Arabesque

It’s not easy at first. Much like you I detested the shakes. Had one a day (diluted to improve the taste a little) & then a soup/broth too. Less than 300 calories a day & didn’t hit my protein goal once. I treated the shake & soup like any other fluid - just sipped until I was finished. My surgeon was okay with this because I was making an effort within my capabilities at that time. Try making your own yoghurt drink - blend high protein yoghurt with milk. You can make it as thin as you can tolerate & even add in some unflavoured or flavoured protein powder. This will boost your protein intake considerably. Sip it just like any other fluid too. I wish I discovered yoghurt drinks in the liquid stage but it wasn't until the purée stage.

Unfortunately, the surgery doesn’t remove the part of our brain that causes head hunger like cravings. We have to work on those ourselves. Do we get rid of them? No but we learn to better recognise them for what they are & learn strategies to better manage them so they don’t win. Many find working with a therapist helpful - your surgeon or team should be able to recommend someone yi could work with. Do you have a dietician? (If not, again contact your surgeon or team.) They will give you an eating plan (may also include portion sizes, nutritional/macros, calories, etc. but ask for what you would feel most comfortable & confident with) to follow which should support your individual situation & body’s needs. Generally we’re advised to keep our carbs low & look for complex whole & multi grain carbs. No bread, rice, pasta or similar products. Also low fat, low sugar & high protein. Eat all your protein first. Then some vegetables if you’re able. Carbs you are allowed are eaten last & only if you physically can (I never could). You may have to cook meals for yourself instead of relying on family prepared meals which may not support your weight loss. Look for low processed ‘clean’ ingredients you prepare & cook yourself. You won’t have to cook everyday as your portions are so small you’ll have leftovers you can refrigerate or freeze to eat another day. It’s also an opportunity to introduce your family to healthy meals.

Don’t ‘only’ any of your weight loss. I always say every pound you lose. It doesn’t matter how fast or slow you lose because we all lose at the rate that right for us & our body. Yes, this is likely a stall. They’re a very normal & important part of your weight loss progress and you’ll likely experience more of them. It’s the time your body takes to come to terms with the changes that have occurred (weight loss, dietary changes, etc.) & when your body resets your metabolism & the hormones that manage your hunger, satiety, digestion, etc. Stick to your plan & you’ll notice the scale moving again … it just might take up to three weeks.

Sometimes life throws crap at us & we can only make the best choices we can at that time within the limits we are trapped in. Congratulations on having the right attitude to mange the situation & continue moving forward when life settles again. Hope your mum is doing better. (Why do hospitals have the most unhealthy food choices?) Like @ms.sss, I’m a bit further along at almost 4 years (3yrs 11 months exactly today). I exceeded my goal & have pretty much maintained since. For a year I fluctuated between 48.5-49.5kg. Then I gained and fluctuated between 50.5-50.9kg. We discovered my HRT wasn’t being absorbed after my gall was removed so went on a patch & I lost a lot of that small gain without changing anything I was doing. I now fluctuate between 49.5-50kg (109/110lbs). Still careful with what I eat but I made changes to how I eat that are sustainable. But not so inflexible that I won’t have the odd treat or can’t work around a situation/circumstance. Never feel I’m missing out. Still watch portions, keep track of protein & keep my fluids up. And no I don’t really exercise. Some stretches & resistance bands four times a day (exercise snacking) for a total of about 25 minutes. I do it mainly for my back & for a little toning & flexibility. Congratulations everyone on your progress so far & your successes.

Share anyway. We just enjoy pictures of food 😁😁. I never post an after pxt always before … unless I get halfway through before I remember to take a pxt. Those pancakes look delicious.

I can’t believe you went through all this. Why didn’t they have you on a blood thinner as soon as they diagnosed the clot? Any of those doctors could have prescribed it. If they were concerned to start you on the meds because of your surgery, they could have simply rung your surgeon & asked. For gracious sake. I’m glad you have finally been correctly diagnosed & are being properly treated. All the best.

Go back to eating as you did at maintenance. Thar was that caloric intake that allowed you to maintain that lower weight so you’ll lose. You were still focussed on protein, portion sizes, making better food choices (nutrient dense), fluids, etc, I don’t really exercise in the traditional sense but I do stretches & use resistance bands (& sit ups - I hate them but I do them) to help with my back & oozy discs. I do what they call exercise snacking. Several short bursts of activity through out the day. They say this is just as effective as a single longer session. I do mine over four sessions lasting for 3 to 10 mins depending on what activity I’m doing. You may find this easier than running/walking miles or hitting the gym. I also changed my every day activity. I have stairs so I make multiple trips a day - why carry things in one trip when you can do two or three. I park further away from where I’m going. Today at a shopping centre I deliberately circled the centre twice when I could have done my chores in one circle.

To add to the great advice above: It takes time for your messages that your full (or hungry) to get through. This is why we’re told to eat slowly. By the time you feel full you likely have eaten too much. You will find too that many of those old signals are different too. Try not to eat until you are full but until you’ve had enough which requires you to think about your eating & how you feel. When you have those extra bites are you eating them because you need them or because you want them? This is a time of learning. About healthier more nutritious foods. About why you eat, how & what you eat & when you eat. It’s about establishing new eating habits & so on. Focus on eating your protein first, then if you’re able vegetables & finally again if you are able any complex whole/multi grain carbs as you’re allowed. Check your portion size recommendations & calories (if given them). I often only ate my protein & then if I could eat vegetables it would be a green bean or a small cauliflower floret & nothing else. Your weight loss will be erratic: stalls, normal fluctuations, diarrhoea/constipation, hormonal fluctuations, etc. and yes some people just lose more slowly. Have a chat with your surgeon, dietician & a therapist to help you work thorough all this.

You can always ring your surgeon & ask but it may be interesting to do it & then compare before and after results.

Very understandable. Too dry. Too hard. Too coarse. Plus all that artificial flavouring. Just like a baby your tummy is learning new foods, textures & flavours & you’re learning new eating habits. Go slowly & gently. And don’t think of this stage as ‘regular’ food like you used to eat. It’s still a restricted way of eating (I don’t like the word ‘diet’ but that is what it is.) Think of it as solid food & food that’s protein heavy & nutrient dense. No foods with empty calories & little nutrition. So important to get those nutrients that your body needs to function effectively in especially with the small portions you’ll be eating. Still keep food moist & softer. You may find you struggle with chicken breast or steak because it can be too dry &/or coarse. Even though you can start to eat vegetables now, still eat your protein first, then vegetables if you are able & only after that can you look at complex whole/multi grain carbs. It won’t be unusual for you to only be able to eat the protein content of your meal. I remember only able to eat a green bean or a small cauliflower floret after I ate my protein & not every night.

Unfortunately no, you never lose your head hunger. What does happen is you learn to better identify head hunger versus real hunger & learn strategies to manage those time you experience it. So you take away some of its power over your desire to eat. Distraction can be a a helpful strategy because often head hunger doesn’t last. Go for a walk, water your plants, clean out a drawer in your wardrobe or shelf in the pantry, read, play a game, craft, check social media or this forum, ring a friend, etc. Often a warm drink can be helpful too. Oh yeah the shakes can become super sweet after surgery as we can become more sensitive to certain flavours. I’d force down a shake in the morning & then had soup. So glad never to have another one once I started purées. (Used high protein yoghurt & yoghurt drinks to boost my protein intake instead.)

Yes, frustrating, but as everyone has said stalls are common. They are also an important part of your weight loss. It’s the time your body takes to respond to the stress of your weight loss & reset itself to your lower weight & needs like certain hormones & your metabolism. I used to think of them as your body taking a breath, a timeout, shutting the door and saying I don’t want to talk to anyone just like you may at a stressful time. I recommend the videos by Dr Matthew Weiner & Dr John Pilcher. Very helpful on a wide range of topics.

You won’t stretch your tummy. It takes a prolonged length of time eating excessive volumes of food to do that (think how long you were working on stretching your tummy before surgery). What you may do at this stage is stress or strain your healing tummy & delay your recovery. Though some do continue to feel hunger after surgery it is not common as most/all of the section of your tummy that produces the hunger hormone is removed. You could be experiencing head hunger - eating for comfort after the stress of the surgery, etc., eating out of habit, craving a texture, food or flavour, etc. At the moment your body is still producing the amount of stomach acid you needed to digest larger volumes of food in your old larger tummy & in reaction to the surgery. Stomach acid can make you think your hungry (hunger pangs). A PPI will reduce the amount of acid in your tummy (via a prescription or over the counter like Pepcid or similar). Also a growling rumbling tummy is usually a sign not of hunger but of your body digesting food. The stretch you felt possibly was just a muscle spasm (your tummy is a muscle). Usually we aren’t able to eat pudding until we’re on the purée stage about two weeks post surgery & after the liquid only stage. Plans can be very different but check to ensure you can have it. When eating purées, like pudding, I was a teaspoon dipper so only putting food on the tip of the spoon. That way I stretched out the time it took it eat the portion to more like 30minutes & was much like the 5 minutes between sips advice. Also this is when I started, what is still a habit, of asking myself if I really need the next bite or just want it. Listen to your body & go slowly.

For most it is just temporary. Keep your fluids up. Add some extra salt to your diet. If you’re going out or being active take an electrolyte drink with you to sip. Get up slowly from lying down or seated & wait before moving. March on the spot or your feet up & down to get your blood back up to your head. Usually waiting or marching, etc. for 10-15 seconds is long enough to avoid it occurring. I’ve always had a predisposition to low BP (it runs in the family). Now my BP sits around 80/60 and sometimes lower all day everyday & I regularly experience further drops causing loss of vision & lightheadedness. I can feel it coming on just before my vision starts to narrow. I usually stop moving & reach for a wall, chair, table, even a person to ground myself. I sometimes bend over at my waist so my head is lower than my heart & come up slowly. It passes quickly - a few seconds. Occasionally I’ll have a drop, recover then have another one straight after. It’s not debilitating. Just know it can happen. Never fainted either. I have been put on medication but it didn’t help. They were concerned it was so low after my gall surgery they gave me a shot of adrenaline. My BP went up for like three minutes and five minutes later it was back where it was. For me it’s normal.

All that cheesy goodness @Starwarsandcupcakes. Mmmm. And that 762lb cheese - that might be just enough for a snack 😉. And those plump salty globes of yumminess. Drooling!

I was fortunate as I had a friend who had undergone the surgery & then another did it the next year. Their friendship & support was very helpful. I also made some lovely friends through this forum too. We’re of a similar age, share interests, had our initial surgery within a couple of years of each other.We chat & share what’s happening in our lives (& not just weight related) via our own private group chat now & there is another with whom I email. So you never know who you may meet & click with here.

I wondered gall stones too which can cause pancreatitis. As can high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity & abdominal surgery (though like catwoman7 I can’t recall any mentions of it here either). Gall stones are common with obesity & high cholesterol & can form as a result of rapid weight loss & high. Often cholesterol levels increase with weight loss too (releases into your blood as you lose fat). So it seems your chances for it occurring are probably higher at the moment. Hopefully this is just temporary & it responds quickly to treatment.

Your experiences are quite common at this stage. I wasn’t hungry or interested in eating either and I too just sipped my shakes & soups for hours in the liquid stage. I got in less than 300 calories in the beginning. I only ‘ate’ two meals during the liquid stage & from purées started to eat to a routine so I could better get my nutrients in. However, I was never given a caloric goal only protein & fluids & portion size recommendations. And it took a while to regularly reach those goals & that was okay. You can only physically eat what you can especially this soon after surgery. Doesn’t matter how much someone tells you you should be eating. If your tummy can’t tolerate more then you just can’t. I was barely eating 900 calories by 6 months. My surgeon & dietician were okay with this because I was eating a variety of nutrient dense foods & my blood work never showed I was lacking or low in anything. It was almost my 3rd year before I could eat 1400/1500 calories. Many eat more but this is fine for my age, height, gender, weight & activity level. That was my experience but others will have very different stories because we’re all different. Keep working at getting in your protein & fluids. Try explaining to your dietician that your surgeon is okay with what you’re doing. That you physically can’t eat that many calories at the moment while you’re still healing but you’ll keep working at it. If they won’t listen maybe try to find another dietician who is more understanding & willing to be more flexible for you & your needs. No one way will completely suit everyone. Plans should be flexible enough to be modified so it works for you whether it be your calories, portions, activity level, specific nutritional needs, medical needs, progress timelines, etc. PS - Try diluting your shakes, broths etc. & count the extra towards your 32oz water goal. Fluids don’t have to be just plain water. Try green or herbal teas, squeeze some lemon, lime or orange juice into your water, protein water, milk, yoghurt drinks, electrolyte drinks (an little boost of energy too) & then rotate the ones you enjoy throughout your day.

Some foods just don’t sit well for a while (or for the long term - for me it’s still pasta, rice, bread, quinoa, potatoes, etc. as they just sit heavily & fill me quickly.). Your tummy is still healing & still sensitive (fussy like a two year old). There will be foods you’ll tolerate one day & not the next. It may take a couple months for this to settle occurring less & less frequently. If a little sip of a fluid helped, I’d think as others have, that what you ate wasn’t moist enough. Even though your on soft foods they still need to be moist. Think stews, braises, slow cooked dishes, etc. I ate a lot of mince dishes with gravies in that stage. And yes, you may need to take it a little more slowly as you introduce soft foods back into your diet. We all heal differently and what you’re experiencing is not uncommon. It’s okay to be concerned - everything you’re experiencing is very different & new to you. Better to ask questions than sit & worry something is wrong.

Everyone recovers differently & can or can’t tolerate different things at different times. Not everyone experiences temporary changes in their senses taste &/or smell. Some can drink cold drinks easily while others find warm or hot drinks easier & more soothing. Some people are advised (by their surgeon) to progress through the stages more quickly while others need to stay at a stage longer. You won’t really feel your restriction (a tightness across your chest) until you’re eating more solid foods & the nerves that were cut during the surgery are healed. The pain you initially felt would have been from stressing, straining or irritating your healing tummy. You shouldn’t use your restriction or discomfort as a signal you’ve eaten or drunk too much or too fast. Not everyone dumps. Less than 30% with sleeve & less than 40% with bypass. But it is easily managed by avoiding those foods that cause it (fats &/or sugars) which you should be doing while you’re losing weight. In time even those who do dump may find they can eat a small amount of these foods without issue. It is important to follow your plan. Remember all because you can doesn’t mean you should. The plan is in place for a reason. Initially to protect & support your healing tummy (think of all those sutures & staples holding your tummy together) & then to support your weight loss (awareness of portion sizes, calories, nutrition, food choices, reflect on old eating habits & establish new habits, etc.) Conversations with your surgeon & dietician would be of benefit to ensure you are making the best choices - behaviours & foods. If your surgeon feels you are healed enough to progress more quickly, they’ll let you know what you are able to do & eat now. I am worried you chose to eat cake at 4 weeks post surgery. It was your choice but was it a self sabotaging behaviour? Cake at week 4? What will you eat in subsequent weeks? Only you know the answer to this. Maybe a conversation with a therapist will help. And yes you will lose weight while your calorie intake is in deficit even eating cake but your focus should be on the nutritional value of what you are eating when your intake is low. Protein, protein, protein then vegetables & eventually some fruit & complex multi/whole grain carbs.

The surgical gas is in your abdominal cavity not in your digestive system (not inside your tummy or intestines). Burping, farting & gas X won’t work. The gas rises & sits behind your lungs putting pressure on nerves causing the upper body & shoulder pain. It is absorbed into your lungs where it breathed out. Walking, marching on the spot, pumping your arms up & down forces the gas up & out (because you breath more heavily with the physical activity). Slow & deep breathing exercises can help too. It usually takes about a week for it to fully dissipate

This is one of the negatives of artificial sweeteners. Because your body tastes sweet it reacts as if sugar is being consumed & available to be used as an energy source hence the insulin reaction. The body also reacts by storing calories because there actually wasn’t any sugar which results in weight gain. (There are academic papers on this if you’re interested.) And of course artificial sweeteners continue to feed your desire for sweet. Your body needs some sugar (as glucose, fructose, lactose, etc.) as an energy source. Look for natural sources not ‘added sugars’. I get mine from fruit - blueberries predominately - and keep my added sugar intake to less than 10g a day total (usually only 5g). But it has been my choice to continue this from maintenance.

Another factor to consider is that your muscles & tendons & sinews are relearning how to move & hold your now much smaller body. Your centre of gravity & posture has changed because they’re no longer compensating for that extra weight you carried before. Aches & pains in hips, knees, back, etc are quite common for a while too. You may also find your balance is off too. My friend & I realised we were slouching because we didn’t have a big tummy to hold up our upper body anymore. And I had upper back pain (though a better fitting smaller bra helped with that 😉).

There is no right or wrong rate of weight loss & it fluctuates week to week (or even day to day) as well. There isn’t a timeline in which you must lose your weight. We are all so different physiologically, psychologically & emotionally. We’re different ages, gender, heights & builds. We have different weight loss/gain histories as well as medical histories, health status. If your team is happy with your rate of loss you have nothing to worry about. Celebrate every pound you lose.

It does get better when you’re eating more & a more real food balanced diet. But when it will happen for you ant be predicted. There’s no specific timeline. And you may find it happens randomly for a few months after too.. Mine persisted for a couple of months. I found an electrolyte drink helpful & would take one with me if I knew I would be doing a little more that day or when I’d have to be more active. (I drank hydralyte & would dilute it as I found it too sweet.) Generally look at it as a sign to take it easy while you’re healing & your body is coming to terms with the changes.