1 Month Post Op
Well I have made it one month out from vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) surgery. I am down 31 pounds and feeling amazing. How has the journey been so far? Well let me tell you, it is something to get used to. The portion sizes are much smaller than my “fat brain” can seem to understand. Let me explain what I mean by “fat brain”. Fat brain is the old me and old habits that I need to learn to break. Fat brain is wanting to eat things just because it is there and not truly being hungry, wanting to eat a lot more than I truly need to feed my body. Currently I eat between 3 and 3.5 ounces of food at a time depending on what I am eating. I also have to tell my “fat brain” to eat slowly. I take a small bite and chew, chew, chew and put the spoon or fork down to allow myself time to process the food that was just put into my mouth. I try to take about 30 seconds between each bite. This can seem like forever when you are hungry but if you are doing something else when you are eating like work or writing a blog post then the time goes by pretty quickly. Prior to surgery I was someone who liked to drink when I was eating my food. Drinking while you eat is not an option any longer. Since the stomach pouch is so small now there is not enough room for food and drink at the same time. There is a 30 minute wait period before you eat and a 30 minute wait period after you eat to drink. This gives your pouch time to empty before you put food or water into it. After I eat I check the time to see when I will be able to drink. Some times I even set a timer so that I can get my fluids in.
What kinds of things do I eat right now? This is a question that I get all the time. Currently I eat a lot of tunafish, tilapia and eggs. These are the items that are highest in protein and do not upset my pouch. I have 1 protein shake a day to make sure that I am getting all 80–90 grams of protein in.
It is so important to take your vitamins daily since your body is not getting all of the nutrients that you would normally from food. There are different types of vitamins that you have the option to take but it is important to make sure that you are taking vitamins approved by your surgeon and bariatric team. I currently take a chewable multi vitamin 4 times a day. What I have found if that if I take the vitamin on an empty stomach that I get nauseous. I try to take the vitamin once I have finished eating so that I do not have the nauseous feeling.
How does your body change after surgery? Well there is a lot of preventative measures that I take to ensure that I am able to have a bowel movement since I am not eating nearly enough food and eating little to no fiber at this stage. I take Miralax and probiotics on a daily basis. It is also important to get as much water in as possible as water helps to get the bowels moving. (A little fun fact for you in case you did not know it.)
