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I'm pre-op and my surgery is much sooner along than I expected. I was expecting to have a few weeks to try and ease into the liver shrinking diet and buy foods that I can have on hand, but it was just sprung on me that I would need 12 weeks of liquids. No easing into it, no chance to have my favourite foods one last time (which isn't a bad thing really, but it feels like it. I lost control and cheated and I had 4 slices of toast and then felt so bad. Knowing it's only another 11 weeks to go is a short time, but it feels like years. I just got really upset at the idea that I won't be able to eat solid foods until December. It makes cravings so bad.

@SleeveToBypass2023 pretty much covered what you need to change so I won’t repeat that. I will add though that I got to a simlar point a little later than you when I was discouraged I didn’t reach the goal I secretly had in my mind for myself. I had stopped losing and stalled about 18 pounds shy of it for about three months then I started letting bad habits slip in and I started to gain and honestly I never stopped gaining. 3.5 years later here I am pending revision. I was also embarrassed to see my dr or even post on here and that only made things worse. I could’ve nipped it on the budd before I got to this point like you still can. Go back to your team and explain your struggles. See what they have to offer you to help get you back on track. Maybe even talk to a therapist to try to work out why you feel this way. It sounds like you really have only been off track for a little bit and you’re still early enough out that it’s not too late to turn this around. You just have to start taking steps.

Ii haven’t had my revision yet but for the sleeve I was told about 6 weeks and I could do exercise. For the revision it’s a little more complex so at the skull part group meeting we were talking about fitness and I said that I needed to do core exercises and the PA said that 6 weeks was fine for them too and the surgeon was right there and didn’t correct him so I took that for myself as it means I’m pretty much cleared at that point for most things. I think they do say to wait a bit longer for weight lifting and one girl asked about roller derby 3.5 years ago. But outside full contact stuff and weights it seems to be 6 weeks that we are healed enough to be safe from outside stuff so I would imagine all swelling and stuff would be gone by then for sure.

Mexican was my first restaurant after DS surgery. I was only twe and a half weeks out. I ate the beef and cheese from a taco and refried beans. I had enough beans left for 3 more meals at home. It was perfect!

Oh, yes. I'm just a bit ahead of you surgery-wise at nearly 10 months post-op, and I've noticed a few things as time has gone on. First, the number of pounds I'm losing in a month has slowed. Early on, I was losing 10+ lbs in a month. Two months ago, I lost 6lbs in a month. Now, I'm losing more like 2lbs in a month. Second, there's more noticeable daily fluctuation now. (I like to weigh myself every morning right when I get up, just to have a record.) In the past, I would bounce up or down a few ounces over a few days and then continue my downward progress. Now, I see half a pound or more difference, and I might bounce around for a week or two before reaching a new low weight. I'm currently about 12 lbs away from a "normal" BMI, so that has a big impact on how quickly weight changes. My smart scale also tells me I have higher than average muscle and bone (taken with a grain of salt since I know they're not completely accurate). One thing I notice now is that some of what I see on my body as "areas for improvement" are no longer simply "would look better if less fat." Now it's more like "would look better if more toned." As for staying on plan with nutrition, I'm not going to lie. This time of year is a challenge. There are sweets everywhere, and sadly, I can eat them with far too few side effects. I'm not going crazy like I would have pre-surgery, but I would say it's pretty easy to not be in much of a calorie deficit, either. Plus more eating out at restaurants, more holiday parties, etc. Nutrition is something I will tackle again in January.

I love your posts so much, I really do!!! OH, I meant to tell you... so my godfather is married to the most amazing woman (family friends since before I was born, they are my "aunt" and "uncle" and I love them so much) and she is from the UK. I have tried for YEARS to follow along with what she says, and it's a 50/50 crap shoot if I actually understand what she's saying. SO anyway, I was talking to her over the weekend and I actually was able to follow along with more of what she was saying. She was surprised and asked if I was using Rosetta Stone or something to learn British slang (she's always busting my chops until I start speaking Southern to her, then it's crickets lol) and I told her about you and showed her some of our past chats and she said to tell you "bloody hell, you did the impossible! Cheers, mate!!" 🙄😁🤣 Now back to the topics at hand lol I'm so so happy for you that you're rediscovering your wardrobe!!! It's so fun to be surprised with smaller sizes, isn't it?? I know what you mean about the "bitter wife syndrome" lol My husband, over the last 2 years, has lost 65 pounds. How? Oh, walking to the lake and back with me twice a week, riding the exercise bike 1-2x per week, eating absolute GARBAGE but just less often, parking at the back of the parking lot when he goes to the store 1-2x per week, cutting out sugar, reducing salt intake.....that's it. That's LITERALLY it. He's gone down 2 clothing sizes and gotten off his diabetes and blood pressure meds.....just by doing that little bit. No diet changes, no work out routines, nothing. UGH!!!!! I love him, and I'm happy for him, but UGH!!!!!!! Good luck at your dietician appt!!! You sound prepared. I bet it'll go well I have faith that you'll be ready to move on to the next steps for your WLS. I know it's annoying when it takes a long time, but I promise, the wait is absolutely worth it. And you're doing awesome, so I know you'll see some amazing results. YAY for the gym and physio!!! I am just so happy for you and proud of how hard you're working and how far you've already come. Enjoy your show, you've definitely earned it. Have a great week!!!

@AmberFL Thanks for the additional detail! I agree with @ShoppGirl that localized swelling and postoperative edema may be causing a lot of your gain. I do also totally understand the concerns, though! I recently had a procedure done on my proximal hamstring to treat a partial tear. While not nearly on the same scale as your plastic surgery, I wasn't able to workout at all for a full month and even now almost 2 months later, I'm still having to ramp back up really slowly. For example, I'm still not allowed to do any lower body strength training and my running mileage is only at about 50% of where it was before the procedure. Like you, I also saw my weight go up during this time. Even though I knew edema was the likely initial cause, it still messes with your head. This was especially true for me because my workouts are frankly a form of therapy for me. It felt like a double blow. It really sounds like you've got the diet mostly dialed in for now. I suspect one of 2 things will happen as you heal. The most likely eventuality is that your swelling and edema goes down and you find you're happy with where you're at weight wise. If so, be sure to up your calories as your workouts resume. If you find that you are a little heavier than your ideal, then no worries. Once you are working out again, the easiest solution would to only eat back about 50%-75% of your workout calories. This will be slower, but is super sustainable, compared to a drastic cut in calories that would get you leaner quickly, but is also a lot more likely to cause some rebound weight gain. I also noticed something you said in an earlier post and I wanted to commend you for it. You mentioned something about maintaining around 1700-2000 calories. This is something a lot of people don't understand, but you can successfully maintain across a range of calories. Many people think they've got to be EXACTLY at a certain number to maintain. That's just not true. The reason is that most people will subconsciously be a little more active when the calories are higher and a little less when they are lower. Please check in every few weeks and let us know how it's going? I'm sure you'll do great, be we are always here to help if needed.

@AndreaJD your advice about the weight loss discussion with others is great! I’m definitely using that one and thank you!! Good luck on your surgery tomorrow, like you said, eyes on the prize! @Justarwaxx mine is on the 14th too!! Are you doing the Gastric Bypass as well? I’ve been told I’ll only be in the hospital 1 night… we shall see. Omg, my husband ate pizza for dinner… he was at least nice enough to eat it in another room, but still… i could almost kill for a piece. But again, eyes on the prize. I keep having to remind myself. 2 more days of this and then my life is changing. All our lives are changing for the better, which makes it worth it. You guys stay strong and good luck this week, I know a lot of us are on the roster this week. Be strong and positive vibes everyone!! I look forward to hearing from everyone after their surgery, keep us updated!!

Some nights I definitely struggle. I have been pretty low on energy; I'm usually getting my protein and am taking all of my vitamins. I know that my goal of 64 oz a day of fluids has been flagging, though, honestly. I'm drinking a lot of Gatorade zero but plain water has not been tasting good, even filtered, unless it is REALLY cold. I mean, from a bottle in the fridge then poured over ice. I feel like it got harder as I moved into phase 3 of trying to eat more real food as opposed to drinking most of my meals. I do know that I was told to expect different back pain as I lost weight, and I feel like maybe the magnesium has activated my digestion so much that it sometimes keeps me awake? It isn't really pain, but more like gas pressure. Not sure if that part is SADI exclusive. Sorry I've been so silent lately, I have been skimming and still hope to respond to a few more posts.

So glad to hear that the blisters are okay. I’m certain you will love the proffee if you are an iced coffee person. You can do it with any shake if you do better witb another brand. I personally like the caramel and I’ve only seen it in the premiere but you could do fairlife In chocolate or vanilla too if they settle better for you. I really like their core power shakes. You can do it with any type of protein drink honestly. They do have a generic at Walmart in Carmel that’s cheaper and tastes just as good but the macros are not quite as good. For The coffee I got the Folgers instant singles packs.They have them at Walmart for a buck a box. I make a cup of hot water in the Keurig and mix it in and then put it over any big tervis cup full of ice. I use half for one proffee but if you really like coffee you may like it stronger which I would make it the night before and skip the ice. The protein 2.0 With electrolytes is 15g but the one without is 20g. I get the strawberry watermelon on Amazon. I actually was confused about the cause of the low magnesium. We talked about all the changes I had made and I thought she said it was the B-12 that can throw off magnesium but it was actually the electrolytes in them drinks. Anyways I cut back to one of them electrolyte drinks a day and took the magnesium supplement and the cramping is gone so just be careful with those that you don’t do too many. The crochet group went really well. It was so good to see everyone since it’s been 3 weeks. It was also pretty cool to get dressed in normal clothes and be able to see a difference in my body. I have lost 27 pounds and I couldn’t see it in my track pants and athletic shorts but I could see and feel it on my normal clothes which aren’t nearly as uncomfortable as I expected with the binder on. Anyways, they have been such good cheerleaders for me in all of this. And said they can tell that my mood is so much lighter and they are so glad that I am on the other side of it because they knew how stressful the decision to do this was for me. I brought my purée egg salad with me. I could’ve waited and ate it when I got home since I was only gone for 3 hours but I thought they would get a kick of my tiny two ounce container and they did. I told them that many people who got their stomach cut actually eat like 1 ounce at this point and they were amazed by that. They wanted to be sure I was allowed spices at least which I thought was pretty comical. I told them I was missing my Ms. Dash because it’s big chunks and one suggested putting some in the food processor to make it more of a powder which I’m anxious to try. I’m trying to stay away from salt since it’s been a month that I’ve gone without so if it’s ever a good time to kick it now is. Another lady also suggested a product called no salt. But I think salt is pretty sharp so I’m gonna try to just stay away from it at least for now.

Welcome back. Do not worry about jumping in. This is open to anyone. I’m sorry to hear about your COVID and hope it doesn’t derail your surgery BUT being a week post op I can tell you that coughing does hurt quite a bit so if they make you wait that could be why and you may not realize that they are doing you a favor. I hope it all works out one way or another.

When they started regulating out, they were more normal and not super heavy. Only at the end when I needed to take the progesterone (my uterine fibroids were so big at that point that I couldn't have any kind of period...normal or otherwise). But before that happened, my periods came every month, lasted 3-5 days, and would be normal as far as how heavy they were. So that's something to look forward to!! Well, as much as one can look forward to anything involving their period lol

I had a gastric bypass about 6 years old. Fast forward to today. I was recently hospitalized with severe anemia (hemoglobin 5.2). I had to have emergency blood transfusions. I'm still receiving weekly IV-iron infusions (8 weeks). I am also deficient in several nutrients despite taking my bariatric vitamins. My bariatric surgeon figured out the reason for the anemia. Two ulcers detected by an EGD (upper scope). I was slowly bleeding out. At one point, my family thought I was falling asleep... when I was really passing out. Anemia hurts. Your whole body aches. Recovery is slow... the fatigue is unreal but I'll get there.

I'm so sorry you had such a rough week!!! I hope the pain is getting better now. Just think positive that this will be a better week for you Fantastic job keeping your eyes on the NSV when the scale isn't doing what you want. That's exactly the right thing to do. Feel better!!!

You have to keep on them. Tell them if they got “pre approval” then you want the pre authorization number to call the insurance and give to them so they can pay it. Ask for the BOD or whoever is the higher up at your hospital. They don’t want to do more work rebilling but you only have so much time to appeal things before it’s too late. Also ask insurance how you can get to start an appeal on your own. I had a bill that my local doctor didn’t get prior approval for the procedure so it wasn’t covered but should have been because it was medically necessary and I had to fight for like 6 months until they finally wrote it off and that was only like 5 grand. I called three times a week to see what they were doing to rectify it. I actually used my headset and walked back in forth in my house while I was on the phone to get my exercise in when I was post surgery. Keep detailed notes of everyone you call, email, leave vm, etc with dates.

Sorry for any mistakes I make in my entry, but english is not my first language :) I am in need for some advice since I'm getting frustrated. So it's only 2,5 weeks since I had my sleeve-surgery, and the doctors have told me to be patient, but I just want to check in to see if anyone else have experienced this (I'm sure there is!). I am now on regular food, which means I can eat anything, but as adviced I always try to up my protein. After I eat a meal I feel alot of discomfort in my chest, I feel so much air have to come out, I often get the hiccups and I burp alot, I also gulp in my mouth. I make sure I don't drink water 10 minutes before a meal and 20-30 minutes after. But I have been vomitting my food , especially my dinner, alot. That happend yessterday evening, I ate dinner, waited 30 minutes, drank a sip of water. Then felt so neouses I had to make myself throw it all up, and it was hardly any food since my pain in my chest (gas) keeps me from eating. I have not yet felt full from eating, but I always stop because of the pain in my chest. My quesstion is why am I throwing up and when will the pain in my chest go away. Thank you in advance :)

Okay, first, once you have the surgery you will not physically be able to eat that fast without throwing up and/or being miserable with pain. So you'll learn real quick to slow down when the time comes. Trust me. In the meantime, here is what you do to practice and start training yourself. First, if you can, make a commitment to only eat from a real plate while sitting at an actual table for the next two weeks. No eating standing up in the kitchen with two minutes to go before you have to leave or grabbing a handful of something from the pantry as you walk past. Second, get yourself a timer. It can be a kitchen one, or one of those little sand ones that go for a minute, or just the timer on your phone. Whatever works. When you sit down to eat, take a small bite of food. This means something about the size of your thumbnail, or even half that size. Set the timer for one minute. Put your fork and knife down. Chew. Keep chewing. Chew more than you have ever chewed before in your life. Your food will be like paste. You should feel no lumps in your mouth. At this point, swallow. If there is time left on your timer, sit and wait. Only when the timer goes off do you pick up the fork for another bite. Before you take that bite, ask yourself if you feel like you need another bite. Presurgery, your answer is probably going to be yes. But post surgery, this is a point where you might start to think wait, I feel pretty satisfied. This is when you want to stop eating, because with a limited capacity, you will fill up really fast and might overshoot and feel ill. If that's all you do, you will be fine. If you want to be more mindful, ask yourself some questions as you eat. Maybe ask what you like about this food and think about that. Think about the texture and taste. Think about how your body is responding to eating. Do you feel tense? Are you relaxed? Are you feeling any emotions as you start eating, and do those emotions shift as you eat? Use some of your time between bites to write down some observations. You don't really have to do all of that, but on the other hand, you might be surprised by what you learn if you do. Also, I will say that I struggled a lot with this presurgery but the slow eating is second nature now. When I forget, I don't feel well, so I have a lot of incentive to slow down. You will too! Just do what you can to practice now so your nutritionist is happy with your progress. I will almost guarantee if you keep a notebook for the next week or two with what you ate and when, how long it took from start to finish, and some reflections on the food and how your body was feeling while you ate, you will pass with flying colors.

I'm working on figuring out how to maintain lol I'm below goal, which is fine is I stay where I'm at. Don't really want to go any lower. I'm slowly increasing calories and carbs, but I can't go too high or I get sick. So I'm just trying to figure it out. My first year post surgery, I was half way to my goal (I needed to lose roughly 200 pounds to get to my goal). I had complications that slowed my weight loss (I lost 113 pounds in 8 months) after the 8-9 month mark. I had my revision 13 months after my initial surgery and lost another 94 pounds in a year. I also had 2 major surgeries during that time, too. Now my weight loss is (hopefully) stopping - 2 years after my initial surgery and 1 year after my revision. I've lost a total of 240 pounds from my highest weight and 207 pounds from my surgery-day weight. And it took me a total of 2 years. I hit many stalls along the way, but it's all been 100% worth it.

Officially 8 weeks and 2 days Post-op and honestly I'm pretty comfortable with my progress though a little disappointed with my hydration. The weight loss is steady, protein intake was a little tricky but I think I got it, and keeping up with physical activity has been smooth. Last month's first follow up with the nutritionist did get under my skin, I questioned returning to my previous vitamins vs these nasty Flinstones...and she went on and on about my calcium, iron and protein levels wouldn't be sufficient due to me not eating meat. I explained I had no problem taking additional calcium or iron IF necessary, and finding new ways to add my protein BUT I wanted to see how my bloodwork came back. She finally conceded in saying "well, you're an adult, if you want to take more vitamins that's your choice". I mean OBVIOUSLY it is my choice and her condescending tone is one of the many reasons I've never cared for nutritionist. Nevertheless, guess who's blood work is PERFECT?! In other news, I will say this ketosis stage, while extremely beneficial... it is giving me the "ick" with side effects, smells, body odor etc... I've introduced some carbs hoping things will balance out but it seems to be a slow process. Uranalysis confirmed I'm still burning ketones sooooo there's that. 🤷🏽‍♀️but when will these side effects end ? Speaking of introducing carbs... I had a small bowl (4 oz) of mac and cheese (chickpea pasta)... this is a true trigger food for me, but I ate it, I enjoyed it and I moved on... it wasn't until the next day, I was thinking wow, I really didn't "Want" another bowl... "I'm good". In the head scratching category... I overheard my co-workers having a convo about individuals on the show "My 600lb life"... DISCLAIMER: I say overheard loosely, there's 3 of us in a small room, they were speaking freely as we usually do but I had my earbuds on and wasn't a part of the beginning of the convo. While I can't say I've ever watched a full episode, I am familiar with the premise of the title as well as what "reality shows" really entail when it comes to production and I'm sure I've caught a snippet of an episode on a meme, commercial etc. They also do not know I've had a procedure. I digress, at some point in the convo, they were both giving their opinions on "how could someone let it get so bad"..." when your pants stop fitting..." "when you're out of breath walking from house to mailbox..." etc. and while I have no doubt that they did not have malicious intentions nor have I personally fit into any of these examples... I suddenly became very offended. I even thought to myself have I lost that much weight that this is how "skinny" people speak freely among you ? (The answer is no, regarding me... I've lost a good amount, but they've known me for several years...at my heaviest). I thought, are they thinking I'm really deep into my work and not paying attention ? (The answer is no, we always engage with each other based off of body language to get the others attention and they were engaging). The answer boiled down to, they were just ignorant to the reasons this could happen to someone and the fact that reality tv has a way of making people look and behave at their worse. So I chimed in with "As a fellow big girl..." and explained to them that food addiction is real, and it's real easy to forget that unlike, drugs and alcohol, people have to eat for survival/nutrition and if you are addicted to such it's easy to forget how someone can "let it get so bad", there are also health issues and medication side effects. They were both receptive and admitted that didn't even consider that thought. We went on to talk about the state of "healthy" food choices, labels, vending machines in schools and all. But I definitely walked away from that convo scratching my head because they are both thin and love to eat and not always the "healthy" stuff... so I'm thinking it didn't occur to you others JUST CAN'T do that. Anyways, it was an experience and I'm glad I had it.

What a fine man he is, with great taste in tea! 😂 Like everyone says though, it can mean you get more dehydrated but I think so long as you aren't ONLY drinking tea, it should be fine haha. I think the decaf isn't bad at all from what I can remember! Thank you! I am finding it okay! I had a little bit of a stall, but that is expected! But I am just happy to be feeling better!

Nah. I don’t think losing too much will be an issue. I mean we can always add more calorie dense foods. Malnourishment is a possibility if you don’t keep up with your vitamins and get your labs done regularly though. Just have to be diligent. I have alarms set for all those times I mentioned that I eat a small meal and take a vitamin. 8am to wake up the. 9, 12, 3, 6 and 9 I eat my meals and snacks and take my vitamins. It makes it so much easier to just stick to that schedule. I keep them drinkable yogurts and protein shakes in the fridge for if I’m way too busy to stop and eat and that seems to work just fine for me. Just watch the labels on the yogurts because they like to sneak added sugars in there. I actually made my own the other day and plan to continue when I’m home because they are kinda pricey for the healthy ones. I just blended a container of vanilla high protein non fat greek yogurt, 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk and 1/4 cup fruit. (I made it with fresh mango and it was really good but you can use any fruit of course). Ooh while I’m thinking of it, clear protein water and unflavored protein powder will come in handy during your first couple of stages to get to your protein goals. Not sure if you used them after your sleeve but they came in handy.

Well, great is sort of relative isn't it? 😁 For me it's much better than I expected this week, all things considered. I'm sure for some it's pretty slow. Consider that the world record half marathon time is about 58 minutes. This means I'm running twice as slow as those folks. On the flip side, this time would probably put me in about the 55th to 60th percentile world-wide for my age group. This means I'm probably a little faster than average, but I'm sure not winning any races! I've got another Half Marathon race scheduled in November and hope to break 2:05 in that one. I haven't fully decided yet, but may do one in April or May and if so, will be shooting for a sub 2:00. I guess my point is I don't think too much about how I compare to others. My real goal is to continue to beat myself!

You’re right, I took the question re: bathroom issues with the sleeve only. In the beginning, the urge to go is generally stronger and the need for a bathroom is quick. As time goes on, most of us can hold it quite a bit longer. On a road trip, rest stops are usually every hour or so, so as time goes on you will most likely be able to wait unless you ate something very fatty or with sugar/simple carbs. Then all bets are off, which is why I pretty much only eat that at home. You are definitely going to need to deal with “going” in a public bathroom. I use this (see below). I spray upwards in my stall as I begin to “go” and then spray a couple of more times as I’m finishing. orange only

I was starving one week post-op. My hunger never left, but the signals changed. The hunger I feel is like hollowness in my abdomen, it feels like physical pain rather than craving something that is specific (taste or texture). I did lose my interest in eating between my snacks and meals (and what to eat was not on my mind), but once the clock hit 2 hours past my last meal/snack I felt the pangs. I lost a lot of weight very fast, and my post-op experience felt like I'm starving to death and withering away if that makes sense. The feeling of physical hunger pain is probably my body's way of preserving itself (I guess). Now that I am a bit more stabilized I have many days where I'm just not interested in food, and days where I'm ravenous (especially when I've hit it really hard at the gym).

Yes that’s awsome I start my diet tomorrow to get the weight off that my Dr says I have to loose before surgery. This week has been an emotional roller coaster my uncle suddenly and I had to fly to Florida with my mom and sister and we have done nothing but eat out.