Jaelzion

14 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

a lot of people do seem to lose their hunger for a few months. I did for five months. I was pretty bummed when it came roaring back. It definitely made things more challenging.

I did too for most of the first year. It's back but it's a lot more tame than the monster I used to deal with, LOL.

Uh no, you shouldn't get over yourself, you should set some boundaries! As a WLS patient, you have particular requirements for your food. It's unkind and unfair to eat all your food knowing that you will then be left with nothing to eat. If he absolutely loves your bariatric foods, that's great - he should contribute to the cost and then you guys can buy enough for the two of you. Problem solved!

Your experience is actually pretty typical. Right after surgery, you can have a lot of Water retention and internal swelling, which can skew your weight. And just when that resolves, it's common to hit a stall at 3-4 weeks and it may last anywhere from 1-2 weeks. It's not a sign that anything is wrong, it's just your body first recovering from surgery and then adjusting to the radical change in your food intake. After the 3 week stall breaks, most people start seeing a steady drop in weight for the next several months. I wish weight loss surgeons would warn patients that the number on the scale may not drop a lot in those first post-op weeks, it would save so much unnecessary stress. You're probably doing fine, just stick with the plan.

On 3/12/2021 at 2:15 AM, victoriaciminelli111 said:

Is it normal to want to eat every few hours like a meal? I seem to be constantly hungry

I mostly eat mini-meals throughout the day. I start eating at about 6 AM when I have coffee before work and I eat every 2-3 hours or so until about 6-7 PM (like maybe 6 AM, 8 AM, 11 AM, 2 PM, 5 PM and 6-7 PM). I'm naturally more hungry in the daytime and not so much at night, so I don't usually need to eat at night. It adds up to just under 1000 calories per day and I am just about exactly maintaining on that amount. Some people consider the way I eat to be problematic grazing, but our bodies all work a little differently.

One other thing, make sure you are getting enough Protein and fat when you eat. That keeps you full between meals/snacks. I can eat baby carrots as a snack and feel really full right afterward, but it won't keep me satisfied as long as a cheese stick, for example. You mileage may vary. There's a bit of trial and error in figuring out an eating pattern that works for you. Hugs. 🤗

I have my first tummy-tuck consult on Monday. 😀

One of many...medical professionals speak to me much more kindly and respectfully. Instead of dismissing everything with "You need to lose weight", they actually assess and evaluate my symptoms.

13 hours ago, KayBee1972 said:

So I'm angry because I was told that I wouldn't be actually hungry for months. Nearly 5 weeks out and my stomach starts gnawing at me. Not head hunger, I was happily working away at my desk and suddenly I'm getting very impolite signals from my abdomen. WTF is that about? I was looking forward to ignoring food for months. I mean, obviously eating at appropriate times for Protein and whatnot, and I'm betrayed by my own stomach.

And to make matters worse, I've stalled. scale no budge and I'm following the sample diet plan food/portion sizes.

I can't be the only one, right? I worry that I just took a bunch of time off work and spent thousands of $$ to lose 25 pounds.

You're a little over a month out and it's common to encounter a stall right around then, so don't worry too much about that. It doesn't mean you won't lose any more weight, most people start losing again after 1-3 weeks. 😊

Regarding your appetite, I'm sorry you haven't gotten the typical reduction of hunger after your surgery. In keeping with the original post of this thread, I believe you that you're experiencing real hunger and not just head hunger. I notice that you're tall at 5' 11", so your base calorie needs may be higher than average. Are you extra active? That would also up your calorie requirements. It may take some trial and error to find an eating pattern that is sustainable for you and also allows you to keep losing. As I lost, I kept having to adjust my intake because my caloric needs went down as I got smaller. You'll find the sweet spot.

As for the stall, most of us have been through it. Just stay the course and wait it out, it will break.

1 hour ago, Creekimp13 said:

When I weigh myself, I have to get completely naked and try to pee first. LOL. I have been an obsessive weigher. These days, I do it once a week. Monday mornings. After I pee, before coffee. I wonder if anyone else has weird rituals?

I step on the scale with PJs and slippers on and as long as my weight falls into the normal range I'm good with that. But if my weight is so high or so low that it's on the edge of my maintenance window, then I'll undress, take off my slippers off etc. so I can get a more precise number, LOL. 😁

One thing that will help is that most doctors recommend that you track what you eat. Assuming you weigh yourself regularly, you'll be able to spot weight gain early and then you can look back at what you were eating to determine why. Emotional eating can still happen post-surgery, but part of the work we have to do as WLS patients is finding different ways to cope rather than food.

23 days post-op is still pretty early and it's really common at this stage to have unexpected reactions to foods when you try them for the first time. That's one reason why the vets tend to advise that you go slow with new foods so you can see how your tummy will respond. Sometimes things that make you sick early on are fine later and sometimes certain foods just won't ever sit right after surgery. I still can't eat ground beef and I'm almost 2 years out. Let your tummy be your guide on what you can and can't tolerate.

3 minutes ago, mischa23 said:

What about Starbucks how do I get something I don’t drink almond soy just regular milk with Carmel frappuccino

Sorry, I don't know the Starbucks menu well enough to suggest anything. When I was at your stage I really didn't get Starbucks, but now I occasionally have a sugar-free vanilla latte with soy milk.

13 minutes ago, mischa23 said:

I have 2 questions my nutritious told I will start Soft stage but she never explained too which fruit I can eat can consider soft fresh fruit

2 I love Starbucks I only get caramel frappuccino do they sell caramel Frappuccino what can get tht will be healthy

This is fruit I was allowed to eat during the soft stage. But I wasn't able to eat much fruit and still meet my Protein goals.

Fruits/vegetables

• Canned fruit (in own juices or Water packed)
• Soft, fresh fruit without skins and chewed well (berries, peaches, plums)
• Bananas
• Cooked or canned vegetables
• Avoid raw, fibrous vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Avoid skins and seeds.

Yes - I've always tended toward low blood pressure and after surgery it's lower than ever.

40 minutes ago, GreenTealael said:

6-7 months, but when hunger returned it was no where near pre surgery levels

Exactly this. I always say my pre-surgery hunger was like "FEED ME NOW!" where my post-surgery hunger is more like "Would you mind awfully if we got something to eat?" LOL 😁

On 2/27/2021 at 2:03 AM, HillaryP said:

I had a lower body lift with Dr Carmina Cardenas in Tijuana with Beauty Enhance and it went very wrong and me and several other patients during my stay all got necrosis and a antibiotic resistant infection, I went to my local hospital and was there for 2 weeks and needed blood transfusions and emergency surgery to remove the necrosis and I have 2 huge holes in my body that I am going to wound care to receive help and it will take months of additional recovery plus money out of pocket.... when I discuss this Dr Carmina Cardenas tries to cover it up.... her only offer to help was for me to return to her facility on an airplane during Covid with a high fever and pus coming out of my body which would have been dangerous to my health, no way I could have gone thru an airport sick and why not go to my local emergency room? She was against it but I did so anyways and found out I was extremely life threatening sick, sadly she down played this.... she attributed my getting this infection to being a weightloss patient.... well most of her patients are weightloss patients as were the other women who got sick during my stay.... no, her facility got us sick due to something unclean during our stay!! I do not recommend this doctor! As it turns out there is others thru the years with issues. Just do your research and do not be fooled by the pretty website and glam offices!!

This is what scares me about going to Mexico for surgery. It's not that I think complications are more likely there because I think they can happen anywhere. But the lack of access to follow-up care is a problem. I can tend to be a complex patient and I need to know that my surgeon is there to deal with issues that may come up. Going back to Mexico wouldn't be a feasible option in that case, so I'd be on my own, looking for a provider to help me. That's not a prospect I'm comfortable with.

Oh, edit to add: I'm really sorry you're going through this, I wish you a complete recovery.

My bariatric team neither encouraged nor discouraged my goal of reaching a healthy BMI. My surgeon gave me the statistics and then said that those were just averages, that some people lose more and some less. He did say he'd be happy if I lost 50% of my excess weight and we'd see what happened. And I'm glad because if he had been more discouraging, I might not have believed a healthy BMI was possible for me. He didn't set me up with unrealistic expectations but he also didn't squash my enthusiasm. And in the end I did end up losing much more than average. I know getting there is only half the journey, I'm right now trying to learn how to maintain it. But I'm not sorry I set a healthy BMI as my goal. If I had set my goal to losing 50% of my excess weight, I might have stopped there because an authority figure said that was all I would lose.

I have vivid food dreams too but they're not dreams of longing, they're nightmares! 😂 I'll dream that I threw all my commitment to the wind and ate ridiculous amounts of all the worst food. And that means I'm going to gain all my weight back. I'm so sad and disappointed and then it's such a relief to wake up and know that it never happened! I think it's just my sub-conscious expressing my fear that I won't be able to maintain and I'll regain all my weight.

I was definitely not ready for camping 2-3 weeks out. I had no complications but I just didn't rebound as quickly as some folks. I was also unable to eat at all for the first two weeks and drinking was a struggle. That got better in week 3 for me. How fast you recover is very much a YMMV kind of thing. Can you defer the decision until you see how you feel?

It's actually pretty common after surgery to go through a period where you feel like "What have I done to myself!?!" The early days of recovery can be really tough. Like you, I had a lot of post-op pain and I struggled to hydrate (have you tried clear Protein Drinks - not shakes? They helped me a lot early on.)

I remember how awful I felt in the early days but fortunately it gets better pretty quickly. By week three I had no pain issues, I could sleep more comfortably, and I felt more myself. It's hard to say what might have given you hives - are you doing anything different? Using a new product? Taking a new kind of Vitamin? Or did the ER use something or give you something you may be allergic to? It may take a process of elimination to figure that one out.

As for generally feeling yucky, I promise it gets better. Hang in there! Hugs.🤗

I've only been in maintenance a few months, so I'm not an expert. But so far I am finding it easier to maintain after the surgery because my appetite has never rebounded to where it was before the surgery. I definitely eat more now than I did immediately after surgery, but nowhere near what I ate before surgery. So Portion Control is a lot easier than it used to be. In the past, for me "portion control" really meant "get up from the table hungry". I couldn't sustain that for long. Right now I walk almost every day and I do a very basic strength training routine three times a week (15 minutes). That's it for exercise and so far, I'm maintaining without a struggle. I also think it depends on how much weight you lose. All of our bodies have a comfortable weight range and if you push it much below that, it fights you to get back into the preferred range. I think right now I am at the lowest weight that I could easily maintain.

No, not really. If you start out smaller to begin with, you may not have stretched your skin as much, so you will have less loose skin. If you are younger, your skin may have more elasticity, leaving you with less loose skin. Toning exercises can help you build muscle which helps your appearance but doesn't get rid of loose skin. It kind of comes with the territory of losing massive amounts of weight.

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...but I think I can speak on behalf for most of us "vets" that in the grand scheme of things, it's kind of a minor thing. Most of us would take our loose skin any day of the week over being morbidly obese again. ANY DAY!

Amen to that!

I have this too. I've been diligent about my Vitamins and religious about getting my Protein but I've still lost most of my hair. I'm quite a bit older than you, so I've been assuming that the surgery accelerated age-related Hair loss I would have had anyway. But at 23, that doesn't seem likely for you. What does the doctor say?

I had this fear as well. After a lifetime of being heavy and not being able to permanently lose weight, I wasn't convinced the surgery would work for me. That fear was compounded by the fact that for medical reasons I was forced to have the sleeve rather than the bypass. The surgery doesn't correct the psychological factors that lead to emotional eating or binging. That takes self-reflection or therapy and finding new ways to cope.

However, it does address the physical aspects. The surgery will reduce the amount of ghrelin your body produces (one of the hormones responsible for making you hungry). For most people, this results in a reduced appetite (at least for a while). It will drastically reduce the amount you can eat before feeling full and make it physically difficult to overeat. In my case, the surgery even blunted the intensity of my cravings. I may want something I shouldn't have, but it's much easier to just tell myself no post-surgery.

In the end, the surgery worked for me just like it does for most people. I lost all my excess weight and so far, I am maintaining the loss. It will work for you too (just be willing to put in the work of figuring out WHY you overeat and addressing those feelings).

For peace of mind, I'd check in with your surgeon's office and describe everything (especially the leakage). I also had quite a bit of pain immediately after surgery and I had to request stronger pain meds (which my doctor prescribed for me). Every surgery is different because we all have unique anatomy, so the surgeon has to do more in some cases than others. The bloating and weight gain are totally normal, it takes a while to shed all the Fluid they gave you and for the swelling to subside. The difficulty drinking is also really common, I found drinking even a tiny sip painful at first. The doctor encouraged me to drink slowly but keep at it so I wouldn't become dehydrated. But the best one to evaluate what you're experiencing is your surgeon's office. I'd give them a call and describe your symptoms and they can either advise you or least set your mind at ease that everything is okay. I know those initial few days can be rough, hang in there - it should get better soon. Hugs. 🤗