slyfingers

@CristinHope I have had two stalls so far. One 4 days and one 3 days. It’s natural to get them for a few days. But 10 days at 4 weeks post op is a bit much. You really do need to drink water-both times my stalls were fixed by going from about 40oz of Water a day to 70-80. It sucks and it is hard to find the time to get it in without making yourself sick, but you need water to metabolize the fat according to my nutritionist. Without the water as a catalyst you can’t convert it down. Also most people I talk to locally experience a 5-7 day stall around the 3 week mark and it sounds like yours is lasting a bit longer. Definitely reach out to your doctor and let them know, but in the meantime try to get 72oz if water or. More a day for the next 2-3 days, and also make sure you are going #2.

If you are having problems going, get some no sugar added Apple juice, mix it 50/50 with about 3 ounces of Water and drink it. If I do that once a day, it is magic and a lot less harsh on your body than the other stuff. It’s at least worth a try!

The issues regarding alcohol and WLS are the following:
Healing - alcohol is corrosive to the raw stomach tissues that have been exposed during surgery, so we need to keep away from it while the stomach heals. Surgeons differ in their opinion as to how long that should be, from a few weeks to a few months.
Liver health - starting out obese or worse, our livers are often in pretty poor shape (hence the "liver shrinking" pre-op diets that some surgeons impose). Further, our livers are further stressed by their role in metabolizing all that fat that we are losing, and doesn't need any further stress from ingesting a liver toxin like alcohol (that's not a moral judgement, just basic physiology.) Surgeons vary widely as to how much this bothers them depending upon their backgrounds and WLS philosophies (short term vs. long term.) In my doc's program, we are under contract to not drink as long as we are in a weight loss phase (call it a year, though ideally forever) - with his "sideline" as a liver transplant surgeon, he doesn't want any of his bariatric patients coming back onto his transplant table.
Transfer addiction - to the extent that we are/have been addicted to food (a very individual thing) that we can no longer satisfy, courtesy of our WLS, we can be prone to transferring those addictive tendencies to something else - alcohol, drugs, gambling, shopping, etc. So, a casual drinking habit pre-op can (and often does) morph into full blown alcoholism.

I spent my first four days post op forcing myself to drink, finally by day 7 I was drinking somewhat normally. Added shakes on day 8, and it takes me almost an hour and a half to choke down a full Protein Shake.

As for the mushroom Soup recipe, there are a ton out there. The one I officially used was this one but modified. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/235589/chef-johns-creamy-mushroom-soup/ I used a generous amount of olive oil in the start instead of butter. The real trick is carmelizing the mushrooms-it took about 25 minutes to get to that point not 15. I used about 1/4 cup of Worcestershire instead of the heavy cream, and I used about 5 cups of chicken stock to get it to the right consistency.

I spent my first four days post op forcing myself to drink, finally by day 7 I was drinking somewhat normally. Added shakes on day 8, and it takes me almost an hour and a half to choke down a full Protein Shake.

As for the mushroom Soup recipe, there are a ton out there. The one I officially used was this one but modified. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/235589/chef-johns-creamy-mushroom-soup/ I used a generous amount of olive oil in the start instead of butter. The real trick is carmelizing the mushrooms-it took about 25 minutes to get to that point not 15. I used about 1/4 cup of Worcestershire instead of the heavy cream, and I used about 5 cups of chicken stock to get it to the right consistency.

Cristin- my wife, my best friend, and his wife all three told me after surgery you will feel cold. I didn’t believe them. I went from sleeping naked under just a sheet and the thinnest blanket we have, to now wearing long John’s, a sweatshirt, a sheet, a blanket, a comforter, and my wife’s anxiety blanket. I’m wearing long John’s and an undershirt at work.

I too am one week plus one day post op. Just had my first follow up with my doctor, and boy were they pleased! I’m down from 289 at my presurgery weigh in four weeks ago to 260, while the scale at home has me going from 261 morning of surgery to 251.2 this morning (I weigh nude after my morning relief for maximum consistency)

I agree about the shakes pre-surgery just not tasting the same. I’m in my second day of shakes, and the chocolate Premier Proteins which were my go-to are now not that tasty, plus I’m much more sensitive to the alcohol sugars so it’s giving me diarrhea.

The good news is I have enjoyed some homemade cream of mushroom Soup. Super easy to make, and having a good savory flavor after all the sweet Protein waters of the first week was a welcome change.

1:30pm tomorrow! I’m hangry, a bit scared, but mostly excited that my journey that began in February is now about to reach the first big stop-my surgery. Tomorrow when I wake after surgery, I begin a new phase of my life. One where I own my health, and continue to grow (or more accurately shrink) into a healthier version of myself.

I’m scheduled for November 8th. Already on my liquid diet (started on Thursday) and apparently the Protein Shakes can give you diarrhea. At least I’ve been dealing with it all day.