BeanitoDiego

Today was my 1 month followup, 5 weeks post surgery. My dietician gave me a gold star review for my post op diet, and I graduated to Stage 4 of my program. Stage 5 should be approved in November, and that is the forever way of eating.

I had to go to a post op nutrition class as part of my appointment today. There was a young lady in there that had been eating WAY off diet, and she was not doing well... She had been eating fast food, but peeling the buns off, eating vegetables that were not well-cooked, and eating all kinds of foods that were not part of the detailed instruction that everyone in this program receives. We had SO many caveats from Day One to not try to jump ahead on the schedule for the foods that we eat. I was baffled that someone would decide to eat off program, especially so soon after surgery. She became tired of the liquids & soft foods, so she chose to eat ahead.

The result of her skipping ahead was that she had experienced a lot of vomiting & foamies, a lot of pain, and was unable to drink any fluids. She started feeling flushed and faint in class and had to be sent to the hospital to get some IV fluids.

The discipline that one needs for bariatric surgery cannot be overstated. We have to dig deep mentally and physically to get through surgery itself, learn new things, manage medications, and really lean into that crucial change of mindset and behavior. I hope that this young lady is able to get herself together to make the most of her surgery.

Going to ride my bicycle to work tomorrow. The round trip is almost 8 miles, something I would do frequently before surgery. I've been wanting to ride for a few weeks, so I'm really looking forward to it. This will be the biggest exercise-based calorie expenditure I've tried since surgery 🚴‍♂️

Wow! I am finally not obese any more! I am simply overweight; first time in my life 🤩

24 days post op. The sipping never stops.

I can usually get ~80 grams of protein and around 500 calories in, and ~64 ounces of water. I do get some additional water from sugar free popsicles- I can eat 3 of those in a day.

Have been tolerating all of the new foods okay; eggs, ricotta cheese, powdered peanut butter, cottage cheese, refried beans, soft tofu. I have not have any canned chicken or tuna yet. Trying those at this point makes me a bit nervous. I would like to avoid throwing up for as long as possible.

Pain is better, but is still a constant companion. My left abdomen hurts and I have been treating it with acetaminophen and ice packs. The ice packs seem to have helped a whole lot!

Still learning about surgery and how my life must change in order to make this work. I find that I have cravings for certain things like tacos and salty/crunchy things. The lack of chewing solid foods is mentally tough. And waiting for 30 minutes after I eat to drink any water means every small meal takes an hour or more.

I'm thirsty right now. I can drink some water in about 10 minutes, and I can't wait.

11days post-op. I will get my two week checkup in two days. Everything seems to be healing well; I have been fortunate to be off work and able to lay down a lot. However, I have been able to work up to walking 1.5 miles per day. I wish I could stretch a bit more, but I want to be very careful with my healing incisions- I've got 5 of them to look after.

Swallowing is getting better. I have been eating some sugar free popsicles in between shots of ProT Gold and protein shakes. I'm really looking forward to getting the go ahead for soft foods like eggs and yogurt in a couple of days.

Something that helped me today was something I saw someone else mention in a forum... I cannot recall who it was. But they mentioned that they drink "proffee" in the mornings. As a fan of the occasional black coffee with hot chocolate, I made a version this morning with decaf coffee and a warmed up chocolate protein drink. T'was divine, and gave me a feeling of normalcy for the first time in awhile.

I cried today, and had regrets about getting the surgery.

I went for a short outdoor walk after the sun went down this evening. The blaring heat was giving my neighborhood a break, so I thought, why not?

I walked one direction for a quarter of a mile, and then turned around to come home. There was a slight downward slope at the beginning of the walk, which meant that there was a slight upward slope back. Well, I started sweating before I knew it. Not a whole lot, but enough to have some beads roll south. At that moment, all ll I could think about was all of those precious fluids that I have worked so hard to consume today were going right out of me! I thought, how in the hell am I going to be able to replace all of those before I go to bed tonight?? I was sweating, thirsty, and still had a bit of a stroll ahead of me. I had not thought to bring water with me on such a short walk.

Get home, sip, sob for a bit, sip, shower, sip. Then I remember that I had premixed a protein-enhanced electrolyte drink earlier in the day, and it was sitting cold in the refrigerator. That seemed to take care of me, along with sipping some more water. I had to stay up late to get it down, but I did it, and was able to come back to a better emotional baseline.

I'm only one week out, still fresh and healing, so I'm definitely giving myself some grace tonight.

Six days post-op. I believe the collagen supplements are helping me heal. I am starting to crave eating real food again.

Today, I am four days post-op RYGB with a hernia repair. The hernia repair has been painful and the hardest part to deal with. I'm finally able to cough a little bit and hope to walk .6 miles today.