NurseGrace

But all of that being said in my previous comment, I think they tell people that to get their asses into gear. I think what they are trying to do is create a sort of "now or never" mentality in hopes that it will shock people into action. Because I do think that if you cannot make some significant headway while the surgery is still fresh and new, the thinking is that you never will. If your stalling at 4 months out, throwing the rules to the wind and frequenting the local fast food joints and have not made any significant headway or have completely hit the brakes on weight loss, chances are you probably will never get with the program again. Its a sad but true assessment of bariatric patients. Of course that does not apply to everyone and its obviously a generalizations but where there is smoke there is fire and there is a reason why its a general assumption.... GENERALLY it's true.

I don't even really seem to be experiencing this "honeymoon period" because honestly, besides the huge drop right before sugery that was basically induced by more or less fasting, I am now about two weeks out and am losing at a rate of about 3-6 pounds a week. Now I do realize that being only two weeks out its a little soon to start declaring that I am losing "too slowly" or whatever and frankly, I am not overly concerned. If it dropped below 2 pounds a week I would be a little concerned that my math was bad or something but I think people buy into these grandiose picture perfect success stories of people losing 30 pounds a month for 6 months or whatever and BAM! they are cured of their weight problems FOR-EV-ER. That's just NOT how it happens for most people, but I think its what people secretly wish for. I understand it I suppose but here is what I know from my medical training - you can only metabolize so much fat per week, you did not a medically significant amount of weight every single month of your life and you are not going to lose it like that more than likely unless you are some kind of rule-following superstar. I am constantly telling myself and reminding myself that my expectations need to be in line with reality. I don't need to be frantic about my weight loss, what I need is to be focused. Every choice needs to be deliberate, not frantic. The two things are very different and produce vastly different results.

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I have a lot of thoughts about sharing EXACTLY what I eat on a daily basis here on this site because there are SO MANY different points of view about what is appropriate, when its appropriate, and so on. My basic feelings are this - I keep my calories where they are supposed to be, and I keep my protein and carbs as close to on point as I can. For me, HOW I make that happen isn't really anyone's business. I do not have a lot of sympathy for a person moaning on about how they can't lose weight when they fess up to eating McDonalds with total disregard for calories and carbohydrate limits. Even the SMALLEST Frappe from McDonald clocks in at 74 grams of carbohydrate and 66 grams of sugar. That is the type of thing that no matter what you do, if you make that choice you are MAKING the choice to fail that day. 66 grams of sugar does not fit into a weight loss program no matter which way you slice it. There are "bad" foods that you can make work - FOR EXAMPLE - Today I had a Crab Rangoon Not two, not four not a whole order, ONE. I ate ONE with about quarter cup of tomato soup. I know what you may be thinking "omg Grace, you are only 12 days post op" Don't worry, I have been cleared to progress my diet with certain limitations so long as I am tolerating it well. That's beside the point but I felt the need to say it anyway. Standard Crab Rangoon has about 70-80 calories each, and that is REALLY rounding UP. I prefer to round up that way if I am wrong I still have myself covered. They have about 3-6 grams of carbohydrates each, and about a gram of protein. I understand that it is empty calories, but if I have met my nutritional guidelines for the day, I have nothing to feel bad about. I am SO OVER being shamed about anything food related. Now, that doesn't mean I won't take advice from people who know better because I always have and I always will but I guess the whole point of this is to say that you can still be normal, and follow the damn rules. I am so tired of reading post after post where people seem to feel that they need to be some kind of raw food vegan to follow the rules or that they can be normal and blow them out of the water. The guidelines are designed to accommodate a NORMAL lifestyle. The problem is that for so many of us, our NORMAL is some kind of sick twisted sugar binge of epic proportions.

You know, its hard to say because so many things are dependant on what YOU do. How much activity are you capabile of? How much activity will you ACTUALLY do, how closely will you follow your guidelines? All of these types of things matter. I think that its easy to sort of seek out the storys of people who lose 30 pounds a month but its important to realize that is pretty extraordinary and that sort of normal expected weight loss for a sleever seems to be IN REALITY more around 3 to 6 pounds a week.

If you need to go back and receive fluids intravenously you should. When I got home I had VERY good luck with hot tea. Anything hot, I even warmed up juice.

Yes. This is very important. I have not lost as much weight in my first week or so as some people (I'm about 11 days post op) but I have to sit back and realize - I've lost about 22 pounds right before surgery and I need to bring my expectations into line with reality and appreciate my work this far.

this is very interesting, thank you for the links.

Olathe!

Oh man, are they telling you to take anything for the reflux? Honestly, that is better than dealing with a leak but its still unpleasent I'm sure. I do really well with hot tea too. If you get tired of whatever you have you could pick up some Bigalow green tea with peach. It's amazing.

Today, at day 10 I would say today is the first day that I feel zero incisional pain. I am still having shoulder problems but when I had a lapband that lasted weeks, which I do not think is typical.

I was sleeved on the same day. I was advised to go backwards in the diet if I start feeling like that, so I think you are smart to do the same.

do you feel sick because it feels stuck or is it just a full feeling?

I'm glad to see this. Right now I am drinking the EAS carb control shakes from target that have a very similar nutrition profile but they are kind of expensive. I ALMOST picked those up from costco but I wanted to see if anyone else liked them or not.

I had a band too, and except for VERY early out, I never did well with it. I had it out and swore off weight loss surgery. Well, two years passed and my obesity never left me. I was scared to do this, but I was scared NOT to do something about my weight problems too. I'm not going to try to sit here and talk you into it or tell you its amazing, because honestly, I am 10 days post op, there is so much I have yet to discover about this surgery but I am a medically literate and I still decided to press forward, knowing what I know.

tofutti vanilla ice cream (its vegan) I have ONE tablespoon of the stuff now and then.

Your going to be fine and there is no reason you shouldn't go, just be prepared to ask for soup, and tell them to run it through a blender for you if you need too. Any place will do this.

about three or four days after surgery I experienced a day or two of a pretty severe headache. I drank some tea and that killed it. It may have been a fluke, or it may have been a caffeine issue. I have no idea.

Yeah, in that case I just feel like I support you in for feelings about being harassed (and I usually dont get behind people on this - usually I think these situations are largely self-inflicted) It's hard to know what to do if the office is so small and HR and the Boss are the same person. Press on, I suppose. Keep you head up, and there isn't anything wrong with telling a person (in a professional way) that your medical procedures, and private choices are not up for discussion in the workplace and any further harassment will be taken seriously and legal action may be considered.

The cheapest I have found it is on Amazon, but even then its pricey.

I always say this - obesity is a disease like any other and should be monitored closely. Would we tell a diabetic to not check their sugars? Hell no. I think people here SHOULD be weighing in at least weekly. I don't agree with all the "stay off the scale" nonsense either and I am glad to find someone who feels the same. I think its important to understand that there are a lot of factors that influence how and when the scale is going to move, but if you are afraid of the darn thing you will never learn and you'll always be leery of it for no reason. I know I hold water 3-4 days before and during my period. I wouldn't know that if I didn't have a pattern down.

Yeah, I'll accept that, and I do recognize that NOT ALL doctors are in agreement, but it is certainly against standard guidelines for obvious reasons, and I just wanted OP to understand that diet coke DOES NOT fall into that category of being OK on a daily basis in moderation, because it isn't.

2 cups is way too much. 3-4 ounces is what you should be sticking too.

I usually think people are way to quick to be insulted, upset, or whatever but honestly, and this is coming from someone in a professional field... I would put in a complaint with HR about harassment. Unless that video your boss showed was otherwise relevant to your job that is uncalled for. I just saw that you said your boss IS HR... in that case, I would ask for an appointment to see him, formally, and address your concerns with him directly, honestly, and in a professional matter. Unless you have made this surgery everyone's business by talking about it constantly and opening yourself up to this, its WAY out of line for ANYONE to be even discussing your weight related matters in the work place. That is a two way street though, you can't go on and on about it and expect for no one to have an opinion.