2 Months Post Op and having issues

i think I would ask my surgeon to do an EGD to check for a partial  stricture. 

If no stricture,then I would scale the size of my meals waaaaay back ,maybe you are eating too. Much and just don't realize it.

I'm 6 months out and have days/weeks that I can't stand some of my favorite proteins. Bacon, chicken, etc. You just have to keep trying stuff till you find what is working that week. 

As for the drinking - you can't use the "I have no desire to drink" excuse. You don't drink, you don't lose weight, and even worse - you die. 32oz is definitely NOT enough. I have 24oz in by 7am. You must make yourself drink, even if you have to set a timer.

When was your surgery? You won't drop sizes instantly. Your clothes are sagging and baggy - THAT IS A GREAT START. Don't worry, you'll be in smaller clothes soon enough :)

I'd definitely try and make a support meeting if possible or keep posting here for support. If you'd like a guys opinion/help, feel free to message me. I hate to see a fellow DS'er having problems and I understand the depressed feeling. 

DON'T FORGET TO DRINK !! Heck have a drink right now :) Carry a bottle everywhere you go. I have bottles everywhere LOL, just in case I forget one.

Keep your chin up, the best is yet to come !!!

It gets better.  I promise.  The first three months really, really, really, really suck.  I found that a mantra really worked for me.  Mine is "I can do anything for a year."   In hindsight, it was really only the first three months that I needed to address.  (And I thought pre-surgery was hell.)  Right now, your body is still healing.  Instead of surgery, pretend you got run through with a sword in some epic battle.  Do you honestly think everything would be hunky dory in just two months? 

I would absolutely get rid of the concept of balanced meals for a while longer.  You can not eat enough to balance things out right now.  There isn't enough room.  Your body can make it long enough on its reserves and vitamin supplements that you don't have to worry about it.   

Cheese, yogurt and fish isn't crap for a ds person.  I would rather see steak, cheese and heavy cream, but you are close enough, if that is what your body wants.   Protein is all you really need to worry about right now. At two months I assume you find a protein shake really, really filling.  There isn't much room left to eat other foods.   Matter-o-fact, I wasn't even allowed most other foods.  Veggies and yogurt didn't' come on my approved list until after three months.  Coffee was six months I think, maybe a year.  I still don't' like really acidic things, so I haven't put coffee back into my diet. 

I remember hitting the wall at about 2.5 months.  I think it's a normal thing. Soon you will be able to eat enough to feel better, which will make a huge difference. 

Also, I would recommend you get on top of the constipation thing.  Wounded guts combined with rock-solid full guts is not a comfortable thing.  I promise you there is a recipe of products that will bring you daily relief.  It will be some combination of fiber pills, mirilax (not generic to start off with), soaked chia seeds, stool softeners, aloe vera pills or juice, and maybe a gentle laxative like Swiss Kriss on bad days.   I have found that a little fruit made a huge difference to my general well being.  4 Strawberry's have less than 6 carbs but can make a protein shake a thousand times better and help with the constipation.  I'm sure other people have found other things as well.

I had this concept of a perfect day.  That would be a day I walked, drank all my water, got in all my vitamins and supplements and had over 100 g of protein.  I didn't have a perfect day until month three or four.  I had a weird swallowing complication, but everybody has some complication or another.  My three and six month labs were excellent.  If I were able to send a message back in time to my super frustrated 2 month out self, it would be just to take things one day at a time, do what made my body feel better and to remember that things get better. 

You are not a failure. It took me 3 tries before I got to the point of having the surgery. The fact that you are on the other end is a huge success.

Lots of good advice so far. If you are above 6x I'm guessing you started as a heavyweight. I started the process at 552 (surgery at 464) so I know it will take a long time for your mind to catch up to the fact that your body is actually changing. Even when I moved from 6x to 5x I just couldn't get behind the numbers as being a meaningful weight loss.  There are a couple of things I would suggest.

Drink, drink, drink.  Try hot, try cold, crystal light, Propel, PowerAde zero.  The dehydration hurts you in so many ways that are hard to see. Increased constipation, lethargy, depression, weight loss. Push liquids as hard as you can. You may not feel like drinking but you need to look at it like medication. If it's 8 am and you haven't had 4 or 5 oz it's like not getting your pills in on time.

At your point I had to schedule meals because I had no interest in food period. I wasn't hungry and I couldn't figure out the new signals from my body that said I needed food so I did eating by the clock.

I'm not sure where you are at on vitamins but adding magnesium oxide with each of my calcium doses really helped my early constipation.

Get a measuring tape and start tracking your waist, upper arms, thighs, etc.  Sometimes the scale doesn't show the changes and sometimes the number is so big that it seems impossible to really make a dent but little by little changes happen.

Stop with the calories. I know this is hard to do but liquids first, then protein and vitamins. A little extra fat will also help with the constipation.  Tuna and egg salad - heavy on the mayo. Try a Wendy's chili. Dark meat chicken. Nothing too dry unless you have a gravy or juice to have it with.  Cottage cheese. Any and all types of cheese (NO low fat cheese!!!  :)  )

You can do this.  I used mini weight goals, getting to 450, getting to 399, 380, 350, 299, etc.  There will be plenty of times you still get the feeling that you've hit the wall and you broke your DS, you just can't do it, and on and on but the beauty of the DS, for me, is that it didn't need my belief to keep working. I don't know what it was doing during my stalls but I kept to my high protein menus and it just restarted on it's own.

Let us know how things are going as time goes on.

Pete

Hi Jason,

I wish you would have come to our support group last night at Golden Corral. There were 4 of us that are 5-11 yrs out.  One gentleman is waiting for his surgery and his friend.  We all get to pick what protein we want, be it ribs, chicken, steak, fish.  You can weigh it by the pound and just pick what you can eat and take the rest home.  Most of us can still only eat so much, but talking and waiting, we can get more in.  Our next meeting is June 25th, I'll be in Texas, but Colleen will be there.  I'll PM her info and mine to you.

As for drinking, you need to sip, sip, sip all day and all evening long.  Just do it.  Hot, warm, room temp or ice cold.  I kept track of the ounces of water that I drank daily on a spreadsheet on the fridge along with food.

Early out you generally can only eat a few tablespoons at a time.  Look for your full signal - mine was burping, could be runny nose, or ...  Pay attention and when you get your signal stop.  If you overfill your little tummy more than likely you'll throw up or be miserable for 30-60min.  Eat more often.  I tried to eat every hour a few bites.  Look for Val's Ricotta Fluff recipe.  Lots of protein and it's good for you.  Easy to just take a few spoonfuls at a time. 

Tuna and egg salad were staples for me early out.  Meatballs (1) with lots of sauce and cheese.  A piece of fish from Long John Silvers would be 3 mini meals for me.  A box of popcorn chicken would be 3 meals. 

I could do fried eggs, but scrambled and omelet even with lots of cheese was like a piece of lead.  Protein is all I had room for and it's all I ate for 3-4 months.  I did have a salad at 7 months out with lots of dressing.  Crockpot meat/stew eat the meat and forget the potatoes, carrots...  Fish in butter and garlic, the more butter makes it moist and easy to get down.  Pork dipped in BBQ sauce or nacho cheese.  Some foods your tummy may reject, try it again next week.

It does get easier, there is an adjustment period.  Drinking at least 64oz of water is a must, eating several very small meals every day and adding fat - butter, mayo, whipping cream will help with constipation.  Fat is a free food for us.