1 Wk Post-Op Diet Worries & Hunger

[Purpleswirlie 10]

Hi y'all! I'm exactly 1 week post-op today and doing awesome...possibly too awesome. Absolutely no pain or nausea & I'm drinking fluids like a champ. A few mornings I've woken up and forgotten that I had major surgery last week!

I'm already down 15lbs from my pro-op diet until now. If I play it "by the book" I'll move on to fuller liquids this weekend. However, I'm worried this is going too easy and I won't be successful on the long-term post op diet.

For example, the other day I was giving my dog a pill w Peanut Butter and out of habit licked the rest of the peanut butter off the spoon (for the record, no the dog did not also lick the spoon!). The peanut butter was SO yummy & didn't bother my sleeve at all even though I'm not supposed to be eating that. Then it occurred to me that there may be lots of foods I *can* eat but shouldn't. This wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that I'm totally hungry!

To boil this down into a few questions:

• Does the hunger feeling go away eventually?
  
• Is it OK to move on to fuller liquids early if they don't bother me?
  
• Is it possible that this surgery won't work for me?
  

[MinaT 669]

The surgery will work for you as long you as you follow the rules. You are only a week out, a lot of the "hunger" pains you are feeling are either acid reflux or healing pains. If you cut your finger or stub your toe, it throbs right? Well your stomach was cut from one end until the other, it was stapled, and scar tissue is forming over the titanium staples.

This "hunger" feeling you keep feeling is not "real" hunger. Your stomach is so swollen inside and outside of it. Once you get more Protein in and get to go to full liquid, the Protein will actually fill you up more. As real food is introduced you will finally notice the restriction of the sleeve.

I know you have read this many times probably, but the sleeve is only a tool, the real work comes from you, battling the "head hunger". There are foods that are harder to get down later, protein you have to chew chew chew, you eat your protein first then vegetables second, there never really is room for carbohydrates. However, if you eat Carbs first, you will see you can eat, eat and eat, it's the same way after surgery as before surgery. Many carbs are "slider" foods.

My best advice to you is to already stop telling yourself you are afraid you are going to fail. That's self-sabotage talk immediately. Think about what you put in your mouth. That taste of Peanut Butter didn't hurt you, but if it was icing or something else...it could. It's a lot of mental work at first, and seriously for the first 2 months food becomes an obsession, what to eat, how much should I eat, not liking your Protein Shakes, or finding one you like, how much Soup should I eat, what kind of Soup should I eat. It's a lot of mind games.

Listen to what your doctor says, and for each stage, if you have questions, never be afraid to ask.

Best of luck to you.

[Purpleswirlie 10]

You are 100% correct. Thanks for the reassurance. I guess I'm just still a little scared that after all the work leading up to this point that it seems "too easy" or "too good to be true". This is something I should talk to my shrink about. I spent so much time agonizing over should I or shouldn't I, then being scared about the surgery itself. Now everything is back to normal and I'm doing great. My brain is just looking for something to be anxious about.