RainbowBrite57

That sounds so good!!! Thanks for sharing!

Great question! I kept meaning to ask this! 😀 Good luck with your surgery. I'm waiting for the call to schedule my surgery any day now!

I was getting sick from the Premier Protein drinks on my pre surgery diet. I switched to powder and soy or almond milk, big difference! Also clear Protein Drinks like Protein 2O helps.

I’m on my second round of pre-op liquid diet (did it in December) and I have noticed this time that they’re a lot tougher to drink. Today I’ve only managed 2. I think I’m going to just end up using powders and make my own. Those go down much better than the ready to drink ones.

Great question! I kept meaning to ask this! 😀 Good luck with your surgery. I'm waiting for the call to schedule my surgery any day now!

OK, I feel silly. It just hit me that as soon as my doc upped my diabetes medication is the same time I started trying the Protein Shakes. I'm going back to my regular amount of medication so I'll try the shakes again in a few days. Hopefully that'll do the trick!

I know I say this all the time (as do several other members on this forum), but here I go again: Everyone has to remember we are all so very different and have different circumstances that will affect our individual weight loss.
Comparing total pounds lost is deceiving as a myriad if different factors affect this. People who are heavier in the onset will generally lose more total pounds.
If you MUST compare (and we all know that we shouldn’t!) compare percentages and/or BMI changes. A 300lb person losing 25lbs in the first month is mathematically the same as a 200lbs person losing 16lbs. Same goes with a 6 foot tall person vs. someone who is 5’3”. Add in gender, medical history and amount of weight loss before surgery, etc., and the formula gets even more complicated.
In the long run, (i.e., average the percentage changes over a course or say, a year), one will often find (if one more or less sticks to plan) that most people will end up with the same numbers, in terms of percentage weight lost. Of course, there will be outliers.
It’s hard, but try to remember that this is about you, and you alone. The determination of your success is not dependent on the numbers of others.
I know, easier said, right? Just do the best to u can. ❤️

The chart is AVERAGE and very few people are actually average. On the bell curve, that is like "C" grade in class. There will people who achieve and others underachieve. It just gives a ballpark estimate of what average person might expect based on thousands of patients having VSG. It does not take into account many factors like age, gender, BMI, length of time overweight, genetics, metabolism, medications, physical/health limitations, social issues, marital status, etc.

Everyone's journey will be different even under strict laboratory contol. So this isn't a chart to be used to grade anyone.

Outside strict laboratory controls, few will follow this table. Some live alone, some have family eating regular meals, some have to prepare meals for family but must eat differently. Some are working full time with the added stress of rearing children. Some have enormously stressful lives while others are pretty comfortable most days. Some have existing physical/health issues that will not go away even with weight loss. Some have financial pressures. Hope you get the idea. Adult identical twins won't lose at same rate.

The first three months after surgery is the most unpredictible. Some will recover quickly and have no problems progressing to regular food. Some will struggle with constant nausea, problems progressing to regular food, difficulty swallowing, pain in chest after each swallow.

The same goes for end result and ability to maintain. No one should be judged for any reason. We all had a reason we needed surgery and surgery itself is just a tool, not a cure.

Sent from my SM-T580 using BariatricPal mobile app

EXCUSES EXCUSES...

in that case, I would lay off the "tough love" responses. It takes a lot of finesse to be able to give that without offending people. I have a master's degree in counseling psych, and am 60 years old to boot (i.e., have been around the block a few times), and I STILL struggle with how to respond to some people at times without offending them. It's an art.

In addition, a "tough love" response was completely inappropriate in this particular situation

unfortunately, you tend to offend people a lot...

Dear New and Improved,
When you have been a 5’ 2 “ female - who is 64 years old - I and other will take your opinion more seriously. Have you ever had a hysterectomy ? Had to make the choices between adding Synthetic hormones that might help balance Weight gain and loss against a high risk of breast cancer ? Have you given birth to a child ? Or two ? Or had degenerative disease ? Or just been over 50 ? I hope that you remain healthy and never have to deal with medical issues. But growing older is not for the faint of heart. Another good thing about being long lived is the ability to know when to be insulted and when to just be amused. I remain the later

Seriously? Stop shaming others for their weight/BMI choices. Better yet, just go away...

How exciting!! Almost there! Best wishes on your surgery!!

For me it was life changing in every sense.
The surgery was quite simple, minor pain at the incision areas, but aside from that really no serious pain. Thankfully, I didn't have some of the 'gas pains' that others have. No nausea, vomiting or extreme discomfort. Not really very hungry for the first few weeks either.
I'm not sure if it's common practice, but right before my surgery and at my 6-month check up I had a "Myers Cocktail" which is basically a bunch of Vitamins given through IV. Really helped with recovery and energy levels during a time where you really can't get much energy from food.
YMMV, but for me recovery was super fast. I was eating pureed food by day 2 and solid foods by I think the end of week 2. Don't worry too much about calories in the beginning. Regardless of what you eat, you won't be able to eat much. Refried Beans were a lifesaver for me the first few days on pureed foods, and the Ricotta bake that you see mentioned so much here was also a staple.
Couple pieces of advice (again, everyone's different but some of what I see on here leads me to believe that the issue is more frequent than some others):
Pay attention to your Water. Sounds silly, but right after surgery I had no interest in drinking anything. I had to remind myself to drink water. So I started carrying around my water everywhere. That helped. Kept me sipping throughout the day. One of my biggest issues pre-op was that I ate fast, and when I say fast I mean really really fast. I honestly believe that was a huge part of my weight gain as it led to difficulty digesting, overeating, etc. Use the time in the beginning to re-train yourself on eating slowly and chew chew chew chew chew! Even your liquids. Even your pureed food. Even your smoothies. Chew it all. Sounds weird, but helped me monumentally. Don't try to jump into exercise too early, but don't put it off too long either. We all do this to bring about changes beyond food. We all want to be more active, make healthier choices. It's easy to want to jump right in, but I would wait until you get clearance from your doc (ask) to start, because any injury can cause complications with the surgery or set you back in your recovery or both. Also, you don't want to wait too long because it's WAY TOO EASY to fall back into old habits. Ask your doc at every checkup if you're cleared to exercise and when you are, get moving. Have a plan ready to go. Start with walks and move into beginner plans if you have to and then progressively take on more as you can, but start. Don't get discouraged with stalls. They happen. For some they happen sooner than others, but I think most of us experience them. Just stick to your plan. There are some good articles on here about how to work through stalls. Stalls will hit your ego a lot harder than your overall progress, I promise. Keep with your plan, and you'll push through. Use this time to change what you eat. Just because you can't eat as much of something does not mean that it's a good thing to eat. In the very beginning (first 1-2 weeks), you just need to get something in. Once you start back on solid foods, make sure you're choosing healthy foods. That doesn't mean you have to count calories, macros or any of that. Of course you can if that's what helps you, but I would use this time to find what works best for you. Since you can't eat a lot of different foods, chances are when you start back on solids you'll likely be eating only 1-2 different foods at a time. There won't be 3-4 sides, etc. It's a good time to see how different foods make you feel. Some people do great on a high-protein, low-carb diet. That didn't do it for me. I stuck with the physician's plan for the first 30 days (high protein), but I wanted something more balanced and more sustainable (for me) long-term. I made the change to go to a whole-foods based diet, and it's what I still do today, almost 5 years post-op. I stay away from anything processed as much as I possibly can. This doesn't limit me as much as other diets and it worked really for me. Try foods and see how they make you feel. Weed out the ones that leave you feeling bad, bloated, tired, etc. Enjoy what you couldn't enjoy pre-op. When you get out there and start enjoying the things that you may not have been able to do before your surgery, it's automatic motivation to stay on plan. If you have activities or certain things you have had to sit out because of your weight, having the opportunity to do them is like being a kid again and doing these activities for the first time. Remember those experiences. They will get you through any challenges you might face. Remember that times do get challenging, but that's why you're here. There's a lot of support here. I'm sure you have family and friends to help in that arena as well, but there's something about talking with people who've experienced everything you're going through. Don't forget that we're here. Sorry for the long-winded post, but I hope this gives you some encouragement as you start your journey. Best of luck to you and please keep us in the loop with how everything is going!

As someone who is just a few days away from getting her surgery date, I really needed to hear this! Thank you! You look amazing and I'm so glad you feel amazing too! I hope to check out your YT channel!

Hey guys, just a little something to keep you encouraged. For me, the pre-op phase was the hardest part of my journey. I am currently 9 mos. P.o. from gastric bypass. I love my tool and wish I had went forward 3 years Ago when I first started this journey. I had lots of questions, but I wanted to know what life was like after the procedure. I wanted to hear from people who were experiencing it. So, this is my info..sw 264 lbs. , cw 186 lbs. Medical issues before surgery...hypertension, diabetes, pcos, infertility, lupus, heart murmur. I currently only take a low dose hypertension pill ,but they will evaluate that at my next post-op appointment. Life is good and I have had zero complications, zero visits to the hospital after surgery. Im grateful for that! I started a YT channel ( under my name Bariatric Blondeshell) that addresses the pre op phase and what life is like for us after surgery. I hope if you check it out you will be encouraged afterwards! Keep pressing on everyone, you deserve this!

Ah yes, exactly this. 🙄😂
ETA: for the same reason my nicer dicer and juicer are mostly sitting in the cupboard.

I have both but I've always used my blender more - but it's probably due more to convenience. My blender is always on my counter because i use it several times a week, whereas i rarely use my food processor and have to haul it out of the cupboard along with the bowls and blades. It's easier for me to just dump things in the blender (although there are times when I really do have to use the food processor instead)

I bought some red, white and blue ones on Amazon a few years ago I think they were called U.S. kitchen (even though they are from China). They are large and have a drip tray so the mess is limited. I usually just make them with sugar free Hawaiian Punch or cool aid. It's a nice evening snack.

I edited the above because I left out a word. "Recipe" #1 - I used Greek yogurt mixed WITH fruit or SF pudding mix (I left out the word WITH in my original post)

I have both. I have mainly been using my food processor for the pureed stage. First of all, you shouldn't puree hot foods in the mini blender because steam pressure can build up and be dangerous. Secondly, a blender is better for liquids, and I don't think it would work too well for, say, refried Beans or cauliflower because they're not liquid enough. If you put refried beans in the blender cup and then turn it upside down to blend, the beans would be stuck at the bottom of the cup, away from the blade, and not get pureed.
A lot of people recommend an immersion blender, and I've thought about getting one, but I don't think I'd use it enough to make it worthwhile.

I haven't tried that but I certainly will! Thank you!

I have some cheap ones I got a grocery store a few years ago - they're still OK - but I bought these on Amazon a few months ago and like them even better:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GDXHSZ2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
the two ways I make them:
1) Greek yogurt mixed fruit or SF pudding mix
2) SF pudding mix mixed with unsweetened almond (or cashew) milk + 2 or 3 scoops of Protein Powder

neither of these recipes are super low in calories (but then...I'm in maintenance), but they have a fair amount of Protein in them, which I need...