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Increasing Appetite With Gastric Sleeve Recovery Normal?



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I've only lost 2 lbs since surgery and it's been 2 weeks, I don't get "full" from my Protein Shakes unless I make them really thick (more powder, less water), anyone else experience this?

I've been completely by-the-book on my instructions- no messing up! But..as the days wear on, I have more actual physical hunger. I imagine this is part of recovery, but I'm fearful it will lead to things being difficult in the long-term.

I'm disappointed that though I'm following instructions I'm experiencing this very slow weight loss.

I am hoping the future does not entail me forcing myself to not graze though my stomach wants to.

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You are doing fine. Some folks gain weight from the IV in surgery. I gained 10 pounds during the first two days. It will come off. There is also a three week stall that is soooo disappointing... get ready for that too... and you do not feel real restriction until you get to dense Protein at 4-6 weeks, so do not freak out. Just hang in there, the body is just trying to figure out what the heck you have done to it... You will start losing soon. Just make sure you drink your Water, stay away from a lot of salt and walk walk walk. Good luck!

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When you get that hungry feeling, drink something warm. My beverages of choice at those times were broth and mint tea. I would drink something warm and put a GASX strip in my mouth. Really helped those feelings go away. I attributed them to stomach acid and gas.

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There is also a three week stall that is soooo disappointing... get ready for that too... and you do not feel real restriction until you get to dense Protein at 4-6 weeks, so do not freak out.

Thank you! I didn't realize that I wouldn't really feel restriction until I was on solid protein- each day Im able to take bigger an bigger sips of Fluid, and this naturally makes me feel like my stomach is capable of holding more than it actually will be when it comes to solids.

I am trying to be positive and realize that normal healthy weight loss truly is around 2 lbs a week, and maybe on the bright side it's best for my system and skin to not lose massive amounts all at once.

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Hang in there!!!

I don't get full from my shakes either. I have always felt "neutral". Neither hungry nor full. I start off with 4 ounces of warm tea & my PPI. Right away I move on to Protein for Breakfast. Then I go back to thin liquids (tea, diluted crystal light, smart Water etc). If I feel I am about to get hungry (or even before this feeling), I go right back to Protein. I sip ALL DAY LONG. I haven't met met my Fluid goal of 80-100 ounces yet, but I do meet my protein goal of 71-89 grams.

What are your goals?

Just remembered I am allowed 4 ounces of pureed fruit a day so that might be helping me.

Edited by longer-life

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Yep, great advice here. I didn't feel real restriction until mushies. I also didn't lose any weight in the first few weeks - I gained from the IV and long flights. It took a while to lose that.

If you haven't heard it by now, make sure you're on a PPI that works well for you. It comes up so often because SO many of us experienced those hunger feelings and didn't realize it was acid until much later. It feels exactly like hunger and a lot of us have a freak out when it starts to be an issue. I thought my sleeve didn't work but in reality my Nexium wasn't cutting it and I needed to switch to Prilosec. The "hunger" disappeared two days later.

I'm a slow loser. There are other folks on these boards that are super slow losers. Guess what? We're still losing. The fact is that this isn't a race and there's no prize for getting to goal faster than anyone else. Unless you give up completely, you're going to lose weight with this surgery. I'm learning that it doesn't really matter if you do it in 9 months or 19 months...you're going to love life at goal.

The early weeks are the hardest. Hang in there.

~Cheri

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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