Updates...Progress Reports...

Hi Janae and fellow December post-ops.. sounds like everyone is doing great 1- What's been going on now that you are 4, 5, 6 weeks post-op? i am 5 weeks post-op today and i have lost 36.5 pounds. 2- What are your ups and downs? ups-fitting into clothes that havent fit me in over 5 years and also since i have started walking 1.5 miles everyday, my knees havent hurt not even once! ... downs-i miss "eating" with my family, i cant complain, but i sometimes miss the eating and the drinking (non alcoholic, hehe) of regular portions. but i wouldnt take it back for anything.. this surgery has been a Godsend. 3-Have you learned anything new in the last few weeks that may be able to help someone else? i have yet to choke on solids or liquids... its SO VERY important to take your time to chew, chew that food and sip, sip those liquids. i think the fear of something getting stuck or vomiting keep me in check in that area ;) 4-Where are you at in your diets? i am on soft foods.. i never pureed anything. i just made sure that whatever i was eating was well-mashed and that i chewed it real well. i am eating yogurt, ground beef, bananas, oranges, chili, little weenies (1 oz servings) and drinking water, juices (not SF but they are watered down), and rice water (drink from my country). 5- Any challenges that you are facing? yes.. still working on my protein shakes. seems like whatever i do, they still seem gritty, too thick or the aftertaste makes me nauseous.

I am 5 weeks out today (from my first procedure - I had to have another procedure the next day to stop internal bleeding) and still in quite a bit of pain in my belly, especially when I sit down. I am still taking pain medication. My doctor says that the second procedure of burning the bleeding sites can take a while to recover from. I am down 25 lbs. For the past week I have been vomitting at least once a day. Maybe I'm eating to fast. I barely have 300 calories a day - on a good day. The max I can eat at one time is about 2-3 tablespoons. Although I try foods that are not pureed - I don't have a lot of success with them. I'm much better with cottage cheese, mashed potatoes, mashed broccolli or yogurt. I feel very, very weak. I even dropped my little 20 month old daughter this morning when I tried to put her in the car seat today (she's fine - just confused as to what game we were playing). I even have problems pushing the rotating doors to get in the building at work. I am in good spirits, however and know that this will past - hopefully quickly.

Fellow December Losers, We are all losers, isn't that the best part!! Some are off and running with bigger numbers but each of us has made progress. I am six weeks on Wed and down about 28 pounds. Not much off in the last three weeks except inches. If you get discouraged, measure something on your body! I tell you, that is the most surprising part for me. I eat regular foods. Protein drinks and bars, eggs, cheese, tuna, fish and seafood, chicken and turkey. I work hard to get all of the fluids in. I went back to work at two weeks and my tiredness stayed longer because of it. I will take another week if I ever have medical issues again. Live and learn! LOL I eat out with friends and family and get creative. I make up for the lack of protein before or after I get home. Keep up the good work! Vicky

Hi JaNae, I'm 5 weeks post op today. Boy, has the time gone by fast. I am now on soft foods - fish, chicken(canned or very moist), beans, bananas, eggs, and soy products. No cottage cheese yet for me, I asked. Always amazing to read what and when food is allowed on different programs. I have not had any problems eating. I'm allowed to have 1/4 a cup or 2 oz. at a meal, 3 meals a day and skim milk as a snack 3 times a day. I am down 35 lbs and have joined Gold's gym (it's located across the street from my business) and have been walking 30 to 45 minutes 5 days a week. I want to start some weights but want to be 6 weeks out and more fully healed first. I'm feeling really great about doing such good things for myself, and am also thrilled to have dropped from a snug 22 to a snug 16. I'm a little sad that I don't get a real feeling of fullness that so many of you talk about. I use small dishes and spoons but it hard to make my meals last 20 minutes let alone 30 minutes. However, I do stop and while I don't feel full, I'm not Hungry and looking for food either. Corrine

Hi! Well its 5 weeks for me now and a 29 pound weight loss. I am now in Onederland!! Feels great. I am eating about 6 small meals a day. I eat about a tablespoon , two if I'm lucky at each meal. I can tolerate most things, but not on all days. Sounds weird but one day a food is fine and the next it isn't. I've decided that if I eat when I am stressed it is a disaster. My mood seems to be very connected to how things sit in my pouch. I throw up close to every, every other day. I haven't been very good on getting my liquids and protein in. I ordered some Unjury to help with the protein..the liquids are just a challenge. i still throwup a lot. I wish I could say that I have a lot of energy, but I have started back to work for full days these last two weeks and I am beat by the end of the day. Haven't walked as much as I would have liked to..weather has been terrible. Will try to do better at that as well. Seems i have a lot to work on. I am alsoconstantly cold!! Prob from slowed metabolism. Glad that everyone is loosing. Cheers to more success for all of us. sunny

Hi Sunny, Your wt loss looks great - I'm at 18 pounds in the first month. What I wanted to share with you is the "cold" thing. I was cold to the bone, covering up with coats, blankets and such when DH is comfortable in a T-shirt. It was a huge change from my sweating blob persona of the last few years. Then I saw someone post the side effects of too few calories and being cold was part of it. Too few calories means very low metabolism means cold. Since I've seriously begun to up my calories to 700-900 per day I've had more energy and am not nearly as cold. Now when I feel warm or overly warm I smile and think "there goes the old metabolism kicking in". Maybe even "there goes another pound". I didn't think I could get that many calories in but someone shared their eating plan and how they got in their required amount and I've been doing better ever since. It's no big secret - 2 55g protein shakes or Unjury meals and one hi-protein meal each day. I end up at the 700-900 cals per day and the bone chilling cold is gone and amazingly I'm losing weight. Good luck and lots of warming wishes Shar

Hi All - I had the LAP RNY on 12/29. I just had my first visit with the doc this past Monday, also the same day I went back to work. I will be 4 weeks post-op tomorrow. So far I am down 22 lbs. I am on the soft foods portion of the diet, step 3. So far, definitely not good. During the surgery, my hiatal hernia was repaired. My esophagus keeps constricting causing me to vomit. I can get the fluids in ok, but it'****miss when it comes to the soft foods. The good news is that I am healing great from the actual surgery itself. My problems are just related to the hernia itself. My father actually had his hernia repaired 12 years ago. Everything I am going thru now, he went thru as well. So I am a carbon copy. I go in on Friday to get scoped and can't wait. I am definitely struggling in terms of protein and fluids. I hope it will improve after they stretch the esophagus back out. Chrissy

Today I had my 6 week check up. Everything went well. My labs are good except for potassium...they gave me a prescription for potassium. I have to start medicine for gallbladder to be taken for 6 months. I have lost 26% of my body weight(31 pounds). They said that is great since they want 33% gone at 3 months, I am ahead of the game. I started solid (but soft) foods today. Had a small ckicken breast in gravy. Madeline

Hi Everyone..... I haven't posted here before but I loved reading all your information this morning - it was so helpful. Isn't it strange how different our Dr's eating plans are? I had my 6 weeks check up yesterday. 32 lbs lost. (42 total). I have been eating solid foods for 2 weeks and doing well (chili, meatloaf) but I still tend to get most of my protein and meals with Diary. Yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese - by choice. I have never threw up once. I did "feel bad" after one frozen meal - but I didn't get sick. So I'm one of the lucky ones. The only trouble I have is getting in 64 fl ounces I can eat 1/2 cup of cottage cheese at one sitting and 1 cup of any type of soup. I feel like I am a slow loser but I've been a 2 week stall....so I know this will pass. My trick to getting my protein in is every morning I have lemon or banana yogurt with 1 scoop of unflavored whey protein and 1 splenda. This starts my day off with 23 grams. From there with two meals and snacks it is easy to get to 50-60 grams. I just wish I could drink more. Any suggestions (I drink SF Koolaid and Crystal Light - I cannot tolerate water yet - but I loved it before surgery)

Well it looks like everyone is doing pretty good. I agree with most when they say that it is amazing how different our diets are and what we can and can not eat. The most important thing that I have learned so far is that this is a tool and I can use this tool the proper way and get the best results or I can abuse this tool and misuse it and see failure. But failure is not in my vocabulary and hopefully its not in yours. If you get off track oneday the good thing about it is you can get back on track the next, dust yourself off and start all over again. We are going to have ups and downs hopefully for more ups then anything but we have to work, work and work at what we have been blessed with . Congratulations to all and best of luck on your journys... Let's keep encouraging each other! JaNae