Little Green

I turned a bowl of Panera broccoli cheddar soup into two meals tonight. That's 330 calories and 14g of protein. I've also been working on a protein water, which is 90 calories and 20g protein. That's nowhere near goal on protein but considering I would probably have only had the protein water otherwise, I'm calling it a win. Not happy about the soup having cheese and all the saturated fat, but it was delicious and I actually wanted to eat it, so... I'm seeing now that I may have to forget about my nutrition standards in the interest of getting any nutrition at all until I get over this feeling of force-feeding. It is so weird and honestly kind of infuriating. The hummus that was so delicious 48 hours ago now makes my throat close up when I try to eat it. I tried one of my plant-based shakes earlier but felt sick and wasn't sure if it was dumping or the aversion issue. I'm out of premier protein chocolate and can't stomach the other flavors anymore, have to go to the store tomorrow. Haven't been interested in trying the refried beans again, might give them another go tomorrow. If this issue keeps going I'll try more traditional post-op foods like tuna and ricotta bake just for calories and protein's sake. Dr. Greger and my arteries and kidneys, please forgive me! I had two weeks of a very, very easy recover, plumbing-wise. So I guess I'm getting my payback now

Thank you! The hummus is just different flavors of Trader Joe's brand - I've made my own before but I have trouble getting it smooth. This was my recipe for the beans and they are absolutely delicious and one of the easiest things I have literally ever made in my Instant Pot! https://www.noracooks.com/instant-pot-vegan-refried-beans/

Really struggling with eating this weekend. Food tastes fine, RNY seems happy enough, no worries there. But I have no interest and no hunger. I sort of have to force it down at this point and it's very unpleasant. Don't want protein shakes, don't want food. Drinking water all day is just fine. Obviously I don't want to literally starve to death so not eating isn't an option. Is this food aversion? I'm feeling upset because I was so excited for purees but now I just don't want food at all. I'm frightened, I don't want to end up on a feeding tube

Well, today was supposed to be my post-op appointment but unfortunately my surgeon was called into an emergency surgery so I had to reschedule for next Friday. I went ahead with the diet progression, I haven't had any issues eating and the booklet says 2 weeks of liquid and then start puree, so... start, I did! My first meal was 2oz of the homemade refried beans plus a bit of guacamole and some salsa. It was delicious! I didn't have any trouble getting or keeping it down, but a few minutes after I finished I felt like I might have juuuuuuuust eaten too much. By like a teaspoon or something. I wasn't quite nauseated or sick, but I had some unpleasant squishing/squeezing going on. However, it passed fairly quickly. My second meal, which I just finished, was 2oz of roasted garlic hummus. MMMMMMMMM omg lol. Planning on oatmeal with PB & banana in the morning, and mashed potatoes with green beans later on in the day. It's so nice to eat! Man, my eyes were rolling back in my head eating that hummus just now! It's nice to get so much pleasure from healthy foods and I hope that continues! I also started driving today! YAY! I went to a friend's house for the evening and it was so great to be out on my own. I love my husband and we happily spend most of our time together, but I'm also very independent and as you may have read over the last few posts it was making me CRAZY not to drive and to be limited in where I could go. I felt so much better after driving! Today also marked the return of some belly pain. Thankfully not the awful deep kind, but the sharp fiery kind that's close to the surface. My husband and I came from home to stay with my Mom this weekend and I did most of the packing up and loading/unloading the car so I wonder if I just pushed it too far. I had a 10-lb lifting restriction for two weeks, but that's it. Still, it might have been too much. Hopefully I'll feel better in the morning! And, although I did not get an official reading from the surgeon's office, according to my home scale, I've lost 19 pounds in the two weeks since surgery. That makes 35 pounds since beginning my liquid diet on April 27! I'm sure like most bariatric patients I will hit a stall in the next couple of weeks as a result of returning to normal food (hey, glycogen stores!) but to avoid the insanity I plan to keep off the scale for the most part. I'm thinking every two weeks is a reasonable compromise between the part of me that doesn't give a crap about my weight as long as I get strong and healthy, and the part of me that wants to weigh obsessively all day long checking for the lowest number possible, lol. So hopefully that's a good balance!

I said this on the facebook thread but I'll share here again. I don't mind fat or obese. "Fat" is just a quick and easy descriptor to me, and far preferable to the euphemisms that folks have used to describe me over the years. Obese/morbidly obese/super morbidly obese (the latter of which I am) are just medical terms and they don't bother me. I've been fat since I was a kid - there was no slow creep of weight over the course of a decade or anything. The reality has always been there and I just prefer to face it. What did bother me was when two separate medical professionals made complimentary statements about "how well I take care of my skin," referring, of course, to the skin on my belly and thighs, etc. It was a shock to realize they saw me as a person that might have difficulty taking care of myself. Ouch. That freakin hurt.

Just had my first pureed meal! Everything tasted amazing and stayed down very well. I had one moment where I think I was eating too fast and I felt a weird "backup" sensation in the pipes but other than that, everything went swimmingly! Here's my first meal-- refried beans, guacamole, and mild salsa. What was yours???

Hey there, I'm sorry you're going through this. You've had a lot of life changes in a really short period of time (a year is nothin' when it comes to major stressors) and even positive changes can be disruptive especially if you have high expectations from them. Post-op depression is really common, especially as you begin to lose body fat and start swimming in all the excess hormones. But I also thought the quoted part of your post was really interesting. While overeating might have been a source of unhappiness, it was also a source of pleasure in your brain. Every time you ate fatty, sugary food, you stimulated the release of dopamine, a potent "reward" neurotransmitter. I don't think it's surprising at all that you'd be experiencing this type of withdrawal or discovery of new stressors now that you've cut off the steady request for dopamine in your brain. I would suggest seeing a therapist - I go weekly and it's really helpful. I've been going for over a year and it's almost like talking to a friend at this point. An impartial, professional trained friend, that is! If you have insurance through work they may have an employee assistance program that will let you have a few free sessions (mine had five) so that you can try out a couple therapists before choosing one. You're not alone, we're here to listen! Hope you're feeling better very soon.

Two weeks out and just making one dish in the kitchen is kicking my ass at the moment. It raises my HR like I'm exercising and I get kinda jelly-legged after 20-30 minutes. I'm assuming this is because of the low level of calories... they are energy for our body, after all! We are still having to haul around all this extra fat (for now!) and we're not eating enough to fuel it. Hopefully as time goes on the increase in calories and decrease in weight will combine to resolve the energy issues!

Yessssss and I still do, 2 weeks post-op! I'm assuming it's a little tiny flap of skin where they nicked me with the tube or something. If I'm not distracted enough to ignore it, I have to sip/swallow constantly or suck on a lozenge haha. Hopefully it will go away SOON!

Have you considered that he might be insecure that once you lose weight you'll be more attractive to other men? Unfortunately it isn't uncommon for partners of those who have WLS to develop jealousy and insecurity about this issue. I totally agree with everyone else - this surgery is for YOU and YOUR health! Go forward without his support and tell him, from me, to shove it

Don't be ashamed. He was SO rude and has chosen to double down at every opportunity he's had to apologize. I'm going to chalk it up to post-op depression because I refuse to believe anyone can really be that petty and mean. Your food is feeding your new body and you've done incredibly well! It doesn't matter what it looks like - it all goes the same place! I like that you showed the size of your plate relative to your hand so that we could see the quantity you're eating at this point post-op. Don't worry about this. You're awesome!

Had a great day today. I'm VERY tired now lol and hope to sleep really well here in a bit. I am almost, almost, almost pain-free! Today I was finally able to bend over/down at the waist with only just a slight ouchie pain. I saw my therapist today (Mr. Green drove me) and had such a wonderful discussion with her about my surgery story and my experiences and what's been going on since then. She told me how brave I was to have this surgery and how proud she is of me... gosh I just love her to bits! She also said she could see my weight loss which I'm not quite sure I believe LOL although I have lost 33 pounds since I started the liquid diet on April 27, so I guess a bit could be showing. I had Starbucks (I'm a gold member... had iced coffee with soy milk) and painted my nails today (nail art is one of my hobbies) and honestly the return of simple activities like that made a huge difference for me. I've been feeling kind of "other" lately with all the depression and the stupid pain and discussing "my belly" as if it is a separate entity. Now I feel like good ol' Little Green is coming back, although new and improved, of course! Another sign of normalcy, tonight I got back in the kitchen for the first time in weeks! And I made BEANS!!!!! Wonderful, savory, thick, creamy beans. Refried beans, to be specific. Made from dried beans in the instant pot... so easy, quick, and totally oil- and fat-free! Refried beans - sorry, there's no way to make blended brown beans look appetizing. Just know that they are delicious. I pureed them a bit more after taking this photo because I felt they weren't quite applesauce consistency. I ended up liking the smoother consistency better anyway! LOOK AT ALL THAT PLANT PROTEIN!!!!! 2 ounce baby food containers filled and ready to be eaten! Refried beans on the bottom and two types of hummus on top. OKAY I MUST ADMIT THE GREAT BARIATRIC SIN... I did try the beans as I was pureeing them. They were just too, too, too seductive to resist. However, I only cheated my diet progression by 36 hours - and actually technically tomorrow is two weeks so if I go by the booklet they gave me I could have purees tomorrow, and what's the difference between 10pm Wednesday and 8am Thursday?!?!?! Okay, I'm justifying myself over here, and I'm sticking to liquids until my appointment Friday, but man, you guys. YOU GUYS! YOU GUUUUYYYYSSSS!!!!!! These beans hit the friggin' SPOT!!!! I am sooosoosoosososossosoSOSOSOososoSOosoosoOSOSOSOSSO excited for diet progression! 35 days of frickin' protein shakes and I am just DONE. Okay that's enough freakin' out... can you tell I had a good day today?? Man I just feel so good, and so happy, and so normal! There is life after bariatric surgery!

I didn't put on underwear for days post-op Hey, I had a lot of pain and couldn't bend over!

Frying something in oil means it will be very high in fat and calories. I would avoid at all costs.

Here's the tough love - you acted like a f-ckin jerk for no reason. If the pic grossed you out, you could have vented to your partner or a friend or your mommy and then closed the window and moved on with your day. If you actually gave a sh!t about people on the board being "set back" by a less-than-optimal food photo, you could have said something like, "Good food choices. I think the pic could be better next time so we can get a good idea of what you're eating." Not childish emojis and a mocking reference. Here's the funny part - your skin is so thin you can't take basic criticism without making excuses and defending yourself with platitudes

I had absolutely awful depression from day 4-6 post-op. Being stuck without being able to drive made me feel so trapped and upset. I was also staying with my mom and although she was kind instead of insulting me (not cool, snoozingcat's mom!) it didn't help. I had my cats with me at her house but couldn't pick them up or really cuddle them because they wanted to stand on my belly which wasn't possible. It made me so sad to see them and want them but not be able to have them. I also missed my husband and my house and I just wanted out of there! I ended up going home a week ahead of schedule and I've been really happy with my decision. All of that to say, you are so not alone, and you are not acting like a third-grader. I do think it's normal to get depressed shortly after surgery, so do the best that you can until you can get home to snuggle with your baby!

Congrats on your surgery! I can't answer about the tightness/breathing after eating, sorry. I had my first BM on day 5 post-op after taking one dose of Miralax. Turns out that I didn't need the help, lol... it was a very rumbly and crampy situation for the rest of that day due to using the Miralax when I should have just waited. (Since then I've had regular bowel movements almost daily without Miralax, Smooth Move tea, Milk of Magnesia, etc.) I would say take your stool softeners if you've been prescribed them, but don't worry about the big guns until you get to 5 or 6 days without a BM.

And how far back did your rude comment set some posters, who may now be fearful that if what they post is not up to someone's standards they'll be mocked with sarcasm? Give me a break, you had no altruistic motives in what you said - you were just being an assh@le.

You should have had tougher skin and clicked the little "x" on your browser tab if you didn't like the picture instead of insulting a stranger who came to this forum for support.

@Toomanytacos Thanks for sharing! What are your breakfast and lunch like?

This is a really rude and unnecessary comment.

I only used my robe, chapstick, phone charger, and eye mask. I definitely would have needed my dry-mouth spray, but they let me use a sponge dipped in ice water to wet my mouth. I never changed out of my gown and was too drugged/sleepy to read my kindle. I brought a couple pairs of PJ's but never wore them. Just the dress I wore home was all I needed, clothes-wise. I also brought heating pads for gas pain but ended up not having any gas pain, woohoo!

It's so funny that we are totally opposite. I had all the awful pain and none of the intestinal difficulties. Just goes to show that you can prepare yourself extensively but you have no idea what is going to happen when you wake up post-op!

Noted! I'm not allowed to take Benefiber for three months post-op. I only need to puree food for two weeks and plan to eat a lot of different types of plants with varying fiber content and varieties even during the puree phase, so I think I'll be okay.

Coffee can also help facilitate bowel movements without resorting to laxatives. There are pros and cons to almost every food we eat and while we need to be mindful of the potential for harm, frightening bariatric patients with risks that literally no surgeon, nurse practitioner, dietitian, or nurse has ever spoken a word of to me (nor to many others, clearly), and that I have not come across once in my obsessive, voracious reading of both lay and scientific literature about bariatric surgery and related dietary requirements in the last three years, seems a little silly. Plus it makes me happy. We grind our beans fresh every night before programming the coffee pot and I usually send a few seconds just sniffing them and reveling in the delicious smell. Ahhhh.