Wayne Hunt

Just went for my 8-week post op follow up visit, thought I might share with everyone pre-op, one of the weird things I didn't know pre-surgery... Over the last several weeks, once the "new" wore off and I got back towards real food (mushy diet anyway), my weight loss went from 1-2 pounds a day, to 1-2 pounds a week. When I look at the graph on MyFitnesspal.com, you can clearly see that I went from "bounding down the steps" immediately post-op, to more of a "casual mosy" down the steps. Now, 8 weeks out, I regularly go 5-8 days without losing a single ounce (according to the scale). Then, I wake up one morning and I've lost 3-4 pounds. Rinse, repeat. For example, on the 29th of May, I weighed in at 248.0 pounds. Great. I was really happy... Last Friday, the 6th, I weighed in at 248.0 pounds. Saturday morning, I woke up, took a shower, and weighed in at 244.9 pounds (-3.1), I confirmed it on the scale like 3 times just to be sure... On Friday, during my follow-up, I spoke to my Nutritionist who says that going from "freefall weight loss to a gradual stair step weight loss" is actually normal and to be expected in most (but not all) cases... This is something that was never really even addressed in the 6 months of pre-op "training", so after you get through surgery, if it starts happening to you, don't freak out like I did... Just remember -- just like Weight Watchers, Jenny, and every other "diet" -- as long as the scale is going in the right direction, that's all that counts... Wayne

Today, 3 days short of being two months out from Surgery (4/2), I am officially lighter than I have been in 25 years, and I'm very, very happy... This has been an extraordinary journey so far. Sometimes far more difficult, sometimes far easier than I had ever imagined. So far, very, very worthy of the trip. Tuesday of this week, I treated myself to a new set of shirts, and a couple of pairs of pants, each of which were two sizes smaller than I've worn forever... Have a great day everyone. Wayne

With respect, she doesn't sound like much of a friend to start with. Either that, or she has her own demons to deal with regarding her own weight or self-image. There are a million potential reasons that she's being a jerk, but your decision is your own, for your own reasons. She just has to deal with her own decisions. Either way, it's not your fault, and don't let it be your problem. Good luck, Wayne

Good morning, I had my bypass on 4/2 and things -- for the most part -- are getting back to a semblance of "normal". I'm still hardly ever "hungry" and the worst problem I face is getting used to the whole "slow down" aspect of eating (or there WILL be consequences)... What worries me is that for the last few weeks, all I seem to think about is food. Not like "I want a porterhouse or Double Whopper" but more like; When should I eat next? What can I eat? Am I supposed to eat only when I'm hungry, or am I supposed to stick to the arbitrary "three meals + 2 shakes" schedule, even if I'm not really hungry? Am I eating too much? Am I eating the right things? the list goes on, and on, and on.. It seems that while I'm not in the same relationship with food that I used to be (I'm not craving or going on binges), I'm still finding that food pretty much pre-occupies most of my thoughts. This has me worried, because it seems both weird and potentially unhealthy. Anyone have any thoughts? Wayne

My surgery date was 4/2 and I'm just now getting back to normal really. It really does have to do with your ability to get in your protein and water. Protein for fuel, water to flush out all the toxins you've built up. I wasn't able to exercise for a long while, but it's also important to exercise as much as possible to reduce the loss of your muscle mass. Mine has diminished greatly due to being incapacitated but it does get better... Wayne

Ok. For the first two weeks, even after the first 3-4 days when the pain stopped, I found myself incredibly weak. Mostly because I had gone from 2000 calories a day to 350 or so, mostly all protein. Your body does get used to it, but I cannot stress enough that you might be ok in an office environment on half-days after the first week, but teaching and coaching? I'd almost bet you that's going to be a no-go because both are high stress and lots of moving around... As for shunning surgery, yeah, did that through 3 diets (Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and my own zero-carb thing) over a three year period and on each, I lost 75 pounds but... In each case, my body adapted and eventually bounced back. My lowest weight in 30 years has been 249. My highest (documented) was 327. Tomorrow marks 6 weeks out of surgery and I'm at 255.5, so for me, it was the right decision, despite the learning curve (how to eat, how to chew, how to eat slowly). I'm still having trouble learning the difference between satisfied (stop eating NOW!) and "eat until you're full (47 years of training there) but it's fine... My best advice to you preparing for surgery is something I've already written earlier on in my experience, the week after surgery; http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/303515-getting-my-gastric-bypass-in-4-days-should-i-prepar-anything-for-afterwards/?p=3428701 Hope it helps.

Don't be disappointed. The day I started this, I was 297. The day of surgery, I was 279.1. The first 18 or so days after surgery, I lost like 18 pounds. Then I went to the "mushy diet". Since that day, I've lost about 1 to 2 pounds a week. Like you, I was totally freaked out, but I'm repeatedly assured that this is normal as our bodies adjust and try to figure out WTF is going on... As of last Saturday, I was at 255.5 (only #5 off of my lowest weight in 30 years), which -- based on the first two weeks, I thought for sure I'd be at 230 or so by now, but it's fine. As long as the needle is going down, be happy... It doesn't happen overnight, but as long as we get there, right? Wayne

@@rsj5800 I applaud you for your decision. I know that for me, it was not an easy one, but you'll be fine. I do believe that you might be a little overly optimistic about your return-to-work dates at this point however. In those 4-5 days, most of the pain from the surgery will be gone, but as most of us can attest, while you're drinking nothing more than Protein shakes and Water, you're probably going to feel completely wiped out and weak. I can't say whether or not you'll be "ok" returning to work so quickly. I can only suggest that you might plan to be a little more open to taking the normal two weeks that your doctor's office will recommend. Some us didn't need that long, some of us needed even longer for our bodies to adjust to the major changes that this surgery represents. Best of luck, Wayne

Hi Amy, It wasn't the tuna, or the mayo. It was the bite size and quantity which "clogged" at the pouch causing intense pain. So far, stupid mistakes aside, I seem to have no problems with tuna or chicken (well ground), or light mayo. I can presume that the cafeteria-bought tuna salad used full mayo, but my stupidity was compounded by taking what I thought was 2 "small" (apparently not small enough) bites too quickly with the spinach wrap included and not chewing up the wrap as well as I had thought (apparently)... Within about 20-30 seconds, I felt like my chest was bursting. Coughing, wheezing, clutching the chest, the whole 9 yards. The original point behind this thread was simply that I hoped my foolish error might help others to avoid it. Eat Small. Eat Slow. Stick to the plan... That's the new motto.. BTW, separate subject... Needing to get out of the house, and tired of the choices for food I had, I dropped by my favorite fish shop last Saturday and fell in love with their smoked salmon and mashed potatoes plate. It's *REALLY* weird for me to have now made four separate meals out of one entree that I would have easily demolished pre-surgery..

I wish I were but between the untreatable gout flare up and being tired from lack of intake, it's been about all I can do to work all day and go up/down 3 flights of stairs...

I just have to add that I just discovered Trader Joes creamy soups (the ones in the boxes that look like broth boxes) They make three, two of which have low sodium options. Creamy Corn and Roasted Pepper Soup Tomato and Roasted Red Bell Pepper Soup Latin-style black bean soup. So far, I'm in love with all three of them and can highly recommend them once you can get to that dietary stage, but it's weird eating tomato soup but not being able to mush in those little round soup crackers...

If it helps, my dr prescribed a chewable/sublingual Prilosec 30mg Wayne

I can appreciate that James, but this was unmistakably a size and quantity issue... Too big bites of too much, too fast... Lodged in the pouch... Strangely for me though, sweets make me nauseated, digging the heck out of the spicy.. Weird Wayne

I started out with Bariatric Advantage from the Doctor's office, then tried Premier Protein (premixed), Pure Protein (premixed), and Six-Star Protein (powder).. Like you, I'm so "over" Chocolate, and I understand the deal with the thickness of BA Protein, but what I didn't realize is that Premier and Pure weren't primarily whey protein. As such, drinking the premixes post surgery caused my body to kick off a Gout flare up. I retreated to the Six-star (bought at Walmart) Vanilla, but I really can't stomach the vanilla mixed with water, so.. It's pretty much a waste. My advice to you -- thickness aside -- might be to try doubling the water that you mix the BA powder with? Either that, or try just using one scoop to 8 oz of water instead of 2 scoops. You'd have to drink 2 shakes for the same protein, but you've got to get in your water anyway, right? Wayne

As of tomorrow, I will be a month out of surgery. This morning, for lunch, I packed a cup of Trader Joe's Black Bean Soup (really yummy if you're in the mood for it).. Somewhere though between Breakfast and lunch, I decided I'd rather have tuna salad. So, I thought I'd just buy a tuna wrap from the cafeteria downstairs, then slowly scrape out the tuna inside and call it even, even if I had to throw away 3/4 of the actual sandwich. After all, I've been doing great mixing in and out of the mushy/soft foods phase. No problems at all really. I got upstairs to the break room, unwrapped it from the aluminum foil, then (what I thought was) *slowly* took two small bites. Within 30 seconds, I my chest felt like it was going to burst, I was going to explosively vomit, and that I was just going to keel over dead on the break room floor. Apparently, too much, too fast... My point, my friends, is that if you're "just" out of surgery like me, you may think you're doing better than you actually are. Don't make the same mistake I did. I hate to think of the damage my stupidity might have caused -- especially the potential of stretching my pouch -- but all I can say is "lesson learned, I won't be making that one again" and hope that I can help others to avoid my brand of stupidity... Wayne

In my experience, the best option was actually the hardest. Walking. The gas built up in your tummy was placed there by the surgery. The movement involved in walking and generally being mobile will help to "push out" the gas buildup... Wayne

As terrible as this is to say, I'm so happy that you said that. It tells me that I'm not alone. Like you, I lost 18# in 18 days, then nothing for a week or so... I'm beginning to freak out a little bit, wondering what I'm doing wrong...

Thanks for the reply. This may be a disaster of my own making however. For the two weeks prior to surgery, I was using Bariatric Advantage as provided by the doctor. They're primarily Whey shakes. The two weeks after though, I swapped to "Premier Protein" (pre-made) shakes because I had gotten really tired of chocolate, and didn't feel like mixing/cleaning up, etcetera post-surgery... What I didn't realize until I had almost run out is that the Premier brand was NOT primarily Whey Protein. As I recall (label not handy, it was mostly Soy isolate, which -- when going from a regular diet to all protein -- may have actually complicated things a bit. As for cutting back, I'm only doing so at my doctor's suggestion, as well as the fact that I now officially HATE chocolate shakes and can't find another flavor which isn't sickeningly sweet.. Wayne

I had surgery on 4/2 and about 8 days later, got hit with a gout flare up. The doctor put me on a staged build up of Allopurinol to lower the uric acid levels (100mg week 1, 200mg week 2, 300mg after) but concurs with the surgeon's office that there's nothing they can give me to directly address the flare up... Normally they'd prescribe indocine or colchecine or something, but just like NSAIDs, they're not safe post surgery... The surgeon's office DID prescribe a topical cream containing colchecin but so far, it's been completely useless. As such, their hopes are that the flare up will "simply go away as the Allopurinol". (Until then, they've recommended that I cut back on the Protein supplements as the all-protein diet is what's causing it) Now here we are, it's the 28th, and it's not going away. If nothing else, it's getting worse. I'm existing on liquid Tylenol all day and a Codeine/Tylenol syrup to sleep through the night... Still nothing helps more than temporarily. Considering my intolerance to sugar now, I need to ask others here who've suffered through it, is there anything I can do to resolve this? Thanks, Wayne

My bypass was on the 2nd of April, I'm 22 days out, and life is still a bit strange. As for pain from surgery, that lasted for about 3 days. Day 4 and I just felt like I had fallen and gotten bruised or something. After that, pretty much all the surgical pain was gone... What I didn't expect was that 5 days after surgery, the dietary changes kicked off a massive Gout flare up... Several days of excrutiating pain, and infuriating ping-pong "call the other doctor" later, I'm told that nothing can be done about the flare up, but they put me on a regimen of Allopurinol (crushed, yuck) to try to lower the uric acidity level in my system, hoping it will help to alleviate the flare up naturally. 16 days later, I'm still in pain, having trouble walking, and weak from having to lower my Protein intake (since that's what caused the Gout flare up).... Otherwise, doing fine, but it's still weird that I haven't yet really been hungry. I've wanted real food, and yesterday technically started the "mushy diet" but honestly, even though I've eaten (because that's what I'm "supposed to do"), I am just not hungry. Hell, I'd forget to eat or drink all day long if the fear of dehydration wasn't etched in my brain by the doctors and all the stuff I've read... The other thing I've experienced as noted in the other thread is my first plateau, or at least "ledge". First 18 days, I lost almost 18 pounds. Last three days, no weight loss. Today? I actually put on almost a pound, but i'm betting that's more to do with going to the "mushy diet" than anything. Had a little tuna salad for lunch, and a little Curried tilapia for dinner, which probably explains it. Good luck all.

Thanks Phil...

I know the scale lies and all that. 3 years of Weight Watchers before going for surgery.... That being said, has anyone experienced a post-op "bounce"? I know -- or at least I hope -- I'm freaking out over nothing but for the first 18 days, I lost weight. For the past three days, no change, and now, this morning, I did my morning shower, brush, weigh ritual to find that I've actually PUT ON almost a pound of weight since yesterday... Now, it's true, I did get to go to mushy yesterday from the liquid, and it's the first semi-solid food I've had in a month, but did anyone else experience the same sort of "bounce" in weight? Wayne

Thank you VERY much for starting this thread... I was actually getting worried about this exact thing... My bypass was done on 4/2 and between surgery date and about the 20th, I had lost about a pound a day.. Some days nothing, some days 2-3 pounds. The last few days, despite no real changes to the diet (coming off liquid to "mushy" today actually), no change... I had previously heard about early stalls, but when it hit me personally, all I could think was "what have I done wrong", "what changed?", etc... I actually logged in here this morning to post the exact same thing, so sincere thanks to everyone who has taken the time to respond and let me know that I can stop freaking out... Regards, Wayne ------------------- Highest : 327 Start of process: 298 Surgery Day (4/2/14): 279 Currently: 263.1

I stand absolutely corrected about the Vitamins. I just re-read the documents I got and it does specifically say "no gummies". Guess I'm going to have to hobble back down to Walmart for new B Complex...

It's hard for anyone here to give anything but a general response, because everyone's hospital and experiences might be different. I'm 5 days out from surgery and my list might sound scary (and it does represent a huge change for me) but it's really not. It's just a part of all invasive surgery procedures. What I knew about, but find extremely weird to be confronted with now are; The pain coming out of surgery. I have no idea why, but I just never expected a "few little cuts" to be so gut-wrenchingly ouchy... Apparently bad enough to bring out my inner four-letter curse machine while on meds. (a sincere apology to my very wonderful nursing staff by the way) That however is usually well-managed in the hospital and by the time I was sent home, it felt like it would after you fell off a skateboard as a kid.. Now in day 5, most of the pain is almost gone to the point I might wish I could return to work early (out of boredom), but don't... Take the time your body needs to adjust because this is a big, big deal. Just be prepared. Other people might have experienced it differently, but for the first few days, every time I coughed, sneezed, or moved, it felt like my guts were about to burst. They haven't, but I do find it useful to hold a small pillow over my stomach when I cough just to cushion the impact of that action, but it'll be ok.. Suddenly -- at least for a while -- you REALLY aren't hungry. For my post-surgery liquid phase, I'm supposed to be drinking 64 ounces of Water and at least two Protein shakes. So far, I can manage the two shakes (Breakfast and supper) but I *really* don't want them at all. The rest of the day, I'm forcing myself to sip half-dosed bottles of Crystal Light, which are now actually too sweet and make me extremely gassy, but it's still better than tap water... So far, all I can do -- and it's VERY difficult -- is two 11-oz Protein Shakes and about 32 oz of water a day. Take a look at what your doctor recommends for an after-diet. Make sure you have those in abundance before leaving for the hospital. In my case, premixed protein shakes (Premier), a small variety of broths (I recommend boxed, and the Swanson "flavor infused" make for a nice change), Jello, and so-forth. Buy all your post-op meds and Vitamins before-hand. {edit:} Originally I was lamenting not buying "gummie" vitamins, but based on the comments below, I went back and realized that "gummie" = bad... Not allowed by Doctors so... My advice is now this. For the rest of your life you'll be taking vitamins. It might cost you a buck or two more now, but at first buy small quantities rather than Sam's Club size because honestly, you'll probably find one you like better. For example, I thought the taste of an orange-flavored chewable sounded awesome. Now, after chewing the giant pills three times a day for 5 days? Not so much... Speaking of vitamins, be prepared to devote a good portion of your time getting used to taking them on a set schedule. I now have five different types that I have to spread out in multiple dosing schedules throughout every day. Be prepared to sip water or sugar-free Crystal light ALL DAY LONG. In a day, if your doctor is like mine, he'll recommend 64 oz of water a day. Pre-surgery, not a problem when you could drink a 4 oz gulp easily. Not so much any more. Anything more than a sip at a time (at least for me) results in gas and a bloaty stomach... (mild dumping) Lovenox shots. Even if you're in a good way, you will probably end up having to subject yourself to two weeks of self-administered shots to your lower (fatty part) belly. Lovenox is a blood thinner, and helps to ensure that you don't end up with blood clots after your surgery. Bright side is, everyone knows how much these suck, so they've generally made the needle so small that it's virtually painless. For *me* to be able to do it (so far) is one hell of an indication that anyone can do it. Gas... Wow.. Ok. For the first few days at least after the surgery, you're going to be an extremely gassy beast. All of us (as I understand it) are because of how the Laparoscopic procedure works, inserting air/gas into your body cavity to shift/move things around. This might be embarrassing, or you might just take a little pride in "letting 'er rip". Either way, it helps you feel better, because half the pain you feel after surgery is that gas. The other half is caused by the incisions and internal cuts themselves. Walking helps... If you're like I was, walking will help in getting rid of that gas. Trouble is, on Days 1 and 2, they might have to pull you kicking and cursing from your hospital bed to take those initial few hundred steps. Once you can equate the walking to the Willy Wonka soda-room belching, you'll be far more willing to get in a little activity in exchange for a little relief.