AngieBear

I love the murals!

Surgery was 4-25. I weighed in at 258, now I’m 240. I had a stall, but it’s moving again. I’m feeling pretty good. I’m at the stage where I’m frustrated that I get tired faster than I’d like and that I can’t lift stuff. But, I’m back at work and walking/running again, which is helping me feel more normal.

My plan had me starting vitamins after 2 weeks. No need to panic. I take bariatric advantage soft chews: multi, calcium citrate. I also take iron and biotin.

For my stomach to shrink enough that I feel comfortable trail running in just a sports bra and shorts. Fresh air on bare skin while running is heavenly.

I went for my first post surgery run. It felt good, though I walked up the hills. I’m starting to feel more like myself again. I’m on purées still, but can start introducing in some soft foods on Thursday. My fluids are going down better, as are my shakes, though I’m struggling to get my whole shake in since I went back to work. My weightloss stalled for a week and a half. I’m glad I started running again, so that I can focus on progressing with that instead of being so emotionally tied to what the scale is doing. i hope everyone is doing well, and seeing improvements each day in how they feel.

Congrats! That’s awesome.

What a great topic! I’m just over 2 weeks post op and have been cleared to start trail running again. My base was 3.5 miles prior to surgery. I’m expecting it to take a solid month before I’m up to that again, then I can start adding miles, with the hope of landing at having 2 3.5 mile runs a week, and one 10 miler. That’s where I was 4 years ago, and even though I was heavy I felt fantastic and could go on any hike I picked out. I’ll be chatting with my dietician in 2 weeks to figure out a plan to get me through some long hikes, backpacking trips, and adding on running mileage this summer. It’s going to look pretty different from what I’m used to, I’m sure.

I’m back at work now, so I went on a nice walk on campus today. It’s been gorgeous out. The bee houses were pretty neat, I’m going to make some to set out in my garden, I think.

That looks magical.

That’s pretty much exactly how I’m feeling. Each day seems to be getting a bit better, though. I miss being able to do my normal activity level. It’s been sunny here, and I am DYING to get some hikes in. My little dream is that I’ll be dandy within 2 more weeks.

I bought them off of Amazon specifically for eggs. This was their maiden voyage, and they worked well! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HS2KN1D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Me too! It was exhausting, but felt good to be back. I’m only doing 1/2 days this week, though. I am not sure that I could deal with full days. Well, I’m sure I COULD, but it certainly wouldn’t be pretty! I’m glad you are feeling well.

Do you still have your gallbladder? It doesn’t sound exactly like it, but there is some overlap to what I experienced when I had attacks.

I’m okay. I’m going into work for a few hours, which I’m kind of excited about.

Like this. I was making egg Sous Vide.

But look at how small the gadget is! It fits in a drawer! I have an appliance PROBLEM. My thought when I saw your pie crust recipe was “oh! If I make that for Thanksgiving I’ll be able to use my wheat grinder!” My excuse (errr, I mean “reason”) for the Sous Vide was that I have only recently started eating meat, after 20+ years as a veggie. I am awful at cooking it - I always get nervous and overcook meat. With the Sous Vide, you really can’t overcook. Plus, I’m (almost) on soft food! So pretty much it was a necessity ?

Mine was robotic. There were 2 very experienced surgeons there the entire time. My time in surgery was normal, and my recovery was as well. My team is fantastic. All of their bariatric surgeries are robotic. It allows for greater dexterity and more arms in there working. Personally, I was comforted by that fact, human reactions are pretty darn fallible. Robot arms are steadier. This is from the first study I looked up: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4286948/ Robotic vs. standard laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass A systematic review of robotic vs. laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass identified 10 studies, which included results for 2,557 patients (15). The overall major and minor complications did not differ significantly between the robotic and laparoscopic group. The rates for anastomotic leak, bleeding, stricture, and reoperation did not differ significantly.

Excellent!

That counts as purée, right?!

Okay, I’m repping the purée/soft food only recent sleeve people here. I made some super soft salmon with my Sous Vide gadget, froze most of it for later, then made some yummy egg + ricotta Sous Vide with some salmon in it. These almost melt in your mouth.

I got one just prior to surgery, so a few weeks ago. My first meal with it was salmon, I did the same thing you did: cooked it with the Sous Vide then pan fried it very quickly. It was wonderful. I was a vegetarian for 20 years, so I am not great at cooking meat. This has kept me from overcooking it. I’m in the purée stage right now, and getting ready to bring in some soft foods. So I’m doing some food prep today for it. I’ll be cooking more salmon, some brown chicken meat, and egg Sous Vide (omg, melt in your mouth delicious!). The meats should be soft enough to make some nice spreads with so that I can tolerate it next week. I’m planning on freezing most of the meats to pull from as needed. Food prep is key for me to stay on track. My little Sous Vide gadget has taken it to the next level, which I’m thrilled with.

I use Bariatric Advantage chewy bites multi and their chewy caramel. I have BariMelts iron and B vitamins+biotin.

I’ve been meaning to try matcha! My favorite teas at the moment are chocolate mint rooibos, simple mint teas, and lady grey. I mostly took my current job because we have an instant hot water thingy! Tea all day for me. I was actually pretty major into coffee (I live in OR, it’s a law here) but can’t drink it unsweetened. My program requires that we not drink our calories, so that was the first thing I gave up. Teas SAVED me, and made the transition away from coffee pretty easy.

After the first week, my pain really did ebb pretty much entirely. I felt so much better that I did too much yesterday and now I’m wiped out today. Woops! It will pass. Watch some bad TV and take care for the next few days.

I’ve been pretty open about it at work. TBH, it’s because I didn’t want anyone to worry about me when I took my medical leave for surgery. I work at a university, with a wonderful caring group of people. I’m very fortunate. The last thing I wanted was to have them fret that I was going through some unknown medical condition. This was something that I hadn’t thought about until it got closer to the time I’d be out. What I really underestimated was the reaction of my student work force. I’d have to say when I told them that I’d be out, they got really worried. It was quite sweet. So I told them what it was so that they would chill out. The more I thought about it, going on medical leave, then coming back smaller and having rapid weight loss right after would either make everyone think I was really really sick or that I had WLS, but was ashamed of it and didn’t want anyone to know or something? I’d rather they know. The main reason I was hesitant to tell them is because I’ve worked with student groups on body positivity, etc. I didn’t want to give an impression that I thought that fat was unattractive. Letting them know about my surgery did lead to some good discussions about societal norms (good and bad) health concerns as I age, etc. Opening up with them about it led to some VERY open discussions, as can happen. I’m sure that it will be an ongoing discussion. I haven’t addressed it on my FB yet, but I’m sure I will once the WL becomes more obvious.