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Hello I am 8 weeks out from RNY, but I feel this is relevant to all of our journeys.. My husband asked me what can he put in my stocking for christmas this year as candy is off limits. I suggested he can get a couple of sugar free candies but asked he send me the nutrition labels before buying... i have seen a lot of people mention chapstick but I honestly keep up with mine and don't need a ton of chapstick. i bought myself resistance bands last week and I am thinking about giving them to him to let him put them in. For his stocking he has a level ruler pencil thing, heated motorcyle gloves, and candy. Our son has a new tervis water bottle that snaps sealed, candy, and some bath stuff.

Great tips! I think it may be a combination of both types of hunger. I have an appointment next week & will discuss with my dietician how I can appropriately satisfy these cravings! Thank you!

I don't know how much of this is due to weight loss vs just getting older, but according to the marks on the wall at my Mom's house, I'm almost 3/4 of an inch shorter now than in 2007. Guessing I had pretty fat feet! ... or fat on the top of my head, Lol!

If only there were tablets life would be easier for a lot of people. However, there isn't. There is "protein shots" which I believe they sell on this site. I have never had them so I don't know anything about them. There is also "clear protein" such as gatorade zero with protein, or protein 2.0, premier clear. They are basically all the same but some prefer some over others. I drank the gatorade daily early out as I worked towards my protein and fluid goals. While not eating is ok, it's certainly NOT ok at the same time. Overweight people can become malnutritioned just as someone with an eating disorder on the other side of the spectrum. (bulimia,anorexia). While eating isn't the most important factor, being sure you are getting your nutrition is. Getting your protein and nutrients in is so important. For anyone, not just WLS patients. When you eat your meals, eat super lean high protein foods and maybe some veggies. I usually hit my minimum protein goals by lunch and dinner then becomes a bonus. I do however drink a protein shake for breakfast, so at 30g protein it is a big jump to the days goal. However, lunch is lean meat that is high in protein. White meats, tuna, fish, chicken breast all have 20g protein or more per serving. I am 8 months out now, still wouldn't say I am rally hungry. Now, I seem to have just trained my mind to eat 3 times a day. I am experienced true hunger maybe a handful of times in those 8 months and it usually shows itself at a belly ache. Took me some time to realize it. Anyway, sorry for the long post. But in short, get your nutrition before you end up in a detrimental situation. Call your team for help! Best wishes to you!

I wish I knew about the gas pain for the first 3 days post op - doesn’t happen everyone but I was like and inflated balloon and it hurt! Thank god it didn’t last.

Doing Noom the year before my 10/19 surgery it encouraged if hungry drink water and wait 20 minutes. Now I try the same. I find a protein shake works. It also gets me 30g protein. Either a good first choice. But I eat 5x day. I'm eating 1/3 cup meat 4x day or eggs for breakfast. 1/8 cup vegetable or baked yam or potato. My meat is 93% ground beef or Jenni ground turkey taco or Italian seasoned. Add guacamole and salsa to first and marinara to second.

My surgery was Oct 19 and almost through soft foods. I still measure every meal. I have a 14 oz glass that I goal to drink 4 of. Try to eat every 2 hours. One protein shake a day. Just getting my energy back. Dec 13 I go to any food. Will skip steak bread for a.year. try one food a day. So far only had fast heart rate the second week. Spices don't bother me. Found ground turkey (Jenni) taco or Italian flavored, turkey sausage and looking forward to turkey bacon. 93% ground beef is treating me fine. Eating 1/2 cup, measured each meal, 5x day. Take the container when I eat out. I have a card party at Denny and Perkins. Omelet, tomato soup. Will continue with protein shake for the first year to maintain protein until I get to 1 cup.

I did a year of Noom the year before surgery. Lost 30#, 80% low carb and small portions. 20% was eat the hell you want but small portions. You need to feel satiety. So 2 meals a week it is free game.

My surgery date was 10/19 and only after a week or two of soft foods did I get some energy. Started using my treadmill.

I am 6 weeks post surgery. I swear by fairlite protein drinks. 30g protein or Muscle milk has a 40g. I plan to drink them for the whole year. I set a 15 minute timer on my phone and drank 1 oz water. Found room temperature was best not cold. I found sugarless skittles flavoring for water. Green apple and grape are great. I drank my protein drink 1 ounce an hour.

I’m a big fan of acupuncture. When I did my back & ended up with oozing discs, I did three sessions of physio over two weeks & no real help - she just gave me exercises which I religiously did. Went to my acupuncturist & had a dramatic improvement after one session. He used heat lamps & electroacupuncture. Worth a try.

I didn’t get all my protein in either in those first couple of weeks. You’re healing, not hungry or interested in eating. My surgeon was ok as long as I was making an effort & was getting in a little more every couple of days. Same with fluids. You’ll notice some days are easier than others & that’s fine too. You’ll get there. Just slowly sip on those protein shakes, soups, etc, all day. They count as fluids so double win. Try protein waters too.

Y’all DO NOT add kelp noodles into just boiled water with baking soda or you’ll end up with peanut noodle soup. 🤦‍♀️ Lesson learned. At least they were soft…. 🤷‍♀️ Maybe next time I’ll just use really hot tap water. Also, ate 3 bites and was grossed out so had cereal with a protein shake instead.

Me!! March 3 ❤️

Its the 4th. Yall know the drill lol Started at 317lb. April 18th was surgery. I was hoping to loose 5lb in the last 2 weeks but it did not happen. Probably another stall. Also probably didnt help i ate some junk food from where i work the last week. So need to adjust my eating a bit. get back to meal prepping. Been working a lot and just been eating what they serve where i work. Next two days i am off, Heading to the grocery store to pick up some food to make my meals with again.

Almost end of week 2, have been feeling great, no pain barely any discomfort and can drink my water at a decent pace. When I hit my water goal, barely hungry. Tomorrow I start my pureed/mushy stage, excited to try the recepies I have seen online for this stage. Sent from my SM-G960U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

Almost end of week 2, have been feeling great, no pain barely any discomfort and can drink my water at a decent pace. When I hit my water goal, barely hungry. Tomorrow I start my pureed/mushy stage, excited to try the recepies I have seen online for this stage. Sent from my SM-G960U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

I had Surgery 20 years ago and there was so much I did not realize. There were not as many preliminary requirements like having to go to class or losing wt prior to surgery. In fact, When i found out i was approved I went on restaurant tour for 3 months because I knew i would not be able to eat like that anymore. I had my surgery 3 months after i was approved for surgery. I am so happy things have improved and I'm excited about all the innovation. I am trying to get feedback from the community. I am a pharmacist and have been asked to give a lecture on the bariatric experience for a functional medicine group I am a part of. I am an old timer so your feedback is appreciated. I want to present relevant info. Curious to see where this goes. Thanks so Much

I'm almost 7 weeks post op and I don't feel like I've missed anything. I did a LOT of research - for probably about a year, before my surgery. I started therapy - before my surgery. I have a great team and am quite pleased.

Hair loss is probably the number one distressing appearance-related side effect of rapid weight loss (honourable mentions to loose skin, of course). Most, if not all, of us suffer from it. Some suffer more than others. Like the others above, I want to offer re-assurance that its mostly temporary. Little chicken hairs will start to sprout up and then in a year or two those chicken hairs will be down to your shoulders. Im my case (and some others I have read), it actually came back thicker...but i think this is also due to the fact that my overall health is better than it was before. BUT, in the meantime, here are few couple tips to get you through this annoying stage (choose what you feel comfortable with...or none at all ) 1) cut your hair shorter (i did a pixie cut at 3 months). the carpets of hair accumulating on the floor and catching in the shower drain will appear less. shorter hair theoretically will weigh less, so it will be less likely to pull down flat against your scalp and show larger swatches of said scalp. and when the chicken hairs start coming in they are less noticeable and blend in better with the rest of your shorter hair and not look so thin on the ends. 2) keep your hair clean. greasy hair will flatten and mat against your scalp which will show more of it (BUT don't shampoo too much...and that's for everyone, not just those losing their hair!) 3) I think I see what looks like a braid in your hair in one of the pics above? if you can, maybe save the braids for later as the style will pull on the hair you have and possibly come out at an even faster rate. 4) there are these hair fibre "powders" that you can buy that temporarily camouflages the scalp. its basically hair coloured powder that you sprinkle on your hair to give the appearance of fullness until you wash it out later. Best results on darker hair with enough existing hair for the fibres to adhere too. 5) and for the truly brave, there is SMP (scalp micro pigmentation)..its a process whereby a tech tattoos hundreds (thousands?) of tiny little dots on your scalp to mimic hair follicles and create the illusion of fuller hair. I had this done last year because I have had the same side part in my hair since I was like 8 years old, and as the years have gone by its was noticeably thinner in that section. Full disclosure: it effing hurts. but I'm happy with the results, lol. 6) and lastly, at least for me, vitamins, creams, lotions did nothing to stop or slow down the hair loss. i know lots of folks have sworn by some or all of these methods, so ymmv. Good Luck, and hang it there! ❤️ P.s. sorry this was so long.

i was notoriously un-hungry during weight loss phase. the discomfort of eating more than my stomach would allow was also a factor...the potential annoyance of the "full feelings" (which was a given) always trumped the desire to eat (which didn't happen often anyway). I was definitely Pavlov'ed (still in am a way) Eventually, my stomach allowed more stuff in (we're talking like 1 cup in volume here, which i realize still isn't much in the grand scheme of things), AND i was able to digest a little faster, so I could eat again in a few hours. As a result, I am a grazer. I was a grazer pre-wls, but that was more all-day snacking, just wanna eat type of deal. Now its sort of necessity. I have small "eating sessions" many times throughout the day, lol. I'm 4 years out now, so the portions are a little bigger and less spaced apart, but comparatively, volume-wise, its still a lot less than "normal" people. RE: turning skinny. I'm assuming you are referring to becoming TOO skinny? Everyone is different, and has different ideas of what "too skinny" is, so it would be difficult to get a baseline on this. Regardless, lots of people worried about this (myself included), but based on the anecdotal evidence of many, many members posts on this forum, as well as personal experience, the idea of being too skinny is fleeting. The entire time i've been on this forum, I have yet to come across someone who is 2-3+ years out (AND otherwise healthy/doesn't suffer from medical condition) who lament being too skinny. There was ONE a couple years back who was 2 years out and had a BMI of 18 and was indeed concerned about her ever-shrinking frame, but I have not seen/heard from her in a couple years, so not sure how she is faring today (hopefully she achieved some peace, though). In short, the fear of becoming too skinny during weight loss phase is a normal feeling, but mostly unfounded. Ask anyone 2-3 years out if they are worried about being too skinny, and I'm willing to bet that you will be hard-pressed to find one who still is (and who isn't suffering from a medical condition). Good Luck! ❤️

sorry i have been a bit of a ghost! busy time of year for my work and been having to get my tail in gear since i was out or part time most of november … i hit a stall from nov 23 until today… but woo hoo i went from 329.2 to 326 today!! ding dong the stall is dead !!! Hw 456 (July 2021) Jan 2022 440 lbs June 6, 2022 - 404 lbs sleeve surgery November 3, 2022 - 351.4 December 3, 2022 - 329.2 December 4, 2022 - 326 !!!!!! got a long way to go but for the first time in my life i believe not only can i do it, but i deserve a better life

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I appreciate it. Money is an issue so options are a bit limited. I've tried physical therapy at 3 different providers but it made things dramatically worse. I've not done the pain management option yet, as I worry about my natural addictive personality taking over, food addiction is part of the reason I was/am overweight. I'm currently looking for a counselor. I'm big on talking though things. Without getting on a soap box, I'm amazed at the expense, how many of the want to bring religion into it (I'm not overly religious) or even politics (their views not mine). I'm going to checkout some of the virtual counselors this week. Basically, I feel like everything that I did and spent on getting thinner and healthier was for nought. Almost like the universe said "Yeah, that's cute, nice try!" and then changed the rules on my. I feel robbed of things. I get it life happens but (as im.sure lots of you can understand) when you spend a lifetime being heavy and working through the ramifications of that, being picked on, not getting jobs, feeling unloved, trying desperately to not call unneeded attention to yourself and you finally find a way to "fit in" it sucks to have a setback. Sent from my SM-G970U using BariatricPal mobile app

My scale at home is broken. For 3 weeks it told me I wasnt losing much at all. At my followup i was weighed and was 7 lbs under what my scale says. Still seems slow but we all have our own normal

The Struggle is real but with the proper tools and determination the job can get done! I’ve struggled with being overweight the majority of my life. Growing up the fat kid at school and in the family was not easy. I always had the love and support of my family but sometimes people were really mean and made assumptions about fat people that weren’t necessarily true. I don’t remember a time growing up when I was not on some sort of a diet. 20 years ago I made arguably the best decision I’ve ever made regarding my weight. I underwent Bariatric Surgery! It was the tool I used to maximize weight loss ,change bad eating habits and understand portion control. Over the course of those years I’ve lost 170 Ibs. I’m a tiny girl at only 4’11. My highest weight was 296 Ibs, lowest weight 126 Ibs and current weight 145 Ibs. For years it’s been difficult for me to discuss this journey because of past trauma. I decided recently that it is more important to share my story because someone might benefit from it. Someone might need help, or information. Why not help people? It’s time out for being embarrassed of photos when I was really obese. It’s time to celebrate and be proud of my success. My story is one of Success by God’s Grace. Having Bariatric surgery in 2002, at young age, was good for me. It’s been a Positive weight loss journey through dedication, discipline, and accountability. Ultimately, I Desire to function as a weight loss surgery guide. I’ve contemplated writing this post for a few weeks now. I hope this post inspires someone in a positive way.