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Haha! Mine would change sizes I thought I was going insane! My doctor said it's fine and it's just healing on the inside. I haven't noticed it much the last week or so. Also Hello everyone! I had my surgery august 6th. Looking forward to talking to people with a similar start date!

Meet my sexy friend in which we have a daily love affair. This weeks win, I am on vacation in the country side and drinking ALOT of water...this thing goes wherever I go. What a love affair 😂😂

New week new things that I grieve ... pre-menstruation hunger and menstruation hunger needs to be further talked about in the bariatric community.

I am really struggling with tracking my food. I have tried many different trackers, both digital and paper but I just can’t seem to stick to it. I have ADHD, time blindness and object impermanence (out of sight out of mind). The crazy thing is that even when I eat, I do not think “Oh I need to write this down” never. It just doesn’t occur to me. I recently switched to clear acrylic tumblers because I still wasn’t meeting my water goals. I bought (2) 40 ounce tumblers so I only have to refill it once. This has been working for me. The goal is 64 ounces of water per day so if I don’t completely finish the refill as long as I get below 1/2 on the second round I am good. Switching to the acrylic tumblers helped with my out-of-sight-out-of-mind issues so now I can see exactly how much water is in the tumbler as opposed to others where I had no idea… it’s just a bottle… wonder how much is in it? LOL I have a huge aversion to meticulous counting. I bought Japanese-style condiment dishes to use as plates/bowls to control portion sizes. They hold approximately 3 oz of food. I also purchased multiple sets of pretty “toddler” flatware that matched my regular flatware… it’s just smaller…. This controls my “bite size”. So, how I do go about hacking my brain to be able to track food? Because even if I do remember to do it at the end of the day, it is inevitable that I will miss something or not remember exactly how much I ate. The memory clarity/issues are a daily struggle. I struggle using digital apps with my all or nothing brain. I have an iPhone and iPad and use native apps like Reminders, Notes and Calendar to move through the day. I really don’t want one.more.app.to.keep.up.with… but I am willing to try if someone has found something that works for spicy brains. Does anybody else struggle with this? How did you work through it?

Great ideas above but if that doesn’t work for you or for others reading this later, What if you were to just divide your alloyed macros or calories into meals/snacks. Like if you were allowed 1200 a day you do meals around 300 calories and 3 100 calorie snacks. For macros just don’t routinely eat any food over X grams of fat or added sugar. You can break it up differently. I did a protein shake for breakfast so I could have what felt like a little more substantial lunch and dinner. It should’ve be as hard forever. Once you figure out a handful meals that are within this plan you most likely will just sorta remember what meals work. I know I did and I live my life by alarms and reminders. Sometimes I joke that if my alarm didn’t tell me to wake up one day I just may not…ever. That’s how reliant I am on them. Anyways, I have a handful of my common meals that I know will work if I don’t have time to think about things. And if I’m having a less ideal lunch then I already know it’s chicken breast of fish for dinner with a veggie. Every meal for me has protein unless it’s a real odd day out and then I do my best to make up for it with a Greek yogurt or shake for snack. Another option would be to do the guess work the night before and pre plan what you eat the next day. You can play around with options and log it all into Baritastic or another calorie tracker app and know if it fits you plan and then just eat what’s on your list the next day. That may actually take a little stress out of it as well just having the decisions already made the day before. The meal prep mentioned before seems like a great way to achieve this as well. I know that I have single serve meals like that in the freezer. My regular and chicken chili are really great because they can even be defrosted in the microwave so they are good for days with zero planning or time.

I think you right I feel better after a bowel movement- could have been kiwi or small potato bite I took but totally freaky my diet is mainly chicken nuggets and airfryer shrimps with some berries and profee 3 months post op tried searching for recipes but failed & don’t think can accommodate much anything I should add other than Greek yogurt (hateful) or cottage cheese (already eating some)

Is anyone else still discovering stick stuff on their bodies? I will be three weeks post op tomorrow and I just found some this morning. I swear I have showered. 😆

I'm about 4 weeks post op so I don't have a lot of smaller clothes. I'm trying to go as long as I can without buy new clothes because I don't know what size I will settle at. But I really like these jeans because they are skinny cargo jeans. I might just buy these in 2 different sizes just in case. I also find leggings not being tight annoying. My problem has always been that I'm too short for standard leggings so I would need a size 22 leggings but they would be too long. Now they are baggy and too long. But I've always been able to wear legging a size smaller than jeans or trousers because of the stretch.

Okay so I had my appt with the NP And thank god I asked for it. As I suspected she said she has no clue why they told me I just had to do the two day liquid diet. I thought she was going to say I had to do a week like my sleeve but she said I have to do Two weeks and the two days of liquids. So I have to start Monday. Now I have to cut the rest of my caffeine out even faster and get my groceries for Monday. It’s doable but I don’t like last minute changes. Luckily my LSD isn’t all shakes. I do get a meal and a snack. The meal is 3oz lean mean and 1/2 cup of non starchy veggies with 1/3 cup grains or starchy veggies or fruit. I remember last time I wasn’t starving, just really board with it. I’m guessing two weeks it’s going to be even more boring though. 😳

It’s been 5 years so my memory is super clear, but I do remember being given a 1oz med cup in the hospital. I believe I was told to drink one of those full of protein shake every hour while awake. So assuming 16 hours awake that is 16 oz so just about 1.5 shakes. I think that was for the first week, then increased after that. All programs do vary with their instructions though!

I have been using this Moderna scar gel for the past week and you can use it on old and new stars and I’m actually noticing a bit of a difference already. Just thought I’d share. Obviously run it by your team to make sure you’re ready for it and they agree, but my nurse practitioner is the one who recommended it.

I am 13 days post SADI and I made some veggies with a terriaki sauce and thought I would purée them and try a bit. I started with just a couple of bites because I’ve never had any of the veggies or the sauce and my face needs a little hot. Is that a sign of dumping? It only has 6g sugar in the whole serving and I had like 3 tiny post op bites.

Honestly, in pounds, you weigh 272, and you need to lose 27. That's absolutely doable. I agree that 12 weeks is a LOOOONG liquid diet. Are you able to have even 1 meal per day at any point? I understand they want you to lose 27 pounds before your surgery, but 3 months on only liquids seems really, really harsh. Either way. congratulations on getting your surgery day!!! You'll love your life after, I can tell you that.

I struggled to eat enough to slow my losing though not as much as you are. I reached goal at 6 months and was barely eating 900 calories. It took another year to get to about 1300 calories and for my weight loss to stabilise. To increase my intake I was eating all day long or it certainly felt that way. I had three meals and 5 or 6 snacks, predominately in the afternoon and evening. It took another year +/- to get to around 1600 calories which is about what I eat now to continue to pretty much maintain that initial stabilised weight.. And yes I still snack but only 3 or 4 times a day now to meet my caloric needs. So, yes, some of us do take time to get those calories up. But you are a more extreme case. If this has happened in rare other cases, what did they say what treatment was used in those cases? Can they stretch your pouch via an endoscopy or balloon? Have they suggested you incorporate those nutrient dense, high calorie smoothies like Ensure used for those with digestive and eating issues?

I'm new here, I have surgery 8/19. I'm on a liquid diet for TWO WEEKS prior to surgery... has anyone else done two weeks? Seems like one week is the usual... and even then it looks like actual food is present in one meal a day. Interested to see if anyone else has this hardcore of pre-op instructions. thanks!!

Sometimes stalls are just stalls, and there's not much you can do about them. Sometimes just changing things up a bit so you body has something new to get used to can also help jar you out. I personally think of my stalls kind of like my body is a computer, and the stall is the time it takes the thing to reboot. Sometimes it's long, sometimes short. Sometimes uninstalling an older program and reinstalling an updated version will help your machine boot faster. If your body has gotten used to eating the same thing everyday, maybe try changing it up a little. For a week, maybe find a protein bar or a different source of protein like greek yogurt for breakfast. Replace your broccoli with green beans or leafy greens, or try a different dinner protein for a while. As for exercise, I agree -- any exercise is good exercise. If you've got access to a pool, swimming can act as both cardio and muscle strengthening. There are also water exercises you can find online that can target certain areas -- look up water aerobics or aquafitness on youtube if you need some ideas. I go to a local community pool twice a week for drop-in aquatics specifically tailored to be a sort of aquatic physio session, but there's lots of options out there to suit a variety of needs.

Only you know the answer as you have to be ready, mentally, physically and emotionally, for the surgery and the changes you will have to make to be successful with the surgery in the long term. I was healthy, no comorbidities at all yet I knew at my weight and age (almost 54) the chance of them developing was very high. I also knew I could lose weight myself as I had many, many times before (though it’s much harder as a menopausal woman) but I also knew I could put it all back on again which I always did. The decision was easy. Woke up one morning and said enough. Made an appointment with my GP and 6 weeks later I had my surgery (no or very few hoops to jump through in Australia if you meet the criteria). Yes, the first couple of months aren’t easy: restricted diet, temporarily changed tastebuds and interesting discussions with yourself around food, eating, hunger, etc. (the head work we talk about begins). Pain was gone after 4 days though if you have surgical gas pain it can linger a week or so. You’ll discover and decide how & what you want to eat in the long term to maintain and that may be different from others. It’s all about what works for you & your lifestyle. Many people still eat ‘unhealthy’ food but it’s all about the portion they eat and how often they eat it. Everyone travels & then it often comes down to making the best choices you can and not beating yourself up if you do indulge while away. I just came back from a short girls trip and ate an obscene amount of cheese & drank more than I usually do. I’m okay about it and got back on my usual path when I got home. Like @NickelChip there are things I avoid. Bread, rice, pasta sits heavily in my tummy too. Foods can be super sweet so I generally avoid sweet things (I do indulge at odd times like at Christmas). I don’t find it hard to avoid or reduce my intake of those foods I struggle to eat or choose not to eat rarely. I don’t want to waste the opportunity I’ve been given. And yes, I’d do it again in a heart beat. All the best whatever you choose to do.

Not that familiar with the switch surgery but I presume it would be the same for all surgeries in that after the surgery there is a new "standard" to meal sizes. If you went back to eating what would be a normal size meal pre-op you would probably make yourself ill and uncomfortable as you can't fit the food in. I am almost a year and a half out (sleeve) and if I had to have a sandwich I would have half per meal but I am trying to stay away from bread/pasta/rice as much as possible as they take up space in my smaller stomach that should have proteins as the priority. I was in the US recently and was happy to see that Pret did half portions so I just got their one half chicken and avocado to have when on the go. For me I still find that for breakfast a yogurt, for lunch and dinner 150ml/3oz of food with a small snack a while later is sufficient for me main meal wise. I think have protein drink or bar as snacks if needed. When eating out I usually just have a starter and would not always finish. If ordering a main course I usually manage 1/3, or 1/2 if it is a small one, and bring the rest home.

I think it's fantastic you're thinking about this now. Unfortunately a lot of people don't really think about that until it's too late. My goal is not only to increase my lifespan, but possibly even more importantly, my healthspan. By that I mean I want to remain healthy and capable as long as I can. Changing topics a bit, as you continue jogging, I wanted you to be aware of something that not a lot of people realize. This is a bit of an oversimplification, but you can break up the parts of your body that are involved in running performance into two big buckets: The first is your cardiovascular system. We're talking about heart, arteries, veins & capillaries, as well as the intracellular components that deliver oxygen and glucose to your muscles. Interestingly, this system tends to improve faster than the next system. The second is your musculoskeletal system. Obviously we're talking about your muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments. All of these will improve over time, but tend to be a bit slower to get stronger. I mention this because not understanding how these components react is probably the top reason new runners hurt themselves. As they start running, they find they're able to run farther/faster fairly soon as their cardiovascular system improves. Unfortunately, their musculoskeletal system (especially their bones, tendons and ligaments), aren't quite ready for the extra stress. In short, take your time pushing farther and faster and make sure to take an occasional deload week, just like you would for your strength training.

Hey! I think the important thing to remember here is that everyone is different, and at 6 weeks you are still quite early on post-op and your body is likely still healing The weight loss will happen for the first 18 months according to my surgeon, regardless of the rate of losing, so just know you are on the right track, and a loss of 10kg is absolutely amazing! Celebrate your wins, be kind to yourself, you are doing great

You are doing great. My doc said as ling as its going in the right direction there is no right amount. I am also losing about 1kg a week and it feels slooooow. But I also measured everything when I started and realized I have lost 2 inches ! So when the weight is slow there is another motivator! Slow and steady….

I know programmes differ hugely but my surgeon placed absolutely no restrictions on caffeine and I was hugely grateful. I have no idea whether there is good evidence that caffeine consumption affects weight loss after bariatric surgery but I suspect very much not. @GreenTealael do you have any evidence to share? I am a coffee, not a matcha drinker, but I know how much I valued those coffees in the weeks and months after my surgery. Might be worth drilling down into the actual evidence based practice with your team if matcha means as much to you!

Ok. I’m two weeks out. My dr ordered diet is liquids and purée for the first four weeks. I’m so sick of broth. I’m tired of pudding. I don’t want mashed potatoes anymore. I’ve puréed green beans but I’m over it. I tried purée meat but that is a NO GO. Any ideas on good purée things I can do for the next two weeks?

Hello folks! It's been a while since I posted; been somewhat all over the map just trying to figure out what and when to eat and how to up my hydration. I finally settled on the fact that I'm just still not liking eggs, which is annoying, that tuna, salmon, and chicken are my go-to protein sources, and carbs?? UGH. I literally had two providers in my back to back nurse practitioner then nutritionist give me conflicting advice regarding carbs at my one month post op. Due to a rescheduled appointment I had that appointment on 9/11 as opposed to the week earlier - my surgery was on 8/5. The nurse told me that my energy level was probably flagging because of not hitting my hydration goals and that eating carbs after hitting my protein goals was fine, as long as I avoided sugar. Then the nutritionist came in and talked about how I should still be avoiding carbs in order to hit ketosis, and that supposedly once I hit ketosis I'll feel like a million bucks. Eesh. I've been tracking everything in my Baritastic app and I have only gone up to 31 carbs like, two days since my surgery, and it was because of applesauce and cream based soup. I'm wondering when I'm supposed to start feeling fantastic?! The third week plateau was REAL and incredibly obnoxious; I didn't see movement on my scale for almost a week despite hitting my protein goals and struggling to hit my hydration goals. I broke through it, though I'm still not losing as quickly as I'd like. I find that eating Greek yogurt in the morning serves me pretty well, and I've also noticed that sometimes I have to split my meals into 'part one' and 'part two' in order to hit my protein goal. Like; I'll have my yogurt, wait the thirty minutes, hydrate for a while, hit the timer, then 30 minutes later have another small protein snack. It's definitely been a struggle to keep my energy up and not get burned out on this whole thing. I felt like I was rocking along until after purees, then I just ended up baffled as to what I could or should eat. Honestly, the limits on vegetables don't seem to be holding particularly true for me; I've been fine with tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onion, mushrooms, carrots, and beans. I've not had much as far as fruits - one day I was out and didn't have any food with me so I got a kids meal from arby's with a bottled water, just the meat from a slider, and a packet of applesauce. I split that applesauce pouch into three portions, honestly, and only ate about half of the deli meat they gave me. Maybe I'll try to find more recipes using cream cheese - I'm annoyed that my grocery order didn't have the cabbage I ordered because I was looking forward to making some of the unstuffed cabbage rolls for this week. Guess I'll have to suck it up and go to the store for the missing items tomorrow. I bought an exercise bike I'm looking forward to using - It's a recumbent bike and I haven't figured out the right TIME to try to use it. It's been a bit of a struggle to find the timing between meals, hydrating, meds, vitamins, housework, etc but hopefully returning to this forum will help me get more on track. For anyone it might help - I've found that low fat cottage cheese and tuna melts made on a zero net carb small tortilla with 1/3 a can of tuna and two thin slices of colby/jack or a skim/reduced fat mozzarella string cheese are my main sources of protein. A couple of days ago I made a veggie mix of zucchini, broccoli, bell peppers, and a bit of diced onion. I've sliced up thin bits of both chicken and pork separately and use some of that zero sugar stir fry sauce to make meals of them. It works, even if not particularly exciting, and has a nice flavor at least.

Hey guys, The last few days have been super hard I just want to eat all the time I feel so empty! I know its mainly head hunger and at nearly 8 weeks out it is my mind fighting against the changes I have made. I miss eating more! I have had slight cravings for junk food lately but I will not eat it because I know it will do me absolutely no good and it will make me worse off. I haven't eaten any of it since before my surgery and have no plans to in the future. As a recovering food addict a little bite would be a massive trigger to eat way too much and I can't deal with that. I know I have been addicted to food pretty much my whole life but I honestly didn't think that my addiction was as bad as it clearly is. I don't regret having the surgery and having lost 2 stone 6lbs is amazing in such a short time, it's just so hard to get used to the huge life change. I am all in and will continue eating healthy unprocessed food because my body loves it and I feel so much better physically. It's taking my mind a long time to catch up though and I'm struggling. I have heard plenty of ideas about finding a hobby and doing things to focus my mind away from food but I need to face up to my food demons and learn to live with them. I don't want to avoid these feelings coming up, they need to be dealt with. So I journal when it gets too much and I post on here too. I'm just looking for some one who understands how I feel and who can tell me it gets better! Thanks again guys x