Recent Posts

Please ask your surgeon what they anticipate for you with your personal medical history, overall health, job duties, etc. Most people are out about 3 weeks. Remember that even though it is done laproscopically, this is major surgery and the first few weeks, your 'job' is to get in the fluids, protein and suppliments prescribed by your program. It might not seem like it now, but it really is a full time job at first.

Wishing you all the best and looking forward to hearing about your appointment.

I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who came to the Bariatric Aftercare Symposium at the Raleigh One Step at a Time monthly support group meeting yesterday.  The symposium was focused on ways to succeed longterm after bariatric surgery. Each presenter brought something special to the event:

Dr. Eric DeMaria of New Hope Wellness Center in Raleigh NC, introduced his newly launched center for total bariatric aftercare, New Hope Wellness Center in Raleigh NC which is providing comprehensive support for bariatric patients with a focus on the whole patient and long term aftercare.

Author Dawn Adams shared techniques from her new book, Weight! That's not the Issue which help us find ways to identify and manage stressors to more effectively deal with the issues that can contribute to emotional eating.

Dr. Martin Binks of Binks Behavioral Health spoke about tools and techniques we can use to identify and remove barriers that can stop us from making the changes necessary to support the healthy lifestyle we want to live.

Author and motivational speaker Barbara Thompson spoke of her personal journey and experiences as an WLS patient as well as sharing strategies for attaining and maintaining long term success. 

It seemed like the time flew by and I wish that we could have a couple of more hours. I really appreciate the time the presenters took to speak with our group. 

I was watching TV the other day and an ad from SpecialK came on and it was talking about decisions and how one good decision, leads to another, which leads to another... It's so true. Have you noticed that when you do get up and get moving, that they decision to take care of yourself by exercising some then leads to better decisions about what you are putting in your mouth, etc... I think that the opposite is true as well and it can be a very slippery slope; meaning that one 'bad' decision often leads to another and another. The good news is that we are constantly being faced with the opportunity to make a new, good decision.

Sooooo, what decisions are you making today to take care of yourself?

At just 3 weeks post op your new little pouch is still very swollen and tender. That can make it difficult to swallow even a very little bit of 'solid' foods. Please know that this this gets better. In the mean time, trying things that are softer such as cottage cheese, riccotta, deli sliced meats and chili may be the safest bet for a while. Give yourself a week to 10 days after you have had trouble with something before you try it again. Also make sure that you chew, chew, chew when you are eating so that it can liquify before swallowing. This is not how you will eat forever, but it is necessary now.

Hang in there and let us know how you are doing.

Barb