karen_marie

I second @Matt Z's advice and comments, especially waiting until you're a year+ out from surgery. I'd add maybe seeing a nutritionist before you plan to actually do the hike - even before any long training hikes prior to your trip. They may have some good tips on hiking-friendly foods that will work for us special folks Seeing them early enough will allow you to test out nutrition on your training hikes to see what works for you. And PS I'm suuuuper jealous! Would love to hike even part of the PCT someday.

I had gastric bypass, but all of your points translate to us as well. Can't agree with you more, and I'm only 10mos out from my surgery. Congrats on your success! And YES, everyone should spend some time really dissecting the what/when/why they go to food as a comfort or a compensator. It's not the most comfortable thing in the world, but will be the biggest reason why you have long term success. I also found a new passion in doing active things that I never thought my body could do - it's incredibly empowering to see your body accomplish things you never thought it could do. It definitely drives me to see just what I can get my body to do lol

I'm down a total of 106.2 from my highest! Down from a size 24 to a 14, 3XL tops down to L/XL tops. Even my feet are smaller lol From a 10.5 wide to a 10 regular. A year ago, I was happy to finish a 5k in under an hour with interval running (run/walk method). Now, I'm training to run my first half marathon. Ran 4.5mi twice this week, and have an 8mi run on the schedule for Sunday morning. Never in a MILLION YEARS did I think I'd ever be able to accomplish something like this! Also scheduled my 100lb loss milestone reward for next Saturday - horesback trail ride! I love riding and haven't been able to do it in over a decade because I've been too heavy. Not anymore!! Make it a GREAT weekend everyone!!

Congratulations!!!!!! I'm inching my way to the 100lb loss mark and Onderland myself!

Girl the struggle is REAL LOL

yeah I've had to plan for more time to get ready in the morning to allow the extra minutes needed to corral as much hair as possible

oh man do I feel you on that lol the amount of hair falling out is INSANE. I've been back in the habit of taking super high strength biotin (10,000 mg pill a day) to try and help lessen the blow, as well as help my splitting finger nails. I know my overall vitamin levels are good (labs were stellar), so it's just the usual 3mo+ hair loss issue. Ugh, hair EVERYWHERE lol

So sorry to hear you have to deal with all this! Don't let the BS steal your resolve, just know that the surgery will happen but maybe not when you thought. Frustrating as all hell, but you'll get your surgery

I don't think you should worry too much about how much water/fluids you're drinking, but def work to not gulp. Start getting into the idea of 'smaller over longer time' - applies to drinking and eventually eating. Already being used to sipping liquids will make taking smaller bites of food a more normal idea. Congrats on being almost a week out!

I can do hard boiled eggs, the occasional over easy egg and soft scrambled eggs, but if I cook the scrambled egg too much the texture is disgusting to me. So I generally avoid scrambled eggs. Also have not had sliced bread in forever. Seems to sit like a brick in my stomach and I usually end up spitting it up. I figured I'd try again a little later on. I'm about 3.5 mos out from surgery at this point.

You're doing awesome! Yeah I've noticed this thread has gotten quiet, too. I think now that we're all a few months out, the focus has shifted to just living our new lives now haha Not as much to talk about I guess unless someone has a specific post-op question or concern. I've got my 3mo appointment with surgeon on 1/31 so I hope my vitamin levels in my updated lab work are up to snuff.

Welcome welcome! And just keep pushing forward - when that little seed of doubt pops up, confront it and really think about what the 'real' reason it's whispering in your ear. Usually, it's the fear of the changes that you'll have to make - no more mindless snacking, no more 'I had a sh*t day so I'm gonna binge on pizza,' no more of the stuff we shouldn't have been doing in the first place. When I would think about the doubt in that way, it just made the doubt smaller each time, and my resolve stronger. PS I think I'll be out in Berlin at the end of May for a business trip (with some added vacation days, of course!). I may poke you for some ideas on things to see - maybe we could even meet up for an international Bariatric Pal social!

I'm still buying the chewable Bariatric Advantage calcium. I may change to something less expensive or not bariatric-specific at some point, but I figured for the first few months at least I would stick to bariatric-specific vitamins.

Try cutting that in half - I think I did up to 4oz at a time for awhile after surgery. My timeline was basically something like this during my full liquid phase immediately after surgery once I was home from the hospital: 8am-8:30am Drink 4oz protein shake/other protein rich liquid as a meal 8:30am-9am Wait 30min before drinking again 9am-10am Drink water/liquids Repeat 6x/day

After a time or two throwing up from eating too fast (usually was chatting with people and just wasn't paying attention), I actually used the stopwatch on my phone while I ate for awhile. I would press start when I took my first bite, and would keep an eye on time, with a goal to hit between 20-30min to eat my meal. If I still had food left over after 30min, I usually didn't feel like eating it so I would save or throw out. Also made me chew things to mush, just for the fact that I was working to lengthen the time I was taking to eat, so it worked to help focus on the chewing too.

The 2x/day I think were for the chewable BA vitamins they initially had me on, and the bottle said 2 per day so that's where that came from. I think some vitamins are 3x/day, others 2x/day depending. And I was never told to space the calcium with the multi, but I take the iron as a separate dosage (no iron in the multi). Just goes to show how confusing it can be haha

Weird but effective short-term solution: hold your nose when you eat/drink. Not having the sensory input from your nose will either eliminate any taste or severely reduce it right now, which will make it easier to get your fluids and protein down. Maybe finish with your chewable vitamins, so the taste left in your mouth is mostly pleasant for you when you let go of your nose. And it wouldn't hurt to call your doctor and ask about it. They may have some other suggestions to deal with this short-term annoyance/frustration

Woohoo! Congrats!! And I'm diggin the new profile pic, gorgeous!

For my bypass, it took about a month to get the approval. My doctor’s office said normally they turn around fairly quickly, but with end of year they’re probably being bombarded with approval requests from tons of people trying to get expenses covered before deductibles reset. It’s soooo frustrating to have to just wait, but unless your doc has expressed any concerns about you receding approval, don’t sweat it just keep touching base with your doctor’s office to see if it came in.

For me, if I eat too fast or have one bite too many, I'll get an almost immediate pain right behind the lower part of my breastbone. It's a SUPER uncomfortable, bordering on mildly painful, feeling. I start creating A LOT of excess saliva (to the point I have to spit it out), which tells me that bit of food is coming right back up. Once I spit it up (it's vomiting, but it's such a small amount that to me it's just a bigger pile of spit haha), I feel better and that tightness is gone. I will either wait another 1-2hrs before trying to have anything else, or I may just postpone and wait until my next meal time to have anything. Depends on how 'normal' I feel after spitting up the offending food. I know some people have been able to walk around and that helps them keep food moving if they think they've got a small blockage from a piece of food not chewed well enough, but for me spitting up is the only helpful option. You get better at understanding your body's new limits, just take it SUPER slow and really pay attention to how you feel. I had to start using the stopwatch on my phone when I eat meals, just to keep myself mindful to eat slowly. I've gotten much better at slowing down and listening to my body about when enough is enough.

Exactly right, soup is basically a slider food in that it goes in and out easily and quickly. Just make sure you're hitting or getting close to your protein goals each day and you'll be good! Just take it slow when you are cleared to start having blended/soft foods. You'll fill up FAST. Like 2oz FAST.

I’ll raise my hand had mine at end of October so a touch over 6 wks out. My sister is now going to go forward with getting RNY also, so I’ve been thru it and am about to supervise someone else to go thru it haha. Feel free to reach out!

My nutritionist gives out a handout with general instruction on when to take vitamins. I've attached it here, and typed up a basic version below. The standard multivitamin from Bariatric Advantage they started me on (chewable) had B12 included in it, and the ones I use now from Bariatric Advantage are capsules and have both B12 and biotin in them. Essential Multi (incl. B12): Breakfast, Dinner Calcium: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Iron: Bedtime (iron and calcium need to be taken at least 2hrs apart, otherwise they block one another from absorbing) To make sure I had my vitamins portioned out each day, I got a pill organizer with 7 separate days and 4x/day. This is the one I got. It allows me to take that day's pills with me. Post-Op Vitamin Info Sheet.pdf

I slept on the reclining couch in the living room for the first few nights home (maybe 4 nights). The recliner made it MUCH easier to get back up off the couch, and being able to sleep in a partially upright position was much more comfortable than flat out on my back.