POST-Operation Weight Loss Surgery Q&A

Hi all , I am 4 weeks post op .I've never been a great walker but I have always done stretching exercises like sit ups , leg lifts , toe touching etc even when I was mega large .My surgeon isn't seeing me till the end of the month , does anyone else do exercises yet ? I had a hernia repair too . thanks !

So I have a few things to update on. I haven't been super active lately because things have been crazy. First, I finally got rid of my size 26/28 clothes!!! I had them bagged up for a good week and a half and I finally pulled the trigger and got rid of them. All of my work clothes, shoes, and size 10 jewelry was donated to Dress for Success. My casual clothes and pajamas were donated equally between a local homeless shelter and a local domestic violence shelter. I'm currently in size 22/24 clothes, but they're starting to get big on me (I'm in like a size 21 lol But there isn't a size 21, so...) Once I make it to a size 18/20, I'll do it all over again. Second, …

Anyone else get burning mouth syndrome after surgery? I’m 4 months post op. And if so any recommendations or medications y’all recommend

Does anyone find their hunger increases around their period? I usually don't get hungry too much. Only if I go too long without eating anything. Well, right before and during my period I find myself getting hungry all the time. Is this normal?

I am currently 3 months post op I had the gastric sleeve done and for the past two weeks I have had extremely dry mouth especially when waking up to the point my throat is on fire! And feels like there is something stuck at the top of my throat and every time I swallow I can feel Something in there.Also I have tons of saliva now as well . Anyone else experience this ?

So my Surgery was on June 29 which is a little over 2 months ago but I am noticing my appetite is increasing. I just finished a 6 oz sirloin steak. Is that concerning? Should I be eating up-to 4 oz of food at a time? Am I overeating? I’m still only eating upto 1000 calorie a day but for me to be able to finish a 6 oz steak was alarming. I know people can usually eat 6 oz of food maybe 10 months out but I’m able to eat it now. Any advice?

I wanted to ask everyone this question. When your hair loss started did it just start falling out alot all at once or did it start with some shedding that increased? Thank you

Hey guys, I know a lot of people here went through the stall but I read many people said they at least lost inches during that time. I'm on my 10th day of stalling and both the scale or the measuring tape hasn't moved since then. Besides that I drink around 80oz of water a day but I pee super little and in the morning wake up very bloated. Is all of these things normal?

Can dumping have only one symptom or does it have include all the following....chills sweats vomit etc? I only experienced vomiting [emoji1785] not so much the others. It happened after I reached my restriction. Thanks inadvance

Someone just told me about this group and hopefully it helps. I have a few questions , is it normal to want actual real food not the liquid stuff I got to eat. Is it normal or common to actually be hungry like my stomach be growling. Another question has anybody advanced their diet to soft food before they were suppose to. ? Last question does the patches like the vitamin patches and iron patches and stuff does that actually work ?

I wrote a few days ago with sharp and significant pain in my largest incision. And I’m checking back in here to happily say that my pain went down dramatically last night into this morning. I’m still sore, but when I went to sit up late last night, I was surprised and very happy that it was MUCH less painful than it had been before, and that has continued throughout the day today. I’m just taking Tylenol now, and drove to the store today and finally got out of the house on my own, and it was great. I finally feel like I’ve turned the corner. The week-mark really was the turning point for me.

I was sleeved back in November and have lost 72lbs. I work with over 3,000 people so everyday all day I get comments about how great I look- which is awesome but not the reason I did it. I also get comments on how I look ill/sick. Has anyone else experienced this?

Hello i was wondering if anybody else experiences extreme tiredness after eating post op surgery . I had surgery in March and i get so sleepy after eating that i just want to take a nap immediately? Any tips to help with this ?

I take hctz (water pill) for high blood pressure. I asked my PCP when I would be going off of it and he said you won't. Has anyone taken this after surgery? Did it increase your risk for dehydration? I'm still preop but thought I would go off of this before my 2 week preop liquid diet. My nut also mentioned this at my appt. I am going to ask my surgeon but wondered if anyone has any info here. Thanks

Pre surgery I suffered from severe IBS (I think?). I actually don't have a clear answer. I had daily, debilitating cramping and issues with the bathroom...also, gas, bloating, and just the worst pain. Funny, when I wasn't eating after surgery, all of my GI issues went away. I am gluten, dairy, egg, soy, sugar free. Doesn't seem to matter, I am sick. My life doesn't feel worth living because these issues are so bad and so painful. I've been trying to take my bariatric vitamins and they are making my GI distress so much worse. I've even tried Flintstones, and I can't do those. I spent 1/2 my day or more in bed or on the bathroom floor writhing in pain...every day. …

Hi All, I had surgery 10 months ago and hit my 18 month goal at 6 months. However, since then I fluctuate 2+/- lbs for the last 4 months. I have lost 2 pants sizes, about 6 inches from my waist, and gained about 3 inches on my hips. I can’t get past 140/142 lbs on the scale. I have increased my protein, watched my carb intake, increased my exercise and still haven’t dropped past 140 lbs. has any had this happen? My dietician still hasn’t responded after multiple attempts of outreach.

Hello everyone, I have a question that I hate to ask but is there anyone that has experienced at least the step three or four diet that still takes super small bites and waits minutes in between each one or will I eventually be able to eat bigger bites? I have this fear that I might bite off more than I can chew literally when I’m able to eat solid foods and would love some feedback! Thanks I’m advance

Since your surgery…. what’s been your biggest change? what was the biggest surprise? biggest challenge? biggest personal victory?

I just had an episode that I initially thought was morning sickness but now I’m wondering if it was actually more like dumping. We stopped for ice cream and I ate a little bit - really not much, then 30 minutes later started sweating, became extremely nauseous and eventually threw up in the toilet. It wasn’t until my tummy started also rumbling that I considered it may be dumping. I’m getting my morning sickness at night - around this time so it could be both but I just thought that was interesting that they both converged as a possibility at the same time. Who knows.

I’m freaking out!! I progressed to my phase 2 diet on Tuesday…. And I thought I knew exactly what I was doing, but I just checked my paperwork and I ate things I wasn’t supposed to introduce yet!!! I ate tuna salad, & mahi-mahi… both were chopped very small and I chewed really well but I’m still worried I did something wrong. **Neither of these things made me feel bad at all.** Should I call my surgeons office tomorrow? Or just continue and not eat it again?

Alright friends, I failed to prepare, so I was preparing to fail, and need some guidance/help. I went to a wedding today about a 4 hour drive (in the sticks), and thought I was prepared by bringing a premixed protein shake and a small container of soup. I am about a week post op (ESG), so on a full liquid diet. I left both in my car while I went to the ceremony, social time and cocktail hour, planning to sneak away at various times to have a sip. Time flew by, much socializing occurred, and before I knew it, the soup had spoiled and the protein shake was also undrinkable. At that point, I was absolutely starving and within an hour (once dinner was served), I was dizzy …

This might be a silly question, but how can I tell if my saggy tummy is loose skin or fat? I'm 20 lbs away from my Ideal Body Weight (lost 73% of EBW), and I'm trying to figure out how much of that is loose skin vs. fat. When I pinch my saggy tummy, I don't feel a lot of subcutaneous fat. I'm a 50 year old man.

I'm 12 days post op.. I had the sleeve with hernia repair. It hurts my abdomen when I eat or drink have anybody ever experienced this?

So I'm 4 months post op. I'm down 52lbs since surgery, 79lbs since the start of my journey. I never use to like laying on the floor. You all know the feeling. Back hurts, legs need elevated, ribs and stomach hurts if you lay on your stomach. Now I love to just lay on the cool floor near an air vent and play with my son. I can lay on my back or stomach. Anyone else notice how much more comfortable you are in positions you never were before??

I know this might be a stretch but has anyone undergone weight loss surgery who had PPPD also know as Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness pre surgery??

I’m 9 days post op. I feel really weird. Odd. I wish I can explain it . I just feel almost like I’m in a different world. I don’t feel comfortable….. Since not eating food for about 3 weeks I feel like I miss it more than ever. I have never cared about food like that. I just ate the wrong stuff in large quantities. But now I feel I’ll never enjoy eating again. I’m barely getting liquids in for the day as well. I’m just not feeling right….

I made a post about GERD here: https://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/441776-is-this-gerd/ But now I'm not sure what is going on. So here's what I'm dealing with: 1) burning in my throat and occasionally my chest and stomach 2) nausea when eating anything at all, no matter what it is or how much or little of it I try to eat 3) can't tolerate anything but liquids now 4) if I try to eat, it literally won't go down. It sits at the bottom of my throat and doesn't move for AGES. Drinking liquid doesn't help. It just gets stuck there, too. 5) lots of burping and hiccups 6) dark, sticky kinda poo (sorry, tmi) 7) heaviness and pain in my…

Hello, I am 6 days post op and I find that I’m able to get in my fluids just fine, my protein shakes go down well and I feel nothing. I can eat my sugar free jello and pudding, and I feel nothing. Zero sense of my stomach, no restriction. This may sound stupid but I’m just worried that my new stomach isn’t working. I keep reading how people can’t get their shakes in and I’m over here meeting my fluid and protein goals just fine. Is this normal?? Is my stomach not small enough?

I was 335 in March. In anticipation of surgery I lost 55#, so at surgery (the day before yesterday) I was 280. My goal is 200 (okay, my secret goal is 190). What does the rate of loss look like? That is, do you lose steadily, or more quickly at first and then more slowly? How long should it take to lose the next 80#? My hope is to lose 50 in six months and the rest in the following six months. Is that realistic? As for exercise, I walk my dog about 1+ mile/day but hope to pick that up as I lose weight.

So I start purées tomorrow, but I’m allowed yogurt, soups, etc today. I notice when I take sips, but especially when I eat thicker things like yogurt (with a spoon), I have what feels like some air pressure when I swallow. I’ve used a reg spoon (metal), flexible rubber baby spoon to flatten it out - almost pressing the spoon flat with my tongue so there can’t be an air pocket with yogurt. But still I’m having a tiny bit of mild diaphragm pressure when I sip or swallow. After a few bites or sips I burp (or every so often- sorry for this… pass gas) and then I feel ok. Until I do burp, I have an uncomfortable diaphragm pressure … Is this normal? If it is normal, …

2 nights ago I had some kind of episode where I had a snack about 45 minutes after I worked out at night and I had INCREDIBLE pain. Felt heavy, sharp pains, burning. Hurt to sit up, hurt to lay down, couldn't find a comfortable position. Took pepto twice before I finally got any relief after about an hour. I was left with burning in my throat. My husband said it sounds like reflux (I'm on a PPI for 6 months, but I've never had reflux or GERD or anything before). My snack was normal (1 tbsp hummus and 1/4 cup sliced cucumbers) but my workout was more intense than normal (had the treadmill at a 5.5 incline at a speed of 3.5). Now I have burning in my throat everyday and sli…

Umm yea so what happens when your Ferritin levels are too high? Do they have you stop taking your vitamins? Mine is at 583 ng/mL. Test results say this is the standard range 3 - 126 ng/mL

Feeling discouraged. Sleeve surgery 7/20 and lost 30lbs by 8/3. Started having chest pains and neck pains- turns out to be pancreatitis. Admitted to the hospital 8/7 and got out on 8/13. While in the hospital, I gained 24lbs back in fluid weight because I was NPO for a week so that’s all I could have. I lost 4lbs the first day I came home then about 10 more in the last couple of days and now I’ve gained 6lbs. I haven’t changed anything except added more protein and eating more soft foods instead of liquids, so why am I gaining weight now? I was so excited to see the weight loss but now I’m discouraged because I saw a BIG gain in a weeks time. I spoke with my PA and D…

I'm 2 months post-op, I'm on 80mg of pantoprazole, not on puree stage yet. I just got off of my PICC line yesterday. It seems like for the past 1-2 weeks the GERD has gotten worse, which is also when I started drinking a regular amount. I'm only drinking gatorade zero and 2 shakes. I have so much flem and saliva now and it also hurts. I had GERD, gastritis, and a small hernia prior to surgery. Does it get better as time goes on? Is it just worse in the beginning months or do I need to start looking at options (revision etc)?

Just wanted to share a little NSV. I realized last week that I had to do some shopping because once again my clothes were getting too big on me! When I started my weight loss journey, I was wearing XXL shirts that were getting too snug, and size 42 pants that were also getting too snug. As of this week, I'm wearing Medium shirts and size 32 pants - holy cow! I found one of my old XXL shirts that used to fit me tightly, tried it on with a little help from my daughter, thought some here might enjoy:

Finally got my surgery date! Will be 10/21. I’m sure my mom will find time to be with me immediately after surgery but come Monday I’m on my own. My surgeon’s office has informed me I may need to be out 4-6 weeks and that they want FMLA papers, which is more time than expected as I was planning to take a week off, I’m only a desk jockey. My mom has missed a lot of work and doesn’t want to miss more, she’s been dealing with her own health issues and her company’s BS. She’s also less than enthused I’m going this route which is why she isn’t fighting harder to be with me I think. What tips do you have for post-op recovery alone? My mom wants a home health nurse to…

I didn't consider how bad the anaethestic (sorry) would make me feel .I crashed out the whole day and my surgeon woke me up early next morning saying I should be up and walking .I'd also had a hernia repair and felt utterly poorly .I struggled to get up but did and had a wash , then I did the corridor slowly .It was made clear to me that I was expected to go home after just the one night , the package was for 2 .On top of that there were huge problems around me taking my regular pills because they weren't soluble.I really needed my anti depressants . Not a great start and don't feel like I'm at the beginning of a new adventure , just tired, poorly and low .Anyone else fel…

Hey y’all. Has anyone had any troubles getting their liquids and protein water down the first few days after surgery? I am having a hell of a time with it. Im taking baby sips like my doc said but still struggling.

**My hair has begun shedding...A LOT. I have PCOS so I thought I was already used to it, but it's to the point now that if I run my hands through my hair a few times, hair comes out. Not in clumps or anything, just a lot of shedding. I knew it was coming, so I'm not freaking out, but it still sucks. **2 nights ago I had some kind of episode where I had a snack about 45 minutes after I worked out at night and I had INCREDIBLE pain. Felt heavy, sharp pains, burning. Hurt to sit up, hurt to lay down, couldn't find a comfortable position. Took pepto twice before I finally got any relief after about an hour. I was left with burning in my throat. My husband said it sounds …

I can see the numbers on the scale are way down. I can see that I went down a clothing size and a ring size and now those are starting to be too big. I can see my double and a half chin is now more like a chin and a half. I can see it, and I know it, but I can't get rid of my size 26/28 clothing. It falls off me now (heck, my size 22/24 clothes are getting too loose now) but something keeps stopping me from getting rid of them. My old rings are a size 10. They literally fall off. I can't bring myself to get rid of them. I look in the mirror and I can see my stomach is a lot smaller. If I take stock of each thing, I can see it. But when I look at myself as a whole, I still…

I found a pic of me before surgery and I took the 2nd pic today right after a workout and before my shower. When I look in the mirror, I still see the person in the 1st pic. But looking at these side by side, I can't deny that I actually HAVE lost weight, and you actually CAN see it. 67 pounds down in 3 1/2 months, and counting.....

My target weight comes up as 280, the actual target is 200. Anyone know how to fix that? (I'm talking about the little profile that comes up next to my messages.) Thanks Never mind, I figured it out. Sorry to waste your time

Hi all - I am post VSG surgery nearly three years. While I still feel a restriction during meals, if I wait 15-20 minutes I can continue to eat whether it’s the remaining of my meal or something else. This concerns me. Anyone dealing with this or have dealt with this? Any suggestions? Thanks! -KB

So I am 13 months post op. Lost over 120 pounds. Did just have my gallbladder out about 3 weeks ago. I’m starting to have this sharp pain in my stomach when I eat. Any thoughts/ ideas?

Hi everyone, I'm 5 days post op and I have been having a cough for the past 4 days that almost can be described as whooping cough. Are my lungs trying to clear themselves? I have ocassional phlegms and post nasal drips. I'm really worried that it's reflux. I'm on a liquid and puree diet and on 40 mg reflux meds as well.

My BMI is 39.9 as of this morning. I can't even remember the last time I had it this low! I know I'm still morbidly obese but hey I'm getting there!

As of today, I am exactly 3 1/2 months post sleeve surgery and have lost 61 pounds!!!! I can't believe it!!! I still feel like I'm fighting for every pound, but I also knew PCOS would do that to me. Still, I'm so so happy that I hit that weight. I know it's going to get tougher the more time that goes by, but the fact that I'm losing and not putting the weight back on is huge!!!! I'm so excited. My next goal is to hit 320 (that will officially put me at a lower weight than I was with keto - even though I lost 100 pounds then, and it'll only be 67 pounds now, because I went into the surgery a lower weight than I was at when I started keto). After that, my next goal is to h…

Hi everyone, Just wondering what your diet was directly after leaving the hospital?

Hi all! I just had VSG last Wednesday. I was really nervous leading up to it, but am incredibly grateful that recovery has been amazing! Like...dare I say, almost seems too easy? I haven't thrown up, was really only nauseous the following day, pain has been completely tolerable without any pain meds, I'm down 5lbs and i only get gas pains a couple times a day. I'm hitting my protein goal through shakes and bariatric soup and today I even had unsweetened applesauce. Took me a bit to eat, but I had no problems thereafter. I'm not complaining, but I guess I assumed recovery would be more difficult and I would be turned off by food (or thought of food) completely…

In my first month I went from 300 to 250lbs. Once I finally made it past the three week (everything makes me sick phase)… I actilually began eating a little later than recommended because I couldn’t keep anything down. I’m now 1 1/2 months post op… I’ve finally gained my energy back and am working out but I not only stalled but gained 3 lbs my mom feels like I shouldn’t get down about it or obsess about it but has this happened to anyone else?