lizonaplane

Um... this surgery doesn't "fix" your mental health. It only helps you eat less. The changes in mental health require therapy and medication. This surgery is often touted as a cure-all, but in fact, there are no guarantees that your co-morbidities will go away even if you lose all of your excess weight. I have lost 113 lbs and I have more pain than ever, and my mental health is no better (I had bipolar disorder before, and I still have it). I still have high cholesterol, and I'm still tired a lot. It doesn't help me crave fewer sweets; I still want to eat junk food, and I still feel guilty about almost everything I eat.

Please call your surgery center. They can prescribe anti-nausea meds that should help. There are lots of different anti-nausea meds and they are excellent. Sometimes being dehydrated causes you to be even more nauseous. Good luck!

You will almost certainly need to meet with a nutritionist/dietician. They will be able to give you all sorts of advice. But you can also check out a textbook on nutrition from the library. Just make sure it's a text book, not some fad book. Get yourself a food scale that measures in grams and ounces. 4 ounces of meat/fish is a serving. Restaurants will advertise a 12 or 16 oz steak - that is 3-4 servings! Read the nutrition facts on the food you are eating: a serving of cheese is one oz. Weigh out one once (28g) of cheese (or chips, if you must) and see how much you are used to eating. Pick up your fork to take a bite then put down the fork until you have completely finished chewing and swallowing the mouthful of food. Take smaller bites: like the size of the top half of your thumb (they will need to be even smaller after surgery. If you are choking, you're either not chewing enough or you're eating too fast. SLOW DOWN! No one is going to take your food away from you! Start counting calories using an app like MyFitnessPal

You will be eating a LOT less after surgery, so you will save money in the end. BUT more importantly, your body is worth it. Reduce costs elsewhere in your life, don't sacrifice your nutrition (especially don't skip vitamins - if you the Pro-Care health one a day it's like a dollar a day - you're WORTH IT!!!!). I know that for some people a $3 protein drink (the cost of a core power at a 7-11) is expensive, but so many of us are used to spending more than that on a breakfast sandwich. You will probably only drink one protein shake a day after the first month, and eventually you might not drink any. You will have to try different brands. For me personally, I can't tolerate the powders and buy only the premade shakes. I like the Fairlife core power chocolate (tastes like chocolate milk!) and they are available a lot of places.

These foods like cereal and pretzels are slider foods. they are so heavily processed that they dissolve into absolutely nothing in your stomach and you can eat them even when you're full after a meal. I have to be so careful with these. Same with cake and other sweets. Before surgery I could eat a whole box of cereal by myself in one day!

In addition to there being no way that liquids can stretch your stomach, there is almost no evidence that even eating solids can stretch your stomach, based on more recent research. I've heard interviews with some surgeons and researchers recently that call this notion into question. Drink a lot with no fear!

Our surgery center said that no lotions, potions, or pills will change the amount of hair you lose. The only thing you can do is take your multivitamin and get enough protein. I have done that and I have very little hair loss at all. I do see more shedding than I noticed before surgery, but it's certainly not what anyone would be able to tell. I do know other people who have had a lot more hair loss. It's just a matter of luck/genetics/etc. You can always get a wig.

This whole "stretching your stomach" turns out to be a myth, anyway. There's no evidence that it's possible or that the size of the stomach is correlated with weight regain or the amount you can or do eat. I've heard a number of podcasts where they interview researchers and surgeons.

I agree. I had a long wait (7.5 months) for surgery, but as soon as I made the decision to have surgery, I changed my eating habits and I lost 50 lbs before surgery - which is 50 I don't have to lose now. I started counting calories (around 1700 a day) and cut the carbs. I ate higher protein. I didn't do keto, but I focused on eating minimal sweets and pasta, bread, french fries, etc. I was actually less hungry and my GERD went away!

I had lost 100 lbs 8 years ago but had gained 80 of it back in about 5 years and I had developed asthma. I was no longer enjoying the meals I was eating and had even developed GERD. I was baking every day during the pandemic and eating a ton of sweets and even though I didn't have any major health problems, the little health problems were adding up. And I know that my doctor and even my parents were suggesting it years earlier but I wasn't ready to hear it. Not sure what the actual moment was, but I remember being really uncomfortable in my own skin, and I emailed my PCP and asked for a referral, then started reading everything I could find on WLS.

So, I see a lot of people and nutritionists and surgeons saying you must cook all your food at home and restaurant meals are terrible etc. Well, sure, in an ideal world you would be a gourmet health cook and have an extra three hours a day for meal prep and exercise, but that's just not reality. I travel 4-7 days a week for work, so I eat out almost every meal. I'm down 110 lbs total and 60 since surgery. Here are some suggestions for traveling/eating out: 1. Get a protein drink for breakfast, like Core Power, which can be bought at drug stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, and even some airports. This gets you a good chunk of your protein for not too many calories 2. Go to the grocery store when you can to buy things like deli meat, sugar free Greek yogurt, washed/chopped veggies and fruit, etc. 3. Watch those coffee drinks! I love me some Starbucks/Dunkin' but I limit it to just iced coffee with milk (2% if possible) and Splenda. No syrup, whipped cream, sugar, etc. I actually find that coffee and hot tea help keep me full. 4. Protein first: I've heard from lots of bariatric people that even years after surgery, if they start with low fat protein, their restriction kicks in and they can't eat too much. I try to order a protein forward meal, like grilled fish or shrimp. Sometimes I eat other kinds of meat, but I find I can't eat as much and I am more likely to get hungry later 5. Fill up on veggies. I have been hungry since right after surgery, but even if you lost your hunger, it will come back. Then, eat veggies with your protein. The fiber will keep you full. Salad is hard for me, but I still eat it because it just tastes so darn good 6. Figure out what your go-to restaurant meals are. These are things that you can get easily, like at chain restaurants. I like Chipotle bowls (no rice, beans, barbacoa, cheese, sour cream, and lettuce, with a bit of hot sauce), chili from just about anywhere, cheese burgers with no bun (I don't like the lettuce wraps; I just eat them with a fork and knife), etc. Ask for what you need. Want double veggies/no rice? Ask for it. You might get charged a dollar. If you feel like you will eat the carb if it's put on your plate, ask for them not to bring it. You're the customer. Be nice, but you're allowed to have the meal work for you. And tip well! 7. Don't try to be perfect. Just aim for doing a good job 80-90% of the time. I eat occasional sweets, but small amounts and not every day. The other day I ate a biscuit with JAM!!!

How long were you in pain after plastics?

I was prescribed ten narcotic pills. I took one each on three days after surgery. I took tylenol after that. I had a nerve block in the hospital, so the pain wasn't bad until the day after I got home, and even then, it was only really bad when I tried to get up from lying down or change my position.

I had to keep a bottle of fluid in my hand all the time, and I had to keep rotating them so they were iced cold. I still don't really like water unless it is iced cold. I drink a lot of iced coffee and hot tea, as well as water mixed with flavor packets. Don't worry in the first few weeks if you don't get 60+ g of protein. Focus on the fluid first. That can get you messed up first, dehydration. Several posters here have mentioned juices, but I wasn't allowed to have sugar, so I found sugar free juices (5 calories per 8 oz serving) that I really like.

Mindful eating works for SOME, but many of us can't "intuitively" know what eating an amount of calories that will keep us at a good weight feels like. And, in the end, our weight depends mostly on the amount of calories you consume. Whether you count them or not. The only times in my life I've ever lost weight have been when I'm counting calories. I don't trust my intuition.

TL;DR: CA Prop 65 is out of control fear-mongering with a lack of understanding of science So, CA requires things to be labeled if there is any chance at any dose that you could possibly have an increased risk of cancer... However, the dose makes the poison, and most of these studies are done on Sprague-Dawley rats, which are so inbred that EVERYTHING gives them cancer. I work in cancer research, and I have also had some of these rats as pets. They ALL get tumors. Yes, you MIGHT theoretically have an increased risk of cancer (though probably not) if you ate about 100 shakes a day, but you would have massive intestinal problems first. It's probably from the artificial sweeteners - the best research we have shows that even if you're drinking a case of diet soda a day, you are not at extra risk of cancer (please be aware: if you don't die of something else first, you WILL die of cancer because your body is always forming small cancers). Rats had to ingest something like the equivalent of 30 cans of diet soda's worth of artificial sweetener A DAY to show an increased risk of cancer, and as I mentioned above, it can be hard to tell because these rats all get cancer anyway.

I took all of my pills the night I had my surgery - about ten pills total. It was hard to swallow them with the tiny sips of water I could tolerate, but I just took one at a time. One thing to be aware of: opioids cause constipation as does this surgery. Get on top of that as soon as you have surgery. Miralax, exercise, etc. If you haven't gone in a few days, talk to your doctor about a glycerin suppository. Good luck!

I would ask your surgeon why they want you to lose weight given that your BMI is below the cutoff for most insurance, and tell them your concerns. Many doctors don't think much about costs for patients. Talk also to the insurance coordinator at the surgery center and ask their opinion. They aren't a medical person, but they deal with getting insurance approval. Do you know if your insurance will cover surgery if your BMI is 40 or higher? If you are self-pay anyway, it's not a bad idea to lose weight because the lower your weight, the easier the surgery is on your body.

I regretted having the surgery for the first 4 or 5 months. I was hungry all the time and in pain every time I ate. And food tasted terrible. Now I'm 7 months out, and I can eat more "normally" (NOT like before surgery) and I'm down 110 lbs. But I wish people wouldn't act like this surgery will completely change your life in only positive ways. I was reasonably healthy before, and I'm reasonably healthy now. I am just thinner. I don't have any more energy, my health isn't any better, I'm actually on MORE medication (I had to add some because I am just so danged hungry all the time but can't eat much). I feel guilty about eating almost anything, even though my diet is much healthier. But I guess I'm happy I had it?

Did you ever find it hard to eat salads? I am 7 months out and I find it really hard STILL to eat any lettuces. Am I eating too fast? Should I be trying to slice the lettuce into smaller bites? Is it just me? I love salad and it's an easy meal to get on the road, so I would love to make it work for me. I end up in so much pain every time!

That's what I'm aiming for - not having the numbers on the scale ALWAYS be going up or down drastically. I mean, I don't want to stay at this weight particularly, but my whole life my weight has never been stable.

I'm struggling with internalized fatphobia. I am getting much better as I've lost weight, actually. I was bullied growing up, and my grandmother, whom I loved more than anyone, would tell me I had "such a pretty face"... which we all know is code for you're fat. I had a guy break up with me (after I had lost 100 lbs) because I wasn't his ideal body type. Now I'm terrified to even consider dating. (Although there are a lot of issues there...) My family and friends have always been supportive, but my mom always has been a bit of a "concern troll." ("I'm scared for you!")

I bought some of these, but they're not really "thick" enough for the amount of weight I've lost from my fingers. I might have to try something else. Not quite ready to re-size.

I have been really hungry since right after my surgery. I talked to my surgery center and they put me on Metformin and Topamax. I've lost weight really well, but it's so frustrating to be hungry all the time. I find that drinking a lot, especially tea and coffee (I use splenda a low fat milk), helps. Being distracted, eating lots of fiber from veggies, and eating 5 times a day vs. 3 is what works for me. Good luck! PS - I'm eating about 900-1200 calorie a day now at 7 months out.

I found them to be disorganized and impossible to work with. It took me 7.5 months to have surgery. I could never get return phone calls, they would schedule me without asking if a time worked, etc. The individual providers are very good, but I would not recommend them if you are trying to minimize stress.