James Marusek

Hi ChefKelly

You indicated that you were going to have the operation on April 2. How did everything go? Did you experience any problems. At the beginning you probably experienced some fairly dramatic weight loss.

Jim

Congratulations on your surgery. I am 1 year post-op RNY. The weight dropped off dramatically after surgery but after a while the weight loss slowed down. Expect this and don't be disappointed, just stay with the regiment. I hit a plateau around half way through my total weight loss. It's common to experience this.

I never set a goal. I figured my body would let me know when I reached my bottom and that it did. I have been pleased with the results.

Would like to no if u guys eat bread and the shells for tacos!

Generally, I don't eat bread. When I am out, I do eat a taco as a meal including the shell. Prior to surgery, I would eat 5 at a time but post-op, my stomach limits me to one.

"Losing hair like crazy"! That sounds like a Protein deficiency. How are you doing with Protein shakes? As for meals, I will include a few recipes that may help you get by. They worked for me.

http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

I am 65 years old. I am 1 year post-op. Many of my medical problems went into remission after the surgery. Although I wouldn't use the term having more energy to describe my post op state, I think the more appropriate term is more stamina. My driveway is almost 1000 feet long and this winter we had several snowstorms, so I spent most of the winter shoveling or blowing snow. And I didn't even break a sweat. I did notice that the skin on my face became more wrinkled after the surgery. My wife suggested that I use a product called Bio-Oil on my face. I went down to CVS and bought some and it seemed to do the trick. The wrinkles went away.

Jan

I will pray that your heart problem is resolved and that you get back on track for the bariatric surgery and that all goes well.

Jim

I lived in Texas several decades ago. I found the people to be some of the most friendly people in the United States and I have lived in many states. The other item worth noting, many people routinely carry guns in their glove compartments. I suspect this feature helps to make the state one of the safest.

At 9 weeks post-op, I had all the ingredients (Protein, starch, vegetables) necessary to make chili. I would make up a pot of chili and eat it for my meals. The chili was a high Protein variant with about twice the protein as store bought chili. At 4 months, I was eating 1/2 cup per meal. I am at the one year anniversary of the surgery and still eating chili but I have added a variety of high-protein homemade Soups to the list.

It sounds like the mechanic was on target. Sometimes its hard to realize that your brake lights have gone out. It can quickly cause an accident, especially when the driver behind you is driving too close.

Congratulations.

I miss diet sodas but can we really drink this after having WLS? I had gastric bypass and I am almost 6 weeks op. I thought we can't have carbonated drinks due to stretching the pouch.

You are quite right. After surgery, you shouldn't have carbonated beverages. Although I haven't seen any studies on this, I suspect the carbonated bubbles create microscopic explosions in the stomach that stretches the pouch. As your stomach gets microscopically larger, it allows you to eat more. Over time using carbonated beverages produces a larger stomach and weight gain.

Also it accounts for why when I went cold turkey with diet cokes, my stomach got slightly smaller and I lost weight.

I had bariatric surgery because of health issues, not because I was upset by my weight. But my excessive weight caused my health issues. Therefore to solve the health issues I had to attack the weight problem. Most diets are unsuccessful. They work for a while but then the weight comes back on. Bariatric surgery has been successful in this area long-term.

I love to eat and eat, that is my problem. One of the interesting things about the surgery for me, was that after the surgery, I lost my hunger. It was not difficult to lose weight when you are not hungry all the time. People compliment me on my weight loss. But for me this is off-key. Somehow I think they are equating the process with a diet program. I lost the weight due to the surgery not due to my willpower to avoid food.

I wrote a short article about my experience with bariatric surgery. It is available at http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

I have been drinking Cokes for the past 50 years or so. During the initial trials on "flip-top cans", I was one of the subjects interviewed. That is how long I have been drinking them. Around 10 years ago, I transitioned to Diet Cokes because I was gaining too much weight. That transition didn't stop my weight gain. When I applied for Bariatric Surgery, I was told that I had to give up caffeine and carbonated beverages. Generally I had a 6 cokes a day habit. So I went cold turkey. I didn't realize how addictive cokes were. My body experienced major withdrawal symptoms. My whole body ached for two weeks, every joint in my body seemed to ache. But then after two weeks, the pain went away. I have not had a carbonated beverage for the past year and a half. By the way, when I gave up Cokes, I lost 20 pounds of weight just based on that change alone.

Good luck on your surgery. I will pray for you.

I didn't experience any problems eating Protein bars. But then I began using them around the 4 months post-op and only rarely when I was up-and-about. My nutritionist recommended QuestBar because they contain a lot of Fiber and I was having a problem with Constipation at that time. You are right, all Protein Bars are not alike. Some might even be considered candy bars with the amount of sugar in them. QuestBar comes in a variety of flavors. I preferred those that were softer like Coconut Cashew. They have 170 calories, 17 grams of dietary Fiber, 20 grams of Protein. They do not use sugar or sugar alcohols but rather stevia.

I suspect that the Vitamin regiment is different depending on the type of surgery performed. One individual on this board had gastric bypass surgery. He was directed to take only one small Multivitamin per day. I thought it was strange, perhaps a little insane. But then I found out that he was from Australia and had an Omega loop gastric bypass also called Mini gastric bypass (MGBP). This is a totally different operation than the Roux-en-Y (RNY) gastric bypass surgery I had in the States.

At nine weeks, I believe you can transition to solid food. So at that time you can also transition from Protein shakes to Protein Bars. I generally use Protein Bars when I am on the go (because it is a little hard to carry around my blender with me). I like QuestBar (Coconut Cashew). Make sure the Protein bars have low sugar.

Concerning your Protein Shakes, if you haven't already begun this, it might be worth a try. I generally blend in a half a banana with my protein shakes. It makes it go down smoother.

If

Where do you find these support groups? My hospital has 2 a month--are there others elsewhere? They always have their meetings when I can't go and I really want to attend a support group for a bit.

S

In my state Indiana, there are probably two dozen support group meetings per month. These are scattered throughout the state. The meetings have different dates. If you miss one, you can attend another at a different location. Its a function of distance and driving time.

I don't know exactly how to locate other support group meetings but you might:

* Perform a computer search for bariatric surgery support group and the name of your state.

* Contact other hospitals in your area that perform bariatric surgery.

* Generate a new topic on this website and request help in locating a support group in your area.

The secret to chicken and turkey is to soften it up. You may not notice this prior to surgery but it will become a major issue after surgery. For example I take chicken breast and put it in a pot, add Water and one or more chicken flavored bouillon cubes. I bring this to a boil and then put the stove on low for a few hours, until the chicken is so tender that it falls apart. The bouillon cubes adds plenty of flavor to the chicken.

Since you are interested in Soup recipes. I have included some recipes in my article How I Survived Bariatric Surgery available at http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

I have attended about a half a dozen bariatric surgery support group meetings prior to surgery and about a dozen after surgery. When I first started going to these, it threw me for a loop. It was one horror story after another. I was almost at the point of rethinking the operation. But then I realized that those that attended these meeting presented a distorted view of the surgery. Most regulars had problems and some were significant ones. Most individuals who had surgery and didn't experience problems by and large did not attend these meetings. If everything was going well, why go to the meetings! I turned some of this negativity around by adding solutions when I brought up problems and by informing new members that the discussions were somewhat distorted. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

If this condition occurs all the time it is called Tachycardia. Here is a link. http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Arrhythmia/AboutArrhythmia/Tachycardia-Fast-Heart-Rate_UCM_302018_Article.jsp I don't think it is a fallout from the surgery. I would not view it as normal.

If this condition occurs only when you were asleep, it is probably related to sleep apnea. Heart palpitations or your heart racing upon waking. See http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/health/spirit/get-to-sleep-guide/women-and-sleep-apnea/

I had sleep apnea prior to gastric bypass surgery (RNY). Some nights I would wake up and find my heart racing furiously. All these symptoms seemed to disappear around 3 weeks after surgery.

Anyways, this should give you some questions to ask your doctor when you see him/her tomorrow.

When I was a teenager, I lifted weights. I wasn't that good except for leg lifts. In those I could press 450 pounds. Fifty years later I was surprised that I could still press around 400 pounds with my legs. I haven't tried any weight lifting since my surgery about a year ago. I fell like I am a little weaker. But I noticed, that my stamina has increased several fold since the surgery.

I take Citracal. It is important to take Calcium in the form of calcium citrate and not Calcium Carbonate. These are large pills. In the beginning I had to crush them but after 3 months, I regained my ability to swallow large pills and they are easy to take now. I am suppose to take 6 a day and space these out. Also there is a conflict between Iron supplements and calcium supplements so I have to space the Iron 2 hours from the calcium.

I take 3 Flintstones Complete chewable per day. These contain iron. In the beginning this was the first Vitamins I took in the morning. But I modified this to the end of the day Vitamin because the blood work showed I had low iron. As a result of the blood work, I also am taking an iron supplement each day.

I take 1 D3 (5000 i.u.) per day.

I take 1 B1 (100 mg) per week. Originally I took these once per day but as a result of the blood work, the dosage was reduced.

I take 1 Juvenon (Acetyl L-Carnitine HCL combined with Alpha Lipoic Acid) per day. I have been taking this for the past 10 year to strengthen the mitochondria in my cells. It helps with breathing and also hair loss.

I take 1 Co Q-10 (100 mg) per day. I have been taking this for over a decade and continued after surgery.

I take one injection of B12 per month.

I had gastric bypass surgery (RNY) almost a year ago. I bottomed out after 7 months. I lost 20 pounds pre-op and 80 pounds post-op. I am pleased with my total weight loss. I am in a maintenance stage. The important thing is to maintain my current weight loss. Sometimes weight loss goals can be an artificial number. My goals was to drive many of my medical problems into remission. I achieved that goal 3 weeks after the surgery and then kept losing weight.

I had diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, some acid reflux. I was off all the meds within 3 weeks after surgery (gastric bypass RNY) and haven't used them in the past year. I also had issues with frequent urination and profuse sweating. All these issues went into remission after surgery.