ShoppGirl

I didn’t have staples and I sleep on my back but I think I could have slept on my side pretty early out. I didn’t have much incision pain.

Hi Angela, and welcome. As mentioned above there is tons of helpful information on the various threads. One of my favorite is called “weirdest non scale victories.” It’s great to read over when you start to get the pre surgery jitters to remind you of the many ways in which the surgery will change your life for the better.

I am not sure why society still sees this as the easy way out. Once you get back to regular foods you could technically eat something every hour if wanted to. And if you did that, especially combined with poor food choices, you could take in a huge amount of calories and would not lose or possibly even gain. I seen this firsthand at 10-11 months out when I had death in the family. I started out by just eating more servings of food and gained a little bit then began with poor food choices and ended up gaining 4 pounds in a very short amount of time. It’s not a magic wand, or easy. It’s just a tool. Yes it sets you up to be successful if you do everything right but NO iT DOES NOT do the work for you.

For me I was a little worried about breaking up with my favorite foods and I needed to test the waters to see if I was going to be able to tolerate them. I tried tiny bits of pizza, pasta, chocolate, etc., once it was medically safe, but early out. Some may say this is counter productive during the weight loss phase but for me I just needed to know that I would be able to have them again someday and I ate such small amounts that the calorie difference wasn’t really that bad. Anyways, I had been able to stay away from those things until 11 month out. But then I had a death in the family during which I turned to food again. I have been looking for a bariatric therapist in my area with no luck but if you have one in your area you may consider seeing them to uncover why you are craving McDonald’s right now. If it is like many of us and you have a form of disordered eating, unpacking that in therapy sooner than later will be your best bet to set yourself up to be successful.

As far as I know there is nothing you can do to prevent saggy skin. If it’s going to happen it just will. Those compression garments will certainly help with the appearance of saggy skin, though and if you already had excess skin surgically removed then you probably haven’t had it stretched out for very long which is a good thing.

Don’t worry most people don’t feel their restriction until they get to solid food. I am one that seems to have a larger pouch. I have always been able to eat more than expected at every given stage if I chose to and even still I have been able to lose weight. I just measure out my food. It’s not likely that you will experience this as it is very uncommon but Even if you did you can still lose by measuring out your portions.

I get why you are afraid. After reading it I am still not afraid to take it but fears are real. It’s okay. Maybe ask your doctor next time you have a follow up. They may be able to explain how it works in a way to ease your concerns.

Hummm. Its hard to read two of the words on there for some reason but I think that just means you have to be sure to mix it with enough water. A fear is a fear though. I get it.

I guess a fear is a fear. I didn’t ever notice any warning, though. It’s powder that completely dissolves in liquid. Are you sure it can cause choking??

Have you tried benefiber? I took a bit of the Walmart generic for that everyday for a while post surgery until I started getting in some fiber and it helped A lot with the constipation. It takes a few days to start working.

Welcome Lisa. Great tip lizonaplane. I will add to get all the unflattering angles that will really show what your losing. I didn’t get those because I hate having my picture taken and didn’t want my husband to see them (as if he didn’t notice when I am naked, right?). Anyways, if you are like me and don’t want to ask someone you know my aunt had a good suggestion after the fact to ask the nurse at the surgery center to take a few before pictures. The after ones most of us don’t mind posing for.

The others said it. My surgeon said to try to stay off the scale for a couple of weeks because of this. Of course I didn’t listen. lol

I have a schedule. I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at 9-12-6 and snacks at 3 and 9. Basically I eat every 3 hours between 9 and 9. When I stick to that plan I do great. If I were you I would track the calories in what you have been eating for a couple weeks then reduce that by just a bit if you want to continue to lose.

I think all that is determined by pre op and then post op labs. I don’t even have to take a supplement (just what’s in my multivitamin) and my labs have been fine.

I assume one doctor isn’t planning on giving you 7 times as much of the vitamin. Have you asked about the dosing? Maybe one doctor just thinks it absorbs differently or something so they spread the dosages out. Either way if you can’t get to the bottom of it I would insist that they talk and agree on a treatment.

Have you heard about the ricotta bake. I had that practically daily during purée phase. https://bariatricbits.com/single-serve-baked-ricotta/

Just remember that it will never be as easy to lose the weight as it is in those first months post op when hunger is not an issue (at least for most). I am 11 months out an just started getting my hunger back and I really wish I had lost all my weight before it came back because I can already tell it is going to be much more difficult going forward. You may be losing while eating bad but you aren’t losing as much as you would if you were on plan. Just know that you will be able to have those forbidden foods again eventually. Maybe not four times a week but definitely in moderation. You have gone through so much to get to this point don’t sell yourself short now. You know exactly what you need to do to get back on track. You seriously have for this.

I didn’t really have a glaring medical reason to choose sleeve or bypass either. My doctor kept asking me if I was a big sweets eater though and I was not. He would have recommended the bypass if I was. I guess because the dumping prevents many of those with bypass from eating loads of sugar. Hopefully bypass people with chime in here but the way I understand it is they can eventually enjoy some sugar treats. Just not a large portion of them which would be great in terms of helping one to moderate how much sweets they eat. Ooh and recovery from sleeve was extremely uneventful for me. I even asked in the hospital to be taken off the pain rx and they gave me Tylenol which I didn’t even need the next day when I was discharged. It’s all over the map for people.

The protein waters are also a good option to get protein in. I like fruit punch so I enjoyed the premier protein fruit punch. They have soooo many brands and flavors that your likely to find me you like. I found them to be less sweet than the shakes which was great because the shakes tasted too sweet immediately post op.

While you are in the weight loss phase you will want to watch WHAT you eat of course because you can put away quite a bit of calories in a small volume if you don’t but the way I understood it pretty much everyone goes back to around a serving size eventually. Some it may take longer than others but eventually they want you to be able to eat enough to get all your nutrients in from food. I heard that a lot of those Facebook groups are pretty unhealthy. My therapist suggested bariatric pal and so far I have found nothing but support here.

This is the absolute most important time to stick to your surgeons plan. It’s for your own safety. You have come so far between the pre op hurdles and pre op diet and then surgery and the post op pain. Way to far to mess something up now. You are almost there. Just hang in there a little bit longer. You’ve got this.

I would call and talk to your team about the nausea. I’m sure that They can prescribe something that should help with that. If you are following plan and you are seeing inches disappearing try to focus on that and just hang in there and you will see the scale move soon enough.

I am currently 11 months out from VSG. I am starting to notice now that my hunger is coming back that I am craving sweet things. I never was a big sweet eater pre op. Most times the craving can be satisfied by a piece of fruit or some sugar free chocolate but I’m just curious if anyone else noticed an increase in sweet cravings post op.

https://bariatricbits.com/single-serve-baked-ricotta/

When you get to purées you can try the ricotta bake. I lived on that stuff.