Bariatric Sleeve-4 weeks post op

[Tony22 10]

I had my 4 week appointment yesterday. 4 weeks to the day and was given the all clear to resume normal eating with no restrictions. Of course that doesn’t mean to go back to candy and all that other junk, but i can eat whatever I want. It’s on me to be smart about it.

I started morning of surgery at 275. Four days later I was at 266.6 (8.4lb loss). One week out i was at 259 (16lb loss) and two weeks out I was at 252 (23lb loss). I’m now at 247. Total loss in 4 weeks is 28 pounds so I’m pretty pleased.

1st week was just chicken Soup broth, Premier Protein shakes (Costco), surgar free Jello, popscicles, and sugar free pudding.

2nd week, same as week one, but a couple times tried mashed potatoes. Started walking on treadmill few times a week. 15 minutes each.

3rd week, same as 2nd week, but tried meatballs and diced chicken breast. Tried chicken tacos. Chicken, corn tortillas and salsa.

4th week, beginning of the 4th week tried steak quesadilla, chips and salsa. Keep in mind very small portions. That’s where I’m at now. Was also cleared to lift weights which I will be starting next week.

At no time have I been nauseous or thrown up. A few times my stomach would rumble for a second or two, but nothing significant. I’ve probably been a bit aggressive in introducing the foods, but it’s worked out fine and I’m happy with the results. It’s all up to me now how I handle myself going forward.

As far as recommending this surgery, for me it worked out great and was fairly easy. However, that may not be the case for everyone. I made the decision by realizing it was something I needed to do at late 40’s to improve my health and way of life. I chose not to pay too close attention to the negative reviews because as with any surgery everyone handles it differently.

Good Luck

[Sosewsue61 3,185]

Great progress!!

[Tony22 10]

Forgot to mention. Had surgery on a Thursday and was back in the office by Monday.

[Tony22 10]

As a follow up now during week 5 I've introduced chicken tenders, pizza, salad, vegetables and no issues. Again, in small quantities, but haven't had any issues whatsoever and still losing weight each week. I'm completely unrestricted in diet now.

[Sosewsue61 3,185]

Really pizza? chicken tenders are 50% breading. Aren't you supposed to follow a plan with consuming lean Protein first, then vegetables, then maybe a starch? What are your macros - #protein grams/day, etc?

[Berry78 4,259]

I recommend you stop and take stock of the big picture. Yes, you'll lose weight for 6 months eating pizza. The surgery will do that for you.

BUT, after this "honeymoon period", if you haven't changed WHAT you eat, your ability to eat more and more is going to lead you to eating too many calories, and you'll start regaining.

By time I was 3 months postop, I could already eat 2 pieces of pizza. That was the first time I tried it postop. It is a slider for me (and a weak point). I had to decide right then and there that pizza has to be limited to 4 times a year (once a season). That's it. That way I can still have it, but it doesn't figure in my day to day meals, and won't impact my monthly caloric intake.

Here is the nutritional breakdown of two slices of Papa John's chicken and Veggie lighter choice pizza: (from a large)

Quote

Nutritional Facts

Total Calories

560 Cal

Total Fat

14.0 g

Sodium

1240 mg

Total Carbohydrate

78.0 g

Dietary Fiber

4.0 g

Sugars

10.0 g

Protein

20.0 g

Half my daily calories, almost all my daily sodium, all my carbs, but only 1/4 my daily protein. Too bad I don't have the Vitamin breakdown, but it's not gonna be good.

Pizza is junk food, and needs to be thought of that way.

[BuffaloBill 168]

Yea those numbers on pizza are horrible... honestly guys make it yourself. The cauliflower crust or the Fathead are both easy to make after you do them once... those nutritional numbers change dramatically and you can dress the pizza up anyway you'd like

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[Nicky03 21]

I recommend you stop and take stock of the big picture. Yes, you'll lose weight for 6 months eating pizza. The surgery will do that for you.
BUT, after this "honeymoon period", if you haven't changed WHAT you eat, your ability to eat more and more is going to lead you to eating too many calories, and you'll start regaining.
By time I was 3 months postop, I could already eat 2 pieces of pizza. That was the first time I tried it postop. It is a slider for me (and a weak point). I had to decide right then and there that pizza has to be limited to 4 times a year (once a season). That's it. That way I can still have it, but it doesn't figure in my day to day meals, and won't impact my monthly caloric intake.
Here is the nutritional breakdown of two slices of Papa John's chicken and Veggie lighter choice pizza: (from a large)

Nutritional Facts Total Calories 560 Cal Total Fat 14.0 g Sodium 1240 mg Total Carbohydrate 78.0 g Dietary Fiber 4.0 g Sugars 10.0 g Protein 20.0 g

Half my daily calories, almost all my daily sodium, all my carbs, but only 1/4 my daily protein. Too bad I don't have the Vitamin breakdown, but it's not gonna be good.
Pizza is junk food, and needs to be thought of that way.


Hi berry,

I’ve been following the topics for a while now, I’m 2 weeks pre-op (can’t wait for next week!) and my understanding from research and speaking to my surgeon is that the surgery limits your food intake and thus weightloss occurs. From what you’ve said, ‘honeymoon period’ and from what I’ve seen on the forum it seems to imply that you can basically eat for a period and still lose weight. I’m in no way implying that that is what I’m planning on doing but I find this phenomenon, if you want call it such, interesting. My understanding is that this mostly occurs with bypass surgery because there isn’t enough time to absorb all the calories and nutrients before it gets to your digestive system. I understand with VSG that this is not the case because your stomach is smaller but the absorption still takes place as normal.
Can you please help me better understand. Sorry for highjacking the post[emoji51]. From previous posts you seem to have quite a bit of knowledge all vsg.

[Tony22 10]

To be clear, I'm only trying these foods to see how I handle them. I am not re-introducing them into my daily diet as normal intake. I travel a lot for both work and pleasure, so I want to be sure of what foods I can handle and what foods I can't. If I'm in a situation where there's only certain foods that I like I want to be certain (at home) that I can handle them (while out in public).

As far as the honeymoon and continued weight loss, that doesn't concern me at all. Unless all you're eating is sweets and breads, you will lose weight simply because of the limited amount you can intake. Allowing myself a slice of pizza one night every one or two weeks or eating a couple chicken tenders once every one or two weeks isn't going to cause me to gain weight. I'm not going to deprive myself of the foods I enjoy. I will, however, be smart about how and when I have them.

Five weeks post op and I'm 25 lbs away from my goal. With my workout regiment and knowing the amount of food I can eat and what I will eat, I'm not at all worried about losing/gaining weight.

I believe someone asked about a plan and what the macros were. As I described in the initial post, I did have a plan for the first week, second week, 3rd week, etc. Once cleared by the doctor to try anything I wanted I built up to that. I didn't immediately eat pizza or bread or salad. I slowly introduced new things like ground beef, chicken, etc. before I led up to pizza or bread. As far as my Protein, I'm suppose to be at 106g a day. I still incorporate the "PremierProtein" drinks from costco into each day so I'm getting sufficient protein.

The important thing here for everyone who is considering having this surgery is that everyone handles it and responds to it differently. That's medicine. From someone who has had several surgeries in recent years I've developed my own plan along with my surgeons post operatively. That is because everyone handles pain, recovery, and follows plans differently. You have to do what works for you.

[Berry78 4,259]

Ok, Tony. I see where you are coming from, and all of us have to navigate this journey in a way that works for us. Sounds like you are doing well with your healing and tolerating things.

[BDME 138]

I’m with you Tony. I was just cleared and while I’m eating crazy healthy I have been introducing new foods. I had 1/4 a bagel the other day and a 1/2 slice of pizza. Just to see how I tolerated. And it took me an hour to get through that half slice. It’s def not something I will do every or every week but I refuse to give up the things I love completely. I live in NYC so pizza is as fundamental as Water lol. I’ve introduced small bits of sausage and steak but I mostly stick to chicken & fish as my main Proteins. Pinterest has been a life saver when it comes to recipes.

[Berry78 4,259]

7 hours ago, Nicky03 said:

Hi berry,

I’ve been following the topics for a while now, I’m 2 weeks pre-op (can’t wait for next week!) and my understanding from research and speaking to my surgeon is that the surgery limits your food intake and thus weightloss occurs. From what you’ve said, ‘honeymoon period’ and from what I’ve seen on the forum it seems to imply that you can basically eat for a period and still lose weight. I’m in no way implying that that is what I’m planning on doing but I find this phenomenon, if you want call it such, interesting. My understanding is that this mostly occurs with bypass surgery because there isn’t enough time to absorb all the calories and nutrients before it gets to your digestive system. I understand with VSG that this is not the case because your stomach is smaller but the absorption still takes place as normal.
Can you please help me better understand. Sorry for highjacking the post. From previous posts you seem to have quite a bit of knowledge all vsg.

Thank you for asking for clarification.

Weight loss occurs because of limited caloric consumption. (There is a theory that the surgery will lower our bodies' set points, but that is really just a theory. So we'll stick with talking about limited calories.)

I have seen twice now where a patient almost immediately after surgery was consuming maintenance level calories (2000 and 1500). Neither of those patients lost any weight until they could lower their calories. One was on medical nutrition (in an IV), and the other had faulty information from their nutritionist that was demanding she eat too many calories.

The "honeymoon period" is the time of rapid weight loss after the operation, but it varies from person to person. In general it lasts for 6 months or a year.

I am 7.5 months postop, and have noticed the amount of food I can consume is continuing to increase. At 8 weeks post-op, I was eating about 1/2 a cup. Now it's double that. If I were to eat whatever I wanted (thinking that I can "only" eat 1/2 a cup of food), then over the last 5 months, my calories would have doubled.

So we can do some math: 900 calories at 2 months postop is pretty typical.. so now I'd be eating 1800, maintenance, and the scale would stop moving.

The "honeymoon" lasts as long as the person can keep their calories low enough to keep on losing, or until they hit goal. Some people are weight loss resistant, and don't lose, despite low calories.. but they have a hormone, metabolism, or some other type of problem.

The bypass does keep the body from absorbing a portion of the calories consumed. This results in a little more weight loss on average compared to the sleeve (and the losses happen faster).

So, I mentioned that people could lose while eating pizza. This would be true as long as the amount of pizza was low enough to not go over the daily calorie goals. But, eventually we would be able to eat a whole pizza in a day, split into several meals.. and we're right back to where we were before surgery.

Shoot, I could finish off 2 large pizzas now, if I were so inclined. (a slice an hour, for 16 hours..) That would be about 4000+ calories... And that's only 7 months out! This is in theory.. I'd never actually do such a thing...

[BuffaloBill 168]

Thank you for asking for clarification.
Weight loss occurs because of limited caloric consumption. (There is a theory that the surgery will lower our bodies' set points, but that is really just a theory. So we'll stick with talking about limited calories.)
I have seen twice now where a patient almost immediately after surgery was consuming maintenance level calories (2000 and 1500). Neither of those patients lost any weight until they could lower their calories. One was on medical nutrition (in an IV), and the other had faulty information from their nutritionist that was demanding she eat too many calories.
The "honeymoon period" is the time of rapid weight loss after the operation, but it varies from person to person. In general it lasts for 6 months or a year.
I am 7.5 months postop, and have noticed the amount of food I can consume is continuing to increase. At 8 weeks post-op, I was eating about 1/2 a cup. Now it's double that. If I were to eat whatever I wanted (thinking that I can "only" eat 1/2 a cup of food), then over the last 5 months, my calories would have doubled.
So we can do some math: 900 calories at 2 months postop is pretty typical.. so now I'd be eating 1800, maintenance, and the scale would stop moving.
The "honeymoon" lasts as long as the person can keep their calories low enough to keep on losing, or until they hit goal. Some people are weight loss resistant, and don't lose, despite low calories.. but they have a hormone, metabolism, or some other type of problem.
The bypass does keep the body from absorbing a portion of the calories consumed. This results in a little more weight loss on average compared to the sleeve (and the losses happen faster).
So, I mentioned that people could lose while eating pizza. This would be true as long as the amount of pizza was low enough to not go over the daily calorie goals. But, eventually we would be able to eat a whole pizza in a day, split into several meals.. and we're right back to where we were before surgery.
Shoot, I could finish off 2 large pizzas now, if I were so inclined. (a slice an hour, for 16 hours..) That would be about 4000+ calories... And that's only 7 months out! This is in theory.. I'd never actually do such a thing...

Man my caloric consumption is abysmal . I stopped using myfitness pal app cause it depresses me too see how little calories I can consume. I can see how people would want to get calorie dense foods in them. I'm a month post op and I'm still trying to heal my new sleeve. How was everybody or is everybody doing at the month Mark ??? I've had good weight loss. Like 20+pounds in a month . My HW=280 SW=245 CW=225ish (I'm not a big scale guy) GW=170-180

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[Berry78 4,259]

My calories were MUCH higher than average during the healing phase due to my reliance on milk and dairy for Protein. By 14 days postop my caloric consumption was 800 or 900. At 8 weeks, it settled around 1100, and I'm doing 1100-1200 now, most days. (Today I only made 800).

The first month post, I lost 17lbs, which seems about average for a sleeved female.

[BuffaloBill 168]

Thank you berry a lady in here the other day tried telling me 400-600 calories A Day was healthy.... I was surprised too cause she was in her 50's... I'm feeling fatigued at 1200 a day.. I want to keep most of my muscle during this post op fast weight loss

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