I feel pretty gross and bloated tonight. I've been really good on the pre-op diet and am not having alcohol/soda/caffeine anymore, but feel I might be gaining weight anyway. I don't know why. The appearance of new red stretch marks reaching up to my breasts has shown itself. I hope the lackluster results I am seeing now are for dietary habits a few months back because my body's recent response to better eating seems to be really discouraging. This is the exact thing that caused me to fall off diets again and again--hard effort with no or negative results. I just don't understand it.

You may need to take a laxative to control the bloating this from the diet I had to do the same thing I'll call my nutritionist and that's what she told me

New red stretch marks are concerning because that means your skin is stretching when it should be receding from weight loss on your pre-op diet.

Get some exercise like a long walk, then take a really good, strong laxative and drink lots of Water. Miralax is good for day to day use, but you made need something that'll work faster.

Thanks for the tips; the scale at home says I've lost approximately 5-8 lbs since I started the nutritionist diet last month.......maybe the stretch marks that are reaching upwards are from a few months ago? I'd noticed them in a hotel mirror (not my normal at home mirror)

A good way to tell if they are new or not is whether they itch or not. New ones itch, old ones don't. Also, as you lose weight the appearance of stretch marks will change; they may look better or worse.