2goldengirl

No, lettuce does not expand in your stomach. I never heard such rubbish. When lettuce gets wet, it WILTS. Especially in the presence of stomach acid.
I had salad for lunch today - one of those ready-packed salads, so a small portion. Probably two cups of greens, mostly iceberg lettuce. I know that iceberg and romaine work OK for me. I was able to eat the entire salad, and I added a hard-boiled egg to it cause there wasn't enough chicken in it.
And for dinner, I'd made lamb stew. I was able to eat only 2 oz of lamb, one slice of carrot, and a half-slice of parsnip. No, I did not stretch my sleeve out eating lettuce for lunch.
I'm thrilled to find out lettuce works as a slider for me. I love salad, and I love growing lettuce. There are so many kinds to grow that you never see in stores. They're beautiful, and tasty, and have names like "Frizzy Haired Drunken Woman" and "Flashy Troutback".

No, lettuce does not expand in your stomach. I never heard such rubbish. When lettuce gets wet, it WILTS. Especially in the presence of stomach acid.
I had salad for lunch today - one of those ready-packed salads, so a small portion. Probably two cups of greens, mostly iceberg lettuce. I know that iceberg and romaine work OK for me. I was able to eat the entire salad, and I added a hard-boiled egg to it cause there wasn't enough chicken in it.
And for dinner, I'd made lamb stew. I was able to eat only 2 oz of lamb, one slice of carrot, and a half-slice of parsnip. No, I did not stretch my sleeve out eating lettuce for lunch.
I'm thrilled to find out lettuce works as a slider for me. I love salad, and I love growing lettuce. There are so many kinds to grow that you never see in stores. They're beautiful, and tasty, and have names like "Frizzy Haired Drunken Woman" and "Flashy Troutback".

The first beef or pork I tried was meatballs, and they worked fine. I bought a bag at the market, so they were no doubt ground more finely than if they were homemade. I had some pork tenderloin a couple weeks later, no problem. I haven't tried steak or hamburger yet. Lamb stew over the weekend was fine. I'm two months out tomorrow.
I think the trick is not trying things like this too soon.

One more thing I heartily recommend to anyone the day before a planned surgery: Do something nice for yourself. Get a massage, a mani/pedi without polish, go for a walk in the park, put candles on the table and use the good china for dinner - even if dinner is chicken broth. Any of these. Prepping for surgery is stressful, no two ways about it. Taking the time to do things that soothe and relax you pay off big time.

Speaking only for myself, I'd prefer an occasional glass of wine to an occasional four Cookies, hands down.
I'm an adult. I'm educated and capable of educating myself about the pros and cons of alcohol intake now that I'm sleeved.
I neither want or need anything beyond education on the matter from my bariatric team. Like every bite I put in my mouth and every step I take toward improved fitness, these are my responsibilities for my life, and my lifetime. I neither want nor need draconian edicts in an attempt to scare me into adherence into what anyone thinks I "must" do, or not. It's paternalistic, patronizing, and unwelcome.

OK. First, your body carries Fluid (mostly water) in lots of different compartments: inside cells, outside cells, in your bloodstream, outside your bloodstream, all over the place. Your body seeks balance between fluid held inside and outside all those different places. What happens when you have surgery? First, you are deprived of fluid coming in to your body from food or drink for a number of hours beforehand. Then, during and after surgery, you get liters of fluid pumped into your bloodstream (it goes into a vein through your IV, remember). You still aren't getting fluid by the usual means - through food and drink - for some time after. Fluid that you normally ingest gets absorbed during the process of digestion. It gets filtered into your veins through the blood vessels throughout your digestive tract. IV fluids get dumped directly into a vein without that filtering. So right there, your veins are going "hey! that's a lot of Water there!", and they get the rest of the cells working to move the extra from inside the veins to where it belongs.
And then you have surgery. Things get moved around, and cut, and jostled. Swelling happens. Swelling is (among other things) the movement of fluid from inside the cells, where it belongs, to outside the cells, where it has leaked out because the cells are damaged and send cellular cleanup crews to work on that.
So we have fluid going into and out of places where it doesn't belong on an everyday basis, because surgery isn't an everyday event. It takes time for the body to get it's fluid balance back. That process is commonly known as a postop fluid shift. Some folks take longer for this fluid shift to resolve than others, but it happens to everyone, it's just a normal part of the way our bodies work.
For the first week or so postop, our bodies are just trying to deal with the trauma of surgery. They are not interested in our weightloss goals. That's as it should be.
I hope this helps!

This is not a stall, it's a completely normal postop Fluid shift. Stop driving yourself crazy and stay off the scale. This has been one of my standard lessons to postop clients for decades, no matter the kind of surgery they had.

At 23 days (or 2 weeks for the previous post), you are still awfully busy on the inside, recovering from major surgery. don't kid yourself cause you only have teeny incisions, there was major work involved. And your intake of calories is low. Combine the two, it's no wonder you haven't any energy.
it's possible your "carbs are way too low". Surgeons differ widely on their postop recommendations re: carbohydrate, but your brain relies on carbohydrate alone for fuel. You need SOME carbs.
I'm six weeks out today. I went back to work April 11. I still don't have my usual energy level, but I do notice with time and with the gradual increase in calories recommended by my surgeon (she wants me at 600-800 until week 8, then 800-1200 after that) that it's improving. This week is the first few days I haven't needed a nap after work + 1 hr. commute.
Rest when you need to, and give your body time to heal.

Speaking only for myself, I'd prefer an occasional glass of wine to an occasional four Cookies, hands down.
I'm an adult. I'm educated and capable of educating myself about the pros and cons of alcohol intake now that I'm sleeved.
I neither want or need anything beyond education on the matter from my bariatric team. Like every bite I put in my mouth and every step I take toward improved fitness, these are my responsibilities for my life, and my lifetime. I neither want nor need draconian edicts in an attempt to scare me into adherence into what anyone thinks I "must" do, or not. It's paternalistic, patronizing, and unwelcome.

This is a blog. It's complete crap. You really need to stay off the internet if you're going to fall for stuff like this. STOP.
Do you have any calming techniques you use for anxiety? If you do, you need to start to use the and stop trolling the internet for clickbait hogwash like this. NOW.

I can't wait to get to a 30# loss. Why? Because I've never lost 30# in my life. The best I've ever done is 20-something. Usually I don't focus overmuch on numbers of lbs, but that one is a mental milestone for me. And I've lost 14 so far, so I'm almost halfway there even before surgery.

This isn't something to bring, but something to do. If you are a coffee, tea, cola, or Mtn. Dew drinker (that is, you use caffeine), decaffeinate yourself BEFORE surgery. This is easiest to do over a few days - either cut back on how many cups of your caffeinatated beverage gradually, or change the mix of caff/decaf in your coffeepot.
Caffeine withdrawal can give you a wicked headache that pain meds often don't touch, and can make nausea postop worse.

Stop. Stop. Stop. At two weeks out, your body has ONE goal: heal from surgery. It grabs on to every bit of nourishment it can so rebuild tissues. Don't expect to see much more than Fluid shift and initial losses from a drastic reduction in calories until you're a month out. The real healing point is between 4 and 6 weeks, no matter what you feel like. that's when you are healed enough to really get serious with the weight loss.

Actually, for me it isn't about the alcohol at all. It's more the all-or-nothing, "WLS patients can't be trusted to make good decisions" attitude that fries me. I'm a grownup. This is my life, my sleeve, and my health. I accept full responsibility for them.

Speaking only for myself, I'd prefer an occasional glass of wine to an occasional four Cookies, hands down.
I'm an adult. I'm educated and capable of educating myself about the pros and cons of alcohol intake now that I'm sleeved.
I neither want or need anything beyond education on the matter from my bariatric team. Like every bite I put in my mouth and every step I take toward improved fitness, these are my responsibilities for my life, and my lifetime. I neither want nor need draconian edicts in an attempt to scare me into adherence into what anyone thinks I "must" do, or not. It's paternalistic, patronizing, and unwelcome.

Hiccups!

I'm so sorry for your loss.
Of course you can start over at 62. There are folks here who had their surgeries later than that. I'm over 60, and I'm preop. You've had your surgery and have healed from it, so you're ahead of the game.
Starting out by revisiting the rules is a terrific idea and a great place to start. Congratulations on getting to this point in recovery from your loss. Now it's time to take care of yourself and the investment in your health you made when you had your surgery. There are lots of friendly cheerleaders here!

You've really got yourself tied up in knots over all this. I'm sorry you're feeling so out of control.
You are not going to die because you're having a tough time in the early days. I couldn't keep anything at all down until I was a week postop, and nothing but Clear Liquids after that for another 10 days after that. I'm halfway between five and six weeks and I'm meeting Protein, Fluid, and calorie goals. Really.
You are not going to "die young after having so many complications from getting 70% of my stomach removed and losing all those important hormones." All what important hormones? The only hormone you're losing is ghrelin, the hormone that can lead to overeating.
Buyer's remorse is very, very, VERY common in the first month after surgery, especially for people who have a rougher time than others. I've observed from reading these boards that it's also very common in younger individuals with less life experience who may also have less understanding of how our bodies work. Lack of knowledge can really contribute to fear of the "what if's".
Don't let that derail you. If you haven't already been in touch with your surgeon about the trouble you're having, call. Now. I don't care if it's the weekend, there is always someone on call 24/7.
Hang in there. You can do this!

You've really got yourself tied up in knots over all this. I'm sorry you're feeling so out of control.
You are not going to die because you're having a tough time in the early days. I couldn't keep anything at all down until I was a week postop, and nothing but Clear Liquids after that for another 10 days after that. I'm halfway between five and six weeks and I'm meeting Protein, Fluid, and calorie goals. Really.
You are not going to "die young after having so many complications from getting 70% of my stomach removed and losing all those important hormones." All what important hormones? The only hormone you're losing is ghrelin, the hormone that can lead to overeating.
Buyer's remorse is very, very, VERY common in the first month after surgery, especially for people who have a rougher time than others. I've observed from reading these boards that it's also very common in younger individuals with less life experience who may also have less understanding of how our bodies work. Lack of knowledge can really contribute to fear of the "what if's".
Don't let that derail you. If you haven't already been in touch with your surgeon about the trouble you're having, call. Now. I don't care if it's the weekend, there is always someone on call 24/7.
Hang in there. You can do this!

One thing you can do from the full liquid stage on is soupe aux legumes - French housewife's vegetable Soup. This makes a delicious first course or snack for you, add unflavored Protein powder for him. Nothing could be simpler, just heat up some chicken or vegetable broth and add roughly chopped veggies as you like. Some aromatics, some zucchini & green Beans, a can of tomatoes, spinach/kale/chard, even that lettuce from the vegetable drawer that looks tired. Bits and bobs from the freezer. Simmer til the veggies are very soft, then puree with a stick blender. Season with salt & pepper. I add a tablespoon or two of pesto per batch as an easy seasoning. I had some of this yesteday cause I was hungry when I came home from work yesterday but still had to prep dinner. I added a teaspoon (honest, I measured) of cream drizzled over it. It was delicious! Add more or less broth to thin it if you need to. I think a teensy dash of sherry would be nice, too. Or Sriracha. Or a bit of grated cheese.
We have a big container of this is the fridge right now, I'm playing with things preop.

Actually, for me it isn't about the alcohol at all. It's more the all-or-nothing, "WLS patients can't be trusted to make good decisions" attitude that fries me. I'm a grownup. This is my life, my sleeve, and my health. I accept full responsibility for them.

Speaking only for myself, I'd prefer an occasional glass of wine to an occasional four Cookies, hands down.
I'm an adult. I'm educated and capable of educating myself about the pros and cons of alcohol intake now that I'm sleeved.
I neither want or need anything beyond education on the matter from my bariatric team. Like every bite I put in my mouth and every step I take toward improved fitness, these are my responsibilities for my life, and my lifetime. I neither want nor need draconian edicts in an attempt to scare me into adherence into what anyone thinks I "must" do, or not. It's paternalistic, patronizing, and unwelcome.

It's not some conspiracy designed to get you to purchase anything, so let that go.
There IS a big educational push by pulmonologists to get more people tested for sleep apnea, because it's estimated that a much larger percentage of the population have it than are diagnosed. Untreated sleep apnea, especially more severe forms, is a huge long-term health risk.
I had the study even though I was certain I didn't have sleep apnea, because I don't snore. Guess what? I have it. Now that I have a CPAP, I sleep MUCH better and my energy level has improved.
Untreated sleep apnea also slows your metabolism, which may be why bariatric surgeons are more on board with testing their patients.

It's not some conspiracy designed to get you to purchase anything, so let that go.
There IS a big educational push by pulmonologists to get more people tested for sleep apnea, because it's estimated that a much larger percentage of the population have it than are diagnosed. Untreated sleep apnea, especially more severe forms, is a huge long-term health risk.
I had the study even though I was certain I didn't have sleep apnea, because I don't snore. Guess what? I have it. Now that I have a CPAP, I sleep MUCH better and my energy level has improved.
Untreated sleep apnea also slows your metabolism, which may be why bariatric surgeons are more on board with testing their patients.