idk4w

Whoa that's a lot of liquid! I'm happy if I get 24 oz all day

I'm interested in hearing how you split your day up with your food and drinks, and what your menu looks like. I'm in the pureed stage, and wow, is this bo-o-o-ring. I've been making the ricotta bake, but how much of this stuff can one person eat?? LOL! So I'd love to see a "meal plan" from others in this stage... (or veterans who recall what their day looked like...)

I am really nervous about getting dehydrated, which I heard can lead to kidney stones and other complications after WLS. I'd love to hear how everyone manages to get in enough liquids during the day, and what's considered enough at this point. One strange thing for me is that I see others are having a hard time drinking more than a few sips at a time and I have no problem with 2 oz in one shot! Why is this?

We'd love to hear how you're doing today!! Any better??

what about seeing a bariatric nutritionist on a regular basis? To help keep you on track? Too many people revert back to their old habits, and that is just so heartbreaking, after all that hard work!!!!!! Video games as a distraction... sorry, that's just not healthy life habits. No way, that's just not an answer. We're not children, we're adults who need adult habits. Productive. Constructive. A bariatric nutritionist or a life coach or a therapist... that's worthwhile. I'm not trying to be harsh, but video games sounds like the road to self sabotage again.

When I began my pre-op diet, I was working so hard, and my husband said, "if you're working so hard on this diet, why do you need the surgery? Just keep doing what you're doing!" then post op, when you're eating NOTHING and basically starving yourself, again, my husband was like, you're working so hard, maybe you could have jsut done this without the surgery! I don't think any of us really realize what WLS is until after we do it. Society definitely doesn't. I also saw this as almost an easy way out and a bad role model for my kids. Now that they see how hard you actually have to work on the various phases of diet etc., they ask the same thing-- you're working harder than you ever have on any diet, so why did you need the surgery if you're working this hard? You could have just done this. But the answer is we couldn't have. We are being forced to fellow this diet plan now, and it wasn't working out before, for any number of reasons. Your husband is going to see you working harder than you ever have in your entire life. literally. The thing is that if it's not really internalized, then yes, after 2 months you can be snacking on cookies and chocolate and junk and go back to bad habits. Sure you can. Anyone can. We all have to work really hard at internalizing what's going on here and making the life changes that for some reason we weren't doing before. It ain't magic, and it won't happen itself. It's HARD WORK.

What's interesting is that it seems like SO MANY PEOPLE have this exact feeling... it kind of shows me how little this part is spoken about and how unprepared so many of us were for the very first week or few days following surgery. I certainly was caught unaware and didn't think I could make it though those first 5 days. I don't feel like my team prepared me for this at all. They just spoke about "discomfort." Sure. Discomfort! You are voicing what most of us experienced, but you also seem taken aback... and yes, I assume I am not the only person who felt nothing but pain and regret for the first 5 days. Sounds like that's where you are too. Then something magically turns and the one week mark is nothing like the 4-day mark, and by 10 or 12 days you're feeling like a different person. The hardest thing is HANGING IN THERE. We don't get a choice at that point, there's nothing else you can do but hang in there, but emotionally keep telling it to yourself. Please post back here by day 7 or 10 and tell us how you feel! then again at 2 weeks... you'll see, world of a difference. Let us know.

Hi there, Even if you're not a cook, there are some really easy things you can learn to do at home. If you buy a package of ground chicken, turkey, or beef, you can brown it in a pan, making sure to break up all the clumps. Season it with your choice of seasonings- can be as simple as salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, or any ethnic seasonings, and moisten it well with either tomato sauce or a sugar free bought sauce. This can be frozen in little portions and is a great protein. Eggs are so easy to make, they can even be microwaved! Just google it... Good luck!

Thanks to those who responded kindly and respectfully. I should have been more clear: I was not looking for medical advice here, but rather to know if different plans allowed different things. The bariatric community seems to be a large one and there are always differences in plans. My question was if this was one where everyone agreed or were there some of you out there who had a different approach given by your doctors before approaching my dr/nut with my question. Obviously I'd never dream of harming myself by not following medical orders. But reading these responses I see there is no point in even giving them a call, bec there seems to be a unanimous approach to this in the greater community. Thanks, all.

Hi there, I had my sleeve done last Mon (2/7) and spent Mon-Fri wondering why in the world I did what I did. I sounded similar to you. Friday was suddenly a real turning point for me. The pain diminished, and I felt so much better, and that helped me so much emotionally. Tues, We, Thurs, I literally could not see any light at the end of the tunnel and said I made the worst mistake. Please know this: I am now in a totally different place, and that happened over a 24 hour period. I woke up this morning, and while I do have one spot of pain at one incision site, the Tylenol really helps and aside from that I felt totally different. I also read too many horror stories about vomiting, dumping, horrible gas pains, and I had none of that. I retched and heaved a couple of times in the hospital, but not after that. You and I don't get to read the hundreds of people who have NO story, just the ones who reach out for help with horror stories. I'll be honest- those first 72 hours I wasn't ready to hear "hold on, you'll get through this" bec I couldn't see myself even getting though the hour! But now that I'm almost a week out, I feel like I'm in a different world! And it's an amazing feeling! Best of luck to you!!!!! Hang in there and stop reading so much...

Hi, I'm new here... I'm wondering about the stages of diet. If I feel up to it, can I take a few bites of very mushy or pureed food if I'm still in the full liquid phase? I'm not talking about anything major, but foods from the next phase. Eggs, cottage cheese, sugar free pudding... I basically just began phase 2 but it feels the same as stage 1 to me. (I'm not a full week out yet, but my dr said to begin phase 2 on 5 days out, which was yesterday... today was a big turning point for me in terms of strength and pain, and I'm TOTALLY sick of the liquids! I'd love to take in a little bit of something real.)