taurabird

I was putting together my preop and postop plan to get myself in peak condition for surgery and I thought that some of you may be interested in what you can do to help yourself heal after surgery. I am a nurse, a lot of this I have learned over the years from managing surgical patients and from doctors. I hope that maybe some of information below will help someone recover from surgery faster and heal better. If you have any chronic illnesses or diseases be sure to speak to your doctor, in other words, don't solely take my word.
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Building up your Protein levels so you are in peak health for surgery is the #1 thing you can do for yourself since it is protein that facilitates healing of the stomach staple line. If your blood levels of protein and albumin is low your chances of suffering from delayed healing is greatly increased. I have started drinking 2 Protein shakes a day as a way to increase my protein stores and as a way to start getting used to the shakes so it is not such a shock mentally once that is all I am eating.
PREPARING FOR SURGERY; Everything you would expect your MD to have told you.
Now until 2 weeks from surgery; Below will prepare your body for surgery
1) Increase protein intake to at least 1 gram per kilogram of body weight. For my weight (260lbs) I SHOULD eat at least 120 gr of protein daily.
2) Take Omega 3's daily - Among Other Things (AOT) it will help your hair postop
3) Take Multivitamin daily
4) Take Vit C daily - AOT it helps healing
5) Take Zinc daily - AOT it helps healing
6) Take amino acids, L-Glutamine and L-arginine - AOT it helps healing
7) Take Coenzyme C-10 - AOT it helps healing
8) Take probiotic - prepares your gut for the change to liquids and possible antibiotics postop
9) Drink at least 1 ounce of Water per Kilogram of body weight daily.
At least 10 days before surgery you MUST STOP below things; Causes bleeding or interacts with anesthesia
1) Stop Vitamin E, K, C and B including your daily multivitamin and all other herbals
2) Stop Fish oils, aka, omega 3's
3) Stop drinking green tea, alcohol, caffeine, aspartame (equal)
4) Stop eating cayenne pepper, ginger, flax seed, tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant, sugar, fried foods, transfats and MSG, fatty fish such as salmon
5) Stop Aspirin and NSAID's
ONLY take the 5 things listed below from 10 days up to the day before surgery;
1) Zinc
2) amino acids (L-Glutamine and L-arginine)
3) Coenzyme Q-10
4) Probiotics
5) Prescription medications okayed by your surgeon
Postop Day 3; RESTART everything below as okayed by your doctor;
1) Restart everything that you stopped 10 days before surgery
2) Keep your protein as high as you can; try for 1mg/kg (this helps healing and minimizes hair loss)

I went to Whole Foods 2 nights ago for dinner off their hot bar. I mixed 4 of their different Soup broths together to make a yummy Tomato beef stew vegetable bean thing that was to die for! Yep, I just took the time to take only the broth off these Soups. It was so worth it!

Awesome success pics. U look amazing.

A lot of times the binge that comes after a diet for someone that is very overweight is caused by the diet itself. Our bodies way of fighting to keep its normal weight sends our appetite into overdrive when we diet. This is one of the things that is reset with WLS. This increase in appetite happens in proportion to how much fat you have and how long you have had it.

Thank you! Go Juners! Manometry is where the put a thin tube down your esophagus to read the pressures where your stomach meets it to make sure the valve there is strong. I guess some people have a weak valve that doesnt stand up to the pressure of the sleeve and it causes intense acid that cant be stopped. My doctor just does it as a precaution since he had one person that it was so bad he had to convert her to bypass.

Yippy! Celebrate with me because i have great news. I am officially below 200lbs! My surgery date was June 5th. My weight before starting the preop diet was 264lbs. Fast forward 4.5 months, today i am 198lbs! I feel amazing, this is the best thing I have ever done for "Me" in ny life and I would not go back for anything.

Yippy! Celebrate with me because i have great news. I am officially below 200lbs! My surgery date was June 5th. My weight before starting the preop diet was 264lbs. Fast forward 4.5 months, today i am 198lbs! I feel amazing, this is the best thing I have ever done for "Me" in ny life and I would not go back for anything.

Yippy! Celebrate with me because i have great news. I am officially below 200lbs! My surgery date was June 5th. My weight before starting the preop diet was 264lbs. Fast forward 4.5 months, today i am 198lbs! I feel amazing, this is the best thing I have ever done for "Me" in ny life and I would not go back for anything.

Yippy! Celebrate with me because i have great news. I am officially below 200lbs! My surgery date was June 5th. My weight before starting the preop diet was 264lbs. Fast forward 4.5 months, today i am 198lbs! I feel amazing, this is the best thing I have ever done for "Me" in ny life and I would not go back for anything.

Yippy! Celebrate with me because i have great news. I am officially below 200lbs! My surgery date was June 5th. My weight before starting the preop diet was 264lbs. Fast forward 4.5 months, today i am 198lbs! I feel amazing, this is the best thing I have ever done for "Me" in ny life and I would not go back for anything.

Yippy! Celebrate with me because i have great news. I am officially below 200lbs! My surgery date was June 5th. My weight before starting the preop diet was 264lbs. Fast forward 4.5 months, today i am 198lbs! I feel amazing, this is the best thing I have ever done for "Me" in ny life and I would not go back for anything.

Blegh. Finally hit under 200 lbs, went on vacation this week, and what do I do? Fall off the wagon! Feeling pretty disappointed in myself. I know better than this, but I went & hit the trifecta: slider foods, not tracking, and grazing!
Trying hard to get back on track today and not beat myself up about it, but it's hard. I'm used to self-sabotaging (kind of wondering if that's behind all this - I typically panic when I diet & get close to 200, self-sabotage, then give up. Only difference here is I broke 200 and am at 198). Also used to that old habit of berating myself for not being able to follow through on changing my habits, self-criticizing - you know the drill. All the mean things we say to ourselves.
Trying to think of some of the positive things I can take from this. Like - I learned that I feel crappy when I eat carbs and 'normal' when I eat Protein. I learned that although I can definitely eat a lot of carb-y slider foods, they definitely do not process well through my system, and being stopped up is not fun. I also learned that I do better when I am accountable; when no one is looking I get sneaky. Sneaky is not good. Sneaky makes me depressed and lonely and fat.
So....I am tracking on MFP again after largely ignoring it for 4 days. (I am zenandnow23 on MFP if you want to friend me and kick my a** in gear.)
I'm going to have my Premier shakes and Water today & try to get myself back in the protein mindset. In other words, DETOX!!
And I am going to *try* not to be mean to myself for not doing so great over the past few days...but I gotta admit, I'm feeling pretty down.

Saw my surgeon yesterday. Suggested 1 oz pickle juice twice a day. No more frothing or heart burn and zero nausea! She also scheduled upper GI to check for strictures.
I bought Syntrax Nectar today lemon tea flavor. Can be mixed directly in 2 to 4 oz of Water and taken as a shot. I was able to tolerate that amazingly well. Will definately buy the lemonade flavor next. Being able to get Protein in basically a "shooter" is a godsend for me. I get super full on 2 oz of anything including liquid.
Surgeon was concerned because I am in starvation mode and dehydrated again. Just so nauseated and full all the time. With the addition of Pickle Juice or even sucking on a pickle has made all the difference in the world. I didn't even bother with any nausea meds or reglan today.
Today is my birthday and I weighed in at 197. So I made my goal. Very happy about that. I bought size 16 shorts! Was in a 22 before. Amazing! Best gift to myself ever!

Hang in there, I was sleeved Jan 28 and down 50 pounds I want it to be more but hey that's the way my body is and I have to say that I rather lose slow instead of never losing. Stay strong believe in you workout, eat your Protein and make good choices.

Btw, I just realized I didnt congratulate you on your sobriety!!! I am very happy for you and I know that we nurses are very strong willed once we put our minds to accomplishing a goal. Keep your eye on the prize....our health....and staying out of an ICU bed, lol...

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-to-lose-fat-without-losing-muscle/
This gives a great overview of everything you can do to keep your muscle while we all lose our fat. Keep up the great work everyone.

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-to-lose-fat-without-losing-muscle/
This gives a great overview of everything you can do to keep your muscle while we all lose our fat. Keep up the great work everyone.

Amen!! I'm glad someone wrote a good article about how "fat loss" and "weight loss" are two separate things. I can pass on working out for a month, keep about the same maintenance calories, but still lose weight, but that weight will be almost all muscle. My body would think that I don't need it anymore and it would eventually go away.
Ex:
I've pretty much always lifted weights since about my junior year of high school. A couple of years ago I tore my bicep and it had to be surgically reattached. After the surgery, I had to be in a cast for a month and a half while the muscle grafted and healed back to my forearm bone. During this month and a half, I just sat around and did basically nothing. No lifting, no housework, no yard work, not even walking. I embraced it as a vacation and I vacationed with abandon. This was before sleeve, so I ate anything and everything I wanted in addition to not being physically active for a month and a half. A couple days after my cast was removed, I went back to the gym to do some lower body work. While I was there I weighed myself and I had lost 11 pounds while sitting around doing nothing and eating like a pig for over a month. That weight I lost was all muscle. So weight loss isn't always the perfect thing. I'm sure I gained fat during this time, but I lost more weight in muscle than I gained in fat.....to the tune of around 11 pounds.
Great article that clarifies and sheds some light on the subject of "weight loss". Thanks!

thanks very informative! I have a book called burn the fat, feed the muscle that is based on some of the same principles. interesting read!

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-to-lose-fat-without-losing-muscle/
This gives a great overview of everything you can do to keep your muscle while we all lose our fat. Keep up the great work everyone.

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-to-lose-fat-without-losing-muscle/
This gives a great overview of everything you can do to keep your muscle while we all lose our fat. Keep up the great work everyone.

It depends on how you define a problem. Sure, I have slimed a lot, got acid reflux a couple times and thrown up a few times. But are these really problems? No!!! They are blips on the radar compared with radiant health, great strength and athletic ability the comes from living a life full of drive and passion as a post op. There is no goal that is too large. Consider the problems pre op I had before with morbid obesity: high blood pressure, prediabetic, mental issues, constant battle with food, lack of exercise, no self confidence and the list goes on and on. I have been problem free for the most part. I wish the best and quick recovery for those dealing with problems like leak, gall bladder issues, bad acid reflux and so on.

Day 14!!!! Doing pretty good. Gas pains are gone and belching after I eat is my sign to stop eating immediately. I am getting my fluids in pretty well but I am so over the Protein shakes!!! But I know I have to get them in so I keep trying. Yesterday I had my first real vomiting episode, out of the blue I got nauseas and hurled. After that I was fine and nothing was different so not really sure what I did wrong that my belly didnt like. I hope everyone is doing well, good job!

OMG! I was laughing so hard I was crying. My husband kept saying what...what, tell me...I just handed the phone to him and said I cant. He read down a little ways and handed the phone back and said...no....lol.
On a constructive note, it may also be you are becoming lactose intolerant now. just a thought with the cheese Soup.