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This is awesome, thanks!!! Yeah, I've been low carb for so long that my body just doesn't tolerate them anymore. But I'll look into keeping my protein up and adding in more fats. I've been keeping my fats at 40-50 per day, but I'm going to look into doubling that and see how it goes. I actually really like pork rinds, so I'm going to grab some for snacks. I didn't even think of those!!! I will slowly try to bring my carbs up to around 50 per day if I can, but it was easier when I was working out 5 days per week. Now that I'm not, it's a lot harder to do. But I'm going to work on that, as well. Thanks!!

Hi there! I didn't see the doc on Monday because my knee felt slightly better. However, it's not good now, so my husband is taking the day off to help me around the house and take me to the doctor! Thank you for asking!! We have a bunch of animals, and trying to care for them on my own is pretty impossible right now. It's crazy how different our sizing is! I wish we had a universal system for weights and measures. Maybe someday, but I'm too old to convert at this point. Lol. I hope you broke your stall!!!

I have it too. Random episodes but I also experienced it before surgery. Friends used to laugh and say it was an excuse not to do any strenuous type exercise (which was when I mostly had episodes) until they witnessed me experiencing it. Freaked them out. Yes, keep little snacks on hand. Eat to a routine. (I started to do this early after surgery because of the lack of hunger and any interest in eating. I knew I had to eat to get in the nutrients my body needed. I still do 5 years out.) Have an electrolyte drink on hand if you know your day will be busy and you may miss meals. (I added a hydralyte tablet to a bottle of water when I knew I would be out or at work.) And I plan ahead in situations I know may cause an episode. For example, sometimes I pop out before breakfast to grab a few groceries. To ward off an attack I’ll have a few blueberries before I leave. My last attack was 4 weeks ago at hospital. The hospital doesn’t provide the sandwiches or cheese & crackers after you have surgery any more. That night I had an episode. It had been 24hrs since I’d eaten and when I spoke to a nurse, she informed me o had to order my own meals through an app or ring an order through. Sorry but still rather out of it from the anaesthetic, sleepy and having a hypoglycemia episode does not make downloading an app and creating passwords, etc. easy. Plus the phone & menu was out of my reach because of the IV and being plugged into those pulsing leg wrap things. Due to my woozy befuddled brain, I totally forgot I had packed a few protein bars which would have got me through. And yes, I had identified I had hypoglycemia on my admitting records.

So I follow this fitness guru who’s very very well read on everything health and fitness. His client success stories are insane and what they all have in common is that they keep the weight off. His first and foremost advice is to walk 10k steps and eat at a slight caloric deficit. His clients literally follow that and drop tons of weight. He keeps telling people that if they don’t want to lose too much weight or slow weight loss they need to not exceed 10k steps a day. I see a lot of messages directed to him from people working in the health industry who complain that their steps are beyond 30k which is insane and he always tells them to never drop their calories below 2000 for females (sometimes 2500 depending on weight and height). You probably walk a lot and you are definitely at a calorie deficit which is causing this inadvertent weight loss. I would say get even a cheap sports watch (huwaei is a good one) to get an idea of what your daily step count is. Also you might think you’re working out twice a week but it seems you’re working out daily doing your job.

Hey and welcome to the June buddies thread I am just over 2 weeks since sleeve surgery and yes, the first 2 weeks were difficult. That chewing sensation is what I was craving and actually got some great advice earlier in this thread. I started to chew on sugar free ice lollies and made sure I had ice with my liquids, so I could crunch them. Other than that, not a lot you can do until you're on the next stage. All the best for your journey

I am in a similar boat as @ms.sss and @Lilia_90 I still enjoy all the foods, desserts, Mexican food, Chinese, ice cream. Everything in moderation for sure, and I stay very active, I do track all my food and stay within my macros during the week for the most part. But I do eat ice cream every night LOL mostly my protein ice cream made with my ninja creami but sometimes I will eat off my hubbys Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. My relationship with food has changed and I worked/ am working really hard to not abuse food like I have before. In my mind this is a life long journey and my life long journey does not look like salads and chicken till I die LOL I am in the same bought with how food brought me and hubs together, getting fast food after the kids went to bed and stuffing ourselves while watching a movie, he is slightly jaded by that and make comments "well you cant eat that anyways, or your going to have bite and waste it" But we have our own thing going on since I have lost all this weight. Anywho! yea! it doesn't have to be so strict forever, but slider foods are a thing and making sure to stay active is important I think.

Had my one week post op appt today. She said my incisions look good but when she was cleaning one of them mostly because I was scared since the bandage came off in the shower and it was bleeding she noticed my pain lying on the table and getting up. She told me that I am trying to be too tough and that I need to take my pain meds. I ended up talking to her about that again today and she said if I don’t want to take them thatI could take Tylenol and try a muscle relaxer which I just picked up both and came home with the groceries popped the trunk and went inside. My husband took the hint since I had already texted him that I was hurting pretty bad. lol. I mostly talked to her about my gallbladder since I didn’t know anything about that ahead of time and didn’t much care while I was in the hospital. She made it sound like for most people it’s not really that big of a deal. I may have some issues with super rich and greasy foods but for most people that’s about it. She also started me in B-12 injections. She said it usually ends up being required witb the SADI but now with the gallbladder thing too she may as well just start me now. I am starting with once a month and we will tweak it from there depending on labs. So I picked that up too and ordered the sharps container and medical grade alcohol swabs. Wish me luck since I can’t even look when I get a shot. I feel like I have had to learn so much this week. A lot of surprised but am still just rolling with the punches. My biggest thing that’s pulling me through right now is that Sunday I get to have purées. 😆 Good luck to the two having surgery tomorrow and I hope that everyone else is going well with preop and recovery. ❤️‍🩹

@AndreaJD and @ShoppGirl, I also had a pre-op call from the nurse today. My PCP had ordered a bunch of labs that I felt were not needed. I feel so much better because the nurse and surgeon agreed with me. I also leary that I might pass out if I needed to have so much blood taken while on a very low calorie diet. Here is how my pre-op diet works. It lasts 13 days. Days 1-12 I have to eat all of the following: 3 protein shakes w/skim milk (8oz), 1/2c oatmeal or cream of wheat, 1/2c SF pudding, 4-6oz CarbMaster yogurt, 1c low-fat soup, 1/2c unsweetened applesauce, 1c of any combination (baby carrots, celery, cucumber, broccoli, tomato, iceberg lettuce) with 2T FF dressing, and 60-84oz clear liquids. Day 13: 64-80oz clear liquids only. Today is day 7 and as I have progressed it has gotten more difficult to get all the food/water in each day. Several days I did not eat the pudding. I decided to prioritize my protein. Also, starting today I am not taking any vitamins just maintenance meds. I will restart vitamins one week after surgery. I still do not know my surgery time, as they call the day before to tell me when to be there. So, this time next week my surgery will be done and my new journey begins. How is everyone else doing? Getting anxious, scared, excited?

Go back to the basics! Prioritize protein, cut out sugar, stick to 140g total carbs, 40g fat. Meal Prep and go for daily walks Its doable!! You got this! This is my diet at 7months post op with an 1hr + of exercise 6x a week (exercise is 30min weight lifting and 30-45min cardio) Wake up: Café latte premier protein and decaf cold brew Breakfast: egg whites, Jennie o turkey sausage, cheese and Pico de Gallo Snack: fruit and mini jerky stick or popcorn (lesserevil brand only 50cal low carb and has some protein) Lunch: usually a salad with pasta, veggies, some crunch (wonton strips, crispy onions, croutons) dressing is homemade (Greek yogurt, hidden valley ranch dry mix, fat free Italian dressing to thin it out) snack: Oikos or Dannon Light and Fit yogurt with granola Dinner: I get fancy- last night I had an Egglife wrap put 2TSP of pest on it, 3oz grilled chicken, 10g of reduced fat mozzarella cheese, 1 tlbs of picked jalapeno, 1 tbls of red onion and 10g of shredded Parmesan cheese Dessert: a couple of yasso popples, or Ill have a few bites of my hubbys ben and jerrys (lol) This is my normal day to day with variations but I usually end up with about 130+ of Protein, under 90g carbs and under 50g of fat. I am not perfect at all but meal prepping really really helps my week be successful. I also track every single thing (bad or good) in Netdiary and I pre-track my day the night before or the morning of, this allows me to see what I have going on and if I decide to eat a piece of sugar free chocolate or make myself an iced coffee with sugar free creamer, I can see if my macros fit it. Lately I have been going over but I am still losing weight. I have surpassed my goal weight and am still losing- lot slower- so I am trying to figure out how to eat a bit more so I can maintain. I love this journey and am having so much fun with it (crazy I know) but I am an open book and am happy to help with meal plans, meal prep and exercises!

Hey everyone! It’s been a tough couple of days. I live in a constant state of nausea from the time I wake up until I go to bed. I’m out of Zofran so I take my Phenegren every 4 hours on the clock. It’s making it ridiculously hard to even begin to figure out my fullness cues. I’m hoping it gets better and I keep telling myself I survived a whole pregnancy on a Zofran pump so I can get through a couple weeks. The lack of energy is also hard. I went out yesterday and by 4 I was yawning and people kept asking if I was okay. I almost fell asleep driving home and crashed by 10pm. It’s like I can do one chore and then I have to rest for 30 minutes. I really didn’t think about this before and now I know why people take off work until they get to regular diet. The good news is I’m losing about a pound a day, I have no pain, and my incisions are healing well. Thursday I have a dietitian appointment and get moved to puréed foods!

Oh Dear- I hate it when the assigned health care provider is not up to the task -or even just a poor fit- my favorite example from my own life is when I was discharged a week after the birth from my daughter a d the doctor discharging said the following - you need to get this vaccination.. what is it- I do not know but it is standard at discharge ( it was for whooping cough and I had had my booster les than a year prior-) And then he said - oh and since you had a regular (ie vaginal birth) with no stitches you do not require any follow up- no dude I had an emergency c-section under total sedation after failed progression and now have a smiley face of staples i told him to leave and find me a doctor who could read a chart but since it seems you are nicer than I am, I would ask your surgeon- who you get along with quite well- to refer you to a registered dietitian (not just a ‘nutritionist’- as there is a difference where I am from)- preferably one with extensive bariatric experience you have a lot of knowledge but we all have blind spots - a good dietitian can be your nutrition partner in this journey. Good luck!

I am 8 months post op from RNY and what I can tolerate has expanded quite a bit even in just the past few months, after I made it past the 6-month mark especially. You're still healing right now and the next 12 months or so will be very different than the rest of your life that comes after. I love tacos, but instead of filling up on tortilla, I often make a taco salad and just crumble a few tortilla chips on top. Or I order fajitas and eat the meat/veg/cheese but leave the tortilla (or just eat a bite or two if I really want it, which is all I can really manage without getting too full). Ice cream, chips and queso, guac are all fine and I do eat them sometimes as a treat. Try eating guac with carrots when you're okay to have raw veg. It's delicious and very healthy in moderation. Falafel is still a bit filling and too low in protein, but I would take a bite or two. Mac and cheese and pad thai would be pretty low on my list as the noodles are just so heavy. Like, they don't even sound good any more. I do like spaghetti made with spiral zucchini, though. Maybe you could make homemade pad thai using spiral veg instead of the noodles? You could eventually try the Banza chickpea mac and cheese as it's much higher in protein, though right now, I find it's so heavy I don't like it. Over the next several months, you will be able to eat a lot more, both in types and quantity of food. My advice is focus on developing a good routine and keeping your food at 80-90% of the healthy foods like lean protein, veg, and fruit. If you do that, you can indulge in a favorite snack every few days, or maybe one meal a week that isn't so nutritious, or go for ice cream a couple times a month, and it's no big deal. You just can't do it every day. And I suggest not buying anything tempting for your house. I go for a scoop of ice cream at a local farm but I won't keep it in my freezer because I would want it every day.

Best wishes to you. Please let us know how you’re doing in the coming weeks!

You've gotten some good advice already, but reading your post, a few things stood out to me. These are in no particular order: 1200 calories sounds high for 15 weeks post-op, but if that's what your plan calls for, who am I to question it? I think the bigger question is does this 1200 number include all the alcohol? One of the reasons alcohol is not recommended post bariatric surgery is that it's got a ton of calories and will definitely slow weight loss. The other huge concern on alcohol is that a substantial number of post-op patients develop alcohol use disorder. (Some estimates are as high as 20% or even 30%.) You didn't actually specify how much you drink, but when I see "active social life", I interpret that as "I drink a lot". Maybe try drinking non-alcoholic drinks when you are socializing? If you find that you can't give it up the alcohol, this is a major red flag and you really need to seek help. Taking another approach here, I noticed that you are being more active, which is fantastic! I did want to make sure you knew that changing your activity levels like that (starting a couch to 5k plan), will cause your body to retain more water. This means you may not see the results you are expecting on the scale, even if you are still losing fat. Keep in mind that the your weight is made up of lots of things other than just fat, so variations are normal and are just part of the process. If you are eating less than you burn in a day, then you are 100% burning off fat reserves, even if the scale does not show it. Best of luck.

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!

I had my bypass in May 22. Happily and I needed to,\ I have lost a decent amount of weight after the bypass. My diet has been much improved. I go for walks most days and attend a gym once a week. On the down side depression has been kicking my butt and I have recently been hospitalized because of it. I spent a month inside and tried a new medication but it didnt seem to do anything for me so My P'doc said to stop taking it. Ever since then appetite has skyrocketed and it is causing me so much distress which I try to fix by eating. Yes, the cycle continues. So far my weight has not altered much but that wont stay the same forever. My psychiatrist has suggest that I ask my GP to prescribe Ozempic. Yes, I am a diabetic but since the bypass have managed my bsls with exercise and diet. Has anybody added Ozempic to help with their wls journey? Were there any draw backs. WHat else have you tried to get help with food addiction.

Yep surgical gas & IV fluids. It will take about a week for you to breathe out the gas (it’s not in your tummy but in your abdomen & it rises up behind your lungs before being absorbed into your lungs) and a couple of days to pee out the extra fluids. You can help the gas move up & then into your lungs to be breathed out by walking, doing arm lifts, marching on the spot. (Do as much as you can without straining your post surgical body. Little and often is best.) Deep, slow breathing can help too. Heat pads can help with the shoulder pain that occurs when it rises behind your lungs.

Hi!! Going well!! 26kg down and loving the energy and the movement I have now! I was in abit of a slump the past 2 weeks just with sickness and not going to the gym so I hadn’t dropped any kg but I spoke to someone about it and they said to start measurements which I have not done! So will start that I guess. how about you?

So I got another Steri strip off and my belly button looks funny now. My husband said he’s guessing it’s caused by some swelling I still have which is also why he thinks one of my incisions looks sort of dented in. I certainly hope so. I mean the scars I can deal with (although the belly button one is pretty thick unfortunately). I don’t plan to be wearing any bikinis anytime soon anyways but the weird belly button I don’t think I can get past. Went to my crochet/ knit group today and it was even easier than last week. I felt up to stopping by the fresh market after to just scope it out. I really thought I remembered it having more lower calorie/ low fat stuff. I mean they do have a much better variety or produce and seafood which is good and they have some convenience foods that are healthy-ish (like they have steamer bags of cut veggies that look delicious but they have butter or another sauce in them) things that look like they will be awesome for maintenance but maybe not quite yet. They do have like fresh prepared stuff that’s relatively healthy and would be a really good alternative to take out like salmon and veggie meals that are already prepared and Turkey meatballs as well as a Turkey meatloaf . The ingredients in the meatballs aren’t too bad (it prints on the sticker but she printed one for me to read ahead). It doesn’t have nutrition info though. I just really thought they had more fat free in like cheeses and all that. They do have lots of cheeses and dressings and all that just not a lot of low fat or fat free. Anyways, last week I just did the crochet group and came home and crashed because it zapped my energy. Today I did the store too and I’m not feeling exhausted.it really has gotten better day by day for me. Hopefully at this point I can just stay up and get back on track a little with my sleep schedule. That afternoon nap has been making me stay up later and later and then I want to sleep in. I am not sure if I mentioned but I ordered some Walking shoes. I am going to try to walk around the neighborhood and see if I can handle the heat as well as the activity. I think I’m going to start in the evenings since I haven’t been getting up early but hope to eventually switch it to mornings to get it done for the day. Pretty excited still for Monday. Not sure what I’m going to have with my snow crabs yet. I would normally have a potato or rice. Maybe some grilled squash with onions. Those are pretty soft.

Had mine on 5 June and transitioned to soft stage on 27 - I was hungry first week post op but the restriction kicks in asap you transition and you are full after two teaspoons

Congrats on the mega stall break! I don't know if you can get kale where you are ... I promise this is so much better than it sounds it's like crack health food. I was like a bit bleh when i heard about it ... But air fryer kale chips. A lot of Kale, salt, oil Wash kale, take out the big middle stalks, put in a big bowl with some salt and a tablespoon of oil and massage. Put in preheated airfryer at 400F for 3 minutes, shake, back in for 3 minutes. Delicious. Will catch up properly later!

When I first met with my dietitian she told me I would need to start my LSD 2 weeks prior to surgery but that it might be changing. When I had my last appointment and got my updated instructions, i don't have to start my diet until 8/13, 4 days before surgery. I have 2 days of protien shakes, broth based soup for dinner and two days of clears. I've started stockpiling things like bone broth and they had a sale on Snack Packs (sugar free pudding) at Kroger so I bought a BUNCH of those. I don't want to overbuy so I'm trying to be smart about what I get.

How is everyone doing on their preperations and/ or preop diets. I am on day 6 of 16. (2 week liver shrink then 2 days liquids). It’s not awful but I am board for sure. Last night my husband left his dinner sitting on the island when he ran to the restroom and it took a great deal of restraint to not sneak a bite. I’m lucky that he has been preparing his own food though so this is not a daily thing. I can only imagine having to cook for others while on this diet would make it more challenging. Eyes on the prize I keep reminding myself. Hope everyone else is doing okay too.

Just a thought whilst reading through others comments. I know you said that carbs are hard to increase, however I think that is the culprit. I work out 6days a week and I am closer to 80g of carbs and 30 ish g of fat most days. You don't have to eat bread but fruits, and veggies have carbs. I am not saying goes balls to the wall, but if your working out then 1800 cal is not cutting it. My BMR to maintain is close to 2500 calories, I eat about 1500 cal right now just because I cannot physically eat that much. I checked to see how many calories I need to gain weight and I would need to consume 3300 calories a day! I am not saying stuff yourself, but eating every 1/5-2hrs will be beneficial- add granola to your yogurt, protein bar right after working out, eat some peanut butter balls with oatmeal, maple syrup, caco nibs or chocolate chips, add cottage cheese to eggs with a handful of spinach. Beefing up your meals will help you feel better. Maybe you know all this but just my two cents

How’s everyone in the July group doing so far? I think I’m 16 days out as of today. My surgery went well and recovery has been quite swift. I’m cleared to swim and do non vigorous exercises. Yay! I loved to swim laps prior to surgery, so I’m pretty thrilled to be back at the pool. It feels so good to move and my mobility has already gotten better! I feel pretty good overall. I have weird days where I’m honestly just angry. Some of that is frustration with eating 1/4 cup meals of food. I just need to work through that and acknowledge my feelings. My journaling pen has also been getting a workout. I’m also a little frustrated with how much physical hunger I feel as well. I’m learning to deal with it and find other things to occupy my time instead of eating or thinking about eating/cooking/etc. I wanted to note here that I spent a lot of time worrying before the surgery about the outcome, or “what if I feel like crap?” Well, the reality is that I felt like crap for about 3-4 days because of gas and fluid. But, then it was over and I felt ok pretty quick. Don’t waste your time dwelling on that stuff. Get your fluids, your walks and your protein. I recommend Unjury chicken soup protein if you’re having problems getting your shakes down. Do what you’re supposed to do and in time you’ll thank yourself for taking care of yourself. Sometimes what gets me through the negative thoughts is that these first few weeks are temporary and meant to retrain your stomach and your brain to make healthy choices. The weeks after surgery WILL pass quickly and you will come out the other side AND BE OK. Use the time to put some healthy routines in your pocket involving self-care, exercise, hydration, walking and protein. I’m excited to see where this journey will take me.