I screwed up! HELP?

Agree with everything mentioned above but want to stress - follow your doctor's food plan - you are not healed inside and you do not want to do damage that may be a problem in the long run.

And try what ever trick you need to avoid drinking with meals.  Not drinking with meals is one secret to long term success, IMHO.

Drinking with meals washes everything out of your pouch and you will be hungry after eating.

Really?  Then how can you stay full on a protein drink?  The no taking a sip rule is utter nonsense, do it if you want but it causes no harm.  I still cannot eat more then half of a six inch grinder with half he bread removed, and I am almost 8 years out, and I have been sipping as needed since I started eating solid food.

What I would do if I were you would be to go back to protein drinks and suck it up for a week or two, you are tired from lack of protein, exercise i.e. walking helps too.  I sip with meals always have always will and at 8 yrs out I am a success.  I do not get hungry and I keep food at bay, it has no business ruining my life again and I won't allow it back in.  You have to change to make his work, do what you have to to break that relationship with food because it is not your friend.

1. I can't really speak to your stall as I was one of the fortunate ones who didn't have one until I was 3 pounds from goal. Right now I'm on my second one after reaching goal. I had times where I was headed to a stall but by watching what I ate and how my body reacted I was always lucky enough to lose at least one pound a week. Vitamins though? That is something I would of swore to you I would struggle with. I hate medicine have never taken it and suffered at times because of my aversion to it. However, I made myself a promise after meeting someone 5 years out who didn't comply with her vitamins, she didn't comply other ways also which has led to regain, her legs were almost amputated last summer, she is deficient in every vitamin and her health is suffering horrible from it. She is a couple of years older than me, Her late 40s and I met her in a nursing home. I swore that day I met her (the week before my surgery) that vitamins would be taken daily no matter what. Once I made up my mind I've done well with them. I am fortunate my labs don't show a need for iron at this point so 2 multis and b12 are what I need and take daily. I take one in the morning and the other before bed with my b12. Calcium I have the great tasting carmel chews and I eat them like candy throughout the day. As a treat they are much easier to get in and I sometimes forget they are vitamins. Find what works for you and take them daily! please.

2. Pureed wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I was only allowed meat, cheese and eggs. I don't care for eggs much so I just pureed whatever meat I was serving my family that night. I added broth to it to make it thinner and juicier so I wouldn't miss the drinking with and it slid down better.

3. Some people go home and start solids the first week. At least one successful vet here did and she's no worse to wear for it so I dont' think you've done any real damage there. But try to stick to plan if for no other reason than to not feel depressed or like a failure.

4. ah the drinking with meals conundrum. You've heard one poster say she always has and is successful but I think you'll hear far more cases of people who have regain later out are those who drink while eating. You need to make this a new habit and habits can be formed in 2 weeks to one month. If you can stick it out that long you'll find you no longer need it. I drink up until my first bite and then remove the liquid from my presence. I also found that as soon as I was allowed to add ketchup, spaghetti sauce etc that meat went down much easier when dipped in something and I didn't miss the drinking as bad. I just needed help sliding it down. At first that meant having a bowl of chicken broth or au jus handy and dipping my meat in it before putting it in my mouth. It really made a difference. I've only tried to drink water with my food once when I was at an event and the food was so dry I about gagged on it. However the food was too dry to eat in the first place made me have that lump in my chest and all the water did was make me get foamies and throw up. I'll never do that again and it was only a sip!

5. of course your exhausted!! you just had major surgery. You aren't getting in much nutrient wise. and to top that off as the fat melts off the hormones go nuts! Allow yourself to be tired. Allow yourself naps. Forgive yourself. I even pulled over one day in the rest area half way home and took a 30 min nap so I wouldn't crash and kill myself or someone else. It's okay. It's to be expected. As you get more protein in and get your vitamins in it will help. But to be honest it will take months probably to feel "normal" again. Many say about 3 mo. they started to feel the energy again. Until then take care of yourself and nap when needed!

6. Ah hunger! the evil dreaded hunger we were told wouldn't be there. Guess what? It was for me too! by one week out I was hungry. This caused me to seek therapy and I tell you what it worked! The therapist told me to drink a bottle of water when I got hungry and ask myself questions. Why are you hungry? Are you stressed? angry? bored? or are you just hungry? When was the last time you ate? Only after answering these questions honestly did I decide whether I would eat or drink the bottle of water and wait it out.  After a couple of months I found I wasn't hungry all the time anymore and what people said on posts in here were true about me too. Head hunger is a @itch with a capital B! Work on the root of the hunger and I promise before long you will know when you are truly hungry. And if you get yourself on a schedule and stick to it food wise you won't get "hungry" too often. I found when I allow myself to get actually hungry is when I get sick. I go back to eating too fast or taking too big a bite.

6 (cont.) meltdowns are not abnormal, remember up a few paragraphs I mentioned hormones! OMG I apologized daily to my family for a while. Meltdowns happen, it's okay. Find what works for you but early out I found I couldn't eat with my family. I fed them in the dining room like always and I ate in the living room. It was just easier for all of us. When my boys asked why I had them eat an entire meal like me. I cut their food into itty bitty bites. Served them 2 oz of dense protein and nothing else. I made them chew every bite 30 times swallow put the fork down say the abc's and pick it up and move on to the next bite. 3 bites in they understood and I gave them their regular plate of food and told them to enjoy while I excused myself from the table. See if you can find a protein drink you like to have that quick grab when you are out of town with the family. Soon you'll be able to have beef jerky with you and eat that when they are grabbing snacks and you won't feel so deprived. Find a couple of go to foods for occaisions like that. Yogurt, beef jerky (when you can have it), protein shakes, bacon crumbles (I cooked bacon til crispy broke it into pieces and carried in a baggie salty and crispy like chips and full of protein), cottage cheese, chili from wendy's. Once you find a good go to food it will make eating out and travel much easier. I knew early out I could eat pizza toppings, if I couldn't find anything else I bought a slice of pizza and just ate the toppings off of it.

 

You can always get back on track. Just set your mind to it and do it. Find what works best for you that is within your plan and stick to it. I rarely feel deprived these days and most of my meltdowns are over. I was talking to a friend the other day who's sister in law is getting surgery. I told her to pass along my phone number because honestly if you've not lived through this you can't even imagine. While I was well educated going in thanks to these forums NOTHING could prepare me for what happened in the days, weeks, months since.

 

Thank you so very much for taking the time in sharing your story and words of advice for me. It literally brought me to tears (hormones!). It is so nice to know tht I am not alone out there and there are others who can relate. I do owe my family a huge apology as I have been a nightmare and I will always remember your stated "Am I hungry?" test! Thank you thank you thank you.

The others have already given you some really good feedback, so I won't repeat.  I just wanted to let you know not to stress about having damaged your body by eating solid foods earlier than your surgeon's plan calls for.  Some surgeons allow their patients to have solid food very early after surgery and don't require weeks of liquids, purées, etc., and those patients have no problems.  You will not damage your pouch by doing so, but if you don't chew to complete "mush" or eat a bit too quickly or eat too much, it may be uncomfortable (and, of course, you SHOULD follow your surgeon's plan).

Lora

You may have irritated your pouch and set it's healing back a ways. Chances are you have not done anything too drastic.

Your having a little buyers remorse and you are also being a little rebellious. The doctor wanted you on puree for a long time so that everything heals up well and you have fewer problems. Chances are your surgeon has a counselor you can talk to about these issues. I am battling depression right now and even with my RNY I so want to binge eat. So I eat thinks like Apples. I know they will fill me up and not set me back on weightloss. You have to be willing to learn new behaviors and ways to cope. It IS stressful.