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So I'm in the liquid phase, post op surgery and am a little over a week in and I miss food. I understand attachments to food is what got me here, but is it really wrong to miss food? I spoke with my therapist this morning and she said to be careful not to glamorize food. I'm not sure how to think about this. I told her I still want to enjoy food, or get enjoyment out of food later on. Am I wrong to feel this way? I understand it's more about fueling our bodies and of course I want the right foods to keep improving my health. But are we expected to never enjoy food again after bariatric surgery????? thoughts?? thanks

According to my post of instructions, we weren’t allowed to eat regular foods until 8 weeks post op. Maybe try to go back on pureed/soft. Then once you get to 8 weeks introduce regular food.

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 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.

I lost 12lbs the first 2 weeks and I've lost 2lbs each week for the last 3 weeks. I only weigh myself once a week, as I'm afraid I'll become obsessed with weighing myself. I'm delighted with my NSV, needing to wear a belt with my trousers, and having the towel completely cover me after my shower.

Hi everyone, this is my first post. I will be having hernia repair and vertical gastric sleeve on 8/6/24. SW 295.9 CW 270 GW 150 My food education class is this coming week, and I hope to learn a lot more about what I will be allowed to eat. I do know that I will be on a 2-week pre-op and 2-week post-op liquid diet. I will actually get all my vitamins and protein powders during my class. I am fortunate that my insurance covers the surgery at 100% and I only had a 4 month waiting period from my first doctor visit. I stopped all caffeine, carbonated, and high calorie drinks back in April. My daily water goal of 64oz is pretty hard to reach sometimes, but I do my best. Ironically, I do better on the days I am at work as opposed to at home. Best of luck to those of you giving up smoking.

So, this is probably way more common than I think, it is just the first time I have experienced it 🤣 Yesterday I was able to eat more than I normally do - probably around 700-800 calories, which is really good for me as I wasn't getting much more than 300-400 in the past few weeks. Today my restriction feels very high. I ate a few mouthfuls of peanuts and some light babybel as a snack, didn't sit well at all despite these things never giving me problems. I gave it a little bit of a break, around 1 hr, then had some of my sandwich I'd made (wholemeal bread, ham, cheese, salad etc), and could only manage a few bites. Then my heart was absolutely racing. I'm talking about 115 bpm just sitting down, and then I just had to sleep. At work. I feel better now since waking up, but I am scared to eat again right now 🤣 Wtf was this 🤣

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.

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.

Okay so tonight I had cauliflower crust pizza. I didn’t make the crust. It was frozen. Not the absolute greatest but not terrible either. I made it with ricotta, mozz, chicken and onions so I got my protein at least. I have a battle between my brain and my stomach trying not to eat too terrible in these next couple of weeks Before I start my preop.

Question. I am about 2.5 weeks after surgery. Earlier this week I was feeling good. Minimal pain and all. Now I feel like my deep stitch hurts more than it did before. Sitting here I feel fine but it is definitely sore to the touch and when I get up and walk. I did a lot of walking today so maybe that’s it but it’s making me a bit nervous. Trying to stay on top of Tylenol every 6 hrs bc I definitely cut back on those since I was feeling better. Anyone else experience this?

Honestly, your food pictures all look pretty healthy, so no notes there. I would watch out for any mindless snacking, just in case you have fallen back into a habit of popping a handful of nuts when you walk past your pantry (guilty!) or adding a lot of cream to your coffee. You know, the type of thing your brain may not even be registering. I had a friend who thought his coffee was fine because he didn't put sweetener in it, but he put a ton of half and half, along the lines of a full cup per day, or an extra 300 calories he forgot about! But other than that, plateaus are normal. I am approaching 9 months post-op and for the past 6 weeks, I have been bouncing up and down by about 2 lbs but never dropping lower than the lowest weight I hit in early October. From everything I've heard and read, it's part of the process and is pretty common the closer you get to a normal weight and the farther out you are from surgery. There are a few things you might try, though. First, increase your protein so you are at 80-100 grams instead of the minimum 60. Try to make that from real food and not a shake. You might also increase your non-starchy veggie intake, which will provide more fiber. Add in another 32oz of water each day. Go to bed an hour earlier if you can. It's counterintuitive, but increase your calories by 100 and cut back on your exercise a little to see what happens. Sometimes, your body starts to conserve too much energy because it fears starvation and giving it a little more while asking it to do a little less breaks that cycle. Also, the fact that you fit into clothing at 195 lbs that your family members wore at 30 lbs lighter suggests that some of your weight is not fat but "infrastructure." When we get very heavy, our body grows more bone and muscle to hold it, and bigger organs to carry out their functions on a larger scale. When we lose weight in a hurry, all that architecture remains in place for quite some time, adding to the number on the scale. You may look now like you did at 10, 20, or even 30 pounds lighter back in the days before you ever became obese. If you have some old photos of a time when you were the goal weight you have in mind now, try doing a side by side comparison. You might already look really close to where you are trying to be even if the scale says otherwise.

once you get that far out, you have to play around with different calorie ranges to figure out about how many calories you need to eat to maintain your weight, and how many to lose. That range really varies for everyone depending on sex, age, activity level, metabolic level, how muscular you are, what weight you'd like to be at, etc (e.g., you can eat more if you're fine with weighing 180 lbs as opposed to 130 lbs). I can maintain my current weight by eating about 1600 calories - although I can eat a bit more if I'm exercising a lot. To lose, I have to go below 1600. And since I'm pretty close to a normal BMI, I'd have to eat quite a bit less than 1600 to lose a somewhat noticeable amount each week (otherwise, I'm losing just a couple of ounces - and it's hard to distinguish that from normal fluctuations). There are some women on here who can eat 2000 calories to maintain, and others who can only eat 1200. It's really sort of trial and error given how far you're out from surgery. Maybe start with a range - like 1300-1500 and do that for a couple of weeks. If your weight isn't budging, drop the range down by 100 calories. Rinse and repeat until you start losing weight again. P.S. if. you're losing inches but gaining weight, it could be that you're putting on muscle. Or if you've recently started doing more and/or heavier lifting, it could be that your muscles are holding on to more water (since they need water to repair themselves). If that's what's going on, once your muscles are used to that level, your weight should start dropping again.

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.

I feel like you're exactly right and your post was really well worded. I bet that's what the therapist meant as well - and boy oh boy are you on target with an 'adjustment period' being needed when you're used to turning to food for comfort! I had a couple of weepy episodes during this week quite unexpectedly when I didn't even feel hungry. Maybe it was the thought of an upcoming major surgery (I've never had major surgery) but I also think it was the sense of 'forced control' and the knowledge that I couldn't turn to chocolate or pizza to make me feel better, even if I wanted to. Maybe I was kind of 'mourning' the lost of that coping mechanism -- but I do think the fact that my taste buds are changing is going to be helpful, personally.

I wouldn’t even listen to that surgeon if you feel good and you’re still losing and you’re doing your activity honestly he’s just putting you in as if you’re a statistic. I really hate it when doctors do that. It’s like either. They think you’re lying about what you’re eating or they just assume that one thing works for everyone at the exact same rate. i’m doing OK I posted in another thread that I do have some medical stuff going on. I was recently diagnosed with breast cancer so I have been juggling my weight loss and fitness along with a whole lot of doctors appointments and scans and chemo. Surprisingly I think that it is my yoga and my walking that have kept me sane. I did stop doing my cardio class because they told me that the chemotherapy is extremely dehydrating and it was important to not get myself to warm like to avoid being out in the sun for a long time or anything like that and as I already mentioned on here before I sweat quite a bit When I work out. I am fighting the urge to have carbs since Thanksgiving, but part of that I believe is the steroids I get with my chemo. They told me it wouldn’t be an issue because I would be nauseous anyways and I wouldn’t be able to eat much but I haven’t been nauseous one day so far knock on wood. The chemotherapy actually seems to have increased my metabolism to wear, even though I am eating little things off plan and exercising a bit less I am still losing weight. They assigned me an oncology dietitian who told me that she does not want me to lose more than I was losing before the chemo, which is about 2 to 3 pounds a week. At first I dropped like 6 pounds and we were pretty worried but I honestly think it was just water weight or something. anyways, it’s been a challenge as I’m sure it has been for everyone to juggle whatever life events. Everyone else is dealing with, but I’m getting through it. My habits of packing food like turkey, jerky and cheese sticks and protein shakes or yogurt smoothies, and taking with me and freezing things have been my lifesavers. I don’t always exactly want to eat that and I’m giving myself a little bit of grace right now because of my circumstance but trying not to be too forgiving at the same time. I am actually doing my walk right now because I was out of town for a doctors appointment today and then I went and did a wig fitting because I’ve lost my hair for most of it anyways and I literally just walked in the door and ate my salad that I picked up on the way home for my dinner. I’ve got to get this done and get to bed early because I have yoga first thing in the morning. I am honestly just so thankful that I started this weight loss journey when I did and that my nutrition and fitness are in such a better place because I really truly feel like that is helping me already and it will continue to help me get through all of this anyways, I really hope everyone else is doing OK as well. It’s a crazy roller coaster for sure but we’ve got this!!

Any surgery twins? Had surgery on Monday, June 3rd- Monday. HW- 273 Before surgery- 234 CW- 230 So far, week one has went well. I haven’t felt any hunger until today. I’ve been able to meet my goals daily 💪 so far! I am on full liquids currently and haven’t had any nausea or vomiting. Some soreness/tenderness but not any extreme pain. Wish me well and give me your best tips for success!

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!

Week One: Clear Liquids & Protein Shakes Week Two: Full Liquids Weeks Three & Four: Soft Foods Weeks Five & Six: Modified Regular Diet (soft regular foods & soft carbs, if you choose to eat them) Week Seven: Soft fruits w/o skin, ground meat, and moist chicken/turkey Week Eight: Raw & Crunchy fruits/veggies with skin, nuts, seeds, and dried fruit Week 12: Dense meat (like steak), and caffeine and alcohol (if you choose to partake)

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 1 week post op from getting the gastric sleeve and I do not feel full. I was put straight on a soft food diet and only eat 2-3oz of food at a time because that's what i was told however I do not feel full after. I am a stickler for rules so I try and follow to the tee but my stomach is always gurgling as if it is hungry. I try hard to meet my protein and water goals although I am not always successful. Does the gurgling mean I am still hungry or is that just part of the healing process? I am scared that I will suffer from malnutrition (ironic because this was NEVER a concern of mine before lol).

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!!

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!

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. ❤️‍🩹

I did 2 things preop that helped immensely: 1) this may sound weird but i guessed i’d be in a little pain from the incisions so a couple of days before going into the clinic i move everything i figured i’d need in the first week post up to middle shelves in my kitchen/fridge : cups, scales, protein shakes and powders etc. And thank god i did because i had abdominal muscle pain (like i’d done 10000 crunches) and was told not to bend down for a while. 2) i wrote out « meal » plans from what my dietician provided in order to clearly see what time of day i’d eat (protein shakes) and drink (water). I’m the kind of person who needs a set plan that’s clear and that i can follow because i was lost the first few days. I wrote out 4 weeks of meal plans and i varied the shakes and purées and soups so i didn’t get sick of one specific one (never ate the same one 2 meals in a row and alternated with the next day). Not sure it actually helped my experience but it did help me see clearly mentally 🤣