MinaT

I was in the hospital 5 days. The thing I needed the most was my Bigelow Peppermint Decaff Tea and Truvia. I hate regular decaff tea, especially served in a plastic coffee cup like they do in the hospital. I asked the nurses for a styrofoam of hot Water. I also use truvia as I hate other artificial sweeteners. It was a godsend. I brought my favorite comfortable big soft throw blanket. It smelt like Downy and it was comforting. I also brought Charmaine Butt Wipes. After surgery you have that orange stuff all over your stomach, and areas, and trying to pee after surgery and you get the catheter out is rough and the wipes seemed help me feel cleaner. These things, lip balm and the spirometer (breathing machine) that helps keep you from getting pneumonia were the most valuable things to me, along with my walking crocs. Without all these things, the hospital would have been quite unbearable. Seriously, the smell of coffee in the plastic cups they served hot water with tea bags made me nauseated. Bringing your favorite artificial sweetener and your favorite Decaff tea, (like peppermint) really helped me get my water down.

Some people experience slight, some people more. I have lupus, therefore I had a lot of hair falling out. My hair is fine and now I cut all my hair off to a pixie and the hair loss stopped. Hopefully it will grow out nicely again, until I have another lupus flair.

It's been less than 3 weeks since you had surgery. Are you taking an acid reducer? Hunger pains in the middle of the night could still be healing of your stomach along with the acids in your stomach. The feeling is exactly like hunger pangs. Keep some Water at your bed and drink a few ounces when that happens. For the first four or five weeks after surgery, when I went to bed my stomach growled and I felt like I was hungry, but it was the acid and the healing. It went away. Before I went to bed I usually had a few sips of skim milk and that would make feel full, then I would wake up with that feeling. My doctor and nutritionist explained to me it was acid & healing pains.

Quit eating! I know, I know, but why are you self-sabotaging yourself beforehand? You should be using this time to work on your Proteins, lower your carbs, learn how to get in 64 ounces of Water a day, charting your food on My fitness pal, and learning to get an exercise program in. You are entering the process to have your stomach cut from the top to the bottom, which is a life-altering, major surgery and you are not putting the effort into making changes. Maybe you need some sort of psychotherapy to help you, besides a nutritionist. Are you on a six month program? Are you going to Mexico? Will you have to see a shrink? Start charting your food on myfitnesspal.com, start drinking your water, and start trying to make the positive changes you need to before surgery. I entered the program 3 times. The first two times I did what you did and dropped out. The third time, I decided I was going to put 100% effort into my health and the program and that's exactly what I did. Best of luck to you, talk to your nutritionist or doctor but seriously, start charting your food and starting lowering your carbs. Try to get down to 800 calories a day, 80 grams of Protein, and 40-75 grams of carbs, 64 ounces of water in. I lost 10 pounds a month during the six month program. You can do it if you put your mind to it.

We were told to do 800-1000 calories - 80 grams of Protein and under 75 grams of carbs during the six month supervised diet. I lost 10 pounds a month during this time. I signed up for fitness pal and used that to chart my food and actually learn how much protein & carbs I were getting. I used it faithfully! I drank 64 ounce of Water. I did my best. I weaned down on my caffeine, got rid of diet soda's, got rid of caffeine before surgery. I did treat myself. Exercising. I was too big to use the Gazelle or walk around the neighborhood. I had a hard time getting up the stairs by myself. I walked in place for like 5 minutes at a time. I then lost enough to get on the gazelle. I was able to handle 5 minutes at a time on the gazelle and eventually was able to get to an hour at a time. I took the entire process extremely seriously. I have heard of people gaining weight during the six month process, why not work hard during this time and start changing your life now! ps - since I never ate breakfast, I started a 100% whey Protein shake for breakfast daily!

For the first few weeks your tummy can and will make noises, it will flip and it will flop, it will growl and you may even think that you are hungry or some people have said they are "starving to death". The "hunger pains" or growling is several different things. One of the things is acid. Making sure you take a prevacid or something like that is very important. The second thing it could be is healing pains. Your stomach is cut from one end to the other, there are staples in there. If you cut your finger, it throbs right? Imagine your entire length of stomach was cut. It throbs too. It has to heal, a lot of it is healing pains. The flips and groans go away, I promise. I also promise you aren't starving to death and 99% of the time the growls are not hunger pains. Every day and every week is better than the week before and eventually you will feel normal. Best of luck.

Many places make you go to a six month supervised diet and most places do not consider Weight Watchers one of them. I've been through many supervised diets and still had to start over and when they mean six months supervised, that means if you miss a month, you need to start all over. Many places make you go through an entire program. I had to do it as did many others. If you want your insurance company to pay, find one and start over or maybe consider going to Mexico and paying cash for it! Best of luck.

It takes 6 - 8 weeks for your stomach to fully heal. Some will say hey, it's okay go for it, I did. Some people drink Soda and alcohol immediately too, but do you really want to take a chance? What you do with your body is your own thing, but I do want you to be fully informed. You think you won't be able to finish a small, but popcorn is a slider food. If you wanted to, I truly believe you could finish the entire Large bag at 5 weeks. Eating popcorn, does this mean you are going to buy a drink with it too? That will make the popcorn slide down so much easier. Popcorn melts in your mouth basically, the oils will lubricate it and you will basically have a clod of kernel and seeds in your tummy, but it won't make you full until you are way past a small bag and I truly believe you will easily be able to finish off the large popcorn. AMC's 16-cup large popcorn is 1,030 calories and 57 grams of saturated fat and 98 grams of carbohydates!! This is not taking into account any extra sodium or extra butter. Popcorn doesn't take up much room in your stomach, you will feel no restrictions from eating it and you will be extremely surprised, you will suffer later for it most likely, but not while you are eating it. If I were you, I would wait a few months out until you try the popcorn. At 6 weeks out, I was just allowed to get off full liquids, the restriction is never there for things like chips, popcorn etc. that's why you are suppose to be getting in your Proteins which will make you feel the restriction and the carbohydrates from a small bag of popcorn isn't going to make you feel the restriction. In the end it's up to you to give yourself the time to heal. This isn't a diet, it's a way of life. When you are completely healed inside and you truly have the self-control you need to handle a slider food like popcorn, go for it.

I think people also need to remember, that your body processes your fat into the carbohydrates that it needs. The main reason people lose weight so fast is that your body processes the carbohydrates into energy at first. If you aren't taking in carbohydrates, your body looks to the fat stores to convert to carbohydrates into energy. This is a major surgery, of course most people are going to be tired. I couldn't "work out" for about 8-9 weeks after surgery. I walked, I was allowed in the pool about 7 weeks out, but I had to be very careful. I can take a little more carbs now, but now my weight loss has slowed, I need to get rid of more carbs to get rid of the fat, especially with the extra exercise. I got a little tired at first when I re-lowered my carbs, but it neutralizes eventually.

To the original poster, if I had 150 to 164 carbs a day I would gain weight, and quite quickly. Also, at 4 weeks, I was still on full liquids, so I don't see how you can get 1000-1200 calories at 4 weeks. I was told and I believe many of us were told we are to work up to 800 - 1000 calories. Edited to say 1000-1200 calories when exercising after a few months. I was told that it takes 6-8 weeks for your surgery inside to actually heal, so are you sure the nutritionist is expecting this now? Everyone goes through a little lag period, 30 pounds is a lot of weight for the first month. Are you sure it's 150-164 grams of carbs and not 50-64 grams of carbs? In the end it's up to you to either follow your nutritionists advice or do what you feel is right for your body. I wish you the best of luck. Also, to Mommyradd, following myfitnesspal is wonderful, but when it comes to the carbs there are so many things to factor in. #1 it doesn't exactly allow you to input the exact amount or percentages that your doctor or nutritionist wants you to have. For example I was told 800 calories a day, 80 grams of Protein, and 30-40 grams of carbs now. The issue is when you do any exercising, it adds more calories and more carbs etc. I've had it recommend me getting 160 grams of protein a day based on my exercises, that's just way too much. Sometimes it's best just to get in the amount you feel is right and use myfitnesspal as a tool. I never add the calories, protein, carbohydrates, potassium, fat or sodium it tells me to add. Best of luck to you guys.

For the first week after surgery I was on Clear liquids. I then went 4 weeks on full liquids. I was hitting 200 calories for the first month or so a day. For the 2nd month i was still at 400 calories between 3-4 months i was 500-600 and it took a while for me to hit 800 calories a day. I was told to keep my carbs down below 20-30 grams a day and each meal should be kept at 8-9 grams of carbs. I think for right after surgery the berries with the seeds would be something your surgeon may not approve of. I know for sure my surgeon and nutritionist would be completely against. I also think the berries would be hard on your system until you are on solid foods. I think it's sounds good when you are down the road. Perhaps buying a small magic bullet and making smaller size shakes, adding one or two berries would be a good ideal. When you are on maintenance these shakes would be great too or a for a treat.

I wore shorts, sleeveless short night-gowns, now I wear long-sleeve pants and shirts, sometimes I get up and put sweatshirts on in bed. I hate socks, even in the winter, now I wear fuzzy socks and I wish there was a place I could get leg warmers. I have never ever been cold in my life, now I'm freezing constantly. Other than that I feel great and look great, just need to get used to being cold and layering.

I guarantee you, if you stay positive and wean you will be less of an angry beast than those that heave to wean from caffeine, pop, carbohydrates the day of liquid diet or the day of surgery. Something that seemed to help me a lot also was calming decaff Peppermint Tea with Truvia (or your favorite artificial sweetener). It helps curb the appetite, and it was what got me through the first few days after surgery. I brought it with me to the hospital and it helped me get liquids in, because it was refreshing and even easier on me than Water. Good luck to you. This surgery has saved my life.

How about looking in the mirror and welcoming the new you. Sometimes saying hello to and welcoming something good, like a wonderful new future, is better than saying goodbye. I think it's great what you are doing though. The best suggestion I have for someone before the pre-surgery liquid diet is to cut out as much as you can BEFORE having to do the liquid diet. The more carbs you get rid of pre-liquid diet, the easier the liquid diet is. Also, those that spend the week before the pre-surgery liquid diet feasting or doing "last meals" seem to suffer more during the pre-surgery liquid diet. Weaning is the best way to go usually. The day before the liquid diet, the lower your carbs the day before the liquid shake, the easier it is. Remember the first three days is usually the hardest.

I like Yellow Mustard on my Cottage cheese. My husband can't believe it, but I always loved it. Even now I will take a piece of ham or turkey meat, put cottage cheese in it with mustard on it and roll it up. If you like yellow mustard it's not bad. At this moment, I know you can't eat eggs or tomatoes, but that's another way I eat Cottage Cheese. I cut up tomatoes or boiled eggs. I know this is not for all people, but I like it.

I blew through clothes myself and it was rough getting rid of everything without enough $ to replace everything I needed. I have always worn a sleeveless short nightgown all year long. I wore jogging pants a tshirt and sweatshirt and - (shudder) socks to bed recently and finally bought new pj's from Kohls. The worst part of winter to me is freezing, I am constantly cold. I was a size 32 or 4x and am in 14s. Someone was kind enough to give me 14 summer clothes, and it was awesome when I went on vacation, but I really could use some winter clothes. I did get a new winter coat, thankfully and someone just gave me some sweaters. I have a pair of 18 pants I can wear that are big with a belt, a 16 that start out okay and end up loose, but it's fine and for now I'm making due because I still have a bit to go. Everyone needs to be careful buying clothes at first because skipping sizes happens so easily. I bought 1x clothes and never got a chance to wear them because I sort of skipped that size and went right down to a large. It's a good thing, but it's a bit hard when you don't have the money to waste.

Air was a big issue for me at first, I can use a straw now and I'm 7 months out and I'm fine with it. For the first 4 weeks I swear I used the one ounce medical cups to drink everything with or a shot glass. It was like 6-7 weeks before I could handle drinking out of a Water bottle and even then I took in too much air and it hurt me. Now, it's no problem and I can do a little water chug if I want to. It gets easier

Many people at 4 weeks have had that problem, including myself. Keep up with the water, do your best with the protein. At 4 weeks I couldn't drink out of a water bottle still. I hated the taste of protein shakes and gagged them down, and still resorted to drinking out of med ounce cups because drinking out of big glasses bugged me. Have you tried decaff tea yet? I liked Bigelow Peppermint Tea with Truvia. The taste of protein shakes made me gag, because my tastebuds changed at first. Most artificial sweeteners cause me headache, so I couldn't even handle sf popsicles. I bought unflavored protein and tried so many different shakes, it was costing me a pretty penny because I hated everything at first. I know what you are going through and I promise it gets better, all you can do is your best right now. Give yourself 6-8 weeks to heal completely.

I was the same way during the pre-op shake diet. We had to use a special brand, after surgery i had to go on the clear liquid Protein, then back to my normal shakes, which were rough, but I made it through. Your taste buds change after surgery too. I didn't like the brand I was on during pre-op, but I wasn't allowed anything but sf Jello & sf Popsicles with the shake so the 14 days seemed long, but I made it through. After surgery, you are just so glad to be done with it, that the time goes by fast. Stay positive.

I go out to eat a lot. I've known others that have had the surgery that get bent out of shape if someone brings them Water. They feel they need to make a big fuss over it. I've seen people be rude to the waiters if they are asked didn't you like your meal? It's a question, it's up to the waitstaff to make sure the customer enjoyed their meal, so it's a normal question. I have been asked, I said oh the meal is great, I had a late lunch or late Breakfast. I don't take the question personally, actually I feel that's kind of them to ask, and they are doing their job. Waitstaff are definitely not mind-readers but they also don't need my entire life story or my personal weight history. The waiters or waitresses bring me water, I let them. I don't get offended or huffy and tell them to take it away. One of the things I learned the most about myself pre-op and post-op is I AM IN CONTROL, the decision to eat, drink or whatever is up to me, nobody else. If I know I'm going to want to take food home with me, I'll ask for a box with dinner. I don't expect discounts, I don't expect them to give me 1/2 plates. I get what I want to eat and if I don't eat it and don't take it home, it doesn't matter to me. I'm not wealthy, but I learned, just because it's on my plate doesn't mean I need to eat it all. I learned self-control. I learned portion size when I cook myself. I learned just because someone else can eat an entire of plate of food, doesn't mean I can or I have to. I don't need to punish myself by eating everything on the plate, because that's all it is really, punishment by overeating. Others I have known that have had surgery that have been rude to wait staff since surgery, were the same people I knew that found ways to complain about waitstaff pre-surgery and were always difficult customers lol.

I had surgery June 4th. I had the same problem. I was on full liquid for almost 6 weeks, because the doctor likes to make sure his patients are all the way healed before they are introduced to solid food. This surgery takes a while to heal and keep up with your liquids, don't try eating solid foods yet. It does get better, I promise you. I can eat normally now, I don't have pain when I eat or drink and I healed well. I had polyps removed, hiatal hernia repair and adhesions removed and I had a complication and my esophagus had some issues and when I finally did eat, it felt like food was stuck in my throat. After about 7-8 weeks, it was so much better. Give it some time to heal and try to stay positive.

Okay, forever I have not drank any pop. I do not believe in drinking soda whatsoever. I know a lot of people are told that they can drink diet soda, I find it's not worth it and drinking pop every day is just not good for you. That being said, last night I got the stomach flu. First time since surgery. I took my meds and was heading to bed and I threw up. Then I threw up some more. I threw up every 20 minutes and then it was every hour. After about 2 hours of this, I ended up with severe extreme diarreah. I brought a pillow and blanket into the bathroom and I laid down. Worse, I'm going on a vacation out of the country tomorrow. This sickness started at 9:00pm I'm still having diarreah. I would have done ANYTHING for gingerale last night. I tried drinking Water, tea, my son went out and bought pedilyte and the taste made me ill. I finally relented and asked them to go get me some diet gingerale. I will not revert back to drinking pop, but I swear this has worked wonders for me. Even my silly peppermint tea and Truvia didn't help. I am concerned because diet pop uses causes me migraines, so I took down two Excedrin migraines. So, for those that I have poo pooed for drinking diet pop, with the sleeve, I still stand behind the fact that it is not nutritious and not worth the lack of nutrition or the possible stretching of a newly sleeved, but I do not regret, even for a second drinking the diet gingerale today. It has been a horrendous day, that's for sure. Flying out of the country tomorrow am and I am on an hour sleeve, but I wanted to share the flu horror story. Do what it takes to feel better. Get the fluids in. I will make sure I drink non-stop on the plane because flying also causes dehydration and getting montezuma's revenge and throwing up before hitting Mexico really sucks lol

I had a hernia repair and a duodenal polyp removed and scar tissue removed during surgery. This is true, this is also what I told everyone. My parents and husband and son know that I also had the sleeve. I worked very hard pre-op and lost 10 pounds a month during the pre approval phase. By the time I had surgery and afterwards, everyone was used to the fact that I was shrinking. You are on a high Protein, low carb diet, if you are following the plan now by charting your food, Water, and doing what you are suppose to be doing pre-surgery, there is no reason you have to tell anyone you do not want to tell. There's a good chance you will find out before surgery that you will also have a hernia repaired. It seems to me that a lot of us end up having it. Most people find out during the pre-op that there is a hernia and that gets taken care of during surgery. The truth doesn't always set you free, sometimes the truth allows others to be judgmental and causes too much stress. You do what makes you feel comfortable.

I'll be 50 soon and I do have a lot of excess skin. Mostly my arms. Some in my face and legs and tummy. The younger you are the less obvious it will be. I can tighten up a little bit, but my arms are the part that bugs me the most. I have obvious muscles in my arms, but the skin is not that great. I doubt highly I will end up with any surgeries in the future. I am not sure I would do well with surgery, but if I could I would have something done with my arms. I don't need to wear a bikini at my age, but I would love to be able to wear a sleeveless dress. Unfortunately, I have Lupus and have some nerve issues in my hands and arms, and would probably be denied that surgery.

I have given this advice before, it worked wonders for me. Be happy tomorrow and cheerful. It's normal to be a little nervous but keep a favorite song in your head and sing it to yourself. Try to go from the moment you wake up through the surgery itself with as much positivity as possible. It actually works. Bring your favorite decaff tea, my recommendation is Bigelow Peppermint Tea and your favorite sugar-free sweetener. I only use Truvia and they don't have that in the hospital (bring your own glass if you would like and ask for hot Water. Most places do not allow you to drink coffee and yet they serve you hot water in a coffee cup and you can smell the coffee and it made me feel a bit queasy. They were kind enough to bring me a styrofoam with hot water after that and I had my own tea & sweetener. Bring lip balm. Your lips will dry out. Many hospitals give you a patch behind your ear that is for anti-nausea. That causes dehydration. When I would go for a walk, I would try to talk and my mouth dried out so darn fast. I made sure I brought one of those swab sticks that were moistened after that. Bring butt wipes for the restroom, it really does seem to help. The potty thing is annoying after you get your catheter out, sometimes it's a little weird because your bladder sort of goes to sleep so I spent a lot of time sitting on the toilet trying to pee. If you are given a spirometer, use it often. Pneumonia is terrible, the #1 place to catch pneumonia is in a hospital. Using the spirometer is imperative to open up those lungs. If they don't give you one, ask for one. Make sure you use it often. If your doctor uses inflatable teds that go on your ankles and calves, ring your nurse to give yourself PLENTY of time to get to the restroom at night, because it takes a while to unhook everything so you can get in the restroom. I had a close call one night, it took a while for the nurse to get to me and unhook me and for me to get out of the bed. WALK, WALK, WALK, the walking will help with gas. sip, sip, sip, dehydration is horrible. If you are going to be going in for an upper gi the next day, ask your nurse for an anti-nausea medication beforehand. There is a plethora of anti-nausea medications out there, there is no reason to have nausea. If drinking cold water is hard, start out trying to drink warmer water or the tea, do your best with the liquids. You aren't going to be chugging 64 ounces of a water for the first few weeks. The peppermint tea was very soothing and it tasted good after it cooled off too, but you can try lemon or whatever you like. They serve plain decaff tea in the hospitals. If they give you little one ounce med cups, use them. I used to get 3 sips per cup. I kept a water one loaded, and a tea one handy. It took me about 7 weeks before I could drink water easily out of a water bottle. It caused too much air intake and hurt my esophagus. When you get home, try using med cups or even a shot glass. When you get home, walk around in the house, set up a timetable of walking, even if it's in a circle through the house. I would walk 20 minutes at a time. I walked loops from the kitchen, living room and dining room. I didn't go anywhere because I had a drain for 9 days. If you know you are going to have a drain, prepare easy nightgowns to pin the drain to. If you have a pair of crocs or something to help you walk that helps a lot. Every day is better than the day before and this is so worth it. Stay positive!