stomlin75

Wishing you all the best. You will do great!!

Once you get into ketosis, you will stop feeling like chewing your arm off. It took me 3 days. I remember drinking a lot of chicken broth with cayenne pepper in it. For some reason, the hot pepper was very satieting to me. I am 1 month out from surgery and still love spicy, peppery stuff. Get the unjury chicken soup protein powder. It's really good post op.

Thanks everyone. This nurse is the main coordinator for the entire bariatric program. She pretty much runs the show. Other people from this program have mentioned they felt she was condescending and so they wouldn't go back for follow up visits. I can see why now. On another note....constipation resolved (whew) and now sipping on a spinach, apricot, berry, and ground flaxseed strained shake. That should keep me on track!! Heading to the gym at lunchtime.

I had surgery on Dec. 7 - just about 4 weeks ago. My total weight loss since the day of surgery is 22 pounds. There is no question that I hit a major stall at 2 1/2 weeks and the scale is barely budging. Things went really fast initially and then halted. I've battlled constipation, taking miralax and milk of magnesia and neither is currently working so they gave me a prescription today to "get things moving" (awesome!!). The nurse coordinator, who pretty much runs the bariatric program, told me that I should have lost more weight by now. I honestly don't know what else I can do. I'm walking and just started up at the gym. I'm definitely not eating more than 800 calories per day and I don't touch anything processed, refined sugar or flour AT ALL!!! I eat all high protein, low carb foods. So, what the hell? I mean, I thought I was doing ok and this was normal to stall out. I feel like I just got punished or something but I am not doing anything wrong. My head is telling me I am a failure but at the same time, I am kind of pissed off at this nurse too. I just am not sure how I should be responding to this within, if that makes sense.

Are you using a vitamix? I have heard this is the ultimate tool for this kind of thing. I am seriously considering the investment.

I am a month out and still can't poop unless I take milk of magnesia. I've amped up fiber in my diet but that still hasn't done the trick. I've read that prilosec can cause constipation so I am guessing that is contributing to the problem on top of eating mostly protein. Looking forward to being able to eat leafy greens.

Hi Atul, If I were in your position, I would definitely just get in touch with another practice and ask for a second opinion. Where are you located? Steph

Bariatric Advantage - get the passion fruit flavor, it's pretty good.

You know, I have liked you in other posts but this one just takes the cake. I seriously think you are awesome. What you have to offer here is way more than what the rest of us do. I don't know if you have your full story of the leak somewhere but I think you should just detail it all out and copy and paste it when you see these posts. It certainly rattled my cage and I have seen posts from others who mentioned thinking twice before making a dumb decision. Thanks again Iggychic!!! Steph

So glad to see all of you are doing so well. The first few weeks are difficult with trying to figure out when/how to eat (or rather drink) but it will get easier. Hope you all have a very Happy New Year!!!

yep 3 weeks here too

Hmm, peppermint extract is likely in an oil base, which won't dissolve in a cup of water. Best thing you can do is just sip water. Keep at it. Sometimes dehydration can make you feel nauseated too. Just try to keep sipping.

Yep it is the best anti-nausea (and vomit) medicine ever. I had to take it throughout my last pregnancy due to hyper emesis and made sure this was on my permanent list of meds for post VSG surgery. I heard that it can cause nausea and I just have a propensity towards it. You will feel so much better. I have heard that there is a very small percentage of people who do not get any resolution with it for some reason though so if it doesn't work, there are other meds out there for this and don't give up!!! Ginger steeped in warm Water may help but I don't know if ginger could be too hot for your tummy right now. Peppermint tea can be soothing.

I wouldn't do it because the lime might be too acidic. Did you get a prescription for zofran? If not, get one. I swear, I would not make it without that stuff. Also, try just drinking warm water, not cold. I have heard others say this helps a lot.

Nobody has "this thing licked" or we wouldn't need surgery. Some posts may sounds judgemental but I sure as hell would hope that someone would give me a dose of tough love if I was making decisions that were life threatening or would completely sabatoge myself. If cheerleading (weight watchers) and kindness (nice little nutritionist telling us we should eat more veggies) approaches actually worked, then we wouldn't need surgery. It's the last resort and dammit, we need to support each other but sometimes that means being real about this and confronting someone when it's necessary. I agree there is a way to do it that is loving and heartfelt and not everyone has that special touch but at the end of the day, what posts are you going to ponder when you think about picking up that chocolate chip cookie? It isn't the sweet woman who said everything will be alright and not to worry about it. We all need to worry about it and accept personal responsibility for our actions - each and every one of us. I hope you stay in this forum because there are a lot of really good posts and responses here. You may not always agree with them but it's up to you to take what you want from them.

It takes 3 days before you don't feel the hunger anymore. You need to get into ketosis and the sooner the better. Do not give in to any carbs/sugars and you will feel better before you know it. First few days were hell. You got this.

Here is the reality check coming. You have just undergone a major anatomical change to your body surgery to facilitate weight loss because you are miserable being fat. You, like everyone else here, tried everything else and decided to have this surgery as a last resort. You are putting yourself at major risk eating these things, especially the popcorn. It has tiny hard particles that could get caught in the wound that is trying to heal. Only time will tell whether you get an infection from doing that. I hope you don't. I had my surgery Dec. 7 and knew that Christmas was going to not be the same. It was hard and I ate some mashed avocado and had one bite too much before finally walking away and feeling pretty yucky for 20 minutes. The surgery is a behavioral reinforcement tool that doesn't fix everything. It seems to me that your head hunger is getting the best of you and some counseling to deal with this would be helpful. I spent over 6 months in weekly cognitive behavioral therapy to work on head hunger and food addiction before embarking on this surgical journey. I just stared at my teenager's piece of pizza and my mouth was watering wanting to take a bite. I used some of the self-talking tools I learned in therapy to overcome this temptation. You can do it too but getting help to learn is essential. My final words are this - do not beat yourself up over it. Reality is that what is done is done and you can only change what you do going forward. You CAN change the way you choose to respond in the future. If that means you avoid certain situations, then do it. Wishing you all the best.

A robe, laptop/ipad/kindle, a brush, comfy pants that have a loose waist, and your own pillow.

I am a huge fan of the soy latte and miss my special coffee treat. I am wondering whether a decaf soy latte is acceptable. I do understand that coffee can be irritating to the stomach but wonder if a decaf might be acceptable. Anyone have thoughts? I will be visiting my doctor's office tomorrow and will ask for their input but thought there may be others on here who are interested to know this too.

Fallenangel, When did you first start eating veggies and how were they tolerated in the beginning?

Ohhh good question!! I really miss salad too.

I think having someone with you for the first few days, at least, is a good idea. You will probably be ok without having someone but it will make things a little easier for coping and adjusting.

Ha ha, lol, nope...others have posted doing that as well. Today I chewed a brussell sprout and spit it out. I was roasting them and as the cook, needed to know if they had the right seasoning. Never thought I would "cheat" with a brussell sprout!

The reason for the BMI requirement has to do with the risks vs. benefits of surgery. At a BMI of 40, regardless of comorbidities, the benefit outweighs the risks of having surgery. Below a BMI of 40, this is not the case (according to current scientific literature) unless you have a comorbidity. Insurance companies, while I agree are evil in many ways, are not really saving money by denying the procedure. Those who are at high risk save the insurance company money down the road by having the surgery because they cost less with other health problems. I do clinical health research in academia so I am completely impartial to who benefits financially but I did do a substantial amount of background research on this for well over a year before having this surgery. With that said, there is still much to learn about the risks and benefits of having this surgery. None of us here know the long term outcomes of the sleeve and we are the cohort that will inform future generations of its pros and cons.

So, I have a sever issue with nausea and vomiting - had hyper emesis in my last pregnancy and I throw up immediately after my sleeve surgery. They gave me zofran, which I still take daily, and also a patch worn behind my ear. I can't remember what it was but it really helped while I was in the hospital. I did manage to keep everything down as long as I had the zofran regularly. Hopefully they are giving you something. Good luck. It will be over soon.