orionburn

My office sold stuff but didn't really push it onto people. There's a lot of stuff out there that is perfectly fine to use so if they are outright saying no to something it seems a bit sketchy. My doc's office sold a lot of Unjury products and that's what I use to this day. The flavors are great, and while still pricey it's cheaper than the premade bottles like Premier. Recently I've taken another liking to Premier because of the convenience of it.

I'm finally coming back to the boards after a very long hiatus. Yes, I've had some dreaded regain between health issues, Covid, etc. and decided I need to do some sort of "therapy" even if it is socializing on here again. I admit that one of my main reasons for avoiding coming back here is exactly what you are posting about. I kept telling myself that all I'm going to here is go back to what you used to do, drink water/take vitamins/protein-protein-protein. All goes back to WLS being a tool and if your head isn't in the game you're boned. I know I'm not alone in this, and yes, it's so frustrating, embarrassing, and infuriating to be going back up after all the progress I've made. The elephant in the room is that deep down I know 90% of my struggles are mental. When you've spent 40 some years struggling with bad food relationships that crap doesn't just go away with a smaller stomach.

If you don't already have it I'd suggest getting the Starbuck's app for your phone. It's nice to take your time going through the drinks and making it your own, order in advance, and be in & out picking up. Plus the app will tell you how many calories your drink has.

For home the different flavors of Premier Protein make for a nice add-in to coffee.

And people are supposed to do what with that wealth of information?

If this is the typical post-op freak out it is typical to actually end up weighing more after surgery because of all the fluids you've been pumped up with.

2 hours ago, ladydeenj said:

I just got re-sleeved February 27, six days postop I have pictures that my doctor took. He stated I was almost the size of a regular stomach. It can be done. I’m not proud about it but the truth is I am a perfect example of what can happen. For some reason everyone thinks that it’s not possible

I don't think it's a case of not thinking it's possible but not as common as people think. It's the ones that fail to understand that slider foods are easier to eat and think that they've stretched out their sleeve in a matter of two days.

I'd be curious to hear more about your story should you be willing to share. Did they not remove enough of the stretchy part when you first had your surgery? If you stretched it was it never seriously painful or at least cause serious discomfort eating so much to stretch it? I freaking hate eating one or two bites too many and feeling blah for the next hour so it's a bit hard to imagine eating enough to truly stretch it out.

30 minutes ago, briae13 said:

I was tracking pretty regularly using the 1oz cups but now I just use a Water bottle. I'd say probably at least 20oz between Water and Powerade. Might go back to the cups and try and keep a better eye on it.

Only 20 oz between the two? If you're only getting 20-30 oz then yeah...you're pretty risky for getting dehydrated. Like Sosewsue said do everything you can for extra fluids - popsicles, broth...whatever. If you're really struggling with getting Protein in you may have to say to hell with that and focus on fluids. My doc would rather us not get all our protein in for a day or two if it was between that and getting dehydrated.

An easy way to track is to reuse one or two Powerade bottles. Get the 32 oz size and know that your goal is to drink 2 of those every day. I'd drink Powerade and then reuse those bottles and fill it up with Cyrstal Light. My goal was to have one of them finished by early afternoon and the other one by bedtime. Keep it with you at all times. If I woke up in the middle of the night I had it next to the bed and would take a sip or two since I was awake.

Yes, it can be a sign. It can also be due to a sudden drop in blood pressure going from sitting to standing. I didn't have any dehydration worries post-op but did suffer from some light headed spells from time to time (usually worse when in the shower). Are you keeping track of your fluids? If so what exactly are you getting in every day?

Definitely keep and eye on it and mention it to your doc. Take your time getting up and if possible have something to steady yourself against when you stand up.

Hang in there bud. Fluffy is right. I think the two weeks prior to surgery were the worst. You're at humpday now so it'll start going by quicker. I know it seems an enternity right now but it's only a few more days. We're all pulling for you and wishing you the best.

11 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

Six months for me.

Same here. It really depends on your insurance. Mine required a 6 month supervised program. One that was completed the paper work gets submitted and that can take anywhere from another 2-4 weeks. I got caught up in the end of year rush so it took a bit longer than normal.

The anesthesia part is easy. I get being nervous, but you'll be just kind of chilling and then the next thing you know you're waking up. It really is like going to sleep at night and waking up in the morning. Unfortunately we're all different on the pain side of things. I was more blah because of the anesthesia than I was from the pain. I've been under a few times and my body really hates it for whatever reason. It may not be the best when you first wake up but focus on it being short term. It honestly does get better pretty quick. Just take your time, follow your instructions, and as everyone always says - walk, walk walk and sip, sip, sip!

Good luck to you today and see you on the loser's bench!

Unjury makes the best chocolate Protein that I've ever had. It's a bit pricey, but the quality is worth it. I use a more run of the mill protein from Body Fortress as my cheaper go-to option. You can at least buy single serve packets from Unjury's website to sample the flavors before dropping the money on a tub of something you don't like.

The "reset" diet is a good way to restart your diet and get back on track, but it's a myth that you're going to do a liquid diet and your sleeve is magically going to revert to its original size after surgery. Evaluate your eating habits. What are you portion sizes? What are you eating? Are you keeping a journal? How often are you eating? Have you introduced a lot of slider foods back into your diet?

It's easy to think that your stomach is back to its original size if you're not eating the right things. If you're eating a lot of slider foods it's pretty easy to have the illusion that you can eat as much as you did prior to surgery. Stick to dense Proteins and eat those first before anything else.

What we go through is no small thing. It's a serious surgery. I had knee surgery years ago and that was nothing. This was a real s.o.b. to go through and I had a really rough start. Know that if you stick to your plan that it will increase the chances that everything will be fine. I worry more about those that freak out about the scale not moving and feel like they need to go hike a 18 mile long trail. Give your body time to rest and recover. Focus on your fluids & Protein and do what exercise you can. Don't overdue it and you'll be fine!

I had legit things I had to watch out for as I had an elevated heart rate & fever for the first two weeks. Add to that the pain meds made me feel sick and I was sore as all get out and it gets difficult to sort out what's "normal" at that phase versus something is wrong. Hopefully your visit to your doc will calm the nerves some.

1 hour ago, goldenbarbie said:

Thank you me too
Ok it’s been about 5 days now. Haven’t tried popsicle but I’ll ask my boyfriend to pick up some, I hope it will stay down

5 days now? Oi that seriously sucks. Dehydration is a legit worry so if it gets to that point definitely get your butt to the hospital to get checked out to be on the safe side. Hopefully you can keep enough Water down to not have to worry about getting to that point.

Everything I've read recommends doing bypass if you have GERD. You want to choose the surgery that's best for you and this is one of those factors to help in that process. I was on the fence in the beginning, but I will say if I had GERD that would have pushed me over to the side of having the bypass done rather than the sleeve. This is one thing where I wouldn't hope for the best. Go with the surgery that has the highest chance of success for you. I had enough fun doing surgery once. I really wouldn't want to have to go through what lighthouse is. That sucks.

Going to the ER isn't going to do much other than them saying you have the flu, unfortunately. When did you actually start to feel sick and start having troubles getting fluids in? Dehydration is obviously the biggest concern. One or two bad days isn't going to kill you, but if you get really behind then a hospital stay could end up being needed just to get fluids in. Have you tried popsicles? Don't know if that would help or if it would make you feel sick like anything else is. Glad to hear you can at least keep some Water down.

Sorry to hear...the flu sucks! Hope you get better soon.

Plain chicken gets boring, but I eat a ton of chicken salad. I add a variety of things to it like dried cranberries, walnuts or pecans, celery, and I use Greek yogurt rather than mayo. My on the go quick-fix is a small whole grain/wheat tortilla with chicken salad. I usually end up tossing the last bit of tortilla away (and probably not an option for you at this point). Otherwise beef Jerky and nuts are a go to while out on the road. I'll also keep a scoop of Protein Powder in a shaker bottle and add cold Water when needed.

Another good option are the flavored tuna packets from Starkist. They are about the perfect serving size, low on cals/carbs and pack a good shot of Protein. I always kept a few of those in the pantry or at work. Eating tuna by itself isn't the greatest thing in the world but the flavored packs are good.

Some docs don't have good "bedside manners." I finally started to lie to my doc because he annoyed the crap out of me. I told him multiple times that I could not get meet my Protein goals with only 3 meals. I had to do 4-6 plus a Protein Shake. And every time he's just lecture me on eating more than 3 meals a day, don't snack, it's going to lead to old habits, etc. So one day I finally gave up and whenever he asked "Are you only eating 3 meals a day?" Yessir. "And no snacking?" Nope. Never. Otherwise he's been good, but yeah...he always made me feel like I was cheating even though I wasn't. We're all going to lose differently. Don't worry if he's happy. If you're happy with your progress then be happy.

No regrets, but there are certainly times when it can be annoying with changes. I have a beer every once in a great while but it's kind of all or nothing. Gone are the days of being able to even eat 6 wings and a drink a small glass of beer with the guys at B-dubs. Now it's half a glass and maybe 2 wings and that's it. I mean it's not the end of the world, and the pros have definitely outweighed the cons.

My only other real cons are the annoying loose skin. I'm older now, was overweight for a long time, and pretty much knew I was boned when it came to that. Oh well...there are worse tragedies in life but it's annoying.

7 minutes ago, Lloyd Goldson said:

No, last day of 2 weeks, surgery in am pure clear liquid til morning. Buttercup;P

lol...okay. I thought you were trying to survive a single day of it. I was always jealous of those that had a doc that didn't require the full two weeks. It's a rough patch to go through for sure.

29 minutes ago, Tealael said:

At nearly $7 a pint I don't think I will have a problem keeping it sporadic.
I wish there was a really high Protein ice-cream

$7?? Holy crap at the price difference between areas in the country. It's usually like $4 something around here. Sometimes we get lucky and they have it on sale and it's something like 2 for $7. Every once in a great while Aldi's will get a shipment and it's in the $3 range. Either way the price point means it's something we don't get too often.

Have you ever checked out the ice cream recipes on the Eggface blog? I tried one a while back and it was decent enough. Granted I use a pretty meh tasting Protein Powder but serves its purpose for regular shakes. I used it to actually make ice cream and it was okay. With a better Protein it would likely taste way better.

I usually do a mix of milk and ice in the blender to give it a milkshake consistency. Normally I'll only ever do that in the evenings if I need to hit protein for the day and acts as a sort of treat. I may try using some of the Halo thrown in to improve upon that.

8 minutes ago, Lloyd Goldson said:

It's a long time til morning

Are you saying you're just having to do a single day of a liquid diet before your surgery? Cause if so then my tip is to say suck it up buttercup. Most of us had to do two weeks of this crap.

While it's easy to get caught up in the fear of surgery it's better to focus on the life style changes that are required. After all is said and done WLS is a tool. It is not a means to an end. Having a smaller stomach does not cure head hunger. It doesn't magically fix food addictions. It's honestly pretty easy to cheat with your sleeve and end up gaining weight back if you want. Getting ready to go through with WLS is much more mental than a lot of people realize (myself included).

This place is filled with lots of success stories. There are also those that come back after regaining weight a few years after surgery. Those are the things that I constantly remind myself of. That I can have continued success but it will always take work to stay on track and not fall back into old habits.

It's normal to be nervous and second guess yourself, but as I and many others will say it was one of the best decisions we've ever made.

45 minutes ago, ElseeG said:

Ok...here’s a devil’s advocate question...then why is this surgery preferable to regular crash dieting?

im asking myself all sorts of questions before taking the plunge...

Because any diet (IMO) is basically a short term strategy. Obviously WLS is not a short term thing. It’s a life time decision and commitment and the surgery is still a tool. For me my main issue was Portion Control so the sleeve made sense to me. Can I still graze all day if I choose to? Yes. But that’s what it boils down to – I’m choosing whether I want to eat constantly or not. My doc wants his patients on 3 meals a day with no Snacks. He didn't even want me doing 3 meals and a Protein Shake. In the early months there was simply no way I could eat enough to cover my Protein needs over the course of 3 meals. I've kind of gone back the basics this week. Eating smaller portions and more of them throughout the day. The things I'm eating are good options, though, such as chicken salad, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc.

You can't look at it as being a diet. It truly is a lifestyle change. So what do I mean by that? Well for me that meant giving up lots and lots of old habits. It was a daily stop by the gas station for my giant Diet Mt Dew and some pretzels or granola bar. A few times here and there grabbing fast food because I had errands to do after work and wouldn't be home for hours. Now I only stop by the gas station if I actually need to eat because I'm away from home. Instead of getting junk food now I get some beef Jerky and maybe some peanuts. And yes, it's a battle some times to avoid drifting into the other sections and getting something I shouldn't. That's the lifestyle change. I went through all of this for a reason and I don't want to throw all the benefits away.

In my early 20s I got up to 395lbs. It scared me to know how close I was to being 400lbs. Started going to the gym and started to lose some weight. Then I lived at the gym for the next year or two and got down to 265lbs. And then some nerve problems kept me away from the gym and the weight came back on. Then I quit smoking and added some more weight. Then I got a desk job. So here I was years later back up to 355lbs and feeling miserable. I felt out of options and that's why I went with surgery and glad I did. It isn't for everyone and God knows there are thousands and thousands of people out there that have lost weight by dieting alone.

It's good that you're asking these questions. Honestly it's the ones that think they're going to wake up with a smaller stomach after srugery and all their food issues and addictions magically go away.