BigSue

Congrats on your surgery! I'm glad to hear your recovery is going well so far. I, too, was surprised by how easy my recovery was and how little pain I had. They gave me a prescription for Vicodin, but I didn't need to take any of it. Most people have trouble meeting their fluids and Protein goals in the beginning, and the IV helps with that while you're still in the hospital, but fingers crossed that your recovery continues to go smoothly!

They brought me Water to drink pretty much as soon as I got to my recovery room. I didn't really have to wait at all.

Congrats on your surgery! I'm glad to hear your recovery is going well so far. I, too, was surprised by how easy my recovery was and how little pain I had. They gave me a prescription for Vicodin, but I didn't need to take any of it. Most people have trouble meeting their fluids and Protein goals in the beginning, and the IV helps with that while you're still in the hospital, but fingers crossed that your recovery continues to go smoothly!

Congrats on your surgery! I'm glad to hear your recovery is going well so far. I, too, was surprised by how easy my recovery was and how little pain I had. They gave me a prescription for Vicodin, but I didn't need to take any of it. Most people have trouble meeting their fluids and Protein goals in the beginning, and the IV helps with that while you're still in the hospital, but fingers crossed that your recovery continues to go smoothly!

These are a couple of my favorite before and afters 😊
Surgery was May 14, 2020
So I’m exactly 8 month out today!
Gastric bypass
Starting weight: 268
Current weight: 148
So that’s a total of 120 pounds gone! ❤️ I feel better than I’ve ever felt with have more self confidence and self worth! No regrets!
Congratulations on your surgery date!!! wishing you the best of luck!

Okay, I'll play along! I don't have a "before" pic that really represents how big I was, because I generally avoided being photographed back then. My before is from a chorus concert I did--and I will admit that I was wearing a "man girdle" at the time. (Cringe.)
I went from 250 to a low of 132 before bouncing back up to 142.

I am loving all of these before/after pictures! What amazing transformations. I think this is the first time I've seen before pics from @catwoman7 and @Arabesque. It's so motivating to see your success stories.

This is more of a before and during, as I am not quite to goal. First pics were right before starting my pre-op diet in late June and the last pic is two days ago. Size 20-22 down to an 8 in less than seven months. Loving all of the energy I have now!

Everyone looks so great. Congrats on your success.
I lost 31kg in 6 months which was my goal & a further 11kg in the last 13 months. The first pxt was about 6 months before surgery - can’t believe I was that big. The second was last week.
It’s a big decision to change how your body functions so your worries are understandable. Having surgery was the best decision I ever made. My journey was pretty smooth. A couple of little hiccups (low blood pressure, a little hyperglycaemia) all manageable & all things I’d experienced in the past when I had been slim. Certainly nothing that makes me regret my decision.
Good luck on your journey.

I'm a guy but hope this helps. This came up as one of those "memories" timeline photos - MAY 2019 vs MAY 2020 on the same day. Surgery is a helpful tool, but you have to put in work as well! (VSG not bypass - but same concept)

first picture was me before I started my six-month supervised diet (2014). I think I was at my highest weight ever. Second picture (from 2017) is of me when I was two years out of surgery (this was before I had my skin removal surgery, though...I had that in Aug 2018 and March 2019). Last one was of me on my 60th birthday (last year). I've put on some weight since the 2017 picture - but excess skin is gone!

Congrats on your surgery! I'm glad to hear your recovery is going well so far. I, too, was surprised by how easy my recovery was and how little pain I had. They gave me a prescription for Vicodin, but I didn't need to take any of it. Most people have trouble meeting their fluids and Protein goals in the beginning, and the IV helps with that while you're still in the hospital, but fingers crossed that your recovery continues to go smoothly!

Welcome! Sorry to hear that you have to start the whole process over again, but I hope that means you are in a better place (mental health-wise) to have the surgery. Please feel free to post with any questions that come up during the process. There are lots of people here who have been through it and are happy to help. Good luck!

I love those! I use them sort of like mini taco shells (with taco meat, lettuce, Tomato, and plain Greek yogurt). The loaded taco flavor is also good for that.
Have you tried the spicy sweet chili flavor? They have a lot of good reviews, but I haven't tried them because I've only seen them in an 8-pack and I don't want to buy that many when I don't know if I'll like them.

Sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. It's totally understandable to get off track when you are grieving, but good for you for committing to getting back on track and reaching your goal.
You have done great! You look so skinny. From that picture, you don't even look like you have 20 pounds to lose!
Have you tried chelated Iron? It is supposed to be better absorbed by gastric bypass patients, and also easier on the stomach and not cause Constipation. I had iron deficiency before surgery, but I've been taking 36 mg of chelated iron per day (plus a Multivitamin with 45 mg of ferrous fumarate) and my latest labs were great. This is the chelated iron I take:
https://amazon.com/Nutricost-Chelated-Iron-Ferrochel-Capsules/dp/B0792MCYGW

I am terrible about shopping every purchase TO DEATH (I had been shopping for a new TV for over two years before I finally gave in and bought one on Black Friday). When I bought my air fryer, I was actually shopping for a deep fryer (this was way before I started my weight loss journey, when I was in an "eat what tastes good" phase), but I kept seeing air fryers in my search results. I decided that I would give the air fryer a chance and buy a deep fryer later, and I just picked one! I bought the Amazon's Choice air fryer and I could not be happier. I never did go back and buy a deep fryer.

Yes, totally normal. I actually weighed more at my one-week follow-up than I did on the day of surgery (I've lost more than 80 pounds since then). It's because of the IV fluids. Don't worry about your weight right now -- just focus on getting your Protein and fluids. I promise you will start losing weight if you stick to your plan. Your body just went through a major surgery, so everything's a little wonky right now.

I am terrible about shopping every purchase TO DEATH (I had been shopping for a new TV for over two years before I finally gave in and bought one on Black Friday). When I bought my air fryer, I was actually shopping for a deep fryer (this was way before I started my weight loss journey, when I was in an "eat what tastes good" phase), but I kept seeing air fryers in my search results. I decided that I would give the air fryer a chance and buy a deep fryer later, and I just picked one! I bought the Amazon's Choice air fryer and I could not be happier. I never did go back and buy a deep fryer.

I purchased sample sizes of a bunch of different brands so I could get some variety and figure out what I liked before I bought a big tub. My favorite was IdealLean and that's my go-to brand now (I love the birthday cake flavor mixed into yogurt -- that makes for a great high-protein meal after surgery -- and the chocolate brownie is my favorite chocolate Protein shake).
Once you start shopping for Protein Powder online, you'll start seeing ads for other protein powders. I've seen some appealing ones recently, but I'm all stocked up on protein powders so I'm not buying any more right now. 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 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.

Just keep doing what you're doing -- 45 pounds is great! There's a lot of superstition around how to break a stall, but the reality is that all you can do is stick with your plan and wait it out. Some people recommend only stepping on the scale once per week so it doesn't drive you crazy every day.
Right now, a week seems like an eternity, but when you look back 3 months from now, 6 months from now, a year from now... This stall will be a tiny blip on your progress. I'm in a stall right now, too, so I feel your pain, but I am over 150 pounds down from my highest weight!

Sorry to butt in here, but I just wanted to say that I love my air fryer! Buy one! It is honestly life-changing. I just made some amazing garlic parmesan carrot chips in the air fryer tonight. I used the air fryer a lot more before my surgery because it's really good for frozen fries and anything breaded, which I don't eat anymore, but it's also awesome for cooking meat (you can air-fry fantastic chicken wings without any oil), roasting veggies, reheating stuff, etc. You can definitely air-fry meatballs, and I've never made falafel, but Google shows tons of air fryer falafel recipes, so I'd say that's also a yes. I almost never use my toaster oven anymore because the air fryer does almost everything better. I have this one:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LX9T6HF
But I bought it a couple of years ago, so there are probably better ones on the market now.

Sorry to butt in here, but I just wanted to say that I love my air fryer! Buy one! It is honestly life-changing. I just made some amazing garlic parmesan carrot chips in the air fryer tonight. I used the air fryer a lot more before my surgery because it's really good for frozen fries and anything breaded, which I don't eat anymore, but it's also awesome for cooking meat (you can air-fry fantastic chicken wings without any oil), roasting veggies, reheating stuff, etc. You can definitely air-fry meatballs, and I've never made falafel, but Google shows tons of air fryer falafel recipes, so I'd say that's also a yes. I almost never use my toaster oven anymore because the air fryer does almost everything better. I have this one:
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LX9T6HF
But I bought it a couple of years ago, so there are probably better ones on the market now.

Yes, that's very true! I have watched a lot of her videos, and there is definitely more to the story. She gained some weight due to pregnancy and she has acknowledged adding foods back into her diet that she shouldn't be eating. What she says in the video implies that her portion sizes were too large and she was "eating around the surgery" by eating too large a portion over a longer period of time. That's not what I'm doing -- I'm planning out an appropriate portion of healthy food for each meal -- but I'm also only 6 months out from surgery and still in the honeymoon period. I'm trying to avoid habits that could cause problems later on, so I was concerned when she cited this as something that contributed to her regain.