bewell

I started my pre-op diet early and also went out to eat a few times. I practiced eating how I would eat post-op. VERY small portions and no carbs, low fat. It can be done! And it was hard but worth the effort. I got a good look at what life will be after WLS and grateful that WLS helps so much with the hunger and amounts.
FYI- My doc said the primary purpose of the pre-op diet it to shrink your liver so the surgery is easier. They have to move your liver away from your stomach. Suggest you consider your up-coming surgery and make it easy for your surgeon to get to your stomach.

THE DREADED STALL at 8 weeks post-op. Had to come sometime.
Had my 2 month checkup and the nurse said to get off the scales so often. She said I'm losing even if the scales don't show it and try weighing once a month. Yikes!
Also noted that I am slow to heal and not to fuss about it. Everyone is different. My tiny-tummy takes a few hours to wake up each AM. I on liquids for the 1st 4 hours of the day. I'm still on soft food the rest of the day otherwise I'm pretty uncomfortable (not painful tho) and can still vomit introducing new foods. So I'm sticking to a small range of foods I know I can eat. Increasing exercise as I can.
The fantastic news is I can finally drink a glass of Water pretty much the same as pre-surgery. I sure missed that! And things are tasting close to normal.
The scary part is I think I'm starting to get tempted to eat carbs which to this point didn't interest me.
What a steep learning curve this sleeve is! I had no idea. (I'm a lap band to sleeve revision and this learning to eat is much harder. But the lap band hurt SO MUCH MORE. Nurse also told me that after the initial healing process there is a LOT LESS complications with sleeve, gastric bypass and other. Lap band has many more complications after healing cuz of foreign object which can erode, slip, break and just plain hurt. So happy to have that thing out of me.
Best to all of you January sleevers, we can DO THIS!

The surgery CAN work, if you are willing to work too. You will have to change so many aspects of your life. It is hard! It can be emotionally taxing. It is definitely physically taxing. But it CAN work.

You won't believe this (I didn't) but right after WLS you won't miss those foods you are thinking about having with your daughter. Instead, you will be overjoyed to simply drink a glass of Water or eat a vegetable/fruit. My first divine food after surgery was steamed broccoli; it was nearly orgasmic! Honest

THE DREADED STALL at 8 weeks post-op. Had to come sometime.
Had my 2 month checkup and the nurse said to get off the scales so often. She said I'm losing even if the scales don't show it and try weighing once a month. Yikes!
Also noted that I am slow to heal and not to fuss about it. Everyone is different. My tiny-tummy takes a few hours to wake up each AM. I on liquids for the 1st 4 hours of the day. I'm still on soft food the rest of the day otherwise I'm pretty uncomfortable (not painful tho) and can still vomit introducing new foods. So I'm sticking to a small range of foods I know I can eat. Increasing exercise as I can.
The fantastic news is I can finally drink a glass of Water pretty much the same as pre-surgery. I sure missed that! And things are tasting close to normal.
The scary part is I think I'm starting to get tempted to eat carbs which to this point didn't interest me.
What a steep learning curve this sleeve is! I had no idea. (I'm a lap band to sleeve revision and this learning to eat is much harder. But the lap band hurt SO MUCH MORE. Nurse also told me that after the initial healing process there is a LOT LESS complications with sleeve, gastric bypass and other. Lap band has many more complications after healing cuz of foreign object which can erode, slip, break and just plain hurt. So happy to have that thing out of me.
Best to all of you January sleevers, we can DO THIS!

It works but keep in mind that you have to work hard at it too. I KNOW there is no way I could have lost weight without WLS. But ongoing it is 40% WLS and 60% up to me to keep it working.

It works but keep in mind that you have to work hard at it too. I KNOW there is no way I could have lost weight without WLS. But ongoing it is 40% WLS and 60% up to me to keep it working.

What happened post-op that no-one told you about or "you just didn't see that coming!"
For me:
Vomited brushing my teeth (didn't see that coming....nurse said it can happen) Water tasted terrible....pre-op Water is mostly what I drank...it took 6 weeks for water to taste sort of normal SMELLS....everything smelled funny.....and often made me nauseous. Also 6 weeks before it was better, still not normal Amount of food.....for weeks my cat ate more than I did and I was jealous the way he wolfed it down! ONLY 300-600 calories......OK, maybe someone told me but I was certain I'd starve to death if I only ate 600 calories for days on end. BUT NO and now I accept that a max of 800 calories now and probably 1000 a day, for the rest of my life will be the new NORMAL!! Didn't see that coming.

What happened post-op that no-one told you about or "you just didn't see that coming!"
For me:
Vomited brushing my teeth (didn't see that coming....nurse said it can happen) Water tasted terrible....pre-op Water is mostly what I drank...it took 6 weeks for water to taste sort of normal SMELLS....everything smelled funny.....and often made me nauseous. Also 6 weeks before it was better, still not normal Amount of food.....for weeks my cat ate more than I did and I was jealous the way he wolfed it down! ONLY 300-600 calories......OK, maybe someone told me but I was certain I'd starve to death if I only ate 600 calories for days on end. BUT NO and now I accept that a max of 800 calories now and probably 1000 a day, for the rest of my life will be the new NORMAL!! Didn't see that coming.

Kindle and VSGAnn2014 Thank you! Very good to know I will be able eat more calories and still lose weight.
I think I'm just trying to pschyc myself into accepting how I eat has to change now, forever. That way I can accept that the big successive daily binge days are over. And I really won't "starve" if I only eat 1,000 calories.
Thanks again!

What happened post-op that no-one told you about or "you just didn't see that coming!"
For me:
Vomited brushing my teeth (didn't see that coming....nurse said it can happen) Water tasted terrible....pre-op Water is mostly what I drank...it took 6 weeks for water to taste sort of normal SMELLS....everything smelled funny.....and often made me nauseous. Also 6 weeks before it was better, still not normal Amount of food.....for weeks my cat ate more than I did and I was jealous the way he wolfed it down! ONLY 300-600 calories......OK, maybe someone told me but I was certain I'd starve to death if I only ate 600 calories for days on end. BUT NO and now I accept that a max of 800 calories now and probably 1000 a day, for the rest of my life will be the new NORMAL!! Didn't see that coming.

What happened post-op that no-one told you about or "you just didn't see that coming!"
For me:
Vomited brushing my teeth (didn't see that coming....nurse said it can happen) Water tasted terrible....pre-op Water is mostly what I drank...it took 6 weeks for water to taste sort of normal SMELLS....everything smelled funny.....and often made me nauseous. Also 6 weeks before it was better, still not normal Amount of food.....for weeks my cat ate more than I did and I was jealous the way he wolfed it down! ONLY 300-600 calories......OK, maybe someone told me but I was certain I'd starve to death if I only ate 600 calories for days on end. BUT NO and now I accept that a max of 800 calories now and probably 1000 a day, for the rest of my life will be the new NORMAL!! Didn't see that coming.

Yeah, that's right. A too sweet Protein drink is terrible.
I had diarrhea for 5 weeks, not Constipation. It all resolved now, but my little toilet trout are so wee compared to what they used to me.

Besides the usual lists they had out.....I bought way too many kinds and too much of the Protein drinks. I tried them pre-surgery and liked them. BUT then post-op everything tasted different and things I liked before didn't taste so good post-op.
Also, I bought way too much food. Like 10 boxes of sugar free Jello. If you only eat a few spoonfuls a day, that can last a long time. I still buy way too much food.
My suggesting, get enough of the Clear liquids items and a few Soups and a limited supply of Protein Drinks cuz they may just not taste the same after surgery. At least that was my experience.

Besides the usual lists they had out.....I bought way too many kinds and too much of the Protein drinks. I tried them pre-surgery and liked them. BUT then post-op everything tasted different and things I liked before didn't taste so good post-op.
Also, I bought way too much food. Like 10 boxes of sugar free Jello. If you only eat a few spoonfuls a day, that can last a long time. I still buy way too much food.
My suggesting, get enough of the Clear liquids items and a few Soups and a limited supply of Protein Drinks cuz they may just not taste the same after surgery. At least that was my experience.

What happened post-op that no-one told you about or "you just didn't see that coming!"
For me:
Vomited brushing my teeth (didn't see that coming....nurse said it can happen) Water tasted terrible....pre-op Water is mostly what I drank...it took 6 weeks for water to taste sort of normal SMELLS....everything smelled funny.....and often made me nauseous. Also 6 weeks before it was better, still not normal Amount of food.....for weeks my cat ate more than I did and I was jealous the way he wolfed it down! ONLY 300-600 calories......OK, maybe someone told me but I was certain I'd starve to death if I only ate 600 calories for days on end. BUT NO and now I accept that a max of 800 calories now and probably 1000 a day, for the rest of my life will be the new NORMAL!! Didn't see that coming.

This may gross you out and ALERT.....it may be very bad advice but I did chew a few things just to chew it and then I spit it out and rinsed my mouth out. I was going nuts and I had to CHEW something. It helped and I only had to do it a few times.

REGARDING WLS:
What didn't you see coming OR what did they forget to tell you?!!@##%^
For me it was:
Water and many foods would taste terrible Brushing my teeth made me vomit ​Extremely sensitive to smell, I would get nauseous at the grocery store from the smells My cat would eat more than me and I'd still survive

You look amazing!!! Love it.
If you can only name one thing, what was that one thing that contributed the most to your success (aside from WLS)?
What was your biggest mistake that took you back a step or two?

Greetings!
I'm a January 20th sleever, and am having my first meal away from the 3 Stages of Reprogramming. ????
Feeling good, and just made it down to 50 pounds off. (Lots more to go, but a great start.)
Eating slowly, and chewing everything thoroughly, helped a good deal.
Congrats to everyone! Not easy, but worth it in the end.

I love hearing from all of you!
Overall everything has been going very well for me, but a few days ago my trick knee acted up making exercise very difficult till it calms down, and I also just got the flu. My fever has broken and I'm feeling decent today, but bummed I can't walk well. Before my knee acted up I was doing 65 flights of stairs 3 days a week and long walks the other days. I'm missing the exercise and rapid weightloss that goes with it.
Overall, doing great. My high weight wad 310lbs, my surgery weight on Jan 20th was 283lbs and I'm currently down to 247lbs, a total of 63 pounds. My goal weight is 180lbs, so I'm excited that in 2 more pounds I'll reach my half way mark.
I look bizarre walking around in such baggy clothing, but I'm losing so fast I really don't want to buy too many new clothes. I had to buy some new pants cause my old ones were uncomfortable, but all my shirts are several sizes too large.

Kindle You offer a lot of good council. I didn't know that we can absorb only 20gms of Protein at at time. THANKS! As for vegetables-at 4 weeks i could do really soft cauliflower. Then I tried broccoli which tasted SO AMAZING, I had a second bite(s), maybe 2 small florets and it all came back up immediately. I think if I'd kept to just a few florets to begin with I would have been fine.
At 6 weeks I can eat 1/4 cup over steamed broccoli and it is so good. I also eat my protein earlier just because eating a mushed vegetable is such a treat! (Can't believe I'm writing that.) I can't wait for some raw vegetables but I'm told I am a long way out from doing that, a month or more before I'll try it.
FYI-I use one of those microwave ceramic cookers. It's small and is perfect for just a few steamed vegetables and chicken is very moist in it.

What happened post-op that no-one told you about or "you just didn't see that coming!"
For me:
Vomited brushing my teeth (didn't see that coming....nurse said it can happen) Water tasted terrible....pre-op Water is mostly what I drank...it took 6 weeks for water to taste sort of normal SMELLS....everything smelled funny.....and often made me nauseous. Also 6 weeks before it was better, still not normal Amount of food.....for weeks my cat ate more than I did and I was jealous the way he wolfed it down! ONLY 300-600 calories......OK, maybe someone told me but I was certain I'd starve to death if I only ate 600 calories for days on end. BUT NO and now I accept that a max of 800 calories now and probably 1000 a day, for the rest of my life will be the new NORMAL!! Didn't see that coming.

What happened post-op that no-one told you about or "you just didn't see that coming!"
For me:
Vomited brushing my teeth (didn't see that coming....nurse said it can happen) Water tasted terrible....pre-op Water is mostly what I drank...it took 6 weeks for water to taste sort of normal SMELLS....everything smelled funny.....and often made me nauseous. Also 6 weeks before it was better, still not normal Amount of food.....for weeks my cat ate more than I did and I was jealous the way he wolfed it down! ONLY 300-600 calories......OK, maybe someone told me but I was certain I'd starve to death if I only ate 600 calories for days on end. BUT NO and now I accept that a max of 800 calories now and probably 1000 a day, for the rest of my life will be the new NORMAL!! Didn't see that coming.

What happened post-op that no-one told you about or "you just didn't see that coming!"
For me:
Vomited brushing my teeth (didn't see that coming....nurse said it can happen) Water tasted terrible....pre-op Water is mostly what I drank...it took 6 weeks for water to taste sort of normal SMELLS....everything smelled funny.....and often made me nauseous. Also 6 weeks before it was better, still not normal Amount of food.....for weeks my cat ate more than I did and I was jealous the way he wolfed it down! ONLY 300-600 calories......OK, maybe someone told me but I was certain I'd starve to death if I only ate 600 calories for days on end. BUT NO and now I accept that a max of 800 calories now and probably 1000 a day, for the rest of my life will be the new NORMAL!! Didn't see that coming.