JanJan19

I’m a year post surgery & this idea just occurred to me. I was feeling like my Protein Bars were piling up because at this stage I’m not eating them as often & there’s so many times I want just a couple bites. Finally it occurred to me to chop a few up into 12 cubes & dump them together into a stay fresh container. If I grab 3 pieces that’s 5G of Protein & about 45 calories.

Holy crap, just hit 199.4 pounds! It took me 7 months & 8 days to lose 65 pounds & dip below 200 for the first time in... idk two decades? I'm currently twirling around in circles unsure what to do with myself.

On 10/23/2019 at 7:03 PM, Nice1 said:

My surgery is finally scheduled for this Friday. I went in for my pre-op labs, x-ray, EKG, anesthesiologist consult today. Now things are very real. I'm trying to keep myself busy, buying my post-surgery Protein, Jello, etc. but I'm starting to feel the nerves. Has anyone gone through the last minute doubts like "maybe I should try dieting again?"

I think a big part of my concern is that I feel isolated and ashamed to tell anyone, so only my husband knows. I tried to tell my sister, but she immediately came up with a million reasons for me not to. I don't really have any non-judgemental friends. So if things don't go right, I'm afraid of the backlash. Is anyone else in a similar boat?

Sent from my SM-G973U using BariatricPal mobile app

I only told about 4 people, mostly because I didn't want to be stared at during the weight loss phase. I'm not in the least embarrassed about this choice, but weight loss is slow & I didn't want to have people looking & judging my pace I guess? Everyone is different. You can tell as many or as few people as you like!

8 hours ago, colleen156 said:

I am going crazy. I had my surgery 10/22. I feel no different. I have no trouble drinking, getting my Protein in anything. Is there something wrong with me? I have been having my Soups Clear Liquids. Am I doing something wrong? Can I have pudding at this stage? I am so confused and overwhelmed.

Hugs girl. I promise you this will all feel differently in a month. I'm 5 months out & your post reminded me that I felt exactly the same at your stage. Like... wondering if I even had the surgery of if I was just some placebo test case lol. As far as what you can eat, that's different for everyone. Every doctor seems to have a different program. Did they send you home with any material/instructions? If not call them tomorrow!

Every doctor is different. Mine allowed pureed Soups the first two weeks. I was up to some regular foods by week 2. I feel for you- those two weeks were hands down the WORST part of this entire experience for me. I was out of my mind hungry. The moment I was able to give my stomach something to work on it was fine. I suspect liquids (soups) just go straight through & for me left me miserable. Vs 3 ounces of chicken & I'm very satisfied.

8 hours ago, Lynnbushea said:

Today is my day 2. Surgery was 10/23/19. I came home from the hospital yesterday and I am in sooooo much pain. I have been drinking Water but thats it. I tried to drink a pre-made premier shake and couldn't keep it down. I also tried to drink a Vitamin Water and could not keep it down. I'm not able to sit up. I can only lay prompt up on pillows. I am taking my Vitamins as I write this...so far so good. How long will this pain last. I haven't passed gas yet but I keep beeping alot. Any thoughts

Sent from my LM-X420 using BariatricPal mobile app

The pain was AWFUL for me from the moment I woke up till around 24-28 hours. Then we finally got the right painkillers & it was totally manageable. Was your pain under control when they discharged you?

Vitamins- I really don't think you need to stress yourself over that the first few days. Just work on staying hydrated & walking laps around your house.

6 hours ago, Boldilocks said:

I'm 8.5 months out at this point and am crawling along at a snail's pace.

At my 6 month follow up the NP said I was doing so great, and only had 10 lbs to go - I said that I really had about 20 lbs to go, but you know how they formulate it differently to have as many success stories as possible. 70% of excess weight rather than healthy BMI. But whatever, I told her my personal goal was 128 not 138.

I asked for guidance on how much I should be eating as I was aware of less restriction and more hunger - she told me 600 cals a day until I go back at the 1 year mark. That seemed extreme to me, but I did it for a while. I'm a compulsive tracker - have 8 years worth of tracking on MFP. Daily, I track weight, calories, Protein, Water, carbs, fat, steps, exercise, bowel movements, menstruation, ovulation. The scale didn't move on 600 and I gained a little. And my energy was terrible, my skin awful, and I began having more food cravings.

Honestly - and I am a PCOS weirdo, and none of us are in any way typical at all, and I am not saying anyone else should do this - I only see consistent downward movement on the scale when I up my calories to 1100-1200 and up my carbs to 100g. It is terrifying to me to eat more carbs, but for now I'm going with it. My stats, graphs, and charts show a real correlation that I don't think is coincidence. I am well used to being disciplined - I think as PCOSers we all are - so I will stay on this protocol for a while and if it stops working, it won't be hard for me to go lower again.

I avoided coming on here for a while as I felt like I was a fraud or a cheat or I would be admonished for not doing things the "right" way - but I know my body and I'm honest with myself about what I put into it, so for right now this is what is working for me, and me alone.

I don't think it helps that it is the last 20 lbs I am trying to lose, and everyone always says they just don't want to budge.

(I am also a vegetarian BTW - have been since I was 6 - and I don't have any trouble getting plenty of Protein from food. I haven't had to have Protein Shakes since 6 weeks out. I do a lot of dairy though: FF cottage cheese, FF Greek yoghurt, light babybel cheeses.)

Hey Boldi! I'm always afraid to comment for fear of admonishment as well. Whomp whomp. It sounds like you've figured out what works for you & that's awesome. I've found as well sometimes not every single thing the doctor says is good for us individually. Like mine said no need to weigh food at this point, eat just until I'm full. Like... uh no. I can absolutely do this in a restaurant just fine. But on a day to day basis at home? I still want/need to weigh & measure to keep myself from increasing portions.

-- I want to hug this comment---
I avoided coming on here for a while as I felt like I was a fraud or a cheat or I would be admonished for not doing things the "right" way - but I know my body and I'm honest with myself about what I put into it, so for right now this is what is working for me, and me alone.

19 hours ago, Darktowerdream said:

Struggled most of my life with chronic illness and many medical conditions. Of these I was diagnosed with late onset congenital adrenal hyperplasia, pcos, and eventually endometriosis. My body fights against me every step of the way. I initially lost weight cutting carbs, sugar to below 20 net carbs and also cutting calories. While this did work in the first go around I couldn’t maintain as well as I wished. Despite every effort. It doesn’t help that I am unable to exercise. But at some point despite eating 800 calories, counting carbs, being strict about little to no sugar, etc. my weight skyrocketed and I sought out help but doctors didn’t want to hear it. They assumed it was my fault, my eating habits. I fought my food addiction, my sugar and carb addiction in the past and I knew this time it wasn’t even that. But they didn’t want to hear it.

Eventually I decided to fight for bariatric surgery. I wasn’t sure it would happen but it did. And while I feel like I will never be able to eat normal calories and by normal I mean even 800 calories. I. Grateful for the tool, I do the best I can to keep carbs and sugar down, and mainly I track my weight daily, and what I eat, calories and Protein so I get at least 50 some days 60 grams of Protein. I feel like too much and it just turns to glucose and pcos is glucose intolerance. My calories are 300-400 a day. Averaging in the middle. Some days less than others. My weight has gone down slowly but surely. But it still scares me. Especially with my chronic illness getting worse. And now I had surgery to remove my last ovary and remove what endometriosis the doctor could find and ended up with another chronic condition diagnosis in the process.

Not all calories are the same. I think some part of me is worried I won’t continue to lose with regular foods. Seeing as how I was eating healthy and gaining before. But for now I just get the protein I need and take it one day at a time.

Dark- wait so with the PCOS do you think you might be getting too much protein past 50 or 60g?? I've not researched that angle of it, the insulin resistance & protein. I've been shooting for 65g of protein daily, maybe that's too much for me. Hmm.

15 hours ago, Serengirl said:

SCREAM TO THE ROOFTOPS... I sure do. I BLOWS and yes i totally get it. Its like well if its just going to come off this slow why the heck did i do this to myself because i can stay the same exact weight and and eat fries and Pasta se veal times a week and stay the exact same weight so its mind-blowing to eat 500-600 calories and stay the EXACT same weight. it slick what the cruel hell is this life....so yeah. B*thch as much as you want its better than holding it in and better than eating your feelings which won't do either if us any good. Ill let you know if any of my "experiments work" like one week getting in a gallon of Water a day.... and then one week maybe try an all day fast...? maybe that will work... Im open to suggestions and yeah it is NOT FAIR. I have even though maybe I should have gotten RNY or the bypass but this could have happened with that too and then id be REALLY PISSED. lol... To be fair i think with your loss you are still "average" in weight loss and i think there are a bunch of us like that but we dont post our losses like the people who lose 8lbs every week, ya know what I mean? But its BS when people try to say tweak your callers because how low can you go when you're averaging 500-700 to begin with.

YES! I used to eat whatever I wanted & maintain. And now that I'm measuring every last morsel I know damn well I must have been eating 3,000+ calories a day before. So I should be dropping like crazy on 800. FFS.

I've wondered about RNY & bypass too, but I suspect it'd have had the same results thus far. Though my biggest gripe at this point is I'm pretty sure I COULD eat way more than I am. I'm not eating this little because eating is just too hard. I'm eating this little because I'm forcing myself to. For sure having a tiny stomach makes it possible to control myself but it's really entirely on me because I could eat more, for sure.

1 minute ago, Serengirl said:

Girl I hear ya its a mind F&ck for sure. Its fantastic to lose 51 pounds so first of all that is awesome and CONGRATS but i do understand how frustrating it is to see others get to goal and lose over 100lbs in 6 months - its like WHAT????? Its super demoralizing to eat 500-600 cals a day and track macros and drink all of your Water and still barely lose a pound a week. I wish i had words of wisdom but maybe the notion that you are not alone will help? Its NOT JUST YOU but it doesnt change the fact that the struggle is super real when youre thinking to yourself, "so i cut out 80% of my stomach,i eat 20 carbs a day (which for most people even without surgery they would lose enormous amounts of weight in ketosis alone) and yet youre calories in and out dont add up to weight loss. NOT FAIR" I for one would be happy to know ANY advice or eating tips or what have you from other peeps in our boat that found a way to get the scale to move. Maybe its to go up in thyroid meds, I have even thought of using progesterone creams bec with PCOS we are estrogen heavy... I dunno but whatever it is, I will do it. I didnt come this far only to come this far. I have tried cycleing calories... super low cal days like 300-400 to higher days around 700 (but most people lose tons of weight on 700) and i workout every single day. Ill let you know if i find the magic solution but im using this time to experiment a bit while still staying on plan. Hang in there... youre not alone but yes its okay to mourn the bum rap we got because I at times have followed the exact same diet of other posters who lose 5lbs a week and the scale will go down .8lbs and its infuriating... stay the course though. I also tell myself that perhaps the slow weight loss will mean our skin has more time to tighten and not be as flabby....try to find the small silver lining.

Serengirl, it DOES help actually! Knowing I'm not the only one. And I tell myself the same thing about the skin! Maybe mine will be less saggy, etc. Maybe my body has more time to recover from each pound, etc. But man is it tough. It's so much easier (for me) to stay the course when the weight is coming off. When you're eating virtually nothing & it's not coming off it's real hard not to slip into "might as well be fat" mentality.

I've not tried days of 300-400. I sort of feel like my body already thinks it's starving, but who knows. Really, no one freaking knows which is why the lecturing about calories is so aggravating. I did actually do a 500 calorie day this week with a real long nights sleep and - gained .4 two days in a row.

I mostly stick to interment fasting - trying to keep my eating to an 8 hour window. Which I do most days just because I try to prolong eating as long as possible & get as much Water in before that as possible. My doctor is fine with me having as much coffee as I want, so that's my morning routine & I feel like it does help keep hunger/eating at bay.

I'm sure it'll come off eventually. It's so hard in the midst of it to not feel like I've lost the last pound I'll ever lose. And I do feel GREAT with the 51 pounds gone. Frankly, I just want to b***h about it this week & scream a little "not fair" when I see endless posts of people hitting goal by month 6. Unreal.

I'm doing okay but I'm on the struggle bus for sure. I'm a week shy of 5 months & I'm down 51 pounds. I'm grateful for those 51 pounds, but honestly I'm super frustrated. I come on here & see endless posts from people dropping 30 in a month and.... it's frustrating. People down 80 pounds in 3 months & talking about being 20 from goal and I'm like, how??? And I see all the lecturing comments from those at goal about the calories in/out etc etc and it's like try living with PCOS! My journey thus far by month has been 14.2, 10.6, 9.4, 8.8, 4.6. Month to date I'm down 4 & the scale isn't moving. I know I'll lose more than 51. I know I will eventually but it's super difficult logging onto this site & watching others drop SO much faster.

4 hours ago, Aly61 said:

How do I alter my current displayed weight please?

the easiest way ive found - scroll to the bottom of the page. bottom right corner there's a "together we have lost" & you can just enter your update there & it enters it to your profile.

3 hours ago, PepperCat said:

Is it common after surgery? What are the complications/treatments?

Hi Pepper,
I'm at 4 months post op & I've had zero complications. I didn't have any digestive or heartburn issues going into this & I don't have any after. I'd say nothing has changed for me at all except I eat a lot less & I wish I'd done this sooner.

16 hours ago, djgirl19 said:

Totally agree. Only thing I can’t eat are greasy foods and I’m thankful to not be able to enjoy them. I did accidentally eat yogurt with more sugar than I should have had and felt awful from that as well. bread? No biggie. Bites of cracker or chips, etc are the same. It’s a choice, but it’s easier for me to choose wisely now.

Hey girl! Have you had the Oikos triple zero? It's like 15g Protein & tastes really good.

yes, 3 months post op & I still feel like this at times. But it's more of a swing of, "I ate 900 calories today & feel like I could have eaten 1,500 if I'd allowed myself" vs days of "oh wow, it's 6pm & I've had 250 calories."

On 8/31/2019 at 5:53 PM, mlmx1138 said:

Hi,

I have an appointment with the bariatric surgeon on 9/10. I hope this will lead to the surgery, hopefully this year!

I was wondering, are there any foods you ate before that you can no longer eat since your sleeve surgery? And if you can't eat certain things, why not?

Just curious

Thanks,

Maureen

Congrats on your appointment Maureen!

I'm 3 months post op & I don't think there's anything I can't eat. I haven't tried bread, other than low carb wraps & those are absolutely fine.

Honesty I went into this thinking I was giving up like, idk all sorts of things. I really thought, I'd never be able to eat them again. And even 3 months out I'm realizing that's not going to be true for me. Nothing has made me sick. This has all been super smooth sailing for me. That said, it means it's really up to me to say NO to all sorts of things. If that makes any sense? Like I sorta thought if I ate sugar or something, I'd be horribly sick like many of the members of this site. I haven't tested sugar much, but I had a tablespoon or two of creme brûlée at one point, I was fine. I've had halo top a couple times, I was fine.

So far, I've had chicken, steak, ground beef, turkey sausage. All has been absolutely fine.

Oh pizza! I have had pizza since surgery. Probably 10 weeks post op? I had a serving about the size of a slice of bread & I was fine. Is it something I'm purposely eating on a regular basis, no. I was at a thing & that was what was served.

I haven't had alcohol or soda since surgery. Neither of them means anything to me so it's no hardship on me not to have them.

I drink a lot of coffee & my doctor is fine with it. I also use straws - he's fine with that as well. You'll find a lot of varying opinions about that here.

All in all, I feel exactly the same as I did before - in a good way. I don't really feel like much has changed for me except my stomach is much smaller & I eat much less. It's still up to me to make smart choices, but it's MUCH easier for me to do that with a stomach this small.

I weigh (if I'm eating at home) to keep myself in the habit of knowing exactly how little 4oz is. I just hit three months & asked my doctor if 4oz was what I should be shooting for & he actually said - "don't weigh. I want you to eat just till you feel full." I don't actually agree with him him in that I think I still need the accountability at this stage of weighing so I can count my calories & Protein.

Chapstick, a nail file, hand or face lotion, toothbrush, toothpaste. I didn't bring a mini mouthwash but wish I had. I wasn't allowed any liquids till the following day & my mouth felt DISGUSTING. I probably brushed my teeth 4x that first night. A small zip bag to put that stuff in so it's an easy reach on the bedside table & not rolling around.

I didn't care so much about the pillow, but I wish I'd had a pillow case from home. The hospital pillow case barely stayed on the pillow. A pillow case wouldn't have been hard to bring & would have added comfort. I didnt miss having a pillow for the ride home, but I'm probably 20 min from the hospital.

I brought a pair of comfy sweatpant/pajama pants to wear under the hospital gown & I'm so glad I had them. I would not have been comfortable walking around in that gown or even laying in my room in just that.

phone, reading device or book, chargers.

photo id, credit card.

On 7/15/2019 at 11:53 PM, gabybab said:

Is it too early to be concerned about not having enough weight loss? My restriction has lessened and I'm losing at a snail's pace. I'm so concerned. I lost about 5 pounds in June.

Should I have had gastric bypass? How early is it to consider a revision? Help!!

I'm 3 months behind you journey wise so I don't really have advice just want to say that I question this on and off all the time! Some weeks I'm like damn, I'm a rock star. This is going great! Some weeks I'm like, well. I bet that last pound was the last pound I'm ever gonna lose. (My internal monologue is clearly a little dramatic.)

I'm just sticking to good choices, reminding myself that some weeks will be stalls & some will be losses & to just keep going.

Hey Vance!

Yes I was always a huge Water drinker & I was back to guzzling probably by week 2. By guzzle I'd say - I could get out of bed, open the fridge & down 6 oz of cold water in one sip. No issues. No discomfort.

I made it a personal goal to get 65 oz of water or iced tea daily. I don't count coffee towards that goal or Protein Drinks (when I was still on them). Just water, and sometimes iced tea. And I have no issue drinking that each day.

Vance, yes the first two weeks were hell. I was hungry & liquids were so unsatisfying to me. It got so much better once I was able to transition to having 4oz of chicken.

Also not one thing has bothered me (I'm 3 months post op). I thought the same, that things would make me sick. But I'm never sick. 4oz does fill me up, but it's up to me to pick the right things to eat & not snack between. It is much easier to stick to good choices with a reduced stomach size so at least there's that.

I've seen many a post about feeling sick & being unable to even get liquids down, but I didn't have that experience at all.

On 8/16/2019 at 11:17 AM, Michael S said:

Congrats ,,,,,The only advice I have is prepare all of the hidden costs of this. The clinic will tell you one price, but remember the dietitian (a waste of time) , the psychologist , the anesthesiologist, ect ect, I even got a bill for some kind of air braces they put on my legs during surgery. I hate to be a Debbie downer, but I was 3 grand in the hole before I hit the table.

hahah right? Mine was covered by insurance..... and it cost me my max out of pocket $7,900

I used to go daily. Now it seems more like every other day, but I'm eating less than half of what I used to. I don't feel constipated or anything, just a lot less food to process.

Zero issues with nuts, thought I mainly avoid as they have too many calories for me at this stage. But no issues digesting them.

PCOS here too & slow (comparatively) weight loss. Though I've been pretty slow & steady the entire time. I never had a good week like you did though - with 15 lost in one week. I think even my week of surgery was like 6 pounds. I'm just about week 12 now & I've had one week where I lost half a pound. Some are 1.5 pounds. Some are 4 pounds. I'm just trekking on.

I get a ton of Water in 65 oz most days and I aim for 65 G Protein most days. There are days where it's like 40 oz and 40 g of protein, but I hit the 65/65 most of the time.