Anyone for October 2020?

[MamT 17]

I am frustrated about not losing more weight sooner. When I have these negative thoughts I have to remind myself that I’ve never lost 15 pounds in 28 days ever before so I just need to be happy and keep doing what I am supposed to. (Like in the movie “Finding Nemo”.....just keep swimming, just keep swimming)

[SabanFan 31]

5 minutes ago, MamT said:

I am frustrated about not losing more weight sooner. When I have these negative thoughts I have to remind myself that I’ve never lost 15 pounds in 28 days ever before so I just need to be happy and keep doing what I am supposed to. (Like in the movie “Finding Nemo”.....just keep swimming, just keep swimming)

Sounds like you are giving yourself sound advice. No one said the eight loss would be instantaneous and just keep on the slow and steady path.

[SabanFan 31]

7 hours ago, Deb9386 said:

I've only lost 10lbs since surgery 16 days ago. I was quite pleased with this!? I'm only managing to take in about 800 calories per day and was told to do 800-1000, so I guess it's just down to the individual. Some will lose more, some less?

I’m quite impressed you are able to take in 800 calories. I tend to hover around 350-400, but if I walk it zeros me out. I desperately need more as I’m always light headed, but my Dr.’s diet is pretty strict. I start week 4 tomorrow so can add canned tuna and a couple other things like soft Beans. Looking forward to next week when I can introduce some soft veggies.

[Deb9386 110]

6 hours ago, SabanFan said:

I’m quite impressed you are able to take in 800 calories. I tend to hover around 350-400, but if I walk it zeros me out. I desperately need more as I’m always light headed, but my Dr.’s diet is pretty strict. I start week 4 tomorrow so can add canned tuna and a couple other things like soft Beans. Looking forward to next week when I can introduce some soft veggies.

I have to say I find it takes a lot of work to take in 800 cals - but the dietitian was adamant not to go below it. I'm on the puree stage - she says to have 'little and often' but between that and also trying to do the 'no drinking around eating' it's a full time job!

Does your Dr say to stick around the 400 cals? Always amazed how different the various doctors' plans are.

[Manyloves 19]

In 15 days i dropped 21 pounds but my Dr says i need to increase my calories and Protein. I have no hunger so trying to figure out how. He also says no soft food until week 4-5. i literally have about 200-300 calories a day if that.

[Yray 13]

@Den9636 it’s funny how different drs are I’m 28 days post op and my dr is ok with me staying in the 400-500 calories I just can’t have anymore than that. Now I’m wondering because I’ve started having dizzy spells and I don’t know if it’s the lack of food :(

[SabanFan 31]

41 minutes ago, Yray said:

@Den9636 it’s funny how different drs are I’m 28 days post op and my dr is ok with me staying in the 400-500 calories I just can’t have anymore than that. Now I’m wondering because I’ve started having dizzy spells and I don’t know if it’s the lack of food

Great comments all and I had my first official check in post surgery yesterday. Here is the read-out from my Dr. and as you can imagine, I had lots of questions. I am starting my 4th week post surgery.

Lightheadedness - this could be different things ranging from low calories, low blood sugar, to too much BP meds. Pre-op I was on losartan 25mg, but they recommended I break the tabs in half and I may be soon to eliminate it altogether. Also advised to introduce some Gatorade (20 oz) to help with the blood sugar, but cautioned not to overdue it.

Calories - I started phase 2 of soft foods this week and with my Dr.'s diet that was the introduction of scrambled eggs, canned tuna/salmon, toast or crackers. I also have to drop the Protein Shake as they want my daily Protein to come from food. I screwed up previously and mentioned Beans, but that is not until next week (wk5). I did have about a ⅛ cup of refried beans when we out for Mexican last night (yes, I love to torture myself) and it was okay. One word of caution, spicy food wrecks me in the GI track. Dr. did say spicy food may impact stomach lining so best to wait, but I never thought the beans were that spicy before. I seem to be hyper-sensitive to spice now both on taste buds and tummy, where before I could eat jalapeños, Korean chili, hot Indian curry without issue. Dr. did not seem concerned about the amount of calories and just encouraged following the diet. They were adamant about sticking to three meals a day with one snack. I am shooting for 40-60 grams of protein which is quite a bit and we'll see how it goes.

Recovery - minus the lightheadedness, every seems to be going well. Was a little worried about dark stools, but unless they are black and they continue to be black, all should be okay. Incision sites healed nicely although I have these little dents in my belly which I am sure will go away with weight loss. I have been able to walk okay and will be advancing to a resistance band workout next week to help start the road to recovering muscle mass. I did some work in the years this weekend and while I did feel weak, I managed. I do need to figure out a better hydration process when doing physical activity as I just can't sip enough and get anything done outside. I don't really get hungry, but I can tell when it's time to eat; kind of difficult to describe. I'm currently down 39 pounds from my initial weight with 61 to go for my goal.

Diet - I'm glad to start introducing more normal food and while I like all the foods on the other phases like plain greek yogurt, plain oatmeal, grits, cottage cheese, it just didn't feel like eating. My diet this week will consist of one scrambled egg in the morning (recommended ½, but was okay with a whole), canned tuna/salmon with a teaspoon of mayo for lunch, and likely repeat for dinner. I find the flavored tuna packets are about perfect and just have to stay away from the spicy flavors for now (see above). A shocker to a friend who also had a sleeve a couple of years ago, is that I am allowed to drink coffee and the Dr. didn't have an issue with caffeine. Some stay away due to the acidity, but mine didn't have an issue. I am on the prescription heart-burn medicine for the first 90 days, so I guess it will depend later once off the meds to see if coffee upsets my tummy. I'm currently having about 20oz a day, but it takes me a couple hours to drink it (thank goodness for my Yeti mug that keeps it warm). I do introduce small taste here and there when the Mrs. is cooking, but nothing extreme. I dip the spoon in the sauce and taste the residual left on the back versus eating a spoon full from the front. Lots of gurgling but no pain. I've only had an issue of dumping once (or at least I think that was what it was) and that was after eating spicy tuna with mayo and I won't be doing that again for a while. Starting Calcium with D supplements this week also.

Sorry for the long post, but want to give an update for any of the curious folks out there.

[SabanFan 31]

On 11/8/2020 at 12:17 PM, Whipped said:

I was surprised when I weighed myself today, Day 18 after surgery and only down 14lbs! I wasn’t told to be on any sort of diet before the surgery except for a liquid diet 1 day prior to surgery.

Is it unusual to loose so slowly?

Give your body time to adjust. As long as you are sticking to your diet and putting the good things in, the weight will come off. At the end of the day, its about calories in versus calories used. If there is a deficit, you'll lose weight. Once you start feeling better and can get up and around, walking will also help with the weight loss. Pace yourself and start with short goals and build as you start to get used to the lower calories.

[SabanFan 31]

23 hours ago, Manyloves said:

In 15 days i dropped 21 pounds but my Dr says i need to increase my calories and Protein. I have no hunger so trying to figure out how. He also says no soft food until week 4-5. i literally have about 200-300 calories a day if that.

No soft food until week 4-5 - yikes. Did she/he provide any recommendations on how to get there other than siping on Protein Shakes all day? And by soft, can you have yogurt, cottage cheese, and oatmeal now? Adding another Protein Shake would add some calories and plenty of Protein until you hit week 4 later this week. Even then, an egg is only about 6 gas of protein compared to the 20-30 in 11oz of protein shake.

[mae7365 372]

October 29th sleeve to bypass conversion. Finishing week 2 stage 2 liquid. Can't wait until Thursday to have a scrabbled egg with cheese!!!! 185 lbs day of surgery, 176 lbs today.

[Lilfootie 82]

hi everyone - Three weeks out. Yesterday one one of my incisions started oozing yellow. I had a small green spot on the scab as of last week. I messaged my care team. I have a feeling it is infected. It looked wonky since the start and they told me at my last appt it looked fine. All my others are nearly gone now. Still dealing with the seriously itchy welts from the Lovonox allergy. They have not gone away or gotten smaller. I have one 2-4 inches in diameter every place I injected for the first two weeks. Literally covered in then. Between weeks 2-3 I only lost half a pound (I only weighed Sunday). Either the stall came early, or all the Benadryl and swelling from my rash is keeping me from loosing (Benadryl can cause weight gain when taken over time, and I was taking it 3-4x per day for a week). Pretty down about everything. I feel like I am missing a chance for major weight loss and just ridiculously uncomfortable.

[Deb9386 110]

39 minutes ago, Lilfootie said:

hi everyone - Three weeks out. Yesterday one one of my incisions started oozing yellow. I had a small green spot on the scab as of last week. I messaged my care team. I have a feeling it is infected. It looked wonky since the start and they told me at my last appt it looked fine. All my others are nearly gone now. Still dealing with the seriously itchy welts from the Lovonox allergy. They have not gone away or gotten smaller. I have one 2-4 inches in diameter every place I injected for the first two weeks. Literally covered in then. Between weeks 2-3 I only lost half a pound (I only weighed Sunday). Either the stall came early, or all the Benadryl and swelling from my rash is keeping me from loosing (Benadryl can cause weight gain when taken over time, and I was taking it 3-4x per day for a week). Pretty down about everything. I feel like I am missing a chance for major weight loss and just ridiculously uncomfortable.

My surgery was 3 weeks tomorrow and one of my incisions hasn't healed yet either. It was bleeding and oozing on my 10 day check-up and Doctor re-dressed & said don't worry. But it was still bleeding after some days so I went to my GP surgery (family doctor) and the nurse there is now "packing" it & re-dressing it twice a week. The "packing" involves sticking something into the unhealed wound which will help it heal apparently. Maybe get your family doctor or nurse to take a look at it?

[Koko.G 13]

On 11/1/2020 at 2:39 AM, Yray said:

Good morning m, got a question. For those in the purée face. Is anyone else not going to the bathroom with #2. It’s day 2 for me. I’m not feeling bad or any pain I just need things moving. Has anyone added any tea or something else?

I also had the same issue. No pain or feelings of Constipation, just simply didn't go. I ended up taking dulcolax pills and went within 2 hrs. Hope that helps. From what I have read, it's pretty normal as our intake is limited. Any longer than 3 days is too long though.

[Lilfootie 82]

8 hours ago, Koko.G said:

I also had the same issue. No pain or feelings of constipation, just simply didn't go. I ended up taking dulcolax pills and went within 2 hrs. Hope that helps. From what I have read, it's pretty normal as our intake is limited. Any longer than 3 days is too long though.

Mine started when I began taking all the Calcium. I have only been able to go once every 5-7 days after 3 days of laxatives (Colace with the stimulant) and Miralax. It is not fun. I have only had 4 bm’s since surgery. I am thinking of asking my doc for something stronger. I tried adding magnesium, which usually gets me going immediately, but it hasn’t made a difference yet. I feel bad contacting them all the time, between my allergic reaction to the narcotic, then the lovonox, and now the questionable incision. I feel really good otherwise! Lol

[Koko.G 13]

On 11/12/2020 at 7:15 PM, Lilfootie said:

Mine started when I began taking all the Calcium. I have only been able to go once every 5-7 days after 3 days of laxatives (Colace with the stimulant) and Miralax. It is not fun. I have only had 4 bm’s since surgery. I am thinking of asking my doc for something stronger. I tried adding magnesium, which usually gets me going immediately, but it hasn’t made a difference yet. I feel bad contacting them all the time, between my allergic reaction to the narcotic, then the lovonox, and now the questionable incision. I feel really good otherwise! Lol

Maybe try the dulcolax, they're tiny pills and worked super fast without any cramping. Sounds like there has been a few hurdles but I am glad you're in good spirits. Hope you get some relief soon.