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Here at last

T

Tiny

Member
Hello, everyone. I've jumped through all the hoops, attended the classes, submitted the forms and waited, and my surgery is 3 days from now. I'm getting a bit nervous, I'll admit. This pre-surgery liquid diet isn't helping my demeanor, either. I feel weak and light-headed at times, and have to avoid looking at food. I really don't feel too hungry, but my wife and kids always have snacks laying around..something we need to work on. When stuff is in easy reach it is sooo hard to stop that impulse!

From my numbers and nickname you can tell I'm a big dude...6'8" and a former football player. Knee injuries ended my playing career and the excess weight is making it difficult to walk or stand up. In my younger days it was easy to burn off the calories at the gym and to go on short-term diets, but I can't work out like that anymore because my knees and back won't take it. The pool is my workout place now.

My problem wasn't so much the kind of food I ate, it was the quantities. The all-you-can-eat buffets lost money on me, I know! I could eat at any time, whether I felt hungry or not and I always ate too much. It is going to be a major challenge for me to control portions and eat slowly. I guess mom was right: slow down and chew!

Anyway, just an introduction. I'll be following other's threads and comments and update my progress following surgery. Wish me luck!
 
Good luck to you and welcome to the forum. It might help if you took your wife to a support group meeting with you where others could explain that although she is not responsible for your overeating, keeping tons of things around the house that you can't eat is not helping you. It's probably not doing much for your kids' nutritional needs as well.
Please keep us informed.
 
Well, you should be two days out from surgery now. I hope everything went well! I had pain in one of the small incisions that bothered me for a few weeks. I took the liquid Lortab and that really helped. You won't be able to eat large portions, so that will be soooo helpful. I am very careful about what I eat at each meal. I don't want to overeat and stretch my stomach and gain weight. I've lost 50 pounds since my surgery in May and I could never do that before! Being a guy...you'll probably lose even faster. Best wishes!
 
Thanks for the support. Surgery went well, except they had difficulty getting a tube down my throat for some reason. As a result, when I woke up my throat was raw and had a bad pain next to my Adam's apple, making it hard to swallow. VERY bad chest pain/pressure while in recovery, but a combination of pain meds and shifting position finally gave some relief. Because of swallowing difficulty I wasn't able to ingest water at the rate they wanted, so they kept me an extra day on iv's and gave me cepacol for my throat.

For some reason Lortab in the liquid form makes me nauseous, so my doctor gave me Roxycodone liquid. I understand how people become addicted to that stuff, because it is wonderful! Takes away all the aches and pains, and makes it easy to sleep. But I'm a pretty fast healer, so I doubt I'll use the whole prescription bottle. I still have pain meds leftover from my knee surgery in May, so not a problem for me.

I'll be interested to see what I weigh on Monday when I see the Dr. for post-op. And while I was in the hospital, my wife and daughter cleared out all the junk food and they have their secret "snack stash" hidden away. My wife is worried because I prepare our meals, and she thinks I won't be able to or I'll be too tempted to overeat. But I've always been good at grilling and making healthy meals--now I just won't be making the fried stuff, the loads of potatoes, pasta and cheesy casseroles. I think they will adapt pretty quickly when it is hot and ready. If not, there's frozen dinners or they can hit the drive through.
 
Hope it is going well . .

I hope your recovery is going well. It all gets better after a couple of weeks so just work through it one moment at a time. No two people are the same but some things that really helped me . .
1. I slept in the bed some in the days after the surgery but a lot of times in my recliner. It make my stomach feel better and it was easier to get up and down.
2. Keep your pain meds close at night so you can take a dose with a little liquid or protein shake and you will sleep better.
3. Once I was able to get off liquid and on more solid food my stomach and my mental state improved, so you will feel better and less out of it soon.
4. Walk, even just around the house, every hour. My first big walk outside was only about 50 yards but once I started walking I felt much better. I still walk as a major form of exercise.
5. I know not everyone can handle it post surgery but V*8 juice really helped me get some liquid in and not be so hungry. Trader Joe's version is tasty and has less salt. I know it is not recommended on every program, I am just giving ideas not trying to be an expert.
6. Finally, please know there are a lot of us out here wishing you the very best.
 
The one thing I have found most difficult and have not wrapped my head around is all the food triggers. Watching tv has so many triggers and the food networks I use to watch are not an option right now. My stomach tells me I am not hungry, but my head goes on its own road of thoughts. School will start soon and will keep me busy as well as going back to work. I wish you the best of luck. Having your family and friends support you on this journey will be a positive for you. Keep checking in and let us know how you are doing.
 
Welcome Tiny! I'm glad your surgery went well. It's wonderful that your family cleared out the tempting snacks for you. Having a supportive family makes a world of difference. And, your new eating habits (once you get on real food) will probably rub off on them too. I shop and prepare my family's meals and they're eating habits have greatly improved since my surgery. Mostly because I was the bad influence before and always wanted fast food, or take out, so that's what they got too. Now, I feel so much better about the choices we are making. Now if I get a treat for my little ones, I just get them a small individual something instead of buying a huge bag of chips or pack of cookies that I would end up finishing off myself. I find now that I am starting to actually feel hungry and get a craving for something I shouldn't eat, so I'll have a protein bar or have a shake and once that hungry feeling is gone, so is the craving. That is something I could never say before surgery. It really is a wonderful feeling. Congrats and keep us posted on your progress. :)
-Jenny
 
Soo, had my 1 week post-op visit, and results look pretty good! I was at 504 when I started the liquid diet, was down to 487 the day of surgery. Weighed in at 469 yesterday, so 35 pounds in a little over 3 weeks! Now, I know some of you would be ecstatic with that big a loss, but I dropped about as much in the first month on Atkins, as well as other diets. I can shed that first 40-50 relatively easy. I know this will plateau and the weight will come off slower after that. I know I have a lot of hard work ahead, but it is a bit easier when you are seeing results and carrying less weight! My knees already feel better.

No real food cravings or issues, but I have a quick story. Picked up my daughter after school and she said she was starving, she kept begging me to stop at White Castle. We argued a bit and I gave her the speech about eating healthy, but of course she has me wrapped around her finger and knows she does! So I figured I'd just order an iced tea and let her get what she wanted. When the kid opened the window to hand us our order, the smell that rolled out from that kitchen made me sick! I mean vomit-inducing-death-rattle sick. Something about that overwhelming combination of grease, onions and beef was too much, and I've never been bothered by it before. I couldn't even drink the tea, so I tossed it at home. I know they warned that certain food combinations would be hard to swallow and could make you sick, but I wonder if my system was warning me to DON'T EAT!

Anyway, thanks for the support and comments. I wish you all the best and will update soon, hopefully less graphically!
 
Tiny

The smell of bbq made me ill for the first two months. The kids new if they wanted a hot pocket to cook it while I was at work or I would be sick beyond belief. Anyway it happens. It only lasted the first couple of months for me. Good luck and keep up the good work
 
Hi,
I'm new here so I can't give you my personal experience with my surgery, I'm sorry! I have though, read ALOT of posts, from different support groups and watched you tube videos on people's personal experience with their life styles after surgery and found it very interesting and informative! It sounds like it's quite common to have smells bother you and that part I'm not looking forward to at all! You're doing so well, keep it up! Like you said, you did this well on Atkins too but I'm sure that got old after awhile and was too easy to quit where this way won't be whether you want to or not and that's what I found myself needing, a strict regimen to follow with no chance at cheating or quitting. I tried many diets, became bored, quit, put the weight back on that I lost plus more! I always blamed something for why I overate, never holding myself accountable for allowing it to happen! Now, my mind is in a different place and it took a lot of sad events to knock me down and show me a different way of looking at life and forever I'll be grateful!! Best wishes and keep going!!!
 
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