PorkChopExpress

Yeah, I plan to take it SLOW at introducing new stuff. I am pretty cautious about how I eat, I take it slow and I chew till it's totally unrecognizable before I swallow it. They said "chew until you could suck it through a straw," so I think that's part of why things sit pretty well with me, easy for my stomach to deal with. To me, I could go three months on what I'm doing now, no problem. But it'll be nice to try a few things and see how they go down. I'm like you though, I REALLY don't want to get sick

Starting week four! One more week and I will be one month post-op. Incisions have shed most of their scabs and are healing up nicely now and the fur's growing back When I received the instructions for weeks 3-5 I was told to gradually advance from ground meat consistency Protein, to shredded, and finally to whole pieces. This week, it's shredded meat! I bought some very good pulled chicken in the refrigerator case at Trader Joe's, and I've had it several times. Chews to paste consistency easily, and I've had no ill effects. Stomach seems like it's healing up pretty well, the ache of eating is decreasing gradually every day. I still find that it aches a bit more first thing in the morning, with Breakfast...but every meal thereafter is okay. I am up to 1.5oz of meat at a meal, so it's going well. That only works out to 5 grams of protein though, which is so frustrating. I do wish I could meet more of my protein goals with actual meat, but for quite some time I expect I'll be relying on supplements. The GENEPRO works well though, mixed it in with some chili and didn't even notice it. Having trouble reaching 64oz of Water every day, which was my target...but eating 3x a day takes away about 4 1/2 hours from drinking, since I have to stop 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after. The window the nutritionist said was 48oz to 64oz, and I'm getting in that window...but to get 64oz would require drinking just about every other minute, it's really hard to achieve. I'm not hitting 90 grams of protein either, I'm settling in there somewhere between 70 and 90 which is again the window they wanted me to shoot for, but I wanted to do the maximum. I'll get there, it'll just take time. My stomach has to heal up and be able to handle a little more meat. They say after three months I should be able to do 2oz of meat or more per meal. So we'll see how it goes. Interesting how much my priorities in eating have already changed. I am very protein-centric. Not to say that I don't still like having a little bit of carbs in there, but my focus in eating is protein and that's what I enjoy. I don't crave the breads anymore, pastas and things of that nature. Sugar is also not a craving, I think I pretty much detoxed from that after the month long liquid diet. So far, so good...but man, have I grown to hate the Vitamins I bought. The Bariatric Advantage chewable Multivitamin now tastes heinous to me, I cringe and almost gag when I have to chew that thing up and swallow it. Then I have to chase that with the also awful "chocolate raspberry" Iron chew. It's a brutal way to start the day. I can't wait until I can just swallow normal Multivitamins and not taste them, again.

Yeah, my program has me in "try anything" mode at week 6. That's when I can try salads and pretty much anything. They just encourage me to try one new thing at a time, to see how it works out. I expect that if I make sure to chew everything thoroughly, I'll be okay with most things. Everything I've tried so far has worked out.

I went through a six month program with Facey Medical Group, which was the "supervised diet" portion of the requirement. They notified Blue Shield when I completed it. I stayed in their program and went to their surgeon, Dr. Quilici in Burbank. So all of my steps were basically handled via Facey's program.

I ended up going alone to mine. My wife and kids moved ahead of me out of state, but I had gone through this almost year-long process preparing to have this surgery and all the requirements were met, and I have a job here, so I've stayed. But my wife wasn't able to get out here until the evening, and my procedure was in the morning. I'm a bit of an old hand at at abdominal surgery though, this was my third. So I was comfortable with the process. The thing is, there's nothing your friend can really do to help, except talk to you before you go in...and after that, the focus will very much be on getting fluids in and walking as much as you are able, to get the gas to move out and speed your healing...and sleep. You'll do a fair amount of that. A couple days later, they'll probably discharge you and you'll head back home. You'll be walking under your own power, but you'll want to use a cart for your bag. Don't carry anything heavy. You can do it! It's not ideal, of course...but the situation hasn't changed that much. You're still the one being operated on, you're still the one who has to undertake the recovery, and the battles that you'll fight will be in your own head. So don't be discouraged or scared, most of it isn't any different without company...and you'll be even stronger having done it on your own. You can take pride in that.

Don't forget that part of the puree and soft food stages involves training your stomach, to some extent. It is recovering and it has to start functioning in a much smaller form than it has in the past. Your system has to sort of "recalibrate" through this process. So going in stages helps with that. If you jump right into soft foods, it may be a little harder on your stomach to process stuff. These stages are relatively fast though, one or two weeks...you can do it. Yes, it's sort of joyless, but you'll get through it. There's a time limit on it. Gettting that GENEPRO flavorless Protein has been a real help. I don't even do shakes anymore, I mix it in with Crystal Light, or with chili. After four weeks of shakes, I couldn't imagine buying another bag of that stuff.

Man, what an awful experience. My surgeon also runs a high-volume practice, but he was totally professional and everything was done as it should have been, no real complications. Too much we don't know right now though, not even sure what procedure you had done. How much you're able to eat, what kinds of things you're eating, etc... If you had gastric bypass or sleeve, you should not be feeling hungry right now (a lot of people mistake the rumbling stomach for hunger, which it's not...it's a byproduct of the surgery). You probably have mental hunger, which is a byproduct of not having gone through the mental process of letting go of the old way of eating and the old habits fully. But we'd need to know more about the procedure you had and what you're eating, to suggest where your stall might be coming from. But also remember that the body loses how it loses. Everyone is different and it doesn't happen on your schedule. If you're in a significant calorie deficit every day, you WILL lose the weight. It just doesn't necessarily happen the way you expect it should.

The only thing that got me through the pre-op diet was sheer willpower and determination. I knew how important it was to the success of my surgery that I follow the surgeon's directions though, so I did. After a while, I started taking a lot of pride that my will was stronger than my mind, which has controlled me for so long when it comes to my eating. I decided that I was setting a tone with that diet, in embracing the change and getting my mind right before I had the surgery. I had made the decision to permanently alter my digestive tract in order to get my life back, but I knew from reading success stories that the journey is more mental than physical. I had to get my mind right about it, and that two weeks of liquid diet was the start of it. It's a test of your dedication to this process. You are giving up the old way of eating, the old patterns and habits, forever. This is the start of it...so embrace that, because you will struggle even more post-surgery if you don't, mentally. You'll be thinking of nothing but getting back to the old way of eating, and that is a recipe for failure at this. You have to be willing to change...a lot. You're getting the physical part taken care of, but the mental part is all you. But you can do it. If I did, you can too.

I've heard that people have the taste of things change after surgery and it ends up being permanent. Not a thing changed for me, post-surgery, in terms of how things taste. Except maybe having detoxed from refined sugar, now sugar-free things taste pretty sweet to me (like Popsicles). In terms of "my tastes" changing, they have. I don't crave sweets, baked goods and cakes, cookies and candy and stuff anymore. I think that has to do with detoxing from sugar too, though. It's pretty addictive.

The scale has always been my enemy with weight loss, it has sabotaged me and derailed me so many times that I am kind of avoiding it now. My plan is to weigh when I visit the doctor's office. I figure my clothes will tell me all I need to know. So my little signature ticker here probably won't change for a while, till I go to a doctor visit

Weightlifting can help with this, too. As you grow your muscles, they fill out the skin a bit and tone you up all over. If you get into a muscle building regimen, along with the lotions and water, you'll see some positive changes.

I still have to take the chewables for a while and I bought some from Bariatric Advantage, but I hate the taste. I have to grin and bear it when I chew them up, and then I chase them with a bite of food to try and wash the flavor out of my mouth. I can't wait until I can just take a Centrum and swallow it, and not worry about tasting it. The only supplement I have that's decent is the calcium chew, which is basically like a caramel. But the iron chew sucks and the multivitamin is really bad.

Definitely don't drink. I was advised by my surgeon not to drink alcohol for a year after my sleeve...and I plan to follow that advice. Besides, it just converts to sugar in the gut anyway. I have never been a big drinker myself and so I never felt like I needed an excuse NOT to drink. I'd just grab a water with a lemon in it and nurse that all night. You may end up having to excuse yourself early from the get-together, because being around drunk people when you're sober is pretty annoying

Gas X will only help relieve what has actually made it into your digestive tract. The surgical gas is piped into your abdominal or peritoneal cavity, to basically provide clearance between your abdominal wall and your organs. It passes into your digestive tract through a kind of osmosis, when you move around. That's really the only solution to working the gas out of your system - movement.

Congratulations, that's some serious weight loss! When I started, I needed to lose about 200 lbs. Always encouraging to me, to see people with the sleeve having such great success reaching their goals, because I initially thought I was getting the bypass and couldn't, because of the scar tissue they ran into from a prior surgery. Initially I was a little disappointed because it was always sold as the "gold standard" but I see a lot of folks on here having a lot of success with it, so I'm encouraged by that!

I'd really like a plate that would keep my food warm, since I now have to take so long to eat. A plate that you could heat up that stays warm for 30 minutes or so would be awesome. I know that's not what you're talking about here, but something to think about

I think what most people think is "hunger" post surgery isn't actually hunger. The stomach rumbles a lot after surgery, which is a combination of gas, acid and the stomach just adjusting to the new size, healing, etc... Most experienced patients say that passes. And the ache would be some combination of recovering from the surgery, and the acid buildup. But you've lost the portion of the stomach that produces the hunger hormone, so you shouldn't have traditional hunger. Never discount the "head hunger" in the weeks following surgery, either. It's a real thing.

The swelling and tightness is gas, and swelling from the incisions. The gas takes a few days to move out (and you have to walk a lot to get that to happen) and the swelling from the incisions takes a couple weeks to mostly go away. Just be aware that if you get pus, an incision site is very red and hard, or hot to the touch, you may have an infection.

What people misunderstand is that the gas is not in your digestive tract to start with, so anything you put in there to help with gas isn't going to make a big impact. The gas is in your peritoneal cavity, far from the reach of anything you can ingest. It permeates the tissues via a kind of osmosis, and only does it if you're moving. It usually takes me 3-4 days before the big farts start coming and I feel a lot of relief (I've had 3 abdominal surgeries). But anti-gas medications don't really help get rid of anything but what's already in your digestive tract, only movement gets it to leave your abdominal cavity.

Crystal Light and water. I've been mixing the Genepro flavorless protein with the Crystal Light and that works well. Was sick to death of shakes. I'm still struggling to get 64oz after three weeks post-surgery, because the meals take away so much of my daily drinking time. It takes a long time to get a 16 oz cup down. So until the stomach increases in capacity a little bit more so I can take bigger drinks, I expect it'll be a challenge.

Yeah most of the surgeons seem to feel six weeks is the time it takes your stomach to fully heal up. Once the stomach and incisions are fully healed, no reason you shouldn't be able to lift.

Pure grit and determination, and focusing on the fact that it had a time limit. I kept reminding myself that I made this decision because I knew I needed to make some major changes, long-lasting changes, and so I started feeling like the pre-op diet was a test of my will and dedication to the process. I started taking pride in not cheating, after a while...no matter how much my stomach rumbled and ached. And sure enough, after surgery, it wasn't a concern anymore. I couldn't even imagine putting anything in there for several days! One thing that I did do that helped mentally though was, the week prior to the pre-op diet, I went ahead and had whatever meals I would miss. I must have had buffalo wings 4-5 times. And after a while, I think it made something click in my mind and realize that I was being dominated by food. Why did I feel the need to do that week or splurging...wasn't it an acknowledgement that it was food that was at the wheel, and not me? So it ended up being a helpful part of my "letting go" process, which then had to continue for the first 10 days or so after surgery. But I'm in a much better place now, and am embracing change.

Two days post op, it's impossible. Don't worry about it, just do your best to sip all day long, pretty much. You aren't going to make it to 64 ounces for a while. In fact, after I got onto eating mushy foods three times a day, I have found it hard to get my 64 ounces again. Having to wait 30 minutes before and 45 minutes after a meal means that I have lost almost 4 hours of my day, when it comes to drinking...and it takes me at least a couple hours to get through 16 ounces or so, it seems like. It's tough! But the thing is, if I'm getting in the neighborhood, I'll be okay. I have been getting around 50 ounces the past week, and honestly there were a lot of days pre-surgery where I didn't get close to that, I'm quite sure. Particularly because I was still drinking Coke and dehydrating myself. As long as I'm not cramping up and am not getting those dehydration symptoms, I feel like I'm doing okay. But just give yourself time, the stomach needs to heal up and it's still swollen...will be for another week or so. Don't push it and don't force it too full, let it heal up. You don't want to pop staples or sutures!

"Don't judge me" is your defense mechanism. It's probably how you try to control people around you who then enable your behavior. Because we don't have to live with you, we can call you on it when you're screwing up...and you are. Everyone here knows you are. In fact, we don't have to be at goal to know a WLS surgery patient claiming to be digging into a fried chicken wing doesn't have their mind right about the process. You KNOW fried chicken isn't good for you. None of what we're saying here is brain surgery. You just WANTED it...and that's your brain controlling your actions, because it isn't your stomach. Your stomach told you exactly what it thought of that decision. You need to get control of your mind...and you aren't going to be helped by justifying your decision, not owning it as a mistake, and complaining that people are "judging you" when what we're doing is pointing out an error in your thinking. No support group or therapist in the world is going to let you get away with saying, "It's my journey, I'll do what I want!"