James Marusek

After RNY gastric bypass surgery, your stomach will no longer process fats and sugars. That can mean the fats and sugars in milk. I became lactose intolerant after surgery. Anytime I drank milk, it immediately led to an upset stomach and a trip to the bathroom. Some of the Protein shakes also contain lactose. This lactose intolerance condition went away after about two months.

A new study from the Netherlands gives significant support to the ability of bariatric surgery to eliminate clinical findings of Type 2 diabetes, also known as “adult onset” diabetes. Compared to results from individuals that did not undergo surgery, remission of type 2 diabetes was about 43 times more likely in patients who had gastric bypass, and almost 17 times more likely for patients who had procedures known as sleeve gastrectomies. Remission was about 7 times more likely when patients underwent gastric banding. http://acsh.org/2015/10/weight-loss-surgery-improves-health-of-some-diabetics/

I am down 3.4 pounds in 4 days using a blend of essential oils that I named "Anti-Hunger". So far so good. Able to complete resist the temptation of snacking. Loss of hunger is similar to being in the Honeymoon stage after RNY surgery. I am 29 months post-op RNY surgery and very near my bottom weight when I began this experiment. In a couple weeks if I find this experiment to be successful, I will post the formula on my updated webpage at http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

Your daily Fluid requirements after surgery are met in several ways. They include drinks like Water and Crystal Light. The fluid component in your Protein shakes count towards the requirement. Teas and decaf coffee count. So does the liquid component in Soups. Another drink that I found to be good especially in the winter when it is cold and snowy is hot cocoa. The cocoa must be "no sugar added" and the milk must be 1% milk or lactose free; otherwise you might experience dumping syndrome. The advantage of this drink is that it counts towards your protein requirement and also your fluid requirements.

It is common to think about food and miss it after surgery. But life has many trade-offs and this is one of them. This desire is especially prevalent in the liquid and puree stages. We are physically imbedded with a desire to chew. Until you reach the solid stage, you will miss the ability to chew foods.

I concentrated on eating high Protein meals. As a result as my meal volume increased I was able to drop off protein shakes one at a time. I went from 3, down to 2, down to 1. When I transitioned to 1 cup per meal, I was able to get rid of all my protein shakes and haven't had any since. I am 29 months post-op RNY.

After I complete the experiment, if the experiment is successful, I will post the ingredients on my website.

There are many options available on Protein shakes and supplements. GNC carries quite a few. I would probably go there to start experimenting. I used protein powders (Muscle Milk Light - vanilla Creme). I found it to be acceptable. For me most Protein Shakes taste terrible. The objective is to find one that you can tolerate after surgery.

Good luck on your surgery. Remember to walk, walk, walk after surgery. It will help the recovery and make the pain go away quicker.

I am 29 months post-op from RNY surgery. I am pleased with the results. I have been in the "Maintenance" phase for around 22 months and my weight has been fairly stable. I have even lost a few pounds in the "Maintenance" phase. It is my belief that the key to keeping the weight off in the "Maintenance" phase is hunger control. Fats are fairly important in this phase because they contain the ability to control hunger. Around a month ago, my wife suggested that I explore essential oils especially the medicinal properties of essential oil. I bought a few books and read them. It was interesting that there were formulas for Appetite Reduction. I ordered some essential oils and created a blend that I named "Anti-Hunger". I then began experimenting with this formula. I am 3 days into the experiment at this point. I apply a dab of oil blend to my wrist and then rub my wrist together. So far I have observed that my hunger disappears around 30 minutes after the application and returns about 24 hours later. It is similar to the loss of appetite after RNY surgery, the honeymoon phase. I have been snacking on foods, primarily on foods that contain fats for over a year now. I have found it interesting that I have not eaten a snack in 3 days now and don't feel a strong temptation due to the loss of hunger. Well I will run the experiment for at least a couple weeks and determine to my satisfaction, if the experiment is successful or not. Thus far I have been pleasantly surprised. So I am a little optimism. I asked my wife to try it. She is not overweight nor has she had surgery. She said she feels the same effects as I with about the same timing (effect window).

Congratulations on your weight loss thus far. 126 pounds is impressive. Your goal is an artificial number. Your body determines when you transition from the "Weight Loss" phase into the "Maintenance" phase. Here are a few things you could do, if you aren't doing this already. Your daily Protein requirement is the sum of the protein that you consume from meals combined with the protein from supplements (Protein shakes, protein bars). If you concentrate on eating high protein meals, at a 13 months post-op, your meal volume should be large enough that you should be able to almost completely discontinue using protein supplements. These supplements contain calories, and discontinuing them will drop your caloric intake. Most people consume food over a 15 hour window. This is meals and Snacks. If you can reduce this eating window down to 10-12 hours per day, that has been shown to reduce weight. Look at your "eating window" and set an end time for your window and restrict consuming food after this time. Make sure you get your 3 meals in per day but this will cut off all snacks after you reach the end of the window. It is important to burn off the calories that you consume and you can't do that sleeping in bed.

Lots of information is exchanged in this class. They gave me a book that provided all the requirements for the program in great detail. It was about an inch thick.

I think that they should restrict "Newbies" from generating messages with website links. That would probably go a long way for removing this type of spam.

Congratulations on losing 50 pounds over the first 4 months. I had RNY gastric bypass and my weight loss ended at about 6 or 7 months post op. But sleeve patients lose weight at a slower pace, but more consistent over a longer period of time. So take a deep breath and continue to follow the program and let the magic happen. After surgery, I was drinking 3 Protein shakes a day. But as my meal volume increased, because I was concentrating on consuming high protein meals, I was able to begin to drop my Protein Shakes from 3 a day to 2 then 1 and finally when my meal volume increased to 1 cup per meal, I completely took myself off all protein shakes. The point here is that protein shakes contain calories and as I dropped the protein shakes (while still meeting the daily protein requirement) I was able to kick-start my continued weight loss even when I hit a stall. The daily protein requirement is a combination of the protein from meals combined with the protein from supplements (protein shakes, protein bars).

You might try blending in a half a banana into the shakes.

I used "Muscle Milk Light" (vanilla creme) powder. I blended it with Water using a Ninja blender with a single serving cup. I never really liked any of the Protein shakes but the important thing is to find one that you can tolerate. So experiment until you find one that you can live with. It also helped to blend in a half a banana into the shake. It made it more edible.

Welcome and congratulations.

Yes decaf can be counted as part of your Fluid intake. Also if you eat Soup, the Water component of the soup can be counted in your daily fluid intake requirements.

Congratulations on your weight loss thus far. 191 pounds is quite an accomplishment. It looks like you had surgery over 5 years ago.

You might also take some Probiotics. If you were given antibiotics during or after surgery, it may have destroyed the good bacteria in your digestive tract. These need to be restored. That is what probiotics do.

Congratulations.

I am 29 months post-op RNY surgery. I put my approach to maintaining my weight loss in a short article at http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

Some people undergo WLS and lose significant weight only to gain some or all of it back years later. I asked my nutricianist "Why". Her response was grazing. Grazing is to eat small portions of food, as appetizers or the like, in place of a full-sized meal or to snack during the course of the day in place of regular meals. A recent study by University of California, Berkeley, may have found a correlation between sleep and body mass index (BMI). Breakfast and breakfast skipping is associated with weight gain.” This study seems to go hand-in-hand with another study. Another recent study found that reducing the eating window (the hours per day that one eats) reduces weight. http://acsh.org/2015/09/picture-this-a-food-app-that-could-improve-public-health/ The results from this study published in Cell Metabolism showed that the majority eat over a 15-hour period each day. Some research suggests that limiting the “eating window” to 10-12 hours per day may contribute to weight loss. Their sample size was small, but of their volunteers interested in weight loss researchers set the smart phone app to help them restrict food intake to a 10-hour window. Without changing the types of food they were eating over 13 weeks, this volunteer group lost an average of 3.5 percent of their initial weight per person. So it appears that to maintain the weight loss after you reach the Maintenance stage, one needs to control "Grazing". This includes limiting your "eating window" to around 10-12 hours per day and getting the nominal 7-9 hours of sleep each night.

Congratulations on quitting smoking. I think the real question is whether the minute amounts of nicotine might interfere with you upcoming surgery. I suspect the answer is no. I was wondering if you used an aid such as a nicotine patch or e-cigarette to stop smoking. I think these products might contain some nicotine and that could cause your nicotine levels to still be present.

If you had RNY gastric bypass surgery, then you have to cut out fats and sugars from you diet for awhile. This is because the part of your stomach that normally processes these fats and sugars have been cut away and your body can no longer handle these, otherwise you will experience dumping syndrome. As time goes on, your body will change and your intestines will learn to process these foods and then you will be able to eat these again. This will occur around 1 year post-op. So during this first year, you will be able to eat meat, it is just limited to very lean cuts with little fat. You may find that eating meats will be rough on your new stomach. For example, you may want to boil chicken breast in a pot for several hours on low until the meat is so tender that it comes apart readily with a fork. I personally relied on softer foods, such as homemade high Protein chili and Soups. They went down easier. So you are welcome to make foods without artificial ingredients for your meals. But the most important requirements of the program are meeting your protein, Vitamin and Fluid requirements. food IS SECONDARY. Your body is converting stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight.