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Before surgery, I felt like dieting was the equivalent of holding my breath. I could do it for a while, I could see super success, but eventually I had to breathe! I couldn't hold up the massive amount of will power necessary to continue on a path to a healthy life. It was like contending with an insatiable monster in my tummy who was always hungry and always in control of my thoughts and actions. I felt like I could not win no matter how hard I tried, and each attempt I made to over throw the monster left me weaker and fatter and sicker until I weighed 474 lbs and suffered from diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. It's been a little over a year and I weigh 265 now and I lose about 10 lbs a month still. I've lost the percentage that is normal, but I plan to continue losing. Sure, my dream is to make it all the way to 160, but this surgery was enormously successful already! Even if don't lose another pound. My diabetes is in remission, my hypertension is gone, my cholesterol is low, I don't take any meds, but the most amazing part is--THE MONSTER IS DEAD! When I eat, it feels like a choice I make for myself and that feeling is soo good, so incredible to me. I know if I'm careless, I could let the monster back in. That's a scary prospect that pops in my mind from time to time, but presently, the surgery helped me to overcome something I just could not do on my own.
As you think about your own decision to proceed with surgery, consider not only what it can do for you right now, but what it may help you prevent for your future self. Sure, it's possible you might not get to your goal weight and/or maintain it for life, but you may never see yourself get bigger than you are now. You may prevent future health problems, and it will absolutely give you a stronger shot at success that you might not be able to achieve on your own volition. This is a big, big decision and goodness knows, I had major problems with my sleeve that resulted in terrible stent experience and ultimately a revision which I just had done, but I would do it all again knowing all that I know now. Very worth it!
Consider that the the average weight loss for "most" is with little effort and happens in the first 6 months after surgery. If you are willing to risk the surgery and put in effort through diet change and exercise, you WILL reach your goals and be happy. Cheers!

Before surgery, I felt like dieting was the equivalent of holding my breath. I could do it for a while, I could see super success, but eventually I had to breathe! I couldn't hold up the massive amount of will power necessary to continue on a path to a healthy life. It was like contending with an insatiable monster in my tummy who was always hungry and always in control of my thoughts and actions. I felt like I could not win no matter how hard I tried, and each attempt I made to over throw the monster left me weaker and fatter and sicker until I weighed 474 lbs and suffered from diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. It's been a little over a year and I weigh 265 now and I lose about 10 lbs a month still. I've lost the percentage that is normal, but I plan to continue losing. Sure, my dream is to make it all the way to 160, but this surgery was enormously successful already! Even if don't lose another pound. My diabetes is in remission, my hypertension is gone, my cholesterol is low, I don't take any meds, but the most amazing part is--THE MONSTER IS DEAD! When I eat, it feels like a choice I make for myself and that feeling is soo good, so incredible to me. I know if I'm careless, I could let the monster back in. That's a scary prospect that pops in my mind from time to time, but presently, the surgery helped me to overcome something I just could not do on my own.
As you think about your own decision to proceed with surgery, consider not only what it can do for you right now, but what it may help you prevent for your future self. Sure, it's possible you might not get to your goal weight and/or maintain it for life, but you may never see yourself get bigger than you are now. You may prevent future health problems, and it will absolutely give you a stronger shot at success that you might not be able to achieve on your own volition. This is a big, big decision and goodness knows, I had major problems with my sleeve that resulted in terrible stent experience and ultimately a revision which I just had done, but I would do it all again knowing all that I know now. Very worth it!
Consider that the the average weight loss for "most" is with little effort and happens in the first 6 months after surgery. If you are willing to risk the surgery and put in effort through diet change and exercise, you WILL reach your goals and be happy. Cheers!

I got to put my wedding ring back on--it fit! My husband put that on my finger when I was 19 years old and we had a whole life in front of us. We will have our 25th next year in June!

First of all, I'd like to try and sooth your mind a little by saying that 12 days is very early to be scared about what's getting stuck and is it stricture. That doesn't mean there isn't a problem, but I promise you, your tummy is still super swollen and will continue to battle with swelling and healing for that 6 week recovery. I have had terrible trouble with stricture and anything potato makes me violently ill along with anything that is very starchy or sticky (pasta, rice, oatmeal, bread.) I have a two centimeter narrowing and the only thing that passes without grief is liquid. Starchy stuff acts like glue in your gut and since you are still so very swollen and healing, it plugs you right up and sits like a rock of OMG awful wedged in your tummy. You also are struggling to produce the proper digestive juices at the moment so even a tiny bite that you chewed for 30 min of something NOT on your diet may cause horrid upset. Try to take a breath, don't be too scared yet, keep your doctor informed as it seems like you have. If you are able to sip your Protein Drinks with no problem then you are doing okay for the moment. I'm sure you are bored out of your mind of your limited food choices, but don't jump the gun on eating anything crazy right now. Even things on your list of approved food can be problematic if your tummy is still swollen. Furthermore, if you do eat something and have a bad tummy ache from it, it's likely to cause added swelling for a while (days). Also, if anyone posting here had hiatal hernia repair with their sleeve, that is its own nasty recovery that can cause things to back up into your esophagus, yucky lump feeling in your throat area, "alien slime" regurgitation, pain in your chest with eating and drinking. I still get pain under my left collar bone to this day with eating.
Always always use your best judgement. If your surgeon is telling you to be patient and let healing take place then try to let that happen and take some deep breaths. You know if you can't get more than 40 oz of Fluid down you will be in trouble. You can go MUCH longer without food. If you are getting a few hundred calories for now that's just fine. Smile, drink some warm tea and count your oz of liquid. If you need someone to talk to, message me and we can call over the phone. Its very, very possible everything is just as it should be though. Chin up buttercup!
Oh, and, as my surgeon always tells me so very sweetly, "I can fix anything!" If you do have a stricture, it can be fixed. It won't be fun lol, but you will be fixable! Try to have a beautiful day today.

First of all, I'd like to try and sooth your mind a little by saying that 12 days is very early to be scared about what's getting stuck and is it stricture. That doesn't mean there isn't a problem, but I promise you, your tummy is still super swollen and will continue to battle with swelling and healing for that 6 week recovery. I have had terrible trouble with stricture and anything potato makes me violently ill along with anything that is very starchy or sticky (pasta, rice, oatmeal, bread.) I have a two centimeter narrowing and the only thing that passes without grief is liquid. Starchy stuff acts like glue in your gut and since you are still so very swollen and healing, it plugs you right up and sits like a rock of OMG awful wedged in your tummy. You also are struggling to produce the proper digestive juices at the moment so even a tiny bite that you chewed for 30 min of something NOT on your diet may cause horrid upset. Try to take a breath, don't be too scared yet, keep your doctor informed as it seems like you have. If you are able to sip your Protein Drinks with no problem then you are doing okay for the moment. I'm sure you are bored out of your mind of your limited food choices, but don't jump the gun on eating anything crazy right now. Even things on your list of approved food can be problematic if your tummy is still swollen. Furthermore, if you do eat something and have a bad tummy ache from it, it's likely to cause added swelling for a while (days). Also, if anyone posting here had hiatal hernia repair with their sleeve, that is its own nasty recovery that can cause things to back up into your esophagus, yucky lump feeling in your throat area, "alien slime" regurgitation, pain in your chest with eating and drinking. I still get pain under my left collar bone to this day with eating.
Always always use your best judgement. If your surgeon is telling you to be patient and let healing take place then try to let that happen and take some deep breaths. You know if you can't get more than 40 oz of Fluid down you will be in trouble. You can go MUCH longer without food. If you are getting a few hundred calories for now that's just fine. Smile, drink some warm tea and count your oz of liquid. If you need someone to talk to, message me and we can call over the phone. Its very, very possible everything is just as it should be though. Chin up buttercup!
Oh, and, as my surgeon always tells me so very sweetly, "I can fix anything!" If you do have a stricture, it can be fixed. It won't be fun lol, but you will be fixable! Try to have a beautiful day today.

First of all, I'd like to try and sooth your mind a little by saying that 12 days is very early to be scared about what's getting stuck and is it stricture. That doesn't mean there isn't a problem, but I promise you, your tummy is still super swollen and will continue to battle with swelling and healing for that 6 week recovery. I have had terrible trouble with stricture and anything potato makes me violently ill along with anything that is very starchy or sticky (pasta, rice, oatmeal, bread.) I have a two centimeter narrowing and the only thing that passes without grief is liquid. Starchy stuff acts like glue in your gut and since you are still so very swollen and healing, it plugs you right up and sits like a rock of OMG awful wedged in your tummy. You also are struggling to produce the proper digestive juices at the moment so even a tiny bite that you chewed for 30 min of something NOT on your diet may cause horrid upset. Try to take a breath, don't be too scared yet, keep your doctor informed as it seems like you have. If you are able to sip your Protein Drinks with no problem then you are doing okay for the moment. I'm sure you are bored out of your mind of your limited food choices, but don't jump the gun on eating anything crazy right now. Even things on your list of approved food can be problematic if your tummy is still swollen. Furthermore, if you do eat something and have a bad tummy ache from it, it's likely to cause added swelling for a while (days). Also, if anyone posting here had hiatal hernia repair with their sleeve, that is its own nasty recovery that can cause things to back up into your esophagus, yucky lump feeling in your throat area, "alien slime" regurgitation, pain in your chest with eating and drinking. I still get pain under my left collar bone to this day with eating.
Always always use your best judgement. If your surgeon is telling you to be patient and let healing take place then try to let that happen and take some deep breaths. You know if you can't get more than 40 oz of Fluid down you will be in trouble. You can go MUCH longer without food. If you are getting a few hundred calories for now that's just fine. Smile, drink some warm tea and count your oz of liquid. If you need someone to talk to, message me and we can call over the phone. Its very, very possible everything is just as it should be though. Chin up buttercup!
Oh, and, as my surgeon always tells me so very sweetly, "I can fix anything!" If you do have a stricture, it can be fixed. It won't be fun lol, but you will be fixable! Try to have a beautiful day today.

I didn't know this! Actually, this kinda makes me feel better. I've lost so much of my long, lovely locks! Enough that I had to have a plumber come out and unclog the drain! So sad....but hope for the regrowth is something to look forward too. I was a little worried I'd just have this stringy, sad, lion fish hair do for good. I can't bear to sheer it off, but man oh man, a breezy day makes me look like a crazy lady.

Nothing you do at this point is going to stop or help the hair that's falling out. That's because your body decided months ago that it was going to stop feeding that hair that's falling out now. The reason it's falling out now, is because new hair is pushing the old hair out. Google Telogen Effluvium. It's when something shocks your system (stress, surgery, stressful surgery, etc) and your body has Hair growth cycles, the surgery causes a much higher percentage of hair to go dormant than normal. So, when the "Grow" cycle starts up again, all of that "Rest" cycle hair, gets dumped. It's just a temporary change to your normal shedding cycle. Nothing you can do about it now except deal with it until everything grows back in properly.

Your body is very protective of your life. It responds to quick weight-loss by slowing you down. Self preservation is the real deal and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone on these forums that won't attest to periods of slow weight loss or even the cessation of weight loss while still strictly recording calories and increasing exercise. These periods can last weeks to more than a month. You might even be able to notice that while you are doing your Zumba class or adding in more activity, you still might be having more quiet times or resting state activities in between your increased efforts. I can tell you from personal experience, even though I was doing my elliptical everyday I realized I was extra tired and going to bed an hour earlier than I ever used to. Getting good sleep is great, don't get me wrong, but your body can be really sneaky about slowing down starving to death which is what's happening in reality. Don't let your doctor rattle you about how fast you should be dropping weight. Focus instead on what you should be doing. Counting calories is a great way to teach yourself portion size and accountability. You won't have to do that forever, but its a great fall back plan if you are baffled about why you are experiencing slow or no weight loss. The world tells you that 2000 calories a day is okay and the "norm." You don't get that luxury anymore, maybe never. Your metabolism is in shambles, so is mine. You might only be burning 1600 calories a day even with exercise. Weight loss requires a caloric deficit so if you are eating 1000 calories give or take, then weight loss might only look like 1 lb gone in 6 days. That gives you a loss of 5 lbs a month. This sounds awful, but it really isn't! I'm not saying this stuff to upset you, or scare you, but rather to comfort and encourage you. You can and will succeed if you are patient with yourself and focus on the life long skill that you MUST learn from all this. It's a lovely balance of Portion Control, nutrition choices, activity and accountability. You got this! Cheers!

You're right. My apologies. I chuckled as I wrote that and didn't mean offense to anyone. It was meant to be light-hearted, but I can see it taken in the wrong way. Sorry!

I'm sorry, but Protein Water is disgusting. I Just can't. Good luck lol.

Your body is very protective of your life. It responds to quick weight-loss by slowing you down. Self preservation is the real deal and you'd be hard pressed to find anyone on these forums that won't attest to periods of slow weight loss or even the cessation of weight loss while still strictly recording calories and increasing exercise. These periods can last weeks to more than a month. You might even be able to notice that while you are doing your Zumba class or adding in more activity, you still might be having more quiet times or resting state activities in between your increased efforts. I can tell you from personal experience, even though I was doing my elliptical everyday I realized I was extra tired and going to bed an hour earlier than I ever used to. Getting good sleep is great, don't get me wrong, but your body can be really sneaky about slowing down starving to death which is what's happening in reality. Don't let your doctor rattle you about how fast you should be dropping weight. Focus instead on what you should be doing. Counting calories is a great way to teach yourself portion size and accountability. You won't have to do that forever, but its a great fall back plan if you are baffled about why you are experiencing slow or no weight loss. The world tells you that 2000 calories a day is okay and the "norm." You don't get that luxury anymore, maybe never. Your metabolism is in shambles, so is mine. You might only be burning 1600 calories a day even with exercise. Weight loss requires a caloric deficit so if you are eating 1000 calories give or take, then weight loss might only look like 1 lb gone in 6 days. That gives you a loss of 5 lbs a month. This sounds awful, but it really isn't! I'm not saying this stuff to upset you, or scare you, but rather to comfort and encourage you. You can and will succeed if you are patient with yourself and focus on the life long skill that you MUST learn from all this. It's a lovely balance of Portion Control, nutrition choices, activity and accountability. You got this! Cheers!

sleeping might be hard. My husband went out and bought a recliner rocker as soon as I got home from the hospital. I couldn't lay down, lay on my side, nothing. I sat up at the hospital for the three days I was there and continued to need to be sitting up for a couple weeks. This might vary from person to person and be dependent on how old or heavy you are going in. But maybe be ready with extra pillows for propping if you don't already have a recliner.
As far as eating goes, Water and Protein Drinks will probably be what you focus on the most for a good while. Warm drinks, broths, Tomato Soup, greek yogurt, sugar free pudding. Cold things might be hard to tolerate initially. If you feel discomfort switch to room temperature liquid. Good luck and be brave! Happy for you!

I am six months post op. I've seen my weight loss begin to slow and it scares me. I'm eating way better than I ever have and the surgery has helped me to do this so much, but I worry about how it will be next year and the year after and so forth. At the moment, my mind and habits feel solid and I want to believe I will be able to do this, that this is the new normal for me, but what if it isn't? Ahhhhhh!!!! I want to hug you and tell you it will all be okay...for you...for me...for all of us, but I can't say that with absolute certainty. I watched my father fail with his bypass surgery and other friends have failed as well, or so it seems. I can tell you this though...my father would have ate himself to death and I think I would have too. He's a big guy, but he's still with the world today and 74 years old. He didn't get exactly what he wanted from surgery, but that is still success in my book. Maybe I won't be my dream self, but I don't think I'm going to expand beyond 475 lbs ever again. My dream is to get to 200 lbs. and consider some skin removal surgeries at that point. I might not ever get the exact self that I want, but I'd like to adopt a different look on eating. Even at my current weight which is still very high...I can tell you I don't hurt anymore and that thought alone makes me cry a little with joy.
My kindred friend: you may not have your dreams full filled exactly to order, but there is still success to Celebrate. If you could love yourself for that, forgive yourself for slipping up, you can move forward in the direction of your choosing. It is so scary, humiliating, frustrating, demoralizing to not be the YOU that you ordered up in your mind when you signed up to butcher your body, but it's never ever too late. You have options and choices. HUGS! Look for and embrace support where ever you can find it.

I am six months post op. I've seen my weight loss begin to slow and it scares me. I'm eating way better than I ever have and the surgery has helped me to do this so much, but I worry about how it will be next year and the year after and so forth. At the moment, my mind and habits feel solid and I want to believe I will be able to do this, that this is the new normal for me, but what if it isn't? Ahhhhhh!!!! I want to hug you and tell you it will all be okay...for you...for me...for all of us, but I can't say that with absolute certainty. I watched my father fail with his bypass surgery and other friends have failed as well, or so it seems. I can tell you this though...my father would have ate himself to death and I think I would have too. He's a big guy, but he's still with the world today and 74 years old. He didn't get exactly what he wanted from surgery, but that is still success in my book. Maybe I won't be my dream self, but I don't think I'm going to expand beyond 475 lbs ever again. My dream is to get to 200 lbs. and consider some skin removal surgeries at that point. I might not ever get the exact self that I want, but I'd like to adopt a different look on eating. Even at my current weight which is still very high...I can tell you I don't hurt anymore and that thought alone makes me cry a little with joy.
My kindred friend: you may not have your dreams full filled exactly to order, but there is still success to Celebrate. If you could love yourself for that, forgive yourself for slipping up, you can move forward in the direction of your choosing. It is so scary, humiliating, frustrating, demoralizing to not be the YOU that you ordered up in your mind when you signed up to butcher your body, but it's never ever too late. You have options and choices. HUGS! Look for and embrace support where ever you can find it.

I don't know if this helps, but a true stall can last 3+ weeks. If it's just a few days or a week that you see nothing, that can be other things. Stool building up in your system. Water retention do to various reasons. My monthly affects my weigh ins. If I weigh frequently, I can easily get frustrated. But if I weigh every couple of weeks I can usually see more "real" weight loss without the panic from frequent scale trips. Mr. MattZ knows what he's talking about too. You need to eat to lose weight. Your body is sooo good at surviving that if it thinks you are in a famine it will preserve you--for a time--by slowing you down. In comes lethargy, tiredness, less ooomph to get up and move. Keep up your exercise, count your calories and improve your Protein intake and water. I don't really believe in counting calories, but if loss is not happening, then you have to do it. Don't forget, that bites of food count. Some people tend to discredit the destructive power of nibbling too. Check yourself on that one. Bites add up over the whole day.
I would say that stress is your worst enemy though. Fear that you are failing, fear that you are eating too much, fear that you are going too slow all makes for a more terrible experience. Try to lift that yoke and practice doing what you know is right. Good healthy meals and Snacks under 300 calories with a good ratio of protein/carb/fat. I like doing 3 200 calorie meals and 2 100 calorie snacks. There is some wiggle room there for a little more during meal time.

Oooooohhhh!!! I love this game! What if you get to 140 lbs! What if you feel better than you ever have in your life! What if you look in the mirror and love what you see!! What if you finally try something crazy like sky diving or scuba diving or cave diving???? What if you never ever have diabetes, or hypertension or high cholesterol. Or!!! If you have some of those....What if they go away? Crazy!
BIG BIG HUGS!
It's super hard to curb the anxiety prior to surgery and after surgery you'll have all new anxieties! Yay! My own surgeon told me I could stop choking myself while he made his final preparations before I went to sleep. Apparently my hands were around my neck I was so scared. In reality I was so terrified I could hardly breathe! You'll probably be scared too. Everyone will tell you not to be including yourself. But hey, it is scary, right? You're taking a risk, but it's such a wonderful risk to take with such wonderful potential for a better life ahead. I say it's okay to be scared and to worry. You're going to lose some shut eye from time to time. Do everything you can to understand what worries you, try to focus on what excites you, and then be okay about being worried.

My brain was trying to grasp this as well! What are you eating that you can get this much????!!!

Oooooohhhh!!! I love this game! What if you get to 140 lbs! What if you feel better than you ever have in your life! What if you look in the mirror and love what you see!! What if you finally try something crazy like sky diving or scuba diving or cave diving???? What if you never ever have diabetes, or hypertension or high cholesterol. Or!!! If you have some of those....What if they go away? Crazy!
BIG BIG HUGS!
It's super hard to curb the anxiety prior to surgery and after surgery you'll have all new anxieties! Yay! My own surgeon told me I could stop choking myself while he made his final preparations before I went to sleep. Apparently my hands were around my neck I was so scared. In reality I was so terrified I could hardly breathe! You'll probably be scared too. Everyone will tell you not to be including yourself. But hey, it is scary, right? You're taking a risk, but it's such a wonderful risk to take with such wonderful potential for a better life ahead. I say it's okay to be scared and to worry. You're going to lose some shut eye from time to time. Do everything you can to understand what worries you, try to focus on what excites you, and then be okay about being worried.

Oooooohhhh!!! I love this game! What if you get to 140 lbs! What if you feel better than you ever have in your life! What if you look in the mirror and love what you see!! What if you finally try something crazy like sky diving or scuba diving or cave diving???? What if you never ever have diabetes, or hypertension or high cholesterol. Or!!! If you have some of those....What if they go away? Crazy!
BIG BIG HUGS!
It's super hard to curb the anxiety prior to surgery and after surgery you'll have all new anxieties! Yay! My own surgeon told me I could stop choking myself while he made his final preparations before I went to sleep. Apparently my hands were around my neck I was so scared. In reality I was so terrified I could hardly breathe! You'll probably be scared too. Everyone will tell you not to be including yourself. But hey, it is scary, right? You're taking a risk, but it's such a wonderful risk to take with such wonderful potential for a better life ahead. I say it's okay to be scared and to worry. You're going to lose some shut eye from time to time. Do everything you can to understand what worries you, try to focus on what excites you, and then be okay about being worried.

Oooooohhhh!!! I love this game! What if you get to 140 lbs! What if you feel better than you ever have in your life! What if you look in the mirror and love what you see!! What if you finally try something crazy like sky diving or scuba diving or cave diving???? What if you never ever have diabetes, or hypertension or high cholesterol. Or!!! If you have some of those....What if they go away? Crazy!
BIG BIG HUGS!
It's super hard to curb the anxiety prior to surgery and after surgery you'll have all new anxieties! Yay! My own surgeon told me I could stop choking myself while he made his final preparations before I went to sleep. Apparently my hands were around my neck I was so scared. In reality I was so terrified I could hardly breathe! You'll probably be scared too. Everyone will tell you not to be including yourself. But hey, it is scary, right? You're taking a risk, but it's such a wonderful risk to take with such wonderful potential for a better life ahead. I say it's okay to be scared and to worry. You're going to lose some shut eye from time to time. Do everything you can to understand what worries you, try to focus on what excites you, and then be okay about being worried.

This reminds me of going to Canada and seeing all the "A fed bear is a dead bear" signs. Well, I never saw a single bear, but the mosquitos nearly ate me alive! 😨 Where were all the 'Beware the mosquito" signs?
Similarly, the surgery seems like the painful part, but it's not really. The sign should read "Beware the wind and constipation!" And even that wears off after a bit. ☺
Keep your chin up. After a bit of a struggle, you'll give birth to a beautiful baby new you - totally worth it!

Oh no. This makes me so sad. Especially since you are having food aversion issues. And...you admittedly like cooking lovely things. I'd completely understand if post surgery you were struggling with wanting to eat all the time still, or eat poorly and such. But you don't want to eat at all. Well, be careful and keep trying to give yourself things to feel good about.

I'm so sorry. I have some pretty terrible food aversions myself, but for a very different reason than you. But hating food is not good no matter the reason. Being frightened of food is a bad place to be in your mind. I'm not going to bore you with my own exhausting story, but instead tell you what I'm doing to help myself. I've taken an interest in looking at recipes online. I was pretty lazy prior to surgery with cooking good, meaningful, healthy, quality food. I was a bad mom, letting my family eat frozen pizza, chicken nuggets, french fries, fast food. Basically all kinds of fast, tasty garbage. When I cooked, I cooked like I was feeding an army because I wanted everyone to feel full and have seconds if they wanted. How awful I was about that. I can't change the past, but I'm changing the NOW and the FUTURE. I try to make things that are delicious yet nutritionally sound. Food can be a scary thing for me now, but I try to keep it interesting by investing time and effort into it. I get very happy when my family gives me a thumbs up and kisses for making a new recipe that they want me to make again. I'm struggling with health limitations that have decimated my interest in food. Sometimes it can be so hard to will myself to take a bite of anything because I know it will hurt. Making something to be proud of feels very therapeutic even if I only take one small bite of it. I'm very picky now about ingredients, flavors, quality. I'm not saying this is the right fix for your struggle, but maybe try to find something about food that sparks an interest. Even if you create some lovely fruit art to eat with your vanilla greek yogurt lol! Even if your brain tells you that you WILL NOT eat that food you're thinking of making, make it anyway. If you can't make yourself taste it this time at least explore if you like the smell. See if others like what you made. Feed back from friends and family feels good sometimes.
As for being scared that you might not reach your goals--well, that scares me too. I'm sure a lot of people on these forums will tell you that's always lurking in their mind. It's like a monster under the bed and a really hard thing to deal with. But you HAVE to eat just like I do. You WILL slow your weight loss by refusing to do it. You will watch your hair fall out, your muscles shrivel up. Hug yourself right now. You agreed to surgery because you wanted help with control, you wanted a healthier body, you wanted to be a better person than the one you were before surgery. Don't forget it. Think about that and instead of opening up a can of tuna, gross , make yourself a chicken tenderloin with sesame and garlic. You can even strive for similar calorie goal for now, but make each calorie super delicious! Hug, you can do this.

I was amused to read through all of these comments. Honestly, what I really read about was a bunch of people being "normal!" A little wine at a wedding, a diet soda here and there, "a" slice of pizza, a square of cake at a party! Handful of Goldfish. You reckless beast! This is okay, right? We didn't get to be morbidly, sickly, obese behaving this way. It was whole bags of chips consumed without thought, large slices of sugary deserts, giant plates of restaurant foods consumed with ease along with endless breads and appetizers, buffets, fast food trips on a daily bases, half a pizza in one sitting (whole pizza?) Oh, the awful things we did to ourselves that brought us to this point in our lives. I've spent so much of my life feeling bad about my choices I don't want to anymore. I actually feel good about myself when I walk away feeling just fine about having a taste of a treat my husband is having. Once a week we light a fire outside in the pit and we make a s'more. I enjoy the whole process, get it all ready and take 1 maybe 2 small bites and hand the rest of it off to my hubby. We go to dinner a couple times a month and I order up a drink..(something lite on sugar). I take responsibility for it, I watch my calories, I savor my indulgence and if the scale isn't moving than I know what I have to do.
I guess my point is...don't hate yourself for doing normal things. What you did before wasn't normal.
My confession! I had my best friend over, she brought a bottle of vanilla smirnoff. I had some sugar free orange junk to add into it. Tasted like orange creamsicle. We have a lovely spa out back so her and I marinated in it all evening sipping our drinks and laughing. Next morning I found my clothes laying on the grass and our husbands were telling some ridiculous tales about us. The fire department even showed up because apparently our fire pit was burning a little too bright that evening. It was fun! I felt normal. I didn't turn into a raving drunk or eat like a maniac there after. I woke the next day, did my work out, cleaned my house, ate all things healthy and had no regrets. Well, finding my clothes laying about the yard was not a happy discovery.
Don't forget to still have fun!!! Cheers!