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Veterans of weight-loss surgery, what kind of plan do you go into Thanksgiving with? Do you count calories, weigh your food or just eat tiny portions of what you want? Do you go out of your way to make WLS-friendly sides and desserts? I just broke a 3 week stall and I don't want to go back to that weight ever again. Any tips and tricks are appreciated!

I'm now 3 months post op and had just my bloodwork done. Noticed that my leucocytes were elevated (upper normal limit here 8,2, which is what my results were the last time (pre op) as they have been usually along that area before as well Now the result was 10,1 so significantly higher, I don't have any acute illnesses at the moment, no cold, haven't had covid etc and would be interested to know if anyone else has had the their leucocytes levels increased after surgery (not directly after, rather months after)? I have been really tired for the past few weeks but there has been some stress in my life, and I have been thinking that that would be a contributor. Sent from my AC2003 using BariatricPal mobile app

I am doing really well. The first week was relentless and I was miserable. I am kinda adjusting to my new normal now. I was allowed to start a very limited selection of soft foods yesterday along with my 2 protein shakes. I am still super nervous about it. I can't seem to tell when I'm full. Doc said only 2 tbsp max once a day for now so I stop there (or before that) even though i don't feel any different than before eating it. I'm definitely still learning my body. I am happy with my progress so far. How are you feeling today? Hoping you're still improving. Btw my name is Kim too! 😀 HW: 311 First day of 2wk Pre-op diet: 280 Day of surgery (11/7): 273 Today: 257

I can relate so much to eating at night. With my old eating habits, it was normal for me to wake up in the middle of the night and eat. I would sometimes eat a whole meal from leftovers. Currently I am 59 days out ( 8 weeks ), and that fat monkey on my shoulder is trying so hard to get me back into old habits. I find myself eating at night again, but thankfully I can't eat much anymore. But still, it's always been a horrible habit of mine. I do try most times to grab something smarter than dinner leftovers, like a banana, or a protein shake. I was surprised to see you were still on pureed food. But I know every doc is different. My doc said post surgery diet was to be 3 days clear liquid, 3 days full liquid, 3 days pureed, then solids as tolerated. I started slow with the solids. At 8 weeks now, there isn't much I haven't eaten ( no junk foods, sweets, or sugary sodas ). But now it's getting scary. I mean, I can only eat so much, but like I heard someone else say, my fat brain wants to eat when I'm not hungry. Eating just because something tastes good. Horrible old habits. I am losing weight ( 33 lbs in 59 days ), but I feel like I can do better. I must somehow convince myself that we should eat to live, not live to eat. I know I am addicted to food and the battlefield is in my brain. It's a daily struggle, but I know I can do this, and so can you !

Laura My calories are anywhere between 450 and 750. It just depends on the day. Yes I’m on solid food. I can eat almost anything but a lot of things don’t taste that good anymore. And some things make me nauseous. Luckily I still love chicken! Protein is sometimes hard to hit but water intake is going well. My husband wonders if I’m eating enuf also. Im just taking it day by day and do what I can each day. I go in for my six week checkup next week. Hopefully I can find out what I need to improve on.

A disaster of a breakfast- bacon egg and cheese omelette that made me physically sick. 135 calories for what I ate prior to it coming back up. Then dinner of leftover stuffed pepper casserole topped with garbanzo beans and fried onions. 396 calories. In between I’ve been testing crispy cookie recipes for snickerdoodles and chocolate chip. The red velvet cookies are a cheat using a boxed cake mix (add 2 eggs and 1/2 cup oil) and Hershey’s cream cheese chips. Annnnnnnd, now I’m onto baking oatmeal scotchies and eventually testing a recipe I’m going to call blueberry cheesecake crumbles (blueberry cream cheese cookies with a blueberry swirled cream cheese frosting then topped with streusel. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do with all these cookies (currently 13 dozen) seeing as thanksgiving is this week and everyone will be eating pies and such.

I just experienced my first adverse reaction to food that felt like could be dumping. Im a week and a half out from bypass and on puréed food. I had the tummy issues and nauseous and dizziness and anxiety reaction. But it only lasted maybe 15 minutes. It was a milk based protein snack with only 4g added sugar (8g total sugar) and 2 g fat so I’m not sure how that would be dumping. I’ve had some issues with lactose since surgery but not to this extent. Does this sound like dumping?

Hi Tracy, My surgery was about 3 weeks prior to you. Are you on solid food yet? Curious how many calories you are getting nowadays? My husband thinks I'm not eating enough or often enough. I'm at 500-600 calories. Thanks so much for your response. Laura

Hi Laura! I’m still fairly new to this whole process also. My gastric bypass was on October 13th. I’m also struggling with weakness and also lack of energy. It definitely has improved since my 2 week post op but still am wishing I had more energy. I have been doing a lot of reading on this group and it sounds like what we are feeling is normal, but it is still hard to deal with every day. Any major surgery will take time to heal so I’m sure your doctor is correct. I guess I don’t have much for advice except keep the faith that everything we go through is worth the better health we get in return. Take care and know that there are many super supportive people out here that care about your progress and success! Tracy

Hello All, Looking forward to joining this very supportive group! I appreciate how everyone is so supportive and I hope to return the favor! I'm 2.5 weeks post op and feel very weak. It's not as bad when I'm sitting down but standing makes me feel dizzy at times and today felt like I was going to faint in the shower. Had to jump out and grab a towel to sit down. I'm hitting my water and protein (barely), and taking my supplements. Is this just my body adjusting? My surgeon said that last apporintment but I don't see a lot of improvement. I guess I'm just wondering what others encountered around this time. My main incision where they pulled my gallbladder is still pretty painful but I'm told that will get better too. Thanks for any advice you might have! Laura

It took me about a week or so, but now I take fiber every day and go every other day. Scared but excited.

Good luck on your surgery. I have a week and day to go!d I have been on nothing but liquids for a week and have another week to go on the protein shakes, broth, water, jello and sugar free popsicles. I would love some scrambled eggs LOL! I had one day when i was starving but after that I have been feeling really full on the liquids. I drink a lot of water anyway so i glad i got into that habit a couple years ago. You are going to do fantastic, keep us posted please

Good luck and prayers sent your way to those going into surgery this week. I have 2 days left until the big day!

i actually smiled when it was the same weight because i believe this stall means the body is holding onto things while rapidly healing… healing is perfect to me!!!! you are right…. a few days or a week or so I will be back into dropping (unless i get my clearance for doing some strength exercises then i might gain muscle, which is even better to me!! )

I had my "three-week stall" during weeks 2 and 3 - so yes, it could be it. If it goes on for more than two or three days, then yea - that's likely it. Just stick to your program and stay off the scale if it starts messing with your mind too much. It'll eventually break and you'll be on your way again...

this is part two… part one brought me to surgery with my weight loss adventure .. (quick warning, i tried not to be graphic but an infection is referenced) now I am someone who weighs almost every day for several months but i have trained my brain to be chill about the number… just watch for trends because bodies are sometimes heavier for non fat related reasons… i have seen my body go up, down and drop drastically and rise rapidly all while loosing weight as a trend… now i am in my early post op and start with my surgery weight of 351.4 on 11/3/22 sat, 11/5/2022 - day 2 post op after first night home - i dropped to 349.4 - considering swelling and fluids I was satisfied because I thought that I would have been up.. sun, 11/6 - 348.4 - spent lots of time walking in my yard gathering pecans with my picker upper stick for a few days - more than 5 gallons worth mon, 11/7 - 347.6 struggling with fluids, slight pull feeing while sitting and standing but otherwise good! tues, 11/8 - 349.2 - more sore but not really in pain.. i attributed this to walking a bit much the day before and trying to get more fluids… tried to power through and keep being as active as i could… (today i also had bathroom success lol) Wednesday, 11/9 - 349.2 - incision area hurting more and thought that I truly overdid it and took a lazy day… mild temp of barely 99 Thursday 11/10 - 347 - more pain in big incision area and it was warmer, mild fever 99.8 degrees- still blaming myself for pushing myself to be so active post op. took a super lazy day (even made someone get a birthday cake for my son who turned 19) friday 11/11 - 345.4 - something was wrong. pain was so much worse getting up and down and even sometimes moving. temp went to 100.8 in morning and i was feeing off. called dr and waited for call back. incision area looked ok but felt warm and kinda harder than it did.. not much redness… by 1 pm temp spiked to 101.7 even with tylenol. called again to dr and said something was wrong … they called in antibiotics and made appt for monday to see how i would respond. 11/11 - trip to town going to antibiotics- my husband drove .. we went into aldi to pick up a couple items before going to kroger to get meds and another grocery order ( we were feeding guests on saturday playing a game) and i actually have little memory or the store trip just bits and pieces … i told my husband i had a big problem and my pants were wet.... my infection, well, ruptured while in store.. we went to kroger to get antibiotics where i took one in the parking lot then i fell asleep immediately in the car for the ride home (unusual).. when finally hope after another stop i slept through, i groggily made my way in the house, cleaned myself up with hibclens and stumbled into bed without bandaging my still seeping wound and wrapped up shivering … and immediately went back to sleep… my mom called an hour or two later and i answers on my watch.. groggy and not very coherent.. hard to love, hard to talk, slurring words.. she called my husband who was doing another errand and he eventually came home and checked on me .. i was not medicated as he thought and still seeping a lot and he bundled me up and brought me to the er despite my slurring attempts to protest that i was perfectly fine and just wanted to sleep.. the er had a full waiting room, but when the staff talked to me and saw the state of the towel against my incision area - i was not only taken back but in a room immediately… my bad veins were acting up.. 7 different iv attempts and had to get an arterial pull for blood.. multiple bags of Fluid, potassium iv, multiple antibiotics, a ct with contrast, .. in other words a long long night.. 11/12 - 7 am my surgeon came to er and i was more coherent than most of the night… i had a large infection and was a little dehydrated … but with the treatment already received and the iv antibiotics combined with oral, he thought i would be ok and i could go home with a bandages wound and see him monday morning. i slept for a few hours when i got home, then woke up sore and still hurting some but better than i had felt in a few days. bandages changed every couple hours due to drainage. when i got home before 9 am i weighed myself out of curiosity and i was 352. it made me laugh because they really did pump me full of fluids!! every day after got better. less pain, discharge stopped monday and slowly the fluids started to come off. i am now 17 days post op and i am down to 335.6 for the second day in a row. might be that famous 3 week stall early. but i am fine with that because it usually means good healing is finally taking place and the scale with catch up eventually. i can move better than pre surgery and 100% better than six months or a year ago. my stamina still sucks but is improving even with the infection (two types of streptococcal bacteria) I am doing good and on my way to the life that i keep telling myself I deserve to live. i want to make plans and do things for the first time in a few years. i am no longer afraid to go to a store because it hurt my back so badly and turned my face from pale white to Tomato red due to the physical effort… i can actually go in without the immediate pain! so far even with the setback this is one of the best things i ever did for me

The stalls are a bit frustrating. I'm having one too, but I'm not as desperate now as I was during my last stall. I have passed my initial goal or getting under 100 kilos (220 pounds). My next two goals are 93 kilos (205 pounds) because then I will have lost an even 20 kilos from my highest weight, and then 91 kilos (200 pounds) which was what I weighed a decade ago after I had my son. Also, 91 kilos / 200 pounds for my height is the cutoff for obesity according to BMI, so once I'm below that I'm considered overweight but no longer obese. I know BMI is not an exact science, but it still makes a difference to me psychologically. Initially, I wanted to be 91 kilos / 200 pounds at the end of this year, but maybe 93 kilos is a more realistic goal. Still, I'm thinking of taking up more exercise to help me reach my goals. I have 7 weeks to go until January 1st, so I should be able to lose at least 3 kilos, and maybe more. Fingers crossed.

I understand and that makes sense. I do know that I have tried everything and nothing has worked so I feel like this is a good alternative for me to trying to do it without the help and support. I keep thinking that if I can make through this two week liquid pre-op I can do it. I believe it will get better for you and hopefully for me when i am at that stage. I thank you for your response. Please keep us updated!

My surgery is December 2nd. I started my two-week liver shrink diet yesterday.

I am one week into the pre-op and the constipation is making me crazy. I read somewhere that it is okay to take colace but I am afraid to take anything without my surgeons approval I plan to call them on Monday but this is day 4 with no bowel movement so it will be 6 days by the time I call them. I don't know if I am over reacting or if i need to do something now. Any suggestions are appreciated!

I am scheduled Nov 28th. I am not going to thanksgiving either not because of covid (I have a really small family, just three of us) but because I know myself and the temptation to eat might be too much, and I am not taking any chances either! I got for my 4 hour nutrition class on Nov 22nd. I will have a week to go ont the liquids after that. I am with you on the hair loss. My hair is baby fine now so this is a real concern. My surgeon said to expect some hair loss but that it will grow back, which is some comfort. In the meantime, I will go buy a wig if it gets too bad I wish you the best, you will do great!!

Flying does sound the best option. I am so happy for you, date is so close. I have another week and couple days. Please keep us posted on how everything is going. You will do fantastic!

Today is exactly 2 months from my surgery. I only lost 8 pounds thanks to a 3 week stall but I did lose 7 inches total from all of my measurements. Last month I lost mostly on my stomach and lost 4 inches just in that one spot. This month I lost mostly on my thighs and calves probably because my only exercise is walking on the treadmill. I'll take any and all progress though! I hope this next month is better then the last but as long as I keep going down, even if its super slow, I'll be happy.

I have been looking for hours and any time I give my number out ,...my phone blows up for a week or more. Please help if you have any information for me.

Hi twin- December 5th for me as well!! (I’m also a Sarah) Skipping thanksgiving this week with the family to avoid getting sick for potential delay. Anyone else in this boat?