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forget about his medical diet and move on to another pcp right away - my pcp is the one who recommended I speak with a bariatric surgeon, and I think that's how it should be - prior pcp's just kept pushing the "eat less and move around more" philosophy on me - it's like are you even paying attention? if it were that simple I wouldn't look like this now! - since switching to my current pcp, I have absolutely zero tolerance for physicians that talk around the issue instead of getting on board with real solutions best of luck to you, I hope you find a good doctor soon

I didn't tell anyone at work - all my boss and co-workers know is that I took some medical leave for surgery at the start of June - I imagined telling them later on once I start dropping more weight and it's too obvious to ignore - for now I consider it no one's business, but I intend to tell them later I didn't tell my family either - it took me a year of this long and unpleasant process just to get approved and have the surgery - and honestly I don't think I could have put up with talking about the procedure and how everything works for a year while waiting - it was frustrating as it is already, and quite honestly I couldn't put up with all the questions along the way, people wanting the play by play, etc...

weight/resistance training can defnitely help I had to attend a few support group sessions as part of my insurance approval, and several of the post-op folks said that if they knew then what they know now...they would have lifted weights as soon as they were cleared to do so

yeah but, which dipping sauce? just messin, think I know how you feel (starving) I saw you just had a fill and doc put you on liquids again - it's no wonder folks hit breaking points with those limitations - anyway I'm sure this moment was the exception and not the rule for you - so do yourself the favor of letting it go - don't let the guilt beat ya up, makes for bad mojo

I've never taken a laxative in my life, never needed one - should have listened to the nurse that discharged me, MoM really is the sh*t! - def had probs with the guts slowing down and it was more than two weeks til I finally was like oh yeah I was supposed to take that stuff...well it did the trick pros: gentle, fast, and though the scale says different, it sure seemed like I lost weight! cons: hope you're not doing anything in a few hours, be near a bathroom pls I may need to find an alternative for more routine maintenance...MoM was kinda like using pipe snake on myself

I was advised to avoid straws as well - I was just banded 6/2 so just over 2 weeks out now - even now I can feel something getting better each day...less soreness, more flexibility, etc - so just a week out, you're still feeling some after effects and the healing - surgery is basically trauma to the body, so it's still getting over all that and just when our bodies are recovering, we throw it all kinds of curve balls - changing chemistry and composition with liquid diets, drastic cut in calories, all kinds of stuff - so don't put too much pressure on yourself by weighing in too frequently - so much is up in the air right now - I don't think the doctors even expect the bands to work on their patients effectively until we get some fills anyway the band works totally on restriction, and it's possible we have only a hint of it (or almost none at all) at this point - right now we're basically just dieting by taking a big cut in calories

fwiw, I saw my surgeon for a follow-up just 1.5 weeks out from surgery and he literally said to me "I'm not even keeping track of your weight loss right now" - so it seems some doctors aren't overly concerned with weight loss while you're still healing and have not had your first fill yet

I'm just a few days out, procedure was on June 2nd - was really feeling scared/stressed heading into it since it was my first surgery, but so far so good - actually feel now as if the recovery has been going even more quickly than expected - the first night in the hospital and first day when discharged felt miserable, but it gets better each day I can tell you - if you feel up to it, get a casual walk around the block in there each day too - helps get your lung capacity back to normal and the activity can help avoid certain complications the first 3 days of clear liquids were pretty tough, but once you get through it you can have small quantities of things that actually feel like a meal - for instance today was my 4th day out and I had a 1/4 cup of egg beaters a couple times today with some melted american cheese - those were my first real meals, just chew it REALLY good - haven't gotten sick yet and I also had some strained tomato bisque soup on the 3rd and 4th day as well - just be sensible, sip slowly, chew thoroughly, and you can get through it - start weight was 329lbs - I hit my pre-surgery weight goal of 314 just a week before the procedure, and I lost another 5lbs since the surgery date...so now I'm 309 as of today also wanted to add for those who are asking about smoking/lozenges, I'd suggest the nicorette gum - I was not a regular smoker, but I loved to smoke a pack or so on binge drinking nights on the weekends occasionally - I knew I should not be smoking before the surgery or after, so I use the fruit chill nicorette 2mg - don't use the generic knockoffs, they are awful and don't deliver the active ingredient as well, or as much of it imo - this stuff tastes pretty good, and I used it right up to the surgery date, and started using again the first day I came home from the hospital obviously you want to discuss all things I mentioned above with your surgeon since I'm no doctor and each person responds differently to stuff - but I wanted to just share this info so people know what might be possible for them - the sugar free (splenda) hard candies from cvs are really good too for helping to bridge the gap between the nicorette and sparse meals during these early times - you need to find ways to "get through" so you don't sabotage yourself after the surgery, can help avoid pitfalls, cravings, and nausea