What to expect after the first month

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

This is something I repost for the Newbies! Many of you have read this already

so just delete this one ok!

Hi Everyone,

When some of these things started to happen to me, I thought WOW am I the only

one that this is going on with. Well, let me tell you NO, I wasn't. So I made

this list and try to post it at least once a month for the new people who have

just had surgery, about to have WLS,or someone who is just sitting quietly out

there reading these posts, trying make up their mind if they want to do this or

not.

You have just had surgery and for a lot of you, you have read all the things

everyone has posted on Dr. Aceves Web Site. They are helpful and encouraging. I

spent some time with a lovely lady yesterday on the phone because she was sure I

would have some of the answers for her. I hope I did and I think these are

things that all of you can hear and use if you have just had weight loss

surgery. So I will post this from time to time for all the NEWBIES.

I am sure you have heard me and others say MANY times over " the 1st month is the

most difficult month you will do. " You have also heard me say that your brain

will work extremely hard at play tricks on you. You read it and think oh sure,

I can deal with that—and some of you are sure that this will never happen to

you. It will happen to so many of us and we aren't even aware it is happening.

This person was absolutely positive that she was just starving and was really

hungry. She told me what she had been eating. She also said she was weak. I

asked if she had been drinking her water and her answer was just like mine was

that 1st month. " Well, I can't begin to drink all that water " —remember your new

stomach will only hold about 2 oz when you are trying to drink all this water.

And like me she was having a difficult time getting in the amount of protein she

should be having 70 grams—no wonder she was feeling weak. After your stomach has

healed most new stomachs will hold 6 to 8 oz of food or water. That is what we

wanted a permanent restrictions so we can lose weight.

So I will say this again, you MUST SIP on your water all day long when you are

awake and the same goes for the protein that you are using—drink what you can

and then sip the rest until you get it down. You need the protein to help your

body recover. Your new stomach has experienced surgery and is swollen and will

only hold liquids about the size of your thumb. This is our relearning time,

and for most of us we have developed some extremely bad eating habits. Our OLD

thinking brain tells us that we need to be eating more food, and we are not used

to clear liquids for 10 day and creamy liquids for 10 days and then mushy foods

the last 10 days. I want you to tell yourself this is only for 30 days and you

can do anything for 30 days. It gets better as time goes one, I promise you.

If you think you are hungry and you are positive that you are having physical

symptoms of hunger this is YOUR OLD thinking brain playing those tricks we have

talked about. You now have to start learning to educate this OLD brain into

being your NEW thinking brain. Ask yourself do you just " want to eat " or do you

really " need to eat " because it has been 3 or 4 hours since you have eaten

anything. It is amazing what our brains can and will do to sabotage our old

eating habits. You may be challenged by this OLD brains way of thinking for

many years. For me I just have to have some self talks with myself. We have an

addiction and our happens to be food. There is no way around avoiding food, so

we need to find the set of skills that will allow us to change our lifestyle. I

eat to live, I NO LONGER live to eat! Food is not my main focus in life.

It does take some time to retain yourself in eating and I know that first month

it is such a process just trying to get all the food in that you need to get in

because of your new restrictions. In time it does get a lot easier. Some

people morn the loss of food, because you will NEVER EAT the quantity of food

that we used to eat---YEAH that is how we are going to lose the fat and maintain

that goal weight that we want to have for the rest of our lives.

These are the things that you will deal with in that FIRST MONTH and I am trying

to be fair and honest about them.

Suzanne