chowchows

I was on liquids for 2 weeks post surgery, and surprisingly was just fine with it. I didn't miss real food during that time...guess the healing kept me from wanting to eat anything more than that. I just used the ensure high Protein shakes, along with make my own smoothies with when Protein powder. I was also able to have yogurt during that time. Now I am having soft food (for the last two weeks)...but a lot of things qualify as soft according to what my doc gave me on the food list...as long as you chew them about thirty times before swallowing. I've had tuna, chicken, mashed potatoes, cottage cheese,heavily cooked veggies, Soups, etc...just mostly protein foods and not a lot of carbs. Occasionally I will still have a Protein shake, but I find I am usually able to get my protein in the 50-70 grams stage without it each day. White breads and salads are ok at about the 4 months stage, rice is not allowed until 6 months.

If you are learning, you are not ignorant! We all had to start at the beginning and research this all at one time or another. RNY is Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass.

Cool. Yeah, having more posters would make things more interesting and informative.

Hi Donna, Welcome to the group! I am somewhat of a newbie, only 1 month out, but I will give you my perspective. I get hungry about every 2-3 hours, but my doc said that was normal and expected. It doesn't take much though to fill me up...a few bites of cottage cheese or one of the small cups of yogurt. In addition, I no longer CRAVE junk food and sweets. I had a horrible sweet tooth before, and now I really don't care that much about them. Additionally, some of the foods I liked before no longer taste that great to me...and that's a good thing because it was junk food. I am still learning the restriction of my stomach. I never had any nausea after surgery, and have never thrown up, but when I eat too much I hurt. It usually goes away in about 15-30 minutes, and then I just feel full.

deleted...sorry posted twice.

The story on the OS webpage states that some people's diabetes was gone immediately after WLS. They also implied that the results after WLS were much more than if you just lost the weight yourself. I don't have diabetes, so I don't know, but I thought it was interesting.

Jenn, About how many calories do you take in on any given day?

The Orlando Sentinel Sunday paper had a story on the front page about diabetes and WLS. I thought it was an interesting read, here is the link. The story intimates that about 78% of people with diabetes who have WLS 'overcome' their diabetes. I then read a story from the Clevelland Clinic that stated that: "Diabetes, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea and abnormal cholesterol levels are improved in more than 75% of patients undergoing a bariatric procedure". They are talking about plication being included in these weight loss surgeries. Here is the link from that story. To me, and I am not a doctor so please do your own research to follow up, this seems to show that plication rates about as well as other weight loss surgeries in helping with diabetes. Also, the Orlando Sentinel story talked about insurances covering WLS if BMI is under 40, with additional co-morbidities. I would think diabetes would definitely qualify. Is there any way you could fight their verdict?

I would agree with that for the most part. I had laparoscopic surgery back in 1995 and the incision, just below my belly button, was about 1/2 inch thick. (yeah, I wasn't too thrilled about that) Anyway, at about a year it was for the most part healed to where it stayed for almost a decade. In the last few years though, it has suddenly started to thin and fade even more...not sure what is up with that, and not like you really want to wait a decade, but I do think the skin heals even more over time. I was very lucky with the plication...my doc made tiny incisions and they are as thin as a hair. They already just look like small scratches, and that is less than a month out. Of course, I still have a big catepillar under my belly button from the first surgery years ago, so it's not like I am going to be parading my fat belly around anyway, lol! I am trying to take good care of my skin right now anyway, to help with the elasticity and hopefully help my skin shrink as much as possible. I put really high end collagen lotion on my stomach, arms and legs everyday, and this included my scars, so maybe that is helping them to heal quickly too. Someone on another board mentioned that they apply Maderma. All the Water we are drinking is also supposed to help with skin healing. I'm holding on to that hope at least!

I'm going to a Mexican restaurant. Kind of a business dinner. Any suggestions appreciated!

Thanks for the tips! I am going out to eat for the first time next week, and feeling a little nervous. Who would have thought that going out to eat would make ME nervous, ha-ha! I used to be the queen of going out to eat!

Thanks, haven't heard of food combing, but I will use that. I'm ok with some family and close friends knowing, but I really don't want to advertise it in my professional life. One (of many) reasons I had the surgery is to help me further my career, so I certainly don't want to give anyone a reason to discriminate against me. I know some people feel like WLS is cheating, so I would just rather not go there.

I have been fairly open about having the surgery, however, there are a few people that I encounter in my life that I do NOT want to know. How do you deal with a social situation where people are eating, when you know you have to watch what/how much you eat, and cannot drink while eating? I'm afraid that situation may come up soon, and I'm not sure what to say/do at this point.

I officially have just under 100 lbs to go (98 to be exact), but I wanted to post here because "officially" I fall into this category now, and it made me feel good to think that I am no longer in the 100+ category. Just seeing the "50+" makes me feel good, lol. Gotta encourage my brain any way I can!

First of all, let me apologize for the meltdown. Not that it excuses it, but a lot has been going on since I got my surgery. I came back from Mexico, only to have finals for my last class for my MBA, lots of family issues, and career stress. I have been feeling very down about everything in general, not just this surgery. Second of all, I want to thank you for the post, Julie, it meant a lot to me at a very dark moment! I have realized that I have to stay off the scale everyday, and as you said, this is not the easy way out. I knew about stalls going into this, but I just wasn't expecting one so soon. I have done a lot of second guessing myself after seeing all the forums with Gastric Bypass and Sleevers who have already lost triple + what I have lost...then I have to remind myself why I didn't want those surgeries in the first place. I chose plication because it is less invasive, allows me to keep that extra part of my stomach (should I ever need it...know someone who had to have that made into an esophagus when they developed esophageal cancer, and that made me want to keep that option) and the slower weight loss will give my skin a chance to "catch up" with the weight loss more...and hopefully result in less loose, drapey skin at the end. Sometimes it's just hard to see the wood for the trees, and my husband has had to remind me (as did Julie) that this is for the long haul and it's not just about losing all the weight instantly, but getting healthier and staying healthy in the end. As it's only three weeks post surgery, I don't know exactly how I feel about everything, but I suspect that in the long run I will be 100% glad that I had the surgery and wouldn't undo it for anything either...right now I am back and forth, depending on the day and the hour and what is going on. In ways it has been really easy. I NEVER had any nausea, I've tolerated everything I tried as the time came to eat new things, and initially I lost weight very fast. Now I guess it's just time to settle into life with gastric plication and take it day by day, but realize it's for the long haul. Take care all! CC P.S. I didn't have a Whopper...I had one French fry...and to be honest it didn't taste that great, LOL!

I had surgery with dr. verboonen in Cancun on 4/30. Overall I would recommend the experience. As IHave6Kids said, the place was nicer and cleaner than anything you would find in the states. The only thing that surprised me was the lack of English in the hospital. The doctors were the only ones who really spoke English. I was surprised, as we go to Mexico every year, and most people seem to know at least some English, but the nurses in the hospital did not for the most part. It was a minor inconvenience, but afterwards I wondered what would have happened if something had gone wrong and I was unable to communicate and tell them what I was feeling? I ended up being in Recovery for almost three hours due to a spike in BP, and as it was the doctors had left and I was really unable to communicate with the Recovery room nurses...luckily I was so out of it that I didn't really care until later. LOL. Long story short-I think the docs and healthcare are great-just make sure you know a little Spanish. I saw someone suggest (after I had already had my surgery of course) writing some phrases on note cards and translating them into Spanish (use Google translator) before you go. They suggested phrases like "I'm in pain" or "I need to use the bathroom", etc... Good luck! CC Edited to add: my surgery cost me $7,000 also, but that also included a pretty big hiatal hernia repair, which was $500 extra, and I upgraded to the "cream of the crop" hospital in Cancun, which was $1,000 over the other hospital. Both options were well worth it in my opinion. I have crappy insurance, and the hiatal hernia repair alone was going to cost me about $4500 her e in the US (deductible is huge!), so I look at it like I got my plication for $2500! hee-hee!

Today I am ready to go to Burger King and have a Whopper! I am so disgusted with this whole process, feel like I made a huge mistake! Not only have I not lost any weight during the last week, I've put two lbs back on! While I eat less than 1,000 calories a day...tell me how that works! My husband has lost 15 lbs since my surgery, just adjusting to me not having all the usual junk food around and eating a little more sensibly. I on the other hand went through all of this, and I am getting nowhere. I understand we all reach stalls, but I really don't understand why. I could eat 1,500 calories before and the weight would FALL off me! I've tried kicking my calories up a little bit, I've tried lowering them a little bit, I've tried exercising like crazy...nothing makes a difference. I feel like I've done something really bad to my body where it no longer works. I wish I could undo this, but I don't want to go back through surgery. It was hard enough the first time.

I don't think taking a multivitamin is a bad idea, with or without surgery. Having said that though, I agree that at 1200-1600 calories you are probably getting in most of your vitamins/minerals. A Calcium pill might still be in order (depending on what you eat and your age), but I doubt your vitamin level, or lack thereof, is that different than it was before surgery. Just cause we were eating a lot before surgery, doesn't mean we were eating the kind of foods necessary to get the nutrition we need!

That is inspiring! Congrats!

That's awesome...except I think I caught your stall, LOL! I've been stuck at 12 lbs for almost 5 days now. It is just two weeks today since the surgery, so overall I think the loss is ok, but I didn't want to stall so quickly.

At any time have you gained weight, or did the weight loss just stall at times?

Just a thought, could you be consuming too FEW calories? Your body may be trying to 'hold on' to the fat if it thinks it isn't getting enough calories. My doctor recommended 500-700 during the liquid phase. Until I went up to 800 a day nothing much was happening, then I started losing.

I'm 9 days post op now. I don't feel overly hungry-not really having any problem sticking to the liquid diet, no real cravings, but I've only lost 10 lbs. 17 lbs is a lot! I feel tired a lot, but I'm sure that's because of the low calories/liquid diet. Hope you get to feeling better!

How much have you lost now?

One week and one day out from surgery. Down 9 lbs from surgery date. Still having lots of pangs in my stomach, doc says this as normal as the stomach is trying to uncurl itself. Some days I think things are good, other days I am questioning my decision. Overall, I think it's a good thing...mostly...