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Since surgery, I've been having a great time celebrating each time the second digit in my weight goes down. I get off the scale and actually say out loud, "see ya, 270s!" And 260s and 250s. Now I'm happy to meet another milestone. At my current weight, I'd no longer have the BMI to qualify for WLS! Just want to share my joy! I'm still fairly early out (a little over two months) and I know the best is yet to come!

@@peglynmc Okay, sounds like what @@AvaFern said and like water aerobics is a good bet. Good luck!

Is it just straight up pain? If so, what kind of pain and where? Or are you getting blisters? I may possibly have suggestions if I know a little more.

You guys are all experiencing "head hunger." It's pretty intense during the pure liquid phase for most people. How to deal with it: 1. Keep your mind and hands occupied with something else. 2. Avoid food, as you can. TV commercials driving you nuts? Turn off the TV. Watch movies or Netflix instead. Or read. I live alone and my dad stayed with me for a little more than a week after I got home from the hospital. He still needed to eat, so we struck compromises. He was kind enough not to talk about food, eat some meals out, not heat foods in the microwave or oven that would give off strong aromas. I still dreamed about food every night. Yes, the very intense head hunger of this time will pass. Things changed when I moved to puree and solid food. You get to have some different textures and flavors. I also think this is when reality sinks in a bit more and you get more used to your new life of smaller portions and protein-based meals. You will likely have head hunger again at some point. This phase can help you learn the difference between real and head hunger and develop strategies for when head hunger hits later down the road.

Make sure you fill out FMLA paperwork to protect your job. The law basically says they can't replace you during the time you're out. I understand some workplaces are like this and it's tough. But it's reasonable to expect a work/life balance. That means you get time to make yourself healthier and prevent an early death. Some places will suck you dry if you let them, but you can't give every bit of yourself to your job. You're worth it and you deserve this!

That's really smart. And it makes sense her appetite might fluctuate a little, just like ours do. Way to instill good habits!

While many medical professionals display a great deal of professionalism and give great care, I think some may need professional training about bullying. I honestly believe some have no understanding of the great power differential that exists between patients and caregivers. The hospital is a good example. We're depending on medical professionals to care for our basic needs. We're feeling our worst and looking our worst. It seems obvious that rule #1 should be don't talk about religion and politics. At my last pre-op appointment, the radiology tech talked politics while pressing very hard into my ribs during a sonogram. He also asked a lot of questions about my surgery, even though my body language and short answers should have indicated I didn't want to discuss it with him. Then my first overnight nurse on the floor talked politics after surgery. I felt like I couldn't say anything cause I was depending on her to take care of me and be there when I needed her. I also hardly had my wits about me to get into a political debate. Everyone else involved in my care was wonderful, but these two left a bad taste in my mouth.

Definitely! It's just something I enjoy and it's cool now to have friends asking my advice on how to lay out their furniture, make a small kitchen work, etc.

That's bullshit. The extra skin would be there whether you lost weight after WLS or another way. So you're just not supposed to lose weight at all? She sounds jealous. And commenting on the aesthetics of a patient's body is unprofessional and mean. I agree that she should be reported.

Honestly, this website has been my most used resource so far. Before surgery and in the five or so week healing period, I kind of had tunnel vision and just concentrated on making it through each day. That worked for me then. Now that I'm further out, I'm working on building habits for the long term. It really helps hear from people who are further out. I lurk in the veterans forum a good deal, just soaking it in. One of the healthy habits I'm working on is cooking protein-based meals at home that I like. I've used allrecipes.com quite a bit for that. Finally, my favorite design/housekeeping type blog is apartmenttherapy.com. It's been a new hobby of mine to create a comfortable space for myself at home. It lifts my mood and kind of helps me feel calmer.

@@winklie I think I can appreciate the type of thinking you're dealing with. I developed an eating disorder my senior year of college about 10 years ago. I felt like I was doing everything right to lose weight and it wasn't working, so I took it up a notch. I ate as little as I possibly could and purged when I felt I'd eaten too much or anything remotely unhealthy. I thought "I can do this for a little while until I've lost the weight I want." (I didn't even need to lose weight then.) But in a matter of weeks the tables were turned. I realized I no longer had control of it. It had control of me. I got help and got better. An eating disorder is a real threat and I'm glad you're catching yourself and reprogramming your thinking. Because of my past, I have to be careful. Our bodies definitely work in ways that defy logic. I've heard people here say they broke stalls by upping their calorie intake. Somehow it gave their bodies more fuel so they could expend greater energy. I've hit stalls and have found it helpful to focus my perfectionist tendencies on working the program exactly how my surgeon and nut advise instead of moving the number on the scale. You WILL be successful if you follow the program. I repeat that to myself all the time when I'm in a stall. Dunno if this helps at all, but putting it out there just in case.

I was tired for a good six weeks after surgery, which my doctor told me to expect because most people are losing weight rapidly during that time. Your metabolism needs time to catch up. When I was on shakes only and consuming 300 calories a day, I felt tired and weak. But gradually I could eat more as I moved back to real food. Now at eight weeks I can eat about 500-600 calories per day and actually feel a little more energetic than I did pre-op. I'm eating home-cooked protein-based meals that keep me satisfied. Trust me, it feels nothing like how it would have felt to eat only 600 calories before surgery. I feel like my food is giving me plenty of fuel and my energy level is good.

What might make a difference for you is whether you've had surgery before and/or how much pain you've dealt with due to your DDD. There seems to be such a psychological component to pain. For me, the pain was like nothing I've experienced because I'd never had surgery before or chronic pain due to a medical condition. When you go in for surgery feeling perfectly fine, it's more shocking to feel so crappy by comparison after. I described my pain as an 8 out of 10 after I woke up, but my nurse got my pain (and nausea) controlled very quickly. I felt pretty good until the next morning when I had to get out of bed for my swallow test. I think the anesthesia had worn off and I had gotten less pain medicine in my system overnight cause I was sleeping and not pressing my pump as often. It hurt really badly when I got up and I was really scared something was wrong, but I was fine. I was in the hospital for three nights (an extra night for monitoring cause I had a fever the second night) and took pain meds at home for about five days. Then switched to Tylenol and was just very tired and had GI upset off and on. I started feeling like my normal self about six weeks out. I'm now eight weeks out and feel on top of the world having lost 35 pounds and being off of sweets, soda, etc. Good luck!!!

Spinach and Feta Turkey Burgers: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/158968/spinach-and-feta-turkey-burgers/?internalSource=search%20result&referringContentType=search%20results I add half a chopped sweet onion and use about two cups of fresh spinach instead of frozen. Sometimes I substitute goat cheese for the feta. I like the burgers with no bun, dipped in low sugar ketchup.

I took off five weeks and worked from home for one week before returning to work full time last week. My bariatric program recommends five to six weeks as standard for all bypass patients. For me, it turned out to be just the right amount of time. Even at four weeks I had a lot of fatigue and nausea. I feel worlds better now. I'm really glad I took that time to let my body heal and to adjust to things post-surgery. And working from home really helped me ease back into my job. My advice: plan for taking a long time off. That way, if you need all the time, you'll have all your ducks in a row with short term disability and whatever. If you feel better faster, you can always go back earlier. That's easier than having to request more time if you're not ready to go back.

I ate a lot of cottage cheese and Greek yogurt during that phase. I also picked up a tiny bit of fish from the Whole Foods hot bar to try.

Last week was my first week back at work and I thoroughly enjoyed "shopping" in my closet for smaller clothes I haven't been able to wear for a while!

I used insurance for the surgery, but was still left with a hefty bill for items covered at 80 percent. That means I'll be making large monthly payments to the hospital for more than three years. I have many things motivating me to succeed and the amount of money I'm paying and the pain I went through are definitely among them! I'm surprised that alone doesn't motivate more people. Did I really just pay xx-f-----g-thousand dollars to fall head first into a bag of chips or cookies? Hell to the no.

That's one thing I've been a little worried about, inappropriate questions and less that tactful comments as I lose weight. Today was my first day back at work. I'm six weeks out and have lost 30. Pretty much all of my coworkers asked how I was feeling and said I looked good. It was SO nice. I'm really hoping they were being kind/tactful and it's not that I've only lost enough weight to look better in a way they can't quite put their finger on.

Can you find a way to add protein or healthy fats to your snacks? Dip your pretzels in nut butter or have some cheese with crackers.

If you're talking a vaginal yeast infection and you don't want to mess with creams, you can ask your doc for a pill called Diflucan. Just one pill and it clears it up. If you're having repeated infections, I'd try upping your probiotic intake with yogurt, kefir, fermented foods or supplements.

@@Daisee68 If I'm not mistaken, cashews are also particularly high in monounsaturated fat, which might make them a better choice than other nuts, depending on your view of nutrition.

I LOVE roasted veggies too! I usually keep it simple and use plain EVOO and perhaps a little salt. That was pre-surgery actually. So far I can't eat enough veggies to make roasting worth it and still get in all my protein. What's the point of roasting one stalk of asparagus? When I can take in more veggies, I'll have to mix it up after clicking your link. You keep rocking with your roasted veggies!

I like Morningstar Farms products. I'm still early out (six weeks) and I find they are low enough in fat and sugar to meet my nut's requirements of less than 5g fat and 10g sugar per serving. I've been buying from the salad and hot bars at Whole Foods too. They're just generally going to be healthier than say Kroger. While they don't offer nutritional information, each food is labeled and they list the ingredients. I scan the ingredients for sugar and fat. I've gotten some very good chicken, fish, chickpea salad and veggies. They also have prepared zucchini noodles that I've been eyeing. I like to make my own sauce with meat and veggies and that would be a perfect Pasta substitute. The bar is perfect because you can buy just enough, which I've found is a struggle as I eat so much less and I live alone.

I like this! While I agree with @@Ashlegal that folks may still feel compelled to post about their specific situation (the reasons she listed are valid and make sense), I think this could both help vets feel less annoyed AND help the newbs. Topic ideas: Which surgery should I have? recipes Third Week Stall How much time should I take off work? How did you take time off? (info about short-term disability, what you have to/don't have to tell) Since there's so much disagreement about many of these topics, I second the idea of including links to our best old threads about them. Btw, I work as a writer and editor (first for newspapers, now in marketing) and I'm happy to assist if you'd like my help.