Daisee68

Three week stall is completely normal. Use the search feature and you will find tons of posts about it

The third week is oddly a hard week. I don't know why but even my Dr acknowledged that. Third week after my hysterectomy was very difficult too. Weird

@@KindaFamiliar and @@OKCPirate - not sure about OP but I quite welcomed the opinion on the matter from men. No apologies necessary

@@Skinny Steps - at 8 months you should be able to tolerate more protein heavy food such as tuna, chicken, beef, pork, cheese, Greek yogurt, beef jerky, etc. At 5 months post-op, I do still have 1 Premier Protein shake per day but I am easily getting 50 to 70g per day from food. Are you not able to tolerate these things? What are you eating? If vegetarian, there are also choices such as beans, legumes, nuts, etc. You need to meet with a NUT ASAP and get your intake evaluated.

Ditto to all above I think. I ate McDonalds or Chick-fil-a every single morning (even weekends usually) for breakfast on the way to work. I still crave that. I thought it was getting easier but not so much this last week. I have found myself with such an intense craving for these things but honestly I think I am craving the convenience and habit more than anything (at least that's what I keep telling myself). I still drive past these 2 restaurants every morning and just try not to look. Then Friday nights in front of the TV with pizza. Whole bag of potato chips or cheez-its with it more than half gone between the grocery store and home. And yes most definitely lunch at work. I enjoy(ed) the break and the friendships. I am saving a lot of money now but I am a bit bored. I tried the whole "run errands" thing and I just run out of those. I ate out too much last week though and could feel it was making my desire for food as entertainment stronger. So back to taking lunch this week and trying to find other things to do at lunch after eating. Today I ate at my desk. Made my day SO long. I have been eating out lunch everyday for 20 years. I have to keep reminding myself that habits don't change overnight but I sure did hope that 5 months later, food would have less of a pull for me. ONE. DAY. AT. A. TIME.....

Well said @KindaFamiliar

I too still take chewables T 5 months out. Are you taking them with meals? That will sometimes help the stomach upset or you may try changing brands.

Ditto. I take Gas-X still at 5 months out. Haven't heard of any side effects from it. By the way, the gas from the surgery should mostly subside by day 5

It depends on the brand. I've seen some that say take 3 muftis per day. Mine only requires 2 tablets per day. For what it's worth, I found this very overwhelming at first too but you will eventually settle in to a pattern. Which brand are you taking? As for timing , I take 1 multi and my calcium with lunch and 1 multi and iron at dinner. My B12 is only weekly (thank goodness!).

I had bypass and don't dump so don't consider that surgery only because you think you would. 48 pounds is quite a lot and as for your friend who lost 100 pounds in 3 months, well maybe I shouldn't say what I really think about that but frankly I call BS. You need to see a therapist and work through some of these head and heart issues. No amount of surgeries can fix that. Don't get discouraged. Just get back on plan.

Is it possible it is just gas? Depends on how long you have had the pain and how consistent it is I suppose.

Thanks so much @@Djmohr! I know you are right. I think I just had a boring food week and got distracted. (Staring at pizza and cupcakes at the nephew's birthday party yesterday definitely didn't help! ). I just got back from the grocery store and from buying a Food Saver and I am going to try out a couple of new recipes (one of the ones you sent me) and see if some changing up will help. The other recipe I am going to make is basically pizza toppings in a pan.... New recipe from Eggface (just pepper, onion, turkey pepperoni, grilled chicken, olives, cheese, etc. in a pan). I think that may fix my pizza craving for now. And you are right, I need to just try some of the things I miss in very small quantity or find a similar substitute. I keep telling myself that I am craving a habit and not a food. Trying some new stuff tonight (and a therapist meeting on Tuesday) will hopefully get me all sorted out!

Just go to Poshmark.com and/or download the app on your phone. You build a "closet" of items you want to sell. It was originally for gently used clothing but it has expanded a little bit. Key is to share your listings and others A LOT in order to get them seen. And also listing a really good description. I have sold quite a few things and bought quite a few smaller items - at much lower price then buying new. So bascailly an online thrift store but not generally as inexpensive as you would find in a thrift store. There are also designer label items and more recently some retail sellers who sell new with tag items. No fee to sign up. They charge a commission per item sold (20%).

I didn't have a drain so not sure I help you with that. The pain on the left side may still be gas. I was going to say drink smaller sips too. I used the medicine cups for quite a while. I seem to recall day 5 being the worst and drinking got a little easier after that. Also, is there any chance it is reflux? I took quite a bit of Zantac during the early phase. AND a LOT of Gas-x (and still do). If you haven't tried Gas-X, give that a try. They have strips and chewables. The strips are a fairly low dose, so take several. Welcome to the other side and the rest of your journey!

Thanks to you both for the response. @@Spiceyfrog - I am curious if you feel you can sustain that restriction though? (And please don't hear that as judgement. I truly am just trying to sort it out in my head by understanding others feelings.) I think that is my fear that I will have my rebellious (as my therapist calls it) "BREAK" and binge. To be fair, perhaps you don't have the same binge cravings I have. I just fear that what I am doing now is not fully sustainable and I will "relapse". Clearly I have a huge addiction to food (and thank goodness I have a great therapist who I happen to have an appt with on Tuesday and will definitely be discussing this. @@Ashlegal - I appreciate your feedback and can honestly say my NUT would agree with you but what I can't seem to do is find engage in that balance. For example, what I was desperately craving this morning was a McDonalds Sausage Biscuit and a diet soda. I managed to convince myself that was head hunger craving because there is obviously nothing nutritious in that and frankly it is an old habit that I was craving more than the food. I staved it off, but I just guess I am trying to figure out if there is space in my diet for "treats" such as the sausage or pizza. (I crave salty not sweet.) I have enjoyed more since surgery the creating and cooking of food but with only cooking for one, I feel I have to eat the same meal at least 3 times before I can justify throwing it out and I think that lends to my feeling of restriction. Certainly any tips or recipes are welcome. (Luckily for me I think, I crave meat, cheese, etc and don't really like rice or Pasta. But I would kill someone for potato right now!) @@Djmohr has told me she has one of those food saver things and that helps with leftovers. I think I am going to go get one of those today.

I am really struggling with cravings the last couple of weeks. I think I am likely being a little too restrictive and not getting in enough variety. My biggest fear in this journey (and has been since day 1 though feeling it more the last week or so) is gaining the weight back. Today as I make my grocery list for the week, I feel like I am still living with a "diet" mentality and I think that will eventually lead to a "breakdown" in my food choices. I just want to get my head shifted from "diet" to "healthy lifestyle" and can't seem to get there. I know the "diet" lifestyle is not sustainable for me as it hasn't been so many times in the past...So I guess my question is - how do you find balance in what you eat or maybe you don't and still choose extreme restriction? How can I become "normal"? (I know that is not possible at only 5 months post-op but I am trying to head off a "breakdown" of making some bad choices now.)

Are you sure you can have meats this early? Most of us are on pureed foods or at least soft foods only at 4 weeks. Turkey would have been way too hard for me to digest at 2 weeks. You HAVE to get Protein in. What kind of shakes have you tried? Premier Protein ready made shakes are really good - not gritty. And know that early on, everything is hard to get down. You need to try shakes again. Alternatively, at the very least try some protein powder mixed with stuff. For example, I use Precision Engineered whey Protein Isolate (which is only 10% lactose and 30g protein). I mix half a scoop of vanilla powder into flavored greek yogurt or half a scoop of chocolate powder with Jello sugar free Chocolate pudding cup. I also ate hummus mixed with unflavored protein powder. And pimento cheese mixed with unflavored powder. Oh and fat free refried Beans with shredded low fat cheese on top. (I ate that one a lot and still do at 5 months out.) Hope that helps!!

How are you getting your Protein in if not doing shakes? You have to have protein in some way to stay healthy. Are you drinking with your meals or waiting 30 minutes after? Other than that, I will tell you that I still have some nausea issues at 5 months post-op. It is not every day and is getting better but I was told some people just have some of that as an issue; HOWEVER, I had a stricture which is now repaired and I feel SO Much better and puking has stopped (unless I stupidly eat too much). If you are having trouble and food is consistently coming up, you may need to be checked for a stricture. Write down your symptoms for say a week (i.e. what you ate, when you are nauseas, when you vomit, etc.) and then take that to your doctor. You may also want to call your Nutritionist for ideas on how to get protein in. It is a must.

I was just going to answer same as @InnerSurferGirl. We have all lost and regained many many times. The "tool" of WLS (if used appropriately) will be your ticket (our ticket) to keeping it off as you learn new habits. For your second question, I would say they are probably trying to get an idea of what your normal day diet has looked like; however, you might check with them to be sure. Welcome and enjoy the journey!

Yes, it could still be a stricture. The exact same thing happened to me and happened for about 6 weeks before I hit the point that I couldn't keep anything down. I had eaten peanuts and not chewed well enough and apparently peanuts do not digest very well, so a tiny piece got stuck in that tiny hole and then even once I got it out, everything was too irritated for me to do anything else. Breakfast always went ok but then it seemed that everything I added to it (even soup) just keep stacking up and filling up into my esophagus until I had to get it out. Once I finally could get everything back out, I felt totally fine. By the time I went to ER worried about dehydration, I felt perfectly fine. CT Scan found nothing. They sent me home. 2 days later I was getting the dilation. BUT if that is what it is, don't be scared. It is a fairly easy fix for an experienced surgeon or GI specialist.

Yes sounds like a stricture. They do a endoscopy and dilate wig a balloon. You feel better instantly. Call your Dr first thing Monday. Don't dehydrate. Continue taking tiny sips and maybe just stick to shakes and liquid until you can get in touch with them. Mine happened at 3 months and when they did the first scope they found I had only a tiny pinhole opening so food wasn't getting thru. Tiny sips spaced apart will go thru though.

I was looking here tonight needing some encouragement. I am 5 months out and man this last week has really been a mental struggle for some reason. I haven't given in to the wrong things necessarily but I do feel like I have had a harder time pushing my plate away when I am full or even not really feeling full and really feeling the pull/craving for some of my old favorites - ESPECIALLY a diet soda. At home it is easier, because I portion out what I should eat and set my timer and stop when I need to, but I have eaten out lunch several times this week and I really struggle with that more. Anyway, for some reason I have had this overwhelming fear about how I'm going to keep the weight off. That fear that says "what makes this time different?" I don't know the answer other than "take it one day at a time", but it is always interesting to see that others are dealing with some of the same things. Tomorrow is a new day.....

Great! I am still pretty new but catching on, so send me an email if you have any questions or I can help anyway!

YES! And I am totally addicted to it. I haven't made very much but I have enjoyed the process of getting rid of and getting even some money for the clothes. I have also enjoyed the shopping! My name is same as here @daisee68.

I am so glad they listened to you and you will get some relief!