Arabesque

Honestly, I probably do focus on what I’m eating more now but the focus is how much protein, is there sugar in this, etc. So I focus more on the nutritional value of what I eat. Also before I used to skip meals. Now I try to make sure to eat more regularly. I cooked before surgery & I still cook. I prep most of my food so I can control the ingredients & how they’re cooked & I do cook a little more often - one because of prepping lunch now & I’ve dropped my once a week takeaway. I randomly check calories & portion sizes to make sure I’m on track & not over or under estimating. I also cleaned out my pantry, fridge & freezer in the first months. Got rid of all the food I couldn’t or didn’t want to eat anymore. If it’s not in the cupboard I can’t eat it. If I don’t buy it, I can’t eat it either. As @The Greater Fool said it can be an obsess ion if you let it or want it to be. How rigid/flexible do you want to be in your food choices? Your dietician should be a good source of possible eating plans & food options that fit in with your lifestyle, family, etc. You will have to make some changes. If you go back to eating exactly as you did before you will end up where you were before surgery. Remember, there is no one right way to eat just the way that’s right for you. Good luck & I hope everything goes smoothly for you.

I’m a big advocate of putting your cutlery down, sitting back from the table & asking do you really need that next bite. I also do something between bites to distract me: work on a puzzle, read, etc. You can also wait for the next ad break to eat a bite, don’t eat while someone at the table is talking, etc. I also did the time thing too - a bite every 3 minutes or so. I generally take 30 - 60 minutes to eat but of course my servings sizes are more like the recommended size now (cup of vegetables & 3 oz protein, 1 serve rolled oats, tub of yoghurt, etc.).

The average weight loss post weight loss surgery at five years is around 65% of the weight to be lost to be in the healthy BMI range. I think that is the 75% your surgeon is probably referring to - the difference could be based upon your specific surgery, the stats of his patients & possibly you & your situation vs another patient. As with all averages some lose more & can maintain it, some lose less & happily maintain at that weight. In years 2-3, it’s not uncommon for people to put on 10+/-lbs from their lowest weight as they settle into their new eating style. Some lose some of that weight others are happy to stay there because it’s an easier weight to maintain. As you’re losing you likely will experience stalls or (plateaus) almost everyone experiences at least one. It’s part of losing weight. Think of it as your body taking a break to try & catch up with the weight loss you’ve had so far. They break & you will start losing again if you stick to your plan. The goal is to reach a weight you are happy with, can enjoy your life at & can maintain with out gaining or losing (not including our natural weight fluctuations of course). Congrats on your weight loss so far.

As @ms.sss said. It can take time to work out that sweet spot of the number of calories your body needs to function & maintain your weight. It took me about 11 months till I stabilised, worked out how many calories I needed & was physically able to consume enough food to do so. Consequently I lost another 11kgs but have basically maintained there for about 12 months now. I eat less than @ms.sss - around 1200/1300 calories a day but I’m not very active. Not a runner nor the owner of a gym membership. 😁 If I was more active I’d need to eat more calorie dense food. If I was happy to maintain at a higher weight I’d also eat more. I eat three meals & 3-4 snacks a day. Generally I follow a healthy eating plan of nutrient rich foods. Prep most of my food myself. Almost every thing I eat contains protein. I eat fruit, vegetables, dairy, two serves of multi or whole grain carbs a day. I don’t have a lot of fat (salad dressing & liverwurst are the main - & worst - sources) & I got rid of a lot of sugar (real, artificial & substitutes) out of my diet. It also takes time to work out a way of eating that works within your lifestyle so you can still enjoy your life without being limited by restrictive food choices. My choices may not work for you & that’s perfectly ok. I doubt our bodies would gain weight faster than anybody else unless you’re eating more calories. The surgery gives your metabolism a boost & I’d think it would settle at a rate that is pretty acceptable for someone of your height, weight, activity level, age, gender, etc. Have a chat with your nutritionalist & discuss what eating options which may work for you.

2litres or 64 ounces is the recommended volume of water (mix of fluids) everyone should drink a day to be fully hydrated not just people who’ve had weight loss surgery. If you are in a very hot climate, exercise a lot or just sweat a lot you should drink more. I was advised (my dad had kidney issues) you shouldn’t actually reach that I’m really thirsty/dying of thirst point. Your pee should be light in colour like straw. Once you get to a sunshine yellow you really aren’t drinking enough. If it’s dark you are very dehydrated. Of course multivitamins can make your pee very yellow even if you are fully hydrated.

Gotta love a bargain @ms.sss & what excellent finds they are too. I just might borrow that ribbed dress so if it’s missing from your wardrobe …. 😆😆😆

I was only consuming 200 - 300 calories a day to begin but I was a low calorie eater most of the time (about 900 by goal at 6 months & 1200-1300 to maintain now) - you can only eat what you can eat. The number of calories you consume will increase as you heal & are able to eat more. How much were you eating after your sleeve surgery? Did your surgeon or nutritionalist give you a caloric goal for this surgery or just protein & water? Are you following the eating plan you were given? (Same old basic questions. 😉) Have a chat with your nutritionalist &/or surgeon if you are concerned or to reassure you that you’re on the right track. Out of curiosity why are you using powdered milk? My dietician did suggest I add powdered milk to my milk when I started maintenance to boost my protein & calories but I found it too sweet. May be give some lactose free milk a try just in case you are sensitive to it at the moment? Glad they got the post surgery issues under control & you are feeling better.

Using straws is another one of those things that some surgeons say no to but others say it’s ok like @Hop_Scotch said. Personally I used a straw but only if I was drinking from a bottle & that was to control the size of my sips. (Tended to gulp when drinking from a bottle.) Fortunately, we still had access to plastic straws back then so it didn’t matter if I left the straw in the bottle for most of the day - no soggy mess 😁😁. Once I could handle a swallow larger than a sip I stopped using them.

Could be any of those causes. Plus the removal of your gall can trigger diarrhoea for a little while as your digestive system gets used to a continuous supply of bile instead of just when you eat. (The gall regulated the amount of bile going from your liver to your intestines to further digest food - storing it till it was needed.) if it persists contact your surgeon because it is essential you are able to absorb all the nutrients you can.

Exactly as @catwoman7 said. There is no wrong or right amount to lose each week. Yes, there are averages & ranges but treat them only as a bit of an idea of what you MIGHT lose not what you will. There are too many factors that influence your individual rate of loss & it will change day to day, week to week, month to month. Remember you’ll lose at your own rate & every pound you lose is a win. Congrats on what you have achieved so far.

Yes your taste buds, & for some their sense of smell, can go a bit haywire after surgery & be very sensitive to certain tastes &/or smells. You may discover there will be other foods you always liked that suddenly taste disgusting, have no flavour at all or turn your tummy. It does pass. When my sensitivity for chilli & curry worsened to a full intolerance years ago the smell used to make me feel ill. Curry was the worst (& they had curry cook offs at work once a month & the smell would permeate the whole office through the air conditioning. Ugh!!!). It was like the smell was a warning not to eat it because it would make me sick. My chilli & curry intolerance is forever but as I said your current aversion to certain foods will pass. Treat the aversion as a warning that maybe your tummy isn’t ready for it yet. Congrats on your surgery.

Spring time here on the opposite end of the earth. Friendly Butcher bird came to visit as I sat on my deck with my mid morning snack. Didn’t like the way he was eyeing off my multigrain crackers though & I wasn’t sharing. 😁😁 Your soup looks yummo @kristieshannon but you all know I love soup regardless the weather. Congrats on your surgery @Kaminsky Dyer. We’ve all been where you are now & undesrand the newness & strangeness of the post surgical eating play. Just take it day by day & you’ll be able to eat soup like Kristie’s (without the kale to begin - too coarse) before you know it.

No sorry didn’t experience air travel for that length of time. But I’d be concerned about how to manage my food intake on the flight especially at about 3/4 weeks out. Depending upon your plan, you may only be on the purée stage or beginning soft foods & you may find your tummy is pretty sensitive &/or fussy after surgery. You may struggle to eat the food provided on the plane & ensure you’re following your plan & meeting protein & fluid goals. Sorry if I sound negative. Others may have advice on how they managed in a similar situation that soon after surgery.

There are so many plans with different expectations & requirements. As @Hop_Scotch said if you’re following your plan all is good. My plan didn’t have a caloric goal only portion size. If yours doesn’t either & you would feel more comfortable with one, ask your surgeon & dietician for some guidelines. I used to check my calories randomly for my own interest. I had a low calories intake - only about 900 calories by goal. I consume about 1200/1300 (3 meals & 3 or 4 snacks) to maintain my weight as it is now at almost 2 1/2yrs (am in my mid 50s, small frame, not overly active). If I was more active I’d eat more calorie dense food. Good luck.

The first week is always difficult on the all shake diet (my surgeon called it hell week) because you are breaking a lot of your addictions & dependencies (sugar, carbs, caffeine, etc.). Any weakness, headaches, etc. you may feel in hell week are the withdrawal symptoms. The second week is always easier. The shakes will start the ketosis process, burning your excess stored fat for the additional energy your body needs to function & start the weight loss. Slowly introducing the shakes a week earlier sounds like a way that may ease the transition. You pee out the fluid they pump you with in a couple of days. Doubt they would prescribe a diuretic unless the fluid was causing other health complications. But of course we’re all different & our surgeons have different post surgical plans. Those first 24hrs I would have been glad not to have to pee any more than I did. Plus they kept me on IV fluids for 24hrs so to get up & pee, I had to buzz a nurse to get them to disconnect the IV then steer the stand to the bathroom. Good luck.

That’s a good place to begin if it is what your surgeon & dietician recommended. What else you may need will depend upon you: what you’re lacking & your ability to absorb nutrients. A blood test will show what you are lacking in. It may be iron, calcium, vitamin D, one of vitamin Bs, etc. or nothing at all. I only took a multi vitamin (one in the am & one in the pm). Took a Vitamin D & magnesium briefly but dropped it when subsequent blood tests showed I had more than enough. About two months into maintenance I stopped the multivitamin too. I absorbed plenty of nutrients from the food I ate & didn’t need any supplements. Three monthly blood tests continued to endorse that until about 2 yrs after surgery (18 months in maintenance) I had my gall removed & now I don’t absorb protein as well. Not happy! Was prescribed Creons but still no other vitamins are needed. Another blood test in a couple of weeks to see if they’re helping.

Depending how they react in your digestive system you could end up being the stinky thing at work 😉😆.

Depending how they react in your digestive system you could end up being the stinky thing at work 😉😆.

Yeah, it can be hard especially if you have a set lunch break & eating at your desk is frowned upon. When I briefly worked in retail it was almost impossible to eat enough in my one 30 min break & I was post goal then. And tinned fish can smell like cat food in a small lunch room - shudder! I took diced chicken, soups, pork sausages (from butcher), meatballs, savoury mince, bolognese (no pasta but sometimes zucchini noodles), cheese, yoghurt, etc. I found a great recipe for mini individual frittatas but it was after I stopped working but they would have been great too.

Water is predominately absorbed in your intestines not your tummy. Because water is absorbed not digested like food, you don’t have the same possible issues with malabsorption of nutrients from poorly digested foods after weight loss surgery. The sipping continuously vs gulping down glassful at a time is a new mind set. Plus at the early stages, you can be a little wary to drink in case you feel discomfort or your not really hungry & you don’t feel like drinking either. And the taste of water can be a little blah or it can feel almost heavy to drink. Remember, all fluids count: your shakes, broths, tea, etc. as well as water. We should always have been drinking 64ounces or 2litres of water a day but many didn’t so suddenly having to do so can be challenging. @Lisa LoVuolo could you update your profile with your surgery date, height, starting weight, type of surgery, etc. it helps others to offer more appropriate help & suggestions if we know how far a long you are, your type of surgery, etc.

Yes, contact your surgeon. Surprised they didn’t do an ultrasound on your gall bladder (& abdomen) because it does sound like the gall grumbling could be the cause. It was the first thing my doctor ordered after my first experience.

Looking great @Dtrain84. Those muscles. Hot!! But what about your fabulous wardrobe? Good excuse to buy more great suits & jackets & of course coordinating accessories.

It happened to me too. I had heavy hooded eyelids & now when I put eyeshadow you can actually see it. Plus when I put on eyeliner & mascara it doesn’t end up on my droopy heavy eyelids. Whoo hoo!!

It really comes down to what you can tolerate.. Personally, I’m not good with really cold (except gin & champagne 😆). The cold cramps my tummy. Room temp is my preference & I found warm or hot drinks most soothing. I would warm my chocolate shake … & pretend it was hot chocolate.

Hypoglycaemia was my first thought. I have random episodes (light headed, cold sweats, want to vomit but don’t, diarrhoea cramping but nothing, almost faint) but not during or immediately after eating. Water, cup of tea, a few blueberries or strawberries help me. Contact your medical team.