LoveFood

I tried forced malabsorption and payed the price... Was on the toilet for hours...
I ate cake, pie, pastry for my birthday week and justified it by having salad and naked burgers as the other meals
I can't stand plain Water even though I push for everyone else to drink it
My children are vegan by their fathers' request but I gave them chicken because I was eating some and they were more than happy to have it

I just ate a bag of skinny pop from the vending machine at work. The most delicious 100 calories I have had in weeks.

And thank you for this Dana! I don't know if you noticed but I pretty much went silent. Thanks for making me feel like I'm not alone. 💖

I also had my surgery on January 22nd and I've only lost 27lbs since. I was discouraged for awhile and thought I was doing something wrong too, but everyone loses at a different pace. Try not to focus on the number so much and I promise you will see results :)

And THANK YOU for being brave enough to start this thread in the first place.
It’s been wonderful to vent and lend support and know that others are going through the exact same thing.

I started keeping a personal journal a few days after surgery because I don’t want to forget what every step of this process feels like

Yes Dana. You truly hit the nail on the head by saying we need a safe place to post our thoughts and fears.
Yes, I realize that my body will eventually get on board and continue to do what the science behind these surgeries will “force” it to do, but any stoppage in progress is absolutely scary as hell.
Knowing that many of us feel this same way and being able to empathize and relate to those feelings is so very empowering.
For starters, we know that WE ARE NOT ALONE. Just that in and of itself helps so much.

And CaribeRidge..... you are absolutely right on Water.
There have been many days that I’ve drank over 80 ounces and not lost a single ounce, but I’ve never experienced a loss while drinking under 64.
Water is definitely key and makes the whole process run better.

Thank you for this Sheri! I read too much on here that feels almost like fat shaming. That somehow what we’re experiencing is OUR fault and it just sounds too much like “eat this or do this and the weight will come off”. When all we’re looking for is a safe place to vent our frustration in our CURRENT position. It doesn’t mean I think I’m going to stay here forever. It’s just scary as all get out sometimes. I finally had to start thinking of it like childbirth and realize that the further some people are out from the surgery the less they remember the actual fear of the unknown and pain of the birth. They’re just happy with that baby!
I like your therapist!!!

Loving this thread and the responses!

Okay so this is kinda getting personal, but I’m gonna share here because I’m thinking there are others here with me that might have this issue.

As part of this procedure, my insurance company set me up with a therapist that I have phone calls with for 45 mins every other week.
I’ve been with her now since November and she is a 32 year bypass veteran.

When I hit my “stall” in week 3 and the scale didn’t move for almost 2 weeks, she didn’t tell me I was being silly in worrying, and didn’t make me feel selfish for complaining that I’d lost almost 2 pounds daily and then stopped cold. She also didn’t berate me for not believing in the science behind the procedure.

What she did instead was to empathize with my feelings that I was going to be the only person who “failed” bariatric surgery while follwing all instructions to a tee.
She understood what kind of psychological damage my body has done to me by never wanting to lose weight easily and by giving me breast cancer at the age of 40. She understood my feelings of distrust during years of infertility and repeated miscarriages in my 20’s and how when I finally did have that second baby, that my body rewarded me with gestational diabetes and 80 pounds that I carried around ( lots of yo-yo dieting in the intervening 22 years) to this day. 

Her response was “ you’re afraid of being judged negatively because your body has repeatedly shown itself to be untrustworthy and because it ‘betrays’ you all of the time. Who in your position wouldn’t have these fears, my dear?”

Well that was pretty profound because after thinking hard about it, the hard truth is I really can’t trust my body to “ do the right thing” so when a mini stall happens, or I don’t lose what I think I should those feelings of “ omg, here we go yet again” creep back like some kind of PTSD.

None of us should ever need to apologize for those feelings because they are REAL and we’ve all been scarred at one point or another or else we wouldn’t be here.

I will continue to have optimism and follow instructions to the best of my ability, but I will also continue to keep looking over my shoulder and keep an eye out for future betrayals like a jilted lover does with the one who keeps cheating on her over and over and over again

Not too bad. I drink 3 Protein Shakes a day and they are 11 ounces each. I also drink about 2 16 oz bottles of Water and usually a diet snapple. I could definitely do better. It's something I have to be more conscious of.

It's so frustrating! I read about all these other people losing a few pounds a week, and most a lot during their 1st month. It's so disheartening. Why me!!?? I used to eat in 1 sitting what I'm now eating in a week, so how am I not losing weight? Ughh

Thank you!! I really appreciate it.

I am 5 1/2 weeks post op. I lost 15 lbs the 1st week, but I haven't lost anything since then. It's been over a month and the scale has not moved. This is crazy. I understand going through stalls, but 4 weeks out of the first 5 weeks?! I am following my diet to a T, I'm getting around 100 grams of Protein a day, and I'm taking all my medications as prescribed. Why is this happening to me? Has this happened to anyone else?

I was a big soda drinker, so transitioning to just Water and/or flat drinks has been really difficult. I have noticed that it's better when it's ice cold. I can't drink room temperature or even refrigerated water without filling it halfway with ice. Also, I'm drinking diet snapple iced tea, propel lemon water, crystal light flavored water, and other random drinks in between drinking plain water. Again, the key for me is a lot of ice!! Hope that helps.

mine too, I kind of expected sutures myself but I guess my guy doesn't use them. Gosh he is such a cool laid-back guy but I'm sure he is relentless on the tennis court!

I was supposed to be being discharged from the hospital today but I can’t keep enough fluids down so far.

Yes there is the 2-3 week stall, don’t worry , the scale will drop big very soon. It still is not very cooperative I’ve found - I will work out , drink liquids and nada. My nut says that when I lose weight the fat cells fill with Water for a time a she said use cucumber water to flush out cells .. like a natural diuretic. But at the start ur body is super confused so don’t fret - it doesn’t know if it’s in a famine or what . Just stay the course , walk as much as you can , and drink ur liquids .

I heard your taste buds change after surgery. So I can’t eat my favorite fish of all time-salmon. Smells terrible and tastes terrible to me now. Of course my sweet tooth is still there. Why couldn’t it have been my sweet tooth that changed. Not my love of salmon!!😩

I had the terrible left sided pain as well - thought something must be wrong! But it was basically the fact that you are stitched deeply into the muscle where they pulled out you excess stomach and it heals from the inside out. Hurts like a biznitch, but goes away by week 4.
Weight loss - if you are getting all your Protein, Water and cals, your loss should continue. Water is SO important and so is an adequate amount of protein and calories.
Best of luck to you!