TracyBar

That's so awful! But I feel the same way so often - especially in last 2 years - I gained more weight due to migraine drugs that I've been on and just look and feel awful. We don't like to admit that appearance is important but if it affects how we feel about ourself, and our confidence, then it is very important. XO

In all honesty ...Week 1. Totally Sucks / regret Week 2. Really Sucks / regret Week 3. Sucks less / regret Week 4. This is not so bad / less regret Week 5. Things are looking better Week 6. Normal foods / less regret Week 7. What surgery? And look at all that extra money I have left over at the end of the week Week 8. Life is good. / no regrets (except I should've done it sooner) -66 total since 6/6 pre-op diet started -51 since 6/20 I don't recognize myself in the mirror, and I must say I'm looking hot!!!! But more importantly, sleep apnea, blood pressure and cholesterol are all working themselves out now. I wanted to lose 79 lbs (to get to my high school weight) ... But at this point I can't see not passing right by that. Some people have complications, one friend took 5 months to start eating solids again, and threw up constantly. Another is miserable and can't even drink Water 2 months out. Everyone's experiences are different!! I'm just lucky I suppose. (This was the sleeve btw) Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Love your list! Will be helpful to keep this post somewhere to refer to after surgery - can this be done here? Laughed about the "look at all the money I have left over at the end of the week" - I can relate!BTW - meant to ask - do you think the two people you know that are/have experienced such terrible complications did something differently than you did to prepare for the surgery?I think all of the research and stupid questions (which turned out to not be that stupid in the end) prepared me for it. One went well before and one went about 1.5 months after me. As far as reintroducing foods, I did it like going from a newborn to a child. Started off with all liquids, then baby food (literally baby food - Apple sauces only), then puréed, then soft foods, then I went with a hot dog. About 5 days on each step. I didn't vomit even once, so I must've done it right I'm not sure if I rambled or went off topic lol Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App All helpful - thanks!

In all honesty ...Week 1. Totally Sucks / regret Week 2. Really Sucks / regret Week 3. Sucks less / regret Week 4. This is not so bad / less regret Week 5. Things are looking better Week 6. Normal foods / less regret Week 7. What surgery? And look at all that extra money I have left over at the end of the week Week 8. Life is good. / no regrets (except I should've done it sooner) -66 total since 6/6 pre-op diet started -51 since 6/20 I don't recognize myself in the mirror, and I must say I'm looking hot!!!! But more importantly, sleep apnea, blood pressure and cholesterol are all working themselves out now. I wanted to lose 79 lbs (to get to my high school weight) ... But at this point I can't see not passing right by that. Some people have complications, one friend took 5 months to start eating solids again, and threw up constantly. Another is miserable and can't even drink water 2 months out. Everyone's experiences are different!! I'm just lucky I suppose. (This was the sleeve btw) Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Love your list! Will be helpful to keep this post somewhere to refer to after surgery - can this be done here? Laughed about the "look at all the money I have left over at the end of the week" - I can relate! BTW - meant to ask - do you think the two people you know that are/have experienced such terrible complications did something differently than you did to prepare for the surgery?

In all honesty ...Week 1. Totally Sucks / regret Week 2. Really Sucks / regret Week 3. Sucks less / regret Week 4. This is not so bad / less regret Week 5. Things are looking better Week 6. Normal foods / less regret Week 7. What surgery? And look at all that extra money I have left over at the end of the week Week 8. Life is good. / no regrets (except I should've done it sooner) -66 total since 6/6 pre-op diet started -51 since 6/20 I don't recognize myself in the mirror, and I must say I'm looking hot!!!! But more importantly, sleep apnea, blood pressure and cholesterol are all working themselves out now. I wanted to lose 79 lbs (to get to my high school weight) ... But at this point I can't see not passing right by that. Some people have complications, one friend took 5 months to start eating solids again, and threw up constantly. Another is miserable and can't even drink water 2 months out. Everyone's experiences are different!! I'm just lucky I suppose. (This was the sleeve btw) Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Love your list! Will be helpful to keep this post somewhere to refer to after surgery - can this be done here? Laughed about the "look at all the money I have left over at the end of the week" - I can relate!

I've been small. And medium, large, xlarge and when I left those and upward and onward into the plus sizes, well I think I just gave up at that point. So many diets, so many lbs. lost and gained. Whenever I was on a diet I would try to visualize myself the way I wanted to look and feel. My outfit was always jeans and a white button-up blouse or simple white t-shirt. Now, although I want to be much slimmer, my focus is on health. I'm on a road to sure-fire chronic diseases caused by obesity. And yes, it's so hard for me to picture myself slim and fit and healthy - I had that image of me in jeans and white shirt for so long but never attained it. I left that slim girl behind in my mid-20's. The idea of being slim is vague to me now - an impossible dream. I want it, can't quite imagine it - but I'm certainly still scared of the permanency of the surgery. Every now and then I'm hit with the image of 'slim me' then on it's heels 'the surgery'. And I drop my head and think - omg. What do I do???

Doing good. Sore, but nothing too bad. I don't like heavy opiates, dilaudid just gave me headaches, so tramadol is taking care of most of the pain for me. No nausea, tolerating liquids and Protein shakes beautifully, if really slowly. It'll be midnight before I hit my Fluid goal, and I doubt I'll hit my protein goal today, maybe not tomorrow. But in the short term, I know the hydration is most important. Nice to hear you're doing well! I missed your surgery day! How were you going into this - did you have any panicky feelings of backing out?? I'm feeling that way now and working on it

A healthy mental state would be the preferred situation for surgery. I would make an appt with your psyche team and really speak truthfully about your feelings right now - holding back won't help you a bit. Best of luck!

I have a pretty bad intolerance for sugar alcohols (sorbitol, xylitol, mannitol, etc.). Can't handle aspartame either. Also lactose intolerant. It's possible you reacted to all those things as some people (from what i've read in here) can't after the surgery if not before (I haven't had surgery yet). You know the surgeon well - maybe he knows? :-) Is there a dietician on your team you can speak with?

that site is pretty cool :-)

Good analogy...

Hi AussieGirl - what happened with the lap band? You had sleeve surgery so just wondering why the band didn't work?I had the lap band and it failed after a few years, it kept playing up, everything would get stuck, even Water.. i started getting really bad pain near the port site.. i had port replacement and a band change and it was still causing issues, so i asked them to take it out... i couldn't live with the pain any longer as well as starving because nothing would stay down. I waited 12 months.. and during that time i gained weight, even though i was eating well and exercising, i had my metabolism tested and because of the complications i had reset my metabolism to a low point, so the doctor suggested that i get the sleeve to enable me to stay at that lower rate without being hungry... basically i can not go above 800 calories for life without gaining. It sucks.. and i might never get back down to my original weight... but i am finally losing... i am a slow loser, but i am hoping ill get there eventually. This is why i always advise people to increase their calories and not to starve themselves, because it can really screw up your metabolism. That sucks - I keep hearing of people on here having to get revisions to sleeve. I don't think I could deal with the lapband, simply because of the maintenance on it, and the port. Then again, the sleeve is permanent - no going back. I'm about 90% there when it comes to getting used to that idea - I too am a slow loser. Always was and in fact the ONLY way in my life that I could keep my weight down at all, was to work out 6-7 days a week, most days 2+ hours at high intensity, and eat 1200-1400 calories, even with all that exercise. If I stopped for a day or two for some reason - lbs were coming back on - that quickly. And once you marry and have kids, there just is not the time to maintain that kind of rigorous schedule obviously. I could eat better than I do, eat regularly cause I don't, diet AGAIN - but I just will not go through that again and then gain it all back again +extra. So I've put on more weight. Maybe it was you in here that said to keep increasing your calories after the sleeve to a point where you can top off at 1200-1400 cals per day? Otherwise you're stuck at low cals forever. It's encouraging to hear that you're losing again though!

Sounds like workplace bullying to me. He's one guy that should never be in a higher position if he is unable to control himself. He insulted you, you got back at him (good for you!) and he went and tattled on you. Real winner of a guy...what a weasel...

Wow! 6 months - that's crazy! You look so good….

Hi AussieGirl - what happened with the lap band? You had sleeve surgery so just wondering why the band didn't work?

Is heartburn a 'for sure' thing or just for some people?

that's a worry - no fibre - that's part of the reason I question the lack of vegs and fruits in the early days

I could have written that word for word....!

That's ok - you should feel you can speak how you need to in here. I've read similar posts like yours from people in the early days/weeks after surgery. Of course it gives me pause, but I think overall there are so many people in here that have had great success and are much happier now than before. Keep us posted!

Thank you ! the recipes look really great....

@@CNOEL3 - hang in there. I haven't had the surgery yet - doing my research. But keep popping on to get support and let us know how you're doing after each week goes by. You could be experiencing a hormone dump maybe as well?

that's great - sounds like a very decent guy! Are your stats updated / are you at goal now?

Ha! and counter to all my years 'joining' Weight watchers. As you lose weight, your points are lowered. But I see the importance of being very diligent with your calories - this is why a nutritionist is important after this surgery I would think

@@TracyBar - I only mean for the pre-opt diet (which in my case was 2 months) and then the majority of the weight lost phase. If it doesn't bother you to be around others in a social setting overeating, drinking beer, and raving about all their homemade Desserts, GOD BLESS YOU - go! Not me, I was much happier staying home, watching football or a movie and following my diet plan in peace. A lot of women in my support group mentioned that they came from families with lots of obese women who took strong offense if someone didn't eat all their Pasta salads, mac & cheese, lasagna, cake, Cookies, etc, etc at a family event (and there were usually 2-3 family events a week). Well that makes sense then - I'm not sure I'd be very successful either if I had to be around too much food when I'm trying to lose weight. I've really paid attention to how many food commercials there are on tv these days. Think I'll be watching Netlix and reading instead of watching t.v.!

1. Everyone is different. I've seen some maintain on 1000 calories and some on 1800 calories. It's important as you get further out from surgery that you INCREASE calories in order to achieve a set point so you aren't having to maintain on 800 calories the rest of your life. I personally maintain on 1200. Anymore than that and I gain. 2. Protein is most important early out because you're healing, losing weight and losing muscle, and you have such little space in your tummy, that's really all you have room for. As you advance stages and can naturally eat more as the months how by, you CAN incorporate fruits and veggies into your diet. But protein always should be first, and then if you have room the others. Protein also helps stave off hunger and keeps you satisfied longer, which can be key if you're prone to snacking. 3. The amount of food you can eat in one sitting is totally depending on how far out you are from surgery. In the early weeks, you can sometimes only eat literally 4 bites. As things heal and loosen up, it goes to 4 ounces. At 2 years out, I can eat 3-4 Oz of chicken (dense) 4-5 Oz of beef with a bite or 3 of veggies. I can eat much more seafood (not as dense). As the years go by, you will naturally be able to eat more and more. It's normal and inevitable. I drink right up until I eat, never but a tiny sip with food, and even after 2 years still wait 30 minutes after I eat to drink. You get used to it. I can drink 16 Oz of room temperature Fluid in a matter of minutes now, instead of an hour like early out So helpful :-) I'm feeling more and more confident - especially after reading all the great replies. Taking that last big step and booking the surgery - so hard!

Thanks! 4 oz is 1/2 cup of food. Not a lot! I guess I was imagining you'd eventually get to a point where you are eating what we all SHOULD have been eating in a meal in the first place - but I didn't imagine it to be quite so little. The one good thing I see about it is that food will become so much less important! Right now entertainment is around food and wine when I go out with my husband - I will miss that as we do enjoy it. But even he is all for the surgery if I want to do it - I told him when we go out to eat, he'll be eating his meal and most of mine - maybe that's why he likes the idea of the surgery! lol So really, I guess that really won't change - after I'm healed and on solids we can go out for our anniversary or whatever, I'll just be eating less :-)