Hey everyone! I’m 3 weeks post op (gastric sleeve) and have my 1 month check in with my surgeon this coming Monday. I’ve been really struggling mentally, but physically I’ve been healing fine. No issues with food, or pain, or overall healing. But mentally this really sucks and I’m worried I’m doing this wrong or it’s not working or something isn’t right. My starting weight the day of surgery was 230 lbs. I’m between 215-213 currently and for the past week and a half. The scale won’t budge below 213 and I’m really struggling to follow the diet because I’m able to eat way more than I should be?? I just had my post op dietician appointment where she said we shouldn’t be able to eat more than 2 ounces of soft food. Yesterday, I couldn’t take in more than two bites of my lunch but at dinner it was probably around 3-4 ounces of ground chicken, sweet potato and boiled carrots (mixed together) and I was able to eat the whole bowl without feeling full, sick, or discomfort. I chewed slow, paced myself, didn’t drink prior. Granted that’s significantly less than what I would have normally eaten pre-surgery but still feels like way more than I should be able to handle right now. People in the class were talking about struggling with food and liquids and I can’t relate at all…I feel like I really am the one person this isn’t going to work for and my anxiety/stress is through the roof constantly.
Has anyone else experienced this or something similar or has any advice? Please help, thank you
Every body responds uniquely to this procedure. You shouldn't be concerned. You've described a good, healthy post-op routine and you've lost weight, though you maybe could have lost more if you adjusted your amounts and types of foods, and times of day you eat.
The thing is, your eating disorder is coloring all your emotions about this, good and bad. Yes, you do have an eating disorder or you wouldn't have become obese. Celebrate every victory, every ounce the scale goes down. But you should add in some light exercise and recite 5 or 10 affirmations every time you have an emotional feeling or struggle.
You can do pushups on the wall, or walk in place with your knees high while you watch t.v. The smaller the positive step is, the more likely you'll succeed. And don't forget to drink 8 glasses of water every day. You won't believe how much it speeds up weight loss, and you'll feel great.
Weight loss tends to go up and down, so don't be surprised if you suddenly drop five pounds without even trying. And you should check your amount of food by weighing and measuring before you eat. Put your fork down between bites. Chew every bite until it's liquid. The surgery is a tool to help you eat less and lose weight. So don't eat big meals even if they don't bother your stomach.
And be honest. Even if you take a tiny sip of something or swallow a little crumb of food that's not on your eating plan, write it down. It's really important. Personally, I think lying to myself was my number one symptom of my eating disorder.
You can do this. You were so detailed and honest in your post, it proved to me that you are a person who isn't afraid to tell the truth and ask for help. Stick with this group and read many of the 12,000 archived posts. You can search by topic, like "plateau" or "water." As your weight goes down, so will your level of hunger. Make a decision now you're not going to mash a bunch of food together and eat it, but you'll learn to enjoy taking tiny bites of each portion of food you put on your plate.
There's so much more, but I really think browsing through all the posts by topic would be so good for you. I hope you do it.
And welcome to the group.
