fourmonthspreop

How long did you stay in the hospital after your bypass? Thanks!

Getting my bypass on Valentine's Day! Self love lol

Thanks! Totally understand if it's TMI but it is lower GI or upper GI gas or both? Do you have to go to the bathroom a lot after in the hospital?

Hey everyone! I'm scheduled for my bypass on Feb 14. So far I've lost 8 lbs on the pre op diet and I'm on day 3 but was dieting pretty hard-core the week I got on my preop. lol it's going well but I get food anxiety about stupid stuff though like what if I ate too much lettuce and get kicked out of ketosis? I know it's so irrational and I've done keto and the nutrition/macro dance of anxiety in the past. I figure as long as I'm losing weight and eating less than 6 grams of carbs a day, my liver is hopefully shrinking. Anyway, I'm trying not to overthink things. That's been helping me so far. They say when you overthink you create problems that weren't there in the first place. Definitely feel like that applies to following a crash diet. Well, with surgery approaching I'll be relieved to not deal with this feeling of emptiness. This is probably going to be one the most challenging parts. I can't help but wonder though and I have terrible medical anxiety, what does it feel like when you wake up from surgery? And in the couple of days post op? Are you: Sore in your stomach? Can you feel your stomach and intestines? Is there a burning sensation? Are you zoned out on pain killers or you can go without them just fine? Do you get gas pain right away? Is it hard to move around? Just wanna know your experience after surgery, hospital and getting home. Thanks for the advice as usual. Love this community!

Thank you for your kind and encouraging words. I am also still learning that our journeys aren't linear and won't look the same. Congrats to you on getting through the surgery. Can't wait to be where you are haha

So I finally got my surgery date after about 7 months of waiting. I am feeling so many mixed emotions but mainly excited and scared. My surgery is on Valentine's Day or Feb 14th. I thought how symbolic because it's all about self love now in my life and treating myself to the life I deserve rather than put up with. It's been such an emotional journey for me. I'm so ready now though. I just need to remember the good over the ugly parts. I'm a little bit sad because I've only lost 26 lbs throughout this time but I worked really hard with psychologists and my psychiatrist to have a better relationship to food throughout all of these months. It was slow but my weight has been going down only for the first time in 2 years. I'm on my preop diet now. It's really tough but I'm determined to do what I need to be surgery ready. I've been drinking so much water having sugar free popsicles to curb my hunger pangs. It's almost messed up but I'm so excited to not have my appetite right after surgery for a little bit because it's quite a nuisance when you're eating 500 calories a day on a pre op stomach. Anyway, thanks for everyone's advice over these months. Just wanted to share the update and express my feelings. If you're going through the same thing I'm always open to talk.

Hey! I'm scheduled for surgery (gastric bypass) in February. I've been relying on protein shakes and some ketogenic friendly sweeteners as meal replacements to get use to drinking my calories instead of eating them. I wanna know if you've tried any of these ingredients post op and how they made you feel: - Vanilla premier protein - unsweetened cocoa powder - Swerve sugar replacement - blended strawberry, blackberries and blueberries (no added sugar) -Isopure unflavored powder -unsweetened almond milk -black beans (not in smoothies, just in general, mashed) Thanks! Happy New Year to you all

Thank you so much! The support is appreciated. Best of luck to you on your journey too. Congrats!

I really appreciate the support! I'm trying to focus on healthy outlets. It helps to know that others get far with the same feelings. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Everyone is so beautiful and clothes are so cute!

Hey y'all. I'm a little less than a month away from my endoscopy. My doc said basically if I'm clear anywhere from 2 weeks after that I can get my gastric bypass. In the meantime while I wait, I struggle with depression. I know that everything is coming so soon but I can't help but feel scared and stuck. I don't know who else to talk to about this. I feel like I should be happy and excited but I'm overwhelmed and scared of failure before it even begins. I don't know if I need support or tough love but I'm really struggling to stay grounded. I'm just venting but if you have any advice or positive/success stories you want to share, I'd love to hear it. Thanks and hope you all are doing well.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. This helps me a lot! I think for me it's the jumping over the hurdle of the first couple of months that are the most restrictive. I am alone and cook for myself most of the time so I worry about the opportunities to cook for others but hopefully with my new found confidence I will be able to introduce myself and mingle with more people so I can still celebrate cooking and have others eat my food/not go to waste.

Wow, vegan! I'm a vegetarian so I'm also a bit nervous about that. Just curious, what types of Proteins have you been eating post op? Do you do like mock meats or more tofu? Would love to know

Wow, vegan! I'm a vegetarian so I'm also a bit nervous about that. Just curious, what types of proteins have you been eating post op? Do you do like mock meats or more tofu? Would love to know!

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's really putting my mind at ease. I want so badly to be at a normal weight. I'm scared but it really helps to have this community. I feel less alone.

Hey! For those of you who are or were avid chefs/home cooks how did weight loss surgery change that for you? How did it change exploring new recipes? Grocery lists? Not being able to make or eat certain things? I'm also quite scared of this. I love cooking, cook all my meals, am working on a cookbook, make food for people all the time. I've lost 25 lbs and just got approved for surgery. Having trouble understanding how my relationship with my love of cooking is going to change over time. I know I won't be able to cook and eat much the first year, what about after that?

Hey, Just reaching out to the community for some support. I've recently been approved for gastric bypass after going through 4 months of supervised diet and mental health counseling. I can basically get my surgery as soon as possible after completing my EKG and endoscopy (Dr's words). When they went over the gastric bypass procedure with me and all the complications, deficiencies and how strict the diet is (no fresh vegetables for a while which is what I've heavily been relying on to lose weight and enjoy it too) I was almost knocked down to my old feelings of hopelessness. The truth is, hearing all of that terrified me. It scares me and makes me think that there are so many opportunities to mess up. I just want some advice on how to quell this fear and really fear of failure. It honestly didn't feel real to me until the Dr said I was good to go. I felt so ready and confident until this moment and I can't understand why. I feel like I should be celebrating and happy but I'm not. I'm frustrated and scared. Any help or advice on this? I'm also working on it with my psychologist but want to hear about your experiences too. Much love!

That's amazing! Congrats!!! I'm hoping to work something out like that with my dietician too. Thanks for sharing.

I've been working lately on staying grounded and motivated. I'm now 3 months before I can get approved for surgery so I still have a little bit of time. I've been changing my eating habits on my own and have lost 10 lbs in a month. While I'm working on it with a psychologist, my biggest saboteur is not food - it's myself. I have had a history of telling myself I won't make it, so in turn I fail. I'm now learning the art of self compassion and how shame is not a motivator of change. Sometimes I fear the self hatred thinking patterns will creep back in but I keep reminding myself that treating myself poorly is what got me here in the first place. So, from mental exercises to physical ones - what's something you're doing to maintain your journey and motivation (at any step, pre, post and onwards)? What keeps you grounded and how do you make it through the day when things feel tough? Thanks!

I definitely am learning there's no one journey. I'm not using insurance because mine doesn't cover it. Most of this was just Doctor's orders (I.e. being on their diet for 3 months). I'll keep working on it and continue my reformation. Thanks for your response!

Chiming in here. I knew it was time to consider it after I put on almost 100 lbs in the last 2 years. I lost about 70 lbs before and felt the best I had in my entire life. Sadly, I had my stints of gaining a little bit back and then losing it and then gaining more back. However I realized in the grand scheme of things, I was overall gaining more weight than I'd lose during crash diets. Fast forward and I did a diet bet with some friends of mine realizing I ballooned past 310 lbs and feeling completely out of control, especially in contrast with friends who's weights felt normal to me. I then injured my knee pretty bad the beginning of 2021 and now have immense pain when doing any weight baring activities, even going up the stairs. I gained 20 lbs after injuring my knee as I couldn't do my walks for a bit. I felt so tired and sick. My legs were burning when I'd walk less than a mile. I got super depressed feeling like not too long ago I was running 2 miles a day during my big weight loss journey. Feeling like I have a useless body and 0 control has really been the lowest of the low. I've had wls in my mind for most of my adult life but was too afraid. It's bittersweet that I needed to hit a rock bottom to go up but in a screwed up way, I'm glad I took a lot of time to think about it. I realized the pain and unhappiness I feel being uncomfortable in my own skin is much worse than a surgery and I view it as regardless of surgery or non surgical weight loss methods, changing how and when I eat will always be a part of the equation. The surgery is just the tool I've needed.. I just see all the pros greatly outweigh the cons. There was a response in this thread that says nothing was harder than being 400 lbs. I'm feeling the exact same. I had my first consultation last month. I have my dietician and testing tomorrow morning and If I'm successful with my treatment plan, I'll be able to get the surgery after October 2021. I'm scared SHITLESS (excuse my language) but I know this is the right thing for me. I'm ready to win the war now.

Ah, okay! Sounds like it was nice and clear for you but you definitely put the work in. I hope to get more info tomorrow and just roll with it. Really hoping I have it in me to do this. I'm so ready for a change but always so scared of failure although it doesn't further me to think that way. From what I gathered most of it will be virtual except the initial consultations and the checks ins with the surgeon. I'm still working hard on my own to make peace with my eating habits. Hope this diet supports it. Thanks again for sharing. It's nice to be able to talk about this.

Hey! Thanks for your reply. I had a consultation with the surgeon who just gave me info on both surgeries and the dangers of being obese but no nutritional information. He said I have an eating disorder and need to get that treated before we can proceed with surgery but he didn't recommend me any services, just said to meet with a dietician twice a month until October and get a Psych evaluation. I'm already in therapy and psychiatry for depression and eating behaviors. They only mentioned it'd be a lot of protein shakes since I'm a vegetarian anyway. I've been on a 1500-2000 cal diet for the past 3 weeks and have lost 10 lbs but it's just calorie deficit and exercise, cutting out most sugary things but still eating carbohydrates. Wondering how different the diet will be even though I'm not getting surgery anytime soon. I'm super nervous for some reason and I hate all the unknown factors. It makes me so anxious not knowing what's expected of me. But i know I'll learn more tomorrow. Just checking what the diet is like and how restrictive it is in terms of macro nutrients.

Hey there! Hope you all are having a lovely day/night. I have my first dietician visit tomorrow where they'll do some blood work, take my weight, check my metabolism etc. I'm not even scheduled for wls until after October 2021. I'm wondering what the diet will be like until then. Is it the liver shrinking diet for a couple of months or is that just a couple weeks before surgery? Anyone know what kind of diet they put you on and will I have to buy a bunch of specialty protein powders?

Hey there! Just putting my feelers out there. Has anyone had to switch their psychiatric meds to qualify for weight loss surgery? If I get approved for surgery, I'll need to switch from Latuda to Abilify because of Latuda's caloric requirement. To give some insight I have bi polar disorder and require a mood stabilizer. I'm afraid of abilify because it's not metabolically friendly. Has anyone had experience with this? Thanks everyone!