Pac-woman

I am going into my 5th week and I am finding eating so unpleasureable and an unhappy event. I miss looking forward to eating. Now, I just do it out of survival.
I still feel comfortable with shakes, Protein Bars, Soups, yogurt and cashews flat pretezels with no yeast. Everything else is a struggle. I try grilled chicken and chewing 1000 times is hard for me. Many times I have gotten the chicken stuck and I have had to throw up to feel better. Same thing with very soft moist roast pork. Doesn't work. I am really starting to wonder if it is not about swelling, but the stricture. Is it something they can loosen up?
I miss gulping cold Water when I am really thirsty and the relief that comes with it. I can be in the hot sun and wanting to drink water, and I have to sip it slowly and frequently, it sucks and not satisfiying.
I went to a festival today at a park. The food section had that strong fried smell. I was repulsed. I couldn't even breathe with out wanting to throw up. That smell was horrible. A smell that didn't bother me before. They had your typical stuff, fried cheese, donuts, corn dogs, hamburger, pizza, fries, fried fish, etc. I could not find one thing that was decent for me. Thank god I had a Protein Bar in my purse, it got me through the day. I kept looking at other people as they ate and I see kids with plates full of Cookies and sugar. I see heavy set girls with a plate full of fried, greasy food. You know the kind that you bite and the grease pops out? Yeah that. Eww. I would look at other people and the amount of bread in their sandwiches. Others were eating funnel cakes with lots of powder sugar and downing it with a regular pepsi. I was like wow. The things one notices when you are a bariatric patient post surgery is amazing. You start paying attention to all these details. At least I did. I was even looking at my BF as he was eating his fish and chips and thought wow....I need to get a life insurance policy on him. lol. Sounds mean I know, but paying attention to how he is eating and others, reminds me what I used to do. How can I not understand why I was fat? It is so obvious as to why.
All I want now is to just be able to sit and have a normal dinner without worrying if it is going to get stuck. That is all i ask for. I don't care if it is a tiny portion. I just hate eating scared. It is how I feel about food now. I fear it.

Awesome lady!!!
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Drink Water rapidly? This is so wrong.
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After 6 mths the weightloss slows down. Just change your exercise routine. Shock ur body, you will continue to lose whether its inches or 1 to 2 lbs a week. Enjoy the journey. I am 19 months out and still working hard.
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Never made it. But I'm 5 ft 11 inches and look and feel better than I ever have. I've lost 116 pounds. Am an athlete. And, accept that scale numbers should not control our emotions.
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@@leag78
That friend wasn't a friend all this time. That is simply an aquaintance. Real friends will support you big or small. Those kind of friends are hard to come by.

@@leag78
That friend wasn't a friend all this time. That is simply an aquaintance. Real friends will support you big or small. Those kind of friends are hard to come by.

As soon as you fart twice I promise you will feel better. There is only two ways out as my nurse said. Any other fart after that, don't trust it. Trust me. Rest up.

AussieSam,
Great topic and discussion! I agree with you – the laws of physics (or metabolism, or energy balance) still apply, even if they are “altered” during weight loss due to slowed metabolism. So, like you said, I believe you will lose weight if you are eating fewer calories than you burn. Your metabolism could slow way down (say to 700 calories, as in the example AussieSam gave), but you could lose weight by dropping to 500 calories/day (hypothetically – I’m not recommending it, and I doubt if your metabolism really slows to anywhere near as low as 700 calories!).
That said, the scale doesn’t necessarily go down each day (or each week!) even if you are eating less than you burn. That could be because of things like Water retention even if you are burning fat. That could explain a “stall” if you are certain you are eating perfectly and you still aren’t losing weight.
In most cases, though, I think stalls happen for a reason that’s under our control. At least, it’s true for me. Maybe I let a few “extras” creep into my diet, or don’t quite exercise as much for a while. Since I’m at goal weight, my “stall” is really a “regain,” and I need to nip it in the bud – as soon as I admit to myself that my habits have slipped.
I agree not all body weight lost is always fat – it can be muscle when our bodies are starving. But to some degree, eating fewer calories than you expend leads to weight (body weight, not Water weight) loss.
Anyway, great conversation – thanks!

There is absolutely NOTHING easy about a sleeve journey,pre or post. If anything, we work harder than an average dieter. Physically and most of all emotionally.
Until your friend can dare to go on a liquid diet for 2 weeks, then bare the pain and triumph of holes in your stomach and recovery, teaching a new stomach to eat with out barfing, and then eating like a chipmunk for the rest of her life while having a exercise regimen...i think she needs to shut the heck up. And i am being nice here.
Nothing more irritating than hearing a reformed fat person saying "easy way out".
Glad you kicked her to the curb.

Well I am trying to give positive feedback. I stopped participating on this site due to the negative feedbacks. I come on here and try to give my example of something I can relate to as I had the same worries, and I get knocked down. I am done replying on this site. To the original poster, best of luck and keep your chin up. If u want to chat, direct message me. Thanks everyone.

As long as you exercise to burn fat and gain muscle and drink lots of Water for hydration you will be ok. Losing weight slowly instead of drastically is the key. It gives time for the skin's elasticity to work. I have lost 62lbs and won't need a Tummy Tuck or anything. My arms are a little flabby but that's my own day fault. I don't do arm exercises. But I will.

As long as you exercise to burn fat and gain muscle and drink lots of Water for hydration you will be ok. Losing weight slowly instead of drastically is the key. It gives time for the skin's elasticity to work. I have lost 62lbs and won't need a Tummy Tuck or anything. My arms are a little flabby but that's my own day fault. I don't do arm exercises. But I will.

70 lbs of gear. I couldn't stand or breath. I can't even fathom I've lost 128. How did I get one foot in front of the other???

Let's do this Big Opie. You know, I was a police officer and injured at the WTC on 9/11 and by two drunks in the line of duty. I ended up a wheel chair and had to get my lower extremities all repaired. I use to run half marathons and work out at 220lbs. In 9 years, I haven't been able to work out any more due to my injuries and gained 100 lbs.
Im getting my surgery tomorrow 4/30. Today, I was so hesitant and bummed out about being the last day. But it is the last day of the old me. I'm totally pumped to lay my head down and get this done. Get healthy, get your meds and get motivated girl. Woooooooooooooooooooooo. I sound like Richard Simmons. lol

As long as you exercise to burn fat and gain muscle and drink lots of Water for hydration you will be ok. Losing weight slowly instead of drastically is the key. It gives time for the skin's elasticity to work. I have lost 62lbs and won't need a Tummy Tuck or anything. My arms are a little flabby but that's my own day fault. I don't do arm exercises. But I will.

As long as you exercise to burn fat and gain muscle and drink lots of Water for hydration you will be ok. Losing weight slowly instead of drastically is the key. It gives time for the skin's elasticity to work. I have lost 62lbs and won't need a Tummy Tuck or anything. My arms are a little flabby but that's my own day fault. I don't do arm exercises. But I will.

I repeated and am doing what my professional dietician said. Are you a certified dietician? Or are you a Google researcher? Just wondering...

As long as you exercise to burn fat and gain muscle and drink lots of Water for hydration you will be ok. Losing weight slowly instead of drastically is the key. It gives time for the skin's elasticity to work. I have lost 62lbs and won't need a Tummy Tuck or anything. My arms are a little flabby but that's my own day fault. I don't do arm exercises. But I will.

First, I have to say..there is some tough love from people on this post. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
Anyway, what you are feeling is completely normal. I am 2 mths post. When I was at your stage, I went through crying spells out of frustration with food. How slow I had to chew, how many times I had to stop because I got "stuck", how many times I had to "toss it up" because of that extra bite. Watching my boyfriend scarf his food down and I can't even get one chicken wing down. It sucks, it really does. But you have to remind yourself, you are in "training". If there is one thing the stomach is meant to do, is stretch and it will. But you just had major surgery, 70-85 percent of your stomach was taken out. What do you expect? Your old normal was not normal. If it was, you would not be here on the losers bench with the rest of us. {losers in a good way}
Now you just have to find your new normal. Yes you will eat the portions of a child for the rest of your life. But so what? Your going to be skinnier, healthier, and fabulous! And..you get to eat several times a day {healthy stuff}, trust me when I say, between the Water intake requirement and keeping up with Protein grams, you won't have time to feel hungry. Actually, you are going to feel like your stuffing your face constantly. What is very very important is your Water intake because you have to flush the bile out of your body. Then focus on your Protein grams. shakes, bars and yogurt. That is what I did at your stage, plus the occasional chicken Soup in a cup to change tastes.
I have come a long way I think. Although, I still have trouble eating chicken. Something about bird after my surgery I can't deal with. I hope that goes away.
Shrimp has become my friend, scrambled eggs with salsa, laughing cows, braised fish with some sort of sauce on it,, saltines, chili, bean Soup, etc. What I still stress with is what the heck do i eat when eating out. But I just tried to avoid eating out. I carry a bar with me just incase there is nothing for me. For example today, after the gym I had to visit mom at the nursing home. Took her a sundae from mcdonalds. I was getting a headache from burning all the calories and not having intake. So i got the healthiest thing possible and i got a grilled snack wrap. I ate half of it, {taking out the majority of the tortilla because that has no protein} and it held me over till I got home. Then I ate a yogurt with granola and a sunkist orange. I was happy.
All this to say, you will be fine. Have no regrets. Focus on you and know that this too shall pass. Your new normal is going to be full of awesomeness. Promise.
I sympathize with you because I know what depression is like and sometimes tough love comes across wrong even though you say something great afterwards. People don't hear the great part because they are still upset of the comment before it. Not everyone is a bariatric superhero. We are all working towards the same goal. Let's help each other instead of giving a sarcastic bandaid remark. Thanks.

So, I am at the point that I need to pack up all my work clothes and into a box as they don't fit properly anymore. Not only did I loose my boobs, but my butt so far. So needless to say, I can't wear sloppy clothes to work.
It hurts me because I spent a lot of money on these work clothes and they are in excellent shape. Many I washed by hand because of the embellishments. You know how expensive Lane Bryant, Avenue and Macy's can be. I wish I can sell them and maybe that money will help towards new clothes.
Has anyone had any luck with selling their fat clothes on ebay? What other suggestions are there?
If I knew of someone that is in dire need of clothes, I would give it away. I don't have an issue with that. But I guess I would do that by recommendation.
Thoughts?

I agree with @BLERDgirl. Go by what your nutrionist says. As for exercise, don't kill yourself. Start slow and work it up gradually. Anything you do will be more than what you did before with your old weight. Let your body appreciate the changes, losing weight slowly is safer and more permanent than shocking the body. It is a life style change, not a temporary weightloss fad. Just get used to eating the amt of calories they told you, watch what you eat (myfitnesspal app) and move more. Anything helps. 15 mins break at work, go for a walk. That will burn 60 + calories easy. Park further away. Have a dog? Go for longer walks, they will appreciate it.
What you eat? Protein, Protein, protein first....veggies second and grains (healthy ones) last..if it even fits.
Protein should be higher than your carb count when looking at labels. Watch for hidden sugars.

You should follow the calorie recommendations of your bariatric program, no Curves. Their program is based on a regular stomach, and is not designed for bariatric patients. I would continue to eat as you have been until you see your nutritionist.
As for your period extreme weight loss/gain can change your cycle, but since you have a family history of premature menopause that's another question best answered by professionals.

@@Pac-woman thank you so much!! You are so right!!

Wendy's Chili is good and so is Panera's turkey chili.
Pollo Tropical has shrimp on a stick
Taco Bell, one fresco taco is more than enough for me. I am usually full half way
Publix Supermarket- their deli chicken Soup
Denny's- Build your own grand slam - eggs, turkey bacon, grits (you will have left overs)
These are emergency suggestions, you can always look into their nutitional info on your phone app while I on the road to make pre-made decisions.
However, let this be emergency options, because at the end of the day,no matter what...everything that is not cooked at home will be extremely high in sodium.