rjan

Yes, definitely. I had bought a bunch of pre-made protein drinks before surgery after I tried a few brands to see what I liked. But after surgery, I didn't like them anymore - mostly I found them ridiculously over-sweet. So I found some unflavored protein powder (GNC Isopure Whey Protein Isolate). Right after surgery, I was using the unflavored protein powder to make protein pudding (for a little texture) and mixing it with broth (for something that wasn't sweet). You have to be really careful when you add it to hot foods, or the protein powder lumps up and turns disgusting, but it's doable with some practice. Now that I'm 3 months postop and back on coffee and solid foods, I have my protein latte every morning. 1 cup of milk, espresso, with protein powder in the milk. Then I eat it with half a protein bar. With the milk, it's 28 g of protein before noon! Another thing you could do after your surgery is just make your usual, but with a touch of juice instead of the fruit. It's the fiber in the fruit that your stomach won't be able to handle for a while after surgery.

Thought I'd update this post again now that I'm almost 3 months post-op. I tried salad 2 months post-op with no problems, then raw carrots a week or two later.

That was a miserable quarantine. I think you feel miserable enough post-op without having to be alone in a strange hous. So happy to be home now!

Let me start out by saying that I know this is a really trivial concern. I have a friend in quarantine after a potential exposure at work, and a friend of a friend in the hospital on a ventilator. But darn it, it's still driving me crazy that I'm home in self-isolation (after returning from travel for my surgery) without a scale. I haven't weighed once since my surgery. I don't have/didn't buy a scale on purpose - for long term weightloss, having a scale in the house is a really bad idea for me. I get obsessed, and then after a few months I get mentally exhausted. I need to adjust to a new lifestyle where I don't think about food all the time, and personally, weighing every day doesn't help me with that. I was planning to weigh at a gym or doctor's office every week or (preferably) two. Anyone else missing their scale access?

Thanks for the encouragement! My head is definitely playing games with me, Lilly66. 😋 I've been stalled for about 2.5 weeks. The weight I am now is almost exactly the lowest weight I ever was in my adult life - I reached it about 17 years ago after about 5 months of dieting. I stalled there for months and months, and then of course ended up gaining from there. I worked so hard, both before and during the stall, and it was so disappointing. I'm sure many of us have had similar dieting traumas that are hard to forget! I'm sure it's not an accident that this is the weight I've stalled at again - my body is apparently pretty comfortable here. Part of me is telling myself that I actually would be fairly happy if I could maintain at this weight - I just crossed from obese to overweight, my blood sugar has improved and I don't feel hungry all the time like I did before surgery, and my joint pain has improved somewhat. Those are not small achievements! But of course another part of me really wants to just reach a normal weight, and I don't want to "waste" the surgery.

I started lower than you. But like you, I'm almost 3 months out and only lost 30 lbs - 4 in the past month. Super frustrating! But we will just keep at it, eh?

Hey, we are both the same weight right now....I too just passed from "obese" to "overweight." It was super exciting! Congrats!

I was walking that much by day 6. I didn't have shoulder pain, but I did have a bit of a scare the first time I tried a protein shake and had my heart suddenly race. I had heard rapid heartbeat was a leak symptom. But then I checked the forum and found this was likely stimulation of the vagus nerve, which connects to both the heart and stomach.

I was traveling before I started my pre-op diet, so I didn't really have the opportunity to have a full food funeral. Otherwise I would have liked to have cooked a few of my favorite things before starting the pre-op diet. Three days before my surgery, I splurged on a fresh lobster with hella butter in San Diego. My pre-op diet was low carb for 2 weeks, fluids for 2 days, so the lobster was my last solid but low-carb meal. It was amazing, thought expensive, but I figured I wasn't going to be spending much on food for a while so I might as well go for it!

I started looking into this surgery because I was pre-diabetic and starving all the time. Like I just finished a huge meal, and my stomach hurt, but I still wanted to eat and eat and eat. My hunger has been increasing and getting worse over the past 10 years, along with gradual increases in my fasting blood sugar and other symptoms of metabolic syndrome like skin tags. My dad has diabetes (and got it when he was about 5 years older than I am now), so I knew what was coming. The thing that really excited me about the surgery was that it provides a mechanism to reset your metabolism, to actually CHANGE your hormonal balance and your set point so that you naturally feel satisfied at a lower weight, and eating less food with less hunger. Now I am 2.5 months out, and I really feel it working - with the smaller stomach, it gets full faster, so ghrelin (a hormone that your stomach makes when it is empty that makes you feel hungry) starts to DECREASE quickly after you take your first few bites. Studies show that ghrelin levels are about 50% lower after bariatric surgery than before. And that has an effect - you really, seriously, truly feel much less hungry, even though you are eating way less. In contrast, normally when you go on a diet, your ghrelin levels INCREASE compared to when you started. Studies show that after a 3-6 month diet without surgery, your ghrelin levels will increase by 50%. And that has an effect - you are much more hungry and so you want to eat even more and gain the weight back - it may even make you feel like an addict! Since before my surgery, I would often feel hungry even when my stomach felt full, I can totally see why you'd be scared that you'd still feel really hungry even when your new small stomach is full. And I can tell you from experience - being hungry with a full stomach feels miserable! I can see why you'd be scared of that! But I really want to assure you - the surgery works as advertised. You will feel satisfied, even when you are eating way less food than before. For me, the change in my hunger is like night and day - it's amazing!

My BMI pre-surgery was 35. I did low carb for 2 weeks, then 2 days of full liquids. I lost 4 lbs. My surgery was self-pay in Mexico.

I've had chronic hives for 18 years, pre-surgery. My doctors were never able to find any particular cause. It took about 3 years to find an allergy medication that worked - before that I was absolutely miserable, for years...taking benadryl all the time and barely awake, but still itchy. Now they are mostly controlled. All my sympathy! I hope you find a solution that at least allows you to live your life.

I was miserable for the first week or two. These were the milestones where I felt way better: 4 days out: gas pain finally stopped stopped 8 days out: found a protein powder I could tolerate - went from starving to just hungry 13 days out: started on solid food - went from hungry to usually pretty satisfied 3-4 weeks out: started being able to feel the weight loss in how my body felt 7 weeks out: energy finally back Hang in there! In a few months, you'll barely be able to remember how bad it felt.

I like both head hair and face hair, personally, but I know not everyone likes beards. I'm only 2 months out, but from reading here, it sounds like having your hair still a bit thin is very normal at 8 months out - hopefully it will come back with a vengeance soon.

I waited to fly home until 6 days after surgery specifically because I did not want to be dealing with this. It's hard to predict ahead of time how you will feel on which day because it varies so much among patients. I was definitely not ready to fly on day 2, when I checked out of the hospital. I'm glad I waited.

Looking good! Personally, I think you'd look even better if you grow your hair out more...but that's just me, I like hairy guys, lol.

Wow! That's rough to not have the scale move for the first month. How much have you lost in the second month? Where did you start?

I had my sleeve at Angeles 8 weeks ago. It was great. It is a high end hospital for Mexico, and they take excellent care of you there. It's really some amazing differences from the US. Like when I had an X-ray or the swallow test, they brought me into the room with the machine all ready, done in 5 minutes, whisked back up to the room - in the US, you're always waiting, waiting, waiting at every stage. They provide everything from the surgery to a bed for your support person to a toothbrush. The only slight friction was some nurses who didn't speak English very well - which was confusing when I had an allergic reaction to a medicine and wanted to ask the nurse what she had given me and what it was for (not my first time having an allergic reaction). But one of the doctors there is from the US, and Dr. Corvala speaks good English, and the hospital administrator who checks you in also speaks great English, so you just have to ask for someone else if you need to communicate something. I also found the cross-country stuff really, really simple. The guy who picks you up in San Diego has a medical pass to get through the border quickly. On the way down, we didn't even have to show our passport, and on the way back we skipped a 2 hour line.

I hear that....I was friggin miserable after the surgery. Even while the doctor is telling me what a good patient I am for getting up walking a lot and I'm thinking, "really? This is doing well? What did I do to myself!" But it gets better really quickly! The gas pain will mostly go away in a few days to a week. Then you'll probably be really miserable about how little you can eat/pain when eating and drinking for a while. But that will pass too, as you move out of the liquid stage and your insides heal. It took about 3-4 weeks after surgery before I started feeling like this was actually a great decision. Hang in there!

That sounds like a weight loss stall. They happen after surgery too. Stalls happen to EVERY person who loses weight. The weight doesn't come off in a smooth manner, but in a series of rushes and trickles. You'll always lose weight fast at the beginning, but you can expect a stall to appear 3 weeks - 2 months after you start. It can last 1-3 weeks. I just got out of a 2 week stall. They are incredibly frustrating and demoralizing, even if you are expecting it - which I was, because I read about it on here. You can spend a lot of energy tweaking your food or exercise routine if it makes you feel better. (I'd suggest focusing on exercise before you try starving yourself.) But honestly, even if you just ignored it and kept on doing whatever you're doing, it will probably break on its own on about the same time frame. The important point is not to give up! I know it feels terrible, and people telling you that it's normal and will go away eventually doesn't make it not feel terrible. But still, it's normal, it will end, and you'll get there!

Why on earth would you miss food after WLS? You still have to eat! It sounds to me like she's talking about missing something more specific than food - like binging (which you definitely can't do), or certain foods. I'm 6 weeks post-op, and in that "not hungry and sometimes have to force myself to eat" stage. But here's a blog I really enjoy from a WLS patient who loves to cook and eat and posts tons of recipes. She still seems to enjoy food! http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/ Sorry your family is not more supportive - but it is good this forum exists for that.

Lol #2. But seriously, I also like that I got my surgery just before quarantine. In addition to the things you said, it has taken some time for me to get my energy back - I am glad I don't have as much to do right now. Also, I am glad that I don't have to try to eat in social situations until after my new stomach and I have had some time to get to know each other.

I am also happy I had my surgery right before the lockdown. I often feel faint or tired after eating - I'm glad I don't have to deal with eating in social situations right now. I've also been pretty low energy in general, so don't feel like doing much anyway.

We have very similar stats - my surgery was on March 11th. I was 204 on the day of surgery - lost 19 lbs since then. It's really slowed down after the first few weeks - I've also only lost 3 lbs over the past two weeks. On the other hand, this is the lowest weight I've been in a decade. 6 more lbs, and I'll be the lowest weight of my adult life. And last time I was at this weight, I was STARVING all the time. Right now, I have to remind myself to eat most days. So I'm feeling pretty confident that the weight loss will continue. Even at a lb a week, I'd reach a normal weight by 2021. That would have been impossible before this surgery. This forum has been so helpful to maintaining my positive attitude. There are other slow losers here who are farther along in their journey - so you see it does work! As for the drinking, I did drink alcohol once since my surgery. However, I will try not to do that again for a while. I'm less worried about calories or slowing my weight loss than other issues. As NovaLuna says, bariatric surgery definitely changes how you process alcohol - I could tell this from my try. And studies show increased risks of addiction and alcohol related death or health problems after bariatric surgery. I had some issues with alcohol in my 20s, and I don't want to trade one problem for another. But please don't beat yourself up about it! That won't help. It's a really tough time right now for most people. Taking it day by day and doing our best is all we can do.

I apologize - you didn't ask a question. As you said, you are here crying out for help. That is the help you will get here - people kindly taking the time to tell you to stick at it and the pounds will come off eventually. People kindly taking the time to tell you not to compare yourself to others who started at higher weights or have faster metabolisms. People kindly taking the time to tell you to celebrate non-scale successes. There can be no other help other than that. No one here can turn back time and reverse your surgery, or make your weight come off more quickly, or anything like that. If you don't want that help, don't come here and snipe at people because the responses they so kindly took the time to give you are "obvious."