lizonaplane

Actually, because I was dealing with a lot of hunger, my surgical center said it would be okay for me to eat plain, non-starchy veggies between meals, but because of my travel (and also my dental issues!) I have had a lot of trouble doing that. It's been drilled into me so well not to graze, so I think I've just been eating a lot at meals (Not A LOT, just ... maybe 3 oz of meat, 3 oz of veg, but it still hurts, especially fruit and salad, which I love). I am going to try to slow down some more, see if that helps. The other thing I'm struggling with is how nauseous I get from my multivitamin. I would say about once a fortnight I will actually throw up. I've tried three different brands, and the best I've found is to take it with a heavy snack before bed. This week it's been low sugar trail mix, which I never ate before surgery, but seems to work well for me now.

But I feel hungry within 20 minutes unless I eat to "uncomfortable". I don't mean "head hungry" I mean ravenous, I would eat anything. So, I'm always either too full or too hungry after a meal. And I can't eat salad anymore, which used to be one of my favorites. The only things that don't hurt are ground meat and cheese.

I was drinking protein shakes from the morning after I got home from the hospital, also sugar free smooth greek yogurt (no fruit bits!). I could do a protein shake in about a half hour right away, but I couldn't finish a full yogurt in one sitting. I never liked the protein water - they tasted unpleasantly thick to me, and protein powders were so gritty. I still drink Fairlife Nutrition Plan and Core Power sometimes.

I know that since excess protein can worsen gout, it's common to have gout flare ups after surgery. Talk to your surgeon about what you can do - I understand that certain protein sources are worse for gout than others, maybe changing your diet could help?

I know many people who have had surgery without a pre-op diet, especially if they are at a lower BMI. You can get a second opinion, but I wouldn't worry on account of no pre-op diet. Not all surgeons do it.

It varies a lot. Some people have only shakes, some people have low carb shakes, some people's shakes have sugar. I didn't have a pre-op liquid diet (except the day before surgery). Talk to your surgery center. They will likely give you all sorts of printed information you can keep.

I might suggest the provider who prescribes the ketamine have a discussion with your bariatric surgeon. A good friend of mine has done ketamine nasal spray for years, but he has also been told not to do bariatric surgery due to other medications he's on. If you can't get the two MDs to talk (this can be hard, I found out), you could ask your bariatric center's NP or PA or send an email to your surgeon. I hope you get a good answer!

So, you don't feel pain when you eat anymore? How can I do that?

Welcome! Ask whatever questions you have! But you can also use the "search" function to look up any topics you're interested in. I had a lot of overweight friends but I didn't know (until I posted on facebook that I was having surgery) that I had friends who had had surgery. It's possible you have friends who have had surgery but they never told you. It's actually pretty common!

Welcome! Read as much as you can and follow all of your team's instructions as well as you can. Remember that everyone's journey is different. Don't expect to lose all your weight overnight; this is a process and it takes time. Good luck!

Yeah, just because something doesn't work for you a month or two after surgery doesn't mean you will NEVER be able to eat it again. I'm 8 months out and I still can't eat salad, but I can now eat everything else. Slider foods to me are things that are so heavily processed that they break down into nothing in the stomach, so they don't make you full. For me, things like cookies or desserts. I can eat them after I'm "stuffed" with protein. I try to be careful about eating those, for lots of reasons.

I was allowed to have ground meat at soft foods, but check with your surgery center. I am 8 months out and I still eat a lot of ground meat because it's easier for me to eat. I ate a lot of sugar free Greek yogurt, refried beans, cheese, eggs, chili, fish, etc. Your nutritionist should be able to give you some ideas, but one thing I found is that I didn't like eating for the first few months after surgery, even though I was hungry. It hurt to eat and food didn't taste good. I just did it anyway.

@Robert-J Please listen to your doctor, not people on the internet. If your doctor said to eat more calories, don't eat fewer just because @LilaNicole20 who is not a bariatric surgeon or nutritionist thinks it's a good idea. I am sure it's very frustrating, but give it time. The weight didn't come on overnight and you won't lose it overnight either. Keep checking in with your surgeon, dietician, and therapist, and try meeting with an obesity medicine specialist if the surgeon thinks that would help (I was very hungry after surgery so the obesity medicine specialist put me on metformin and topamax, which have helped). People have varied results and some people lose faster than others.

I was told I think 4 weeks for bathing or pools. They want to make sure your incisions are fully healed. Why don't you call your surgery center to confirm?

This will definitely have to change. I would highly recommend that you work on changing this (start eating three meals a day and drinking regularly) as soon as possible, so it's a habit BEFORE you have surgery. After surgery, you will have a lot to focus on, and trying to change bad habits is hard.

I had to look this up because I'd never heard of it. The problem is, you're going to sweat, which is going to lead to dehydration, big time! You can't drink easily right after surgery, and it's very easy to get dehydrated even if you're just sitting around at home. It's the number 1 cause for re-admission after bariatric surgery. I would be very wary of doing this until I was SURE I was getting plenty of liquids in.

I don't either. I hate when people tell random other people on the internet to give it to god or to pray. Why do they assume we believe in god??? But, you sound borderline suicidal and I suggest you might need to reach out to someone URGENTLY! Please get help. Feeling like you want to die is NOT a normal reaction to WLS. Regret is common, but you sound like you are in crisis. Good luck!

My surgery center also said no lotions or potions prior to surgery, and honestly, it never occurred to do anything "special" in the shower other than the hibiclens. I hate showers LOL. I only do it because it's sort of required to live in society. I didn't have to do bowel prep either. Just only clear liquids. I was mostly just scared I would die during surgery, so I was trying to distract myself. I'm glad it's over with.

I'm not sure why you think you will need to eat every 30 minutes. Basically, the only thing I can think of sort of related to this is that you have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you drink. Right after surgery you will need to remind yourself to drink enough because you might not be thirsty and you can't drink too much at once, but you can use a timer on your phone for that, and it's only for a few weeks. You do have to drink for the rest of your life, but that's true without surgery too! I'm 8 months out and I eat 3-5 times a day and drink when I'm thirsty (just I wait 30 minutes after eating before I drink, or it hurts and can impair your weight loss).

So, this is not the same thing, since we're not married, but when I met my amigovio, I was about 220 lbs. He likes bigger women, and he liked me at that size. During our relationship I gained weight and lost weight from 180-280. Before I decided to have WLS, I asked him if he'd still like me if I lost weight, since I'd no longer be big. He said, "you'll still be cute!" It really was a relief, because even though we're not officially a couple, he's a huge part of my life, and I don't want to lose him. I just saw him again weighing 170ish (we live in different states; this has only brought us closer), and he still loves me. I asked about the lose skin and he said he saw it but it was worth it for how important the weight loss was for me. He also loves that now I'm able to keep up with him when we're walking. He also finishes my food now, instead of the other way around! (He's got a BMI of 18, so he can eat whatever he wants LOL) So, the moral of the story is that if your boo really loves you, he will love the new you, too. He will be happy you are working hard to improve your life. And anyway, most people who have wls don't end up "thin"!

Honestly, this is my first stall, and I'm almost 8 months out. However, I am often away from the scale for a week or two due to my travel schedule, so it's hard to know for sure. I think if you weigh less frequently you'll notice stalls less, as @The Greater Fool says. I tend to weigh whenever I'm home and then keep track on a rolling monthly basis on MyFitnessPal. Using that system, I was losing about 8-9lbs a month until this month, when I've lost 4lb.

Wow, that's a tough one! I also have bipolar disorder, but they didn't tell me I would have a harder time losing weight. I suspected it since all my meds make me hungry, and I've been hungry from day 1, but the obesity medicine specialist has been really helpful - I'm on metformin and topamax now to help reduce my hunger. I'm still losing weight, but this month it REALLY slowed down. A BMI of 27 is actually really good for ANYONE after WLS, bipolar or not! You should be very proud of yourself. Also, it's really normal to regain some weight after you get to your lowest. Personally, I only put a "new" weight if my weight goes down, so while my weight on here says 166.2, today I was actually 166.8... I think maybe it will make you feel better to realize your first "goal" weight was more realistic, and to change back to that. Probably that's what I would do. But either way, congratulations!

I find that I don't like plain water unless it's REALLY cold now. I drink a lot of iced coffee with milk and splenda and lots of hot tea. I also drink water with sugar free Starburst packets, 5 calorie juice, diet soda (my surgery center said carbonation is FINE after the first month), iced tea, basically anything that's low cal. I agree with others that once you start with the sweets... it's really hard to sweet. I've been eating a lot of zero sugar sweets, but I'm not sure it's helpful in the long run. They still have a lot of calories!

I might get a second opinion. Other people might not see you as such a high risk, and you might be more comfortable with one of those surgeons. But, the more weight you lose before surgery, the lower risk you'll be - with any surgeon. But I agree with what everyone else here says. If you go forward, follow the instructions both pre- and post-op closely. And being at the weight you are now makes everything more risky - for example, say you were in a car accident, you'd be much more at risk of serious complications due to your weight (and fat bias in health care just makes that worse!). And, the other sorts of conditions that make you high risk for surgery might be just around the corner if you keep at your current weight. It's not really feasible to lose all of the weight you need without surgery, but you could see if you could get to like 350 before surgery, and get your BP controlled.

I wasn't told to avoid berries after surgery, and I was eating raw veggies about 4 weeks out, but you could probably have canned pears in fruit juice if you drain the juice? I don't worry about the glycemic index. I just try to eat lower carbs and minimize added sugar. No one got fat from fruit! But... your surgeon may have more strict rules, so maybe ask your program's nutritionist?