Andi

When in doubt, ask your bariatric team. For my pre-op liquid diet we weren't supposed to take our multivitamin anymore. That was more due to the Meal Replacement shakes from the hospital already having the Vitamins in them though I believe.

Are you in the western part of the state? There's a lot of good bariatric programs around the Boston area. I had my sleeve done at Lahey clinic in Burlington. They're a really good team & I was well cared for. If it's a bit of a ride for you though it might be inconvenient. There are a LOT of appointments prior to & after surgery.

Best shake that's worked for me has been a Trader Joe's Soy (quick dissolve) vanilla Protein Powder. I had a bit of a harder time when it came to the whey type that I tried (although when I had to bite the bullet and finish up the tub of it, using half unsweetened almond milk really helped). The Trader Joe's one doesn't taste great.. nor horrible (sugar free Syrup fixes it right up) but it's a lot easier going down for me.

It depends on the instructions from your bariatric team. I was started on Protein Shakes as soon as I left the hospital. It took me all day to get my first one down. Eventually they wanted us up to 64oz of Water and 60g of Protein from the shakes. Primary goal was the Fluid.< /p>

We were advised not to (everyone's program is different, but I think the no straw is pretty universal). You suck in additional air with a straw.

They had us stop drinking a half hour prior & waiting an hour until after beginning with the full liquid phase. I think that this was more for practice than need. When I started the next phase "Soft protein" the NUT told me to start doing the wait (I think either people forget or blow off doing it in the full liquids) .

I stayed 2 nights, but I think it was more due to me being situated later in the day. For my hospital they officially say 2 nights, but it's not uncommon for it to be a single night stay.

Umm I work at subway... 0_o

Oh and you do not want to know what we do with that scooped out bread BTW

food fight?

In our post op care book under the Protein section our NUTs state: It is not recommended to use the Protein "shots", "shooters" or "bullets" as they do not contain the appropriate protein source.

When it comes to picking an appropriate Protein shake they said to go with something that has "Whey Protein Isolate" or "Soy Protein Isolate" as the first ingredient. This should provide you with the amino acids that your body is going to need to build Proteins.

I was feeling more like myself 3 days later, but my steps were still small & slow. I was off pain meds, but with the exception of a small walk here/there I wasn't all that active. You need to make sure that you're keeping yourself well hydrated or you're going to be feeling pretty meh & it's still kinda hard at that point to get much Fluid in. I think it might be a bit ambitious, but.. that's really up to you.

I haven't had anyone tell me straight up "That's the easy way" (even though I'm pretty sure it's in their head). I normally hear "You lost so much on your own already, you could have done this without it" or they like to bring up their cousin's former roommate's sister-in-law had the surgery & now she weighs more than she did prior to surgery & my favorite.. bringing up the story of poor Al Roker pooping his pants in the White House.

That being said, I've chosen to share my surgery with few others outside of my family. My family has been nothing but supportive. I've come to expect that when I do share what I've done that it's going to be met with criticism. I've been judged all my life & I'm pretty damn tired of it to be honest

• Just over 3 weeks post op
  
• I was not weighed on my surgery date, but from my home scale the day before.. I'm down .2lbs (my weight loss in the ticker tape was all pre-surgery)
  
• I take in about 800 calories a day. 80-100g of Protein, over 80oz of Water. "Soft protein" stage for now
  
• I walk almost every day (I took today off to see if I could break up the stall a bit). Usually for an hour/3 miles
  
• I take Bariatric Fusion as my vitamin/supplement, 4 of them per day. I also take an anti-gallstone medication & prilosec
  

Egg salad, tuna salad, chicken (from a can) salad, ricotta, cottage cheese, greek yogurt & Protein Shakes.< /p>

Fluids first for sure! It gets easier, don't worry

I am 3 weeks post op and have lost .2 lbs, so... it could be far worse My NUT said it should usually be 3-5lbs per week.

I've noticed people talking to me more while I'm out for a walk.. I kinda ignored someone by accident the other day because when I hear "oh hey!" I usually assume that they're not speaking to me. I used to feel like a ghost. It was either like people could see me, but it was better than getting stared at.. what was I doing, eating, etc.

There were always a few that were polite. I am a shy person at first. I think I might also have a bit of a unintentional "back off" look that I give. That can happen when defensive walls have been up for a long time I guess. I still have a long ways to go. Hopefully I can work on things like that during the process.

Are you wearing any compression/shapewear while exercising? I'm not at that point yet, but right now I can't really do push up's (belly hits the floor) and jumping jacks were just terrible.. lol

Tuna/Egg/Chicken (from a can) salad with a T of canola/olive oil mayo, 1 scrambled egg, 4 oz of greek yogurt, 4 oz of cottage cheese, ricotta bake from Eggface's page & Protein Shakes. I prefer the vanilla soy powder from Trader Joe's (it's not tasty so much as it goes down pretty smoothly & takes well to sugar free syrup)

I'm just shy of 3 weeks out & on the "soft Protein & protein shake" phase for my hospital. If it's cottage cheese or greek yogurt from a larger container I'm measuring out 4oz on my food scale. Egg salad I'm using 1 egg w/T of canola/olive oil mayo, tuna 1/2 can with 1 T of mayo, 1 scrambled egg.. I think for the most part my food is fitting into 1/2 cup.

Well if she's getting blamed for food disappearing, that adds a little more dimension to it. When my brother & I lived with our parents we'd get into trouble for the ice cream disappearing every night. Later on, he and I are sharing a house and neither of us are buying ice cream. Meanwhile.. it still seems to be disappearing around my Dad

If someone runs a menu/meal by you and asks for your honest opinion about where things are going wrong, I think that's fine to crunch some numbers & have a conversation with them. For the most part though, people know when they're eating poorly. In order for them to change, they have to want to change. It can be frustrating, especially if they're people that you care about. Best thing to do is to set a good example for them.

For my hospital:

Week 1 - Clear liquids + Protein shakes. Goal was to get 64oz of Fluid & then work up to 3 Protein shakes a day

Week 2 - Full Liquids + Protein Shakes. Yogurts, low/no fat cream Soups, Kefir, pudding

Week 3 & 4 - Soft Proteins + Protein shakes. Tuna/Egg/Chicken salad, cottage cheese, white fish, scallops, ricotta cheese, ground turkey

After that we can start adding in veggies, fruit & if there's room left over starches. We were also told to avoid pork, beef, lamb & raw veggies (except lettuce & tomato) for 3 months due to there being potential tolerance issues. We should be able to be off the protein shakes by then. I'm currently on the soft protein stage though, and I don't get how I'm going to get enough protein in via diet without having the shakes. I'm only getting about 30g in from food.

Keep it simple. All that I used from what I packed was my clothes. I wish that I had brought a phone charger. For some reason the hospital ate my phone battery like crazy & I hardly touched it. Maybe some biotene would have been nice too.

We had this come up in our group meetings prior to surgery. We were asked in general if there were people that we weren't going to tell, and that was fine if not. However, to keep in mind that people will jump to their own conclusions & to consider that in our decision. He said that some people might assume that you're doing drugs or have a disease. It brought up a scenario from the past for me. When I was young my Dad lost a lot of weight within a short amount of time. The extended family saw him go from a pretty big guy to very skinny, so they assumed & were concerned that he had cancer. They weren't trying to work the rumor mill or be mean about it, it's just a big change to see & not know the explanation. I'm not saying that it's a reason to share, but just something to keep in mind.

I feel no reason to share with the world that I had surgery. I am not ashamed of it. I just feel that it's no one's business but mine & I've been judged enough through my life. My family has been very supportive. Outside of them, everyone else that I've told has been like "no don't do it!". For the most part, I think that they meant well. Even if they had the "you're taking the easy way out" thoughts going, they had the good sense to leave that in their heads.

For Massachusetts I think it's normally BMI 40 w/o comorbidities & 30 if you do have them.

http://www.bariatricchoice.com/bariatric-fusion-gastric-bypass-vitamins-supplements.html I use Bariatric Fusion for my Vitamins. I can pick them up at my hospital pharmacy for $25/month & they include all the supplements that my bariatric team wanted me to take. shakes I didn't have a choice with for my hospital & they were about $60/week. If you can pick up any type that you want, you can get some decent sized containers for probably $20/week-ish. I bought my own after surgery. I would recommend that whatever type you go with that it's either "whey Protein isolate" or "soy protein isolate" for the main ingredient (it includes all the essential amino acids that you need to build protein). Trader Joe soy protein isolate went down the smoothest for me (with some sugar free flavor syrups giving it a boost).