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I have some questions for those that have had the surgery.

1. How long before you could sleep on your stomach again?

2. When were you allowed to start exercising?

3. Have you noticed a difference in what your feet look like?

4. Or you calves? (I've always had big calves, since having my daughter. It would be nice to have regular sized calves again)

5. How has your closest friends or family reacted? Especially if it was initially a secret.

6. If it was(is) a secret, did(do) they suspect anything?

(I plan on keeping it a secret, but will be up front with exercise routines I do).

7. Was you told that you couldn't have asparagus?

So many questions, but I figured I better knock it all out at once. Haha.

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1. How long before you could sleep on your stomach again?

I'm not a stomach sleeper but it probably would have been about 3 weeks.
2. When were you allowed to start exercising?

I could do light/moderate exercise (no weights) as soon as I felt up to it after surgery. I was cleared for all exercise at 6 weeks.
3. Have you noticed a difference in what your feet look like?

They are a little narrower after losing 200+ lbs.
4. Or you calves? (I've always had big calves, since having my daughter. It would be nice to have regular sized calves again)

My calves are now much narrower -- just like every other part of my body just about.
5. How has your closest friends or family reacted? Especially if it was initially a secret.

All of my friends and family have been incredibly supportive and happy for me. I don't keep secrets well so this was never a secret.
6. If it was(is) a secret, did(do) they suspect anything?

N/A
(I plan on keeping it a secret, but will be up front with exercise routines I do).

Do you think people are going to believe you lost 100+ lbs by exercising?
7. Was you told that you couldn't have asparagus?

No, as long as it was appropriate for the food stage. I didn't eat asparagus until I was graduated out of soft foods, just because I like my asparagus on the firm side and all my food had to be soft enough to cut easily with a fork. I couldn't bring myself to do that to asparagus so I stayed away until I could cook it the way I like. I've been eating asparagus regularly since then and it never gave me any problems.

Good luck!

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(I plan on keeping it a secret, but will be up front with exercise routines I do).

Do you think people are going to believe you lost 100+ lbs by exercising?

7. Was you told that you couldn't have asparagus?

No, as long as it was appropriate for the food stage. I didn't eat asparagus until I was graduated out of soft foods, just because I like my asparagus on the firm side and all my food had to be soft enough to cut easily with a fork. I couldn't bring myself to do that to asparagus so I stayed away until I could cook it the way I like. I've been eating asparagus regularly since then and it never gave me any problems.

Good luck!

Thanks for your response. I moved away from my hometown when I was 20. So I haven't seen most of my friends or family in up to 7 years. Back then I weighed about 190. I don't really post body pics or selfies on social media, so they haven't seen that I've gained more weight. but the last time I did post a body pic, I was about 180. And that was a few years ago. So, I think they might find exercising believable.

The nutritionist told me yesterday that I would never be able to eat asparagus again. It was surprising.

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Because of my weight and me being shy, I don't really make friends. And we recently moved states. So I have no friends nearby who would see the changes up close.

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Sounds like you are in good shape to keep things hush hush then! I've never heard of a blanket statement that sleevers can't eat asparagus. I know plenty of sleevers like me who eat it regularly. I really am scratching my head as to where the dietitian got that information. There is no guarantee that you'll be able to eat any particular food post-op (bread is a "never again" for me) but I don't think it is predictable like she makes it sound. Hmm.

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Yeah, she said Pasta, bread, rice, asparagus and shrimp... among others. She said it was stringy. I could understand right after, but she said never. And I saw a couple vsg people on instagram that have been eating it lately, so I wondered if she was just saying that.

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(I plan on keeping it a secret, but will be up front with exercise routines I do).

Do you think people are going to believe you lost 100+ lbs by exercising?

7. Was you told that you couldn't have asparagus?

No, as long as it was appropriate for the food stage. I didn't eat asparagus until I was graduated out of soft foods, just because I like my asparagus on the firm side and all my food had to be soft enough to cut easily with a fork. I couldn't bring myself to do that to asparagus so I stayed away until I could cook it the way I like. I've been eating asparagus regularly since then and it never gave me any problems.

Good luck!

Thanks for your response. I moved away from my hometown when I was 20. So I haven't seen most of my friends or family in up to 7 years. Back then I weighed about 190. I don't really post body pics or selfies on social media, so they haven't seen that I've gained more weight. but the last time I did post a body pic, I was about 180. And that was a few years ago. So, I think they might find exercising believable.

The nutritionist told me yesterday that I would never be able to eat asparagus again. It was surprising.

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Why no asparagus? I eat asparagus all the time.

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I'm only 19 days post op but I could sleep on my stomach after about 5-7 days. I am primarily a stomach sleeper so I'm glad it didn't take long.

I got the OK from my surgeon to start exercise at 2 weeks. no weights though for a while.

I can't comment on the feet/calves yet. Too soon. We will see in a year!

My parents and husband and daughter know. My friends and extended family do not. I know they will all start asking questions when the weight loss becomes noticeable, I don't know what I will say yet.

I was also told no asparagus. Too fiberous, apparently.

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@@Inner Surfer Girl, I saw a ig post of someone having shrimp and asparagus the other day. So when she said those two, I thought it was weird. But I'm not going to question her. Haha. She said the asparagus was stringy and that I'd have to avoid other stringy foods too.

@@The New Kel, I'm a stomach sleeper. I can't sleep on my back. When I had my c-sections, I don't know what kept me awake more, the babies or that I couldn't sleep on my stomach. Haha.

@@suzzzzz, She said, "No more asparagus. No asparagus tips." It is so odd that we all get different information.

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I just saw a tasty one pan chicken recipe (I'm lazy, easy healthy recipes are GOLD) - asparagus on one side, tomatoes on the other put the chicken breast in the middle and cook it up. Never crossed my mind that asparagus would be a no no?

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I eat shrimp quite frequently too -- it was one of the first things I was eating when I was off liquids. Never gave me the slightest problem. Most of my sleever friends eat it too.

bread and rice are off the menu for me pretty much permanently. Bread because it does hurt me and rice because it is nutritionally worthless for someone with the disease of obesity and without enough redeeming characteristics for me to want to make it a "treat."

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    • Alisa_S

      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.

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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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