Search the Community

Okay so tonight I had cauliflower crust pizza. I didn’t make the crust. It was frozen. Not the absolute greatest but not terrible either. I made it with ricotta, mozz, chicken and onions so I got my protein at least. I have a battle between my brain and my stomach trying not to eat too terrible in these next couple of weeks Before I start my preop.

I don’t drink sodas diet or not either except for soda water & tonic on the rare occasions I have a gin (can’t recall the last time I had one). I do drink sparkling water every day (San Pellegrino is my go to). I started drinking that around month 3 or 4 I think. I’d let it go pretty flat & sipped on it for hours interspersed with plain water back then. If I’m socialising I’ll sometimes have soda or sparkling water with a slice of lime if I don’t feel like an alcoholic drink. I stopped a lot of carbonated drinks some years before my WLS as a way of managing my reflux, of course the calories (😁) & I was questioning the use & impacts of artificial sweeteners. So I lost my desire/craving for it way before my surgery. But you know you best & whether it will lead you down a slippery slope.

Don't let it get to that point, if you can help it. Make sure you have plenty of fluids, fiber, and MiraLax. In the very beginning, I needed Miralax in the morning and a stool softener/laxative combo at night. I did that for the first 6 weeks, then I was able to just use the Miralax everyday. But the last thing you want, especially in the first 6 weeks, is to be straining. The staples will be fine, but it's the healing from the surgery and the pain the straining can cause that you want to avoid.

Is anybody here familiar with the Carnivore Diet? It's basically a more restrictive form of Keto where you ONLY eat meat, cheese, fat, and butter. The more meat the better. The fattier the meat the better. It sounds counterintuitive to eat this type of diet, but there are several doctors out there who recommend it to help reverse diabetes and fight inflammation. While it's impossible to have zero carbs, the goal is to have as few as possible, less than 10 per day, and consume no bread, fruit, vegetables or anything other than "meat." Now, I must say that I had/have my doubts about the healthiness of this diet. That being said, my husband has been on it for 4 months and lost 35 pounds and his A1C and morning fasting glucose levels are now within normal range. He is going to continue on the diet, or as he calls it, "way of life." I did it with him for 3 months and I lost 20 pounds, but toward the end I was having a lot of diarrhea and my body couldn't handle/process all of the protein and fat without some carbs, so I switched to a new diet in mid-December. Dr. Ken Berry is the person my husband follows on YouTube who explains the science behind it and how to do it. He also said that 1/3 of people can't do it because of their particular body's need for carbs for proper digestion. Anyway, I was curious if anybody here was familiar with the Carnivore Diet or had tried it or was doing it?

Walking outside is not a very good option right now as the temperatures are over 35-45 degrees (middle east tings) but "winter" is around the corner so I'll be happy to do outside walks then! Tbh I am not idle during the day but like I can do more for sure. I try to not ask for help (nanny or son) and just should it myself to get in some extra steps.. but I really wanna push myself to do the treadmill 3x a week. I love how u sleep in ur workout clothes hahaha! It will work for me to workout in the mornings before I start work on the 16th then it will have to be after work. I totally know what u mean about being more energetic after workouts. It does make u feel great! I will do it!

Depression can definitely impact motivation, so your husband may be on to something? That said, there is a difference between clinical depression and situational depression. Clinical depression is generally a lot more serious and long lasting, whereas situational depression tends to be less severe and tends to get better over time once you are further out from the triggering event. I'm not a mental health professional, but it certainly seems more like situational depression to me if you're really stressed about the work/funding situation. I think if you are concerned, the best course of action would be to talk to a mental health professional. We all go through some rough stuff every now and again, so if you need help, please get it. With that out of the way, I do also want to give you my thoughts on general overall motivation to exercise when you are struggling with that. What people often fail to understand is that humans are literally designed to conserve calorie expenditure. This is a key survival instinct, or at least it was back when food was a lot more scarce than it is today. I mention this because sometimes people think there's something wrong with them when they are not motivated to workout. Actually just the opposite is true. That feeling to want to do just about anything else other than workout is instinctual. So what do we do about this? well, since calorie conservation is such a strong instinct, we need even stronger things to overcome that feeling. Below are some ways we can do that. These are roughly in order of importance (at least in my opinion): Probably the single most important thing is to really understand your why. By that I mean if you don't really know why you want to exercise, or if the reason is somewhat vague (such as just feeling like you're supposed to), that just may never be enough. Really explore what caused you to want to make this change. If the reason is sufficiently important (for me it was not wanting to die an early death), then it makes everything else a lot easier because you can always refer back to the why when you'd rather just do something else. Make it a habit. Let's be honest. There are certain things you do in life that are just habits and you don't really need motivation to do them. They may not even be things you enjoy, but you do them anyway. For me that's things like laundry or dishes. Showering or brushing my teeth might be more examples. I don't really need a lot of motivation to do them, I just do them because that's part of what I do day to day. What we want to do is get to the point that exercising is just another habit. This could be a pretty long post in and of itself, but one tip I have is something called "habit stacking". I blatantly stole this idea from a book by author James Clear called "Atomic Habits". (I Highly recommend reading it by the way.) The idea here is to attach the new habit you want, such as working out, to an existing one you already do like eating dinner. It might look like this: "After I eat dinner, I will go for a walk around the block" Set realistic goals and update them as you progress. Realistic is the key here because I often find that people either set too easy of a goal, or much more likely, too hard of a goal. If your goal is to workout 5 days a week for 30 minutes at a time when right now, you're basically doing nothing, that's simply too much at once. A much better goal would be something like "I'm going to go to the gym once this week". For some people, just getting out the door and to the gym is the hardest part, so if the goal is just getting there, it overcomes the biggest challenge. Most likely, once you're there, you'll at least do something (you won't just turn around and come home). The same can be true if you're goal is walking around the neighborhood. Often just getting out the door is the hardest part, so instead of saying I'm going to walk 30 minutes a day, simply make the goal getting out the door once this week. This one is a little harder, but you need to explore your feelings and determine what your intrinsic and extrinsic motivators are. Some people are motivated almost exclusively by one of the other, but my experience is that most people are motivated at least in part by both internal and external things. When you know what these things are, it makes motivation a lot easier. As an example, I really love the way working out makes me feel, which is a strong internal motivator. That said, I also really enjoy looking fit. (I'm vain, sue me). I use these two things to my advantage. Put it on your schedule. Way too many people say they are just too busy to workout, but most of the time, that's just an excuse. If it's important, then you'll put it on your calendar just like anything else that's important. "Pre-prep" for your workout. This can vary depending on what you do, but a lot of people that workout in the morning (or immediately after work), find that if they lay out their workout clothes, or pack their gym bags before they go to bet the night before, it takes away one of the biggest challenges they have to getting the workout started. This removes an excuse not to do the workout, and in addition, serves as a reminder to actually do the workout. These are the biggest ones that come to mind for me. There are other tricks and tips I could give (like finding an accountability partner), but this post is already pretty long. One final thing I wanted to mention. A lot of people have found (and research backs this up), that regular exercise can actually significantly lessen symptoms of depression. While I do still recommend talking to a professional, you may find that working out actually helps you feel better. Best of luck!

Yesterday, I had my final appointment before my surgery date. I finally started having doubts about the whole thing and I'm relieved. Having doubts probably doesn't sound like a good thing, but it finally gave me chance to unload everything that was on my mind to the doctor. I was able to tell him that maybe I wanted the bypass instead. I've been on other forums and people seem to be really against the sleeve because long term weight loss is less than with other surgeries. But he reassured me that due to my age, no comorbidities and the fact that I'm on target with my weight loss, he still thinks this is a good surgery for me and my goals. They last time I spoke to him, he told me I wasn't sticking to the diet, and then he told me "most people lose only 3-4kg pre-surgery anyway" So why was he worrying me when I ONLY lost 5kg? But I guess he was in a better mood because he was back from holiday? 😂 Next appointment is a phone appointment where I just tell him my weight. And then the surgery weigh in and bloods before the surgery. I'm so ready for this now.

Yeah, smaller goals is definitely better for us mentally. And paying attention to how you feel instead of what the number is on the scale. I mean, I am still only halfway to the goal that I would like to reach but I am feeling so much better. I put a lot less stock in what the scale says these days. Plus, like you said, you can always adjust and set another attainable goal once you reach your first one. They will have you up and walking the same day as your surgery and encourage you to keep doing so. I started wearing my fitness watch again, which surprisingly was able to update after a lot of years being in the drawer and it’s really fun to be able to watch how many steps you take, calories burned and how everything is improving every day. I got an alert a couple of weeks ago that my resting heart rate has gone down like 7 bpm which probably isn’t a lot, but it’s headed in the right direction for sure.

I wish I had taken some 'before' pictures so that I could see the great changes. I still don't think I see the real me in the mirror at times so wish I could look at how fat (I can now say that about myself 😄) I was pre-op. I did switch to decaf for the two weeks pre-op as read it online but the hospital were giving me (disgusting) coffee the day after the op and continued to offer it to me every day I was there but my tastebuds couldn't hack it so I went with herbal tea each time. Now, a year later, coffee is no problem and have it running through my veins. I also made a batch of liquid soups for the first week and froze them in 150ml containers so that I wouldn't have to worry about it, just needed to add protein powder at the time, plus I prepped the veg for a second batch of soup and froze them so it meant I just had to put them in the slow cooker with a stock cube, no standing around peeling, chopping etc.

ooo Pilates okay! I haven't tried that, I will have to look into that. That's why I am doing a cardio day and an F45 day. I am not trying to loose anymore weight but I feel so good afterwards. And I am starting to get muscly so I would like to maintain. I lift heavy as well. Do you think 4 days of heavy lifting is good? I am new to this and have been working out with weights for only 4 months but the progress is pretty addicting. I am having mixed feelings about F45 I did hybrid day and it was meh, I felt like I needed more, then I did a only strength day and oh man! that felt good, so this week I am doing an only cardio day and see how that is. I am only doing 1x a week, (works better for my schedule). So this is new but I am so bored with my workouts and I feeling like I am just coasting and not getting sore or tired like I used to, which I am told that is good since I am in shape?

I have always cooked 99% of our family meals. They were healthy and full of vegetables. My problem is because I love my own cooking. I would eat a huge amount especially carbs. Oh and butter...... Oh and chocolate ....... I took me a long time to be able to eat solids after surgery, I had a swollen internal scar so I had to stick to liquids. Once my restriction kicked in at about 8 weeks I could eat soft meats and some vegetables. After that I could run with it At about 2 years out, I tried carbs again and could eat a tablespoon of rice, noodles or a slice of good seeded bread. I have left them off my menu so long that eating meals without a pile of them is no big deal. I don't miss the over stuffed feeling. I can't say this will last forever but I intend to keep a check on my calories because I am the skinny person I always wanted to be. I still have butter and chocolate in small amounts. I will watch that.

Nickelchip im sorry I had to chuckle very loudly when you stated you could chew a peice of broccoli and be in agony. That is the same way I feel about chicken for some reason it feels like it gets stuck in my chest and I want to throw it against the damn wall. Some days me and chicken can have the perfect love affair. Ohhhhhhh heaven heaven is Brisket and again I'm with you! *sighs. This is my birthday week and I'm already fantasizing about the bar b q I will eat; To only get full on a few chomps 😡

100% with you! I've discovered I'm just as happy with a handful of lentil or quinoa chips than anything I thought I'd miss -- probably more happy, just because there's no guilt eating them. I'm early on in my Post-OP (12 weeks this coming Wednesday) but I feel like every week I find a new recipe or premade item that just amazes me. Like, "I can eat this tasty thing? Really?"

You're probably right about the need to search for patterns when there aren't any! The only scientific explanation I can think of is the amount I've lost this time, and the amount I lost 7 years ago to get to this same weight, is basically the same, and about 20% of my total body weight. I know I've read that 20% tends to be where the body starts really fighting weight loss, and even if the surgery makes it possible to overcome those mechanisms and lose more, it may be that the short term effect is a brief stall while it all gets sorted out internally. So it's probably just coincidence, maybe based on having lost about the same number of pounds as last time.

I haven't ever noticed this and I can't think of a scientific reason for it! What I will say is as humans we are hard-wired to look for patterns and then read into those something significant. I suspect you've just hit a stall. We all do, many times, on our weight loss journeys. If you can just relax into it and wait for it to break and then resume losing I think you'll be good. My experience with WLS is that my body chose a new set weight and I just got there with a bit of effort and sticking to the rules. Totally agree that with previous diets my set weight might have been very different but those haven't intruded *at all* into my life post sleeve.

I had the exact same happen to me and like you and I posted on here asking pretty much the same thing. I actually went to my doctor and she having had a bypass 5+ years prior wasn't sure what it was. I was given a heart monitor to wear for 7 days and then an appointment with a cardiologist all to be told I'm in great heart shape - "no worries". It was just dumping syndrome apparently. I hadn't heard or read it could present by just a racing heart. I had researched and read probably like you that dumping syndrome presented as the following: 1. Nausea 2. Sweats 3. Cramps 4. Possible diarrhea 5. Possible throwing up etc. Etc...A combo of symptoms So add to that, A possible racing heart only! I even thought at the time it could just be my new stomach being located closer to my heart so I was feeling it more!? Nope dumping syndrome! I hope this saves you some worry and doctor time!

I think the best encouragement I can offer is to help manage your expectations. WLS is a treatment with results measured in months and years, not days. For perspective, my day of surgery weight was only 6 lbs higher than yours. I am 4 months post op as of tomorrow and I hit 189 lbs...yesterday. That's 17 weeks to lose 34 pounds. And I promptly bounced up to 190 this morning. Barely eating anything has very little bearing on how much weight you will lose in the beginning. Your body is going through some stuff. Like, a lot of stuff. We don't even know the half of all the systems that are recalibrating in the first weeks and months. Calories in and calories out is just not a useful equation to describe what is happening to you right now. The weight on the scale is a single data point, but it doesn't even tell you what type of weight you have lost. Fat? Water? Muscle? No idea! And the smart scales aren't actually very smart because they give you averages, not actual measurements. I only lost 2.8 lbs the entire month of May, but I went down a dress size and a bra size during that time. Then I lost 10lbs in 2 weeks. Why? Who knows! So, for long term sanity, I suggest focusing on the things you can control and not worrying about what you can't. Focus on meeting protein and fluid targets. Add in a sustainable exercise routine (for me, that is just walking consistently every week). Do some reading and watch videos about good bariatric nutrition (I recommend The Pound of Cure videos on YouTube to start with). Collect and try new recipes as you move through the food stages. Take your measurements and a monthly progress photo. You may see the changes better in photos than you do by looking at yourself in a mirror. Basically, you are only 2 weeks into a 52-week-plus journey. You'll get there, but it will take time. And you will drive yourself crazy if you're like the kid in the backseat asking yourself "Are we there yet?" from the minute you pull out of the driveway.

I am on my 2 week liquid diet, 12 days to go before surgery. I’ve been doing good so far! I’ve been smoking weed for years, as it helps me sleep and calms my anxiety. I prefer it over any pharmaceutical. I quit blunt wraps for the surgery because I am not addicted to tobacco thankfully. Because I’ve been smoking for years, I no longer have munchies. That was one of the effects as a newbie smoker, but now I don’t have them or I alternate to healthy snacks. Smoking has been helping me get through the pre op diet. As long as I have the “munchies” under control, should I be safe to smoke after the surgery? Any other bariatric stoners out there?

Hi!! Going well!! 26kg down and loving the energy and the movement I have now! I was in abit of a slump the past 2 weeks just with sickness and not going to the gym so I hadn’t dropped any kg but I spoke to someone about it and they said to start measurements which I have not done! So will start that I guess. how about you?

Yeah, it was awful. At least I could keep water and chicken broth down. I'm been working slowly to building back up to more purees again, but I definitely didn't want to risk it last week. Otherwise, I'm doing okay. Been struggling with hitting my goals the last couple of days, which I assume is because I feel not great still. But I'm listening to my body. Eating and drinking until it feels like I can't and then pausing for a while. (Obviously, not eating and drinking together, but you know what I mean.) I go for my next post-op appointment on Wednesday. That will be my 1 month check-in. I can actually feel more weight loss in my legs and places around my stomach. I'm curious to see how much weight I do end up losing after all this. Like, I noticed my weight loss in how my clothes fit before my 10-day post-op. But I can actually feel it in places on my body when touching them now, so that's going to be interesting. We go on vacation 10/6 and we've already talked about my clothing situation. Even my bras need to be replaced at this point. But since I don't go anywhere except the doctors appointments right now, I'm going to make what I have currently work for the next couple of weeks. And then on our way down to our vacation spot on the 6th, we're going to stop by the outlet store and get me some new clothes and get properly fitted for the correct size bra. That way I have the most accurate fit for clothes for a couple of months. lol I still need to catch up on reading the forums. Hopefully I can get to that this weekend.

Yes exactly this. This is so very tiring. Your brain is going a mile a minute and must be burning so many calories. I get B12 shots every 3 months at my doctors. If you have bariatric surgery here it seems to be the norm. These are like liquid energy and I don't need to check my calendar when they are due for renewal. The last two weeks are hell, I drag myself around. I had similar issues to you in my first year. I really struggled to eat and my calories were so low. I tired easily too. My team and I decided that it would be best for me to eat tiny meals, 6 times a day. My menu would be, meal 1, protein yogurt 2, homemade lentil and veg soup 3, scrambled egg 4, Fish in a sauce 5, Some jerky or cheese 6, a latte or some watermelon. This, in my mind gave me everything, I nutritionally needed but my calories were about 500 a day. I started to do full fat everything and upped my calories to 800 slowly. You will feel regret, its a lot to deal with. Every week gets easier. Once you master drinking enough you will leap forward.

I think it's my body's response to having bile again. I had my GB out on 7/8/24 and have been feeling like I have to eat everything in site. Prior to my GB removal I hadn't been able to eat more than an egg's volume for 8 months. But the pain is real. I could go days without noticing hunger. Now, if I go more than an hour without something small, I can and will double over in pain. And it doesn't take much to relieve. 3 or 4 saltine crackers and I feel better. I still can't eat much in a single sitting. But I am up to 2 eggs in volume.

I just had my first appointment with the surgeon. It went really well, and I’m glad I took the first step. We are leaning toward Gastric Bypass as the procedure for me. It’s a 3 month process to surgery with his office, 3 visits with him, 3 visits with dietician, plus clearance by Cardiology, Pulmonology and sleep medicine. My next visit with him and the dietician will be in about a month and he’s sending out the referrals to the offices for the clearances and working on prior authorization with insurance.

Yes but I got allergic reactions to it, with photos, so that's how I got out of the super B complex. I have to take a different kind for B12, maybe B1 after a visit next week.

tomorrow July 10 😌 Weird because 1200 calories for the past 2 weeks and liquid diet 24 hours before the surgery. This is gonna sound nuts but I hope that my liver isn't a fat gigantic thing... so embarrassing. I had gastric sleeve back almost a decade ago and managed to regain the weight. It's the same surgeon for this gastric bypass.