Arabesque

I agree that no one should feel pain & there are different ways of managing the level of pain someone may be experiencing. But I don’t think @Summermoose surgeon was saying pain helps healing. Rather that feeling pain like on movement (versus continuous pain) can indicate you’re doing too much & are risking damage which would impede healing. Well I hope that’s what they meant. 🙂 There’s pain & there’s pain & we all have different pain thresholds. Personally, I delayed taking my opiate meds when I got home after my sleeve surgery & my gall removal to assess how much pain I was actually experiencing & if I really needed to continue with opioids to manage it. In both cases I didn’t need the opioids any longer & an over the counter pain med was enough - one dose a day for a day or two & then none at all. Any discomfort I felt didn’t warrant pain meds - just being more careful. 🙂

Aah the joy (not) of trying to break our cravings, habits & dependencies. Back when I taught in another life, I often mindlessly grazed when I was prepping or marking work. I had a jar of lollies on my desk & would be constantly eating them so I understand that desire. Now, I find it helps if I make myself wait or do something to distract myself for say 30 minutes before actually satisfying the craving helpful. Often by the time that 30 minutes passes, I don’t want it anymore. You could say, I’ll have something sweet after I mark X more papers. Sometimes a cup of tea, a shake, an electrolyte drink or similar you can sip as you work can help & give you a little boost. In time you’ll be able nibble on nuts or fruit likes blueberries - more nutritious hits of sweet & salty. Congrats on doing so well so far.

It’s really an individual thing cause we all react & heal differently to surgery. (I also think some surgeons may be more gentle than others.) I didn’t use or need a binder & had no problems sleeping - on my side or twisted half on my tummy from day one. I had more abdominal discomfort after my gall removal - like pulled muscles. But it was only noticeable when I was specifically using those muscles like as I got up or down. I just supported the area with my hand. Once I was standing or sitting there was no pain. Good luck with your surgery. PS - Oh yes, this forum is helpful & supportive. Always learning something here.

There’s a lot of variations in the pre surgery diets. Mine was real food too - specifically keto. So I ate meat, eggs, full fat dairy, low carbs, non starchy vegetables & berries. Yours sounds like it may be keto or similar to keto too. My surgeon requires different patients to follow different pre surgery diets based on various factors - weight, blood work, results from various medical tests, etc. Sometimes the diet is not only to reduce the fat around your liver, but to lose some weight before surgery, break some addictions/cravings (caffeine, sugar, carbs, etc.) & /or get you thinking about what you eat. Best advice is to follow the plan you’ve been given.

Actually you only need to continue with vitamin supplements with a sleeve if you personally need to i.e. blood work show you’re low in specific vitamins, etc. The sleeve only changes your tummy not other parts of your digestive system. The additional changes that occur with a bypass does increase the impact on your ability to absorb the necessary nutrients. I had sleeve surgery & haven’t taken a vitamin since month 8 when I was in maintenance. But digestive systems can work differently cause we have different physiologies so you may need to take vitamin supplements regardless of the surgery you have. Generally the post surgical diets for sleeve & bypass are pretty similar. The staged return to eating (liquids, then purées, then soft food & finally more solid foods) is to support your sensitive & healing digestive system. There also are certain foods you introduce more slowly into your diet because they’re just too harsh to begin. Both surgeries tend to focus on high protein, low carbs, low fat, low sugar, nutrient dense foods. This is a lifetime thing if you want to maintain your weight loss. In time you can eat most foods just depends on how your body tolerates them but this generally is an individual thing.

Is it a haematoma? A swelling caused by bleeding in the area from the removal of the port damaging the area. If it is protruding it’s from the amount of blood that’s clotted. Generally they disappear but if it persists give your doctor a call. Give your doctor a call/visit anyway to find out what it actually is.

Unfortunately the glorious & heady weight loss of the pre & immediately post surgery days doesn’t last. Think of this time as the kickstart. Around month 3+/- when your weight loss starts to slow is when reality begins to set in again. You’re eating solid foods, there are more foods you can eat, your portions are getting larger & you’re consuming more calories. Just stay your course. It’s not a race. You’ll reach your goal in your time which is the right time for you. You can’t control factors like gender, age, metabolic rate, weight loss history, etc. which influence how much & the rate at which you’ll lose. Remember the axioms: the more you have to lose the faster you’ll lose to begin & the closer to your goal the more slowly you’ll lose.

Oh, I’m sorry @Pyxis. NSW is really struggling at the moment. So, so many cases and you’ve been caught in the fallout. I agree with @catwoman7. Up your protein intake, your vegetables & your fluids. Cut back on processed carbs & introduce or swap them for whole or multi grain alternatives or vegetable based alternatives. Reduce your portion control. Don’t reintroduce things you’ve already cut out or reduced like caffeine, sugar, etc. You’ve already broken a lot of your dependency on them. Look at this time as a bonus & start to refocus your diet & explore alternative food choices, ingredients, cooking methods. Look at this as a place to start. You don’t have to do everything we’ve suggested. Little changes tend to be easier to adopt & make permanent than changing absolutely everything you eat. Good luck. Stay safe & well.

I kept very closely to the plan I was given & the recommendations from my dietician & surgeon. They knew what they’re talking about. Your plan would advise when you can start to try to include certain foods in your diet as your tummy can’t digest some things to begin - too coarse, too fibrous, too dense, too rich, etc. When you’re able to eat solid foods again it’s not a free for all. You need to be careful not to stress & strain your tummy & digestion. It will be sensitive & as you’re discovering may not tolerate some things you used to enjoy. (It does improve but it takes time.) We’re advised to avoid nutrient poor pasta, rice & bread because they tend to swell in your tiny tummy & fill you up so you’re unable to eat the protein & other nutrients you really need. Remember you physically are only able to eat small portions if anything. There are pretty good alternatives about. A lot of people swear by a ricotta bake which reminds people of pizza or in time you could try pizza made with a cauliflower rice or a shredded chicken base. Try zucchini noodles instead of pasta. You will be able to eat salads in a little while. Some people will say they ate bread, rice, pasta, etc. without issue at some point while they were losing. Some successfully with careful portion control incorporate these things & foods like pizza occasionally in maintenance. Personally, I decided that the weight loses phase was the perfect opportunity to change the way I ate & what I ate & I still stay away from lots of foods - I realised they were danger foods for me. But ultimately, it’s your decision. You have to do what works for you. Good luck.

Made a 3 egg omelette yesterday with celery, mushrooms & parmesan cheese. Forgot to buy spinach & capsicum at the markets so the filling was a little scant & my cheddar cheese was rather green & furry hence the parmesan. Ate half for lunch & the other half for dinner. First time I’ve used a full sized dinner plate in more than 2 years - lol.

Oh yeah, some are disgusting. Many of us find our taste buds change temporarily after surgery & you may find the shakes you enjoyed pre surgery suddenly are just terrible. Or you may become lactose intolerant for a while. Have a couple of different brands, flavours & lactose free options available just in case. Good luck with your surgery.

The lightheadedness can be from low blood pressure &/or low blood sugars. You’re also consuming very few calories at the moment. You’d have got a boost to your energy levels from the nutrients in the shake which is why you felt better afterwards. Keep your protein intake up & get your fluids in. It will get better but don’t be surprised if you experience periods of low energy/light headedness as you progress especially at times you up your activity. Try adding some electrolytes to your water for a boost too. I found doing this very helpful.

Exactly. The surgery is a tool. You don’t give kudos to a gym membership or an exercise machine. They’re just tools too. If you don’t work hard & put in the effort they won’t help you at all. Congrats on your weight loss so far. Fabulous!

The closer to your goal weight the more slowly you’ll lose. That’s because your portion sizes & therefore your caloric intake has been increasing & getting closer to that point of equilibrium. That is the number of calories you’re consuming is equal to or almost equal to what your body needs to function. That’s how we maintain our weight. Eat more calories than your body needs you’ll gain. Eat fewer, you’ll lose. Not sure how much more you want to lose but you will continue to lose more & more slowly as you progress. Unfortunately we don’t keep losing at that same rate as we did in those first couple of heady & exciting months. Stalls happen all through your weight loss @Stalled. Your body just gets stressed & decides it needs to take a breath & recover (shut the door, pull the covers over its head). The longest, & most frustrating, stall I had was just before I reached my goal. It was just there! I didn’t lose a gram for 2 1/2 weeks.

In all likelihood it’s head hunger. You’ll discover that real hunger feels different from what we thought was hunger. That hunger was cravings, emotions, habits, etc. not that your body was in calorie deficit & required food to function. At the moment you have a lot of stored energy (fat) your body can burn. A large part of the area that produces the hunger hormone in your tummy has been removed. It’s why you won’t really feel hunger for 12-18months after surgery. By that time, the other smaller hunger hormone producing areas in your body kick in more. It’s why it’s important to understand what hunger feel like for you. For me I get restless. Fighting head hunger is not easy. There’s no easy answer. It’ll always be there to lead you astray. Therapy can help develop strategies to manage the cravings, etc. Look for distractions (read, watch a movie, play a game, craft), sip water, herbal or green tea or some broth. Go for a walk (help get that gas out of your body), ring a friend, … I find making myself wait 30 mins or more helps - by then any desire to eat has usually passed. Good luck & congrats on your surgery.

It should pass once you’re on more solid foods. It can be from the liquid diet & also from the surgery. Try wearing some disposal knickers or incontinent pants. My friend’s surgeon suggested it before her surgery & she said they were a saviour especially when she had ‘poopy farts’. I wish I knew about doing it - save me tossing knickers when a had a completely unexpected, no warning diarrhoea attack in hospital. It was the worst - took two steps & gush! 😱 As with all things if it does persist give your medical team a call.

The truth is exercising only contributes to a maximum of 20% of the weight you have to lose. You’d have to walk 6km in an hour or run 8km in 45 mins to burn 360 calories (about two slices of pizza). Of course there’s lots of other benefits to building & maintaining your fitness. Making adjustments to your diet & reducing your calorie intake is the real key coupled with portion sizes to weight loss. If you consume fewer calories then your body needs to function you’ll lose weight. Work at reducing your sugar intake. Stop the candies for a month but avoid sugar rich alternatives. Then drop any cakes or biscuits. Look to fresh fruit for a sweet treat. Make other small changes to your food choices like @lizonaplane suggested. Again you don’t have to change everything at once. Swap out a couple of things at a time & give yourself time to get used to it. You’ll likely find it much easier to make & adopt small changes to your food choices. You may not see changes in the scale straight away but it will happen. Go back to tracking your food - calories & portion sizes. It’s easy to let these slip especially if you’re guessing or not being as vigilant. Check your protein & fluid intake & increase if needed. Did you have a therapist when you had your surgery? Maybe get back in contact with them or ask your bariatric team for a recommendation. The therapist may help you better manage your stress & what may be driving your cravings. You can get back on top of this. Good luck.

You won’t be able to eat portion sizes like you used to because your tummy is a fraction of the size it was. But it is likely you used to eat portion sizes that were too large before like almost all of us did. it’s one of the reasons we were obese. You will eventually be able to eat about a recommended portion size but this will be at or around when you reach goal. I was only eating 1/4 - 1/3 cup of food in the first months. It slowly increased to about a cup by about 6 months later but it would depend upon what I was eating. It took me three days to eat 2 scrambled eggs for months & I still can’t eat 2 eggs. Eat slowly. Use teaspoons, buffet forks (sporks), etc. Serve your food on small side plates & bowls. I found ramekins & tapas bowls & plates a good size. Take a small bite & wait a couple of minutes before having another one. It doesn’t matter if it takes you 20 - 30 minutes. (I still take 30mins to an hour to eat a meal.) it takes time for the message to get through that you’re full & by the time you feel full you’ve had too much. Learning to stop before you feel full but when you’ve had enough is key - do you really need that next bite or do you just want it. Don’t force yourself to eat just to clean your plate - gotta get away from that thinking. And certainly don’t force yourself to eat at the moment while your tummy is still healing. You don’t have to waste anything. Keep it for later or another day. Cling wrap, storage containers & your fridge, freezer & microwave will become your best friends. My freezer is full of left overs & single serve dishes - easy nutritious meals for days I don’t want to cook. My fridge often has plates of leftovers - some porridge, vegetables, the last two bites of meat. I just graze on it later or include it in another meal.

Thank you so much for sharing, @Danpaul. Your experiences are what all of us will likely experience in some way at some stage. Yes, we are only human. Interestingly, Dr Matt Weiner did a video recently about making single easy changes to your diet just like you & your support group are implementing. In essence, he suggested about every month make a change - drop something from your diet or add something. A small change is always more achievable than a major overhaul. It resonated with me & I was so happy to read of your actual successful experience of making small changes to your diet & routines. Congrats on being almost back at your goal (happy) weight.

Can’t recall hearing of anyone’s metabolic rate being negatively affected after sleeve surgery. But we all react differently. My metabolic rate was practically non existent before surgery - decades of deliberately skipping meals. I struggled to lose anything on those very low calorie diets. After surgery it seemed like it was going 1000 miles an hour. I believe it’s settled a bit now in my third year (I’m not very active which would boost it more) but it is faster then what it was pre surgery & I happily eat 1200 calories a day to maintain my weight at my height & age. I would have put on weight if I ate that much before surgery - in fact I did. Now I eat regularly throughout the day & keep my protein high to feed my metabolism (three meals & about 4 snacks & all but one includes protein). While you’re losing, you’ll be increasing your caloric intake & including more & more nutrient dense foods. So though initially you’ll be consuming low calorie it’s for not the long term. If you think your metabolism has slowed when you get to goal or after, there are metabolic reset diets around. Dr Matthew Weiner’s A Pound of Cure comes to mind (book & you tube videos).

Oh gracious. Didn’t they tell you not to lift anything over 10lbs for the first week or two, then increase to 20lbs for the next week or two after that. Hope you didn’t do any internal damage to those stitches & staples holding your tummy together as well.

It’s caused by the loose skin in your armpits which folds in over your actual pits. Your beauty therapist would stretch & pull the loose skin out of the way when they wax but it’s nigh on impossible for you to do it yourself - one arm in the air the other holding the razor. Try stretching your arm back as far as you can while pushing your pit area (& breast) forward to stretch the skin more. Or use you upper arm to try to pull the loose skin out of the way.

Don’t be afraid to eat fruit. I was encouraged to add fruit to my diet when I was able - I think from about 3 months. Melons & berries became one of my snack alternatives. Fruit (& vegetables) were a source of the fructose & glucose my body needs as an energy source & an excellent source of essential vitamins & minerals. It helped a with my energy drops & random hypoglycaemic episodes. Its addition also helped me to work towards a balanced, nutrient rich diet. If fruit is on your diet give it a go if not, leave it until your dietician says it’s ok. As with all things portion size is important, include the calories (it’s the calories not the fruit that affects your weight loss) & whole fresh fruit not juice. Avoid dried too as we tend to eat a lot more dry fruit than we would fresh - a prune is one plum, a dried apricot is one small apricot or half a large.

I avoid breads & other carb rich products too. Like you @bufbills, I think they’re danger foods for me & I’m pretty glad my tummy doesn’t like them. I have tried a bite here & there but my restriction kicks in or they sit heavily in my tummy. Last time was a bite of naan bread last month as a test. Was yummy but groan. Not for me. Maybe give it another try in a couple of months & see if you can tolerate it then. May not be a gluten allergy or sensitivity as they tend to cause bloating, pain, diarrhoea, etc. more than nausea (though they can) as you’d likely know from your brother. But you could always have a test done to be sure.

Have a bone density check. It’s a good idea to have one done regularly if osteoporosis is in your family regardless of your surgery. It will pick up if you have signs of osteopenia. (It’s more common in women over 50 but with your family history you may be more likely to have this first sign of bone loss younger.) Better to get on top of it before there’s noticeable loss of bone density & you start experiencing more complex issues. Start adding calcium rich foods to your diet (look for low fat ones though) & supplements as needed.