Arabesque

I had reflux (gerd) before surgery. I had random attacks which were aggravated by stress & diet. Plus I had a very acidic stomach. I made a lot of dietary changes after I was diagnosed - no spicy food, no rich creamy food, avoided a lot of carbonated drinks which helped a lot. I also slept with the top of my bed on bricks for a few years. I was prescribed nexium but used it only when I’d get the hiccups (got really bad, painful attacks). After sleeve, I take nexium every day. Yes, I still have reflux but it’s different & possibly better - can’t explain how it’s different though. My hiccups are nowhere near as severe (thank gracious). I get some burning in my throat at night but my doctor suggested I not eat solid protein 2 hours before bed. Liquid protein was fine. I changed to when I ate my yoghurt to after dinner (to get the last of my daily protein in) & no more burning yet. Fingers crossed.

This is excellent. You’re not going to lose those huge amounts like they do on My 600lb life cause, you know, they weighed over 600 lbs which is considerably more than you. The general rule is the more you have to lose the faster you’ll lose at the beginning. The other is the closer you are too goal the more slowly you’ll lose. Plus post surgery you’re retaining quite a bit of fluid. Every pound lost is a win in my book. And don’t worry if you stall in the next week or two & don’t lose anything. This is very normal. You’ll start to lose again after a week or so. Congrats on your surgery.

Ask your medical team as the acid my cause some issues. I love pickled onions but I didn’t start eating them again until after 12 months (I chop them in my salads). Congrats on your surgery.

Me too. I get a lot of compliments about my porcelain skin so I love it. My legs are slim - I have thigh gap whoo hoo - but I do have saggy skin on my upper inner thighs like a lot of others & a general squishyness. No shirty shorts for me either but I do wear city shorts or Bermuda style shirts - slim legs to a couple of inches above my knees. I do wear shorter shorts around the house but where no one can see. 😁 Now that is hard on the eyes. No surgery for me because the scars would be equally as bad as I don’t scar well. They look good like this but the loose skin is drooping underneath. 😆 The red blotches are from me crossing my legs lol.

Yep could be part of a stall. It could be some fluid retention too depending on where you are in your cycle. Constipation can add weight as well. I’m menopausal & still retain water on a monthly cycle. Lost 400g (about a pound) from yesterday after peeing all night long - lol. I fluctuate around 1kg (about 2 pounds) in my maintenance sometimes for no reason at all. Sometimes it’s because my scales aren’t quite level on my tiled floor. Ha! Keep on your plan. It will pass & you’ll start losing again.

I think we have to change our mindsets about ‘dieting’ on this journey. I don’t follow a particular ‘diet’ or consider that I’m on a diet anymore. ‘Diet’ has such a negative connotation & has been a negative experience especially to those who’ve struggled with obesity like we have. I look at my food choices as just how I eat, what I eat, what I don’t eat or what I rarely eat. It’s not a temporary thing but a lifetime change. Honestly, I never really had cravings. Sure, some days I’d think oh some ice cream would be nice or those chips looks yummy. I never craved them as if I’d go crazy if I didn’t have any but if they were there I’d eat them. So, like @kelly Lake, I stopped keeping any unhealthy snacks in my house. If it’s not there I can’t eat it. I cut out a lot of sugar too & that includes artificial sweeteners & sugar alternatives. It’s hard because artificial sweeteners are in so many foods which is why I try to prep & cook my own food. If I do eat anything sweet now, which I do on very rare occasions, it tastes super, crazy sweet. Take the time after surgery while you’re losing & first in maintenance to research & introduce healthier & more nutritious food options, methods of cooking, etc. You may decide to become a vegetarian or vegan. (Wouldn't work in my family we’re big carnivores 😆.) Then work out what works for you to maintain your weight & still allows you to enjoy your life. You’ve mentioned how many sleevers have regained some or all of their weight. I would expect they had returned to their old pre surgery ways of eating & food choices & had not dealt with any emotional issues that may have driven them to eat & that includes cravings. I don’t know what the future will bring. I accept I’m a weak human & there’ll be many, many days when I may be tempted. But I’m going to work damn hard to keep on my new path. (Keep thee behind me Satan - lol.)

Congrats on your surgery. Yep, stalls are frustrating. You’re dropping pounds then nothing. Look at it as your body playing catch-up. It’s going through a lot & is taking a break. My longest stall was 2 1/2 weeks when I was 1 kg from goal. Grrr. It was right there ... I never changed a thing & my stalls still broke. There’s a lot talk about starvation mode & upping calorie intake. The term starvation mode is actually incorrect. The correct term to describe what is occurring is adaptive thermogenesis. This is the body reducing the metabolism rate (calories burnt) in response to a reduction in caloric intake. Weight loss will reduce the number of calories you burn but studies show it’s only about 6 calories per pound lost. But a high protein diet can boost your metabolism by 80 - 100 calories per day. So I guess the take away is make sure you’re meeting your protein goals each day to keep your metabolism up & counter balance any metabolic slow down from a reduced caloric intake. Good luck. This too will pass.

I kept it very simple: any meat or seafood, vegetables (no root vegetables), fruit, dairy, low fat, very low carb (naturally occurring like in vegetables & rolled oats) & very low sugar (none if I could help it) . Didn’t follow a particular diet just the recommended foods to eat & avoid from my surgeon & dietician. I prepped & cooked everything myself so I could control the ingredients & how it was cooked. I still pretty much follow this. Don’t be surprised if you find you struggle with a lot of food to begin. Many find their taste buds change & your sense of smell may be very sensitive. You may even find something you eat one day makes you unwell the next. Your tummy is pretty sensitive to begin. This all does improve as time passes. Honestly I was lucky, I could eat most foods ... just really small portions of course. It was my beloved vegetables that caused me the most problems - they tasted terrible or just didn’t sit right. It’s a bit of trial & error to start to find what you & your tummy likes at first. Also, I didn’t do any shakes once I got to solid food because I wanted to get all my nutrients from the food I ate (plus they were disgusting) - has worked well for me. Take this time to establish new ways of cooking & prepping foods & try new healthier food choices. Do your research & cherry pick the best ideas that work for you, enable you to meet your protein goal, get your nutrients in & not compromise how you want to enjoy your life. I don’t follow a particular diet nor consider that I’m on a diet. This is just how & what I eat. Good luck.

I was told not to lift anything for two weeks after surgery. Then a maximum of 5 kg for the next two weeks, then 10kg for another fortnight. There’s a big difference between doing a few chores around the house & having to frequently lift objects & people at work. Check with your surgeon to see what they recommend. Is there a way you can do non lifting tasks at work? May be worth a conversation with your boss too. Good luck with your surgery.

Thank you for sharing your progress. It’s so helpful, and reassuring, to read about people’s progress & experiences a number of years post surgery.

Yeah, sometimes just plain water can taste blah. I find green tea helpful. You can try herbal teas as well. I’ll also pour myself a large glass of sparkling water & let it sit until the bubbles greatly reduce or disappear & then sip on it over a couple of hours. I still drink plain water in between but I find I enjoy the minerally taste of the now flat sparkling water. Wish I thought to do it at the beginning to break the water monotony. I also found a good high protein drinking yoghurt which helped reach protein & fluid goals. It’s easy to make your own too by blending milk with Greek yogurt & some berries or other fruit for flavour. Just avoid adding sweeteners (natural or artificial). Good luck on your journey.

Welcome back. And thank you for being so honest about your struggles. Life will always throw things at us that mess up our progress & our intentions. It’s the ongoing struggle we face. We just have to identify strategies to better manage how we react/respond. And never be afraid to ask for help. I agree with @OAGBPal. I’m not an expert either but I think it’s time to seek some help to guide you through understanding the emotional issues driving you to eat & drink. We know that addiction switching is not unusual after wls as you seek to find other ways than eating to hide or soothe. The counsellor/therapist should be able to offer you some strategies to support you. I’m a bit of a believer in getting the temptations out of your house. If you don’t have the high fat, sugar & salt foods in your house you can’t eat them. You can’t eat them if you don’t buy them. I know it’s harder to do if you have family who wants to eats them though. A nutritionalist should be able to suggest healthier snack options the whole family can enjoy. Go back to the basics. Track your intake, measure what you eat. Smaller portions, protein first, keep your fluids up, etc. Good luck.

Welcome & congrats on your surgery. It used to take me three days to eat 2 scrambled eggs so don’t worry about your portion sizes at this stage. By six months I was almost able to eat a small egg. Still can’t do 2 eggs at 20 months. My plan was strictly no bread, rice or pasta cause it swells in your tummy & fills you before you can eat all your protein. Plus they have very little nutritional value. My advice would be avoid the bread & pasta. Eat your protein first then any vegetables you can manage. It’s very important to eat slowly. I still eat very slowly. I can take 30 to 60 minutes to eat a meal though my portion sizes are bigger now than they were when I was at your stage. If I eat more quickly my restriction kicks in & there’s no way I can eat any more of my meal. My fluid intake is still not great either (strange because I used to drink a lot of water before surgery). I added water rich fruit as a snack which helped. Watermelon, orange slices, etc. I found it easier to drink tea than water some days. Also I found a good high protein drinking yoghurt which I’d drink over a couple of hours. Room temperature water is easier for me to drink too than cold water. Good luck.

Congrats on your surgery. The taste thing is very common. It can continue for a while too - a good four months for me if I remember correctly. But it does pass & it comes back slowly on the way. It does help keep your food intake low though - lol cause so much tastes revolting. Plus you may notice your sense of smell becomes very sensitive, nausea inducing sensitive for some. Are you sipping your fluids with a break in between. I was a water gulper before surgery so the sipping was tough for me. A mouth full was too much & would cause tightness. I started using a straw which restricted my gulping. Sometimes drinking warmer fluids helps. Try drinking room temperature water or hot tea (if it’s allowed on your plan).

What I’ve noticed from reading posts on this board is that nutritionalists offer a lot of conflicting advice. It can be confusing. I would tell my dietician if I disagreed with her advice or if it wasn’t something I could follow in my life & I’d ask for alternatives. What is your goal weight? Does your nutritionalist know what it is? What do they say to explain your lack of loss on the higher calorie diet? Sure, as you get closer to your goal your weight loss does slow but not losing any weight over 2.5 months at your weight sounds like maintenance to me. How active are you? Keto was my recommended 2.5 week pre surgery diet. My personal view is Keto is good for kickstarting your weight loss but not as a long term diet. There’s research about the risks from the high fat component of the diet & also that it can cause issues for diabetics with erratic insulin levels because of the low carb aspect. Just something to consider. I’m all for a balanced diet. I eat about 2 serves of carbs a day (rolled oats & multi grain crackers only not including naturally occurring carbs in other foods), 4 serves of fruit/vegetables, 2-3 serves of dairy, 60g protein & am low fat. I avoid added sugar & artificial sweeteners wherever I can & have a glass of alcohol about once a month. I will have a protein bar if my protein is a little low. My portion sizes are about 3/4 of the recommended serving size or I have fewer serves in a day (like 4 serves fruit/vegetables not the recommended 5). I was told my maintenance protein level was 1.2g per kg of body weight because of being a women in her 50s. I don’t take multi vitamins. This is working for me. It took me a while to discover out how much I could eat in maintenance & I kept slowly losing for 12 months. You will need to work out what works for you in relation to the point at which you can lose & the point at which you can maintain. It will be different to other people’s diets. You may be able to eat more carbs or may choose to go down the plant based protein route. You may need more or fewer calories. You also need to work out what food choices allow you to live your life - dining out, having a glass of wine, travelling (whatever that will be like), work, etc. It may be time for some straight talking with your nutritionalist about your goals & what is achievable for you & your lifestyle. Good luck.

I’m with @Recidivist. My diet was pretty repetitive, still is to be honest. Some of that was because I would freeze a lot of single serves of what I cooked. Still do - have multi serves of soup, bolognese, slices of corned beef, roast lamb, chicken tenders, steak, all cooked, in my freezer at the moment. (I love zip lock bags.) I found it meant I wasn’t focussed as much on food if all I had to do was have a lucky dip out of my freezer for a meal, pop it in the microwave & prep vegetables. I also don’t exercise. I know shocking! I walked on my treadmill for the first few months but gave up because of very low energy. Then I was using resistance bands. I agree exercise has its benefits but it contributes very little to actual weight loss - only about 20% of your actual weight loss apparently. I lost plenty without it but that’s been my experience. I have stairs in my house & I literally run up & down them a few times a day doing chores so I’m not totally sedentary - lol. And I do a few minutes of stretching each day. Honestly I find exercising tedious. I’ve never felt that high people say you get from exercising which motivates them. Good luck with your surgery.

Watch Keto during weight loss because of its high fat requirement. My cholesterol levels went up a lot & my liver function went hay wire while I was losing weight even though I was eating low fat. All the bad cholesterol I had stored in my fat was being released into my blood stream as I was losing. Once I stopped losing my cholesterol levels dropped back to normal. My recommended pre surgery diet was keto (2 1/2 weeks only) but there’s no way I’d use it again because of the high fat - I don’t enjoy fatty foods at all.

Protein is very important post surgery & for your weight loss. Too little protein can actually hinder your weight loss. Check with your support team as to how much protein you should be including in your diet. I was told 60-70g per day during weight loss (60g in maintenance) but people are given different goals. Also ask your team what your calorie goal should be.

It could be just the effects of surgery cause surgery & weight loss can cause a lot of our hormones, nutrient levels, etc. to go haywire. But if it is very high & persists yes it can be a problem. Though one that can be simply managed via regularly donating blood. Hemochromatosis can be an inherited condition or a side effect of other issues. It’s in our family & my brother has it. Don’t mean to scare you but it is something you should ensure your doctor monitors.

Congrats on your weight loss so far. Whoo hoo! Maybe measure & weigh your food again for a while & check calorie content. I’m an eye baller too but I know it can be easy to let the serving sizes slowly increase. Check to make sure the food you are eating is on your recommended diet. Are you still meeting your daily protein goals too? You sound pretty active and may need more. Good luck.

Honestly hardly anyone asked how much I lost. I had a couple of what size are you now questions but still very few. I also had some (usually much older family friends & family) ask if I was going to lose more usually followed by you’ve lost too much now. Those who asked how much I’d just thank them for noticing & or sometimes say ‘oh yeah, I’ve lost a bit’. Then change the subject. I have told a couple of really close friends how much I’ve lost but they know about the surgery & have been very supportive. Personally, I think it’s pretty rude for people to ask these questions. I mean you don’t ask them what they weigh & you wouldn’t have told them what you weighed before surgery. Why can’t they just congratulate you on what you’ve achieved.

Low magnesium can also cause leg pain too - but more cramping type pain. Certainly losing weight causes puts stress on your muscles, joints & bones. (I gained my last weight very quickly & omg did my feet, ankles & knees ache when I’d first get up.) I was suffering back pain (I have oozing discs) when I was losing which was caused by my changing posture & also bras that were too big. Got fitted for new ones & the pain reduced a lot. I wonder if it’s your back problems that are causing the pain or some nerve damage from your weight loss. I hope you find an answer & some relief soon.

I gave up soft drinks /sodas years ago. So no real change for me on that front. I gave them up because of the sugar (real & artificial) & because of the carbonation that gave me the most terrible, painful hiccups. I can’t burp so couldn’t release the gas. The only carbonated drinks I have are soda or tonic water (for my rare gin) or carbonated water. I let them sit for a while & let a lot of the bubbles dissipate. Plus I take a long time to drink them. If I drink them & they’re still too gassy, my restriction & the tightness kicks in.

How terrible @Pandemonium. I hope you recover from your injuries quickly. Orthostatic hypertension is awful. Thankfully mine isn’t as bad as yours. I haven’t blacked out completely but my vision goes & it can take anywhere from 2 x 10 seconds for my vision to return & I get a little queasy for a short time. It used to happen all day long but thankfully it’s not occurring quite as frequently (mind you it’s happen three times in the last 4 hours!). A tendency towards low blood pressure is common in my family & when I was slim years ago I used to have a couple of attacks every month so I knew what they were when they started. My doctor put me on fludrocortisone but it didn’t help me at all. Has your doctor put you on any meds? I read somewhere that compression stockings/tubes can help.

I eat fruit a lot. Usually twice a day in maintenance. Blueberries every morning with my rolled oats & then grapes, melons, lychees, cherries, mandarin, apple, etc. after dinner. When losing I ate fruit once a day as a snack but that was after about 3 months. I chose water rich fruits like berries, melon, etc. to boost my fluid intake. Only small serves of soft fruit to begin like 2 or 3 mandarin slices, 6 grapes, etc. The little hit of natural sweetness helped with my energy levels too.