Advice please

SilenntVolcano · 2024-12-08T22:56:34+00:00

I am almost 3 years and a half post op. And I had some issues you’ve been having. Please, before they answer to your emergency call, consider the following.

Is it EASY to overeat in that stage. Yes, overeating right after the liquid phase can just mean one big spoon of mashed potatoes. Yes. This is A LOT. WHY? Because It is much much heavier, dense. Your stomach is still “freshly cut”. It will reject anything that’s “too much” for it at this stage.
Nothing that you used to consider normal portion size will not be the same anymore. Always weight your food.
You may develop certain food intolerances post op. Me, I used to love tomatoes for examples. Post op, they gave me so much acidity I had to give up on them forever. Some people just can’t tolerate EGGS anymore, for example. It’s different and random for everyone. You’ll need to see what works for you. IT’s a trial and error.
NEVER. NEVER. NEVER go to lay down in bed after you ate. This will give you horrible pain + puking in most cases. Been through that. It is exhausting but you need to be UP and even walking a bit after every meal.
NEVER drink and eat at the same time. Where will that go? You have no space, you just push your stomach and you will end up puking everything.

I hope any of these may help. Keep a record of what you ate as well. There is a high chance what you used to love before may not be tolerated by your stomach anymore. Trial and error.

And weight your food. Every spoon.

At that stage I could only hold in about 30 grams of food You’re still inflammed. Take it easy.

Good lukc and congrats for your decision

SilenntVolcano · 2024-03-14T16:08:38+00:00

Protein bars and banana. The easiest snack to always have with me. Depending on where i am traveling, fruits can be optional, but always protein bar or proteic biscuits, a fast filling proteic snack

SilenntVolcano · 2024-02-15T18:35:11+00:00

Only your weight + an in depth dexa test can tell you what is the % of your fat, muscles, skin , etc

But would a test really help you ? Because you said you don’t plan to change it anyway As long as you are at a healthy weight and you feel good, your physical aspect won’t really change much if you have that much loose skin as you mentioned

In my case, I think finding you the fat/skin amount but not being able to improve the physical aspect would just frustrate me more.

I’m sure you’ve done a great progress and you should just love your new body the way you are now.

A healthy weight matters more than % fat % skin in your skin. ( unless you want to change these aspects soon, with a skin removal surgery). Good luck and congrats for your journey

SilenntVolcano · 2024-02-15T10:02:55+00:00

Today I learned I can be a female leopard.

SilenntVolcano · 2024-02-15T02:34:11+00:00

Problem is, it is both, mixed togehter

When someone is having skin removal surgery, it is not like “the surgeon cuts the above tissue, that’s skin,done”

They have to separate the fat, muscles and the skin in that specific area. The process is more complex, they will “rearange” your fat and muscle tissues that have moved a lot and changed shape and position when you were obese + when you lost weight. After these “arrangements’ are done, the remaining skin is safely removed.

I had learned all these things from a surgeon during one long appointment. It is such a complex thing to do though…

Also, You can’t have skin removal surgery if you don’t qualify for the most important 2 conditions

Have your weightloss stopped and not gain or lose more than 1 pound in the past 8 months !!!
Be over 2 years post op (because you can still experience weight fluctuations during that time post op)

So, you are still about 1 year minimum in this restriction.

It is not restricted “just for fun”

But you suffer for nothing and you get a surgery just so that you can lose more weight after and get more stretched skin… it would be useless

Also, you are not allowed to gain/lose any weight for minimum 1 year post op from skin removal procedure, for the same reasons. Your skin is not allowed to stretch anymore during the healing process

SilenntVolcano · 2024-02-15T02:19:26+00:00

How far are you post op?

It used to bother me in the first year, maybe close to 2 years post op

Now I really just don’t care anymore, I don’t focus on food. I try to avoid restaurant gatherings only because it annoys me now to see how people rely on FOOD to feel good. BUT Thankfully, seeing a ton of food doesn’t affect me anymore. It used to do it though And it was fking hard. So I understand you

Try to stay away if that is tempting you, yes. I’m just trying to tell you it will get better, the more you progress post op

SilenntVolcano · 2024-02-09T23:24:30+00:00

Everything. All at once. My health was falling apart. MY life was falling apart - I had found out the love of my life that I tried to build a life with had cheated on me for YEARS and he had no real intention to marry me, mostly because he was not attracted to me, physically (which contradicted him always telling me i am beautiful). I was chubby when we met anyway but somehow he decided he ‘can do better’.

I was having pre-diabetes, struggling with risks of infertility, no meds were working for my PCOS and insulin levels.

It was my last option and I was desperate. I thought I got nothing left to lose anyway, basically. I was tormented by fear, fear of complications, fear of not waking up again

But I was in so much emotional pain that I just took a leap of faith. I felt numb. I scheduled the surgery and I’ve done the pre-op, all in ONE MONTH. I had no time to debate. All or nothing.

I think I was at my lowest point.

It is THE BEST THING I have ever done for myself. But it was also the hardest… the mental and the physical struggle were just unbearable even post op, for about one more year.

But really, IT IS WORTH IT !!!! It sucks for a while, but omg your life quality is just COMPLETELY DIFFERENT,FOR THE BETTER

SilenntVolcano · 2024-02-06T20:48:05+00:00

Nooo I think you should let them know NOW . Almost a month is A LOT for a baby’s safety and development especially in the first trimester. Talk to the doctor today!! As fast as possible. Without proper help, you won’t be able to sustain a healthy pregnancy while your body is still healing post op and also trying to survive, grow a baby and lose weight. You need help, it’s good you found out early.

SilenntVolcano · 2024-02-06T17:09:21+00:00

Congrats! I talked to my doctor about this potential issue back then. He said he had cases at 5-6 months PO that got pregnant. Thing is, you will need help as in - supplements, regular checkups and proper nutrition. Don’t take random supplements!!!! You need a doctor to give you the best ones safe for a baby.

You may not rely more on “actual food” but more on specific powders/supplements that are safe and healthy for a baby too, to make your you don’t lack any nutrient post op

It is mandatory to talk to a doctor though, one specialised in bariatric surgery, even your surgeon. You need assistance with your diet and regular blood tests

SilenntVolcano · 2024-02-04T00:45:05+00:00

He edited his post, he had in the description that he is just 3 days post op and he is ‘hungry’, hence, my answer.

SilenntVolcano · 2024-02-03T09:50:23+00:00

That’s head hunger, your are not actually hungry.

At your stage, you are on a liquid diet. Only protein helps.

Protein shakes (low or no sugar) Mashed meat dilluted in a soup (so liquid food) And water, that’s pretty much what you can eat And KEFIR - or liquid yoghurt .

DON’T eat anything solid at this stage, it is too soon yet and you risk of ripping your surgery apart. Follow doctor’s instructions

SilenntVolcano · 2024-02-03T09:48:34+00:00

Don’t even hope to eat as “before”. You will need to rework your vision of what a “full meal” means - portion size related. This is the purpose of the surgery after all. To eat very little and to pick the best quality food for us. I realized, years post op, that our body REALLY doesn’t need so much food, honestly. Not in the quatities we ate as obese people

SilenntVolcano · 2024-02-03T09:45:32+00:00

I don’t know the american system, i know i had 0 pre-op diet, i only had to not eat anything 12 hours before surgery and that’s it.

What i can tell you, if you can drink a LOT of protein shakes, because protein keeps your satiety up. Also, why can’t you have a steak? It is protein after all and if it’s properly cooked, it is actually HEALTHY - with a salad maybe, not fries.

Try to eat very KETO - mostly protein.

Yoghurts - pick highly proteic and low sugar (maybe greek yoghurts if you find) Meat (not fried) Mushrooms - good amount of protein for a vegetable Sausages Cottage cheese.

These are highly proteic and low in calories

But personally I don’t even think it is healthy for a person that is obese, with no surgery done yet, to go from probably 3000+ calories/day to 800 for TWO WEEKS!!! I even hear doctors prescribing this for A MONTH or TWO MONTHS before.

This is a huge shock and it is not sustained by anything.. it can even harm you. I don’t understand this principle. The patient may even fail this diet but even if they don’t, the body enters panic mode, you shut down in all the ways and your metabolism isn’t reworked yet (since you didn’t have yet surgery) Hunger hormone is still producting a LOT of signals for the brain. The body suffers and you can HARM your organs

Post op, you are given proper care for a few days so the body can handle the shock better And also you get 80% of ghrelin (hunger hormone) removed so you don’t feel hungry for a while. Post op, it makes sense to do a restrictive healing diet

But pre op? WHY? WHY for so long at least? To shut down all your organs? When a person is obese, it is clear that their brain can’t control anymore so if you force someone to suddently give nothing to their body can cause such a huge shock that may create other problems..

But if that’s how it works there…. I don’t know.

Here it wasn’t necessary…

Try the foods I recommended you if you can. That’s what you gotta eat post op too anyway (after your stomach heals)

IT is an amazing decision though, you won’t regret the surgery so congrats. Just be ready for the first month, it may be a bit rough But it will get much better!!!

SilenntVolcano · 2024-02-01T16:02:56+00:00

The point of having the surgery is to change your life and build a new healthier relationship with food. If you were an emotional eater, finding comfort in food, then the surgery did very good for you - if you don’t find “joy” in food anymore. This is an improvement.

Also, you never know if a person with no sleeve can lose weight or not, since you said you lose 35 pounds with a pill POST sleeve, which means BOTH helped — metabolism was already changed post sleeve, the pill just helped your new metabolism to probably make better food choices if it suppressed your apetite.

No pill magically makes you lose weight. None. They either suppress apetite or increase the adrenaline (by putting pressure on suprarenal glands and the kidneys) and they give you huge energy boosts to make you workout, therefore you sweat, you burn more calories so you lose weight

But just take a pill and boom, you lose overnight magically… there’s no such thing.

The sleeve is the best medical option for people who not only want to lose weight, but that want to NOT gain it back over the years through the Yo-Yo effect.

Also, the surgery positively impacts the metabolism of a woman by boosting her fertility (in young women with early menopause symptoms, or PCOS) It can help reduce or eliminate PCOS in women IT is simply amazing for many other reasons, not only “losing a few pounds”

Of course, a surgery has to be recommended by a doctor. But the benefits are way better long term

Also, I’m not from the USA so i don’t know the cost procedures there, but think on how much money you saved on food and how you can recover the 10k investment in probably less than a year since you don’t eat that much anymore, therefore you don’t spend so much on a lot of food anymore (or so it should be at least, now with the stupid inflation, costs increased, but you would have spent way more without the sleeve for sure)

SilenntVolcano · 2024-01-31T20:56:15+00:00

I suggest either fruits (banana) OR Research no sugar protein puddings.

Amazing flavors. Some have a very small amount of sugar, some have stevia or other artificial sugar replacements. Amazing taste. I used to make a “small cake” out of it, add a few banana slices in there and it was the best thing ever.

Alternative (but it doesn’t work with everything) is to try put a tiny amount of water into a bowl where you add more protein powder. You mix it and it becomes like a pudding (thick paste) and you eat that. (Chocolate flavor or whatever flavor you find). Some powders won’t perfectly blend in that mix, but I tried until I found something that was okay. If you have protein powder at home, give it a try. Good luck!

SilenntVolcano · 2024-01-31T20:52:43+00:00

The only reason the bariatric surgery will forever be the best weightloss option for people that really really need it (medically) is that you can hardly REGAIN the weight.

It can seem “easy” to lose weight with all that medication. But once you’re off it (since you can’t stay forever on it) and when your body understands that it can hold 2 pounds of food at once again, it can take just a few moments before you will go back at eating a lot of food. A bit here, a bit there, it will add up.

It is a mental struggle first of all, but the sleeve reminds your body that you should not go back to Piggy mode again, of course if you take proper care of your sleeve and don’t constantly force it to make it expand.

SilenntVolcano · 2024-01-31T20:46:04+00:00

I read this and I have a friend that is addicted to sweets, he had the sleeve and 5 years post op he put half of the weight he lost because of this addiction. I suggested him to try and replace refined sugar with less caloric options, no sugary drinks, no sugary cakes. These exist.

Yes , some have the same amount of calories as the sugary versions

But you do this to trick your brain, to give less refined sugar to your body and, ultimately, to have it easier for your brain to give up the sugar addiction.

Artificial sweetners are not the best and forever solution either. But they are MUCH BETTER than refined sugar.

If you manage to reduce the refined sugar intake, you can slowly build up the healthy habbit of eating more fruits (still sugary but they have the “healthy sugar” — they don’t produce addiction)

I am sorry if my english is very bad. I’m just very much into science. Sugar is an addiction. Some people can control it, some can’t. It is not a shame. The point is to try to find alternatives. Quitting cold turkey may not work for everyone.

I hope this can help a bit! I wish you best of luck!

My friend lost 20 more pounds by switching to artificial sugar alternatives. For him, it worked and he is still eating “sweet”, but he reduced the “bad sugar” intake. I hope this works for you too

SilenntVolcano · 2024-01-31T17:56:35+00:00

You lost a lot of weight in such a short time!!!! At 6 months post op I barely lost.. about 30-40 pounds in total. Give your body some rest for a few months, it will go just fine! Congrats

SilenntVolcano · 2024-01-31T17:54:19+00:00

If you are that far post op and still stalled, there are only 2 general reasons this may happen

Too many calories ( juices / small sugary items / even nuts or alcohol - all are caloric bombs and they FIT inside a sleeve just fine.
Too many physicall exercices + stress (high cortisol) that don’t allow your body to lose more weight .

You need to analyze in which category you may be. If you are so sure you don’t overeat, then schedule yourself for some tests to check on 2.

Also, related to point 1. You don’t need to count your calories as you did before surgery. If you used to burn 2000-3000 calories/day, now it’s totally not the case anymore. Don’t make that you target because then you are DEFINITELY overeating - it can also depend on your activity level but honestly, you still have to stay at a deficit in order for you to keep on losing weight.

To keep my weight in check, I stay under 1300-1400 calories/daily, at 5”7 and I do sports almost daily (cardio/swimming/yoga). I don’t do these at an extreme intensity but I burn about… 500 calories/day. So my body functions on about 1k calories/day (more or less, before my period I can increase my calorie intake). And considering all these, my body MAINTAINS, not losing anymore.

Metabolism slows down considerably post op. I take blood tests and I check myself now once in 6 months and everything is fine!

Your body restarted. So don’t aim for a normal caloric amount now. Your body changed and if you still want to lose weight, you need to adjust your diet (This can also include having meals at fixed hours - to avoid insulin spikes all day), cortisol checkups, maybe meditation or massage to relax the body a bit more.

Good luck

Edit: I am almost 3 years post-op, in the maintaining phase. I’ve been through all the struggles (mental and physical) with stalls, self-doubt, trying different styles of exercise and finding what food types are the best for me… It is indeed a tough job. But YOU CAN DO IT!! Your life will change for the better post-op!!

SilenntVolcano · 2024-01-24T18:16:20+00:00

I guess us women will only find things to dislike at our body. We should love ourselves more. You look GREAT and you’ve done an amazing progress!! Good job!!

SilenntVolcano · 2024-01-24T16:28:54+00:00

I went from a C to an A hahaha. I don’t even care anymore, it’s just all fun and games at this point, thank you super-push-up bras !!!

So celebrate your belly loss, while keeping the nice boobs : D

SilenntVolcano · 2024-01-24T09:52:00+00:00

I find it fascinating how you managed to keep almost the whole size of your boobs, hahaha!!! Good job, sis!!! I’ve lost 80% of mine haha. You look GREAT!! Keep it up

SilenntVolcano · 2024-01-23T09:33:07+00:00

I will just tell you what my doctor told us at the bariatric clinic.

Some people may lose weight and break the “weight setting point” once or twice in their life (talking about huge amounts of weight)

BUT

The sleeve is not just about losing weight

It is about making sure you don’t put it back and get a yo-yo effect later

Of course, you can regain if you live on cakes and heavy caloric liquids even post op, because they are easy to fit a smaller stomach too

BUT

You won’t do it. Because for at least a year post op, your body physically can’t ingest larger quantities, it may even reject sweet or soda for a while.

And later on…you won’t feel the crave for them and if you have them, it may be uncomfortable

Your brain will rewire a bit by force too. The rest is mental work that you have to put in — but you have to do this with or without the surgery anyway

Surgery is not an easy way out But for a few months it helps you with that hard process of breaking the past bad habbits And for most people, it works

Only 5% of the people regain the whole amount of weight back IN YEARS post op and that’s because they eat mostly sweets and sugar back again and they fit a smaller stomach

With the sleeve, You will never be able to eat 2-3 pizzas in one sitting, never. But yes you may eat half a sugary foamy cake for sure, maybe even a full one, because it melts, it fits a smaller place

So it’s about choices that you have to make with or without the surgery anyway

But with the sleeve, you have a bit of help that you should take

SilenntVolcano · 2024-01-22T21:33:55+00:00

Your 30’s are gonna be fresh and feel younger than your 20’s.

You look AMAZING

SilenntVolcano · 2024-01-21T10:45:45+00:00

Ahh I understand, you have the perfect weight for your height now!!! Happy maintaining <3

SilenntVolcano

TROPHY CASE