JamieLogical

@@Daisee68 So sorry to hear that! Many people seem to have no issues with the new ingredient. I guess we are two of the unlucky ones.

Hang in there. The first few days can be rough. The first few weeks drag on forever. But you will definitely see improvement day by day and you'll adapt. Sip, sip, sip. Walk, walk, walk. And get your protein in. And stick to the plan!

I've been getting at least 100 grams per day. Since surgery, I've lost about 77 pounds of fat and gained 3 pounds of muscle. Most people who have WLS lose a lot of muscle, so for me to have gained some is pretty good!

I was self-pay for my sleeve as well. My insurance only covers WLS if you have a documented BMI of over 40 for more than 5 years. I had lost 90 pounds "on my own" back in 2010/2011 and my BMI had JUST crept back up over 40 when I started looking into WLS in the summer of 2014. I didn't want to wait another 5 years! And I felt like I was being punished for at least TRYING to get and keep the weight off myself. Anyway I went to Mexico (had been to Mexico for surgery before so I had no hang-ups there), which saved me a fair amount of money. I ended up borrowing from my retirement account to pay for it. If you have a retirement plan through your employer, you should look into that option. It comes out to be a VERY low interest rate option, because most of the interest just goes back to YOU into your retirement account.

Hmm... maybe that's why I've never had this pants pooping issue. My nutritionist has had me on probiotics daily since before surgery.

You will have to ask your surgeon/nutritionist, because every program is different. I personally was not allowed to have caffeinated coffee until 30 days post-op and when I reintroduced it initially, I was only allowed one cup with lots of cream to dilute it. I gradually was allowed to work my way back up to more cups and less cream.

I have plastics in Mexico before my WLS. Back in 2010/2011, I lost 90 pounds "on my own" and went to Mexico for a tummy tuck and breast lift with augmentation. I just spoke to my PCP here in the states and she was perfectly fine with it. I had an appointment with her for just two days after I got back to the US. She handled most of my follow-up care and communicated directly with my surgeon in Mexico. I also had my WLS in Mexico after I regained 80 of those 90 pounds I had lost "on my own". My PCP has handled my follow-up blood work for that.

This thread is making me feel incredibly lucky! I have neither thrown up nor pooped my pants even ONCE in my 14 months post-op.

I did. Back on Sept. 1, 2014. So I'm almost 14 months post-op and have been maintaining at goal for about 2 months.

At 5 weeks I wasn't on solid foods yet. It could be that maybe you are moving through the food stages a little too quickly, depending on what you're eating? Definitely your surgical team is the best source for information at this point. I would say don't panic, but also don't just dismiss it as "normal". Rely on your team to trouble-shoot the issue. I haven't thrown up once since my surgery (14-months out now), but others do throw up quite often. So it's hard to say what is "normal".

This is definitely a great site with a lot of people who you can ask questions, share concerns, celebrate victories and just generally chat with. The best approach to take initially is to just read through some of the existing posts, get a sense of people and find answers to common questions. Then if you have specific things you want to ask about or share, post to the appropriate sub-forum for the topic.

You will probably notice huger improvement just from one day to the next in these early days. And in two weeks you won't believe how much better you fee. Once you make it to "normal" feeling again, it will be smooth sailing. For me that was a couple weeks after I was back on solid foods and had figured out how much to safely eat at a time. Every day and week will bring a whole host of learning experiences early on.

I still eat pizza from time to time (14 months post-op), but it definitely doesn't satisfy me the way it used to. It used to be my absolute favorite food. I would have eaten it multiple times a day if I could (and often did). It was one of the first things I tried once I was allowed solid foods. And while I was able to eat about a slice and a half (small frozen pizza), it was very disappointing to not be able to eat more. It turns out that a lot of the "joy" of eating pizza for me was not just the taste, but the volume. Once I couldn't binge on an entire pizza, it was much less satisfying. It took a long time for my brain to catch onto this. I still craved the SATISFACTION of pizza even though I no longer actually craved the pizza itself. I'd say I really turned a corner on it around the 4 month mark or so. Now I will eat a little pizza the same way I will eat a little of anything else, but it's not the same experience it used to be. And while that might be a little "sad", it pales in comparison to all of the great benefits I've had from my surgery and now that I'm at goal and maintaining.

How far our from surgery are you? If it's only a couple of weeks, I wouldn't recommend even a small taste of soda, because your sleeve might still be healing. If it's a few months out, a couple sips probably won't hurt your sleeve, but it might get you hooked, so be careful not to give into temptation too much.

Well you definitely won't feel as alone now that you've found us! This site is so great for finding answers to all your questions, sharing all your fears and concerns, celebrating your victories, and just generally shooting the breeze. Please let us know if you have any specific questions and I definitely encourage you to use the search feature, as sometimes you can find a lot of great info in past posts.

First off, while it is probably possible to be a "bad" sleever, I don't think you are one. We are all human and none of us are perfect (at least not forever). I think it's great that you wrote all of this out and you are forcing yourself to really examine where you could improve. Don't strive to be perfect all the time. If you do, then you will set yourself up for failure. My mentality is to just do my best each day. Sometimes my "best" isn't all that great depending on the circumstances of the day. Sometimes I am having a rough time emotionally or I'm super busy and my "best" that day isn't my "best" overall. And then the other key is to move on. If you don't do your best today, don't let that be an excuse to not do your best tomorrow. Don't punish yourself of stew on it or get yourself into a downward spiral. Move on and do your best the next day.

There's a big difference between the brief and temporary hair loss that nearly everyone with WLS experiences and permanent and significant hair loss due to malnutrition. What we're talking about in this thread is the malnutrition kind that happens to people who starve themselves of vital nutrients for prolonged periods of time. That sort of starvation and malnutrition also causes your teeth to fall out, loss of bone density, and all sorts of other potential organ failures, anemia, etc.

If it were JUST hair and tooth loss, that would be one thing. But not getting sufficient Protein and hydration can lead to much more serious illness and even death. The reason the OP might feel "fine" for a while without sufficient protein is that her body can live for a while by just eating up her muscle. Once her muscle is depleted and she no longer has any source of protein, she will weaken. Her immune system will fail and she could ultimately die. Protein is not optional for human survival.

Sounds like you have it a lot more rough than I do. Nothing makes me sick and I'm pretty regular. I don't drink with meals because that's the rule. Not sure what would happened if I tried. I know that if I try to drink too soon AFTER a meal, I feel way overfull and uncomfortable. I also have to take omeprazole twice a day or I have terrible acid reflux. But I'm right there with you on all the benefits. Seems like my journey may have been a little *easier* than yours, but certainly not *easy*. Oh, I do have too many pokey bones now! I hate my pelvic bones! The are always digging into my forearms whenever I try to use a laptop or play on my tablet. My collar bones and the vertebrae in the back of my neck poke out and hurt to itch. And my upper ribs show when I'm not wearing a bra. Yuck!

100 grams of protein a day is my only real goal. Other than that, I do try to always make sure that whatever I'm eating has more grams of protein than fat. I don't count carbs, but I tend to stay pretty low carb just by default, since I fill up on protein trying to get my 100 grams in.

Does death count as a "bad experience"?

The ingredient change shouldn't have any real effect on the nutritional value of the bars. It's just that some people (like me) have issues digesting it. My flatulence was so bad that I was almost ready to schedule a doctor's appointment thinking there was something legitimately wrong with me. Luckily someone mentioned the ingredient change to me and sure enough, my current batch of bars had the new ingredient (soluble corn fiber). As soon as I switched to a bar that used the old ingredient (isomalto-oligosaccharide), my flatulence went away. Not everyone that eats the new bars has this problem. Just like anything else, some people are more sensitive to it than others. I'm pretty disappointed that I am so adversely affected by it, because I really really really loved Quest Bars! While I am okay with the switch to Combat Crunch, they are a little overly sweet for me sometimes and they are almost 50% more expensive.

I was a big fan of Quest Bars, but they recently changed one of their main ingredients and they DO NOT agree with me anymore. So I started eating Combat Crunch (still uses the old main ingredient of Quest Bars) and they are good. They are VERY sweet and candy-bar like, which is a little too much for me sometimes. They have 7g of fat and 5g of sugar. Not sure if that's too much for you or what your targets are.

Sounds like a question for your nutritionist as well. I had specific guidelines with dates of when I could introduce foods along the way. I was allowed peeled and pureed fruits without seeds in stage 3... days 18-27. But it specifically says "after" protein. In other words, don't fill up on fruits and not get your protein in.

Definitely depends on how dense it is. Ground beef? I can easily eat 4 oz. now (14 months post-op) no problem. Chicken breast? Still probably can't even manage 3 oz.