winning_by_losing

I was actually almost hoping for the hair loss, as it would have given me an excuse to shave my head for a while. While my hair is now not quite as coarse as it used to be and much thinner (the hair itself, not the volume), I haven't experienced any Hair loss at just over 6 months out.
That said, I've been beyond religious when it comes to making sure I have my Protein and fluids each and every day.
As for the dumping - as already mentioned, avoid the sugars and fats and chew your tiny bites as much as humanly possible. I have only dumped once and it was by eating regular ketchup (I now use reduced sugar). It was a bad day (~6 hours), but definitely not the end of the world. After that I learned to try all new foods while at home and to ensure anything I try is extremely low in sugar (I've avoided fatty foods at all costs, so no experience there).
The sagging skin is now more of a badge of honor. While it looks terrible in the shower, I'll happily deal with it knowing that I can be active, healthy and truly get back to living life instead of just surviving.
Unfortunately I don't know that there is anything you can do to combat any of these 3 issues pre-surgery, but in my opinion none are worth fretting about.

Just a heads up - if anyone is interested in the GENEPRO, if you contact them on their website they'll mail you a sample for free. Just like carol, I didn't believe it was going to actually be flavorless, so I didn't want to drop the $$$ on a test. Luckily the sample came and amazed me.
I mix it with cold Water and use some Water enhancers to make it whatever flavor I want to.

At that point in my journey, most of my meals consisted of instant mashed potatoes made with powdered milk, GENEPRO (unflavored Protein powder), a little melted cheese and cayenne pepper.
It wasn't a ton of Protein, but with the 2TBSP meals nothing was going to be anyway.
Not sure if you've tried any RTD (Ready to Drink) shakes or not, but they've been my saving grace since well before surgery and even today at 7 months out and past my goal. I love the Premier Protein strawberry flavor with Pure Protein banana a runner-up. Premier has 30g of protein in 11oz and Pure has 35g in the same 11oz.
As MsUjima mentioned, Isopure is another option. I tolerated them before surgery, but afterwards they were too sweet and I couldn't choke them down. I ended up giving away the extra case I'd ordered because I couldn't deal with it. They're 40g of protein but in a 20oz bottle.
If you're struggling to drink Fluid, the shakes give you more protein per ounce than the Isopure, but both are worth a try as it sounds like you just need something that works.
Beyond that, it may be worth a call to your bariatric team as well. You could potentially have some other issue going on that they would have better questions to ask and advice to give depending on the answers.

Www.musclegen.net

My program was limited to 3 options, Band, RNY or VSG.
Luckily, we could get approved for surgery before deciding upon which option we wanted. Then during the mandatory classes we got to ask questions, do additional research and didn't have to decide until after meeting up with one of the surgeons.
Through my research, I determined that RNY was my preferred option for many reasons, but the most important was my chance at success.
Since historically those who get RNY lost a higher percentage of excess weight, this was #1 for me, as I started my journey at 419 pounds, so wanted to lose as much as possible which whichever surgery I chose.
Next factor was the malabsorbtion. As I read more about this, I figured this would only help deter me from may of the fats and sugars that got me to where I was in the first place (and boy was I right).
And the next piece was the history. Just as Nina mentioned above, RNY has been performed longer than either of the others with much more result data to review. VSG was originally done as a stepping-stone before people could safely get RNY done and this really stuck with me as sort of a "happy medium" type of procedure. But if I was going under the knife I knew I wanted to do it once, not have to potentially have a second procedure later on.
Now that I'm almost 7 months post-op and ever so close to my goal of losing 200 pounds, I couldn't be happier with my decision. I'd do it 100 times over and would happily have paid much more than what it is costing me to end up where I'm at now.

I'm not quite 4 months out since having my RNY, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
The progress I've made and weight lost so far has been much greater than any of those who I've spoken to who went the VSG route.

My back pain has only started to ease up in the last couple of weeks.
I've had problems for many years, but had been told numerous times that losing weight would resolve it. After 8 months and losing over 200 lbs, I'm finally starting to believe some of it.
It definitely hasn't gone away and I don't imagine that happening any time soon, but it isn't near as debilitating as it used to be and seems much more bearable now, so I'm just hoping things continually get better as time goes by.

We sure are. 6:00PM at the Broomfield Public Library.
Tonight's meeting we're sharing Before/After photos and talking about our struggles and triumphs.

I'm not quite 4 months out since having my RNY, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
The progress I've made and weight lost so far has been much greater than any of those who I've spoken to who went the VSG route.

My program was limited to 3 options, Band, RNY or VSG.
Luckily, we could get approved for surgery before deciding upon which option we wanted. Then during the mandatory classes we got to ask questions, do additional research and didn't have to decide until after meeting up with one of the surgeons.
Through my research, I determined that RNY was my preferred option for many reasons, but the most important was my chance at success.
Since historically those who get RNY lost a higher percentage of excess weight, this was #1 for me, as I started my journey at 419 pounds, so wanted to lose as much as possible which whichever surgery I chose.
Next factor was the malabsorbtion. As I read more about this, I figured this would only help deter me from may of the fats and sugars that got me to where I was in the first place (and boy was I right).
And the next piece was the history. Just as Nina mentioned above, RNY has been performed longer than either of the others with much more result data to review. VSG was originally done as a stepping-stone before people could safely get RNY done and this really stuck with me as sort of a "happy medium" type of procedure. But if I was going under the knife I knew I wanted to do it once, not have to potentially have a second procedure later on.
Now that I'm almost 7 months post-op and ever so close to my goal of losing 200 pounds, I couldn't be happier with my decision. I'd do it 100 times over and would happily have paid much more than what it is costing me to end up where I'm at now.

I'm pretty sure, like so much else, this is going to differ for everyone. I had no change in nose (and since it was brought up, no change in my feet either).

I started having similar issues about the 100 pound mark. Unfortunately since then it has only gotten worse. Now I deal with the tailbone issue as well as having no fat on my 'cheeks' to pad me from hard seating surfaces.
Luckily my commute is only 50 miles so I'm only in the car about 3 hours a day, but I feel your pain (literally). After about 45 minutes I start shifting side to side, up and down just trying to survive until I get there. I've not found anything yet that helps, but am anxiously awaiting other responses to see if people have found anything that works.

I swiped a Frito from my daughter's plate last weekend with lunch.
I was happy that it didn't cause me any issues, but sad that I didn't resist the temptation.

From what I was told the reasoning for the clear liquid diet is to calm everything down in the intestines. I don't know the terminology for it all, but something to do with making it easier to cut and reattach without issues.
I wish you the best, but I'd recommend being honest with the staff when you go in so they can prepare and treat you accordingly.

Completely agree with Ginger's response above.
This is no longer a "low carb diet" but is a new way of life.
I recently transitioned to maintenance mode after I hit my goal and avoiding sugar, fat and carbs is just my life now. Other than the small amount of carbs I get in my veggies I avoid them all like the plague as I know breads, Pasta, rice etc... were a huge contributor to my previous way of life which I intend never to go back to.

Completely agree with Ginger's response above.
This is no longer a "low carb diet" but is a new way of life.
I recently transitioned to maintenance mode after I hit my goal and avoiding sugar, fat and carbs is just my life now. Other than the small amount of carbs I get in my veggies I avoid them all like the plague as I know breads, Pasta, rice etc... were a huge contributor to my previous way of life which I intend never to go back to.

I can't comment on how to avoid the questions, as I tend to tell anyone who will listen.
However - if I were in that situation I think I'd try to opt for things like chili. I know for sure that the chili from Chili's is really good and quite meaty. Then you can eat almost the full "meal" and avoid any questions you may not want to answer.

I think it really depends on the people who you're around as far as when they may or may not notice your progress.
I know my family and coworkers didn't notice enough to say anything until I'd dropped a ton of weight.
But those in my support groups noticed each and every meeting as they didn't see me daily, so the change wasn't gradual to them. And then when I visited some of the remote offices I hadn't been to in a while, they all REALLY noticed.

I can't comment on how to avoid the questions, as I tend to tell anyone who will listen.
However - if I were in that situation I think I'd try to opt for things like chili. I know for sure that the chili from Chili's is really good and quite meaty. Then you can eat almost the full "meal" and avoid any questions you may not want to answer.

I'd recommend taking a look more at a stick blender than a food processor. That worked much better for me when talking about pureeing Soups etc...

I think it really depends on the people who you're around as far as when they may or may not notice your progress.
I know my family and coworkers didn't notice enough to say anything until I'd dropped a ton of weight.
But those in my support groups noticed each and every meeting as they didn't see me daily, so the change wasn't gradual to them. And then when I visited some of the remote offices I hadn't been to in a while, they all REALLY noticed.

I can't comment on how to avoid the questions, as I tend to tell anyone who will listen.
However - if I were in that situation I think I'd try to opt for things like chili. I know for sure that the chili from Chili's is really good and quite meaty. Then you can eat almost the full "meal" and avoid any questions you may not want to answer.

I can't comment on how to avoid the questions, as I tend to tell anyone who will listen.
However - if I were in that situation I think I'd try to opt for things like chili. I know for sure that the chili from Chili's is really good and quite meaty. Then you can eat almost the full "meal" and avoid any questions you may not want to answer.

Completely agree with Ginger's response above.
This is no longer a "low carb diet" but is a new way of life.
I recently transitioned to maintenance mode after I hit my goal and avoiding sugar, fat and carbs is just my life now. Other than the small amount of carbs I get in my veggies I avoid them all like the plague as I know breads, Pasta, rice etc... were a huge contributor to my previous way of life which I intend never to go back to.

Completely agree with Ginger's response above.
This is no longer a "low carb diet" but is a new way of life.
I recently transitioned to maintenance mode after I hit my goal and avoiding sugar, fat and carbs is just my life now. Other than the small amount of carbs I get in my veggies I avoid them all like the plague as I know breads, Pasta, rice etc... were a huge contributor to my previous way of life which I intend never to go back to.