sasharbinx

I'm blocking all of you guys!!!!

could you pureeeeee said taco and drink it...does that count as liquid........ JK..... LMAO

@ First thing i would do is report them to Alex Brecher. He takes this stuff very serious. He wants this site to be positive not negative..... look to the right you should see post that he has made, click on his profile and send him a message with the names of the offenders and a brief description of what and how this few are making you feel. He will reply.
I want to apologize that you had to experience such negativity. This site wasn't always like this. It's use to be fun, informative and encouraging.... Now if you disagree or write your feelings or ask a question you get chastised. It use to be the worse it got was a few that would correct your spelling and grammar... now it's much worse. What ever happened to agreeing to disagree....?
It shouldn't be that way. This should be a safe place to ask questions (any question)... state your opinion (any opinion). Come here and have fun and be up lifted and praised for what you have accomplished not matter what it is.
Please don't leave the site as we do have some really great and uplifting people still here...
Chris

I just got my hair cut and colored last night and my neck fit in the bowl slot, I didn't feel like a mound of flesh popping out of the front of the chair, and when she was done...for the first time in forever, I was excited about my new look and didn't give myself the "that'll do" eyes.
She, of course, commented on my loss because she didn't recognize me so that was a bonus.

This morning I paid a visit to my barber. He noticed that my head had lost enough weight that my hair follicles were closer together than they used to be. Haha, not really!
But I did go to the barber. And I slid right into that chair instead of going in like a cork into a bottle. Now, this is the guy who has been saying to me for a long time, "Haven't you lost some weight? This collar is going around your neck a lot looser and easier these days."
At least, he used to say that - right up to the point where I actually started losing weight! He hasn't said a word for months now, and I am down 124 lbs. Maybe he figures it doesn't matter. Maybe I need to find someone with better eyesight. I have high standards for the person who wields sharp instruments around my face and neck. But now that (what's left of) my hair is cut, I should get back on the scale. I might have lost another 1/64th of a pound.

Protein: minimum 75 grams per day
Carbs: maximum 60 per day
Calories -- varies depending on how much you weigh and how fast you want to lose. Basically, as a starting point, take your current weight. Multiply it by 10. Then subtract 500. Use that as your resulting calorie limit to lose approximately 1 lb per week. So, if you weigh 180 lbs, try eating 1300 calories per day to lose 1 lb per week. If you want to lose 2 lbs per week, eat 800 calories per day. If you weigh 190, then those numbers would be 1400 and and 900, respectively. Every time you lose 10 lbs, readjust your calorie intake in order to keep losing at the same rate. If these numbers don't work for you, then play around and get them to a place where they do work. These are just rules of thumb to use as a starting point.
A couple more ideas that you may find helpful:
--make sure you are weighing virtually all your food portions, no guessing or estimating
--don't drink liquid calories other than a max of one Protein Shake per day
--focus on eating unprocessed meat and green veggies in order to stay satisfied and keep cravings for junk at bay
--do not attempt to count calories burned or "eat back" exercise calories.
Good luck!

It sucks you aren't given a choice. It should be your choice. I personally chose sleeve over bypass for a bunch of reasons, but it was MY choice. You should be given that same opportunity. Here are some of the reasons I chose sleeve:
No rerouting of my intestines requiring multiple joins where there could be potential leaks. No malabsorption.. sure it's great for losing weight faster, but it can also lead to lifelong deficiencies. Also, I'm a runner and it is critical for me to be able to get in enough calories to fuel my body. Removal of the unused portion of my stomach. I hated the idea of my "old" stomach still being inside me and potentially developing ulcers or cancer or something and not being easily accessible with an endoscopy. Maintain the use of my pyloric valve. I was *really* weirded out by the idea that my pyloric valve would still be there, attached to my old stomach and opening and closing uselessly in response to signals from my new stomach. Ew. No dumping. Some people like the idea of dumping, because it's a deterrent to eating bad foods, but I wanted the option to eat small amounts of sweets and carbs down the road, once I was in maintenance. Also, not everyone who has RNY gets dumping, so it's risky to assume you will. Cheaper. I was self-pay and sleeve is just downright cheaper. My BMI was also right around 40 when I started considering surgery. I managed to lose all of my excess weight and have been maintaining for 15+ months. So sleeve was definitely the best choice for me. But, again, everyone is different and should be allowed to make the best choice for themselves.

I'm sorry for your loss.
I have big time guilt and your concern or expression of annoyance speaks to me if it's worth anything. I'm for sure going to fess up to my doctor on my follow up about my half slice of cheese at day 5. I don't think it's ok for me to cheat anymore just cause I chewed really good and seem to have digested it fine and I don't condone anyone else do the same. I was just posting honestly because this has been very difficult! But no it's not worth dying from complications.
And well what's done is done, at least your cautionary tale is a driving factor in my will not to stray again and in fact you may have saved my life in doing so.
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And just remember....
Guilt is like rocking in a chair- it's something to do but your not going anywhere. : )
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My doc prescribed me codine/Tylenol Syrup immediately out of the hospital which according to my dad, a pharmacist, works just like a strong cough suppressant.
I wouldn't see an issue with most over the counter cold med brands but I'd check with your pharmacist! Plus you're a month out so I wouldn't be so worried about the healing staples. Feel betta!
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It's still weird for me. I remember having a grilled chicken entree with a group of friends. Thankfully, they already knew about my predilection for spicy food so, after 3 bites, I declared that the chicken wasn't spicy enough, and would finish it at home.
Still thinking of what to say, if we visit a West-African restaurant.

I know this is not really a big deal, but to me it is. My mom is still here helping me out post surgery. I am 2.5 weeks out, doing fabulously, and talking with my nurse and NUT, they suggested I try some "real foods". I went to my mom and I's favorite chain place, Red Lobster. I had a few bites of baked fish and a bite of mashed potatoes. I was stuffed! But I kept it down.
This was a big deal to me. My mom wanted to take me out and get me outta the house, and I love spending time with her. Also, I was glad to see I could eat some soft foods, as opposed to just Soup, popsicles, and shakes. Also, I was glad to see y taste buds hadn't changed .

Haha, I read through a lot of those posts, and then have the debate of "Can I answer this post?" vs "Should I answer this post?" A lot of times I just close the window and move on, depending on the vibe I get from the OP or some of the other answers.
Good post, and good information!

Over and over and over, people in the early post-op period ask "CAN I eat _______?". That blank is filled with all kinds of things, like pizza, chips, ice cream, fried chicken, funnel cakes, crab cakes, steak...whatever they're craving.

The answer to every. single. one. of those questions is YES. Once you're surgically cleared to resume a full diet, you CAN eat ANYTHING. You didn't have your jaw wired shut or have your teeth pulled, so yes, you CAN eat all foods.
The real question you need to ask yourself is "SHOULD I eat ________?". The only person who can answer the "SHOULD" question for you is YOU. I, or anyone else here, can give your my opinion on eating funnel cakes, chips and pizza after having most of your stomach removed to help you lose weight, but only you can decide to eat it or not eat it.
So coming here and asking "CAN I?" questions is kind of disingenuous, as all of the answers you get are going to be answering the REAL question, which is "SHOULD I?". Think about that before you get defensive and angry about the answers you get from successful vets who are 2-5+ years out and maintaining successfully.

I continue to be shocked--although less and less as time goes on--at how rude and hateful some people can be. Do what you want, eat what you want, and you'll end up right where you started: fat (and maybe dead). If you spend all your time on the internet getting advice from strangers, you might want to re-evaluate some things. It's one thing to start an open discussion in the spirit of sharing and voicing your own experience, but it's quite another to get on here so you can judge and berate people. I have switched from looking to this forum for support and learning to reading the various nonsense and BS purely for entertainment.

Best of luck! I almost cried like a baby for my mom right before I went in. I'm sure you will be strong!
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Just start a new day fresh. It's a new way of life and we can't be perfect all the time .
Maybe you didn't eat as much as you would have before? Maybe you are more conscious about it and will try to remember how you felt next time?
My friend that has lost over 125lbs said "make good choices with your next meal and don't let it be an excuse to keep eating like that". Don't look back. Today is a new day!
Remember why you did this!
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talk to your surgeon. it could be nothing - as in just a normal leg cramp, it could be low potassium as mentioned above, what you want to make sure it isn't is an early sign of a blood clot. so best to talk to the surgeon and describe in detail what you feel, where, when etc.
and keep getting up and walking often.

I'm in college rn and timed this surgery to do it over winter break and now I have a nice three weeks before school starts!
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Well I can't believe I've made it this far. It was tough for the first 6 weeks and now I can't imagine my life any different than what it is. I went from a size 24 to a size 12 within 8 months. No sagging skin and no regrets. I eat good and live a healthier lifestyle.
Good luck to everyone just starting out!
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How I overcame the fear of wls was realizing that I'm a risk taker, you have to be one if you're going to do this! And also that you are not alone. Hopefully you have your loved ones on board and definitely your medical team behind you as well as all of us on BariatricPal.
Take comfort in knowing you are helping yourself to live better and longer and happier too.
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Over the last few weeks, I've seen a number of posts about "cheating" on the diet plan in the days and weeks immediately following surgery, and I am very concerned about this trend.

I am not a doctor, I do not play one on TV, and I am not dispensing medical advice.

However.

I am a registered nurse, and what I'm about to say is an informed and educated opinion.

Surgeons tend to give VERY detailed instructions about what to eat after a stomach surgery, and for VERY good reason.

Even when the surgery is arthroscopic and looks to be a very tiny surgery on the outside, it's a VERY BIG surgery on the inside. The VSG surgery leaves a staple/suture line the entire length of the stomach. That incision has to heal, and if you could see it, it would look like raw beef. If the incision were on the outside, we would be very careful with it, keeping it clean and bandaged while it healed. Of course, it's on the inside, so we can't do that. But we need to keep in mind that it needs to heal in the same way.

We have to eat, and that food will be against that raw incision. At the same time that we have to protect the healing stomach, we also have to get in plenty of fluids and nutrients, specifically Protein, in order to support healing. Protein is the primary building block for tissue, so it's critical to healing. Carbs are mainly just energy sources, so they're not as important, especially given that people having bariatric surgery have plenty of energy in their fat stores. This is why protein is stressed so heavily over carbs in the diets.

Additionally, the stomach is now in a new shape, and it basically has to learn how to function as a slender tube instead of a big bag. There's a learning curve. Kinda like a newborn baby's stomach. We don't dump steak and salad into a newborn's stomach for good reason - it doesn't know how to deal with it. Similarly, we don't want to do that to our new sleeve. We start off with stuff that's easy on the suture line and easy to digest, and as the suture line heals and the sleeve learns its job, start working our way up to "real" food.

So over the years, doctors have learned what foods are best for a healing stomach, and that translates into the post-op diet progression instructions.

Typically, that looks like this: Clear liquids, then full liquids, then pureed foods, then soft foods, then slowly move into a "full" diet beginning with high moisture content foods first. When moving from one stage to the next, it's typically advised to add just one food at a time, in small amounts, and see how it's tolerated. A food that's not tolerated well can be tried later on as well. If an entire stage is not being tolerated, back up to the previous stage for a while, and then try again more slowly.

Surgeons tend to specify how long to stay in each of these stages, what types of food make up each stage, and how to transition to the next stage. Every surgeon's instructions are a little different, and it's based on their experience and sometimes changes based on the patient's specific medical case.

The general idea in the very early weeks is to eat foods that will not stress the healing suture line, and do not have particles that are known to cut into the raw tissue or get embedded into the suture line. If a cut or embedded food particle gets infected, it can become an abscess and develop into a leak. A leak can be life threatening, and at the very least cause the patient to have to be hospitalized and possibly have more surgery to correct it. Foods that are particularly known to cause issues are those that swell up like rice, have seeds like strawberries, or have rough hard edges or hard to digest fibers like wheat crackers or raw vegetables.

There are people who eat all sorts of things against their doctor's orders and have suffered no ill effects, but this should not be used as an argument that the doctor's orders are not important. Similarly, you will find some people who smoke a pack of cigarettes every day and drink a pint of whiskey every day but live to 100. They are not representative of most people, and should not be used as the example other people follow.

The reality is that some people will develop abscesses and leaks because they ate things before they were cleared to by their doctors, and there is no way to predict who will have the complications and who will not. And the consequences can be as severe as death. It's not common, but that's how bad it can get. That's why the doctors give the instructions they do. They're not just testing you or trying to make your life hard. They are giving you the best information they have to keep you safe.

Violating these orders is not "cheating" on a diet. It's risking your life. I am not being overly dramatic with this statement, it is a fact that it has happened. You are risking your safety and your health if you violate these orders. It's not about "being human", it's not about "food addiction". It's about your safety and your health. It's hard to be on liquids only for 2 weeks (or more). Some people have huge cravings, or "head hunger" as we tend to call it here. Or just want desperately to chew something. No one is saying it's easy. But it's necessary. Distract yourself. Eat/drink anything that's allowed on your plan - freeze it, heat it up, try something that's opposite of what you've been having to shake it up. Walk around the house or the block. Suck on an ice cube. Count to ten or a hundred. Post about how hard it is, and ask people to help you get through it. But muscle through. It's nothing less than your health and safety.

As for why one surgeon will have his patients on Clear Liquids for 2 weeks while another only does 2 days? Or why one will skip a phase entirely? Each surgeon has different experiences that inform his practices. One is not right and the other wrong. They are each operating out of what they were taught and what they have seen in their own patient groups. They may have even modified the plan because of a specific health concern in your specific case. As a patient, you need to fully understand what your surgeon expects, and if you have a problem with the protocols get it straight with your surgeon and team BEFORE you go under the knife.

If you don't trust your surgeon and his protocols, find another surgeon. I personally would question a surgeon who doesn't allow any Protein drinks including the clear ones for 2 full weeks post op (saw that in one patient's instructions on this site) and likely wouldn't work with that surgeon, given what I know about the needs of protein for healing. But after surgery is not the time to be questioning the surgeon's protocols. Get those questions asked and answered to your satisfaction well before the surgery date.

If you are having surgery, and you have not been given your post-op instructions, at the very least for the first 2 weeks post-op, do not proceed with the surgery until you have that information. We have people posting here stating that they were sent home without clear instructions as to what they were supposed to eat or drink, just a vague statement about "full liquids". That is not sufficient information, and instructions should be given WELL BEFORE the surgery, not after. You should fully understand what will be expected in the weeks after the surgery before consenting to the surgery, or your team is not doing their job.

(This ends my sorta rant about post-op diets and "cheating")

Good luck to everyone!

You said "nuts". Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh (Beavis and Butthead laugh).

A couple things that I love post op. 1. I just bought lunch at a local meat market/restaurant I asked for 2 ribs (they were about 4" long) she looked at me and said are you sure? They are really small. I said yeppers! 2. The rib meal is $7.95 with 3 ribs and a side. When you get just the ribs they sell by the pound. My lunch was $2.24 for delicious ribs. Happy fat man!

Same! My eyes are more ambitious than my stomach. lol