Arabesque

Yeah, the withdrawals can be hard. Takeaway the caffeine, the sugar, etc. & you get headaches, feel weak & sometimes tremors. Similar to withdrawal from alcohol or drugs. You’ll feel generally crappy for a few days then it improves. It can be surprising to realise how much you & your body relied on these stimulants & then in time realise how much you didn’t really need them.

Definitely talk to your dietician especially as you’d like more guidelines around calories & portion sizes. Never be reluctant to ask for as much help &. advice as you need. You have to feel very comfortable & confident with your food choices.But also never get down on yourself if you make a mistake or get confused. You’ve lost weight so you’re not totally on the wrong path. 🙂 I’d also ask for a recommended food list for each stage. While in the liquid stage, we’re usually encouraged to consume protein shakes & in my list, yoghurt was not recommended to try until purée (too thick). I’m also presuming you’re straining your soups & only eating the broth component. Many are not allowed caffeine either so it may be an idea to check that too. There are lots of variations of calories, portion sizes, food restrictions & recommendations, stages, etc. so it is always best y check what your surgeon & team want you to do. It is difficult to work out the calorie content of foods you make yourself. That’s when I found portion size recommendations were really helpful from purées. On liquids, I used to sip for as long as I wanted & reheat as necessary. I’d take a couple of hours to drink my breakfast shake. Congrats on your weight loss so far.

You’ll find that there are a lot of family favourite recipes you can modify pretty simply. As a few simple ideas to get you started: On liquids - make a big pot of chicken & vegetable soup. The family can eat it all while you strain your serve. On purée - make soup again but just purée yours. On soft - make spaghetti bolognese. You eat the sauce but no pasta. You can add zucchini noodles for yourself later on & you may even find your family enjoys them too. Meat balls are great too. Anything was gravies & sauces to keep things moist. On solid - make pork or chicken laab. You eat the mince & herb component while your family can wrap them in the lettuce leaves. You can eat everything when you’re ready for leafy & raw vegetables. Look for low fat, low carb recipes. Don’t be afraid to add herbs & spices as you can tolerate them. Look for healthier cooking methods. Air fry instead of deep fry. Bake instead of pan fry (I dry bake all my lamb cutlets & pork chops now & they cook in their own fats & juices). Steam or poach... etc. Choose trimmed, heart smart meats like a pork loin vs a leg of pork. Chicken thighs are tastier, more tender & easier to eat than breast meat. Make your own sauces so you can control the ingredients, how they are cooked & reduce how much processed foods you eat. You will have to be a bit selective when it comes to which vegetables & when you can start eating them. Though I found if I slow cooked them in soups, stews, etc. I could eat quite a variety from soft foods. Don’t be afraid to pick out & just eat the meat & the odd vegetable as you’re able for your meal while your family eats the whole dish.

I only told select family & friends about my surgery too. Though it can be a bit challenging not to confuse who knows & who doesn’t. 😉 For those who didn’t know & asked specifically about my weight loss & how I did it (like one very competitive friend) I’d tell them I was seeing a dietician, had done a lot of reading & reflecting & was working out what way of eating was best for me. All of it true. You will find that in time no one says anything at all. They start to accept the changes you’re making & how you look & the inquisitive (nosy) questions stop.

I read an article that, simply put, explained weight gain from consuming artificial sweeteners occurred because the body tastes sweet & so expects there to be sweet it can use for energy. (Our body does need some glucose to function.) But because there isn’t any glucose, your body thinks something is wrong & will store calories you consume as future energy i.e. as fat. Does make sense as your body will go into starvation mode & store as many calories as it can in times when food intake is low. It’s why many find their weight loss eventually stops on ultra low calorie diets. And of course artificial sweeteners do absolutely nothing to modify/eradicate your cravings for sweet things. Plus there’s a lot of the studies about the negative impact of them on gut health & your immune system. It’s hard to get sweeteners completely out of your diet as they’re in so many things but at least reducing the amount you’re consuming can only be a good thing.

What you’re likely seeing is your natural fluctuation. Mine is a kilogram (2.2lbs) over a couple of days. Fluctuations in our weight occur because we may be retaining a little fluid, be constipated, may be you didn’t pee as much the night before, hormonal fluctuations, just how your body digests food, stores energy & excretes waste, etc. Because you likely didn’t weigh yourself this frequently, you’ve never really noticed this fluctuation before. Weight loss isn’t a consistent straight line of losing the exact same amount every day. It’s a wiggly line of ups & downs & plateaus. As long as the general trend of your loss is downwards you’re golden. There’s nothing wrong with weighing yourself every day. I did & so do a lot of others. You know yourself best & what you need to keep you on track & motivated. If you find it hard to reconcile the wiggly line of weight loss, weighing every day is not for you. Many find it useful to take body measurements a long the way as well. Especially as sometimes es the scales don’t move but the tape measure does. Congrats on your weight loss so far.

After surgery only too. (But I didn’t take them before anyway.) Think it’s so they get an accurate blood test reading to compare with post surgery tests. Plus supplements might hide any absorption issues you may have or vitamins, minerals, etc. you are naturally lacking. This test should help inform the breadth of vitamins you may need after surgery too. My iron levels were great before surgery & continued to be good after so I didn’t need to take an additional iron supplement.

There are several variations of what a surgeon may require you to do pre surgery. I had an easier road as I was on keto for two weeks (I did almost three because of when I saw my dietician). Some do two weeks of nothing but shakes. Others, two weeks of shakes for two meals & one of protein & vegetables/salad. Some do a day or two only. I did discover my surgeon recommends different diets for different patients based on their weight loss/gain history, starting weight, health status, etc. The purpose is to shrink your liver which is likely fatty & enlarged therefore clearing some of the abdominal field so they can better see what they’re doing during surgery. Some use it to see if you can manage a restricted diet before surgery because of the restrictive diet to support your healing after surgery. But I do agree. Wait until your next appointment before buying anything for your pre & post surgery diets.

I hadn’t heard of it either & it wasn’t an option with my surgeon. Is it a Sydney thing?? I wonder if stomach stretching after sleeve was either an old wives tale or to scare patients to encourage them to eat correctly (portion size, frequency, etc.) so that wouldn’t happen. I do recall Dr Nowzaradan operating again on one of his patients saying they had stretched their tummy again but they had been eating exactly the same way as they always had: huge portions, many times a day every day for a long time. So they deliberately worked to stretch it again. No surgery would have helped them. As others have said it sounds similar to lapband (gastric banding) which are not performed as often because of higher risk of complications. There are a lot of people here who have had to have a revision to sleeve or more commonly to bypass because of issues with their band. On googling I noticed that some weight loss clinics don’t identify the possible side effects of the minimiser but did discover one (Perth) clinic that did: … placing a ring around the top of the sleeve can cause obstructive symptoms much like adjustable gastric banding resulting in difficulty swallowing and food intolerance. It can cause dilatation of the top of the sleeve which we consider to be the most critical part. It may also increase the risk of reflux, volume regurgitation and possible aspiration. But if you’ve done your research, weighed the pros & cons, and you know yourself & your challenges with eating best, & your surgeon supports you, it is ultimately your decision. All the best.

It’s a mind set change about solids vs liquids. Doesn’t make it easier but … The liquids will have all the calories you need so should satisfy a lot of your real hunger needs. Though unfortunately for many of us a lot of the satisfaction of eating comes from the actual crunch & chew of solid food but suddenly that’s gone so you start to crave them & feel head hunger even more. And the cycle & hellishness begins Are you allowed any solids? Many have two or three shakes plus a solid meal of protein & vegetables/salad at night which is easier to handle. I did that diet years ago for about two months & I swear I fantasised about eating that ‘real’ meal all day long every one of those 60 days. 😁 All the best.

It could just be your natural weight fluctuation. Mine is a kilogram (2.2lbs). Hormonal fluctuations, retaining some fluid, being constipated, full bladder, full bowel, etc. all can cause the number to go up on the scale. It doesn’t mean you’re failing. You’re likely weighing yourself more often than before so you’re starting to notice these fluctuations. You won’t lose the exact same amount of weight each day or week is not consistent. It’s expected that your weight loss graph will be a wriggly line. You’ll get little ups & downs & plateaus along the way. As long as your general weight loss trend is going down you’re golden. And your stall will break. Have a chat with your dietician just in case you need to tweak your diet or activity a bit. I liked to think of a stall as my body needing to take a breath to come to terms with my weight loss & dietary changes.

My surgeon keeps his patients in overnight to monitor progress, give fluids, etc. & ensure you are drinking without issue. Because I lived alone he suggested I stay an extra night again which turned out I needed because apparently I was a terrible colour, BP was low & I had a lot of swelling & struggled to swallow. Then on the third day when I was to go home my back went into spasm so I didn’t go home until day 4. I was basically pain & swelling free by then.

Oh no! 😱 But the risk of travelling with any child I think. Spent the day driving about shopping with my sister-in-law last week & discovered very strange stains & remains on the seat of my trousers when I got home. After school & travelling snack leftovers I think. 😁 Congrats on eating almost all those vegetables too. 😉

I think @SleeverSk was wondering if your sleeping med was Stillnox (Zolpidem) which is renown for causing sleep eating (it was the one my mum was on) & was only suggesting you drop it if you can or if you can change your sleeping tablet to another formulation. This may be a challenge given your broader health issues & medication regime but certainly worth a conversation with your prescribing doctors about trying something that works differently. PS - Stillnox/Zolpidem can cause anxiety & depression in some people which may be of concern to you too if this is the sleeping med you take. All the best.

I found the shakes gross too & the so called flavourless pea protein I bought had flavour to me & it was disgusting (& I love peas). The bones broths were a bit too salty. You can strain soups like pho, ramen or wonton soup & just have the broth which is more flavoursome. Or make a chicken soup & strain that (often home made is much tastier). I ate prepared cream of chicken soup & beef & vegetable soups too - strained them & added extra water to thin them out more. Wish I had discovered yoghurt drinks earlier. They can be thinned with extra milk. Don’t be afraid to up the flavour content with additional stock or herbs or spices you can tolerate (let them steep for a while then strain). Try protein water a try too.

As @catwoman7 said dumping won’t be an issue but you may struggle swallowing the meds for a couple of days because of swelling from the surgery. Spread taking the meds out across the day if possible & only take one at a time until you don’t have any issues. I didn’t start taking my vitamins until towards the end of the first week because of swelling. Fortunately the only med I had that I had to take every day was my HRT & that is very small like the pill so was easy to swallow. All the best.

Give your team a call so you know exactly what they recommend. I wasn’t advised to take additional calcium to what was already in the multi vitamin they recommended. My bone scan showed my bones were rock hard anyway & I was consuming way more calcium than I ever did before surgery. Before surgery maybe 3or 4 serves a week. After surgery about 3 serves a day. I wasn’t given a fibre recommendation either except to add a spoon of Benefibre or other non swelling fibre supplement every day to milk, yoghurt drink, rolled oats (instant at first from purée). I also tried to add some vegetables to my diet as soon as I could. Plus I was allowed fruit around month 3 (strawberries & watermelon were my favourites then mandarins & peeled apples as I was able).

My mother experienced this with one of her sleeping tablets too. She’d find empty ice cream containers in the sink & ice cream wrappers around the house with absolutely no memory of eating them. (Funny that she always went to frozen treats.) she changed her meds & no more sleep eating. You’ll probably find your weight stabilises too because you’re not ingesting as much food. Have you considered starting with a therapist? It’s usually part of your surgery approval process but nothing days you can’t start earlier. You could ask your surgeon for a referral/recommendation to someone who specialises in bariatric surgery & disordered eating. Many find seeing a therapist very beneficial for many things including their emotional health, weight loss & their relationship with food.

The gas pain can be worse than the pain from the surgery. Walking is your best options & GasX. Have also heard that deep slow breaths can help by forcing the gas up & out. I wouldn’t try to force yourself to pass wind. After surgery this can be ‘dangerous’ because of the risk of ‘wet farts’ or diarrhoea. Yikes!! Remember the gas is actually in your abdominal cavity not your actual tummy or intestines/colon. Plus the gas they use rises in your body as it tries to escape hence the shoulder pain. It will take a few days but it will eventually dissipate.

I read it as you’ll need to take the multi vitamin & also take the calcium (because of the plus sign) but you don’t need additional B12 as it is included in these meds (the recommended multi). The bad news is if you are one of those who will lose extra hair after surgery, you can’t do anything to stop it. Worrying about it will likely only make it worse - you don’t need additional stress. Remember we naturally regularly shed hair. After the stress of the surgery & the dramatic change to our diet, our natural hair loss cycle is accelerated. So the additional hair you lose was always going to be shed. Your new growth is still occurring but just at its usual rate. The hair on your head is dead & nothing can save that. All those vitamins & supplements that promise hair growth may do is help your new hair growth. Just like fertiliser won’t stop dead leaves falling off a plant but may help with new growth. Same with your nails. Once you get to your maintenance point & you’re eating larger portions & a more balanced diet, everything settles again. Even your face, which may look more drawn for a while, settles too. Your healthier diet will bring a lot of benefits to the quality of your skin, hair & nails in time too. Vitamins can be very expensive but it may be better to start with the higher quality recommended ones to begin while your diet is most restricted. My surgeon, dietician & pharmacist all told me that the vitamins kept behind the counter at the pharmacy are always the best quality in purity & quantity of ingredients. Apparently this applies to all over the counter meds. If they keep certain meds behind the counter buy those. All the best with your surgery & recovery.

I wouldn’t worry too much. It could just be your natural fluctuation especially as it’s only a couple of pounds. Your weight can fluctuate a couple of pounds through out the day as you eat & drink. Also consider whether you pooped that day & if you’re retaining fluids due to your hormonal fluctuations. Unless you’re being weighed at exactly the same time, wearing the exact same clothing on the same scales & you’ve eaten the exact same foods & the same volume of fluids, etc. you have to expect some differences in what the scale says. Each of my doctors keep their own records of my weight & I keep mine. They’re not the same & that’s ok. My fluctuation is a kilogram (2.2lb). Because you’ll be weighing yourself more frequently you’ll get to discover your natural fluctuation. It may be more or less but it’s just part of life. And as you’re just starting out in the process & are just starting to make changes to your diet, maintaining your weight is still a win. Way better than gaining. As you progress with those changes, you’ll likely notice your weight starting to go down. You’ll be on the pre surgery diet before you know it & then your surgery & your weight will very noticeably drop.

It’s also not just a case of whether you’re allowed or not on your plan but also whether you are physically able. Some find they struggle with the gas - tightness, feel full & bloated, excessive belching, etc. Some drink them without issue. Carbonation has always been an issue for me, terrible hiccups & discomfort, & that hasn’t changed. I didn’t drink a lot but also gave them up years ago because of the sugar content & artificial sweeteners. Didn’t & don’t miss them. I will drink the occasional tonic or soda water as a mixer or glass of champagne about once a month or less. I sip slowly &/or stir regularly so the bubbles abate. I do have a glass of sparkling water every day but I deliberately let it go flat.

Some plans encourage you to eat more than 1000 calories a day especially at your 11 weeks out. So don’t beat yourself up if you’ve had some days that you have. I bet even when you did you still didn’t eat the volume of food or at the same frequency as you did before surgery. I was only advised portion sizes never calories. I started at 1/4 cup & worked up to almost a cup by goal. One of the most helpful strategies I still employ is to ask myself if I need the next bite or do I just want it. Coupled with trying to stop eating before I feel full. Eat slowly and never be afraid to put your cutlery down, push your plate away from you &/or sit back from the table. Real hunger feels different to head hunger. Head hunger will go if I distract myself or delay eating for 30minutes or so or if I focus on drinking (warm is best). Real hunger persists. With head hunger I want a specific food or flavour (sweet, salty, etc.) but it often doesn’t satisfy the desire. With real hunger I just want food & nutritionally dense food satisfies it. I feel restless with real hunger like something is wrong. Head hunger usually affects my emotions - hangry or frustrated. Are you bored, stressed, frustrated or another emotion & is this what is driving you to eat? Are you eating out of habit or a time on the clock? A rumbling tummy often doesn’t mean you are hungry but it’s just your body digesting food. I rumble & grumble all day long but I’m not hungry. Stomach acid can make you think you’re hungry. PPIs can help with that. Nutritionally dense food like proteins are usually more filling than empty calorie, high sugar, high fat or highly processed foods. Have a chat with your dietician.

Gall bladder removal is not uncommon for anybody. Gall stones can form for a couple of reasons: high cholesterol, rapid & excessive weight loss, menopause, or high bilirubin levels. So it makes sense why many bariatric patients have their’s removed at some point. Some people can have gall stones for years that only rumble a bit so they don’t know they have them. They’re discovered because of the pre surgical tests so some people have their gall removed during their weight loss surgery. My stone was discovered during a scan to see why my liver function was off about 7 months after surgery. I’d have no symptoms but last June I really knew about it - very painful!!! So my gall was removed about two years after my sleeve surgery. Mine could have formed because of the weight loss, menopause or because I have high bilirubin levels. It was an easy surgery. My surgeon used the same incisions from my sleeve surgery & I was home the next day. I did have more muscular discomfort & gas pain though. My diet is generally lowish fat so I don’t have issues with that. But I have noticed every couple of weeks that I have a bout of diarrhoea (manifests more quickly than ordinary tummy upset attacks). My sister-in-law is the same. We think it’s a build up of digestive acids because the gall isn’t there to regulate it anymore.

You can depend upon the saying the closer to goal the slower the weight loss. My last two kgs were a b*tch to lose. So close yet so far. Don’t give up or think it’s over. You’ll likely get there in your body’s own time.