Groovymommy

Based on everything I've read, plus discussions with my nutritionist and my surgeon's staff, the post-surgery weight loss is completely different for everyone. Some people lose a ton of weight really fast, others lose very slowly. The important thing is, fast or slow, it's still weight loss. Those of us who have lost quickly are going to slow down eventually, and we're all in it for the long haul. Honestly, losing quickly worries me a little bit, because I know I'm losing some muscle mass as well as fat. That's why it's really important for me to improve my Protein intake as well as starting some strength-building exercise.
My weight now is the lowest it's been since before I had my daughter in 2006, but I'm still a long way from Onederland. Gotta keep keepin' on!
BTW I finally figured out a way to get a big dose of protein every day that I actually enjoy. Iced protein coffee!
10 oz of skim milk (or whatever milk you like)
1 scoop of Isopure (or any brand) unflavored protein powder
1 teaspoon of instant coffee
1 tablespoon of flavored coffee creamer
Throw all that in a Blender Bottle, shake the hell out of it, then pour over ice. You could also blend it with ice to turn it into a frappuccino-type drink.
Nutrition info: 240 cal, 2g fat, 20 g carbs, 20g sugars*, 35 g protein
*These are mostly the sugars in milk, which are not simple sugars and do not cause dumping syndrome etc. You can cut about 5g of sugar by using sugar-free or unflavored Creamer, but I love my vanilla creamer.

Hello my fellow bypassers! I hope everyone is doing well. I'm doing great in general, although I've been doing a lot of thinking and confronting some hard truths about myself, my relationship to food, my exercise habits (or maybe I should say LACK of exercise habits), etc.
Firstly, my progress is GREAT. Almost two months and I've lost almost 40 pounds. All my clothes are now 1-2 sizes too big, which is pretty exciting. My weight hasn't been this low in YEARS, like maybe since before I had my daughter in 2006! I'm still obese of course, but damn! I feel so much better and I'm so excited about my progress. It's starting to feel REAL in a way it never has before. Very rewarding.
I have not thrown up at all (knock on wood, etc.) but I have had a few episodes where I was close. This is usually a result of me being stupid and not chewing something well enough. I get a feeling like a rock in my chest, I feel nauseated, and then my mouth starts watering overtime? Ugh, it's triggering to even write about it. Sorry.
On a related note, I find that I don't really enjoy food very much anymore. Even things that I do like, I can only eat a teeny-weeny amount. And my body's way of telling me I'm full is that "rock in the chest" feeling, which kind of sucks. So it's hard to enjoy something I'm eating knowing that as soon as I'm full I'm going to get that unpleasant feeling. Realizing this has me thinking a lot about my relationship to food, and how obsessed with it I used to be. I guess at this point I should be talking to a therapist or going to group therapy or something, but you know - Covid-19 has screwed up everything! So instead I journal and rant here. 😆
And exercise, ugh. I still don't like it, but I'm trying. My energy level is not terrible, but not great either. I get tired really quickly. I'm certainly not getting enough Protein (I am TRYING, but damn). Also my left shoulder is frozen and it hurts like an SOB but as far as I know I'm still not allowed to take the only thing that helps with that, which is ibuprofen. So yeah, poor me, huh? Haha j/k.
Taking my Vitamins? Yes.
Taking my Calcium? Um...yes, but most days only 2/3.
Getting enough water/liquids? I'm probably getting about 70% of what I should.
Getting enough protein? See above, again, about 70%.
Exercising? Hahahahahahahah....does walking the dog count?
How about the rest of you?

Just shy of 31 pounds, so far. Can you not see my ticker? Maybe my permissions are screwed up.

Update after my one-week post-op appointment yesterday.
The nurse practitioner I saw was awesome. She listened to all my concerns and then said that everything I'm feeling is TOTALLY NORMAL. No, I can't add soft foods until after the two weeks is up, however, adding more Protein (so trying to drink another protein shake) will help a lot. The good news is, my pain is really manageable now, barely even an issue, and that's much better than a lot of folks experience at 1 week, especially with a nasty hernia repair thrown in AND having to inject myself in the abdomen with blood thinner twice a day! She described my current symptoms as "a general malaise" and I laughingly had to agree. I'm going to start taking my Vitamins today, which she said would also help me feel better. And bonus! Even though I'm still liquid only, I can take my calcium chews which are basically like candy so HURRAY.
As far as feeling exhausted, until it improves she encouraged me to just take as much time and lay down to rest whenever I need to. There's no requirement for activity level, just try to do as much as I can but don't push myself. Yes, 300-400 calories is normal at this stage and so is the resulting fatigue.
Last night I had my husband get a chicken Soup from Chick-fil-a and strain all the solids out. Then I ate just the broth. It was the most amazing thing I had ever tasted. 🤣

Update after my one-week post-op appointment yesterday.
The nurse practitioner I saw was awesome. She listened to all my concerns and then said that everything I'm feeling is TOTALLY NORMAL. No, I can't add soft foods until after the two weeks is up, however, adding more Protein (so trying to drink another protein shake) will help a lot. The good news is, my pain is really manageable now, barely even an issue, and that's much better than a lot of folks experience at 1 week, especially with a nasty hernia repair thrown in AND having to inject myself in the abdomen with blood thinner twice a day! She described my current symptoms as "a general malaise" and I laughingly had to agree. I'm going to start taking my Vitamins today, which she said would also help me feel better. And bonus! Even though I'm still liquid only, I can take my calcium chews which are basically like candy so HURRAY.
As far as feeling exhausted, until it improves she encouraged me to just take as much time and lay down to rest whenever I need to. There's no requirement for activity level, just try to do as much as I can but don't push myself. Yes, 300-400 calories is normal at this stage and so is the resulting fatigue.
Last night I had my husband get a chicken Soup from Chick-fil-a and strain all the solids out. Then I ate just the broth. It was the most amazing thing I had ever tasted. 🤣

Update after my one-week post-op appointment yesterday.
The nurse practitioner I saw was awesome. She listened to all my concerns and then said that everything I'm feeling is TOTALLY NORMAL. No, I can't add soft foods until after the two weeks is up, however, adding more Protein (so trying to drink another protein shake) will help a lot. The good news is, my pain is really manageable now, barely even an issue, and that's much better than a lot of folks experience at 1 week, especially with a nasty hernia repair thrown in AND having to inject myself in the abdomen with blood thinner twice a day! She described my current symptoms as "a general malaise" and I laughingly had to agree. I'm going to start taking my Vitamins today, which she said would also help me feel better. And bonus! Even though I'm still liquid only, I can take my calcium chews which are basically like candy so HURRAY.
As far as feeling exhausted, until it improves she encouraged me to just take as much time and lay down to rest whenever I need to. There's no requirement for activity level, just try to do as much as I can but don't push myself. Yes, 300-400 calories is normal at this stage and so is the resulting fatigue.
Last night I had my husband get a chicken Soup from Chick-fil-a and strain all the solids out. Then I ate just the broth. It was the most amazing thing I had ever tasted. 🤣

I think this is why I feel like total **** a week after surgery.

It scares me to think I had that hernia for some unknown quantity of time and never knew it. I used to get shooting pains in the area but chalked it up to "being too fat." Listen to your body!
I watched a movie today, and took a long nap on the couch, ate more broth, texted hubs to ask for sugar free popsicles, and sipped on a little apple juice in addition to Water. I don't think I'm strictly supposed to have apple juice, but I'm drinking such a tiny amount I don't think it hurts, and it's a nice break from broth and water. Need to check my paperwork to see when I can eat some jello!

Whoooo I'm home, drinking Bone Broth and taking lots of naps. I'm gonna say I was surprised by the amount of pain. It's bad. However, nothing I can't deal with. I think my situation is worse because they found a pretty bad ventral hernia, which they repaired, as well as doing my bypass. So I have additional pain in additional areas to contend with! However, I feel good (no nausea so far), been peeing like a champ, walking around a bit, and very happy to be home. I feel like 100x better today than I did yesterday, so I'm hoping that means tomorrow will be even more like back to normal. Thanks for the positive thoughts, @MaybeMeow! I look forward to eating that egg!

Whoooo I'm home, drinking Bone Broth and taking lots of naps. I'm gonna say I was surprised by the amount of pain. It's bad. However, nothing I can't deal with. I think my situation is worse because they found a pretty bad ventral hernia, which they repaired, as well as doing my bypass. So I have additional pain in additional areas to contend with! However, I feel good (no nausea so far), been peeing like a champ, walking around a bit, and very happy to be home. I feel like 100x better today than I did yesterday, so I'm hoping that means tomorrow will be even more like back to normal. Thanks for the positive thoughts, @MaybeMeow! I look forward to eating that egg!

Oh @MaybeMeow glad to hear you're doing better. Hang in there and get plenty of rest.
Next Tuesday my husband is just going to drop me off, because my hospital's policy is no visitors allowed in pre-op, recovery, or even in the patient rooms (unless you're giving birth I guess). So I'll be by myself but I'm not too stressed about it. They did tell me a nurse will take charge of my belongings and lock them up while I'm in surgery, and encouraged me not to bring anything except essentials.

@MaybeMeow so sorry to hear about your difficulty with the nausea! Is this the first time you've been under general? Have you had problems with anesthesia before?
Anyway, get plenty of rest and THANK YOU for the update. Also for reminding me to go find my body pillow from when I was pregnant, so glad I kept that thing!

OMG! I'm so excited for you!! Good luck. 😍

That sounds good but I believe that's post-op...wasn't OP asking about pre-op?
Here's a summary of what I was told for pre-op:
DO's: Non-starchy vegetables, lean meat, clear and full liquids. At least 90 grams of Protein per day, less, than 50 grams of carbs, and less than 1000 calories. 64 oz of Fluid minimum.
DON'T's: No added sugar, no high-carb foods (pasta, rice, bread, Cereal, potatoes, corn), no sweets of any kind, avoid fruit, and NO caffeine.
I'm honestly not having a hard time with it now, I'll be at 1 week tomorrow. I do miss bread sometimes and wish I could eat fruit (I do add frozen berries to my Protein Shakes as flavoring, and throw a few into my Greek yogurt, but that's it). They told me the whole goal was to shrink the liver (it sits right above the stomach) by using a low-carb diet. Plus side, I've already lost more than 5 pounds. I also think this is shrinking my stomach and getting my body accustomed to eating less.
I still think that my first two weeks post-op are going to be a challenge. I'm supposed to have only liquids, starting with clear but adding in full as soon as I tolerate them. I hope that what I've heard about not feeling very hungry at all after surgery is true, else I'll really be miserable!

Day 2 of the pre-op diet...it's not terrible. I'm not quite as hungry today as I was yesterday. However, I have a headache that WILL NOT go away. Tylenol has not helped. Drinking lots of Water has not helped. A nap didn't help. I had my pre-op appointment today and my surgeon mentioned that I might experience headaches. Did anyone else go through this when you switched to the pre-op diet? I suspect I might be having sugar withdrawal.

My surgery has finally been rescheduled for June 16 - so, a two-month delay almost to the day (original date was April 14). Yay!

My surgery has finally been rescheduled for June 16 - so, a two-month delay almost to the day (original date was April 14). Yay!

My surgery has finally been rescheduled for June 16 - so, a two-month delay almost to the day (original date was April 14). Yay!

Here in NC I haven't heard anything more, since my surgery (originally scheduled for April 14) was cancelled on March 25. As far as I know, the health system is still not doing elective surgeries. But I really hope my surgery gets rescheduled soon, maybe for this fall.

Oh I'm glad to hear this. I'm in NC also, and they called me at the end of March to tell me my April 14 surgery was postponed. If I can get it done in June or July I'll be SO happy.

My surgery was scheduled for April 14. They called me around March 25 to let me know that my surgery was cancelled, and I didn't have to start my pre-op diet on March 31. Like everyone else, they said surgeries would be rescheduled in the same order once they're allowed to schedule elective procedures again.
I think the hospitals here are not in bad shape, but just as a matter of policy, they've cancelled everything elective. I don't blame them. I'm disappointed, of course, since I was really excited to finally have my surgery. In the meantime I'm continuing to try to eat healthier, exercise, and wean myself off sugar etc.

It occurs to me that not all of us are foodies, born with an innate desire to cook and try new recipes! Many of us got to the morbidly obese ball by eating fast food from drive thrus, or delivery meals. Still others shop in the frozen pre-made food isle and love Stouffer's Mac n cheese and Stouffer's Lasagna, and Banquet Fried chicken entrees! Many of us, have very limited ability (especially in the early days of weight loss) to stand up while preparing food. And, then too--many of us are on either fixed incomes or have very limited money for food--even though we might have been guilty pre-surgery of buying tons of craptastic food from the grocery store.
So shew! Long-winded! Let's use this thread to link to and discuss different options in our stores where we can get healthy pre-cooked meals or meals that are prepared and only need to go into the oven for 20 or so minutes! The cool thing about it is, even in the early days, many of us will get 2-3 servings from a single meal! So we will still be saving $$$$ over the drive through and copious volumes of quick fix crap food!
PLEASE for God's sake!!! Read the previous entries!! We don't want a billion posts about rotisserie chicken! One will suffice! Let's try NOT to duplicate! When possible, link to specific items from your favorite grocery, so people can see what it is your linking to!!!
OK go!!!