Arabesque

I was a big water drinker before surgery but I have struggled ever since. I don’t know why but think it may have to do with being a water guzzler before & now I struggle to have more than a mouthful at a time. I keep water beside my bed, in the car, in my living room so it’s always on hand. I try to keep my fluid levels up by drinking green tea (have done so for years), eating high water content foods like lettuce, fruit (watermelon is great), drinking yogurt, eating milky porridge, etc. Of course it’s not easy to measure your fluids accurately this way but as long as your urine is at least pale lemon in colour & you pee often, you should be ok.

What a lot of proponents of high protein diets like keto & carnivore omit is that excess protein that your body does not need will be stored as fat. While these diets may work in the short term, they are not sustainable in the long term & may cause health issues. This weight loss period is perfect for working out what your body truly needs to be healthy & function well, what foods your body can tolerate & what works for your lifestyle in the long term. My two week pre surgery diet was keto but once I started eating solid foods I modified that diet with my dietician‘s support. Dropped the high fat, added fruit other than just berries, broadened my vegetable options (but still avoid root vegetables), etc. to the more balanced diet it is now. I’ve tried to cut out a lot of the foods that AZhiker mentioned but have discovered reducing or limiting the intake of sugar, carbs, processed foods, alcohol, etc. works better for my lifestyle. I eat small serves of whole or multi grains but no bread, rice or pasta. I limit my sugar to naturally occurring sugars only, like in fruit, whenever possible & avoid artificial sweeteners whenever possible. (They are the worst as they only feed your sugar cravings.) I go for weeks without alcohol & if I do have a glass, I often don’t finish it. Good luck. You’ll find the balance that works for you.

Sleeping in a hospital chair... that’s real love. They are the worst torture devices ever! I think they choose uncomfortable chairs on purpose so visitors will leave after a short visit.

The smell of spicy food aggravated me before but it is so much worse now. Walked through a food court last week & thought I’d be physically sick from the smell of curry & ramen.

People get told different things by their surgeons. A friend’s daughter was told she’d have to get a contraceptive implant as she wouldn’t be able to absorb the pill correctly after her sleeve surgery. My surgeon said that was hogwash because with a sleeve the digestive path is not shortened. I swallowed all my meds, not that I was on many, from day 2. (I initially had a little trouble but that was because of post surgical swelling.) However, meds are absorbed in different parts of your digestive tract so check with your prescribing doctor to be sure.

Yep, if you don’t lose any weight in a week it’s likely a stall. (Think of them as your body playing catch-up with the changes you’re making.) Like NovaLuna, my longest stall persisted 3 weeks too & I experienced about 3 during my journey. Some people advocate shaking your body up by increasing or decreasing your exercise or food intake. I just continued with my routine & gave my body the time it needed & I eventually started losing again. Good luck.

Congrats on getting your surgery date. You’ll be fine. My surgery was way before covid but I was alone most of the time. A friend dropped me off at the hospital & picked me up three days after surgery. I live alone & managed well at home. Have to admit I was pretty tired & didn’t really want visitors so my friends & family txt & phoned regularly to make sure I was ok. I did make sure I had all my meds, shakes, soups, broths, etc. I’d need before I went to hospital. Good luck.

I starting eating watermelon when I neared my weight loss goal. Yep the sugar content is a concern (but at least it’s a naturally occurring sugar) but the water content is great for boosting your daily intake & it’s super delicious. I was low carb too but was allowed oatmeal from the start of my solid food stage as it’s a good carb. (It contains protein & the fibre hit helps with your BMs - always a win). Mind you, it took about 3 days to eat a serving. 😁 I made it on lactose free milk to up the protein more & ate eggs the other 4 days each week. I eat a regular serving now everyday & sometimes throw in some blueberries. My dietician told me recently to added some powdered milk to the cooked oats to further up the protein but I find it way too sweet.

Part of this journey is to work out what works for you to maintain your weight loss & complements your lifestyle. If for you, that includes some fast food & your weight loss tool can tolerate it, that’s your choice. Honestly, I never enjoyed fast food burgers. Give me a real Aussie steak burger any day - steak on a crunchy roll, with lettuce, cucumber, tomato, beetroot, pineapple, cheese, steak sauce,... delicious. Now, because I can only eat a small amount of food at a time, it would take me several meals to eat a single steak burger let alone any chips on the side. You could always make your own burger & fries. That way you control the ingredients, salt, sugar, carbs, fat, serving size, etc. & way less processed. Just a thought.

Congrats on your weight loss so far. Feeling hungry could be from diet boredom. Is it real hunger or head hunger? Now you’re on a regular diet, can you switch up some of your food choices? I added seafood (fresh fish, prawns, etc.) to my diet, tried different vegetables & new recipes through out the weight loss phase to keep things interesting. Try some plant based proteins if you’re open. I’d check your protein intake as @Pckeys suggested. Protein will keep you feeling full for longer. You can always add a little more even if you are meeting your goal. My pre surgical diet was keto too but now in maintenance my diet is way more balanced. For example, I still avoid most root vegetables, rice, bread & pasta but do eat small serves of whole or multi grains in other forms. I keep my fat intake low. I did eat rolled oats during weight loss but that was the only obvious carb I ate except for those that occur naturally in foods like in fruit. Some of the readings I’ve done about keto is that it should be for the short term not for life. However, I believe avoiding carbs during weight loss certainly helped me reach & exceed my weight loss goal so I'd be reluctant to add more at this stage but that’s my opinion. It does take time to work out what will work for you for weight loss then maintenance. Good luck.

Congratulations on your weight loss but I’m sorry you are not enjoying your success so far. Unfortunately what you’re currently experiencing is part of the other hard work you have to do during this process: changing the role food plays in your life. I wish I had a simple answer for you but there isn’t one. At first I was reluctant to socialise with my girlfriends who are big eaters & drinkers. Part of that was being worried there wouldn’t be anything I could eat or drink but the other bigger part was thinking I wouldn’t fit in because I couldn’t participate in the same way. It took time for me to realise we still had a great time together, laughing, teasing & supporting each other, gossiping... even if I was sipping a single gin & tonic over an hour or so or didn’t drink at all & only nibbled on a piece of cheese & an olive or two. We’re friends because of who we are & how we feel about each other not because of what we eat & drink together. This was the ding, ding, ding moment for me. Importantly too, it helped me to feel comfortable in social situations with other people. Honestly though, my girlfriends know I had the surgery & I think it helped me come to this understanding because they’ve never commented on me eating & drinking so little (except to say more for them 😁.) Another reason I like them. I hope you can work your way through this so you can enjoy being with your friends & family & also revel in your weight loss success. You deserve it.

The shock of the surgery & reduced food intake speeds up your natural hair loss cycle. My dietician said that vitamins & supplements won’t stop the loss. All they may do is make the new growth stronger when it starts again. My surgeon told me my body had better things to do with the reduced nutrients I was consuming than grow hair. Relax. Accept it is happening (you don’t need the added stress). Your hair will stop falling out & will grow back in its time. It may take 3 months it may take 10. I lost a good 50% from about month 3 until month 7. I cut my hair to just above my shoulders at about month 5 so it wouldn’t take as long for the new growth to catch up to the length of my existing hair. Also the loss didn’t seem as obvious with the shorter length.

Happy anniversary, @Cheeseburgh and congratulations. You have such a great attitude & approach to this journey. I think you’re so right about being diligent & also realistic. Life will always throw us curveballs & we will fall off our path at times We just have to get back up again. It’s my goal too. And I’ve also found participating in this forum to be extremely helpful & supportive. 😁

It likely is from being constipated. The change of diet will cause it especially if you’re on a liquid diet. Pick up some constipation meds (there are lots of brands to choose from) from your pharmacy. They’ll help get things moving again.

As soon as you feel up to it. Take it slow to begin. You are still healing & your energy levels are likely low.

Congrats & welcome. Don’t worry about meeting goals to begin. Just slowly increase each day or so. Sip, eat slowly & listen to your body. It will tell you what you can or can’t tolerate as you introduce foods back to your diet. Good luck.

I love a beautiful fragrance. They can give you such a boost. I have a few & make my selection according to how I’m feeling. Chanel Coco Mademoiselle always for best. Gucci Bamboo, Gucci Flora, Chanel Chance & Miu Miu by Miu Miu for everyday & work. I also like Victor & Rolf’s Flower Bomb.

I couldn’t tolerate anything around my waist. Not painful just uncomfortable. I used to roll down the waistbands of my pants to under the incision wounds. So maybe a loose dress for when you go home. I know a few people on this forum have used tummy binders but I didn’t & neither did my friends who had sleeve surgery. I don’t know if you’d really need one for a laparoscopic surgery but ask your surgeon what they recommend. Funnily, I used to find it soothing to gently hold my hand over my belly. My friend said she did too. Don’t know why.

That could be to ensure you have completely healed internally as well as externally. You wouldn’t want to risk pulling or straining something internally. My surgeon also told me no reaching up to high shelves for about a month & recommended lifting nothing for two weeks, up to 5kg for the next fortnight, then up to 10kg, then as normally.

Glad things have settled for you now. In my first two weeks I used to dilute my shakes (50% more) & take a couple of hours to sip them. Helped me meet my fluid goals too. Same with soups (put them in a small thermos to keep them hot). Mind you I only had 1 shake & a cup of soup each day. While you’re sipping & consuming them over time, it shouldn’t be a problem.

What a pretty skirt Sillykitty & you know I love me a striped top. Picked up this linen one at a up to 90% off sale yesterday. Where have you gone for your break? Also found this pretty blouse with pseudo stripes at Zara last week.

Congrats on your surgery. We all worried if we were doing the right thing to begin. It’s such a change to how we ate before & we want to be successful. I wasn’t consuming much at all the first fortnight. A diluted shake & a cup of soup, which I often didn’t finish & I’d sip them for hours. Once I got onto puréed & soft foods, I only ate about 4 teaspoons three times a day. Even on solid food, I didn’t consume much for months - about 1/2 cup at each meal. I was probably getting in about 500 calories max & way less at the beginning. But that was me, you may be different. Eating slowly is important so you get the message you’re satisfied before you eat more than you need. That tight chest feeling is because you’ve eaten too much & not what you want. Feeling comfortable is good. I ask myself do I really need the next spoonful or am I eating it out of habit. Just take it slowly & listen to your body. You’ll work out what works for you. Good luck. PS - watch the juice. It’s still full of natural sugars & could upset you. Plus it’s high in carbs. It takes about three oranges to make 1 cup of juice but you wouldn’t eat 3 oranges at one sitting - just something to consider.

I have a small circle of friends who know I had the surgery though I know there are others who suspect I did. I told people who asked about my weight loss I was seeing a dietician which was true. I also told them I had cut a lot of carbs out of diet, was avoiding sugar & was very focussed on portion control again all true. I don’t feel I’m lying because I’m not saying I didn’t have the surgery, I’m just not saying I did. Though I have had one person ask me straight out & I told them I did but stressed it is something I keep to myself.

From all I’ve read & heard, lap band is not very popular today & the number of lap band surgeries have decreased quite dramatically. Gastric sleeve is much more popular & common with fewer side effects & complications. But you have a few surgical options. Your health & medical conditions will influence which surgery is most suitable for you & your lifestyle. For example if you already suffer from reflux, you would not be a suitable candidate for a sleeve. Before I made my choice, I did a lot of reading & sat with my surgeon who went through the pros & cons of each surgery. He then made his recommendation based upon my medical history which matched my leanings towards the sleeve. I’m very happy with our decision. Good luck with your journey & whichever surgery you choose.

Your body is in ketosis. That is your body is using your fat stores for energy. The smell is a very common side effect. Bad breath, strong perspiration smells & other unpleasant bodily odours. If you google it you’ll find lots of information & ways to manage the odours but unfortunately no cures. The smell is not good but you are losing weight - yay!