Miss Mac

Samuel Butler, Victorian era English author once said , "Self -preservation is the first law of nature." Taking that leap to have bariatric surgery was a brave act of self-preservation. There are many other steps you can take now to refresh your new lease on life. (And we are just temporarily leasing our human container). One of those steps is to get back on track, starting with your next meal. I will be thinking of you, and wish you good luck and good health.

This works for me in the grocery stor: Walk away from the chocolate. Besides, you could just think of it as bowls of poison set out for the rats.

Hi there, and welcome to the forum. I do not live in Pa, or know your doctor, but here is what I suggest about post-op. Have meals prepared ahead and put in the freezer. Since you have kidlets running around, you might want to have some help for a couple of weeks - even if you have to call in favors. Your smaller boys are not going to understand that they can't snuggle up for a few days. You are going to have to pad yourself with pillows so they don't bump into you when you are on the sofa or in bed. You will be up and moving about, but you may be pretty tired for a while. Two weeks will probably be enough to get you back on your feet if you are a home mommy. If you have to go back to work, too, you definitely will appreciate some help. 150 sounds realistic although your height will be a factor.....you doctor will know. I hope you do well, and suggest that you visit here often. We can't replace your doctor, but there are some supportive shoulders to lean on.

For the past four years, I have been getting epidural steroid injections for chronic sciatica, which still does not stop day and night. On Monday, I am having a procedure called "nerve ablation". This will cauterized and disconnect the sciatic nerve at the spine and is expected to give me relief for up to two years. Maybe a nerve ablation is something you might suggest to your doctor.......or not...................just putting it out there as a possible procedure that might help.

I came home with my sleeve 8 pounds heavier than when I went in. I lost that plus a few more, and then at week three I hit my first stall. Oh well. I am down 65 pounds now. It's all good.

A 50 pound loss is great! Now, keep in mind that you are a grown woman with a toddler's stomach. I suggest you give it a name to make your relationship with your stomach more personal. Mine is Miss Tummy, and she is the boss of me and makes all of the rules. Miss Tummy has turned me into a "nutritarian". That means that every morsal and sip that I give to Miss Tummy HAS to have nutritional value. If Miss Tummy does not like something, she either makes me suffer with miserable pain and nausea for four hours, or she gives it back. You need to be more kind to your stomach. By drinking and eating as you please, you are disrespecting the fact that your stomach has been altered in a drastic fashion and now needs a more drastic approach to nutrition. Your tummy can't reach out and take what it needs. Like a child, it depends on what you present to it to eat and drink. I agree that you should weigh and measure and document what you eat and drink just for a month, to get a realistic picture of how you are doing. There is a scientific principle that you cannot control that which you do not measure. If you were a scientist trying to find out how much food it takes for lab rats to lose weight, you could not just take some rats for this group and some rats for that group and feed the first group some food and feed the other group some food to make a proper determination. You would need to know if the rats you are using are the same kind, the same size, and the same age. You wouldn't feed one group a cup of salad and the other group a bag of Cheetos. You wouldn't feed one group for a week and the other group for ten days. You wouldn't give one group and hampster wheel and the other group a little teeny tiny TV turned to Animal Planet. You cannot control that which you do not measure. So, don't beat yourself up, but be like someone with a Forensic Science Major and do a proper study on yourself. Once you get an idea of actual input, you may be inspired to make some changes. And don't start tomorrow - start with your next meal. Protein first, then veggies, a little fruit, real food as close to its natural state as possible, walk away from the Cheetos! I wish you the best. I will be thinking of you and hope that you return here and ask all of the questions that are bugging you. At some point you will be able to encourage those who come behind you.

Here it is like a dinosaur fight in my gut.

Well, I have been sleeping better and longer since my surgery, for sure. But since I am retired, I do not have workplace issues anymore. Frankly, I do not see how people who work and raise children manage to keep track of details at all. A couple of months ago, I got very sick during the night. I passed out and crashed onto the bathroom floor and slept for an hour ( or was unconscious). I finally woke up, and when I stood up I crashed to the bathroom floor again (and hit my head on the tub again). This second time I was totally out for an hour and a half. So, I ened up in the ER and stayed under observation. They took a CT scan of my head and xrays of my hip to make sure I did not fracture something or have a concussion or another stroke. Then, I had to wear a holter monitor for a whole month. I shared all of that to say this: Yes, I would be concerned and would at least mention it to your primary doctor. One thing I have learned since the stroke is to not minimize my symptoms. My advice to you is to pay attention to what your body is telling you. Either you were passed out and not asleep or you were very very fatigued. If you are a super busy overworked person who is burning the candle at both ends your system (digestion, respiratory, adrenals and hormones....you know - all of that stuff) is not being refreshed. Definitely ask the doc.

Prior to my sleeve surgery, I was post-stroke (which was my main "last straw", because I did not want another one). Right away with my first visit with my bariatric physician, she changed my anxiety / depression med from Certraline to Wellbutrin. For the most part my mood is stable, but I told the doc (at around three months) that I was starting to feel overwhelmed with all of this weighing, measuring, tracking and denying myselfing the pleasure of my old food habits and flavors, she doubled the dose of my Wellbutrin and then took a couple of other meds away. I also told my dear sweat BF that if I started to get snarky and unkind, then he should ask my daughters to come pick me up and put me in a nursing home. But you know what? When my anxiety cranks up, he just holds me and tells me that everything will be alright. You are here in the right right place for venting your feelings. And no, you are not the only one to go through emotional growth as your health changes and improves. I wish you good luck and good health.

When I get a tupperware burp, I quit. Sometimes hiccups, and oddly sneezing.

First of all, my gallbladder ruptured when I was 21 (in 1973) and It had to be removed. I do not miss it at all. The gallbladder helps your body to digest fats, but you can get along quite well without one. If your surgeon offers to be proactive and remove yours while he is already right there with his instruments, I would let him do it. Gallbladder pain feels like someone stabbing you in the back, under your right shoulder blade, and twisting that knife around while digging in. If you have that chance to avoid that pain - avoid it.

This is kind of a gross analogy, but picture finding your stomach lying in the street all beat up with a bat and needing 30 stitches. Would you expect that stomach to handle meat and veggies and apple pie? Nope. Not even hamburgers or fig bars. It is going to need fluids and pureed foods for a minute until it gets some functionality back. Go easy on your new tummy. It has been through a lot. Your new stomach is your new boss now. You will find out soon enough. The hamburgers and Wendy's chili will still be there next month. Tell your taste buds to scram for a while. This is not pleasure time. It is muddle through the first month, then regular foods will be on the near horizon. From what I know about my own instructions and what I have seen others post, the process varies - a lot. Mine was full liquids at day three. Purees at week 1 1/2, soft foods at 2 1/2 weeks and whole foods at 4 1/2 weeks. Not ashamed to say that my first stop on the way home from that visit, was Wendy's - and yes, I got the chili.

Hopefully November will be a good month for you so that you can gain some strength and start to feel better. The issue of dehydration is never going away because we can drink so little at one time. You just have to keep at it. Like mbrinmn says, leave drinks about the about the house. It works for me, too, and I alsways take a bottle in the car. Just last month I had a go-round with vomiting and diarrhea one night, and passed out in the bathroom twice.....hitting my head on the tub - twice, and ended up in the ER on IV fluids. keep your fluids up anyway you can, even if you have to resort to sugar free Gelatin or popsicles. Also, it took a few days to get the post-op weight loss going because I came home from the hospital 8 pounds heavier than when I went in. So, I had to lose that IV Fluid weight first. Hmmm, you could write yourself a letter about how you feel right now about your complications and your NSVs (non-surgical victories) both the good and the doubtful, and then put it away for a couple of years. Then look back and see what advice you would give to yourself now, and how you would cheer yourself up.

I absolutely hate it.......tastes too much like licorice to me, and I don't like licorice. Lately, I have been using monkfruit sweetener which I get at Aldi's. It is a nice switch-up from chemical artificial sweeteners.

Here is a link called "What was the last straw?" about why we decided go forward with our surgeries. This topic really lays open our collective heartbreak with being overweight and needing help to get healthy. There are over 700 responses. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/219831-what-was-your-final-straw-that-broke-the-camels-back/page-74?hl=%2Blast+%2Bstraw#entry3631116

Nope. I don't use their Calcium citrate, but I am on the Bariatric Advantage AE multi and I hate hate hate them. They are giant stink-a** horse pills that are so hard to swallow that I have to pulverize them and dissolve them in strawberry Jello Water or applesauce to get them down. Blech!

I will hit the 10 month mark in a couple of days. I started out at 5'4" and 235 and lost a total of 65 pounds, with 35 to go until goal. Yeah, I have been stuck for a while, just bouncing around between 172 and 175 back and forth for three months. My closet is holding clothes for the next two sizes down. My bariatric team keeps post-poning appointments due to changes in their schedules, and now my next appointment isn't until my one year mark. I did have an appointment with my primary doctor on Monday, and he feels that 800 calories is not enough to healthfully sustain my exercise program and as a result my body is holding on to fat and Water with a death grip. He suggested to drink even more water and more milk(at least 80 ounces total) and crank up both the exercise and the carbs to jump start the process again. I had been staying with 800 calories, 64 ounces of water, and 60-80 grams Protein as directed by my NuT (who moved away, and now there is a new one that I will not meet until December. So today I weighed and re-measured my body and established a new plan. Man, I hope this works. Getting stuck really causes a tough mind-game that uses depression and pity to hold you down. Normally I am an optimistic person and a real Dolly Sunshine to everyone else, but struggle inwardly to keep my weight loss in perspective. I cannot imagine carrying 65 pounds of potatoes around now. No wonder my spine was collapsing from the extra weight. My sleeve (aka Miss Tummy) has brought me this far, so it's time to pick up my gear and keep marching. There is no way I am stopping where I am at. This other 35 pounds has got to scram. I am a grandma, too, and just recently was able to get on the floor and play with my grandchildren. Boy oh boy, I nearly cried - I was so happy. So, you need to hang in there with me. We are tough old birds in may ways, so we can conquer this weight loss thing too. I wish you good luck and good health.

One month....5 pound weights only.

Uh oh.......O K here is what you can do: print this out and put in on your fridge door. "Whatever you can do, or dream you can....begin it, for boldness has genius, power and magin in it." Joahann Wolfgang von Goethe So you had a false start. Get back on your horse and ride. Call your bariatric center and ask them if you can come back. You did not say whether or not they have reached out to you. Oh well, your fingers and your phone still work, so you should take the first step in getting back on track. This time next year is going to come whether you have your surgery or not. I am encouraging you to take the next right step and get going. Now just as an "aside", dear...I would love to see you quit beating yourself up, so maybe some night when you are thinking when you are supposed to be sleeping, you could re-invent yoursef with a positive and optimistic moniker...one that shows the initial spark you had when you started this process. I will be thinking of you. I wish you good luck and good health.

I went with the sleeve because I did not want my plumbing rerouted or have a port in my abdomen.

Let me give you my doctor's number so that you can tell him that you disagree with his diagnosis.

Magnesium Citrate is what doctors order as bowel prep for colonoscopies. It will flush you out very quickly.....you need to be prepared to spend several hours coming and going from the toilet. It won't be a good day to share the bathroom and I recommend a can of air freshener so that you can stand to be around yourself. You can get magnesium citrate over the counter but may have to ask the pharmacist for it. After that, you could take stool softeners or magnesium tablets on a daily basis. I have also used the Smooth Move Tea at bedtime and am ready to go to the bathroom the next morning. I get the chocolate flavor and steep it in hot chocolate at bedtime. Also, I keep prune juice on hand at all times. An apple near bedtime will help.

Welcome to the forum yungshi. I am old enough to be your grandma, but started out at 235 pounds, also. You will be freaking amazed at how much better you will feel after the first thirty pounds come off - even if you don't look any different. At fifty pounds down, a pain specialist who had not seen me for several months, did not recognize me. He and his nurse did a double "time-out" before starting my procedure because he thought he had the wrong patient on the table. We call those kinds of things NSVs (non-surgical victories). Please let us know when you can cross your legs, trim your own toenails, shoes get too big, people who knew you don't know you now, you feel good three days in a row.......stuff like that. That is one way that we encourage each other to keep on keepin' on. If you take pictures and measurements now, it will give you a rference to see how you are doing. The scales can play horrible head games with you, especially as you exchange fat for muscle. You will notice that when you ask for advice, opinions and tact will vary. Please do not take anything personally....just take what you need and set the rest aside. I wish you good luck and good health.

My are getting more slender. At some point I will have to discard all of my wide shoes which have a sloppy fit now, even with thick socks.

I had to stop nuts altogether because an ounce turned into four ounces easily. If I had them portioned out, I would go grab more portions. It was the same way with Protein based crunchy Snacks - I would just go get another bag. sugar free Jello is my go-to now when I get hungry between meals.