Arabesque

Devastated. My local supermarket is no longer stocking the yoghurt I love in either tubs or the drinking yoghurt. Best thing was it didn’t taste as sweet as other yoghurts which is likely why it’s not a ‘good seller’. Used to mix my collagen & silica powder in the drinking yoghurt. I’ve complained but I’m probably a lone voice. ?

It doesn’t have sugar but it does have artificial sweeteners which continue to feed your sugar cravings. Plus the 300mg of caffeine per can is equivalent to about three 8oz cups of coffee. Another consideration is the carbonation. The gas is rather filling for your much smaller tummy. If, on the odd occasion I have a carbonated drink (soda or tonic water), I don't let them get pretty flat, I get a very uncomfortable tightness - like I want to burp but can’t. Many wls patients have no issues with caffeine or carbonated drinks but others do. But ultimately the decision is yours. You could see if you can tolerate drinking them again but I would give yourself time to heal after surgery before you do.

I had stress related irregular reflux plus an acidic stomach & suffered terrible hiccups for years & took Nexium as needed. My surgeon told me I would need to take Nexium everyday after surgery which I do. He also said basically the same as Greentealael’s surgeon said: some improve, some worsen some remain unchanged. For 12+ months mine seemed better but it could have been the daily medication. I have noticed I now get a bit of burning in my throat on odd evenings but I don’t have hiccups like I used to or the bad taste in my mouth. I usually take another Nexium when it occurs.

I was eating about 1/4 to 1/3 a cup just depending on how I was feeling until into about month 3. Eat slowly, get your protein in first & listen to your body - it will tell you when you’ve had enough. Don’t push it. You are still healing. I didn’t try vegetables until I was on solid foods so around weeks 5 & 6. I love my vegetables but found that I did not enjoy the taste of many of my favourites. Steamed cabbage & cauliflower was all I could tolerate for ages. Carrots, onions & celery were ok if cooked down in a stew. I didn’t eat them often to begin because I couldn’t fit them in after I’d eaten my protein. Are you taking your vitamins. This is really important.

This is all pretty normal. The swelling is probably a combination of the surgery & the gas. It will disappear. My surgeon told me not to be too concerned with meeting goals to begin with which was reassuring as I’d only have one protein shake & barely 200mls of soup a day - & I’d take hours to drink them. Diarrhea is common too. You’ll soon find the reverse will happen & you’ll regularly be constipated. Remember you’re not eating any solid foods at the moment & then when you do begin to it‘s not much. Some of the pain you’re experiencing is likely from the internal wounds & swelling around where that large section of your tummy was removed. Your tummy may be sensitive for a while until you’ve healed. I’m glad you contacted your medical team. It’s better to know if what’s happening is expected (or not). Good luck on your journey.

Oh, yeah. I put in 10+kg in a couple of months when I hit menopause. No change to what I was eating or my activity levels. Same thing happened to two friends too. Bloody hormones. I’ve been eating white bean soup (beans, carrots, celery, onion & spinach in vege stock) for the last couple of days & I’ve put on 1/2kg. WTF? Makes no sense.

I was only eating three times a day & probably only barely 1/3 cup. Don’t force yourself to eat if you’re not hungry or to get in a specific volume of food. Listen to your body. It will tell you how much you can eat & how frequently. be patient you don’t want to make yourself unwell or suffer more dumping attacks. If you are really concerned about your calorie intake at this stage, sip some soup, broth or a protein shake over a couple of hours. During my liquid stage, I ate two ‘meals’ a day & take hours to drink my protein shake or soup. (I kept the soup in a thermos to keep it hot.) Plus they add to your fluid intake for the day.

Constipation is pretty common. The combination of a high protein & low fibre diet is the main cause. Plus you’re not eating much so don’t have a lot to excrete. If you haven’t yet, add some fibre supplements like benefibre. Avoid the ones that swell in your small tummy. They’ll fill you up & you won’t want to eat which is more important. Also keep your fluids up. If I went every second day I was happy. I’d take a stool softener if I hit a third day. I also found if I just sat & was patient, not straining, I would get some movement. It does get better when you’re closer to maintenance & are eating a more balanced diet.

So it was fine for your friend to take time off work for her honeymoon & to have her baby but you can’t take time off to do something which will make you healthier. And your colleagues who are so concerned about the risks of surgery speak to your manager but have made no mention of the risks involved with you being overweight. Selfish HYPOCRITES! I am angry for you. Making the decision to go forward with weight loss surgery is not easy & neither is the journey to successfully lose weight. I’m very glad you have the support of your husband & mother because there will be times you’ll need them to help you stay the course. I wish you all the best on your weight loss journey.

One of the reasons I was leaning towards sleeve surgery was because issues with malabsorption were less frequent than with other weight loss surgeries, or so I understood. I stopped taking my vitamins early this year after I started maintenance (made me nauseated so I wouldn’t eat) & my bloods have come back twice since then with all my levels being very good. My bone density is excellent too. My surgeon & dietician are happy with me but we’ll keep monitoring just to make sure. I do eat a balanced diet: protein, vegetables, fruit, dairy, whole/multi grains, low fat, etc. And I think I just absorb my nutrients well - genetics play a part here I think. We’re all different & those who’ve had issues may naturally not absorb nutrients via food &/or supplements as well as others. Some sleevers happily give up regularly taking vitamins yet others continue to take supplements for myriad reasons. Follow your team’s instructions re vitamins & keep up with your blood tests to monitor your levels. That way it there are any significant drops in your levels they are picked up quickly & something can be done about it. There’s a difference between being aware of possible complications & worrying about something that may not happen. Good luck with your surgery.

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.