HorsecollarMinnie

I started when I moved to solids (3w). I get the benefits and know I should have done it during my pre-op time. I still struggle logging everything I eat. Good reminder to see these posts.
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Just so we're clear, the word "judgemental" gets thrown around a lot on this forum. You can feel judged by someone, even if they weren't being judgemental and that is your own issue. Not being able to accept the truth.
Judgmental: "I'm a much better person than you, and always will be because I didn't cheat on my pre-op diet. Failures like you don't deserve this wonderful opportunity to change their lives for the better because you're just going to waste it anyway."
Enabling: "I know, I cheated on my pre-op diet too and I was fine so I wouldn't worry about it! It's just a suggested diet anyway and you know what your body needs more than some doctor! You got this girl!"
Bullying: "Why are you so stupid? Morons like you should be taken out of the gene pool, since you obviously took a shallow dive to begin with. If I was there right now I'd seriously whoop you because I can't stand people who come around here looking for sympathy because they are screw ups."
Supportive: "I can appreciate that this is really hard, because I went through it myself 2 years ago. The temptations don't go away, you will probably always struggle some. But it gets easier the longer you make the right choices. I think you really need to consider why you had this surgery if you aren't making 100% efforts to follow your doctor's guidelines."

I had my gastric sleeve done January 11th. I weighed 333.1lbs.
I'm 10 months post op now and weigh 144.2lbs.
I've set new goal weights as I've gone along...first was just to get under 200lbs, then I thought I wanted my goal weight to be 180lbs. When I got there, I made the crazy goal of 150lbs never thinking I'd make it....but I did. So then I figured my goal would be 145lbs which puts me at a normal bmi...which I haven't been since I was around 10.
Now that I weight 144lbs, I've decided my final goal will 133lbs, which will mean I will have lost a total of 200lbs....and I'll do it, I know I can.
I never thought when I had surgery that weighing in the 130's would even be possible.
I've gone from wearing sizes 5-6x, and 28-30, now I wear smalls and mediums and am a size 8....I would be around a 6 if it wasn't for the large amount of skin I have around my stomach and thighs....but it's a price I'm more than happy to pay.
I've been extremely disciplined this whole 10 months. I can honestly say I've never put a bad food in my mouth...not once. I follow a very low carb diet still, drink about 85oz of Water every day and get in around 80oz of Protein. I take all my required Vitamins daily.
The gym has become a big part of my life. I workout around 5-6 days per week doing a variety of exercising....spin class, step  class, yoga, cardio machines....I like doing different things so I don't get bored.
Anyway, because I'm so close to goal, I just wanted to share this. And for the people who have a lot of weight to lose like I did....remember, you can do this! I'm living proof!!
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I've lost over 30 inches from my chest, stomach, biceps, thighs and calfs. I'm down to 246 pounds for a total loss of 66 pounds. I went to Goodwill today and bought a 17.5 shirt, a XL sweater and a pair of 32x30 Wrangler slim fit jeans! I can clearly recall being in southern California and looking for 33 pants. I would have been 9 or just turned 10 as we moved to Oregon a month after I turned 10. Sad but true...



This fat man can kiss my saggy ass !

I was going to say $#$%%^ ^%$%^* $%^*&*( @#$*&*&^, !!!!!!!!!!! but I think I'll quietly exit this thread.

I specifically didn't cheat because I was trying to recondition myself mentally, prior to surgery. My thinking was, if I couldn't succeed at following the rules for two weeks pre-surgery, how was I going to succeed at this long-term? I took a lot of pride in sticking to the plan, and it paid off when I weighed in the morning of surgery. I feel that pre-op diet really set the tone, for me.

I was lucky in that my surgeon doesn't do a strict pre-op diet. She recommends replacing 2 meals with Protein shakes, and having one "healthy" meal a day, plus "healthy snacks" as needed. I probably wasn't eating as healthy as she had in mind, but I did the best I could. She said she has found that unless someone clearly has fatty liver disease, the pre-op diets don't make that much difference as far as liver size or safety in surgery. The only thing she's definite on is not eating or drinking 12 hours before surgery which is standard so the stomach is empty since that's what's being operated on, plus anything on the stomach can cause problems with anesthesia.
The pre-op diet was the hardest part for me, because before surgery there's nothing to curb the cravings and hunger drives. Even just trying to keep things "healthy" and only have my shakes for Breakfast and lunch was hard. I certainly wasn't perfect in those two weeks, but I did the best I could. Doc said my liver was fine, there were no complications.
I agree with @@LipstickLady that we need to get away from the idea of "cheating". We're all adults here, it's not like we are getting away with anything like in school. Our choices have consequences, and my choices will be different from yours. I do not severely restrict carbs. I eat bread and rice and fruit. That's because I get violently ill in ketogenesis, and my doctor and I agree on my eating plan. Other people function best when they don't eat carbs, and/or are working with a surgical team that has a different approach (e.g. ketogenic).
I made the choice to eat chocolate cake this weekend for my birthday. In fact, I didn't track a single thing I ate this weekend, and didn't worry about Protein goals or calorie counts or anything else. What's different about now vs. before surgery is that I only ate what I wanted, and I listened to my body about when I was done. I even learned that for anything that sugary, more than about 2 bites makes me miserable. Won't do that again. I don't think I "cheated" or that I need to confess it. I made a choice. I don't regret it, and certainly don't need anyone's approval. Some people here might think I'm crazy for doing that during my weight loss period, but it's the choice *I* made, and I get to deal with the consequences. I figured I'd gain a pound or two, or at least stay where I was, but I actually lost a pound over the weekend. I attribute that to eating mostly on plan even though I didn't track, and not going overboard with the indulgence. It may catch up to me in the end, it may not. Either way, I made a choice.
Where I really think the concept of "cheating" is dangerous is when it comes to post-op diet advancement. "Cheating" there is about compromising safety and recovery, and is so much more than just "being naughty". Eating something you haven't been cleared for can have deadly consequences. I think that's why so many of the vets here are seen as being harsh and judgmental about "cheating".
As a nurse, I shudder every time I see someone talking about eating steak or tacos or whatever 3 days out or 1 week out or whatever amount of time out but they haven't been cleared for it by their docs. And I want to scream at people who then come behind that person and say "it's OK, you're just human", or worse "I did that, and I'm fine." It sends the absolute wrong message to other people who are struggling post-op and want to "cheat" on their diet advancement plan. I have treated patients who were in their late 90's and in excellent health who drank whiskey and ate bacon every day of their life. That doesn't mean drinking whiskey and eating bacon every day is a good health choice just because this one person did it and had no issues. One person can eat something with seeds 3 days out and have no apparent ill effects. Another can eat the same thing the same 3 days out and have a life-threatening abscess. And no, I'm not being dramatic. People have literally died or come close to it because they violated the diet advancement their doctor gave them.
The person who chose to eat something before their doc said OK doesn't need to be shamed, but they do need to be told that it could be dangerous and that they need to check with their doc's office at the very least to find out what signs or symptoms they should be looking for to indicate a serious problem. And the other newbies reading the thread need to get the message clear and loud that it's not "cheating" post-op, it's playing with your life. As much as I was desperate for something pureed or something to chew when I was on my liquid restrictions post-op, I dug down and figured out how to push through because it wasn't about "cheating" it was about my safety.
I know this thread isn't about post-op, but every time I see a vet getting bashed for giving what some see as "judgemental" advice it frankly hacks me off. There are vets who I'm sure cringe every time I post about eating carbs. Even if they posted judgemental things about my statements, I wouldn't bash them because they're operating from what they were taught by their teams, and what they learned through their experience. They may be right. They certainly have the experience of successful weight loss and maintenance, and I don't. Until I'm sitting at my goal weight 3 years post-op, I'm swinging in the dark at this. I try to make that clear when I post advice... that I'm just a beginner at this process. I have access to medical materials that inform me, but that doesn't replace direct experience. The people who have been successful at this have the most direct experience, and they need to feel free to share it without being bashed.
(stepping off the soap box)

I never expected anyone to stop eating what they wanted because of my surgery. We will constantly be around temptations....holidays, party's, work functions, movies theaters, restaurants, vacations etc.
Even though it sucks, it's good to work those will power muscles

I had this bowl of cottage cheese after 21 days of liquids post op the other day and it was amazing. Couldn't finish it, but still so delicious.
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You can download the eat slower app. Some people use infant utensil. My NUT had me practice eating slow pre-op. Another thing your can try is being really conscious of how you are eating. No eating while watching tv or being online. If you use a regular spoon/fork, only put food on the very tip. The shew slooowwwly, allowing the food to dissolve n your mouth before swallowing. Then put the utensils down and count to 20. REPEAT.

Below is the gist of what I posted on my first year surgiversary. I'm now 20.5 months post-op, have lost 100 pounds and am now maintaining happily and easily at 135 pounds.
Very best to you!
Ann
A year ago yesterday I was sleeved at age 68. I knew I had the energy for one last shot at getting healthy. Like so many of us, controlling my weight was the one thing in my life I’d been unable to manage. Failing at that was a tremendous embarrassment and disappointment to me, not to mention the cause of mounting medical comorbidities that had almost sidelined me from life.

A year ago I’d already been on WLS forums for 9 months. I could not WAIT to get my WLS show on the road. I’d already lost almost 20 pounds on a 2-month 1,400 calorie diet of my own and, later, my surgeon’s 14-day pre-op diet. I’d been practicing for months the behaviors I’d learned here—eating slower, chewing more, no more soda, a lot less coffee, no NSAIDs (ouch!), walking more (yea, Fitbit!), and my favorite tool of all—planning meals and tracking my food and drink on www.myfitnesspal.com.

Fast-forward to yesterday morning, my first surgiversary. I weighed in at 143 pounds. I feel great, physically and mentally. I look so much younger (I’ll be 70 years old in December). And I truly feel like I’ve been reborn.

How I Lost the Weight

I was lucky—had no complications, had a great surgeon and team, healed well and recovered fast, and have had more non-scale victories (NSVs) than you could shake a stick at. I’m full of gratitude and amazement at all of WLS’s benefits for me.

Below is a list of things I did (mostly pretty well) that led to my success. As always, your mileage may vary. This was my experience. Yours will be yours.

• Ate the minimum amount of protein—at least 60 grams to start with (hit that target on Day Five post-op)
• Ate Protein first at every meal
• Drank 8 glasses of Water daily (or at the very least 8 glasses of liquids daily)
Protip #1: Dehydration slows weight loss and makes you feel like crap.
Protip #2: Our kidneys work overtime when we’re losing weight rapidly and need lots of Water to function well.
Protip #3: You can actually die from dehydration. • As healing happened and restriction eased, added healthy (colored) veggies, then non-starchy fruits, then whole grains
• Took my vitamins/minerals and Rxs daily and on schedule
• Ate 3 meals a day
• Chewed my food well and ate more slowly
• Didn’t drink 15 minutes before or 30 minutes after a meal
• When I got hungry (not bored), I added one or two Snacks of healthy food
• Didn’t graze between meals (note that “a snack” and “grazing” are different things)
• Avoided / minimized highly processed, high-carb foods and slider foods like potatoes, white rice, white breads, crackers, Cookies, chips, ice cream
Protip: These foods slow weight loss and, for some people, trigger binge eating. • Moved more than I used to move and gradually kept moving even more
• Followed the Number One Exercise Rule for Old People: Don’t injure yourself!
• Got some sunshine daily, which kept me full of happy thoughts and Vitamin D
• Tried to sleep 8 hours a night
• Minimized stress—for me, this meant I stopped sweating the small stuff and learned that most stuff really is small stuff
• Am seeing a shrink to understand better why I couldn’t or didn’t care for my health better prior to WLS and to learn how to do better in the future (as the saying goes, they operate on your stomach, not your head).

Unsolicited Advice:

I’ve been at or below goal for 4 months now. Here are some things I learned while losing weight and during maintenance (at which I’m still a newbie). Some of these things have surprised me. And as always, your mileage may vary.

• Don’t feel pressured into telling the world you’re having WLS. Do what is best for you. Just know that “telling a few people” may not be the best way to keep your WLS private. There are a lot of mouthy people out there. I'm on the down-low about WLS; other than my medical team, only my hubby and two good friends (who don't live anywhere near me) know about my WLS.

• Don’t overeat, but don’t starve yourself either. As your healing continues, eat more healthy food and raise your calories gradually. Otherwise, you may wind up reaching your weight goal but only able to maintain it eating 1,000 calories/day. Ugh! At 143 pounds, my daily maintenance calorie budget is 1,700 calories/day. I am over the moon about that. I think it’s because I didn’t starve myself while I was losing weight. I ate 800 calories during Months 1-4, 1,000 calories during Months 5-6, and 1,200 calories during Months 7-8. As my calories went up, so did my Protein grams. I still aim for 100 grams of protein daily.

• Post-op, don’t just eat to lose weight—also eat to become healthier. Learn more about nutrition—macronutrients, trace elements, Vitamin and mineral supplements. Read articles and good research. As smart as I thought I was, turns out I didn’t know nearly as much as I needed to know to care well for myself.

• If you’re craving sugar, you’re probably already eating sugar. The only way I know to kill those cravings is to cold-turkey the sugar.

• Don’t let anyone pressure you into having WLS. This is a life-changing deal. A year down the road you’ll probably be able to eat pretty much anything you want, although not in massive quantities at one time. And you’ll need to always be vigilant about your nutrition, meal-planning, eating behaviors, etc.

• WLS won’t prevent binge-eating or emotional eating. It will discourage it, but it won’t prevent it. There are plenty of WLS patients who’ve learned to eat and drink around their tools. I personally know folks who’ve wasted their sleeve, bypass or band with (sigh) sweet tea, Mountain Dew, beer, Wheat Thins, ice cream, chips and dips. What those drinks and foods all have in common, other than being high-calorie and lacking in nutrition, is that the sleeve cannot challenge them. They move rapidly through the sleeve and into the small intestine. You can eat that crap all day long and never start to feel full. Remember, it’s a shame to waste a sleeve.

Very, very best wishes to everyone out there considering a VSG or other form of WLS. You can change your life with WLS if you use your tool well. But you must understand it’s only one tool in a bigger healthcare arsenal that you must acquire and use daily.

That is also my first sign. If a small burp doesn't move it. It's definitely time for me to stop. I also get a runny nose.

@@lizardqueen I feel pressure where my esophagus is - it's always 1 bite too many when that happens

Omg I love whisps but they are a slider for me!
You've gotten tons of good suggestions here. Also search for the Protein Mug Cake here it's awesome.
I'm also doing ricotta cheese mixed with vanilla Protein powder pumpkin purée and pie spice! Tastes like pumpkin spice mousse!

I've only been here for about 6 months, and I'm only 3 months post-op, but you're really on the wrong track here. When September is 6 months in your rearview mirror and you've actively participated, do me a favor and revisit this topic. I can promise you your attitude will change. There is a small handful of dedicated, seasoned and well-informed veterans on this site who tirelessly answer the SAME 20 QUESTIONS over and over and over and over and over again. They VOLUNTEER to do this. Willingly give up their own time to try to help the rest of us. So when one of them starts a thread about what she will/won't answer questions about, it's long overdue and they don't need a 2 or 3 week member, still pre-op, telling them what they should or shouldn't do. I was not a huge fan of some of the vets when I first arrived, but that's completely changed as I observe the rank stupidity they're willing to deal with day after day, solely to ensure that anyone reading doesn't take any of the rank stupidity to heart. Try dealing with the vets as carefully as you'd deal with the newbs...they deserve that and more, from all of us.

Yes. I just sit at home and stare at walls because I don't like freaking Applebees. You're right.

You'll hear things from your bariatric surgeon that seem to conflict conventional dietary advice over and over again.
On the surface it may seem to bit a bit wonky.
There is one underlying premise that you must embrace for your nutritional needs to be met after having VSG surgery...at least in the first year. That rule is SUPPLEMENTATION IS KEY !!!!!!
You have limited room in your new stomach. Get your protein in. Supplement with bariatric Multivitamins, Iron, Calcium citrate, B-12 and Fiber drinks like Metamucil. Be mindful of the timing of this supplementation as Calcium needs to be taken at distant time intervals from vitamins and Iron.
Your surgeon & hopefully your NUT should coach you up here.
As you gain the capacity to move from the initial 1/4 cup up to the full cup meals....you will be able to add in wholesome foods that contain the nutrients that may allow you to cut back on the supplementation....YMMV.
Remember....the goal is to lose weight and spare muscle structure in those initial months. The diet you embrace during the first year is geared toward maximum fat loss. The diet you embrace later will be more in line with what you'll do for the rest of your life.
Now.......these are just my own opinions........based on the numerous conversations I've had with my surgeon and my own experiences. It works for me and is relevant to my own goals. It's all about finding your stride and blazing you own trial. Just understand that this wls path comes in stages & phases and our gameplan needs to be in accord with each step of this.
Change is the only constant during this first year. Trust & Believe.

@@trekker954 therapists are just people. Some of them are going to be better than others at what they do, just like some people are better at being diplomatic than others. I've been in therapy since I was 10 and I've known more mediocre ones than good ones, but once I found the right therapists for me, they made an enormous difference. There's also a definite length of time you need to go to one before you even know if it would help or if the therapist and you connect with each other. You may have even passed up a great therapist by giving up way too early. It's a process; they can't just bandage our emotional wounds and send us on our way with a pain killer, thus fixing our problems. You have to work with them over a period of time to first identify what the issues are then figure out how to solve them or, in many cases, how to cope with them. They are trained to help you help yourself, rather than telling you how to magically fix a problem. The best therapy I've had was more like talking to a friend that will never judge me and figuring out my own problems through introspection and hard work, and my friend was there to guide me and encourage me and give me unbiased, objective opinions and advice. It can be great if you really try and give it some time! It's saved my life more than once and helped me lose 250 pounds and take control of my life and health, all things I never really believed I could do.

OK I've finally decided to be brave and post a couple of photos, apologies they are pretty poor quality as I'm not overly fond of pictures but before was June last year, the latest one is yesterday (I was obviously concentrating on something else in that one ????)

I had this bowl of cottage cheese after 21 days of liquids post op the other day and it was amazing. Couldn't finish it, but still so delicious.
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Most gummies don't have iron--typically the reason we are told to avoid.
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I had this bowl of cottage cheese after 21 days of liquids post op the other day and it was amazing. Couldn't finish it, but still so delicious.
Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

So i joined here before surgery and since have seen so many pics and stories and think how the hell can you live in a body and not see a 20,30,70,100 lb weight change? I am still stalled i lost count of what number stall or how long this one is , but im starting to get the "hey you lost weight , you look great "comments. I look in the mirror and even though i see the scale changing and clothes fit different (same size as before i started) i feel the same amount of fat..and then i did a side by side...hw226,sw212,cw178 surgery 6/1

I had this bowl of cottage cheese after 21 days of liquids post op the other day and it was amazing. Couldn't finish it, but still so delicious.
Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I had this bowl of cottage cheese after 21 days of liquids post op the other day and it was amazing. Couldn't finish it, but still so delicious.
Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App