Getting scared, can I do this??
Less then two weeks from now I will be sleeved. So far I've been excited, but the last two days fear is beginning to set in. I am suppose to start high protein, low carbs the week before surgery. I decided to jump start it this week. I also decided to give up diet coke, which I live on. Well I did great the first two days of no carb, by yesterday I was like, why am I doing this a week early and had a craving for pancakes. Had pancakes for dinner. I was stuffed and I realized how much I love that full feeling. There is some kind of sense of security feeling full. Then tonight for dinner I also over loaded on carbs. I again had that stuffed feeling. It scares me. What if I can't do this? What if my compulsion to over eat is stronger then the restriction the sleeve provides? Ten years ago I went to a eating disorder program and gave up flour and sugar. I relapsed on the flour about 7 years ago, but thankfully have never started eating sugar again. I'm just so scared about it all. For the last six months I've been in "hypertension crisis" where out of no where my blood pressure will jump up to 225/118. I am currently on 3 blood pressure medications and fortunately its been pretty normal the last month or so. When my blood pressure is high I have no energy and feel physically sick. I have two young children and need to be healthy. That is what has prompted me to start this entire process. Anyway I think I am probably rattling, three days without caffiene is making me a little foggy. Not sure what I am asking for here, maybe just others to say they've felt the same way and have gotten through it and been successful with their sleeve. Cathi
I have had to give up diet pop too but it is great on the other side. Had my surgery 20 days ago with minimal pain no complications and now can eat what I want (just in moderation). You will find the full feeling with a lot less after you have had the surgery plus it will help your body too.
Rich Sonderegger
Cathi, I am in the same boat. My date is July 18. I worry about continuing to eat the "wrong" things. I guess all we can do is try to eat the "right" things and take it on faith that we will not feel hungry and will not be able to eat very much. I'm hoping the group here will provide some much needed support.
Chris
Chris
Before I had to go on my two week pre-op liquid diet, I had sooo many food funerals. All of the foods I thought I'd be deprived of after surgery...
We ordered.. pizza a few times, had take out all the time, poutine, donairs, fajitas, tacos, fries, potato chips and dip, pop, everything and anything in sight.
The two weeks pre-op diet went really well -- first day crazy headache from carbs and caffeine taken away from my diet.
What you're feeling is normal.
You just have to keep the goal in sight.
I wasn't an overeater, but I ate all the wrong things.
I believe the restriction with the sleeve will work even better for people who do overeat.
I'm 8 days post-op today -- and for example today's menu was:
Breakfast: diabetic boost
Mid-Morning: water/crystal light
Lunch: 1/4 cup cream of chicken soup
Mid-afternoon: 1/2 cup of 1% milk
Supper: 1/4 cup of tomato soup
Evening snack: Diabetic boost
and a few cups of water and crystal light --- sipped on through the day.
I probably could have ate all of that in one sitting and then some prior to WLS -- I don't feel hungry at all. I don't really have any major cravings that last. I am not hungry. I feel satisfied, and have to check the clock to remind myself to eat.
You'll do fabulously! The restriction sounds like it will be the perfect tool to match your food issues. I wish you all the best : )
We ordered.. pizza a few times, had take out all the time, poutine, donairs, fajitas, tacos, fries, potato chips and dip, pop, everything and anything in sight.
The two weeks pre-op diet went really well -- first day crazy headache from carbs and caffeine taken away from my diet.
What you're feeling is normal.
You just have to keep the goal in sight.
I wasn't an overeater, but I ate all the wrong things.
I believe the restriction with the sleeve will work even better for people who do overeat.
I'm 8 days post-op today -- and for example today's menu was:
Breakfast: diabetic boost
Mid-Morning: water/crystal light
Lunch: 1/4 cup cream of chicken soup
Mid-afternoon: 1/2 cup of 1% milk
Supper: 1/4 cup of tomato soup
Evening snack: Diabetic boost
and a few cups of water and crystal light --- sipped on through the day.
I probably could have ate all of that in one sitting and then some prior to WLS -- I don't feel hungry at all. I don't really have any major cravings that last. I am not hungry. I feel satisfied, and have to check the clock to remind myself to eat.
You'll do fabulously! The restriction sounds like it will be the perfect tool to match your food issues. I wish you all the best : )
You can do this... and you'll be so glad that you did. That goes for you too, SharkBait (oooh ha ha!.. I hope you've seen Finding Nemo).
You can read about my experience on my blog, but it sounds very similar to yours. Excitement, fear, false starts on the pre-op diet, etc. Totally get the security in the full feeling too... one of the symptoms of being an emotional eater. Your subconscious doesn't differentiate between physical satiety and emotional satiety... the wires get crossed, which is why so many of us turn to food when we're feeling stressed, uneasy, anxious, etc.
I'm not going to lie, there will still be emotional eating and head hunger issues that you'll need to learn how to navigate, but the difference between doing it with the sleeve vs. without is night and day. Think of every pound you need to lose as a fully mature tree that needs to be cut down... you have a choice: you can hack away at it with an axe, or you can bust out the chainsaw.
Which would you rather do? ;)
You can read about my experience on my blog, but it sounds very similar to yours. Excitement, fear, false starts on the pre-op diet, etc. Totally get the security in the full feeling too... one of the symptoms of being an emotional eater. Your subconscious doesn't differentiate between physical satiety and emotional satiety... the wires get crossed, which is why so many of us turn to food when we're feeling stressed, uneasy, anxious, etc.
I'm not going to lie, there will still be emotional eating and head hunger issues that you'll need to learn how to navigate, but the difference between doing it with the sleeve vs. without is night and day. Think of every pound you need to lose as a fully mature tree that needs to be cut down... you have a choice: you can hack away at it with an axe, or you can bust out the chainsaw.
Which would you rather do? ;)
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Yes, you can do this.
Will it be easy-peasy? Not all the time. Today is one month since I've been sleeved.
I'm down nearly 40 pounds and feel much better than I did when I weighed nearly 40 pounds
more.
I don't huff and puff anymore when I exert myself. My knees don't hurt as much. I can even handle the heat and humidity a little better. I have more energy than I have had in years.
I was a compulsive volume eater. I could go all day without food and then spend my nights eating not stop. I wasn't a sweets/desserts eater -- I like FOOD. I could eat an entire london broil during the course of the evening. I could eat at least half of a large pizza and then in 4-5 hours I could finish the other half. I rarely felt hungry because I ate before I felt hungry and I ate from other cues -- happy, sad, good day, bad day -- my reaction was to eat. Food tasted great and I would just eat until it was gone.
I was a diet soda drinker and for a little while this year a regular soda drinker. I became obsessed with Canada Dry Ginger Ale. The diet doesn't taste at all like the non-diet. I could drink two 64oz bottles each night. That is a crapload of liquid calories. When I wasn't drinking sugar filled Ginger Ale I would drink Dr. Brown's Diet Cream soda. I was easily drinking 4 to 6 12 ounce cans per night.
I kicked the non-Diet Ginger Ale first. Just went cold turkey. Started drinking Diet Ginger Ale but that really didn't taste the same. The week before I started my pre-op diet I kicked the soda habit. I started drinking Crystal Light or jus****er with Meyer Lemon squeezed into it, or just tart lemon or lime squeezed into it. I also started icing mint tea and having that available for drinking -- I would sweeten it with Equal since I can't stand the taste of Splenda. Actually all diet sweetners be they artificial or natural don't taste good to me. I like ONE TEASPOON of sugar in my coffee.
And I'm still having ONE TEASPOON of real sugar in my coffee now and will continue to do so. It is just sugar -- it isn't heroin or crack cocaine.
The two week pre op diet was tough. I was permitted to have 1000 calories; 50 grams of protein mostly from protein shakes. Plus 2 cups of vegetables per day. I could still drink diet soda but I knew I wouldn't be able to post surgery. I started having sugar free ice pops and sugar free jello during this time. I needed snacking foods and the ice pops and the jello were perfect. I am not a bread, cake, cookie eater. Bread gets moldy in my house. I like fats -- salami, cheese, meat, pork products. My carb favorites are white pasta (whole wheat pasta just isn't Italian). I like flavor too...thank heavens for salsa, cilantro, kimchi, ginger etc.
Now 1 month after being sleeved and eating is tougher. I can eat a container of greek yogurt. I go slowly though. I can have a cup of coffee in the morning. I DO NOT FEEL HUNGRY. But if I haven't eaten much I can tell I need some protein and/or some calories. I can do soups -- any kind -- prefer broths to creams. I can drink miso soup from Japanese restaurants, tofu soup, soup from thai restaurants, chicken broth, beef broth, onion soup, vegetable soup. I can eat 2 ounces of hummus -- even after having a little bit of broth. I can eat a wedge of laughing cow cheese. I ate half of a black plum last night. Fiberous veggies are still tough -- you can chew and chew but they don't disappear! I haven't tried mashed potatoes yet but I will. I can eat one or even two shumai (small ones but I have to eat slowly). I can have a small bit of blue cheese or goat cheese. I start with finger fulls. Like the way you would eat cake frosting!
I can eat two or three very thin slices of ham -- paper thin slices. I can eat 2 or 3 thin slices of
havarti cheese especially when it is soft from sitting and waiting for me to unpack my groceries.
As you start eating mushy and solid foods -- you really need to drink 30minutes before or after eating. There just isn't room for food and liquid. I find the liquid ends up being "displaced".
Look the sleeve isn't going to let you eat like you used to eat. After one piece of a roll of sushi (salmon, cucumber, avocado with rice rolled in seaweed) -- it is six pieces in one roll. I can eat one piece and then I have to wait before I eat anything else. I don't have to wait a day or even an hour -- maybe 20 minutes and then I realize eating a second piece may not be in the cards.
If I eat too fast or too much -- it all feels like it is stuck in my esophagus. It is a very unpleasant feeling. If I"ve had water when I shouldn't -- I can bring the water up. I haven't really thrown up food. It isn't like that -- it hasn't move down into my stomach it is just sitting at the top of my stomach or between my throat, esophagus and stomach. I like cutting food into little pieces and keeping it in my mouth until it becomes sort of liquid. It isn't about chewing so much because I only take the smallest little bits. About the size of a morsel. For me it is about tasting the food -- remembering how tomatoes taste, and sugar snap peas. Maybe a morsel of good strong parmeasan cheese or a tangy kalamat olive. Just like those food meditations where you ran your tongue over the wrinkles of the raisin before biting into its sweetness. That is how I eat now.
Will it be easy-peasy? Not all the time. Today is one month since I've been sleeved.
I'm down nearly 40 pounds and feel much better than I did when I weighed nearly 40 pounds
more.
I don't huff and puff anymore when I exert myself. My knees don't hurt as much. I can even handle the heat and humidity a little better. I have more energy than I have had in years.
I was a compulsive volume eater. I could go all day without food and then spend my nights eating not stop. I wasn't a sweets/desserts eater -- I like FOOD. I could eat an entire london broil during the course of the evening. I could eat at least half of a large pizza and then in 4-5 hours I could finish the other half. I rarely felt hungry because I ate before I felt hungry and I ate from other cues -- happy, sad, good day, bad day -- my reaction was to eat. Food tasted great and I would just eat until it was gone.
I was a diet soda drinker and for a little while this year a regular soda drinker. I became obsessed with Canada Dry Ginger Ale. The diet doesn't taste at all like the non-diet. I could drink two 64oz bottles each night. That is a crapload of liquid calories. When I wasn't drinking sugar filled Ginger Ale I would drink Dr. Brown's Diet Cream soda. I was easily drinking 4 to 6 12 ounce cans per night.
I kicked the non-Diet Ginger Ale first. Just went cold turkey. Started drinking Diet Ginger Ale but that really didn't taste the same. The week before I started my pre-op diet I kicked the soda habit. I started drinking Crystal Light or jus****er with Meyer Lemon squeezed into it, or just tart lemon or lime squeezed into it. I also started icing mint tea and having that available for drinking -- I would sweeten it with Equal since I can't stand the taste of Splenda. Actually all diet sweetners be they artificial or natural don't taste good to me. I like ONE TEASPOON of sugar in my coffee.
And I'm still having ONE TEASPOON of real sugar in my coffee now and will continue to do so. It is just sugar -- it isn't heroin or crack cocaine.
The two week pre op diet was tough. I was permitted to have 1000 calories; 50 grams of protein mostly from protein shakes. Plus 2 cups of vegetables per day. I could still drink diet soda but I knew I wouldn't be able to post surgery. I started having sugar free ice pops and sugar free jello during this time. I needed snacking foods and the ice pops and the jello were perfect. I am not a bread, cake, cookie eater. Bread gets moldy in my house. I like fats -- salami, cheese, meat, pork products. My carb favorites are white pasta (whole wheat pasta just isn't Italian). I like flavor too...thank heavens for salsa, cilantro, kimchi, ginger etc.
Now 1 month after being sleeved and eating is tougher. I can eat a container of greek yogurt. I go slowly though. I can have a cup of coffee in the morning. I DO NOT FEEL HUNGRY. But if I haven't eaten much I can tell I need some protein and/or some calories. I can do soups -- any kind -- prefer broths to creams. I can drink miso soup from Japanese restaurants, tofu soup, soup from thai restaurants, chicken broth, beef broth, onion soup, vegetable soup. I can eat 2 ounces of hummus -- even after having a little bit of broth. I can eat a wedge of laughing cow cheese. I ate half of a black plum last night. Fiberous veggies are still tough -- you can chew and chew but they don't disappear! I haven't tried mashed potatoes yet but I will. I can eat one or even two shumai (small ones but I have to eat slowly). I can have a small bit of blue cheese or goat cheese. I start with finger fulls. Like the way you would eat cake frosting!
I can eat two or three very thin slices of ham -- paper thin slices. I can eat 2 or 3 thin slices of
havarti cheese especially when it is soft from sitting and waiting for me to unpack my groceries.
As you start eating mushy and solid foods -- you really need to drink 30minutes before or after eating. There just isn't room for food and liquid. I find the liquid ends up being "displaced".
Look the sleeve isn't going to let you eat like you used to eat. After one piece of a roll of sushi (salmon, cucumber, avocado with rice rolled in seaweed) -- it is six pieces in one roll. I can eat one piece and then I have to wait before I eat anything else. I don't have to wait a day or even an hour -- maybe 20 minutes and then I realize eating a second piece may not be in the cards.
If I eat too fast or too much -- it all feels like it is stuck in my esophagus. It is a very unpleasant feeling. If I"ve had water when I shouldn't -- I can bring the water up. I haven't really thrown up food. It isn't like that -- it hasn't move down into my stomach it is just sitting at the top of my stomach or between my throat, esophagus and stomach. I like cutting food into little pieces and keeping it in my mouth until it becomes sort of liquid. It isn't about chewing so much because I only take the smallest little bits. About the size of a morsel. For me it is about tasting the food -- remembering how tomatoes taste, and sugar snap peas. Maybe a morsel of good strong parmeasan cheese or a tangy kalamat olive. Just like those food meditations where you ran your tongue over the wrinkles of the raisin before biting into its sweetness. That is how I eat now.
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