Creekimp13

Nerves are normal. Big emotions are normal. Get prepared as much as you can, and expect to work hard and have challenges. You will need to employ patience. It won't be easy.
Most important advice freshly post-op. Sip. Sip. Sip. Use the stupid little cups, make the chart on paper, and put all of your attention and focus the next week....into drinking as much as you're supposed to.
Drink one teenie little one ounce cup in ten teenie little sips. Do this every 15 minutes, all day, as long as you are awake. 4 ounces an hour...if you are awake 16 hours = 64 ounces. But you have to pay attention and do it. Every. Single. Hour.
Your job the next week is to watch the clock and drink.
Sip, sip, sip.
That's how you stay out of the hospital for dehydration.
Best wishes and congrats!

Bariatric Surgery patients represent a surprisingly increasing number of patients in inpatient treatment for anorexia according to John's Hopkins.
Yes, anorexia and other eating disorders are a serious risk for our population.
Yes, treatment....including eating more.... will be a help even if you gain a little weight to find a managable maintenance level of calories.
Passing out is incredibly dangerous and can kill you or others if you drive. It's also incredibly unsafe on stairs, around heavy equipment, and in the company of unsafe people. Being that low on nutrition is hard on your body, particularly your heart. You can do permenant damage in short order.
Take your condition seriously. Your very demanding job and thinner body are of no use to you if you imperil your safety, health, and eventually your life. (it's tough on relationships, too)
Wishing you the very best.

Nerves are normal. Big emotions are normal. Get prepared as much as you can, and expect to work hard and have challenges. You will need to employ patience. It won't be easy.
Most important advice freshly post-op. Sip. Sip. Sip. Use the stupid little cups, make the chart on paper, and put all of your attention and focus the next week....into drinking as much as you're supposed to.
Drink one teenie little one ounce cup in ten teenie little sips. Do this every 15 minutes, all day, as long as you are awake. 4 ounces an hour...if you are awake 16 hours = 64 ounces. But you have to pay attention and do it. Every. Single. Hour.
Your job the next week is to watch the clock and drink.
Sip, sip, sip.
That's how you stay out of the hospital for dehydration.
Best wishes and congrats!

Nerves are normal. Big emotions are normal. Get prepared as much as you can, and expect to work hard and have challenges. You will need to employ patience. It won't be easy.
Most important advice freshly post-op. Sip. Sip. Sip. Use the stupid little cups, make the chart on paper, and put all of your attention and focus the next week....into drinking as much as you're supposed to.
Drink one teenie little one ounce cup in ten teenie little sips. Do this every 15 minutes, all day, as long as you are awake. 4 ounces an hour...if you are awake 16 hours = 64 ounces. But you have to pay attention and do it. Every. Single. Hour.
Your job the next week is to watch the clock and drink.
Sip, sip, sip.
That's how you stay out of the hospital for dehydration.
Best wishes and congrats!

You're eating less than 500 very low carb calories a day. That, in itself, will cause a little weight loss in 6 days. But the bulk of what you've lost is likely Water. Because of your low carbs, you are stripping your liver of all the glucose stored there...so it shrinks. (Which is really nice, because there is a little more room for the surgeon to work with the liver reduced) As the glucose in the liver is used, a lot of water is expelled, too.
This "instant significant weight loss" when we mostly eliminate carbs from our diets....is why people are so delighted when they go on a Keto diet and instantly lose weight and inches around their waists. But they're not losing fat....they're just losing their emergency glucose and the water it's stored in, and just shrinking their livers.
Your loss is normal and I wouldn't worry about it. Keep following your team's instructions.

You're eating less than 500 very low carb calories a day. That, in itself, will cause a little weight loss in 6 days. But the bulk of what you've lost is likely Water. Because of your low carbs, you are stripping your liver of all the glucose stored there...so it shrinks. (Which is really nice, because there is a little more room for the surgeon to work with the liver reduced) As the glucose in the liver is used, a lot of water is expelled, too.
This "instant significant weight loss" when we mostly eliminate carbs from our diets....is why people are so delighted when they go on a Keto diet and instantly lose weight and inches around their waists. But they're not losing fat....they're just losing their emergency glucose and the water it's stored in, and just shrinking their livers.
Your loss is normal and I wouldn't worry about it. Keep following your team's instructions.

You're eating less than 500 very low carb calories a day. That, in itself, will cause a little weight loss in 6 days. But the bulk of what you've lost is likely Water. Because of your low carbs, you are stripping your liver of all the glucose stored there...so it shrinks. (Which is really nice, because there is a little more room for the surgeon to work with the liver reduced) As the glucose in the liver is used, a lot of water is expelled, too.
This "instant significant weight loss" when we mostly eliminate carbs from our diets....is why people are so delighted when they go on a Keto diet and instantly lose weight and inches around their waists. But they're not losing fat....they're just losing their emergency glucose and the water it's stored in, and just shrinking their livers.
Your loss is normal and I wouldn't worry about it. Keep following your team's instructions.

I needed every minute of the 6 month diet to do the work of understanding my eating habits and what I was in for....and I still could have used more time to prepare. I understand being excited and impatient to move forward...but the six month diet is important. Without learning to control your eating habits, you're going to be in trouble.
This surgery is a tool, and it's a tool that fails...a lot...when people are not prepared for the lifetime changes they need to make.
And I don't mean just adjusting to your new anatomy...that's relatively easy. What I mean is...the fact that you will STILL have to count calories, record everything you eat, fight temptation and cravings, and especially... find other outlets for emotional eating, identify your triggers, cope with the things that drove you to eat.
Most of the people who make noise on the boards fall into two catagories. The people who have experienced some degree of success working very very hard. And the people who have experienced some degree of success by the good fortune of an excellent physiological reaction to the surgery regardless of their habits (luck).
Who we DON'T tend to hear from, or see posts from....are the majority of people who have these surgeries.... who never lose more than 50% of their excess weight. When people get unhappy or feel unsuccessful...they don't post about it. Half of people who have this surgery will fall in this category.
You can eat around an altered stomach and gain it all back. It's not even hard to do. The surgery changes one anatomical element to give you an advantage....not a fix. Your head is the place that needs the real fix.
Six months...is a great investment in working to fix your head before you have to deal with your new digestive system.
Are bariatric surgeries a terrific tool? Yes. The new anatomy helps a lot. Another terrific tool...one that is arguably just as helpful and arguably more important to your longterm success......a bariatric therapist.
Make sure you have access to one.
Best wishes to all!

Bariatric Surgery patients represent a surprisingly increasing number of patients in inpatient treatment for anorexia according to John's Hopkins.
Yes, anorexia and other eating disorders are a serious risk for our population.
Yes, treatment....including eating more.... will be a help even if you gain a little weight to find a managable maintenance level of calories.
Passing out is incredibly dangerous and can kill you or others if you drive. It's also incredibly unsafe on stairs, around heavy equipment, and in the company of unsafe people. Being that low on nutrition is hard on your body, particularly your heart. You can do permenant damage in short order.
Take your condition seriously. Your very demanding job and thinner body are of no use to you if you imperil your safety, health, and eventually your life. (it's tough on relationships, too)
Wishing you the very best.

I'm super glad I did it. I've lost all the weight I needed to lose and I've adjusted to a new way of eating. It's not effortless, but it's not a big struggle to stay on program, either. It takes a bit of discipline and dedication but the surgery itself changed my desire for food (in a good way). My appetite is much more tame now and even my cravings are not nearly as strong. Not everyone has that experience, so your mileage may vary.
I was prepped pretty well before surgery. I only wish I had read a few more first-hand accounts so I would have been aware of how miserable the first few days can be, but also that the misery passes pretty quickly.
I do think I will be able to maintain my weight. I'm learning how to maintain, while still participating in special occasions, traditional meals, etc. So far, I'm staying squarely within my maintenance window (120-125).
Only you can decide if you're ready to take the plunge. It is a pretty radical life change. Your relationship with food will be permanently changed and you'll have to be mindful about what and how you eat, forever. In the beginning, the diet is pretty restricted, but before long you'll have more options and in the end, there will probably be few things you can't eat (if any). You'll have to learn what works for you and what doesn't, post-surgery. The surgery helps a lot, but the commitment has to come from you. And as everyone has said, if there's an emotional or psychological component to your overeating, the surgery won't fix that. You'll have to work on that so that, as you lose weight, you also heal the root cause of why you became overweight to begin with. Many people have had bariatric surgery, lost an amazing amount of weight, and then gained most of it back because they were still using food to cope. So you have to work on your inside as much as you do your outside.
I wish you the best in making your decision, the surgery is a big commitment, but for me it was totally worth it.

I’m 25 months post my sleeve. I was almost 54 when I had my surgery and I’m so glad I did.
I had a friend who’d had sleeve surgery & I did a lot of reading before seeing my surgeon so generally I felt pretty prepared. But because we’re different, there will be differences in our experience too. You just never know how your body will respond after surgery to the change. For example my occasional blood pressure drops have become something that occurs every day - annoying but manageable. The parasite that hid out in my tummy (multiple antibiotics over years couldn’t kill it) was cut out with the bulk of my tummy & now I’m not sensitive to lactose anymore - unexpected win!
As @Creekimp13 said the surgery will give you a tool to aid weight loss by reducing your tummy but it doesn’t do anything for what drives us to eat. That’s the work you have to do. Many do the head work with the help of a therapist, short or long term, others do it alone. It’s an essential component to the success of your surgery because the things that drove you to eat will always be there. You just have to learn & develop strategies to manage those drives.
The surgery doesn’t educate us on how to eat better & in a healthier way either. Keep in touch with your dietician while you lose & maintain. I also did a lot of reading, ignored all the fad diet stuff & worked out how I wanted to eat long term to maintain my weight loss & still enjoy my life without feeling I’m missing out.
What drove us to eat & bad eating habits & food choices are the reason why we always regained after we lost in the past.
I don’t know what the further will bring. None of us do. Life can throw a heap of sh*t at us sometimes. But I do know I’m going to try to keep working at this every day.

I'm 3.5 years post op.
Super glad I did it:) Wish I'd done it years ago.
I wish I'd known the true statistics of what percentage of people have outcomes they are happy with. I'm extremely happy, but I know several people who are struggling and revising and in my opinion have not gotten the help they need to address the core issues....the disordered eating that drives obesity.
This surgery will fix your guts temporarity so it's difficult to overeat. It doesn't fix your head. Eventually, you will be able to eat pretty freely again and can easily self sabotage if you don't fix your eating issues.
I do think I'll be able to stay at a healthy weight for the long term. Last year, my yearly exam was a phone exam due to Covid. This year I went in and was weighed for the first time in two years...and was within one pound of what I weighed two years ago. I'm stupid proud of that. If I gain five pounds, I see the bariatric therapist ASAP. I talk about all the events leading up to the gain and try to figure out what triggered it and how to avoid the behaviors, and replace them with different coping mechanisms. I always feel better, and in short order, am back down 5 pounds. See the therapist. It works and can be just as important as the surgery.
If you qualify for the surgery, I would absolutely recommend it.
Best wishes!

I'm 3.5 years post op.
Super glad I did it:) Wish I'd done it years ago.
I wish I'd known the true statistics of what percentage of people have outcomes they are happy with. I'm extremely happy, but I know several people who are struggling and revising and in my opinion have not gotten the help they need to address the core issues....the disordered eating that drives obesity.
This surgery will fix your guts temporarity so it's difficult to overeat. It doesn't fix your head. Eventually, you will be able to eat pretty freely again and can easily self sabotage if you don't fix your eating issues.
I do think I'll be able to stay at a healthy weight for the long term. Last year, my yearly exam was a phone exam due to Covid. This year I went in and was weighed for the first time in two years...and was within one pound of what I weighed two years ago. I'm stupid proud of that. If I gain five pounds, I see the bariatric therapist ASAP. I talk about all the events leading up to the gain and try to figure out what triggered it and how to avoid the behaviors, and replace them with different coping mechanisms. I always feel better, and in short order, am back down 5 pounds. See the therapist. It works and can be just as important as the surgery.
If you qualify for the surgery, I would absolutely recommend it.
Best wishes!

Pure Protein chocolate Delux bars. Love them. 180 calories, 21g of Protein. Also...hard boiled eggs. Carrots and hummus. String cheese. Almonds. Chia pudding.

I'm 3.5 years post op.
Super glad I did it:) Wish I'd done it years ago.
I wish I'd known the true statistics of what percentage of people have outcomes they are happy with. I'm extremely happy, but I know several people who are struggling and revising and in my opinion have not gotten the help they need to address the core issues....the disordered eating that drives obesity.
This surgery will fix your guts temporarity so it's difficult to overeat. It doesn't fix your head. Eventually, you will be able to eat pretty freely again and can easily self sabotage if you don't fix your eating issues.
I do think I'll be able to stay at a healthy weight for the long term. Last year, my yearly exam was a phone exam due to Covid. This year I went in and was weighed for the first time in two years...and was within one pound of what I weighed two years ago. I'm stupid proud of that. If I gain five pounds, I see the bariatric therapist ASAP. I talk about all the events leading up to the gain and try to figure out what triggered it and how to avoid the behaviors, and replace them with different coping mechanisms. I always feel better, and in short order, am back down 5 pounds. See the therapist. It works and can be just as important as the surgery.
If you qualify for the surgery, I would absolutely recommend it.
Best wishes!

I apologize for the typos. I’ll blame it on the pain meds 😸

Oh Lordy! I hope the OP found a bariatric treatment team that understands vegetarian diets. My team had an entirely vegetarian plan option and guess what some of the first foods were? Beans. Brown Rice. Oats. Potatoes. Hummus. Why? because they have a terrific metabolic index...are loaded with plant based protien...and have Fiber. (they're also much better tolerated right after surgery than meat by many folks) I'm not a vegetarian, but I like the mayo Clinic Diet and the Mediterrainian diet....so my pre and post surgical diets were sort of a hybrid that included a lot of vegetarian influence. (I still eat meat, but I also eat a lot of beans, oats, nuts, seeds, etc) Thankfully, I had a team that did their homework on different ways up the mountain and didn't suggest Keto was the only way or that carbs were the devil. Whew! So thankful for that! Cause the diet that many of ya'll describe is not something that I could have survived.
I remember posting some of my sample menus...from my freaking dietician....a few weeks out and getting slammed by people here for the things (and amounts...1200 calories by end of first month) I was eating. A month out of surgery, I remember existing on refried beans with lowfat cheese and salsa....black beans with salsa and canned chicken....split pea soup....tofu chili with white beans....tofu chop suey over a small amount of brown rice....steal cut oats with dried cherries. fruit. My clinic was absolutely fine with fruit as tolerated, but they wanted whole fruit, not just the juice. I ate a lot of baked oats with blueberries, strawberries, pecans and low calorie maple Syrup. I ate 100 calorie whole grain english muffins with Peanut Butter. I ate boiled potatos with lowfat cheese or nonfat yogurt. ****, I poured caramel Premier Protien shake on my oatmeal and liked slurping it warm.
But you know what I didn't eat? Sugar. White flour. Processed foods. Prepackaged sweet carbs. Stuff that spikes your insulin. I also didn't add animal fat like butter. Most of the stuff I ate was pretty low fat with the exception of tiny amounts of olive or grape seed or sesame oil. All of my carbs in weight loss phase were full of fiber and not processed. I ate a little fruit everyday. I added a lot of herbs, made sauces replacing sugar with splenda, I put every kind of vegetable and fruit in my kitchen in the smoothies I drank....and a glob of nonfat greek yogurt or tofu or chia seeds for Protein.
My clinic was activingly fighting the notion that super restricted calories and keto in the first months after surgery were necessary. They did things very differently than I hear routinely described here.
I know we're all gonna have a different experience and I know for MOST of you guys....a super restricted calorie diet in the early days and keto, keto, keto, carbs are the devil....is what you were taught is the only way. And I know for most of ya'll...it's what worked and what you believe like a religion.
I'm here to tell ya... There are other paths up this mountain. I'm working on being tolerant of everyone's preferred path. Anyway you get it done....you deserve serious kudos and I'm proud of you all. But I've gotta say.... it can be easy to feel defensive when post after post after post here...is so negative about what worked terrific for me and others like me.
A few of us have lost weight successfully and maintained really well...on a diet that includes a buttload of (unrefined) carbs and a pretty high calorie allowance started early in the process. What's more...as a group, it appears we're having really good luck not regaining. That's no small thing. Keep an open mind about your carb eating brothers and sisters. We do ok with this whole process, too;)
As always...to each their own. Peace and best wishes to all.

I had a very easy recovery. I was up and walking around my house the first couple of days, and outside walking after that. Like creekimp, I can eat most things now that I did before surgery, I just eat a lot less of them. It's really the first few weeks/months that you have a lot of restrictions.
I didn't do any food blow-outs before surgery since I'd lost 57 lbs by then (didn't want to blow it!!). We did go to a couple of our favorite places that last week since I knew it'd be awhile before I could go again, but I didn't go hog wild there. I eat reasonable portions.

Woot! Well done!

There is no easy way out of significant obesity.

I use the Aldi brand of extra tiny beans....they're young beans..skinny, more tender, easier to chew well. And incredibly delicious.

If you meet your protien goal, you will protect your heart. If you go to your appointments, do your tests, do your best to follow instructions, and take your Vitamins as directed.... you will likely be a lot healthier than you've been in years.
There is nothing more strongly linked with early death, cancer, stroke, heart disease and diabetes.....than significant obesity.
Also...some doctors don't do a "starvation diet" (which I personally agree could be metabolically terrible and probably unwise). My doctor wanted us eating 1200 calories per day as soon as possible. I did at three weeks. (6 little 200 calorie meals)
I think where most of the people who have issues run into problems...is when they don't follow up. They have an unexpected gain or feel unhappy with results and don't continue to get their labs checked or do their follow up appointments. Yes, a few problems can arise as a result of these surgeries....most are very treatable.
Always weigh benefits vs risk. And also consider the risk involved in doing nothing.

If you meet your protien goal, you will protect your heart. If you go to your appointments, do your tests, do your best to follow instructions, and take your Vitamins as directed.... you will likely be a lot healthier than you've been in years.
There is nothing more strongly linked with early death, cancer, stroke, heart disease and diabetes.....than significant obesity.
Also...some doctors don't do a "starvation diet" (which I personally agree could be metabolically terrible and probably unwise). My doctor wanted us eating 1200 calories per day as soon as possible. I did at three weeks. (6 little 200 calorie meals)
I think where most of the people who have issues run into problems...is when they don't follow up. They have an unexpected gain or feel unhappy with results and don't continue to get their labs checked or do their follow up appointments. Yes, a few problems can arise as a result of these surgeries....most are very treatable.
Always weigh benefits vs risk. And also consider the risk involved in doing nothing.

If you meet your protien goal, you will protect your heart. If you go to your appointments, do your tests, do your best to follow instructions, and take your Vitamins as directed.... you will likely be a lot healthier than you've been in years.
There is nothing more strongly linked with early death, cancer, stroke, heart disease and diabetes.....than significant obesity.
Also...some doctors don't do a "starvation diet" (which I personally agree could be metabolically terrible and probably unwise). My doctor wanted us eating 1200 calories per day as soon as possible. I did at three weeks. (6 little 200 calorie meals)
I think where most of the people who have issues run into problems...is when they don't follow up. They have an unexpected gain or feel unhappy with results and don't continue to get their labs checked or do their follow up appointments. Yes, a few problems can arise as a result of these surgeries....most are very treatable.
Always weigh benefits vs risk. And also consider the risk involved in doing nothing.

I finally showed my before and after photos on Facebook. I was very, very scared. I had told a lot of people - but some didn't know. I had never EVER showed a full body picture like that. From the side at that! Anyways, on the left: I was a miserable 369lbs. SUPER unhealthy, probably headed to death. I doubt very seriously I could make it past 400. My body would probably just give out. I was already struggling to breathe doing simple tasks/walking up stairs. ANYWHO, the right was a shot taken by my beautiful momsicle on Mother's Day just last weekend. Ignore my "suns in the eyes" face. I am over 120lbs lost from February 27th, 2020 to now. I finally am under 250lbs and I am just floored. Of course, I won't lie. It's been a struggle.
Currently, my biggest challenge has and still is - dumping. In the beginning, for the first 8 months, I threw up every. single. day. I realized ice cream, fried foods, steak - out of the question. Buffets were a waste. Most every meal I got out, was a waste. It made people feel bad at first because I would stop eating after 3 bites. I had to constantly remind people that I didn't mind if they ate! I got accepted into nursing school and reverted back to some old habits. Sugary coffees (which made me dump like HELL), chicken nuggets, fries...Anything I could stuff in my mouth "on the go". I would pay the price, but I wasn't puking after every single meal. So I thought I was in the clear. Earlier this year, I started to have tremendous abdominal pain. Spasms that took my breath away. After numerous tests, it was concluded that I had severe IBS with Constipation and diarrhea. After talking to my NP at the weight loss place, we decided to try more plant-based alternatives. I'll admit, I was skeptical and very upset because this girl LOVES a nice juicy steak! But, I have noticed my symptoms are near non-existence when I eat Beans, (wild) rice, whole grains, some fruits, and almost any veggie. I take it light with caffeine as that is a trigger, but I do still consume some.
Suffice to say, this has been the hardest battle I have ever fought in my entire life. I continue to fight it. I continue to struggle with choices about food. I've learned to not limit myself completely. If I want a cookie, I'll eat half. I don't starve myself. I just don't overindulge like I used to. It seems to be working as I have lost a ton of weight. I plateau, but it's going. I just want to be an advocate for anyone considering the surgery and will answer ANY questions! I want to also be your cheerleader if you have already had the surgery. I can't promise it won't be hard, but I will promise it will be worth it to look at yourself in the mirror and have self-esteem again! I am actually OK with people taking full body pictures now! Insane! I am waiting for my weight to be stable to get skin surgery, but baby steps!
#AMA