Thucydides

I'm a little over 4 months post-op and things have gone well, with one exception: I am increasingly disgusted by meat. Before surgery, I liked boneless, skinless chicken breasts, hamburgers, Boar's Head lunch meat, etc. Now, while I could force myself to eat them, I increasingly find each of them to be repulsive. Did anyone else have this problem? Did it get better over time? Between Greek yogurt and Protein Bars, I manage to get enough Protein, but I would like to rely more on real foods than Protein Bars.

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I had pretty bad dizziness soon after I began my 4-week pre-op diet and then for another month or so afterward. It was especially bad if I laid on my side or got up quickly. I initially thought that it was low blood sugar or something along those lines. My family doctor suggested that it likely could be an inner ear problem that can take some time (a couple of months) to resolve. I was skeptical, because I did not have any remaining sinus pain or any other symptoms, but it did resolve after a couple of months.

I used the Isopure Zero Orange pineapple banana. It wasn't the greatest taste, but I thought that it was the most tolerable of the lot.

I had to do Clear Liquids for 3 weeks after my surgery. Honestly, I found that to be a lot easier than the 4-week pre-op diet that I had to do ahead of surgery. I had absolutely no appetite for those first few weeks after surgery and subsisted largely on those Isopure Zero drinks. They didn't taste great, but they worked for me because they gave me an easy way to get the amount of Water and Protein in each day that I was told to aim for.

You can do this! The post-op part was much, much easier than I thought that it would be. Best of luck!

I just received the results from my labs for my four-month post-op follow-up. I have been really happy with my weightloss and how quickly that has translated into an improvement in my life. I can walk and enjoy things in ways that I have not been able to do in years. I, however, am genuinely astounded at how quickly all of my lab tests improved in such a short time after surgery. I went from having incredibly high triglycerides (above 300), high blood sugar (+200, while taking medicine), and very high cholesterol to having normal readings for every category, while being off of all of my medicines. Why on Earth did I resist doing this for so long? It is hard to describe how grateful I feel right now.

Sex drive did soar a few weeks after surgery, but my hormones were really pretty out of whack for a while (very low testosterone, high esterol during my 4 week labs). This may well be what is going one with you. I would talk to your doctor and see what they think. Just did my four month labs and hormone levels are back to normal. It gets better.

He did my EGD and I liked him a lot. Dr. Nicholson did my sleeve, but I would have been fine with Dr. Roshek doing it. Both knew what they were doing and had a really good rapport with patients.

I'm sorry to hear about the problems that you ran into. I also had similar issues with a different surgeon's office before I switched surgeons. While I don't have any experience with Dr. Barker, I did have a very good experience with Dr. Nick Nicholson who is also rated as a "Best" bariatric surgeon by D-Magazine. I've found his staff to be very responsive and accommodating to my requests. Best of luck with finding a surgeon that works for you and for your surgery!

@@Man With No Answers I'm just shy of four months out and, even at this early point, I can unequivocally say that it has been worth it. I resisted bariatric surgery for a long time and was nervous leading up to it, but I'm thrilled at how much better I already feel (and I still have a good ways to go!). Best of luck.

I have been having the same problem since surgery as well. I both have trouble getting to sleep and then wake up several times over the course of the night once I do. Crazy thing is, I'm still less tired than I was before surgery without the sleep problems.

I said that I was having hernia surgery (which was true). I just left off the part about having 85% of my stomach removed too!

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I agree with Surfer Girl. I tried to take things day by day and just focused on getting my Water and Protein in. I didn't weigh myself until my first follow-up appointment.

I was 518 lbs the day that I started my four-week pre-op diet. I've been really happy with the results so far of my sleeve surgery (I'm nearly 3 months out). The best part is that we don't have to wait to get to our goal to enjoy the results of the surgery. Each week, it gets easier to be active and do all of the things that I couldn't do before.

I am nearly at 3 months and that is pretty close to what my meal plan looks like. Just like you, I use Greek yogurt as a mid-morning & mid-day snack. I have a Quest bar for Breakfast and have generally stopped drinking Protein shakes. Instead, I tend to eat 3 oz of turkey breast or lean roast beef at lunch. I wind up right around 100g of Protein and 850-900 calories.

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Regarding your diet, you and I are pretty much spot on. I've started doubling up my Protein shakes, generally two scoops of ON 100% whey per 8 oz of almond milk. Down 80lbs as of last week.

Congratulations on the 80lb loss! That is terrific! In recent weeks, I have shifted away from Protein Shakes toward a Quest Protein Bar for Breakfast. I got pretty tired of the shakes after a while and thought that the Fiber in the bars would be helpful. I'm still hitting about 100g of Protein, but a little more of it is starting to come from regular foods.

My surgery was also in November and I switched to Protein Bars instead of shakes for the same reason. The Quest bars have worked well for me. As others have said, Greek yogurt is also a really good way to easily get Protein. I have found that there can be a lot of variation in sugar content with Greek yogurt, so I have to pay attention to the label. Most days involve a Quest bar, a couple of servings of Greek yogurt, and grilled chicken breast for lunch and dinner. I now have no problem hitting around 100 g of protein and still sticking with a reasonable caloric intake.

I went the hiatal hernia route with Dr. Nick in November 2015. I have been really pleased with my experience. Dr. Nick (and the other surgeons in the practice) are very positive and supportive. At the same time, Dr. Nick is pretty up-front that success or failure is really a result of the willingness of the patient to stick with the plan. When I met with him, he made it pretty clear that the surgery was a tool that would help me lose weight, but was only a tool. Being mentally prepared to succeed is just as, if not more, important.

The way that I see it, the surgery gave me a reset button to stop the back and forth between weightloss and regain. There is no one preventing me from going back to eating junk food, not exercising, etc. That is all up to me. The surgery has just made it easier to focus on what I should be doing. I'm immensely grateful to Dr. Nick. Before I started my four-week pre-op diet, I could not walk a block without getting out of breath, sweating, and having back pain. Now, I walk several miles at a time with no problem!

I started at 518 lbs, lost 46 pounds during my 4-week pre-op diet, and am now down to 406 lbs. One of the best decisions that I have made!

I had the exact same experience with my PCP. I've been a patient with him for 13 years and he encouraged me to explore surgery, but without ever giving any pressure. I'm almost embarrassed when I go for an appointment now at how effusive he and the staff are with praise. It is really helpful to have a family doctor that you know and trust.

I had the exact same experience with my sleep study, despite the fact that it was done at home. I'm a light sleeper, so I felt as if I got almost no sleep with that stuff all over me. The sleep study people were able to tell me immediately after my session was over that I had slept long enough for them to get a diagnosis. She said that if they get readings for about an hour and a half of sleep or so, that is typically enough to do the diagnosis.

Thanks, @@goddess977! In fairness, that 102 lbs includes the 46 lbs that I lost during my 4-week pre-op period as well. Congratulations to everyone on the remarkable progress.

Thanks, @@bsilva! I definitely feel much better. I have a good distance left to go, but everything is already so much easier. Being 500+ lbs involves a lot of planning! It isn't much fun worry about things like can I park close enough to where I need to go?, how early do I have to leave for a meeting so as to not arrive sweaty and out of breath?

I count Protein, carbs, fat, and calories using an iPhone app (mynetdiary). I am sufficiently nerdy that I like generating the charts of the nutrients that I take in and the pounds that I lose. I initially had trouble getting enough Protein and staying within the calorie bounds. That is the place where using shakes as a supplement has been helpful for me. I start the day with one and then follow with a fat-free Greek yogurt a little bit later. That gets me to 42 g of protein pretty early in the day. From there, I try to eat something that gets me 20 g of protein for each of lunch and dinner. A second shake or a high-protein snack gets me close to 100 g protein goal. Honestly, I don't make it every day, but I never fall below 80 g of protein.

I was sleeved on November 10th and, between my four-week pre-op diet and post-surgery weight loss, I am down 102 lbs. I have been fortunate in that I have not really had any problems getting enough Protein or Water in each day. Based upon my nutritionist's recommendations and feedback on this forum, I aim for about 100 g of protein per day. Since I am only supposed to eat somewhere between 600-700 calories per day, that means that just about everything that I eat has to be pretty high in protein. My go-to foods are Greek yogurt, grilled chicken breast, grilled shrimp & scallops, turkey, with a couple of Protein Shakes per day thrown in. So far, so good.

Hi Tina, I don't have any experience with Dr. Kim, but you might explore whether a hernia repair/sleeve option might be for you if your insurance does not cover the procedure. I was diagnosed with a hiatal hernia (which my insurance covered), which my surgeon then repaired and I paid a small additional fee in addition to also do the sleeve at the same time. This was a significantly less expensive option for me. I'm in Dallas.

While I have been happy with the weight loss progress that I have made since surgery in November, today was the first day that I felt genuinely excited. For years, I have wanted to take my wife to the Dallas Arboretum, which is a pretty spectacular 66-acre place near where we live. A trip there involves a good amount of walking. Since, before surgery, I would get out of breath just walking from the parking lot to my office or my back would be agonizing just waiting in line briefly for something, a day at the Arboretum was previously impossible. When I had my surgery in November, I swore that I would make enough progress to be able to do a trip to the Arboretum before the new year. That was today. All in all, we had a great time and I walked over 4.5 miles with no back pain and no breathlessness. I actually felt like a normal person! My knees hurt now, but I will take that.