JamieLogical

Keto and VSG definitely compliment each other well, since you have to put protein first anyway. I never did a true keto diet post-op because I am a runner and have always found it impossible to keep up intense cardio on an atkins/keto type diet. I know many other people on these forums have had success with keto post-op, so hopefully you'll get some answers and advice.

There's not a ton you can do once the hair starts coming out. Just make sure you are getting your protein and vitamins in to ensure it's starts growing back ASAP. Also, brush/comb minimally. Don't wash it every day. Get it cut short so it's less obvious and new growth can "catch up" more quickly.

Good luck!

Have you called your surgeon? Since it's new and not something you've been experience since surgery, I think it would be worth a call to your surgeon.

Your surgeon should give you instruction on when you are cleared for lifting any weights, doing any core exercises, and increasing cardio intensity. For me I wasn't allowed to do anything more intense than a "brisk walk" until 2 months post-op. Up to that point I was supposed to try to do a total of 60 minutes of "brisk walking" throughout the day.

What food stage are you in? At 2 weeks out, you shouldn't really be "exercising" yet other than "brisk walking" for up to an hour a day. Not an hour straight! An hour total. Your nutritionist should have given you info about how frequently and how much to be eating. At two weeks I was still in my full liquids phase. I "ate" 5 times a day. Three of those times were Protein shakes and the other two were things like Greek yogurt or cottage cheese.

You should call your surgeon immediately. If you are getting in that little food and water, you will likely become dehydrated. Maybe he/she can put you on some meds for the nausea.

The things that sucks about "cheating" on the pre-op diet is that you likely kicked your body out of ketosis if you had carbs. Which means you will have to go through all the headaches and fatigue associated with entering ketosis all over again.

Soups or scrambled eggs if you have to order food anywhere. Cottage cheese, yogurt, etc. if you have a mini fridge in your room. And then just lots of protein shakes!

Try eating very very slowly. It sounds to me like you are maybe eating too fast or not chewing thoroughly enough and getting overfull before you realize it. I have had foamies (that's what it's called) twice post-op. Both times were from eating too fast and having something get "stuck" in my stomach or esophagus. It wasn't until I was able to throw up and dislodge whatever it was that the foamies subsided. If you ARE eating SUPER slowly and chewing very thoroughly and still getting foamies frequently, then definitely talk to your surgeon. You may have a stricture.

Really depends how far out from surgery you are and what your activity level is. Immediately post-op, I was lucky to get in 300-450 calories a day. I worked hard to push my calories up over 800 ASAP so I could start doing some light exercise. I would say I got there somewhere in my soft food phase? Then once I was on solid foods and adjusted pretty well, I was aiming for 1100 so I could start intense cardio. For most of my weight loss phase I was eating around 1400 calories a day and doing cardio and strength training 5-6 days a week. Now I am in maintenance. When I am training for a race (I run half marathons and marathons), I eat about 2200-2400 calories a day. When I'm not in training I eat around 1900 calories a day.

@@VooLivre2017 Don't drink 3-4 sips at a time. Aim for one ounce every 15 minutes, tiny sips spaced out evenly. You should be sip, sip, sipping all day long. Tiny sips. Set your glass or cup down in between each one.

@@seagrin8899 I am confident your regrets will diminish over time. The early days and weeks are rough. There is a lot to get through. But once you settle into your new "normal" after you've moved through the food stages and get a handle on your restriction and what foods you can handle, it becomes a lot easier. The pounds continue to drop, you start to actually reap some of the benefits of the weight loss (new clothes, fitting into amusement park rides, being able to do more activities) and the regret completely disappears.

Can I ask, what insurance do you have? I have Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield in Western NY. Every plan is completely different, so you definitely need to check with your provider. My insurance won't cover WLS in my case and they won't cover skin removal surgery, but they will cover complications from either.

I had this surgery for weight MAINTENANCE, not weight LOSS. I have been a pro at losing weight my entire adult life. I joke that if weight loss was an Olympic sport, I'd be a multi-gold medal winner. Keeping the weight off is a whole other story. I SUCK at it. Badly! So when I finally decided to have WLS, it was because I wanted to keep the weight off for good and it has! I was 2 years post-op in September. I have been at goal and maintaining for over 15 months. During that 15 months I have moved twice, gotten divorced, started dating again, and had just ALL SORTS of stress in my life. But when any one of those things might have had me gaining 25 or 50 pounds in the past, I haven't gained any, thanks to my sleeve. And on top of that, I am more physically fit than I have ever been. I ran a full marathon in September! Definitely have ZERO regrets about my sleeve. I had the same "buyer's remorse" in the first few weeks that everyone goes through, but it soon became clear to me that it was one of the best choices I ever made!

I was only in the hospital one night and released the following afternoon.

@@dayna2017 Glad to hear you are feeling better. It really does get better day by day and week by week. I promise!

You should be past the pain stage by 2 weeks, but fatigue will be a real issue and like @@heidikat72 said, time management can be an issue. As you start advancing through the food stage, keeping track of your food and Water and when to eat and when to drink and when to take your Vitamins can feel like a full-time job in itself!

I have been going out to eat a LOT lately as my new place is under so much construction that food-prep there isn't really an option. I had to clean for 20 minutes last night just to be able to make a cup of coffee! So here are some things I've had recently: Denny's: The one egg, one meat, french toast option off the senior's menu (I'm not a senior, but they don't care). I ate the egg and one sausage link and half the piece of french toast. I'm over 2 years post-op. Would definitely not have touched the french toast at all the first year! Red Robin: Chili! I get chili almost anywhere that has it, because I love it, it is pretty much pure Proteins, and you can just order a cup. I never finish a whole cup, but I can get close enough to not arouse any suspicion. TGIF: Jack Daniels chicken Sandwich. Ordered it without the bun or veggies. Ate about 2/3 of the chicken, none of the bacon (I sometimes have trouble with pork if I eat it at the same time as other meat), ALL of the cheese (love cheese!), maybe two of the onion straws and maybe 4 small french fries. Cheesecake Factory: Louisiana Chicken Pasta. I ate most of one piece of chicken and took the other piece home. Ate literally two bowtie noodles (probably should have just asked for it without the pasta). And I ate ALL of the mushrooms out of that bad boy! Most of the time I will just order the food without the rice/pasta/bread, but sometimes that really confuses people or messes them up, so I will get the carb and just not eat it. Like try going to a sub shop and ordering your sub with no bread.... doesn't go over so well. So I will get the whole sub and then just eat the meat and cheese out of it. You really have to get comfortable with "wasting" food. For some people that is REALLY hard. But you have to do it.

It's something almost every WLS patient experiences a few months post-op. But for the vast vast vast majority of us, it's only temporary. And usually we don't even lose enough hair that other people would notice.

You should be able to get up and move around later that same day, a few hours post-op. I was taking short walks up and down the hall all night my first night post-op.

Depends on how far out you are post-op. If you are far enough out to not have anymore food restrictions, then just stick with anything protein-based. I will order burgers and sandwiches without the roll/bread... meat entrees without the sides.... appetizers... whatever is on the menu where I can get a decent amount of protein and skip the carbs. That's really all there is to it.

Every surgeon is different. The point of the pre-op diet is to shrink the liver. If your surgeon feels confident and comfortable performing the surgery without shrinking the liver to make it easier to keep out of the way, then that's his prerogative. Maybe, over the years, he has found that people within your BMI range don't really need to shrink their livers at all for him to have the room he needs to operate?

It will depend on your employer what form of paid time off you have access to. But it's recommended by pretty much every surgeon to take at least two weeks off after surgery.

When I was on soft foods I relied pretty heavily on my Protein Shakes, but my typical day would look something like this: Breakfast: Protein shake Morning snack: string cheese Lunch: Protein shake or leftovers Afternoon snack: Greek yogurt or cottage cheese Dinner: an actual recipe, like Shelly's Baked Ricotta Late snack: Protein shake Dinners and lunches were my times to be creative. I would look for bariatric recipes online. This site has tons of great ones: http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/