Spinoza

Sounds grim. I hope you have a speedy and full recovery and feel much better soon. 🤩

This is absolutely normal. Almost everyone experiences stalls multiple times. So many factors contribute. Keep to your programme and you will hopefully be back on track really soon!

I've stuck to buying underwired bras - two at a time and only when the current bras were clearly ridiculously large - as I lost weight. I tried to buy reasonably cheap versions - sometimes that worked out and sometimes it didn't! I'm at goal now (regaining a little if anything) and buying 'forever' underwear, LOL. I've never needed anything officially compression but I know others prefer that. I don't mind a bit of saggy skin underneath my underwear. Nobody sees it!

OK so I could eat most of that in one sitting these days! There's no way I could stop when you did, but I'd have a break of a few hours (3 approx) before having to eat again.
How long after those three bites of the sandwich and few forkfuls of the greens did you need to eat again OP??

Oh at 6 days out I was still on liquids OP! Didn't get to puree until 2 weeks after my sleeve. Honestly - get as close as you can to your Protein goal and don't worry too much about that. At this stage what matters most is not getting dehydrated, so focus on your fluids!
Hair loss will happen because that's what our bodies do when we cut calories. Not sure what, if anything, stops that. It's not nice but it does stop eventually.

All low cut bras are out for me. All this wrinkling skin on show (more than I actually have too). It’s full cup & only full cup for me. Don't get me started on moulded strapless. OMG I can put half a fist in the top of them. Than goodness I found a bandeau strapless that went to an E cup. Not perfect but better than anything else I tried.

OK so I could eat most of that in one sitting these days! There's no way I could stop when you did, but I'd have a break of a few hours (3 approx) before having to eat again.
How long after those three bites of the sandwich and few forkfuls of the greens did you need to eat again OP??

Cupboard/freezer pie. Minced beef, vegetables & puff pastry from my freezer & tinned tomatoes & lentils from my pantry. Just used fresh basil, parsley & an onion. Made enough for 6 serves so some will go back into the frezer. Ate about 2/3 of this but all the pastry. It’s odd. I struggle with bread, Pasta & rice but can eat some puff pastry. Nit a lot but some. 🤷🏻‍♀️
(Watching UK celebrity Masterchef while I ate dinner as you do.)

This is all really informative. Thank you for providing so much detail OP. I hope you recover really well.

Oh yeah. I'm 3.5 years out and the honeymoon has long been over. If I weren't extremely careful about what I eat, it would be terrifyingly easy to fall off the wagon and jump on the regain train. The surgery still helps, for sure; even when I eat too much, I think back to how much I would have eaten before the surgery and realize that my overindulgence now pales in comparison. But it still takes a lot of effort and attention to maintain my weight.
My first recommendation for you is to get back on the scale and see exactly where you stand. No matter how much you've regained, stepping on the scale isn't going to change it. Believe me, I understand not wanting to know (take it from someone who did not own a scale for over a decade before my surgery), but staying in denial will only make things worse.
I found a fantastic podcast called "We Only Look Thin," hosted by a husband and wife who each lost over 100 pounds. They did NOT have WLS, but they have so much insight and advice. They address a lot of the things that you worry about, so if you are open to listening to podcasts, I highly recommend this one.

You are not a failure. The fact that you posted here looking for help means you are open to reaching out for help and that will lead to success!! Many people are too scared to even put the words out there.
I urge you strongly to reach out to your bariatric team and get their recommendations for a few therapists that specialize in eating disorders. Try a session with a few of them to find one you like. They will help you navigate the emotional components and anxiety and depression. The surgeon operated on your stomach and intestines, not your brain. Surgery can't fix the inner narratives we have that keep us in cycles we don't want to be in.
And Catwoman7 is right, some bariatric patients do end up using appetite suppressing medications to help with those voices, often in conjunction with therapy. There is no escaping the head work, it HAS to be done or it will undermine you at every turn. In time you'll learn how to companion with it and live along side it. It may always be there in some form, but that doesn't mean it gets to be in the driver's seat 24/7.

I know how easy it is to avoid the scale when you know it's going to be bad news. I do it too. But I'm going to urge you to make yourself face it. If you face it, you can beat it. I think the good news is, no matter how much you've eaten, there is no way you could regain 130+ pounds in a month. Maybe you've gained 5lbs. Maybe 10. But you know what? You've still lost over 100lbs. So, go get on the scale, acknowledge the number, and then look at yourself in the mirror, and tell yourself, "Self, I love you, and you're f*ing awesome. You're doing a great job, and I know you're going to keep doing it."
No negative talk, no guilt. After that, look into getting a therapist to help you with the emotional crap that's making this hard for you, because food addiction is real, and you deserve for it to be easier. The biggest thing I've learned about shame and guilt over the years is the way I talk to myself sometimes, I would punch someone in the face if they ever said those things to someone I love. Try to treat yourself the way you would treat the person you love the most.

I second the suggestion of a car cool box/fridge. Opens up so many possibilities! Don't go with processed food unless that's all you can tolerate (our stomachs tell us what to eat 3 months out)! If you can go for fruit, cheese, deli meat, raw veggies and hummus then that will get you far. Good luck!

I second the suggestion of a car cool box/fridge. Opens up so many possibilities! Don't go with processed food unless that's all you can tolerate (our stomachs tell us what to eat 3 months out)! If you can go for fruit, cheese, deli meat, raw veggies and hummus then that will get you far. Good luck!

Stories like this make me so sad... My condolences to her family and friends. She should not have been released to fly so early, the most dangerous post op complications usually show up in the first two weeks after surgery.
It is absolutely ridiculous that people from countries like the US and UK are having to risk their lives going to places like Turkey for surgery because they can't get coverage for their surgeries thanks to **** insurance companies, or because they are on a waiting list that will take 5 years and require a crazy amount of hoops and delays. Obesity is a disease, not a moral failing. Bariatric surgery is life saving, life giving surgery that in the long run saves insurance companies and government healthcare a **** ton of money because patients who are successful with it often lose their pre-existing conditions, go off numerous medications, and avoid the complications of obesity in their lifetime...
A good friend of mine recently had her company change insurance providers. She was in the process of getting her last appointments done for bariatric surgery. But the new insurance excludes all bariatric surgeries... She can't travel to Mexico even if she could afford it because of her complicated medical history. I'm so angry that ANY company or ANY insurance company can just decide not to provide coverage for these surgeries.

Yeah, I would just keep an eye on portion size to avoid overdoing it early on. I have a couple of favorite cookbooks out of all of the ones that I've bought (because I always overdo everything). They are: The Bariatric Diet Guide and Cookbook by Dr. Matthew Weiner (a bariatric surgeon), and Bariatric Meal Prep Made Easy by Kristin Willard (a registered dietician who specializes in bariatric nutrition). I would 100% recommend both of them and you can get them on Amazon.
I like Dr. Weiner's book because he gives you what serving size to expect at different stages post-op. For instance, there's a chickpea curry with riced cauliflower. If you're at 1-3 months post op, your suggested serving is 2 tbsp curry and 2 tbsp cauli (which is 1/4 cup total). If you are 3 months to 2 years, it's 1/4 cup of each. If you are 2 years or more, it's 1 cup curry and 1/2 cup cauli. What I like is that it normalizes the reality that you start with really small portions and naturally eat more over time. I see so many people getting so nervous because they are hungrier at 1 year than they were at 1 month, and it's like yes, that's what is supposed to happen! I wish this book had the nutrition facts spelled out for all three portion sizes, not just the largest, because my math sucks with fraction. And I wish it had more photos, although the ones it does have are very nice and the overall quality of the book is high.
What I like about Kristin Willard's book is it gives you 6 full-week meal plans and is meant for doing prep ahead, grab-and- go types of meals that you portion out in advance. Also, it is gorgeously illustrated with full-color photos for every single recipe. There is one weekly menu for purees, one for soft foods, and 4 for normal diet. They even include a shopping list for each weekly plan. In my opinion, (comparing to my surgeon's plan and what I see in Dr. Weiner's book) the suggested portion sizes are geared toward a patient who is 1-2 years post-op, so bear that in mind. You would probably get twice as many servings out of each recipe in the first year, and up to 4x the servings in the first few months. And of course both books are likely to have specific foods at a stage that your own program disagrees with, so you have to adjust accordingly.
I'm also going to give an honorable mention to The Easy 5-ingredient Bariatric Cookbook by Megan Wolf, a registered dietician and bariatric specialist. The book loses marks for the lack of photos but gains marks for its stage specific portion size suggestions and for all the recipes being really easy to pull-off without buying out your entire supermarket for ingredients. The author is based in Manhattan, and these are definitely recipes you could accomplish with a tiny NYC kitchen and limited cooking skills.
Honestly, if I had a friend going through WLS, I would probably give all three of these as a gift, along with a set of small (4 oz and 8-12oz) freezer safe food storage containers.
Hope that helps!

I did stick to very soft Protein and veggies at 5 weeks. I needed a lot of liquid (soup or gravy) to get it down. I loved fish, it felt a lot lighter than meat for a main meal to help with my protein goal. Tiny portions though. Also I was still relying on Protein Drinks to make my goal. Scrambled egg (less than one) were a godsend. I was probably consuming 400 calories per day between 4 and 6 weeks. I soon progressed to 600, maybe 2 months out? Hope this helps OP.

Hi Spinoza, I'm still here too.

I am here.

Anyone else still around from the group 2 years back??

I am hanging out in the 180s. Down from 280s. I don’t do anything. I never watch calories anymore. I eat whatever I want. I just get full after a few bites. Still no issues. I have never had the Constipation, foamies, or nausea that some people seem to get. I drink a ton of Water. I have gotten really used to eating the same thing for days at a time. I went to Outback Steakhouse on Monday for dinner. On Tuesday dinner I had leftover Outback Steakhouse. On Wednesday for dinner I had leftover Outback Steakhouse. lol
I do find that I am hungry in the middle of the night. I wake up and get a little snack sometimes in the middle of the night that I never used to do before. It seems like my body wants something every 6 hours. It just doesn’t want much. I still struggle to eat enough Protein. Carbs are just so delicious.
I have zero regrets.

THIS! One of life's constants.

At 5 weeks post op I was just having 3 teeny tiny meals and lots of fluids. When you say you *want* a snack in between meals do you mean that you fancy something in particular (head hunger) or that you can't distract yourself from proper hunger with fluids or random activities, or that even if you do that you still feel proper hunger? 5 weeks would be super early for proper hunger to return!
In any case, and to answer your original question - I stuck rigidly to the 30m before *and* after rule for about 18 months. I found after that that I could drink right up to the point of eating so I relaxed that part. However I still wait for more than an hour after eating before I drink fluids. It seems to prolong my satiety.
Best of luck - I hope you can find your way through.

And do I spy a little salty tang of parmesan on the salad? 😍

They all look absolutely delicious. Will deffo try the boursin recipe soon. Hope you had much fun. My go-to puff pastry topping is goat's cheese, caramelised onions and walnuts. Might substitute your boursin, think it would be perfect!