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I'm just over two weeks post op. I was cleared for the pureed stage of foods, so I've been eating pureed foods since Monday. But no matter what I do, it just sits too heavy in my stomach. I feel too full despite eating the same volume as I did with liquids. There was a meal or two where I felt ok, but mostly too full. So I'm going back to liquids. Have I damaged anything by eating purees too soon? Have I set myself too far back in my recovery?

Happy Friday everyone! I had my 2 week follow-up with my dietitian yesterday and got my diet progression schedule! I'm officially on mashable right now. I meal-prepped some ricotta bakes and refried beans last night. I get to have eggs which I'm excited about. In two weeks I go to soft and two weeks after that I move to solids and adding meat back in. No bread/rice/pasta/alcohol for 6 months. I also got to start my vitamins which should help with my energy levels. The only thing I need to work on right now is upping my water intake and getting back into walking. I was going to the gym consistently before my surgery but I've just been so tired it's been hard to get on the treadmill.

I love to hear everyone's Wins as each week or day passes there is a New Win.

Hi all, New here names Kat. 46 years old. In 2009 I had a gastric sleeve and hiatal hernia repair in Colombia. In 2020 I had horrible GERD and had another hernia repair as my stomach was in my chest cavity behind my heart at that time. I was doing ok until last week. I work in an animal hospital and I assisted in lifting a 90lb dog that fell off a table during a surgical prep and instantly felt I had injured myself when I lifted this dog. The next day I went to the ER and was told I had a large hiatal hernia which incorporated my entire stomach as well as part of my large intestine and my liver was also coming up through my diaphragm. I consulted with the surgeon that did my repair in 2020 and he is recommending a sleeve to bypass revision as he does not want to risk my sleeve slipping and the hernia recurring because going in for a 4th abdominal surgery isn't ideal and becomes quite difficult as scar tissue accumulates with every repair. Needless to say I am terrified. Having done my original procedure in another country I did not follow America protocol when it came to the appropriate mental health to go along with a bariatric procedure. I have never had a healthy relationship with food and have continued with a poor diet throughout the years. My fears are not so much surrounding the procedure more so the lifestyle change that must be made post surgery. The liquid diet pre and post surgery, the portion control, the protein and water intake that's require the regiment of vitamins and supplements needed to stay alive. Over the years I've never even been good with taking a daily multi vitamin. I'm not really sure what Im looking for by posting this thread as I'm sure I will get plenty of negative comments about just having to do what I'm told but was hoping that someone anyone can relate to the anxiety I am feeling about not being successful in what needs to be done. I know I WANT to do the right thing. I know I want to see my 9 and 12 year old grow up. I know I don't want to leave my husband heartbroken and alone. I know that even if I suck at doing the right thing for myself I need to do the right thing by my family. Im just freaking out a little. I just dropped of the CT scan cd to my surgeon yesterday and am waiting to hear back from him this coming week about talking to a bariatric dietician and discuss a date when this is all going to happen. Looking for any insite and honestly from people with similar fears sticking to post op care and life long lifestyle changes. Thanks in advance and please be kind.

Ugh. It pisses me off when doctors make any of us feel like some number they come up with is applicable to each of us when even we know that all of our bodies are unique and the complexity of obesity. A weight difference of three pounds could be ANYTHING!! i know this is a little different because it chemo but it’s really not because like anything it’s not true weight gain so an example is when I come home from chemo I weigh about 6-7 pounds more than I did that morning and the next day. But everytime, the following day I drop it all. I don’t understand the science but it’s something to do with inflammation that any of us could have for various reasons to some degree. Also three pounds I know for a fact I have lost from a bowel movement. I always weigh myself first thing in the morning and I weigh about 3-4 pounds less than if I weight myself later in the day. . Long story short three pounds is absolutely nothing to stress about and if your doctor does then either smile and nod and tell them you will do better or express how ignorant they are being but whatever you do, DO NOT let that get under your skin!! Your loss is incredible. As @Justarwaxx suggested, Don’t let anyone negate how hard you have worked. Instead Celebrate your amazing progress and if anything use his or her ignorance to fuel you and keep going. 100 pounds is absolutely Amazing and takes real lifestyle changes to accomplish. All you have to do at this point is to stick with it and the rest will come off in a matter of time. The time may vary person to person but it will happen. You’ve got this!!

i wasn't prescribed any stool softeners after surgery...but i probably should have, as it was 11 days post surgery when I had my first poop (omg, it was a doozy). i had to keep on top of my "regularity" for about 2-3 years after WLS with a curated regime of Benefibre, Miralax, MOM and glycerine suppositories, depending on my need, as constipation was a annoying problem for me those years. I'm nearing year 6 now (end of Oct) and haven't needed any extra help for about 3 or so years. I am "regular" now in the sense that i go about every 3-4 days with no discomfort in between (which is a huge departure to my schedule pre-op when i would go multiple times a day!). I think you need to monitor your own schedule/needs/comfort and act accordingly as we all have different pooping paths, ha! Edited to add: coincidentally, my constipation issues sort of stopped a few months after i stopped taking my supplements/vitamins...not sure if this is related, or indeed just a coincidence. i also started eating more carbs around that time so i dunno....?

Congrats on the weight loss and the anniversary! The most important thing is to find something you enjoy because the likelihood you will continue to workout will go up tremendously. As such, I'd actually recommend trying a lot of different things. From a health perspective, I'd strongly recommend at least 3 days (though 4 or 5 would be better!), of some sort of aerobic activity (a.k.a. cardio). This can be walking, running, elliptical, biking, hiking, rucking, as well as group classes. Really anything that gets your heart rate up and keeps it there during the exercise is fair game. Start with where you are on this. If you can only do 5 minutes right now, that's fine, but do try to increase that over time to about an hour per session. I also recommend at least 2 days a week of strength training. That again would be a minimum, because just like for the cardio, more days would be even better. Just be careful that you give yourself enough time in between training to let your muscles recover. My number one suggestion would be to enlist the help of a GOOD Certified Personal Trainer to assist you with program design. Note that there are some really good CPTs and unfortunately some really bad ones. You might want to ask around your network to see if anyone has a recommendation? There are just too many variables involved in developing a good strength training plan to provide a recommendation here. At a minimum, a plan has to consider exercise selection, exercise form, effort level, volume, intensity, frequency, and tempo. Some of these variables are highly dependent on things like your current gender, age, strength level, mobility, trainability, as well as any physical limitations you may have. The point is that program design should be tailored specifically to YOU, and that's really not something I could do via a forum like this. Also, in my many years of experience in the gym as a competitive powerlifter, I've seen way too many beginners make horrible mistakes that could have been avoided with some guidance. These are generally mistakes a good personal trainer can help you avoid. Some of those mistakes will just lead to poor results, but some can end up really hurting you. If a personal trainer is just not in the cards at this point, I would caution you to avoid weight machines or free weights for now. As a beginner, you can make tremendous gains just doing bodyweight exercises and there is a lot less risk of injury taking that approach. Feel free to Google bodyweight beginner routines, just keep in mind that some (just like the CPTs), are really good and some are really bad. At a minimum, I'd want a program that has all of the following: Bodyweight squats of some sort A lunge movement of some sort (I'm partial to front foot elevated rear lunges, but the actual type is not really that important at this point.) If lunges are painful for you, an okay alternative might be a bridge exercise A pressing exercise (probably pushups, but if you can't yet do regular pushups, start with elevated pushups) A pulling exercise (Ideally, this would be pullups, but I recognize these are hard for most beginners, thus an inverted row might be a good alternative Some sort of core exercise. A lot of programs have people doing planks, but I'm personally not a huge fan of planks in any form. I'd much prefer to see something more dynamic like a mountain climber, dead bugs, or hanging knee or leg raises. Best of luck!

Yay. So excited for you. That was my arrival time too. I had to wake up at 3:30 to drink Gatorade?! I think I would have been up anyways though with so much on my mind. Best of luck tomorrow.

Can’t help with the decaf matcha (find matcha can be grainy and dusty & the caffeine knocks me) but what about trying green tea? It’s the same just milder in flavour and because it’s not as concentrated it has less caffeine (about 1/4 of coffee & I think about 1/3 of matcha). I’ve been drinking green tea for 20+ years. My surgeon allowed herbal or green tea after surgery thank goodness. I think I started drinking it again a few days after. I found the warmth more soothing & easier to sip than water. If it got too cool, I just reheated it in a microwave but some people swear by those little hot plates to keep your mug warm. Check with your team if you can try green tea as an alternative to your matcha.

Thank you! I have to agree, I noticed when I was making myself eat less, I cannot even work out well, I am lifting lighter or running slower because I am lethargic and fatigued. I do have to admit I am on the straight struggle bus with not being able to work out. I feel like I am eating too much however I am not eating near the calories I was. I do think it has to do with the dietician from my program shaming me into how much I was eating at my 6m appt. She told me that I needed to stick to 800 calories max, 100g protein, 140g carbs and 40g fat. I told her that is just not possible with sustaining my activity. She got into my head and I have been avoiding my 1yr check up for this reason because now I eat even more but I weigh 25lbs less. I wanna be you when I grow up! I was running 15ish miles a week and that was insane to me but 30miles? wow!!! how do you break that up? I would love to do a mini marathon though I am very intimated. I ran 5miles at once ONE time. The next day I couldn't move hahah

This weeks win: I am a diabetic but since loosing over 100 lbs my A1C is within Normal range and I take no more diabetes medicine. A lot of people don't know that most diabetics of color have dark rings around the neck called acanthosis that is a first sign indicator of insulin resistance. I was cleaning my neck with some witch hazel and noticed damn I do not see that black ring anymore. Major Win 🏆 .

I get your anxiety as I struggle with it as well and I’m pretty sure that I worried about the same thing but I would be surprised if they would have scheduled your surgery or your preop appointment if the surgery hadn’t been authorized. These surgeons are beyond busy and their office and surgical time is limited and worth a lot of money. Think about it, If they schedule you before they should and end up with a slot they can’t fill the Surgeon loses money and I’m sure they aren’t very happy if that happens too often. With the preop and authorizations required for this surgery it’s probably pretty difficult to fill an opening. They would need someone else that’s just been approved by insurance and still has over two weeks notice to do their preop appointment with the surgeon and start their preop diet and that date works for them and their driver. Most likely those people would’ve already been scheduled with their own date or they won’t be able to do surgery that date for one reason or the other. Long story short, they probably already got your approval and just didn’t tell you. That or they deal with your insurance company alot and they know the exact criteria and turnaround without a doubt. You really should be fine.

Many of you know my story. Was two months shy of turning 54 in 2019 when I got my sleeve. Lost all my weight & more and was successfully maintaining that low weight. I began gaining weight from puberty: about a stone a year. Then I started my 60-75kg weight diet/regain swing from my early 20s until peri menopause & menopause hit and then seemingly overnight I was 91kg. Nothing I did moved that weight. Hence my decision to get a sleeve. I experienced some weight regain (good 2 almost 3 kgs) almost 4 yrs ago after I had my gall removed. We worked out I had an absorption issue and wasn’t absorbing protein well or it turned out my HRT tablet (hot flushes, etc. had returned). Switched to a patch and lost the weight without doing anything & no menopause symptoms. Had a hysterectomy in September 2024 & then couldn’t access the HRT patch I was using (damn supply chain issues) & this is when my body turned against me again. ALL my menopausal symptoms returned: hot flushes, night sweats, poor sleep, headaches, creaky joints, acne, etc. & weight gain. Only three kgs so far but that’s in the last three months. And so here we go again. My body working against me. Since this regain began in January (used my last HRT patch in December & was my usual weight at the end of Dec) I’ve made some modifications to my eating. Dropped a snack, reduced some portions (which were still only recommended portion size or a little less). I eat pretty carefully anyway & stick closely to my plan of eating. Was eating about 1600 calories a day and now am probably at about 1300/1400. So at the very least I should have slowed the regain but nope. It’s scary & upsetting. I recognise it as being how my body & my hormones work (or don’t work!) but that doesn’t help. My doctor is trying to help me sort out alternative HRT but nothing is working yet as it all involves at least taking one tablet. I wish I was completely past all this hormone crap & I wish supply chain issues for pharmaceuticals were a thing of the past for everyone affected. I so wanted to be my maintained slim self when I turned 60 in 4 months. I always have been overweight at significant birthdays. This one was going to be different. The way I’m going I’ll be a stone heavier. Not overweight but more than I want to be & have been happy at. Very sad face.

So just wanted to pop in and give you my short experience. I never ran, until 6months ago, I started out with walking outside, then stair master, then walking on incline a little faster to a short jog. I too would jog for 2-3min at a time then walk for a min and continue that pattern for about 15min. Now I can run 3.5miles on my lunch break and it takes me about 30-32min to do so. I started really slow but running really helped with my body composition, my mind is more focused and overall has really helped my moods too. I also lift weights 4 days a week so that has helped. My only thing I noticed with all the working out is that I eat more LOL however when I was only eating 1200-1500 calories I was not building the muscle I wanted, and not looking how I wanted. So if you start eating more remember its the working out and your muscles is burning off all that fast! Now that I am not able to work out how I like due to PS I am slowly dying LOL but soon enough i'll be back to it. Enjoy this journey its so fun!

I don’t know if you are still interested or searching but I just had my sleeve done a week ago in Tijuana at LIMARP and they were amazingly wonderful! I’m happy to provide more info if still interested.

Thanks for the reminder that I need to put it on my calendar to do mine next week for my one month post op and congratulations on your loss!! Keep it up.

Meal prep from yesterday (made chorizo pepper bites instead of a frittata) so we’ll probably have leftovers twice this week. Also including meal prep pictures, dinner last night and my breakfast/lunch (took me 2 meals to finish the tacos) I find that if I meal prep breakfast everyone has a better day going forward so that’s been my focus lately.

I had a sleeve 3/9/2021. I was a lower BMI and on meds so the surgeon thought it was a good idea for me. I lost from 235 to 168 pretty quick, stalled there for a few months and then started gaining. For the start with the sleeve it felt like more of a diet. The only thing that made it a bit more successful was the fact that I didn’t have hunger for a while but as soon as it came back, so did the weight. I went back to the surgeon at 258 this time and he said that obesity is very complex and the sleeve is just not enough of a metabolic change for some people. I revised to the SADI 8/7/2024 and at three months post op I have lost 60 pounds with about 40 left to reach my secret goal. From day one I have known that this is different this time. I am able to actually enjoy some of the healthy recipes I am trying. I am making stuff from scratch and I have energy and motivation to exercise. Don’t get me wrong. I would love to binge watch my favorite show while eating a pizza but exercise also makes me feel great when I’m done and the healthy food doesn’t taste terrible so the healthy choices are a lot easier this time. For me, recovery was a breeze with the sleeve. I asked them the moment I woke up to take me off of pain meds, and I went home the next day forgetting at one point that I even had surgery. This was because I did not have any gas pains the first time around. After the SADI, however, I did have very significant gas pains and spent five days in the hospital because I could not get off of the pain medication that they did not want to send me home on. Once I finally was able to pass gas a few times, iI was fine, went home and did not need any more pain meds, other than Tylenol. It sounds like you already went through the worst gas pain so I can’t imagine the recovery being much harder for you. It’s the same basic thing the same laparoscopic incisions. Feel like you’ve done 1000 crunches. Take the second to go from sitting to standing or sitting to lying down but once you’re up, it’s not so bad. My doctor did not operate on the stomach, some do re-sleeve it, but he felt that resleeving carried more risk than it was worth in terms of additional weight loss. I was pretty nervous about that to be honest, but I am back to my pretty normal portions already but that’s not an issue because I am eating 100% clean this time. One thing with the SADI is, it’s fairly new in medical community time frame. I have seen a lot of specialist from different fields and not one has ever heard of the SADI. I always have to tell them it’s a modified duodenal switch and they get it. So your doctors may not be aware of it meaning you really need to understand the surgery yourself to make sure that you ask the right questions for future care. Another obstacle for me has been that the nutritionist in my area at least are pretty much worthless when it comes to the SADI. I have been fortunate enough that the nurse practitioner helped me work out my macros by viewing my Fitness app and my food log app and I have worked out something that is working for me. Aside from that, I could not be happier with my choice. I was told I could do SADI or Bypass revision. My surgeon did a gastric emptying study, endoscopy, and a barium swallow test to make sure everything was OK with my sleeve and to see what I was a candidate for. He ended up leaving it up to me because either would’ve worked, but he advised that the weight loss statistically is a little more and more durable with the SADI revision. it is pretty normal to be nervous at this point in your journey, but statistically this is a relatively safe procedure and honestly, the risk are far less than the risks of all the other diseases and conditions that will pop up eventually if you don’t do anything. I hope this helps. And good luck on your surgery.

Is anyone experiencing an intense hunger that feels very physical and very intense as if it may be Leptin levels are low or something hormonal. I explored with anti acids to see if it was a feeling from the mild GETD that I have experienced, drink plenty of water, eat adequate protein and fiber, small frequent meals. NOTHING IS WORKING… and I keep eating as it feels like hunger… strong hunger, but that does not alleviate either! HELP! 3 years post sleeve gastrectomy.

yesterday's smoked salmon avocado salad was so yum, i made another one...this time i added more stuff just cuz. salmon, avocado, strawberries, dried cranberries, gouda, brocollini, and....pumpkin pie!! haha, it was the last slice leftover from (canadian) thanksgiving last week hahah...didn't end up eating any of it anyway (and none of the brocollini either for some reason), but ate maybe ½ of everything else. 704 calories for the plate...not gonna adjust for what i actually ate cuz im most likely gonna finish the rest later. isnt it so colourful and pretty????

I put mine as the weight on the day I went to my first surgical consult, which was also my highest recorded weight. With the diet and lifestyle changes I made as part of the program, I lost about 13 lbs in the 6 months between then and the start of my pre-op diet. I lost another 13 lbs in those 2 weeks of liquid diet before surgery. But I want credit for all the weight I lost! Interestingly, Dr. Weiner recently said on a podcast that the weight lost on a pre-op diet definitely is credited to the surgery in his opinion. The reasoning was that if you go on a liquid diet, lose 13 lbs, and then try to keep that weight off without having surgery just by eating right, you are going to regain most or all of it in a matter of weeks. The fact that we lose that weight and then keep losing more weight instead of gaining is thanks to the metabolic changes of the surgery. He also told me in a live Q&A support group a while back to use my weight from before the pre-op diet as my starting weight if I wanted to plug it into a prediction calculator. I raised the concern of being a bit behind the prediction based on one of those calculators and he asked me what my weight was before the liquid diet. When we used that number instead of my surgery day weight, it tracked much better (and is still looking very accurate at 9 months out). He said if I had always been 225 lbs (my day of surgery weight) that would be one thing, but in reality, my "true" weight was somewhere between 238 and 251 in terms of what my metabolism was trying to overcome with the surgery. I feel like that's one of those big questions a lot of us have in the beginning and nobody really gives an answer on the calculator sites.

I drank it all the time before surgery. My clinic's instructions were to give up carbonated beverages forever, but I tried Diet Coke when I was about two or three years out. I about died - it tasted like a bunch of chemicals! (which it pretty much is). I ended up dumping it - it just wasn't good anymore - it was pretty bad, to be honest. I wasn't used to it any more - it'd been too long since I'd had it. I do drink flavored sparking water now (didn't start that until after the Diet Coke fiasco - so again, 2-3 years after surgery). Some brands are too carbonated for me (which really irritates my stomach), so I have to wait a while for those to flatten out a bit before I can drink them. Other brands I can drink right away since they're not as carbonated. btw - I don't think carbonation really causes your stomach to stretch out, but it really irritates some people's stomachs (which is why most surgeons will tell you to avoid it for the first few weeks or months after surgery. After that, some surgeons say it's fine as long as it doesn't irritate your stomach, and other surgeons tell you to give it up permanently)

You must be so incredibly frustrated! Which type of surgery did you get, the sleeve or the bypass? I'm at about 7 weeks post op from getting the sleeve + intestinal revision and my calorie consumption ranges from 500-700/day, with my carb intake less than 35/day and a protein goal of 60/day with fluids of at least 48oz/day. I agree with others - it seems like a good idea, regardless of any advice you get from this forum, to revisit your surgeon. That said, I do believe you hit the nail on the head for one with the alcohol, and secondly I'd ask how many of your calories are coming from carbs. It's ok to include carbs in your diet, but really, this early, unless you are very physically active there isn't cause for many of them. At this stage it's typical to eat no more than 1/2cup - 1 cup of total food per meal, three times a day (or spaced out into 4 meals if needed). That's including your protein, which as someone else said should be the first thing you eat. Another thing about alcohol - it tends to cause dehydration - so you'd need to be consuming even MORE water throughout the day to compensate for that, just like caffeine. If you aren't hitting your hydration goal (PLUS, because of alcohol) then your body will struggle to convert your stored fat into energy, which is what causes most of the weight loss. An example of what my diet looks like at this stage is a single serve yogurt for breakfast (I have been getting the Aikos zero sugar or 2Good ones) - Remember no drinking 30 minutes before or after, and your meal should last at least 20-30 minutes. For lunch I might have a 'tuna melt' - which I make out of 1/3 can of tuna in water, a zero net carb small tortilla, and maybe 1/8 cup of shredded cheese or a low fat string cheese (I cook it folded over like a quesadilla) with maybe 1/8 cup of low fat cottage cheese, then for dinner a serving of one of the many bariatric recipes - there's a ricotta bake (lasagna with no noodles, basically), unstuffed cabbage rolls (Kind of like egg roll filling), or maybe chicken or tuna salad made with low fat mayo and a dab of relish with some cucumber slices/2-4 saltine crackers. I use the free Baritastic App to track my food and fluid intake. Using a tracking app increases weight loss significantly from what I've been told because you can see and understand what exactly you're putting in your body. The good news is that as far as I know, it isn't too late to backpedal and reset yourself! I'm NOT a doctor but my understanding is that if you get off track after weight loss surgery, especially this soon, one way to 'reset' is to go back on a liquid diet for a week or two, with zero-sugar jello, zero sugar pudding, and protein shakes (less than 5g of sugar each) to hit your goals. After that, work your way back up to puree foods for a week, then soft foods for a week. I strongly recommend eyeballing the nutrition information on any shake you think of buying, too, because there are some that are loaded with sugar and have as many as 22g of carbs EACH. After weight loss surgery it's also strongly discouraged to have fried food at all for the first 6 months, and after that maybe once per month. The same goes for sweets and baked goods. I hope this helps, and again - I feel like you should really follow up with your surgeon and a nutritionist! Best wishes!

Finally starting to feel “normal” again with food prep and meals after being in a funk the past few months. Went to a conference a couple weeks ago and this was the lunch. The salmon was good. The rice and soup? Not so much. And I didn’t even grab dessert. 😂

Hey all, so I’m in the process of getting a revision I have the Lapband wanting to remove it and getting the Sleeve. I have BCBS of MA. How was the process for you guys. What where your requirements, and how long did everything take meaning the whole process and the approval time. I went 2 weeks ago to my consultation, did the nutrition class then my ecg that same day now waiting for to talk to a psych. And the place is taking long I already called bcbs it’s in my network and also got my copay these ppl are taking long I’m ready to start my new journey