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Has anyone else had to do 3 weeks of liquids only post-op? I’m 10 days post-op and I’m sooooooo hungry! Not sure I can do this for another 11 days. I’m getting in 84+ grams of protein a day. I think I’m getting in enough water! Seriously going nuts over here! I just want to CHEW something solid! 😭😭😭😭

Congrats on your surgery and on losing so much in 8 months. I'm 10 months out and at 1st goal. Now working on 2nd goal. Like @Biddy zz I keep a pretty tight practice for diet. Plus I add in IF (intermittent fasting) in a varying schedule. I like to keep things mixed up so I don't get bored. But the one thing any of those days includes is scheduled real meals that get logged and all food gets weighed or measured and logged--either before I eat it so I know how much to serve, or immediately after eating it, before leaving the table! LOL. No snacking for me on regular days. Holidays are the only exceptions--generally. I might have a hungry, hungry heifer day where I just mess up (I'm human). But I try to make "wise" choices on those days. Sometimes I can't. Sometimes I win. But generally, the rule is no snacking. And my other rule is that my average intake is between 800-850 while still losing and fits within my macros: 60-74g protein, 40-50g total carbs with most coming from fiber sources from veggies, etc (no grains, rice, pasta, flours), and fat is whatever fills up the remaining cals after protein and carbs are accounted for during that day. Exercise ideally would be daily, a minimum of 1 hour per day of some kind of movement that includes some muscle challenges! I shoot for at minimum 6 out of 7 days per week with 7 being the goal. Non-negotiable (except on the days I screw up or am sick). The idea now that I am healed and can potentially eat anything and everything is to fill my day with the healthiest selections from whole foods that fit my macros. I try to adopt a "zero crap" daily policy for as many strung together consecutive days as possible. Some days I win. Some days, meh...LOL.

At three days post op I would focus on drinking the broth a little at a time every 10 minutes or so and back off on the protein for a few days until you are feeling better. I only had a little nausea and no vomiting but I was given a dose of long acting antinausea medication (Emend) right before surgery and came home with sublingual nausea tablets (Zofran) which I only used twice. It is most important that you are able to get in fluid so if the broth is working that should help. Good luck!!

I’m having this too, muscle pain just near my largest incision site. It’s the only place that’s really still sore at 10 days out. Then think I tried to turn in my sleep or something last night and made it worse. Argh!

Ha! Trick question. The answer is...dun dun dunnnnhhhhh.... NONE! And ever since they found tapeworms in the Pacific Salmon population this year (a relatively new appearance in that food chain), I will never eat raw fish again. Evs....and it's heartbreaking. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/01/13/salmon-large-tapeworms-arrive-us/96534500/

Hello to all! Searched today to find a site where I can remotivate myself to get started losing a LOT of regain, and here I am. A little about me: I am female and 51 years old. I had RNY 11/10. Lost a little over 200 pounds in under 2 years. Had multiple plastic surgeries, exercised almost daily - ran a few 5K's, lifted some weights, etc... Did far better than expected by my doctors. Then...a bleeding ulcer sidelined (and almost killed) me. Follow that with Baker's cysts in both knees - ruined my daily exercise for quite a while. As time went on, my eating habits caught up with me (exercise had helped with regain for a while, I am sure...). Now, I find myself up close to 100 pounds. My eating is not good, and the pain from the extra weight on my knees especially, is terrible. I've reverted to all of my unhealthy coping mechanisms (regarding eating), and my restriction and dumping mechanisms seem nonexistent. My beautiful post-loss wardrobe of size 12's and 14's sits in my closet...while I had to buy new size 2x's and 3x's for a job I just started. This has to stop! I need to turn myself around and get back to healthy eating and daily exercise. I'm spending the rest of 2018 psyching myself up, re-reading my WLS books, ridding my house of the terrible foods, and easing back in to exercise and healthy eating. In 2019 my big goal is to lose one hundred pounds and get back into being healthy and feeling good about myself again. Are you in a similar situation? Have regain and need some support? Please reply so we can get a group of people together who know the struggles and want to make changes!

I was sleeved on 10/2/2018 and am down 47lbs. I feel like my progress is slow but steady. I’m actually in the 250’s for the first time in YEARS! My hubby and I have a Vegas trip planned in January and my gift to myself if I’m under 250 is to go horseback riding for the first time ever. I’ve never been under the maximum weight in my adult life so I’ve always avoided doing it. I know it will be cold but I don’t care. My butt will be freezing doing something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m so excited. Now to continue this hard work. I’m about 60ish lbs from where I think I want to be, which is under 200, and it finally feels like a realistic goal! Here’s to being sexy in Vegas. To all my fellow sleevers “We’ve got this”! HW - 306 SW - 298 CW - 259 GW - none (just to be under 200) Height - 5’8 1/2

Good Luck Big MikeLa50*** Probably looks right now like you're the farthest from surgery, but as you ready yourself for your SURGERY sometimes it seems so quick. Learn, exercise, prepare, get things in your life straightened out but most of all tell yourself what a good and great thing this will be. This is an ultimate gift to You!🎁 Forward to the Forefront in February 2019.

I will have a confirmed date at my 1/07/2019 sixth months in a row follow up but bariatric doc says looking on track for before January end. Fingers-crossed! I’ve been reading to get guidance of pre-op diet restrictions...nervous but determined.

Anyone else getting their sleeve done January of 2019? I’d love to hear from some people who are around the same time as me. I’m getting it done January 9th. I’m nervously excited.

November 19

I also had my surgery on 10/22/18. The hospital stay was not bad at all, other than them coming in there in the middle of the night to take blood or do vitals. They encourage you to get up and get moving. That's the best way to deal with the gas pain. It was a struggle to drink 1oz. of water every 15 minutes, but that's your ticket home. My new tummy was ok with the water, broth and tea but did not care for the Jell-O, only tried it twice and it came right back up. Although I can say that I did try name brand Jell-O once I was home and it stayed down. The nurses had to almost persuade me to use the pain medicine because they "We're going to have to throw it away". "Good Pain Meds, no way, lol" but honestly I only used it a few times and that was so I could get some rest, than pain management. I would say the first two weeks is the hardest to deal with because everything is new to you. The new way you have to eat is foreign. By week 2.5 I was ready to go back to work but waited out for the 3 week mark. Once you get to 3wks you have an idea of what your suppose to be doing. I think this was the best decision I made for me. I have wanted this for years but didn't have the insurance that would cover it. In 3wks I have lost about 27lbs. I'll take it!

My surgery was 10/29 Sent from my SM-N960U using BariatricPal mobile app

Great, but oh no! It will be one of those stories 10 yrs from now ..."remember our first Thanksgiving, when we hit that deer?" Hitting a deer is one of my worst fears whenever I drive in "deer country", which is thankfully not often!

first time poster here-- I wanted to start writing a bit about my journey, not just to help other people by sharing my experience but also to help myself express my feelings. Warning, this is going to be a long post! Also I originally wrote this on another forum where there doesnt seem to be a lot of traffic, so I'm copying it here in hopes of more conversation. It's been just about a month since I had the Reshape balloon inserted (October 22). This is one of the various gastric balloons on the market, with the theory being that the balloon will take up some space in your stomach and force you into better portion control. The Reshape is actually two balloons tethered together so if one deflates and tries to exit the stomach, it will be stopped by its still-intact partner. I have been varying degrees of overweight for most of my adult life but after a knee injury 2.5 years ago and a multi-year tendency to poor diet and low activity, I found myself at 367 lb. I've developed osteoarthritis in both knees and one foot, and have been in more or less constant pain since my injury. I've been married for 6 years to a lovely man who shares all of my same bad habits-- we lost a combined 150 lb for our wedding, and without the looming deadline to keep us honest, we put it back on and then some. The Reshape balloon was actually my husband's idea; he did the research, compared the products (including traditional gastric bypass), and then spent about 2 months talking me into it. One of my goals is to lose enough to shut up the orthopedist long enough for him to give me another cortisone shot in my knee (because I would prefer that shot without the side of lecture, thankyouverymuch, and if I can say "well I've already lost X pounds" then maybe he'll just shush up and give me the shot). We enrolled in a program at a major medical university in our area. Each of us got the insertion (and eventual removal) plus an aftercare program (more about that later). My husband's program cost $8000 and his insertion was performed under "twilight" sedation at a hospital-affiliated medical professional building. My program cost around $9400; my weight dictated a different type of anesthesia and also carried higher risks, so I had to go to a proper hospital. Insurance will not cover this procedure, although it looks like insurance might be covering our anesthesia. Possibly. It would be nice to have some of that money back. The day before the insertion, you are required to have a primarily liquid diet, with yogurt being the closest to solid food you're allowed. The day of, you're not allowed even drinking water, and they do turn you away if you've not followed these rules (it happened to a man who was being prepped while my husband was in the recovery area). Once you're checked into the hospital, they give you and IV and take you to the surgical room, and once you get the gas mask on, you're pretty much gone. I have no idea how long I was out, but I was so thirsty when I woke up! You go home after the procedure; no overnight stay. That day isn't too bad, because you're mostly still stoned on the anesthesia. I had no interest in food but forced myself to drink some flat ginger ale and half of a protein shake. I slept a lot. It wasn't awful. The next day, though... ugh... so bad... you're given anti-cramping medicine (and good lord it is expensive) that helps, but your poor stomach is still trying to figure out what's shoved in it, and I spent the next 3 days or so with super angry, violent cramps. I also had bad acid reflux despite a daily Pepcid, and for about a week I had midnight hiccups that woke me up. I was pretty miserable and had even set a deadline "if it's not better by friday, I have to have it taken out." This mirrors my husband's experience (he's ahead of me by one week). I think I had stomach acid come out my nose once. It was really kind of terrible and I don't think I was prepared for just how terrible it was going to be. Those first few days, you're really not feeling like you want a lot of food, and you're supposed to stick to a liquid diet anyway. After about 4 days of this, I was feeling exhausted, run down, nauseous, head-achey and sick. My husband made me a mashed potato-- just one boiled potato, mashed, with no butter and the tiniest bit of milk in it, and it was the most delicious thing I'd ever eaten. It also fixed most of what was wrong with me. My headaches went away, I still felt drained but not bone-tired as I had been, and the cramping stopped, at least temporarily. It would come back when my stomach would get empty but I was getting more interested in food so I made it a point to always have a little something in my stomach. I have a new love of eggs. From there, the meal plan involves slowly introducing more semi-solid and soft foods, with heavy emphasis on proteins, and gradually working towards an unrestricted (although healthy) diet. My husband and I both progressed through these phases faster than the official plan-- we were eating plain boiled chicken breast by the end of Week 1 and salad by the middle of Week 3, when officially you're not supposed to be ready for salad till Week 5. Rice and pasta are not officially banned but they're not favored; popcorn is banned for the whole time you've got the balloon. Menus are built around lean protein, more lean protein, and veggies that are cooked till they're pretty soft. Carbs are part of the plan too, either carby veggies or unprocessed/whole grains like oats or the occasional slice of bread. So how does it feel now? Well, for me, usually it feels like nothing, but sometimes it bothers me, and it's hard to describe it. If I eat something that my body doesn't like-- which tends to be dark, leafy greens, whole beans (like edamame) or tough/fibrous veggies)-- my whole stomach feels heavy and "grabby" for the lack of a better word. It's like a cramp but not quite. And I get the most ferocious after-taste of those veggies. I had some sauteed kale which did not agree with me, and for 2 days I just kept belching up lawn mower bag flavors. Bleurgh. Sometimes I can feel some bit of food that's caught between the balloon and the inside of my stomach, but it's annoying rather than painful. You have to chew chew chew your food to bits while you're eating but sometimes it's hard to be perfect, and your balloon will let you know when you've had one of those times. I have random hiccups a LOT. My nurse says this is usually from eating too fast but sometimes it's first thing in the morning, so who knows. My husband is not as comfortable. He has moderate cramps after almost every meal. The nurse and the dietitian both say that's because he's eating too fast, and he's trying to get better at that. We did get another anti-cramping medicine (not the super expensive one) but he won't take it because it knocks him out. I've never felt the uncomfortably full feeling I'm told will happen when you overeat, but I've not really over-eaten since getting the balloon. But that kale, man, I am not touching that stuff till after the balloon is out. And I think edamame is going to end up on that list too. What's the rest of the program? Our expenses included 12 office visits, to cover a full year post insertion (aka 6 months after removal). We can see the dietitian, a behaviorist, a medical doctor or an exercise specialist (or we can see two in a visit and they count it as two visits, that's fine). We can also email questions to the dietitian or our nurse anytime, as long as they're not long research projects. Apparently participants in their program lose an average of 12lb more than non-participants, or so they tell me. But the nurse was a godsend during those awful days-- she was able to help us get a little relief where possible, and encouraged us to stick with it when we wanted to give up. So how are we doing now? We are both drinking oceans of water, which you must do because it's very easy to become dehydrated. We are currently consuming about 900-1000 calories each per day, spread over 3 meals and sometimes a snack. We tried going for the 5-6 tiny meals a day approach but it's just not for us. The dietitian says it's ok and we should do whatever works for us. We are also exercising 30 minutes a day (every day for him, 5-6 days a week for me) on a recumbent elliptical in our house. Progress so far: I've lost about 19 lb which I think is kind of awesome. My husband has had his balloon for a week more than I have. He's lost about 23 lb. He has 19 weeks to go and I have 20. I don't believe we will keep up this rate of weight loss but I sure would be tickled if we did. Feel free to ask me anything and I'll try to answer!

I think it's because the alcohol went down so easily. Carbonation, not a problem. Sugary combination, not a problem. Like I dipped my toe in the water and hoped I'd get bit by a shark. But, nah, the water's fine. Come on in. I didn't want to really know that I'd have zero reaction to a high sugar drink. I'm doing better today. And biked 10 miles at the gym so I'm feeling better about myself for at least getting my butt there and doing it. It reset my head. Today's a new day.

I also enjoyed my Thanksgiving dinner, we are human. I had turkey, some green beans and a piece of carrot cake. I even had a drink! I enjoyed it :) As others have said, it isn’t a daily indulgence. It was a treat, a holiday etc. Back on my usual routine this morning and I’m sure all is well in WLS world. I even weighed myself like a crazy person this morning lol. Didn’t gain 10 lbs (stayed even), so the world is ok haha Forgive yourself— don’t make it a daily habit and move on!

Another Ohio gal! I had a conversion from sleeve to bypass 9/10/18 at Cleveland Clinic, main campus. Xoxo

My pre-surgery work up is Tuesday and I'm super nervous. A liquid diet scares me because I hate the taste and texture of protein shakes. Hubby is not on board so I feel I'm in an uphill battle for support. I work full time and go to college full time getting my bachelor's. On top of that I have a 10 year old boy and 7 yo boy with autism. I'm doing this for me to be healthy to be there for my family. Sent from my SM-N960U using BariatricPal mobile app

And I am proud to see your success, every pound I lose I get a little less shy about picture taking, maybe sometime after the 1st of 2019 I get brave enough to show,my changes. Now my belly is starting to look like a deflated balloon, you know when the rubber looks misshapen and bulgy, but every pound I lose strenghtens my resolve to keep on. Sometime between September 2019 and March 2020, I am going to look like dynamite, so 🌏 don't wet my fuse so that I sputter. I want a chance to Kaboom with the best!

Pain, almost non-existent. Tomkitten , my son and heir to my minute fortune, who stayed with me states they did put it in my IV, they kept ahead of it so well I didn't have to ask for it. He says it was a blessing we didn't have visitors, I kept lifting my gown and. gazing at my tum-tum. Not blown up, if I had been they pumped it off before I left,the OR. No gas to walk off, although they kept me on IVs and EKG monitors and I basically,on "room arrest". maybe to lessen the likelihood of falling?,I had to ask for very little. Never did have what consitutes a meal, no jello, no broth, they kept me well supplied with liquids. And although I did take my cpap, I forgot one piece,of tubing, try as they may respiratory couldn't fing a matching piece so that might be why I stayed on 02 as well. But never uncomfortable, had 7 incisions, all criss-crossed with Sheri-strips except the one in my navel. 2 small, one a little bigger on the right, bypassers big one on right, that's where the staplers and equipment that counts goes in, deeper, if anyone is sorer that's it, last to heal. 1 at the bottom of my sternum , between my boobs. 2 on the left and the 1 in my navel. I had a tubal ligation scar in the bottom,of my navel so Dr Needleman put his in the top. While it was still swollen it looked like they were missing. And if you are a sleever, your big deep incision is on the left, it's where they pull your stomach remnant across and out to throw it away. In theory, bypaaers can be reconnected although they seldom are . Only one,i know of currently is @ronnysgal, she had much complications and it was done to restore her health, she was a very very special case. So yes, it is possible just not probable. Takes super super-skill to rejoin it all, few surgeons will attempt it. Actually I have much more pain now with my 5 ulcers and stomal stricture than I ever did in early recovery, but Dr Noria swears it is repairable. Getting tired of going every 2 weeks for my EGJ endoscopy but each time I hope it will be the last. Dates so far 10/12.10/26.11/09 and next Wednesday 11/28. because Dr Noria took a little Thanksgiving holiday. So if you have prayers or Good Wishes to spare, send them my way!

I had about the same experience and I am also relieved. I ate probably more than I should have, but it was only like 5-10% of what I normally would have...and I am loving it. I don't feel deprived. It's wonderful. I had what I wanted. Stayed away from breads and don't like stuffing...but had all the good low carb stuffs. Little teeny bits. 🥰 Sent from my Pixel 3 using BariatricPal mobile app

You look amazing!! I just had ryn on Monday the 19! Still dealing with the gas issues otherwise surgery was great

I thought I had made it through unscathed. Since my surgery on the 12th I have not had any issues with my stomach. No nausea, no cramps, no hunger pains. I was actually taking in liquids pretty easily...two 33 oz bottles a day with no problem. Suddenly yesterday my stomach started having issues with any liquid I took in. I've tried cold, room temp, warm and hot. It's a twisting discomfort when the liquid hits my stomach...like a mini charlie horse. I've been plowing through and forcing myself to suffer through the pain, but it would suck if this is my future. Anybody else have a similar thing happen?

Just weighed myself after 2 weeks of not.. averaged 6 lbs per week.. not bad.. its been a month since surgery. 10/22 Hw:497 Sw:476 Cw:431 Sent from my SM-G955U using BariatricPal mobile app