10 days post-op and wanting food!
cup_o_jo
Posts: 13 Member
Hi! So I'm 10 days post sleeve and want solids so badly. I'm a Kaiser Northern California patient, and the program is 2 weeks liquid diet, then 2 weeks soft foods, etc... I'm not hungry, I just want good. I'm assuming this is head hunger...
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First off - hahaha I love your picture.
Secondly - I think that it is normal to get those, after all, lets face it, we have been having 'food' all our lives, some in more mass quantities than others. So now, we are not going to have solids all the time and our brain is confused. It wants to listen and not want it, but I think deep down it is fighting those habits. Seymour (my tiny tummy) sometimes has too be reminded that I am in charge of me now and those cravings just won't work. I find when he is craving something, I shake it up and go for a walk. Most times after that, he is happy then.4 -
yeah, just ignore in, and keep full of water/broth/protein for now. It gets better.2
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It may be that your body is signaling you for more water. I find that now that I'm starting to get that hunger feeling back, often, if I just drink some water, tea or decaf coffee, my "hunger" craving is satisfied and goes away. The brain is weird the way it sends signals.3
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I feel exactly the same way. I am 8 days post op and am so ready for real food. I have been on a liquid diet for 3 weeks now and still have one week left before I move to the soft foods stage. I really just want to eat something.3
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I remember feeling like that too. And since I was home watching TV too much all the commercials for food made it much worse. For me a big part of it was just a habit. Once I learned other ways to manage boredom and stress it did get better.1
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I went through the same thing I thought I wanted food I actually think I just wanted something to chew.1
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I am 7 days post Op! I understand. Any good recipes?0
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Super easy and delish:- Boil 2 cans of any broth (for ex, chicken, miso, etc.) and 1 can of water.
- Stir six eggs together and drop them into the soup while it is boiling and you are stirring it.
- Salt to taste (you can substitute soy sauce for salt) and boil till eggs are done.
Add lettuce when you can eat fiber (a few months later) - Tear up several lettuce leaves and toss them in.
- Boil till leaves are soft.
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ps getting lots of water, good protein (not plant protein) and vitamins (me = 2 Centrum Silver multis and 3 Citracal+D3 per day) helps cut the hunger.
And stay away from carbs if they trigger head-hunger for you. Cravings take about a week to wear off. The longer you avoid them, the less you'll need them.
I didn't have hardly any hunger for months.2 -
I was dying for something...ANYTHING solid after the first week! Hang in there, drink your liquids (water, broth, protein drinks) and try to be patient. I avoided and still avoid almost anything sweet or artificially sweetened. If it has more than about 4-5 grams of sugar in it, it will make me feel like crap.
Every surgeon is different and has varying schedules of when you can introduce new foods. After three weeks, I was able to start eating string cheese and eggs as part of my "week 4" diet plan. The week after, I added in tuna fish and tilapia. This past Thursday, I added in skinless chicken breast & canned chicken as well as vegetable soup (Campbell's Chunky Hearty Vegetable is fantastic and doesn't have any pasta or meat in it!).
Take your time and try to stay patient. You have just made a huge life change. And do yourself one big favor: Don't sit around watching "Regular television." I learned within the first 24 hours recouping in my La-Z-Boy that there are approximately 23 minutes of commercials every hour. Of those 23 minutes, about 15 were for food like Wendy's, Burger King and Hardee's among others. It didn't bother me too badly, but you really don't need it rubbed in your face how good a big, juicy burger looks every commercial break. Especially since it will be at LEAST six weeks before you can/should even try any beef products!
As for eating meat, the harder & more dense the harder it will be for your stomach to break it down. Steak is by far my favorite food in this world and also happens to be the hardest to eat after surgery. But I ate a few bites of yummy pulled pork this past Saturday at my daughter's band invitational (marching band) and it caused me no issues whatsoever. Again, everyone is different but this is my personal experience thus far.
BTW...I'm planning on booking an reservation at my favorite steakhouse at the six month mark post-op!
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I remember being post-op and I know how difficult it was just drinking liquids. I had Gastric Bypass in 2012. Six days after my surgery, I had to go into the office because my incision was looking rather red. It turned out that one of the stitches wanted to get infected and they ended up taking them all out because I was healed good enough and they put the tape on there for a few more days.
I can remember telling the doctor then that I was craving fish. It was a very strong craving for it and it was every day no matter how much I drank of protein, water. The doctor told me that if I behaved from that Tuesday through Sunday that she would allow me to have a small piece of fish. It of course had to be baked, and it was not seasoned heavily. She also told me that I had to chew it very well. When I went to eat what was about an inch size piece of fish, it took me about 15 minutes, but it tasted so very good. The key to success is to make sure you chew each bite extremely well. My doctor suggested counting each time I chewed my food and to make sure I chewed each bite 50 times. I did and I still do.
Be patient and you will be very successful. I am right now working on losing at least 20 pounds in a nine week time frame and I also stopped smoking 7 days ago, because I want to be able to have my skin reduction surgery due to having skin issues.
Good luck you CAN do this!0 -
When I was in the hospital this past April recovering from gastric bypass I told my surgeon I wanted something to eat - a protein shake, anything because I was hungry and all I was given was ice chips and lemonade Crystal Light which wasn't cutting it
I definitely agree that meats are hard - took me about 7 or 8 weeks post op to tolerate them without throwing up no matter how well it was cooked.
@StevenGarrigus - steak cut into Tony pieces was one of the first meats I was able to really enjoy with no issue, so you may be able to enjoy your steak just fine and even before 6 mos.
Chicken for some reason has not sat as well as I thought it would - I feel like I did when I was pregnant with my daughter with aversion to chicken. Working with a few different chicken recipes to see what works the best.0
