Smanky

The pre-op diet is absolutely the worst bit. No one enjoys it, but it's thankfully brief, even though it doesn't feel like it in that first week! Bear in mind that you're likely going through some manner of food withdrawal, which always hits the emotions. Anxiety is also normal before any surgery, even when it's not your first time - but as Catwoman said, you'll be fine! This is a safe surgery and you'll be in good hands. There's a whole team in the theatre with you dedicated to keeping you safe. Echoing Arabesque's recommendation of getting a bariatric therapist to talk to. Managing this now will help you post surgery. The first couple of months can also be challenging, especially for folks with emotional attachments to food.

Hi ViaLia! My starting BMI was higher than yours at about 42, and I can only comment as someone 10 months post-surgery, but it's been a fantastic surgery for me. I'm not far off my goal and feeling very good. The restriction is strong, but I've had no issues getting my protein, water and vitamins. No dumping - however I'm still very wary with the foods that can cause it. My weight loss has slowed down a lot now that I'm getting closer to goal, my appetite is easy to manage. It may be possible for some to lose too much weight, but I don't expect that would strictly be the fault of the surgery. I eat about 1000 to 1200 calories a day now. That will go up a little more once I reach my goal and begin maintenance. I would never have gotten to where I am now without the MGB. It stopped the self-sabotage and I couldn't be happier with how it's gone.

I had originally wanted a sleeve but was promptly talked out of it by my surgeon because of my pre-existing GERD. I was daunted for about half a day before contacting my surgeon to tell him I'd take his advice and have the bypass instead. Absolutely zero regrets, this was the right procedure for me. Don't give in to FOMO. FOMO is silly! There are SO many sleevers on here with fantastic long term results. If it wasn't for my pre-surgery GERD, I might have been one of them and just as happy as I am right now. Both surgeries are super-effective tools.

I wish I was running, but I have an ongoing knee problem that I really need to get an MRI for. Have a horrible suspicion it may be osteoarthritis. So my desire to return to my non-gym "happy place" has been foiled. I do love the gym, and have yet to join the new local one after a recent house move. So my new low-impact activity is bike riding. I also love a nice walk (great for listening to podcasts), and have plans to re-learn to rollerskate. Because my heart never really left the 70s and 80s aesthetically, and if I was young, I'd be all over roller-derby.

Such a great milestone. Go you!

I only told close family and friends and that's it. Not for their support, as I was my own support and was absolutely doing this, but so they didn't ask "are you sick???" when I started to noticeably shrink. It's ultimately no one's business but yours. I like others suggestions of simply saying it's a hernia repair and when your weight loss is noticeable, you're following your new dietician's plan. And then change the subject.

Yeah, it's the longest minute ever!

You're a winner, look at you go!

I'll never set foot on one again either, not because I'm nervous of them, but because I only have to think about spinning in a circle to get motion sickness. Learned that the hard way trying to be a "good auntie" and taking one of my then little nephews on the spinny-cup ride twenty years ago. My regret was immediate and powerful. 🤢🤡

The body is amazing at healing itself. Considering the serious wounds this surgery inflicts, a week is an extraordinarily short amount of time! Glad you're much more comfortable now.

I'm not far off my goal either (10kg to go), and the rate of loss has definitely slowed down to a crawl. Some weeks I lose nothing, then the next I'll be down half a kilo, but I was both warned of this by my dietician and my own research so it's fine. It's good not to get hung up on the number on the scale, because what actually matters more to me is how my clothes fit, and despite the slow scale movement, my clothes continue to loosen. I'm now a small size AU16/US12 to a large AU14/US10. My goal is AU12/US8. I'm so close I can taste it! So another 10kg will actually put me below that, so I'm honestly fine to call "Maintenance" once I'm a comfortable AU12/US8. If that means my weight is above 75kg, that's fine. That's where I'll settle! So don't put too much stock in the scale. It's easy to get hung up on it, and it's freeing to realise it's not actually THE ONE measure of success. Be patient, enjoy being so close, and know you'll get there. My dietician said I should hit goal by the end of this year, but I'm way ahead of that! I keep that in mind any time I feel a little disappointment at the crawling scale number. And as I've told friends and family, if I stay where I am now, I'll still be happy. I can buy clothes almost anywhere, and blend in with the lean crowd, which is all I've ever wanted! Anything beyond this is a bonus.

I've used a similar bean-based fettuccine made on mung beans (50g gives 20g protein), and it's totally acceptable with a tomato based sauce. Makes a nice change when I'm in the mood for a pasta-style meal.

I take a bariatric-specific chewable multi-vitamin (I'm in Aus, so it would be a similar thing to what Bariatric Pal offers). Then I add a B12, Iron +C, Vitamin D, and my Hair Nails Skin + Collagen support supplement. The multi has the calcium I need, though I have a calcium supplement on hand anyway. My dietician is happy with all that, and my labs are great.

I realise that some folks are hell bent on long hair, but do consider getting a short crop. A good cut that works with thinning hair makes all the difference. When my hair fall was at its worst, I absolutely felt as rough as I looked. I joked about my hair having "gone to seed". Looked awful. So I accepted that growing any length would have to wait, and I got it chopped back into a short pixie and BAM. I look fabulous and chic, and don't even notice my own thin hair now. I'll consider growing it once the hair is back, but until then, I am living my Jamie Lee Curtis fantasy.

I did everything I could both pre and post surgery with hair supplements and collagen support supplements, and am still religiously taking them now. Still didn't stop hair loss. It MAY have helped in how much I lost, but I'll never know because I have nothing to compare it with. I started losing hair from month 4 until about month 7. Now I'm just waiting for it to grow back, and hoping the supplements will assist with that. Just gotta be patient. Beyond that, cutting my hair off into a cute pixie has made my loss a lot less noticeable, especially to myself! A good cut will honestly make all the difference.

Can your regular doctor look into vitamin injections/infusions for you? I'd be asking about that. My brother has to have iron infusions when his Ulcerative Colitis really knocks him about. Really sorry you're going through this, and especially losing access to your surgeon. How frustrating!

Yeah, the pre-op diet is truly just a matter of toughening up, staying focused on why you're doing it, and soldiering through it. It's not fun, but it's only a couple of weeks. Totally doable. Remind yourself "it's not forever" because it's not. Surgery will arrive before you know it, and honestly, my pre-surgery nervous energy helped getting me through the liver shrinking diet. Distract yourself, stay busy. Eyes on the prize.

I'm just amused at how my own perception of the space I take up hasn't caught up with how much slimmer I am. I still inwardly flinch at the sight of close-packed tables and chairs at a cafe or restaurant before I realise I can slip through no problem now! I still get out of people's way when there's plenty of room and I no longer need to - it's still a reflex. My brain is so used to being spatially aware for a morbidly obese body that it's taking a surprising amount of time for it to catch up to a much smaller me. I'm constantly amazed I can slip between cafe chairs and tables now without a) other folks doing the shuffle so I can fit past, or b) risking my arse moving inches from someone's face as I knock tables on the way through with a chorus of "sorry!"s. What are some things that have snuck up on you that your mind hasn't caught up with yet?

The incisions will hurt. You've basically been stabbed multiple times (as one of my surgeons told me, which put the pain into perspective!). It took mine a good week to settle down. It's a painful surgery.

I took hair vitamins and collagen support supplements well before surgery to try to prevent hair loss and meticulously hit my protein and water goals, but HELLO it happened anyway. Perhaps not as badly if I wasn't supplement-strict, but I'll never know because I don't have a clone of me who isn't taking them to compare! I already have fine hair, and it started coming out around month 4. Joy! But it stops. And I got my hair cut into a short pixie and am loving it. It hasn't grown back yet, but it will at some point, but until then the pixie cut rules.

Yep, this is 100% normal. Take it from a serial staller (I also stalled at week 2 and every second week after) and slow loser (in that I've lost my weight at the same rate I would on a standard old-school calorie counting diet). Manage your expectations, and don't compare yourself to other people who are losing fast and aren't stalling. Doing that will only make you unhappy. Focus instead on the positives as they come, and they DO come. Feeling better, clothes getting looser, sleeping better, skin clearing up because you're not poisoning yourself with processed sugar anymore! The weight will come off. Distract yourself with activities that aren't about your weight, and stay off the scale for a couple of weeks. The stall will break.

Five days ago you had major surgery. Give yourself time to heal. As others have said, the first few weeks suck, but it's not forever and you will in time eat normally. But while your stomach is healing, you have to soldier through the program and hit your protein, water and vitamins. If you need something that isn't sweet, try something umami like a miso soup which will count towards your fluid intake. The sweetness of protein shakes and water drove me nuts, but I managed to offset it in those early weeks with small amounts of savoury liquid soups and unsweetened matcha lattes made on protein fortified soy milk. It's not fun, but it's doable, and you'll be onto the solid phase in no time.

Tastebuds are usually out of whack in those early months. Anything remotely sweet made me feel sick, and I couldn't stomach the protein shakes. I found ONE protein water that I could get down. Was it nice? Hell no. Was it a struggle? Sure was! But I made myself drink it. I got additional protein from protein fortified soy milk that I added matcha powder to for a nice unsweetened matcha latte. That's how I got my protein in post-surgery. I could barely eat for the first three months, so I do know how you're feeling. But you have to soldier on through the early phase, even though it sucks. You have to drink your protein even if there's zero pleasure in it. I would often have to lie down after my protein water because I'd feel light headed and odd. It does get better, and the crappy phase isn't forever. Try to remember that. You'll get back to enjoying food and drink faster than you think you will.

It is so dangerous to cut off antidepressants cold turkery. It causes all sorts of horrible side-effects. The longer you're on them, the more careful you must be in incrementally weaning off them. Your bariatric team had no business instructing you to stop, it's not their department. Like others have urged - talk to your psychiatric doctor ASAP and tell them everything. The first couple of months suck, no two ways about it. I also struggled with protein shakes, and found I could only just tolerate protein water. Still WAY too sweet, but I could manage to soldier through a serving. Keep your fluids up, your vitamin supplements, and like Summerseeker suggested, look into protein fortified milk and see how you go with that.

When I moved past the soft-food phase, I happily ate blueberries and strawberries as my first fruits post-surgery with no issues. They were a great snack choice, good nutrition, and easy to chew up.