Hi everyone, I've been lurking here for a couple of weeks now and wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself and ask a question.
I'm 42 years old and am just over 3 weeks out from my surgery (surgery date was 2/6/17).
About 8 years ago I got a lap-band and while I eventually saw success (lost about 125 pounds of the 150 I was trying to lose) I started having problems after a couple of years. Long story short, I finally gave up a couple of years ago and had all the fluid removed because I was just suffering too greatly. Of course, I gained all the weight back.
My surgeon has hopes that I will see similar success with the sleeve.
However, I have some questions/issues and was hoping you guys could share your stories with me to help me figure out the best approach.
Surgery itself was fine, rough obviously, but successful. I barely ate for the first week or so. My hunger returned after about 10 days and I followed the diet they recommended (soft/pureed foods for the first 3 weeks). I have recently moved to the next stage where I'm slowly introducing new foods to see what works for me and what doesn't.
The issue is that I get quite hungry. I believe part of it is mental, but not all of it because as a writer, I tend to sit in front of the computer for hours at a time in "the zone." Before the surgery, I easily forgot to eat all day long. Now, despite being busy and preoccupied, I'm feeling hungry more often.
The dietician wants me to eat 3 meals a day with about 1 to 1 1/2 ounces of protein per meal. I can add some veggies but very little (like a couple of broccoli florets). She wants me to try to do the shakes also, mostly because I'm struggling to get fluids in (again, when I'm writing, I'm in the zone so I forget to take sips so it's hard for me to get my water in).
Before I had my most recent follow up with the dietician, I was eating probably 3 ounces of protein (for example, 2 eggs or an entire container of yogurt). I was and am feeling hungry just a few hours later. I was, however, getting my protein for the day in by just eating actual food and not supplementing with shakes.
After meeting with her, I am now trying to cut back to 1 1/2 ounces and up my water (I'm currently drinking about 40 ounces a day so I have some work to do here.)
I'll be honest, and please don't rip into me with lectures about how I need to follow the protocol, I struggle with some of the food choices I've been given. Like the shakes - I hate them with a passion and while I'm going to try and find some recipes I like, I'm not certain these will be something I can stick to. I've cut out lots of sugar, but when I do get a craving, I will have a small piece of chocolate or I will have a banana with a teaspoon of chocolate sauce. Considering how bad my habits were prior to all this, I'm quite proud of myself for not giving in to the need to eat things like ice cream and sweets. However, my dietician did not seem thrilled about the banana and the chocolate sauce.
Which ultimately leads to my question (and sorry for the long spiel).
How many of you followed the food program your doctor's office gave you to the letter vs how many tweaked it to something you could live with and ideally start to improve over time as the cravings and bad habits started to fall away? I have seen many people talk about not "dieting" which gives me a lot of hope because I really want to get to a point where I figure out what works for me and hopefully it will include foods that I can enjoy in small quantities and that will make it easier not to go crazy and eat anything and everything.
For those of you who "tweaked" when did you start this? Did you stick to the diet you were given for a certain number of months or did you start adjusting right away? With the band, the restriction was so tight, I felt like I was literally starving. With the sleeve, I'm not feeling anywhere near that restriction which on the one hand I feel will make this process more difficult, but on the other, more sustainable because I'm not suffering like I was before.
BTW, I'm down about 16 pounds from what I weight on surgery day (I have 150 pounds total to lose). It's been a frustrating thing because the scale will literally not change for 10 days despite the drastic change in my diet, but I understand that's pretty normal this early on. I'm going to take my doctor's suggestion and weigh myself only once a month (he said to put the scale in the garage which I thought was a great idea).
Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks so much!!
Sandy
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