Hey all, I had surgery on 4/16 and everything went really, really well. I'm on full liquids for the next couple of weeks. I found something odd though. They kept telling me in the pre op program that my stomach would be so small that I would need to sip all day. The thing is, I don't. I still drink good amounts of water at a time with no consequence. My surgeon didn't mention anything post surgery, but it's leaving me a little curious. Has anyone else had something similar happen? I'm worried that a bigger tummy is going to lead down the road of bad choices again.

You being able to drink more fluids is not due to your tummy being bigger. You probably are not having as much internal swelling as someone else does. Also, some never lose their ability to gulp a good bit of water, and you don't list your surgery, some bypass patients also have this happen.

Fluids exit our stomach really quickly, some faster than others. The restriction with fluids early on is because of the internal swelling and how long it takes to get to the stomach through that swollen area. I had a LOT of swelling. Water went down at a trickle. I could literally hear it displace air in my stomach when it finally got there, like a little drain finally clearing. It was hilarious and so strange feeling. For me it took 3 weeks for this weirdness to stop.

I can take a good 3-4 full swallows most days now before I get pressure from my tummy to slow down. I tell you all this because I know for a fact I have a larger sleeved stomach than most, my surgeon made it that way due to reflux. I've seen it empty fluids on imaging, it is fast as lightning! LOL

Your tummy will not lead to bad food choices, even if it were bigger. But your mind will! Trust me, once you add solid proteins in, you will probably feel your restriction to some degree. Many never feel restriction with purees and fluids.

Thanks for the response! I did have the bypass. That explains it. When my wife had the sleeve, she had a lot more trouble intaking fluids. I guess I should be thankful that my swelling was worse than it could be! I do get hiccups if I drink a certain amount at a time. It's like I can feel my whole stomach move with. Kinda strange feeling!

Remember too a lot of nerves were cut during the surgery so you won’t be getting messages in the same way or getting them at all. Plus all those sutures & staples holding your digestive system together. It takes about 8 weeks to heal so stick to the advice you’ve been given. It’s there to protect your healing tummy & support your recovery. All because you can doesn’t mean you should.

I never had issues with drinking fluids. That said, I still tried to slow it down a bit so I wouldn't hurt anything in my stomach - but I always drank faster than I was told we would.

I didn't have any issues drinking either. When I passed the puree stage and entered solid stage, that is when the restriction got real. lol

I had surgery on 4/8/24. I had a bypass. I am able to drink fluids with no restrictions. I'm on the puree stage. At 2 weeks out I have only lost 16 pounds. The last 3 days the scale actually went up 2 lb. I'm not going to lie. This is an uncomfortable feeling. Specially because I'm sticking with Drs orders. I do notice that even though I eat 3 ounces of food and try to keep up with my fluid intake I don't get a "full" feeling. It does not take me a long time to eat. So I'm not sure how to feel about that.

2 hours ago, larmenta said:

I had surgery on 4/8/24. I had a bypass. I am able to drink fluids with no restrictions. I'm on the puree stage. At 2 weeks out I have only lost 16 pounds. The last 3 days the scale actually went up 2 lb. I'm not going to lie. This is an uncomfortable feeling. Specially because I'm sticking with Drs orders. I do notice that even though I eat 3 ounces of food and try to keep up with my Fluid intake I don't get a "full" feeling. It does not take me a long time to eat. So I'm not sure how to feel about that.

That seems like a good loss so far! Read up about the 3 week stall , it happens to most people after WLS...

On 4/26/2024 at 12:43 PM, larmenta said:

I had surgery on 4/8/24. I had a bypass. I am able to drink fluids with no restrictions. I'm on the puree stage. At 2 weeks out I have only lost 16 pounds. The last 3 days the scale actually went up 2 lb. I'm not going to lie. This is an uncomfortable feeling. Specially because I'm sticking with Drs orders. I do notice that even though I eat 3 ounces of food and try to keep up with my Fluid intake I don't get a "full" feeling. It does not take me a long time to eat. So I'm not sure how to feel about that.

1). I lost 16 lbs the entire first MONTH, and I went on to lose over 200 lbs. Most of us seem to lose somewhere in the 15-25 lb range the first month (yes - MONTH). So unless you're an outlier or the size of someone on "My 600 lb Life", you are doing very well!

2). sounds like you are experiencing the infamous "Three-week stall" right now - right on time, too! The vast majority of us hit our first major stall within the first month or so after surgery - and it's usually the third week;, hence, the name. If you google the site for the three-week stall, you will find something like 17,000 posts on it (and no, I am NOT kidding). A slight bump-up in weight is not unusual, either. It's almost certainly just water weight. The best thing to do is to continue to stick to your program and stay off the scale for a few days. As long as you remain compliant with your program, the stall will break and you'll be on your way again. It usually takes 1-3 weeks.

3). you won't feel much (if any) restriction or "full" until you move to solid foods. Liquids go right through you, and purees pass through pretty quickly, too. Plus you had nerves cut during surgery, and it takes awhile for them to start to regenerate. You'll feel it fairly soon. However, "full" doesn't always feel the same way for many of us that it did before surgery. I don't feel "full" the same way at all - it's more a discomfort - sort of like pressure - in my chest. Once I start feeling that, I know I'd better stop eating or I'm going to be sorry. Others have even weirder full signals - like a runny nose or sneezing.