It’s officially been two months since my mini bypass weight-loss surgery, which feels like the perfect time for a little update. Overall, everything is going well. My wounds are healing quickly, and I can eat slightly larger portions now, which means I also have more energy. I’ve also come to terms with the tragic fact that I can’t gulp water anymore. As someone who used to chug sparkling water like there’s no tomorrow, this has been… an adjustment.
My biggest worry at the moment? Digestion. Or rather, the lack thereof. Let’s just say my intestines have taken a more “minimalist” approach to life. I know the Guttalax drops aren’t a long-term solution, so I switched to prune juice. The name sounds like something your grandma threatens you with, but honestly, it’s not that bad. Yes, it’s very sweet, bordering on syrupy, and no, I can’t drink more than half a glass, but it does nudge things in the right direction.
Apologies in advance for the detailed description, but despite the prune juice, going to the toilet is still rather irregular. On good days, I have a bowel movement every other day; on bad days, every third day. For me, that’s clearly too infrequent. There’s this constant heavy and uncomfortable feeling in my stomach, and the whole process itself is also not what I’d describe as “joyful” or “graceful”.
I actually have a meeting with a nutritionist today, so I’m hoping they’ll have some good advice on how to get my digestion back on track. I’ve read a lot of other people’s experiences online and knew that constipation or infrequent bowel movements after surgery are quite common, but it feels like mine has lasted a bit longer than usual. Everyone else seems to return to normal pretty quickly after the puréed phase… meanwhile my body is like, “nah, let’s stay mysterious a bit longer.” But really, aside from that, things are going great.
My portion sizes are slightly bigger now, but my energy still dips here and there. I haven’t started exercising yet, but I’m hoping to begin next month. Currently, I’m averaging around 7,000-8,000 steps a day, which I consider a fairly good result. I definitely have more energy than during the first month, and I believe it’ll continue to increase.
Water intake is going well, too. I drink about one and a half litres a day. Sometimes I get bored with plain water, so I add cucumber slices, lemon, orange, and similar things for flavour. Since carbonated drinks aren’t recommended, I occasionally have a few glasses of mineral water. It’s nicely salty, but I let it sit in the glass for a bit so the bubbles can escape first. It’s been a nice change from regular tap water.
As always, here’s what I ate yesterday. Future me will love looking back on these tiny meals:
Before breakfast: half a glass of prune juice (not every day, but almost every morning)
Meal I: sandwich (whole-grain bread, light cream cheese, ham (from chicken fillet), tomato) – 78 g
Meal II: wrap (whole wheat tortilla, lettuce, ham (from chicken fillet), tomato, cucumber, light cream cheese) – 130 g
Meal III: boiled potatoes, cottage cheese, meatball (from low-fat mince) – 110 g
Meal IV: 50 g pear + two mini banana-oat pancakes
Meal V didn’t fit, but I often do manage five meals. Yesterday, my stomach simply said, “we are closed.”
Oh! And hair loss. Yes, it has begun. Nothing dramatic yet, but definitely more hair than usual showing up on my brush and in the shower. I knew this could happen, but I still hoped my follicles would be like, “Not on our watch!” I’m staying optimistic that it won’t get too wild.
Weight loss has slowed down a bit, which I expected, but during the second month, I still lost about 6.5 kg. I guess I was secretly hoping for more since the weight came off pretty quickly in the first month, but I’m still happy with the result.
How was your second month post-op weight-loss surgery? If you have any questions, let me know in the comments. I’m happy to answer anything I can!
