6 weeks

Hello all,

Im 6 weeks out and feeling normal "as normal as can be again" ive went from 281 to 236 since may 23rd... pretty exciting. Been at the same weight for a couple weeks now, which from what i read its pretty normal to happen. Well i have yet to find ANYTHING that makes me sick or dont agree, and ive been experimenting alot. Its a crazy mind thing that all of a sudden triggers. Am i eating too much? Why do i always feel hungry? Is this surgery not going to work for me? Trust me when i say.. i weigh my food.. eat tons of protien.. my fluids, ehh.. thats hard but i do my best. Have i been PERFECT? absolutly not. I ate 2 cheetos puffs at a bbq yesterday! I had a lick of cream cheese frosting.. ive also had a nibble here and there of things that have no nutritional value like.. corn. Ive felt terrible when its happened than i remember i am human. I want a glass of wine soooooooooooooo bad! But too scared to try at 6 weeks, this is definitely harder than i thought, but soooo rewarding. Im glad i did it. Just checking on myself and fellow wls patients if everything im describing is normal and why NOTHING upsets my stomach?? Oooo.. and in the morning i can drink of eat forever THAT DOES UPSET MY POUCH. im so nervous about this not working for me or messing it up. So remember we are a support group, not looking for lectures or put downs just some REAL in the situation im currently dealing. Yall are great.

You have done really well so far with your weight loss.  Doubting yourself i think is pretty normal at this point because there is just so much to learn.  

You are still healing and will have to rely on weighing out and portioning and tracking everything you eat because without the sickness it's easy to eat too much.  Many, many of us can eat all things with no trouble or sickness.

These first few months are not only precious for a huge percentage of your weight loss.....but they are also the months that "hopefully " train and teach us proper habits to carry on for life to give you skills to keep it off.

 Beware of the old habits and snacking and temptation.  When you start the practice of experimenting and testing waters .....you are looking for trouble...especially at 6wks.  Poor choices can snowball very quickly.  Bad food makes you want more bad food.   Instead of thinking "well...I'm only human" as you grab for something you shouldnt....try  saying ......" I can do this" , "I don't need that", " I am strong and can say NO", "I can control myself"  I say these things to myself all the time!!!! 

You don't need to worry about this surgery working for you, because it will when you stick to the plan.  Remember your best choices will give you the best results and you deserve the best !!!!

Hooray for your honesty and your good fortune at being to tolerate everything.  No lectures, as requested!

What comes to mind is that you can AND SHOULD handle all of your meals, snacks, treats, slips, and assess them DAILY so that you can adjust as needed.  I didn't think I was an advocate of daily weighing at the early stage I am at, but I think that seasoned people like you who have made such good progress, should, as others say, stay vigilant that little missteps can return yoou to bad hab its.  So if you are strong enough (you are) and smart enough (you are) to have a couple of Cheetos or a lick of cream cheese frosting and you "survive another day", congrats.  I don't think I will be able to deny myself and instead I will be strong because I do NOT NOT NOT want to give the weight back.  That will be the metric I use, no****ching every bite I take.  If my lovely wife cooks something and says "do you want a taste", I want to build strength to have a taste and then stop!

Just saying

You sound about normal to me. BUT you do have to be careful.

Immediately following surgery, it was discovered that I have diverticulosis - and the diet plan for that is low protein, high fiber. I had an excellent nutritionist, surgery team and PCP who understand that I'm not going to be able to just rely on proteins, and the 5 day meat test/plan is dangerous for me. And my pouch is larger than it seems most people here have - I am supposed to eat 3 cups a day of food - in 3 meals or 6, focusing on nutrition and avoiding foods with no nutritional value. Do I "slip"... yes. But a slip for me now is one Pringle vs a can. It's a slippery slope, but I can do this and so can you. I really wanted a wine cooler and two weeks ago, I decided to have one. I made it through 4 sips before realizing it wasn't what I was hoping for - just like the sip I took of my husband's diet coke yesterday, it was a total letdown, thankfully. My tastes have changed, though my cravings haven't - does that make sense? So, for me, I'm finding that when I indulge a craving, I'm finding that what I was desperately craving doesn't give me the same pleasure it did before. I don't recommend this approach for everyone, but it works for me.

Remember that this isn't a race, it's a lifestyle change. I bought toddler sized plates and bowls and tasting spoons and forks before the surgery and ONLY use those. It helps me with the "head hunger". And now when I feel that I've overeaten, as long as I've weighed and measured everything, I know I haven't. And beating yourself up, doesn't help in any way.

I met an EMT in the days following my surgery who is 10 years out from her RNY. She gave me her story, whi*****luded a bout with alcoholism in the years following surgery, loss of her entire family (due to her behaviors), regain of all her weight and her journey back to health. She is an inspiration to me, just as much as the scale and the mirror are.

Good luck lady! You can and will do this. Don't expect perfection from yourself.

Thank you for all the kind replies. And anything i can do to help i will

I'm 7 weeks out and I'll tell you what keeps me from the temptation to nibble is the fear of dumping in public! If I was at a BBQ I wouldn't be brave enough to eat something I hadn't already tried in the privacy of my own home. I went to a wedding last week and luckily I had salmon as a dinner choice. It was so tempting to nibble on sweets or bread and butter but the fear of getting sick kept me from even so much as licking my fingers lol.