Beck90

I am aware this is a hot topic.. My surgeon discourages drinking diet pop but I personally enjoy diet pop.. I've never found it a "slider" food for me on any previous diets. And I know several surgeons DO say it's okay.. I've heard that surgeons say drinking diet pop will stretch your sleeve. I have a feeling this is a scare tactic either because a lot of docs just don't support diet pop and the artificial sweeteners that are in them or are worried about them being "slider foods" so they just say "Oh it'll stretch your sleeve" If it would really stretch your sleeve wouldn't all surgeons be united in agreeing that diet pop is bad? I'm basically wanting to hear from people whose surgeons DO agree with diet pop so I can get another opinion on the matter. Why have your surgeons said it's okay.. what do they say to the "it'll stretch your stomach" (myth?) What guidelines do your surgeons give about drinking it. And also how soon after your surgery did you try diet pop for the first time? NOTE: If you don't agree with my decision to potentially go against what my surgeon suggests please don't lecture me.. I'm well aware and on most things I follow the rules.. but I'm also smart enough to know that if some surgeons allow it there is a reason and I want to find out and have second opinions and I don't feel that's wrong. I've encountered a lot of hostility here toward people who dare to question what their surgeons say so if you don't agree please just ignore this post. THANK YOU.

So.. LOL I started this topic before surgery about drinking diet pop after surgery.. I thought you guys might like to know my experience after being sleeved!!! I'm 7 weeks out and was cleared to try all foods at my visit with NUT. I was also told that I'm doing much better than most of her patients who have the same surgery (losing more, more healthy choices, more exercise). But throughout this time I have missed my diet pepsi something fierce.. and it's not simply a caffeine addiction or a pop addiction - until yesterday I hadn't had a sip of pop in 10 weeks and I had no withdrawal symptoms or problems giving it beyond just.. it tastes good.. but nevertheless I've been missing the taste... the same way you'd miss the taste of lemonade or any other drink you like.. So yesterday we went to eat at Cheddars and I took the plunge.. When we were ready to leave and after we'd eaten (and sat and talked for about an hour) I asked for a diet pop to go. They brought me a roughly small medium to go cup. I took slow sips. I did not have any pain or issues whatsoever other than needing to sip it very slow (for the gas to leave my stomach) and doing a lot of burping LOL and so there you have it. the OP can indeed drink diet pop (through a straw GASP!) upon occasion without a problem apparently lol.

Last night I was craving chocolate like a wild person - so I had some chocolate covered raisins (decently healthy choice for chocolate I feel?) as I'm eating them my mom walks in and goes "Why are you eating so much junk food lately?" -.- okay I didn't know apple juice (within my calorie limits and small portions), veggies and dip, & ham and cheese rolls & choco raisins = junk food but w/e I wanted to scalp her.

Guilty Pleasures - Playing Neopets and Pokemon Go even though I'm an "adult" and loving it! - Enjoying sitting under a fan and relaxing in my tempur pedic bed on a hot day - Sitting with the sliding glass door slightly open when it storms and just watching and listening - Full fat dairy products that my high protein/high fat diet allows me to have! - Reality TV junkie LOVE shows like Teen Mom and Catfish and My 600 pound Life and Hoarders - Medical Shows. Any kind. - Getting to go to the pool 3X a week for Aqua Aerobics class - Sleeping clothesless when I can - Baking (and being able to eat just a bite or two AND feel satisfied AND not worry about gaining) - Going out to eat! - Being able to embrace both my gastric sleeve and my foodie nature and succeed! - The things I imagine doing to people who ask me "Should you be eating that?" bc they know I had WLS

According to my NUT - as you start transitioning to solids it's common to have lots of nausea and for foods to simply not sit right and cause you to get sick. She recommended trying only one new food each day because if you try more than one new thing and get sick then you won't know which one made you sick. I dunno if this tip would help either of you but it's been helpful to me

I think a big part of success is -absolutely- figuring out your issues and what's a slider for you and so on. In my particular case (can't speak for others) treating myself and being adventurous wasn't my problem, nor was emotional eating.. my problem was portion control. I didn't have the self control to shrink my stomach the normal way, and even though I could stop when I was full, it took a sickening amount of food to -get- me full. Endless cycle. I knew the sleeve would help me after researching it because not only did it give me a small new stomach to start over with (as the problem of a stretched out stomach I had already acquired by age 7 before I knew better) and helped take out some of the ghrellin so I don't feel ravenously hungry all the time. My real battle will likely be when my restriction is less as my body adjusts - a year or so down the road. But I'm hoping it wont' actually be a battle because I'll have learned to be satisfied with small portions and learned some healthier habits - and the ghrellin will still be gone. Either way.. there are certain choices I would never make - like you not treating yourself or being adventurous - because I know they would cause me problems. This just wasn't one of them. I try to stay aware of what issues led me to where I was.. and what to do to avoid them Ahhh... But there is a BIG difference between a treat once you've hit goal and maintenance vs. during your soft foods phase. You gotta learn those healthy habits before you use them automatically. I think it just depends on the person.. I am enjoying learning a new way to eat and I find that I'm more successful at it and dedicated to it if I treat myself every once in a while than if I don't (at least that's what I've found out in the last.. 8 weeks of changed dieting? ) If I don't then I start thinking about how long it'll be until I get to maintenance and I just want to give up. So for me personally it seems to go better if I allow for the occasional treat along the way because it gives me focus to do what I need to do without getting sidetracked by "omg how many months will it be before I can have ______ " but that's just me.. the same approach might not work for others at all. I'm only an expert on me lol.

I think a big part of success is -absolutely- figuring out your issues and what's a slider for you and so on. In my particular case (can't speak for others) treating myself and being adventurous wasn't my problem, nor was emotional eating.. my problem was portion control. I didn't have the self control to shrink my stomach the normal way, and even though I could stop when I was full, it took a sickening amount of food to -get- me full. Endless cycle. I knew the sleeve would help me after researching it because not only did it give me a small new stomach to start over with (as the problem of a stretched out stomach I had already acquired by age 7 before I knew better) and helped take out some of the ghrellin so I don't feel ravenously hungry all the time. My real battle will likely be when my restriction is less as my body adjusts - a year or so down the road. But I'm hoping it wont' actually be a battle because I'll have learned to be satisfied with small portions and learned some healthier habits - and the ghrellin will still be gone. Either way.. there are certain choices I would never make - like you not treating yourself or being adventurous - because I know they would cause me problems. This just wasn't one of them. I try to stay aware of what issues led me to where I was.. and what to do to avoid them

@@kmcglo2016 Hi Kelsey! I'm close to Indiana! I live about 30 minutes across the state line from Terre Haute and I come there a lot. I went to college at ISU (grad. 2013) and I come there three times a week for aqua aerobics. I'd be happy to be a buddy. What part of Indiana are you from?

I'd been really bothered about my weight for the past few years when I struggled to find things that looked nice and felt nice that also fit.. shopping had become the most miserable thing and I was also huffing and puffing to do the things I used to love doing. I would have considered surgery as an option if I had known about the sleeve earlier.. I'd heard of gastric bypass - but the things I'd heard about it I knew weren't for me - a lifetime of tons of supplements, high incidence of dumping syndrome, lots of post op complications that can develop and so on.. And I knew I couldn't follow those rules. Finally one night when I was thoroughly frustrated because I didn't get a job I interviewed for.. I decided to randomly google about weight loss surgery.. I took the leap because for now - I don't have a job and I'm on medicaid.. and it occurred to me that when I find a job.. I might not be able to afford the co-pay they would demand and that this might be my only chance if surgery was something I wanted to consider.. so I went ahead and looked at the different types and lo and behold I found the sleeve.. It was basically everything I wanted.. less invasive and less scary than bypass.. no equipment left inside like the band.. and the rules are a little more adaptable to each person (e.g. I've been drinking with a straw since day 1 post surgery and I don't know how I'd survive without it because it helps me control better the size of the sip coming into my mouth - which is very helpful when I'm feeling super restricted) based on their needs, and the risks of complications were less.. I watched a seminar about the surgery and googled for the rest of the evening for articles - everything from blogs to medical journals. It took me about 4 hours total to decide I was going to seek a consult for sleeve surgery and I called my doctor the next day. I've never looked back Compared to others.. my decision was a lot quicker but... that's also just how I am.. I don't take a lot of time to decide things.. I weigh the facts and make a decision in a short amount of time.

Eeeeek! I am all about being adventurous and I LOVE hot dogs but being adventurous on a newly cut and stitched tummy isn't the best idea, in **my opinion**. Hot dogs aren't soft and eating off your diet after weight loss surgery is a personal choice, but not one I'd choose. . There is plenty of time for hot dogs later! I took precautions lol - very small bites and chewed until they were mush. Also.. I had all my Protein in and I had calories left over and my fat and sugar macros were on the lower end (that's how I decide if I can splurge.. I track meticulously on MFP. ) So I decided I could let myself have a treat I've also been tolerating other kinds of meat well (chicken, and fish - which are both on my plan as long as they're chewed well at this point) So this is only what I did lol not what someone else should necessarily do - only my own experience. But I admit I'm very adventuresome at times.

@@SiSSi829 I may take heat for this.. but two months of liquids is insane. If you think you feel malnourished and weak now.. I can't imagine what it'll be like in two months.. I know this because quite honestly I felt how you did and not really like a full human being again until two weeks when I was able to have pureed food.. the Protein drinks and Soups and the like just didn't give me enough energy. I would consider looking at other plans from other hospitals and picking something more moderate... - like a common one is 2 weeks full liquid, 2 weeks puree, 2 weeks soft food, then reintroduce new foods gradually. Like I said people may massacre me for suggesting to go against your doctor's wishes but I can't even imagine how on earth they would expect you to do two months of liquids.. most people struggle to do two or three weeks... You may find the need to educate yourself because it's better to be prepared and educated about what to do if you just can't handle it than wind up eating bacon again next time. This happened to me.. by 7 days in I was so sick of liquid I was either going to not get anything to drink that day or I was going to have some real food.. I just couldn't do it.. So I researched what I should try at the next phase (puree) and did the most gentle options (scrambled eggs with cheese, cottage cheese, and refried Beans pureed) it helped a lot and I know it was the right decision for me PERSONALLY whether my doc would have been okay with it or not.. And I was prepared for that because I'd researched what came next.. If this happens to you again.. and you have some research down.. then you'll know what you can have puree wise if you become desperate. Just my thoughts. Also.. don't beat up on yourself.. bacon wasn't maybe the best choice.. but all you can do is go forward from here.. don't feel depressed and give up! 20 pounds since June 15th is a LOT I'm losing slower than many people - 26 pounds total since my pre-opp diet began on May 18th and Surgery may 31st.. but I believe that even though I may be slow going... It'll stay off better if it comes off gradually. I'm losing enough to still feel successful.. think about what you'd be losing without surgery - it'd come off far slower than 20+ pounds per month. Hang in there!

Hm.. well I'm at the 5 week stage (so a week into soft foods) and I went to a fourth of july cookout last night and went ahead and allowed myself to have a hot dog since they were doing them over the fire which is the best way. I ate it with mustard and ketchup and no bun. Very slow.. It made me burp more than some foods but it didn't make me sick, stayed down, seemed fine. So if you feel like being adventurous you could try it.. I'd only have it to cut the craving though (like me) because they aren't very "healthy"

So it seems like ever since surgery I'm often nauseous in the morning - I wake up feeling -really- yucky. Usually a combination of eating something small and mild (i.e. a slice of cheese ) and drinking + 2-3 hours of time helps.. I'm not sure it's just needing to eat and drink though because I don't feel better right after.. I keep feeling sick for 2-3 hours whether I eat or don't eat.. then later in the day it begins to wear off and I feel normal again.. (And no. no chance I'm pregnant lol not possible.) Have any of you experienced this or does anyone have an idea what might be causing it?

@@FocusOnMeNow - You might indeed! I love zofran. I haven't been taking anything for the nausea.. but I'm kind of wondering if I should be... it's very bothersome and it often sticks around for hours making it hard to eat and drink properly during the day because well.. who wants to eat when they feel like they're gonna toss their Cookies at any minute. I see the NUT on Friday and I'll ask her if she either has any suggestions or can ask the doc if I should consider taking some zofran on mornings I feel nasty.

Okay.. I can't take it anymore.. Not something I expected to talk about on a forum but... During the 800 calorie a day two week pre-opp diet, I first started noticing changing bowel habits.. my stools were loose and watery, but I didn't worry about it much.. My doctor and program never talked once at any point about constipation or changed bowel habits post-surgery and how to deal with that - never even mentioned it could happen. So what's going on now? Basically I've gone from never having problems with constipation to infrequent watery stools with lumps that come only every few days or less and when they do happen it rarely feels like I got "cleaned out" I spend a lot of time feeling bound up over a several hour period and then feel okay again.. for a while.. but it always comes back. I'm -terrified- of the idea of taking a laxitive.. I've never had one.. I don't really understand how they work or if they're safe. I'm scared I'll take one and just wind up with bigger issues.. My mom suggested taking Herb Lax from Shaklee since it's more natural than OTC laxitives but I'm still scared.. I'd love some suggestions for what to take.. if you have experience with herb-lax or a similar medicine I'd love to know about that.. or other medicines... Two things though - it can't be liquid.. it needs to be in pill form and it can't have any artificial cherry flavoring (the latter I'm very allergic to). I would prefer a pill over a powder like metamucil because I just find it hard to believe it's as tasteless as the advertisements insist. Help... encouragement, information, medicines I could take that won't do something bad to me? Please .. don't ask me to talk to my doc lol. I'm not all that comfortable with him / his staff anyway (as many of you know from previous posts) and certainly not about this.. so I'd like to hear from you guys and -your- opinions and experiences that might help me.

Ugh well I've been using a mixture of collace and benefiber and go most days.. if I go 2-3 without I take a second colace and that does the trick.. Still not easy but.. at least it's helping.. the way I understand neither collace nor benefiber are addictive and your bowels don't get to where they "need" these to move right? I'm not at the stage in my diet yet to where I can add in many natural sources of Fiber (still soft foods) so I'm hoping this will improve!

Nope..not that I don't think.. I take my depression/anxiety/bipolar/ constipation cocktail in the morning and my bc/anxiety again/vitamins in the evening with food.

Right away - the day after surgery I was cleared to take all my meds including capsules and large pills.. but since I have meds for mental health (which is a cocktail of three) plus my BC plus the pain meds I felt like I had had a full meal once I got all of them down but I was determined not to need liquids lol

Yes.. I know you're not supposed to drink while you're eating. Yesterday I had a bit of a schedule mismatch because I got so busy that until 6:30 pm I drank a lot but forgot to eat anything but 4 oz of cottage cheese all day. Yes. I am aware this isn't good for my body.. it was an accident. I'm only 4 weeks out so I'm still getting used to "scheduling" meals (especially when I'm busy) because my body doesn't tell me to eat anymore and I'm sooo not used to that - before my stomach would never let me skip a meal.. So I don't have it down to a perfect science yet. So basically let me prefix this with.. I don't need scolding or warning that that wasn't wise.. It was a mistake based on still being new to this.. Anyway - because I ate so little.. I thought I would try drinking a little Water with my supper so I could try to fit in a little more food because.. I did need it.. I had been told drinking while eating was a bad idea because it lets food go through your stomach faster so you can eat more. But it seemed like the opposite happened to me.. It seemed like because I drank I had even LESS room in my stomach to put food in there and got full twice as fast as I normally would. Can anyone explain why my experience was so different than what I'd heard about?

Six which I didn't know how many I'd have so I had no idea what to expect beyond that there'd be multiple incisions.

Nope.. lol I've posted about this before but though they did a good surgery and the nurses were great during my hospital stay, my bariatric team definitely let me down on preparation and on responding to my concerns post surgery. I sort of got stuck with the surgeon and the team I had because of insurance requirements so I really didn't have a choice but had I had a choice I think I'd have gone with someone else. But.. I had six pre-opp weigh ins that weren't even at the place I was gonna have surgery because it was an hour and a half away. They were with my PCP instead. I went to a seminar that had so many people with so much range of knowledge (from knowing everything to asking if they could have a big mac in the hospital after surgery - literally that's not a joke) that it was a gong show. I had one 30 minute consult with my NUT about 8 weeks prior to surgery that left more questions than answers. I met my surgeon two times probably a total of 15 minutes if that before the procedure and one of them was when he came back to say hi to me in pre-opp just before they took me back so that was about a minute. My surgeon dissed my plan for weight loss using Water exercise and told me it was a waste of my time and I can't lose 130 pounds doing that. (I plan to prove him wrong and let him know after I hit goal that I did it all in the water) There was no discussion of nutrition or how to eat if you need to make your own meals.. they gave you three options of meals to eat on each diet (liquids, puree, soft foods) and apparently you're supposed to repeat those same three meals without any variation throughout those entire stages (yeah right..) Instead of teaching you what to eat and why they just gave this very limited three meal menu and said stick to this - I think to save time because there were so many of us.. in the seminar - which was just people being sleeved in the same week I was there were about 30-40 people. I won't see my NUT again until July which will be 7 weeks post opp (and mind I haven't seen her again since 8 weeks pre-opp) because they couldn't work with my schedule (which is pretty dang open.. ) because both their NUTs were going on vacation back to back so their schedules were very busy and the one slot they had for me was the same time as one of my counseling appointments that I didn't feel I could miss for personal reasons so since I couldn't take that EXACT time I was shunted out until July - which is fine with me I can research what to eat on my own but did make me feel not cared about.. I wasn't given very limited reading material that stuck to the anatomical descriptions of what happens and what to expect during the healing process with basic wound care info and that was all. When I called in with a question post opp I had to wait 5 hours for a nurse to return my call. They never talked to me about bodily changes like possible constipation or pain management after I went home or how to handle these things or even mentioned that they might happen. ------- Now I'm not posting this to diss on my surgical team.. I'm merely posting it because the OP asked if we felt prepared and I wanted to show how... bad.. frankly it can get in terms of bariatric teams not preparing you. In my case my team is a very busy team.. every step of the way with getting insurance clearance if I didn't call and bug them almost every day it wouldn't get done. I know because my initial referral sat there for three weeks without them doing anything with it or calling me to schedule to come in to start doing testing for insurance clearance.. and everything else was the same way.. I'd call and ask and they'd say "Oh that hasn't been sent off yet / done yet.. I'll get right on it" and then it'd take another 2 weeks with me calling twice more in the mean time. This hospital mixes bariatrics with general surgery so it's always cram packed, extra busy, and no one who specializes in taking care of the bariatric patients.. you're just left to compete with everyone else having surgery to get your needs met so you have to be your own advocate. I'm sure if I hadn't called as much as I did even though I started in October of 2015 I probably STILL wouldn't be scheduled for a surgery date.. However, I feel that no matter how busy your team is there's no excuse for the minimal amount of pre-opp care I received and no excuse for the dismissive care post opp. If you're going to offer a procedure to people you need to have a more structured schedule with real time put in for these things... Thankfully, I know how to research and I did.. I looked up binders and handbooks other hospitals give out to their patients, looked up different diet plans for after, found recipes, read and posted as much on this forum as I could, read medical journals.. but I will say that this forum did more of a job preparing me for my surgery and life after than my bariatric team did... which is a little sad. I worry about the people going through the program who came to the seminar asking if they could eat a big mac in the hospital post - opp.. because left to their own devices they're never going to come out okay and they clearly haven't researched on their own and the team won't prepare them any better than they did me soo

I have a fitbit. I got it while I was on my liver diet - so about 6 weeks ago now and I love it.. I have the flex which is the simplest model and the only one that is Water proof. I talked directly with customer service from fitbit about it because I wanted one that was for sure safe to use in water as my exercise method is aqua aerobics.. and they said the flex was fine to use in water up to a certain depth (which unless you're going snorkling or deep sea diving shouldn't be an issue). It's easy to use and because it's so small it's comfortable to wear and pretty bendable and stretchy (except where the tracker is in of course) it's easy to sync to my phone and it syncs with My Fitness Pal so if I exercise a lot I earn extra calories on MFP for the day (though I don't usually use them but it's fun to see "You have earned 200 extra calories from exercising today!" pop up!) I'd definitely recommend the flex.. now if you don't want to go in the water or don't need to go in the water I really like the looks of their brand new Alta as well.

Not wanting to talk to my surgeon isn't a matter of shyness. It's a matter of his lack of bedside manner and just him and I not jiving on a lot of points it's been an ongoing issue for months where I haven't felt happy with the treatment (and attitude) I've gotten from his staff. To be frank, I was never even told by him or anyone in my program that I could experience this issue at all or what to do if it happened. So returning to them after multiple disappointments on my care beyond necessary follow ups just isn't realistic if I want to get actual answers. Thankfully I do have a great relationship with my pcp and if I can't get it to improve on its own using colace and benefiber (so glad to hear it's not the way I feared ) I'll reach out to him next week. Also, I'm kinda skeptical my insurance will pay for skin removal down the line anyway usually they rule that cosmetic and very few people (unless they were much more overweight than me) qualify for insurance help to get medically "necessary" skin surgery at least that's what I've been told by my surgeon though it wouldn't surprise me a great deal if he wasn't giving straight info about that as well. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Mostly because I'm ultra sensitive to the flavors in liquid medicine and often throw up after taking any kind of liquid meds.. especially cherry but it happens with other flavors too. So it's usually better for me if I can take a flavor-less pill. Like when they did my gastrographen x-ray after surgery to make sure I didn't have a leak I wound up dry heaving for over an hour just because my body didn't agree with it. So to avoid losing Fluid.. it's better not to take the chance.