BigSue

It is a little hard to get used to; I have this instinct to grab a drink when I am about to start eating before I remember I can't do that. When I'm getting ready to eat, I set a 30-minute timer on my phone after I take my last sip of water (and put the water in the fridge so I don't forget and start drinking it again), and then start eating when the timer goes off. After I take my last bite, I start a 30-minute timer so I know when I can start drinking again. Also, consider this rule before you eat anything spicy.

Wow... I can't believe your PCP said that. Less than a week before surgery is not the time to bring that up. You are the only one who can make that decision. I am terrible at making decisions so I know the feeling of wishing someone else would just make the decision for me. It was a much easier decision for me because I had a much higher BMI as well as comorbidities, but I still questioned my decision right up until surgery day, since I had already lost a lot of weight before surgery and wondered if I should try again to lose the rest on my own. To be perfectly honest, I often wonder why people with a BMI as low as 35 want to go through the ordeal of surgery, but it's a very personal decision. I don't know what caused you to go down this path in the first place, but for most of us, it is a pretty long journey to get insurance approvals and meet the pre-surgery requirements. I'm sure you have put a lot of thought into this already. What I have read about decisions is that you should not make big decisions when you're in a heightened emotional state. I'd say that having anxiety through the roof qualifies. So look back on the reasons you made the decision in the first place when you were calm and had time to consider the pros and cons rationally. I don't know how old you are, but I have been obese my whole adult life, and I first looked into WLS more than 15 years ago. At the time, I was in my 20s and didn't have any health problems, and I decided against the surgery back then because I was afraid of the risk of giving up my good health just to lose some weight. But it has caught up with me now and that's why I decided to have surgery at this point. Sometimes I wish I had done it earlier because I feel like I have missed out on so much in life because of my weight, but I also have a feeling that I wasn't ready to change my lifestyle back then and I might not have been successful (of course, I'm only a month out, so I can't say that I'll be successful now, but I do think I am much more ready to make the necessary changes now than I was 15 years ago). So remember that if you're not ready now, you can change your mind and get it later. I know that probably wasn't helpful because I gave some arguments on both sides, but all you can do is make the best decision you can with the information you have and make the most of it. Good luck!

The short answer is, "Maybe." Everybody has a different experience. Some people can eventually eat anything and other people are unable to eat certain things even years after surgery. I think most people can eventually eat small amounts of just about anything. But... isn't it kind of the point of surgery to make you unable to eat the way you used to? If you can eventually eat a burger and fries and everything else you used to eat, it's going to be hard to lose the weight you want to lose and keep it off.

FYI, almost all surgeons perform a pre-surgery checklist that includes verifying the identity of the patient and the surgery to be performed, so it is very, very unlikely that they could have performed the wrong surgery. When I was in the hospital, every single doctor or nurse who talked to me asked my name, date of birth, and what surgery I was getting and checked my hospital bracelet and chart to make sure everything matched. They may not remember which surgery each patient is getting off the top of their heads, but they typically have pretty strict requirements to check the documentation multiple times before they start cutting.

Once you start shopping for protein powder online, you'll start seeing ads for other protein powders. You should look at the ingredients and nutrition info to make sure they meet your requirements. Here are the ones I purchased (I think I found all of these through ads on Facebook): IdealFit (IdealLean) (You can also buy individual sample size packets if you don't want this many) 1up Nutrition (I bought the "summer body starter kit," which allowed me to choose my own samples, but that no longer seems to be available; it might have been a special offer that you can only get to by clicking an ad) Northbound Nutrition Waves of Whey Strength (Unfortunately, the samples are 5 packs of the same flavor, so you'd have to buy 10 packs just to get both flavors) KetoShop (There are two different sample packs; I got the zero carb just because the flavors were more appealing to me) P.S. None of these are referral links and I do not benefit in any way from them.

That’s what I did. I ordered sample packs of a bunch of different protein powders, not only to figure out what I like, but also to have some variety when I was drinking so many protein shakes.

Your story gives me hope... If my results are anywhere close to yours, I'll be happy, even if it takes a while to get there. Even though I know, intellectually, that my body is still adjusting to some big changes, it's annoying right now that I'm eating almost nothing and not losing much weight!

I have a feeling he'll be back with a new account. Even with his old account, he changed the name at least a few times.

I had gastric bypass on July 16. I've only lost 15 pounds since the surgery, which kind of sucks since I'm getting less than 500 calories per day and I feel like the weight should be flying off, but I'm trying to be patient because I know the weight loss will happen eventually. I am enjoying the fact that I have not felt hungry for a single moment since I woke up from surgery, and I hope that lasts. I had a very quick recovery with very little pain other than gas the first day, and I only took a week off from work. It's too soon to make a judgment on my decision... Ask me again in a year!

I highly recommend the MyFitnessPal app. It has a huge database of foods with nutrition information. For almost anything that has a barcode, you can scan the barcode and it will have the nutrition information. It also has stuff without barcodes (like fruits, vegetables, meats, etc.). You can build recipes with multiple ingredients and it will calculate the nutrition information per serving.

I had gastric bypass, but I think this part is pretty similar for both surgeries. I have six incisions. Five of them are in a row; you could connect them with a horizontal line about three inches above my belly button. The second one is about two inches below my right breast. The largest one is about an inch and a quarter and the smallest is about half an inch. The largest one had a lot of bruising around it at first. i was instructed to keep the dressings on the incisions for three days and leave the steri-strips (adhesive strips to hold the incisions closed) on for a week. The incisions looked kind of nasty when the dressings and steri-strips were on, but when I removed the dressings and steri-strips, I realized that I was just seeing dried blood and the incisions were almost healed. i was surprised by how little pain I had. The only real pain I experienced was gas pain, and it was awful the first day but improved quickly. By 24 hours after surgery, I was merely uncomfortable, but not really in pain. I had a couple of doses of Toradol in the hospital. I went home the day after surgery with a prescription for Vicodin, which I filled just in case but did not need it. I didn’t even need Tylenol. I have not felt any pain in the incisions except a tiny bit a few times when I leaned over a certain way and the waistline of my clothing rubbed against an incision. I could feel a little internal discomfort if I twisted my torso too much (e.g., rolling over in bed). By about the 4th day after surgery, I felt ok. I could have returned to work (desk job) at that point if I really had to, but I was definitely better off taking the week off and focusing on getting fluids and protein (which is pretty much a full-time job at first). I went back to work 11 days after surgery. I remember that I actually felt great that day, better than an average day before surgery. I’m almost a month out right now and I basically feel “normal,” except that I am not hungry at all. I haven’t felt the least bit hungry since my surgery despite the fact that I haven’t had more than 500 calories in a day for over a month. I was instructed not to lift anything over 20 pounds for the first 6 weeks, but that’s the only physical restriction I have.

Well, I am almost a month out and I am constantly worrying about whether the surgery is going to work. What if I went through all of this for nothing? (BTW, you may see in my profile that I have lost 81 pounds; most of that was before surgery and I have only lost 15 pounds since surgery, and hit the 3-week stall right on schedule.) I can tell you that you should absolutely not draw any conclusions from a single week, and frankly, shame on your dietitian for saying how much you "should have" lost in 6 days. She should know better. I lost over 60 pounds in the 5 months before my surgery, and I had a few stalls, including one where I lost no weight for two whole weeks, despite the fact that I "should have" lost a few pounds based on my calorie deficit. Also, I had some GI discomfort during my pre-op diet and I've had very few issues since surgery (other than the first few days), so don't make any conclusions about that, either. Your stomach will be totally different after surgery so there's no telling how you'll feel then.

That's terrible -- sounds like they're really disorganized! What kind of cookies and cream protein shake did you get? I bought some Premier Protein cookies and cream shakes and I hate them. Fortunately, I only bought a 4-pack, but I'm very disappointed. 🙁

No registration required. Once you fill in your information, click the save icon on the top right of the screen (it's kind of confusing because you probably expect a "submit" button at the bottom and there isn't one).

The Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collective has a database of WLS outcomes, and they created a calculator that takes into account your height, weight, age, and gender to estimate your weight loss for each type of WLS. Of course, this is only an average and any individual's results can vary, but it should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. https://mbsc.arbormetrix.com/Registry/public/calculator/uiCalculator/7?menuId=1013

That must be so frustrating! I really hate having to call and nag people, too. I encourage you to call the office, though. You don't have to be obnoxious about it, just say you're inquiring about the status of your pre-surgery requirements and want to check if there's anything else they need from you. I had to call my surgeon's office a couple of times during the process to prompt them, and if I hadn't, I may not have gotten my surgery yet! The first time, they had told me that a psychologist was supposed to call me to schedule a psychological evaluation, but the psychologist never called, so after a few weeks, I called the surgeon's office to ask about it. it turned out that the psychologist had closed his office indefinitely due to COVID-19, and my surgeon's office got me scheduled with someone else. Who knows how long I would have waited if I hadn't called? The second time, I had completed all my requirements and was waiting for a call about scheduling the surgery, and when I didn't hear from them, I called to ask. It turned out that I had missed their call earlier that day about my insurance denying me and I had to go back to my PCP to get a letter. My phone sometimes goes screwy and sends calls straight to voicemail without registering a missed call, so i wouldn't have known if I hadn't called to check. As long as you're polite (and I bet you are that kind of person), they won't think you're a troublemaker.

I don't have any tips, but yes, I experienced really bad bloating during my pre-op diet. I was supposed to drink 4 protein shakes per day, but most days I could only manage 3. I had a really bad day where I felt nauseated and painfully bloated. The day before surgery was clear liquids only and I was relieved not to have to drink any protein shakes. I don't usually have issues with whey; I think it was just the large quantity of protein shakes I was drinking that week.

I hope so! It is really motivating to see people like you who have lost all the weight and kept it off.

I, too, consider myself to be a very honest person. I am a terrible liar, so I feel like I can't get away with anything but the truth. But I haven't told ANYONE, not even my family, that I had weight loss surgery, and I don't intend to. That is personal medical information and it's nobody's business. The only people who know are medical professionals. There is a lot of judgment in this world about weight and WLS. It's ironic because the same people who openly criticize fat people also don't like it when fat people choose the only method of weight loss with more than 10% long-term effectiveness to lose weight. We just can't win! I'm not sure what will happen if/when people start noticing I've lost weight. I've actually lost more than 80 pounds already (most of it before surgery) and nobody has noticed because I was so big to begin with that I'm still really big even after this much weight loss. It will probably be a few more months before anyone notices. I only took a week off from work for my surgery, so I'm not sure if anyone will make the connection. Everyone saw me eating salads for lunch for several months before surgery, so maybe they will just assume I've been on a diet. Because of COVID-19, most people are working from home and we aren't having team lunches, so nobody has seen what I'm eating lately. I will probably be able to eat a small salad by the time we have another team lunch. I am known for being a very private person, so I hope that means that my coworkers will know better than to ask me about my weight. They talk all the time about diet, exercise, and weight, and I never take part in these discussions. I am also very careful never to comment on anyone's body in the workplace, so nobody dares to say anything about mine (at least not in front of me, although I have heard them say things behind my back). My preliminary plan if anyone asks (a) how I'm losing weight or (b) if I've had WLS is to act shocked and say, "Wow, that's a personal question." I think it will be harder to hide from my family, but I don't see them very often. They've seen me yo-yo diet over the years, so it might not be a big shock to them, although I've lost more weight by now than I ever have on previous diets. I am hoping my mom will assume that I wouldn't have had surgery without telling her, and if other family members ask her, she will say that she doesn't think I had surgery.

I am just curious because I see a lot of discussion on getting enough protein, but not much discussion on carbs. I can't eat very much at this point, so I am prioritizing protein since they said that's more important than carbs.

I first looked into WLS about 15 years ago. At that time, gastric bypass was the only option from most surgeons, and I was scared away (and talked out of it by my family) due to the potential complications. It was mostly being done as an open procedure; the surgeon I talked to was doing it laparoscopically only for patients with a BMI below 40. When I started looking into it again this year, I was leaning toward the gastric sleeve because it seemed like a less extreme, less scary version of WLS. But when I went to my consultation with the surgeon, he pushed me toward gastric bypass, mainly because I started with a very high BMI (60) and gastric bypass tends to result in slightly more weight loss. The more I have looked into it, the more I became convinced that gastric bypass was the way to go. Maybe it was just confirmation bias since that's what the surgeon thought I should do, but I learned that the complications are actually not that different between sleeve and bypass. They are both done laparoscopically and have relatively quick recoveries. You have to take vitamins either way. Dumping is more common with bypass, but could happen with either. I have never had acid reflux, so I wasn't too concerned about that, but I have seen a lot of people on this forum end up with GERD after having the sleeve, and a lot of people getting revisions from sleeve to bypass. I saw a surgeon on YouTube (Dr. Vuong) say that everyone should get the sleeve because you can always get it revised to bypass if necessary, but to me that's crazy -- I don't want to go through a second surgery! I'm 3.5 weeks out from bypass so the jury's still out on whether it was a good decision, but that was my decision process.

That is so weird. I'd be interested in knowing your surgeon's reasoning behind this extreme post-op diet. Yours seems to be an outlier in slow post-op diet progression. What really surprises me is that he said you can eat protein bars. I assumed the point of the "protein shakes only" diet was about staying on liquids, but protein bars are more solid than pureed foods. What kind of protein bars are you eating? I am looking forward to being able to eat protein bars again (I love love love Built bars). I'm getting tired of shakes!

Congratulations -- that's awesome!

If the surgeon's office said it will be fine, it will be fine. They don't want to put you on the schedule and go through all the prep only to cancel the day of surgery. They would tell you if there were any requirements about not gaining weight before surgery. Good luck!

I didn't drink many protein shakes before my pre-op diet, so I purchased a bunch of samples of protein powder from various brands. This helped me figure out what I like, and it was also nice to have some variety. I got samples from IdealLean, 1up Nutrition, Northbound Nutrition Waves of Whey, Strength, and KetoShop. Once you start buying protein powders online, you'll start seeing ads for other ones. Just make sure you check the nutrition information and ingredients to see if they fit within your program's guidelines. Good luck! It will be surgery day before you know it.