Escape Pod

I recently started intermittent fasting, two meals a day within a 6-7 hour window. I'm really finding it works well for me, but I'm 6 years post-op, so I have a bit more capacity to get good nutrition in those two meals. I read about it from others on this forum several years ago but it sounded too hard. Turns out I adjusted fairly rapidly so I'm not really hungry when I'm fasting, and it's really helped with disciplined eating.

I'm working through Brooke Castillo's stop overeating coaching program. Much of it I've heard or read elsewhere over the years, but her perspective on things just clicks with me somehow. Check out her podcasts if you want more info. (Note, she's not a licensed therapist, which is why it's "coaching")

This is just my experience, you may do better than I have. I was in the same boat as a pre-op, I was a sugar addict and a binge eater. I'd read every self-help book I could find and spent a year in therapy pre-op but none of that helped. After surgery for the first 6 months or so I had no urge at all to overeat, or to eat foods full of sugar and carbs. I dropped 105 pounds in a year to get below my goal weight, my surgeon told me I was a "superstar", I was skinny and active and happy, but could already see the struggle with food was back. Now, at 6 years post-op I've regained half my loss and am working to take it off again. Honestly, I've spent the past several years battling sugar addiction and carbs again. I feel good restriction when I'm eating protein and veggies, but boy can I pack in the cookies, or chocolate, or whatever. Got myself back on track a few times over the years and got closer to goal, but nothing I stuck with for more than a few months. I've finally found a coaching program that's helping me understand not only why I overeat, but what to do about it. I've dropped 20 of my 60 pounds of regain, and believe I'll be getting those skinny clothes back out of boxes by the end of the year. My post-op stomach helps me feel satisfied with small portions of the right foods, the coaching is helping me stop wanting the wrong ones. Some people manage to make the switch after surgery and never look back, others of us return to our old habits. I strongly recommend you find a therapist or coach, or some other program to help you address the reasons you're overeating sugar and carbs. For the first 6 - 12 months you'll feel like a million bucks and the plummeting scale numbers and smaller clothes and compliments will replace the joy you're getting from food. In my experience, once you're at or near goal the joy from those begins to play a smaller role and you're at risk of going back to overeating.

I know it took me 6 weeks before I could sleep on my side again. It about drove me crazy! I agree it's always best to check with your surgeon though. Hope you're feeling better soon. The worst part is behind you - it gets WAY better, I promise!

How about.... Stronger every day Happier every day Life is GOOD!

Shellnsons, are you using the mobile app or the website? On my mobile app, you can customize the calorie goal under More ... Edit Profile... Net Calorie Goal. If you're using the web site, it's under My Home ... Goals ... Custom (this gives you control over goals beyond net calories - you can set goals for carbs, protein, etc.)

Ever since the change to the forum software, I'm having trouble with my settings. The first time I came to the site, both my photo and my signature were gone. (When I went in to "edit" my signature, there was nothing there.) I uploaded my photo again, and then magically, my signature reappeared. Today, my photo and signature are gone again. What the heck??

I have an older one with a chest strap, and am looking to replace it. I really wanted one without a chest strap, as I find mine to be uncomfortable, but as I did my research I found that the strapless ones aren't that great. In order to get a good reading you need to stop exercising for a minute or so, which of course means that your heart rate drops, and you're not getting a continous reading. I ended up ordering a Polar FT40, which does have a strap. Just my two cents...

I know this is hard to hear, but everyone's journey is unique. It's frustrating when others are losing faster than you are, but there are SO many reasons this can be so, and the most important one is, it's your body, and it's unique, and it's going to do its own thing. You can rage away, and be frustrated, and let it derail you from progress, or you can relax, accept, and hang on for the ride. You WILL lose weight - it's inevitable post-op, because your calorie intake is so low. You may lose it in spits and spurts, you may lose slow and steady, but you will lose it. The question is, will you learn to change your habits to keep it off 3, or 5, or even 10 years from now? Think of this journey as a marathon- focus on the long term goal, and make steady progress, and enjoy the journey. Try to fight the temptation to compare your progress to others - it won't change anything, and can be frustrating and counter-productive. Hang in there!!

Thanks! With the food, I'm mostly concerned about not tolerating something new and getting sick at work. I hear many people have picky sleeves that don't tolerate certain foods well, or foods are fine one day and not the next. I figured it might be hard to work through all that with meals at work. I also want to make sure I remember things like my mug warmer for broth, a whisk for mixing those shakes, extra liquid Tylenol, just in case.... Just thought others might have a list of things they wanted on hand.

Oh yeah, I am so with you!! My waist is a full three inches bigger than it was pre-op, and I'm looking at my work wardrobe and despairing of what I'm going to wear the first week back at work. I can't show up in my yoga pants, and a tight waist band would be pure torture. I'm at about the same point you are - had surgery 6/29. I miss my waist!!

Bryn, don't you dare apologize and the same goes for tamz too. Geez, Karelia posted if anyone wished they hadn't done it, and those few souls who are brave enough to admit this is harder than they expected aren't allowed to post in peace. Nobody's trying to convince anyone not to have the surgery, but an honest discussion of the variety of experiences post-op ought to be possible, and this ought to be someplace you can come when you truly feel like crap and get a little support! Many of us may not have friends or spouses we can share fears and tears with. Honestly I don't think anyone who was truly sorry would hang around here very long. I've already found myself another forum with more long-timers, where the conversations are generally a lot more introspective, and the people are a heck of a lot kinder to each other. One poor woman posted this morning that she is sorry, one year post-surgery, because her life for the past year has been one complication after another. She's getting a ton of love, support, and where possible advice from those who've been there. Am I sorry I did this? Certainly not, at least not at this point. I'm so grateful to have had no surgical complications, to be able to be off the narcotics, to be able to keep down all the protein supplements and liquids (knock on wood) and for having enough energy most of the time to get out and walk several times a day. But at the moment it hurts like crap, maybe I got out of a chair the wrong way yesterday or something. And I realize that I'm one of the LUCKY ones - life is a lot harder for those who had complications or are suffering from a lot of nausea. I for one think it's pretty clear Karelia is very intelligent, ready to make as well-informed a decision as possible, and perfectly capable of distinguishing the relatively minor pains of immediate post-op from serious long-term regret.

Today is day 9 post-op for me and there's no way I could conceive of going to work. I had made plans to walk with a friend this afternoon and had to cancel because I don't feel up to driving to her office. Three days ago I felt pretty darned good, all things considered, but I was still on narcotics then, and now that I'm just on liquid Tylenol, frankly it's not quite getting the job done. Huge kudos to Karelia for asking the question and being truly open to all perspectives. There are so many easy breezy surgery stories to be found here that I think it can be easy to convince yourself that you're going to feel awesome after 5 days, you'll be bac to your routine, etc. Certainly there are people for whom that is the case, but I think we do a disservice advising people to make life and work plans around the hope that they'll also be so lucky! I'm so swollen that my waist is at least 3 images larger than it was pre-op, and it hasn't changed even slightly yet. I'm starting to make plans for what the heck I'm going to wear to work if it doesn't improve soon. I took 3 weeks off, which included two days pre-op for bowel prep, and I'm thanking my lucky stars that I did.

I don't remember the brand, but there's a bariatric Multivitamin that come in crystal form - you dissolve it in a small glass of Water, and if I recall correctly, it's berry flavored. I got a sample pre-op, and plan to order some soon. I hate to waste the Vitamins I bought, so I'm sucking it up until theyre gone, but I think the crystals were much easier to tolerate. Try BariatricChoice.com. Edited: they're Bariatric Advantage. Bariatricchoice doesn't appear to carry it, but other suppliers do. A bit pricey I'm afraid, but hey, we are cheap eaters these days right?

Umm.... Wow. I can't imagine. It's like something out of a nightmare.

I just had surgery Wednesday, and it turned out the cpap machine was an unexpected blessing! Immediately following surgery until the following morning I could only have ice chips. My mouth was so dry, I felt like I was constantly having my husband spoon in another one. I was dreading the long night ahead a bit, when suddenly I realized, hey - the cpap has a humidifier!!! I still wanted a few ice chips overnight, but the humidifier helped tremendously. I would never have guessed I would be so grateful for it.