endzone

You are not kidding! This is THE hardest thing I have done! My stomach constantly releases hunger hormones and therefore I get the pains. It got so bad last night I mashed about 1/3 cup cottage cheese (acceptable in my next phase) because I couldn't stand the brain stress. Needless to say, I suffered last night. It was definitely too soon and too close to bedtime. Today is a good day though! I ordered some lamb OXO boullion cubes off Amazon and I had some chopped mint that I added and it really reminded me of lamb and mint sauce!
I'm definitely struggling mentally with this and physically with the hunger pains being SO STRONG! I was not expecting that at all.
Trying to stay positive... only have 4 more days on phase 1! Hang in there, everyone! We got this!

I am one week post surgery. A lot has changed in a week. My first couple of days were unbearable. I was told things would turn day 5 and YES I turned the corner. For me, the hardest part is dealing with how much I miss crunching foods. I've never been a foodie but husband says it's all I talk about now. Looking forward to stage 3 and Melba toast 😋

I did it! Surgery was this week and it went well. I am on day two post op and feel ok. Not 100% but better than I was. Can’t believe it’s complete and now I’m excited for the next few months. Good luck to those having surgeries soon!

Best of luck!!!

There are a few controversial topics that get some strong (and not-so-strong) opinions/responses on this forum. Alcohol consumption is one of them.
With that said, I am a maintainer and a regular drinker.
Aside: I have mixed feelings about saying this even as I type this, as I don't want to inadvertently influence someone to drink if they are of the type who may spiral. I often drop hints about my drinking habits in more light-hearted threads (i.e., the food thread or the clothes thread), but in threads specifically asking about alcohol by those in the early stages, I have pause. But, we are all adults here and can make our own choices, so here goes:
Prior to WLS, I didn't drink regularly, but if/when I did, I drank ALOT. Think sloppy drunk. It was always at parties or nights out, and never at home (if we hosted parties, I'd drink, but not get drunk cuz I mean, I had hosting responsibilities after all, LOL).
During weight loss phase, I must have drank maybe 5-6 times the entire time. And it was very little, less than 1/4 of a single serving, if that. The first time I drank after surgery was 3 weeks post op. I had 2 sips of red wine at a party, and it was weird...I remember feeling the liquid in my stomach and the warmth of it travel through my intestines and I got surprisingly tipsy for so little that I drank. The second time I had a drink was 3-4 sips of a soju-sake concoction around 1-2 months post op and I had the most horrible dumping experience soon after. Like laying on the bathroom floor horrible. It was the sugar in it. The handful of times I drank after that (during weight loss phase) I stuck to gin/vodka sodas & dry red wine. I was definitely affected with just a few sips, and the effects wore off pretty quickly.
Now, lets talk maintenance. Freed from having to stay under a self-imposed calorie limit, I drank more. I drank more often than I did pre-op, but less overall, even including my occasional pre-op benders. I no longer only got to sloppy level when I drank, but to just a good buzz. And again, only when I was out and about. I'd say I had maybe 1-3 drinks a week. I still got buzzed relatively quickly (less than one full drink), and the effects did not last long (less than an hour). There were maybe 4-5 times I got pretty trashed during this time (i'm guessing on like 5-6 drinks), all while on some vacation or other, and once at a wedding.
Then came lockdown in March last year. I was about 1.5 years out when Covid reared its ugly head, and just under a year into maintenance. My drinking increased exponentially over a couple months. These days, I drink at least one drink a day (usually two, occasionally much more, on those nights we have an extended dinner seating time, or when it was patio season last summer).
Now according to the literature I have read, based on volume alone, I am an alcoholic. Go figure. Am I concerned? Honestly nowadays, not really. I did contemplate it in the beginning, especially cuz Mr would keep bringing up how my drinking has increased (in a joking way mostly...but he should talk, he drinks every day too. Almost always has...his drinking also increased with Covid. Granted, he has more mass than I do and has the metabolism of a hummingbird).
It's been almost a year of this daily drinking now, and while I believe I could benefit from cutting down, I don't see it as an issue at the moment in terms of any decrease in quality of life or my own safety or the safety of those around me (but I suppose this is what anyone who drinks would say). We'll see.
Back in the summer we agreed that each person in the house can call a "dry day" at any point and everyone must abide to no drinking that day. Though to date, no one has called it. That probably speaks to the mentality we got going on here, lol. I did a couple "dry weeks" on my own accord months ago, just to prove to Mr. & myself I didn't have a problem...these weeks went by uneventfully, but I'm not sure if it really proved anything.
Very long story short, while I'm not advocating nor discouraging drinking either way to anyone, as with anything else in life, the hope is that you can be self-aware enough to know what YOUR acceptable limits are and try to stay within them.
Sorry this was so long.
Good Luck ❤️
P.S. In case you were wondering, I have pretty much maintained my weight (115 lbs +/- 5lbs) this entire time. Last year I reached my acceptable upper limit (120 lbs for more than 3-4 days in a row) twice and then switched gears to get back to 115. First time took me 3-4 weeks, second time took me 3-4 months (granted, I didn't try very hard). Today I am actually 6 lbs under my "normal", BUT I'm in transition at the moment as I've had zero exercise for about a month due to injury and i'm trying to offset that with a reduction in calories...and yeah, I haven't found the right level yet...so this is temporary, as far as I'm concerned. BUT I'm still drinking, lol, am just having less dessert 😜
P.P.S. I also smoke. But that's a whole other topic...

I have heard that some people gain. It's normal. I follow this one girl on YouTube and she recommended not getting on the scale at all for the first couple of weeks and I think I might do that because I didn't lose anything for a couple of days and now I'm down 2 lb. Yes it can be disheartening.

It does get better! Stay strong and speak up if something doesn’t sit right with you.

Good luck! I just had mine June 8 and I already feel great and so will you! Your feelings are completely normal! You got this! It’s better that you save your own life now rather then fight for it later was my motivator!

@Eli05 Good luck! It’s true each day gets better, but the struggle is real! Ugh it’s torture seeing and smelling the kids food lol! I had my surgery June 8 and glad I stuck to the liquids bc it really made a difference and now I have no interest in food.

I’m on day 4 and it’s three shakes a day and some vegetables.....sucks!!!

Drink plenty of fluids, get in as much Protein as possible. Follow your surgical team's and dietician's plan. Walk, even short distances. It aides in healing and in moving fluids through your body. Be kind to yourself and remember that surgery is just a tool. To make it an effective tool, you'll need to treat it well, use it correctly and trust that it takes some time to become proficient at it. Wishing you well!

Eye on the prize. It will be worth it.

I am 10 days out and REALLY struggling with this pre-op diet. 2 shakes a day and one meal. It's killing me. Last night I fell off the wagon and had crackers and Philly cream cheese and today I had a spoon full of macaroni cheese! I don't even like macaroni cheese! I have to get through the rest of this day and 9 more. Thankfully I'm not hungry right now but this is hard. If I could do this diet, I wouldn't need surgery!

I am June 17 th ....let me know how you are doing! Good luck!!

Surgery was May 7th. I was released from the hospital Saturday evening. Yesterday was pretty rough with nausea and pain. Once that was under control I felt better. My mistake skipping pain pill and zofran thinking I could do without.

I took zofran first this morning and then took the remaining morning pills with 4oz of Protein Shake. That seemed to do the trick and keep me from wanting to throw everything up. I feel so much better today than I did yesterday. Just keep walking and sipping fluids.

you're having this surgery for yourself, not for others, so why feel guilty? Plus it's a medical/health issue and therefore as private as you want to make it. You wouldn't feel obligated to tell people all the details of your latest colonoscopy, so why feel that way about weight loss surgery?
I told my immediate family and some of my close friends. My boss also knew. I didn't tell anyone else. I didn't need negativity in my life. I still told very few people after the fact. When people asked me how i lost weight, I'd tell them I was working with a dietitian and living at the gym. Which was basically true - I just left out one detail - that I'd had surgery. Never-been-fat people tend to believe that. I was more open with other obese people, because of course they'd know that was a bunch of schlock.
I'm more open about it now that I'm normal-sized and a few years out - although then again, it rarely ever comes up at this point. Almost everyone has already seen me at a normal weight (so the shock is long gone), or else they never knew me when I was obese.
the decision to tell or not tell is totally up to you. If you're not comfortable telling, then don't. You don't owe anyone any explanation.

I’m from BC but got it done in Toronto in February. (Self pay. I thought I had been on the wait list here for nearly 2 years. The surgeons offices ask you not to call, and that they will call you when your closer down the wait list. Turns out my dr. missed sending something, they sent a fax to let him know something they needed was missing, my dr. office apparently never got this fax. And I didn’t find out until I had my doctor look into it late last fall because I was worried about how long the wait was. So rather than start the possible 3-5 year wait all over again, I opted to use my line of credit to pay for the surgery. Very expensive, but better than slowly dying...)

I am May 13 th .....from Mississauga

Hello and welcome!!

I am May 13 th .....from Mississauga

I'm one month + post-op in the early days after the operation it was hard to eat food or drink Water, now it's 35 days after the operation, I can now drink easily and eat upto to finish a 200 gram of grill salmon fish felt and few steamed cauliflower and carrot by chowing slowly.
Is this normal,,, I don't feel stomach pain or another symptoms. Please share your experience
Till date I have lost 22kg and the doctor is giving me a positive feedback
Sent from my SM-N960F using BariatricPal mobile app

Just got scheduled for my surgery for April 7th. I am now a bundle of nerves. This is getting real and I am scared and nervous, not of the surgery itself but of what my life will be like after. I know that I have to give up a lot of the foods I love and I know that the return is a healthier life but right now it seems very scary. I guess I just need encouragement from those who know what it is like to live after this surgery.

I sooo get this. The lumps and bumps had me feeling irrationally down on myself. I am glad to say, it does get better. It is almost like being a teenager again and going through an awkward stage. Hang in there! 💕

I converted from VSG to RYGB in October 2020. Recovery was similar, yet different. I had a lot of vomiting following VSG, but less with the bypass. I am one of the 30% who experience dumping, but as catwoman7 explained, it is totally controllable by watching what I eat. In fact, I'm almost 5 months post-op and even the dumping appears to have improved (or I've figured out the triggers!).
I can tell you that I don't get that immediate sense of restriction like I did with the sleeve. At this point in my recovery, my body seems to know when to stop eating before I get the pain and discomfort associated with overeating.
All I can really offer is my advise based upon my outcome. I am so happy that I had the surgery. Like you, I has the surgery to correct my stomach and esophagus issues. But I've lost 47 pounds, I feel great, I can sleep through the night without acid reflux and I look and feel 10 years younger. Don't let fear of surgery and complications limit your decision to improve your health and daily living.

Well I have seen so much negativity on the band lately....and it kinda brings me down. so for those of you who are against or on the fence about the lap band, or struggling with your weight loss, I just want to say.
The lap band is working for me!
100 lbs down!
Yup....crazy. 11 months with the band.
Has it been easy? Hell no.
Burps, puke, reflux, too tight, not tight enough, stalls, ect..
Was it the "easy road"? Definitely not.
Changing the way I eat, the way I exercise, the way i think about food, learning what I can and can't eat so I don't get sick in public or with friends and family. Learning to enjoy meals with the family with band friendly food.
And even if it was the easy way, my hubby still forked out over $12k, sooooo...i know it wasn't easy working for that money.
Have I learned alot? You bet.
I still struggle. What if I fail? Am I really hungry? Why do I weigh myself every dang day? What do I say when I am with people and can't or don't want to eat? And I have to really be honest about what I eat...
And I still haven't found the idea of exercising "fun". But I know I have to do it. And I never regret it when I am finished. I like barely being able to walk because I totally crushed my workout.
So is it going to last forever...my weight loss? I sure hope so. I've worked hard for this. I've followed all the rules, and in the process i have learned so much about myself. I have come way too far to fail. This relationship between me and the band is a tricky one. But this IS the new me..so for now I am going to enjoy this victory....and have a pumpkin latte. ..cheers!