insta_adventurer

When I was first post op, I found broths to be satisfying for those hungry moments, because they were hot like an actual meal would be!

I’ve come to a compromise with my husband... there’s no salty chips or things like that allowed in the house. He can have his Cookies and crap like that... but I’ve never met a chip I could resist so yeah, they had to go. I know some will say “but you should rely on willpower” and ya know what? I’m relying on that for plenty right now and am human... and willpower fails. No kryptonite around.. no problem.

I have no problem being around sweets, so he gets to keep those. 😂

To the folks dealing with nausea a few weeks out- have y’all mentioned it to your surgeons? My surgery buddy was/is having nausea issues and was told by their surgeon that if it kept up they would need to do an endoscopy. They said sometimes people can have a pocket of blood (leftover from surgery I think?) that can lead to nausea issues... it’s apparently not a major complication if you do have it, but certainly something they can do something about that may help with your nausea.

Question for all of you... how many calories is everyone averaging?

I’ve been on my three week stall for about 3 weeks now. 😩😩

I’m six weeks out and I’m averaging about 600-800 calories a day with around 60-80g of Protein. I’ve been hitting my fluid goals and trying to be active (though I could do better on working out).

I know stalls are normal but 3 weeks seems like an excessive amount of time to be stalled for so soon after surgery.

My younger cousin is a sports technologist for the US Olympic Committee and was telling me how he’s been giving intermittent fasting a shot. He’s a pretty bright dude and super into nutrition and exercise- so I’d imagine there is some benefit to this intermittent fasting. He said he liked the structure it provided him.

Glad you got it sorted!

I was working out prior to surgery. However, I just had my first post-surgery workout and certainly noticed some changes, both good and bad.

The good? Hit a personal best a mile in 9:30. Never really did better than 14:00 on a mile.

The bad? Seriously went wayyyy backwards in muscle and weights. I dropped down from a 90lb chest press to only doing 40lb. Went from 25lb bicep curls and squat presses to 10lbs in each. And went from being able to hold a plank for 1:45 to barely being able to hit :30... and totally struggling with leg lifts.

So my routine getting back into it is this:

Stretch.. then
10 minute cardio warm up..
Then circuit training with chest presses, leg presses, tricep pulls (trying to get at them wings!), squat presses, and thigh lifts.

3 sets of 10 reps each for the above..

Then I ended with planks, ankle biters, and lower leg raises to hit the abs. Did two sets of 30 seconds each.

As far as weight goes, start with weights you are comfortable with.. you can always increase if it’s too light, but will injure or be too sore if it’s too heavy.

On 08/27/2018 at 20:29, insta_adventurer said:

No after photo, because I ate it all. Instant pot honey-garlic skinless/boneless chicken thigh!



I made a pot of these and they were a hit and basically fell apart. So delicious!!!

Regrets, I have a few... didn’t chew part of this well enough and was up half the night getting sick. Ended up calling into work today due to exhaustion and dehydration from vomiting so much. 😒😒

Drinking liquids and going to rely on shakes to hit my goals to give my pouch a break today.

On 08/28/2018 at 10:51, kaleeshab said:

I got an iud prior to surgery (mirena) and it was almost as traumatic as this damn surgery. I literally passed out. They told me it would be more uncomfortable because my cervix has never been dilated. That was definitely an understatement. During my one year check up I plan to have it removed. I was in pain weeks later after insertion. NEVER AGAIN. I am on a blood thinner now and unfortunately My body is still having a period while on the iud so I’m bleeding like crazy. I thought I was dying when I stood up and blood ran down my leg. Maybe hold off on the birth control. Your body may need to rest in between. Trust Your DR more than us!!!

While my experience with the IUD hasn’t been as traumatic as yours, I agree with the sentiment that I wouldn’t have one put in again because of how uncomfortable insertion was. However, I chose the iud, because my other option was the nuvaring and uhhh the mechanics of inserting and removing those when you’re 300+ lbs just seemed a bit impossible to me. Also- I just wanted one less worry throughout this process and the iud has given me that.

That said, I plan to keep this sucker until my surgeon says it’s okay for us to try to conceive.

@saygrace have you looked into nuvaring? May be a less troublesome option for you.

On 08/28/2018 at 01:46, saygrace said:

i am open to other methods, IUDs freak me out just from hearing stories but I know my mom has one and does well with it so i’m sure i would too. maybe it’s the best option?

I would trust your surgeon on this one, as I’m sure your surgeon is aware of the blood clot risk associated with some birth control medications and likely feels you are not at risk for them any longer.

That said, I went ahead and got the Kyleena iud prior to surgery. I had RNY surgery and was worried that my body wouldn’t absorb enough of the pill form of birth control, which would thus make it ineffective. I haven’t had too many issues with Kyleena- except longer periods for the first three months (they are lighter, though). Also, insertion was pretty uncomfortable, but it was over with quickly.

No after photo, because I ate it all. Instant pot honey-garlic skinless/boneless chicken thigh!

I made a pot of these and they were a hit and basically fell apart. So delicious!!!

I am now off my last remaining blood pressure med! No more dry mouth for this gal!

So now the only medications I’m on are antidepressants and Vitamin supplements!

I did not have to bowel prep. I just couldn’t eat after midnight the night before. Some medical person (I think the pre admission testing nurse?) explained to me how long it takes food to get from point A to point B in your body and basically, anything I ate should have been well beyond the parts they were operating on.

Basically do what they tell you and should be fine. 👍🏻

Chiming in here- did you know that Prozac can lower your libido? Prozac is an SSRI and SSRIs can lower the libido of people taking them.

Pre-surgery I was switched from Cymbalta (an SNRI) to Celexa (an SSRI) because Cymbalta is only available as an extended release medication and my surgeon worried it wouldn’t be absorbed quickly enough. Celexa destroyed my libido which had been fine on the Cymbalta. I am now switching from Celexa to a non- SSRI medication and seem to be getting my groove back.

Also- depression can make you not want to have sex, too. It can lower your interest in many things, sex included.

Talk to your doctor about the libido stuff, but more importantly, don’t beat yourself up over it! Your doctor and/or therapist can help you sort out the cause of your decreased sex drive and it’s a totally normal thing to go through!

On 08/26/2018 at 05:49, MassMom said:

Hello! My surgery is August 29 (3 days from now.). I’ve never had general anesthesia. I have a rather personal question. If your abdominal area is numb during surgery, how long does that take to wear off? (Once the surgery is over and you are in recovery). What if you have to go to the bathroom? If you are not yet awake and able to walk, do they use pads under you or bedpans or a catheter? It would help to be prepared for this, even knowing it’s probably not the same for everyone. How long was it after surgery before you evacuated your bowels?



Thank you!

I had a catheter during surgery, but they removed it before I was awake. My hospital got me up pretty quickly after I came to, so I would just use the restroom. This may vary depending on this like the type of surgery, the hospital, your age, mobility, etc. I am 34, had RNY, and no mobility issues going into surgery... so they got me out of bed pretty quickly.

I’m a nerd and read through my surgical notes. General anesthesia does not numb your stomach. However, they did inject local anesthetic near each incision site at the end of the surgery. Post surgery you will be on some sort of pain medication.

My incisions never hurt. My abdominal muscles did, though. I would describe it as quite a bit of soreness the first few days, but it is tolerable and there are pain medications if it isn’t tolerable to you.

I’ve been taking the Bariatric Fusion chewable multivitamins. I take two in the morning and two at night. I am about 6 weeks post-op RNY and have had my blood levels done twice.

The only deficiencies I’ve had are Iron and potassium, but the potassium deficiency was most likely from a diuretic I was taking to treat high blood pressure. I am no longer taking the diuretic- so hopefully my potassium was will go up. My nutrition doctor did not seem concerned by the iron level.

Really, when choosing a multivitamin you should pick one that you can tolerate the taste of. After surgery, my taste buds seemed a bit more alert and it was certainly harder to tolerate things that I didn’t think tasted good. It is very important that you take your Vitamins so pick whatever you will tolerate the best!

Just following up on this. Did you ever try the TRINTELLIX, OP? About 3 weeks post op the celexa just pooped out me and it had libido side effects that were no bueno! So- my provider just switched me to TRINTELLIX to give that a trial. She also switched my bupropion to the regular kind and not the sustained release kind. She said, “no wonder you started going down!”

Hopefully this combo works, because I was in a really great place with the cymbalta and Wellbutrin XL combo and I’d like to get back to that motivated, happy place. :)

On 08/23/2018 at 17:09, ALFxRNY said:

Have you tried gas x? It was my go to post op! And don’t feel bad about the 1lb. I gained 10lbs in the hospital from fluids and gas. Best wishes!

This. Gaining weight in the hospital post-surgery is completely normal. They pump you so full of fluids while you’re in there! I came out 12lbs heavier, but quickly lost it once I was out!

Most embarrassing? No longer having to like sit in a certain way so I can rest my leg on something to put socks on, because I couldn’t rest it on my other leg.

Or.. being able to shave my legs without a stool to put my leg on.

Hate to break it to you- but quitting my 20 year cigarette habit proved to be much less of a battle than this food stuff has been.

I quit using a combination of bupropion and electronic cigarettes. However- be mindful that you will probably get tested for cotinine(the metabolite if nicotine), so if you do use electronic cigarettes, you’ll need to ween down to a nicotine free juice at least a month before being tested.

I have been cigarette free for 8.5 months and do not miss it at all.

On 08/21/2018 at 08:16, AELdoesRNY said:

Also curious what your diet progression has been, I think the wide variation between different surgeons’ plans explains some of the drastic differences in weight loss in the first month, after that it evens out.



I was on Clear Liquids only for a week, then clear liquids plus milk and strained Soups for two week. I only yesterday started pureed foods and this morning I was up 1.4 lbs. I know it’ll even out and I’ll be losing again soon, but I think your body reacts to each stage too!

My diet progression has kind of sucked more than others. Two weeks of full liquids post-op and then on to puréed/soft Proteins ever since. For my program, I’ll be on puréed and soft Protein until month two or possibly three.

I have been sneaking in small amounts of puréed vegetables, because my body was really missing the Fiber if you know what I mean... 😂

I get so jealous of people that are allowed veggie at this stage!

Apparently being post op RNY is a mosquito repellent.

This weekend I was at an outdoor party and after dark everyone (except me!) was going nuts about mosquitos and drenching themselves in bug spray.

Previously, as much as I hated the idea of spraying toxic chemicals on myself, I would eventually cave if they were really unbearable and douse myself as well. However- this time I hardly noticed an issue with them at all!!!

I’m not sure what it is (possible malabsorption/malnutrition) that made me so unattractive to them, but I’ll take it! 😂😂

On 08/20/2018 at 21:11, GreenTealael said:

Highest weight to lowest

(now 160)

Wow! What difference! Congrats!!!

On 08/20/2018 at 20:10, Matt Z said:

104 lbs difference between the 2 sets

138 lbs dropped total for both WLS's

78 lbs dropped since March 2nd 2018



I've had setbacks that lasted years. I've had times where I felt like a failure. I've have times where I'd given up. But I didn't accept any of that BS.



It's not how we fall, it's how we get back that matters.

Even if you've given up right now... unless you are dead, you can still get up, dust off and get back on track.

You are crushing it, dude!

On 08/17/2018 at 06:12, Kay07 said:

As someone who suffers from Alopecia, it’s entirely possible. There is a form of alopecia that directly relates to stress and our bodies definitely are stressed during our recovery. The good thing is that it’s temporary :) a dermatologist could confirm it, but unless it spreads to over an inch in diameter I wouldn’t worry too much.



And it does appear to be in an easily hidden spot. Unlike mine! Although mine is not temporary. 😭

We took pictures so I’d have a reference point in case it spread. Thank you for your response and reassuring me that it’s temporary if it is Alopecia.

It just came out of left field, because I always though Alopecia typically first occurred in people when they were kids/teens... and I’m in my 30s and had never had any signs of it.

Also, while I went into this knowing post-op shedding was a thing that would likely happen- I thought it was all over shedding/thinning that I’d be facing.

On 08/16/2018 at 13:15, Ylime said:

Question for you all. In the first two weeks post surgery, did anyone not crush up their pills?



I have both the hospital meds and my own personal meds to take. Crushing them up without food is absolutely disgusting. I cut them up into tiny pieces in the hospital and swallow them with no problem but the nurse said I may not absorb those as well.



I definitely need to absorb my seizure meds as well as possible.

I did not crush any. They did switch mine to non-extended release, but I had RNY so YMMV.

My medications have not given me any trouble, but I did stop taking my potassium, because they sucker is huuuuge and the other pills filled me up as it was!