge to go, its like that signal was completely disconnected..... I have to use some sort of laxative to get it going and they dont always work and I only get the urge when its literally knocking at the door 😆.....Usually every 3-4 days I'll start taking dolcolax cause thats the only thing I've found that works for me. I've never tried smooth move though. I'm going to give it a shot.

I’m 2 weeks post op on a sleeve to bypass revision. Sleeve was 10 years ago. Never wanted this bypass but reflux was persistent and my doc said, “we’re going to have to do this eventually might as well do it now while your young (52) and healthy.” I had a complication 5 days after surgery with a bowel obstruction at the Juijnem site because of post op swelling was in hospital on only IV fluids for 3 days. It cleared up and now at least my bowels are doing what bowels do on a daily basis. That’s all good, I’ve even lost 16 lbs post op (pound a day). BUT I’m really mourning food in general, solid food in particular and just variety. I’m on full fluids and next week I get to add thinned cottage cheese, ricotta and and oatmeal (all thinned). But I just did the math and it won’t be till April that I can eat solid food. Yes I’m talking to a therapist but I’m just really regretting all of this. I was basically happy with my weight preop (could have worked harder to lose 15 lbs. but I didn’t really care). Now I’m down 35 from before the two week preop Optifast and I just want my life back. I feel like I’ll never be able to enjoy food again, have sushi roll, eat popcorn, a hot dog at a ballgame. One by one I don’t care about any of those menu items but taken together and it’s a normal lifestyle that is now gone and never coming back. This really gets me down.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but at 3 years out I still struggle sometimes with my image of self - I often "feel" like the biggest person in a room even though I know I'm not. It seems to be exacerbated when I don't do the self-care things like regular exercise or eating well. When I'm in routine with exercise and healthy meals my mind set seems to settle and I just think less about my weight than I ever have. Having said that, I just started a new job and it is a mind trip that they will never know the obese me I was for most of my life. Lori

Its hard to deal with. My hair is very sensitive to whatever is going on with my life, helth, body, stress level. When I'm under tremendous stress, I have lost a bald spot, as in one circle on the back of my head that was about 2-3 in circle and it took months to grow it back. So, I was concerned that might happen after this surgery. It did not! So for that I'm happy, I did however lose handful of hair everytine I brush or wash. I always had a shoulder full of hair that fell out. The hait lose started at 3 months post op, I'm now at almost a year and its finally slowed down and I'm working on growing back all those hairs that have broken off. I'm almost 65 yrs old, so my experience will be different from others. I do take a vitamin for skin and hair, not sure if it really helps. I had a shampoo in my cabinet already that helps with hiar loss, I mix it with my regular shampo becuse it otherwise dries out my hair too much. I think it helped a little. Didn't stop it though! I did the opposite of ,ost people. I rew my hair out down to my shoulders to make me feel like I have more hair! I usually wear it in a short chin length bob. I'll admit there was laziness involved, my hairdresser double her prices after Covid and I didn't want to pay that much so kept putting it off. During that time I got used to shoulder length hair and now keep it that way.

for stalls, just stick to your plan and stay off the scale for a few days. It'll break as long as you stick to your food plan.

I work from home and I took 3 weeks off and wished I had taken 4 weeks. The first 2 weeks were a blur, I don't remember much and I didn't lose the mental fog until really right at the end of that 3 week mark. I went back to work on the 4th week but immediately made a few mistakes, which is not common for me. I would recommend planning for 4 weeks off and if you feel good enough to go back to work earlier you can.

As @catwoman7 says, people who have a revision on this site seem to have lost weight. You have done well so far and are probably in a stall. Ride it out. Stay off the scales as much as possible. Your weight is on the lower scale so it will be slow going from here but you should get lower. People who have a virgin surgery can get to a lower weight but not all. It must be heaven to get rid of the GERD

Still keep things fairly soft, moist & tender. Slow cooked or medium rare to medium meats. Try the most tender cuts of meats like chicken thigh not breast. I made a lot of mince based dishes (easy to portion & freeze too), hearty soups, casseroles, stews, omelettes & sausages for a couple of weeks.

Hey having anxiety Surgery date 2_21/23 I hear a lot of people talking about the two week liquid diet, and my doctor did not They said I only need to be on liquids the day before. Has anyone heard of this? Sent from my SM-S901U using BariatricPal mobile app

I had my two week post op appt today and can start puréed /soft foods.. I tried an egg I could only eat a little.. anyone else in puréed with things they enjoy? I can drink 3 protein shakes and water down but the food is giving me a little anxiety

Congrads on your success so far. I think I was down only about 18 pounds on day 30. For some reason I have not had a stall yet (knock on wood). I am now coming up on my 11th week and my tastebuds are constantly changing. For example, when I first went on solid foods, I was loving my cheesy-scrambled eggs. Also some chicken in sauce, but now don't care for either. To be honest, I am not a "kitchen guy", don't care to prep, cook, or cleanup. So for now, right or wrong, I sticking to yogurt, cottage cheese, protein drinks, ready made low cal soups, and microwavable low cal dinners from "Atkins" & "Realgood". Still can't eat any read meat but tolerate pork. Feels like more of a mental thing than an actual stomach issue. Hopefully later in the year I will try different food plus looking at getting back on the grill this summer. Saltwater fishing is a hobby and I am not one of those "catch & release" anglers, more like "catch & grill". 😁 But my first dinner on solid food also happen to be a birthday dinner for a relative at Outback restaurant where I ordered Wood-fire grilled chicken breast topped with sautéed mushrooms, crisp bacon, melted Monterey Jack and Cheddar and honey mustard sauce. I ate half and was very, very happy.