2Bsmaller18

I would imagine the surgeon requires that you are not alone the first 24 hours anyway. The next day it would be helpful to have someone to set up and arrange things for you. From there you can probably handle things yourself or just have someone come for 1-2 hours once or twice a day. Showering is hard initially but you probably can't do that until you are back home anyway.

Bring one of those gripper openers just in case you need to open a bottle that's tight. You can ask the pharmacy to give you easy to open pill bottles not the child proof ones. Maybe try to pack a tiny scissor in your suitcase to open any plastic pain tablets. Gripping and ripping were hard to do after surgery besides the obvious reaching over head.

You would probably need help lifting your suitcase for the trip home. I wasn't driving for at least a week after.

I would definitely hire a cleaning service and also have them do laundry. There's no way you can safely pull out a load of heavy wet clothes or bedding. Later you can do just a small load with a few items on your own.

Get a long reacher, have a wedge for the bed (ask the hotel for a lot of extra pillows and even use an extra blanket rolled up to make a wedge to sleep more upright), maybe a seat for the shower and long shower hose so you can do that on your own once you return home.

Before you leave have your home set up so everything is within reach. Even buy milk in half gallons vs a big gallon size. Have everything set out on the counters so its ready when you get home. Not very eco friendly but have bottles of Water in the fridge and premake meals so you don't have to mess with that after surgery.

I hit around 1300 calories a day. I strive for 80-90 g Protein but usually fall short around 70. Try to limit carbs to 120g, fat 40g. That's about 30% each protein and fat and 40% carbs. It works and I am stable with a 3-4 lb. bounce over the past year. Rarely I will be at 1100 calories and occasionally I will hit 1600 which is usually due to more carbs.

I still have a Protein Shake daily to hit that protein amount.

I am close to the 3 year mark post bypass. At times I am able to eat 1.5-2 cups of soft food like a smoothie or Soup in 15-20 minutes. However a typical meal of 2 oz meat and half cup of veggies so 1 cup of solid food is all I can eat. I can eat either 2 eggs or 1 egg and 1 piece of toast or a pouch of high Protein oatmeal.

Only my spouse knows about surgery and others have made comments about not eating much but I say I just had a meal or snack etc and I guess it looks ok.

I am planning on attending meals with unknown coworkers. It will probably be lunches and dinners for multiple days in a row.

So what tips do you have so I can explain why I eat so little? I don't want people to think I have an eating disorder. Do you have tips like moving the food around to make it look like you ate more? If you order a meal at a restaurant the portions are huge and it looks like I took 2 bites (when I may have only taken 8 anyway).

How do I handle it?

On 10/3/2021 at 8:34 AM, ms.sss said:

I hear ya.

All my scars pretty much suck, but the arm ones and my side boob ones from the breast lift can’t always be covered by clothes.

I looked into tattoo scar camouflage a while back but my scars are much darker than my skin AND are not smooth, and I was told this type of procedure is more effective on white, flat scars 😭😭😭

So i’m just getting a for real tattoo strategically placed on the worst side boob scar.

Am gonna wait out the arm scars for now and just hope they get better.

But do keep us updated, would love to see some good after pics…even if its on someone else’s arm!

How far out are you? I am 1year, 9 months post arms and just in the last 2-3 months have they started to lighten from red to pink and even white in some areas. I did do pulsed laser treatments 3 times over the spring and summer and saw a little improvement. However, most of the improvement came doing nothing the past few months.

Here are some of my tips.

I have ordered a sandwich and just ate the Protein and not the bread. So far I can eat any Salad Dressing so salad is an option. I don't eat Pasta and the serving size of a pasta dish at a restaurant is huge. Sometimes you can find an appetizer that is a smaller portion like chicken wings and just order that as a meal. If you go with older children you can order an adult meal and order a kids meal for them and then switch plates when the food comes. You can also get a Soup and salad combo so you eat the soup first then you still have room for the salad and can eat it slowly since it doesn't matter (other food gets cold and unappetizing).

You can also ask for a to go box when your meal arrives and immediately put half in the to go box so you are not tempted to over eat or sit there with a full plate of food when others at the table have clean plates.

Sharing a meal is great since you can just nibble and eat some of the veggies and protein and the other person can eat the rest.

I get hungrier as the day goes on and thus tend to eat more in the afternoon and evening. If I am busy I can skip eating until noon fairly easily.

However, as I eat during the day even though the food empties from your stomach fairly quickly I can't eat a lot if I ate something 30-60 min prior. So if I am prepping dinner and ate a serving of yogurt and fruit or a Fiber bar then within an hour if it's time to eat dinner I can only manage a few bites of dinner. If I did that first thing in the morning I would be able to eat and then eat again in 45-60 minutes.

I would just wear baggy pants, preferable with a drawstring. I wore a hospital gown literally until 10 minutes before I was discharged. With IVs you can't really wear regular clothes easily. A long gown can be a pain if it gets stuck under you butt in the bed and you slide down on the plastic mattress causing the neck to choke you; then you have to wrestle with it with your arm attached to an IV. If you have a button up shirt I would wear that since its easier to put on and if you didn't want to wear a hospital gown at least any IV or wires for a monitor can go thru the shirt holes if needed. You can also just take one arm out if needed for a quick blood pressure check.

I would call the insurance company and find out. If you have seen a surgeon their office may have that information too.

On 4/20/2021 at 3:37 PM, sillykitty said:

Have I mentioned how much I love my restriction? 😂

Carnitas taco

That looks good!

Premier shake most mornings.

Stick to the plan, it will happen.

If you are that close to goal I wouldn't be surprised if the last pounds come straight from your belly area. My weight was stable at the 6 month mark but my body still changed and got smaller in some places and bigger in others. It may take some time to see what your long term results will look like.

I read somewhere to also use the rinse with fluoride.

I have a consult to try pulsed dye laser. Anyone tried it? successful?

I didn't until I was months out mostly just out of fear of feeling terrible. I would suggest just taking a sip and see how you feel that day before trying a whole glass. Once you drink it it will be too late if it makes you sick.

I was in the same boat and chose bypass. I thought that since it was the original and that other things like the band came and went that maybe the bypass was a better option vs the "newer" sleeve. I have read somewhere that the surgeon can do a reflux test and see how bad it is to help decide. I never researched it so I don't know how accurate that is. However, I wish I would have looked into that and possible had the sleeve instead. Of course had I done the sleeve and ended up with reflux and another surgery I am sure I would be regretting not getting the bypass initially so it's a risk either way.

Mine loss was all over. If I had short hair it wouldn't have shown any Patches just thin everywhere.

I never hit a stall but never had a huge loss initially. Mine was slow and steady for 6 months.

Certain body parts like my neck looked really bad at first. Then even with losing more weight things firmed up. You can try doing hip abduction and adduction exercises (google that) but once you hit your goal weight and give it a few months to settle you get a better idea of how things will be long term.

Even if you wanted to know what the amount you can comfortable eat would be there's too many variables. Like if you have eaten or drank recently it might be less. If you eat a denser food like chicken you might only be able to eat 1/3 of a cup or a single egg for a long time but you can eat a full cup of a "slider" food like yogurt in 5 minutes without issue. It is best to not push it and initially follow the recommended limits and pay attention to your body as you may get a feeling like a runny nose or ache before you get to the sick, too full feeling. That was my guide early on.

Did they check to see if you pinched a nerve in your back? When you lose a lot of weight your posture changes. I would look into the Vitamin issue but it could be that you are now sitting or standing with more or less of a curve in your lower back. For those of us that had thick thighs pre weight loss lying on our side kept our hips and knees in alignment. As you lose weight and your thighs get thinner your knees comes together when lying on your side and could be rotating your lower spine. Back issues are not always doing a sudden activity and getting pain. A lot can be slower due to postural changes. Maybe ask your doctor for a referral to physical therapy.

Full liquid diet would probably be the only thing that will work. To get the last 1-2 pounds wear the lightest weight clothes you have and wear slip on shoes to take off for the weight in. It sounds crazy put it could be an extra pound that helps make the difference. Make sure you don't drink or eat 2-3 hours before weight in and of course go to the bathroom right before. It stinks because most of us can weigh a few pounds heavier an any given time of the day.

Did you start a new Vitamin? Even if it's the same brand but a new bottle it could be a reaction to a filler in it. New medicine like an allergy pill?

I initially gained form the swelling and then stayed the same for about 2 weeks. If you are following the guidelines I think you are just holding onto swelling and it will probably suddenly drop. If you are constipated you could also be weighing a little heavier than pre surgery too.

I asked my surgeon and he said to count the shake as one of the 3 servings of Calcium supplement. Later (6-9 months post surgery) said to go down to just 1x day since I had 1-2 glasses of milk or a shake and 1-2 servings of Greek yogurt a day. Your body can only absorb 500mg every few hours anyway so if you drink a shake and have a supplement at the same time you wont benefit from the excess anyway.