Retraining your brain does anyone understand it

[BlueAngelEyes 164]

My docter wants me to be on liquids for another 2 weeks my sleeve surgery was may 31st. The taste of Protein Drinks i just cant doo anymore. Id rather starve litterally. I added in Protein yogurt today which wasnt that bad but can some one explain explain why liquids for so long?

Doc says its too retrain your brain to dominate your hunger sensation........ thats why iam on liquids so long.

It doesnt make sence to me. If my body is in starvation mode cuz i want to cry and starve than drink another Protein Shake wouldnt it be best to add it other puree protein to help me be more active in life than weak and tired. I dont think waiting 2 weeks is going to change this brain training will it. Does anyone understand this ???

[Healthy_life2 8,324]

28 minutes ago, BlueAngelEyes said:

My docter wants me to be on liquids for another 2 weeks my sleeve surgery was may 31st. The taste of Protein Drinks i just cant doo anymore. Id rather starve litterally. I added in Protein yogurt today which wasnt that bad but can some one explain explain why liquids for so long?

Doc says its too retrain your brain to dominate your hunger sensation........ thats why iam on liquids so long.

It doesnt make sence to me. If my body is in starvation mode cuz i want to cry and starve than drink another Protein Shake wouldnt it be best to add it other puree Protein to help me be more active in life than weak and tired. I dont think waiting 2 weeks is going to change this brain training will it. Does anyone understand this ???

Know that all surgeons diet progression and instructions are different. What is the length of time on your Drs/dieticians written instructions for full liquid stage? You can call and get clarification of when you progress to pureed, soft and real food stages.

[BlueAngelEyes 164]

They said 4 weeks of liquids, then 2months of pureed food then on 4th month soft food.

I asked the surgeon today and thats when they said well u have 2 more weeks of liquids. But in 6days or so if i wanna call back theyll put me on pureed food early. They said liquid stage is to retrain ur brain to be dominate over hunger. But if they will pit me on liquids in 6days how is 6days going to change anything in my brain.

[BlueAngelEyes 164]

I feel like i should just add in pureed Protein like chicken or eggs on my own and not listen to the T my docters instructions..

[Carrot64 214]

The only piece of advice that I got from therapy is find a habit to replace the old behavior, but first you have to catch yourself not being mindful. This is a feat in itself. I listen to subliminal affirmations with music on YouTube and now beginners yoga . I still think of food way more than is healthy and although I haven’t cheated with any of my trigger foods I have great days and some days I white knuckle it through and use every tool in my box to not revert to those old stinkin thinking behaviors of days gone by.. I don’t know if I will ever win the war but I e won a lot of battles and I will never give up trying to have a proper perspective of food!

Edited June 17, 2019 by Carrot64

[Briswife15 890]

I feel like i should just add in pureed Protein like chicken or eggs on my own and not listen to the T my docters instructions..

I don't think you should jump from liquids to eggs and chicken quite so soon. You should talk to your surgeon about progressing early.

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[JanJan19 205]

Girl, I barely made it a week on liquids. But also, listen to your doctor blah blah. I have no idea why yours specifically would be asking for a month of liquids. That sounds insane to me & I can only imagine how frustrated you are especially when we all have completely different instructions.

My pre-op was no carbs for a week & then one day of liquids. My post op was 2 weeks of liquids: Protein Shakes, Soups, liquid yogurt. I nearly lost my mind & I was freaking hungry & annoyed. I think I added cottage cheese around day 9 or 10 but I keep that on the down low because I mentioned it once here & a bunch of people went nuts on me. I think the next stage was puree, but my doctor had like all soft foods in there. Like meatloaf was okay. Potatoes, refried Beans. I am trying to stay away from carbs so I wasn't real interested in adding those in. I went pretty much from liquids to: yogurt, ground beef, ground chicken, eggs, cheese. I'm 3.5 weeks out & for the most part that's all I'm eating, in some variation. Oh and quiche. I'm eating a lot of quiche with eggs, cheese & veggies. Measured into 4oz servings.

Everyone is going to tell you to follow the plan and talk to your doctor, which is wise advice. But also very frustrating knowing that if you'd gone to another doctor across town they may very well have another plan entirely.

This entire thing is so confusing to me. I've not eaten one thing that's disagreed with me thus far. I'm being careful, and like I said I have a fairly basic list of items I'm eating but I keep waiting for some of these side effects I'm hearing about because I feel nothing. I tried salmon this weekend. It was fine. Tried cucumber. Fine. I force myself to stay to 4oz & count every calorie, gram of Protein and ounce of Water. I've not been sick at all. Drinking (water) is a total breeze.

[djgirl19 276]

@JanJan19 Lmao I read your cottage cheese post and decided not to ask if advancing a day or two early would kill me. I didn’t want to get scolded either. I mean if we were all great dieters most of us wouldn’t be here in the first place. JS.
I made it to foods today without cheating except I added a little shredded cheese to my grits the last couple days, but yea, I hear you. And at some point those cream Soups and yogurt and shakes just make you want to hurl. I crushed my Protein goal today bc I added a Protein Shake snack. Do you know the next step? If you do you could cautiously try it or call your doc and let them know you feel you need to bc you’re so weak. It’s not a hard requirement for all vsgs to go so long on liquid but they may have their reasons.

I would never have survived liquids without yogurt. I was eating 3 a day to avoid extra shakes. I can do a shake a day. Any more than that is too much thick sweet drink. 

[JanJan19 205]

17 hours ago, djgirl19 said:

@JanJan19 Lmao I read your cottage cheese post and decided not to ask if advancing a day or two early would kill me. I didn’t want to get scolded either. I mean if we were all great dieters most of us wouldn’t be here in the first place. JS.
I made it to foods today without cheating except I added a little shredded cheese to my grits the last couple days, but yea, I hear you. And at some point those cream Soups and yogurt and shakes just make you want to hurl. I crushed my Protein goal today bc I added a Protein Shake snack. Do you know the next step? If you do you could cautiously try it or call your doc and let them know you feel you need to bc you’re so weak. It’s not a hard requirement for all vsgs to go so long on liquid but they may have their reasons.

I would never have survived liquids without yogurt. I was eating 3 a day to avoid extra shakes. I can do a shake a day. Any more than that is too much thick sweet drink.

When you go rogue with 100 calories of cottage cheese you gotta do it on the sly apparently.

The liquids thing is soooo different by doctor too. Mine was anti Jello & pudding during that phase, but totally okay with any Soup you were willing to blend, so I could eat a higher calorie broccoli cheddar, but not 15 calories of jello. It was weird.

[djgirl19 276]

On 06/18/2019 at 14:42, JanJan19 said:

When you go rogue with 100 calories of cottage cheese you gotta do it on the sly apparently.



The liquids thing is soooo different by doctor too. Mine was anti Jello & pudding during that phase, but totally okay with any Soup you were willing to blend, so I could eat a higher calorie broccoli cheddar, but not 15 calories of Jello. It was weird.

Lol!! No judgement from me😆 We are not making a change for a day or a week, but forever. And there will be weak moments. It’s making sure they don’t derail us that matters, IMHO.

[allwet 868]

Every person here has some variation in the plan.

What nobody talks about and you will never get your doctor to admit is Nobody (doctors, surgeons or researchers) understands why this surgery works.

You go into the hospital one morning weighting say 319 pounds and you are

1. diabetic (type 2)

2. high blood pressure

3. sleep apnea

the next day you wake up and all that is gone

blood pressure normal - meds make you dizzy and nearly cause you to pass out.

sleep apnea gone. sleep all night feel amazing the next morning

blood sugar normal

weight still 319 pounds.

upwards of 60 percent of sleevers have some part of this happen to them and nobody knows exactly why.

every program goes with what seems to be working for them but there is no standard.

They are all winging it and we are the very definition of "practicing medicine"

hell they even discovered the sleeve by sheer accident.

the brain retraining is hormonal. has to do with leptin/ghrelin response and how it is very broken in the obese.

Edited June 19, 2019 by allwet

[KCgirl061 1,532]

It's brutal, I know. Have you looked at ordering some different liquids from the BP store? They ship it out pretty fast, you wouldn't have to wait very long for it to arrive at all. I hope you can stick with it. *hugs*

[lyladyp 120]

13 hours ago, allwet said:

Every person here has some variation in the plan.

What nobody talks about and you will never get your doctor to admit is Nobody (doctors, surgeons or researchers) understands why this surgery works.

You go into the hospital one morning weighting say 319 pounds and you are

1. diabetic (type 2)

2. high blood pressure

3. sleep apnea

the next day you wake up and all that is gone

blood pressure normal - meds make you dizzy and nearly cause you to pass out.

sleep apnea gone. sleep all night feel amazing the next morning

blood sugar normal

weight still 319 pounds.

upwards of 60 percent of sleevers have some part of this happen to them and nobody knows exactly why.

every program goes with what seems to be working for them but there is no standard.

They are all winging it and we are the very definition of "practicing medicine"

hell they even discovered the sleeve by sheer accident.

the brain retraining is hormonal. has to do with leptin/ghrelin response and how it is very broken in the obese.

Great post! I had to laugh at you referencing how the sleeve was discovered by sheer accident- so true!

@BlueAngelEyes After finding this page, I did not realize the variation in each doctor's before/after surgery orders are. My husband had the sleeve a few years ago and he was on liquids for six weeks, then allowed to pureed/soft foods for a month and then transition into full eating. I went through a different practice and I was only on full liquids for about 7 days, then 10 days of soft/pureed and next eating whatever agrees with my system. I do not think there is one right way, but the doctors are following the guidelines that they believe work.

I for one was hungry literally by the end of my first week. I was over the liquid shakes and think I demolished a box of sugar-free Popsicles in a couple of days. I looked forward to eggs, yogurt and cottage cheese but honestly was tired of that after a couple of days. I would advise that you contact your doctor or dietitian before moving along because you want to ensure that your body can actually tolerate the foods that you want to consume. So far the only meat Protein that I have been able to tolerate without feeling sick are eggs, pork chops and flounder (after trying chicken, salmon, small portions of beef and lamb). This is definitely not a fun process, but you want to make sure you are prepared mentally as well as physically before moving on. I wish you the best!

[marissagil 4]

My docter wants me to be on liquids for another 2 weeks my sleeve surgery was may 31st. The taste of Protein Drinks i just cant doo anymore. Id rather starve litterally. I added in Protein yogurt today which wasnt that bad but can some one explain explain why liquids for so long?
Doc says its too retrain your brain to dominate your hunger sensation........ thats why iam on liquids so long.
It doesnt make sence to me. If my body is in starvation mode cuz i want to cry and starve than drink another Protein Shake wouldnt it be best to add it other puree Protein to help me be more active in life than weak and tired. I dont think waiting 2 weeks is going to change this brain training will it. Does anyone understand this ???

Oh my goodness. I feel your pain. I'm afraid when I see the doctor Friday he is gonna say I have to stay on liquids longer as well. I am over these Protein Shakes.< br>
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[Tracyringo 503]

I was on full liquids the first 10 days cream of wheat, yogurt, creamed Soups, smoothies, oatmeal, ect. Then soft foods scrambled eggs, Beans, cheese, grits. Drs. guidelines vary so much that first month. Good luck to you