wesja

I am 3 weeks out from RNY and I have been doing really great. I think I got a bit overconfident because of it, and yesterday I got my first food stuck in my pouch. I got excited to eat a taco bowl made with spiced ground chicken and sour cream and cheese...took too big of a bite and didn't chew one piece of chicken enough. I knew as soon as I swallowed such a big piece it was a mistake. Wow, that was painful. I expected nausea if something was stuck, but it isn't nausea at all...it is PAIN. Like, someone stabbing you in the breastbone type pain. I ended up making myself throw up, but the chicken never came up...just the "foamies," as I see other people called it in the forum. Does anyone have any tips to remind yourself to eat slowly and take small bites? I find with the first meal of the day I am so hungry that I usually forget and that is when I eat too quickly and get hiccups or heartburn type pain. I have also read to have papaya enzyme with you at all times for when something is stuck or you ate a little too much. Has anyone else tried it? Lastly, my cousin who has had a RNY several years ago says that black coffee "pushes things through" for her, but it just makes me get heartburn worse if I already have it.

I am 24 days out and I am eating all kinds of stuff I didn't think I would be able to eat this quickly. I eat very small amounts, but I have been eating things like stuffed vegetarian grape leaves, deli turkey meat (Boar's Head Reduced Sodium is the best) rolled up with a thin piece of swiss, low fat string cheese, and even went to a vegan restaurant and had a piece of flatbread pizza with cashew cheese, roasted red peppers, and seitan sausage (it was the best thing I have eaten since surgery, and caused 0 pain!). Two weeks out I was eating lots of cottage cheese, mashed sweet potato, Amy's Organic lentil and vegetable soups (not pureed), but also some well-chewed nuts. I probably could have started deli meat then too but I was nervous. As far as slowing your weight loss, mine did slow down around the two week mark for about 4 days, but now it is picking up again. Like the poster above said, I think it is just your body adjusting. I eat about 300-500 calories a day now and I feel awesome. Best of luck and remember to eat slow and chew well whenever trying anything new! I got cocky recently with all my success and had my first piece of food get stuck from not chewing well enough. That sucked!

Well, I had gastric bypass on 12/20/2017. I am absolutely amazed at how easy my recovery has been. I was expecting much worse and I almost wonder if my surgeon just made incisions and didn't do anything, LOL. In all seriousness, I am very fortunate and happy to be doing so well. Today is 10 days post-op and I have a question about what I am eating. So my surgeon told me to start with 64 oz of liquids and 50 g of protein a day. Once I could get that down I could move on to plain yogurt, cottage cheese, and applesauce. So I started yogurt and applesauce 3 days out with no issue, then added cottage cheese 4 days out (only a small amount). Then once I could eat about a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, I tried the next phase (mashed veggies) about 6 days out. It hurt at first so I waited to try mashed sweet potato again yesterday (9 days out). It went really well! So my question is this: this morning (day 10) I ate an entire half of a medium sweet potato (mashed up) with no problem! It took me about 10 minutes to eat it all. I was led to believe that I wouldn't be able to eat this much for a while. Is this normal or did I already stretch my stomach or something? I don't see my surgeon until Jan 2 because of Xmas and New Year's, so I wanted to get some reassurance.

I am looking for guidance. I sort of have a gun to my head right now to have my RNY gastric bypass before the end of the year due to insurance reasons, but I am still not absolutely sure I want to have the surgery. Some of it is fear, but some of it is also the fact that I feel like I haven't tried hard enough to lose it naturally. So, I currently have BCBSM, and after Jan 1 I will be switched to United Healthcare due to an acquisition of my company. I was told by more surgeon that it is highly unlikely that I will get approved by UHC if I wait to have the surgery, but BCBSM will definitely cover it and I have already met all my deductibles for the year. Today I set a surgery date for 12/18/17 out of sheer panic, and all I have to do before surgery is get an EKG and a signature from my PCP. My dilemma is this: I am a 5'6" female, age 30, currently weighting 228 lbs. I have a BMI of 37, starting weight was 255 (BMI 41) at the beginning of my mandatory 6 month diet. During month 4, I saw an endocrinologist and was diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). She put me on Metformin and Synthroid, and I immediately felt like I had more energy and the weight started coming off way quicker than before. I feel less hungry, less depressed, and better able to make healthy choices. I am wondering if I can just follow a healthier diet on my own now that my thyroid isn't ruining everything! I talked to my surgeon today and he told me that the chances of me succeeding in losing more than 50 lbs without surgery was about 3%. My weight loss with the Metformin and Synthroid is starting to plateau now, but I am not sure if it is just because I have been making bad eating choices since Thanksgiving or if it is because my body is now used to the medicine and I will go back to struggling to lose weight even when eating sensibly. My PCP is against me having the surgery and thinks I just need to put my mind to it, but he is a skinny dude and not an expert in the field. My endocrinologist thinks the hormone changes from RNY would help with my Hashimoto's and PCOS, so she is for it. My surgeon says I am obviously not going to die without surgery because my BMI is not super high, but he doesn't think based on my genetics/family history/comorbidities that I will be able to get below 200 lbs on my own. He says he has done surgeries on women like me and they were very happy with their decision. If you were in my shoes, what would you do? Is a RNY too much of a nuclear option for me? I can't do the sleeve because of my history of reflux and ulcers, so I am torn.

Thanks for all of your thoughts and advice everyone. I am going to move forward with surgery. My official date now is 12/20/2017, and I feel relieved now that I have committed to a decision. Starting to get excited too!