SpartanMaker

This made me think about my own decision not to share my surgery with anyone that didn't have a "need to know". Virtually everyone I work with has never actually seen me in person, only via zoom, since we almost all work remotely. I didn't tell anyone, even my boss that I was having weight loss surgery. Quarterly, my larger team (50-60 folks) gets together in person now, but I've put off traveling for these meetings for most of the year. I used my significant hearing loss as the main rationale. I do have a significant challenge hearing in crowded rooms due to my hearing loss, so it's absolutely an issue. If I'm honest with myself though, I put off going mostly because I was ashamed of my weight. I also knew that after surgery, I'd be closer to a "normal" weight and while some might notice a difference between "video" me and "in person" me, I figured it won't be nearly as noticeable for most folks. Anyway, mid-December, I'm finally planning to go to the quarterly get together. Fair or not, I know 2 things are true, and I made the choices I did based on this: Being obese carries a significant stigma that we are lazy, have no self-control, are morally bankrupt, are unattractive, etc. I've seen and felt this personally and its impact on promotions and work assignments. No one will ever admit to feeling this way or letting it impact business decisions, but it happens consciously or not. (I digress here a bit, but if you doubt this is real, look at the C-suite in any major corporation and one consistent theme is that it's exceptionally rare to see someone that's even overweight, much less obese.) Many people think that WLS is the easy way out, so don't associate weight lost this way as "redeeming ourselves" for the laziness and lack of self-control. In effect, only if you lose weight "naturally", are you proven "worthy" again. Frankly it sucks that these attitudes are so prevalent, but they are. I made the choices I did because I don't need anyone at work judging me or my motivations. As someone else said, I did this to save my life. We should be celebrating it. Instead, it's just more stigmatizing.

LOL, what you've said you've done makes you look like an amateur compared to me! I have 12 different calcium chews and 6 different bariatric vitamins. I stocked up on over 100 premixed protein drinks, several protein powders, grocery store foods, and dozens of different options of so called "bariatric" foods. There's no question that I went overboard, but maybe it's the boy scout coming out: I wanted to be prepared. I also didn't want to be a burden on my wife, and ask her to have to go shopping for me if I wasn't able to tolerate what we had in the house. I 100% agree with @ShoppGirl. If this is helping you feel in control, then I think it's healthy. Only you can decide if it's become a problem for you.

Yea, typical stupid BMI based guides. Fun (or not so fun), fact: BMI was never meant to tell anyone what they should weigh. It was developed almost 200 years ago by a Belgian mathematician (not a doctor), that was looking to define the normal curve for weight distribution across the human population. The formula is basically your weight in kilograms divided by your height in metres squared. It's an excellent tool for scientific analysis on large groups of people where "averages" matter. Using it as a guideline for what any single individual should weigh is nuts though! BMI doesn't take into account frame size, bone density, race (yes, BMI is racist), muscle mass, medical history, or anything else on an individual level that might account for a variation in weight. As an example, did you know that competitive male bodybuilders (with bodyfat percentages around 4-8%), are almost all considered "obese" or even "morbidly obese" based on BMI alone? Anyone trying to use a BMI chart to determine what they "should" weigh is well advised to proceed with caution.

The way I look at it is that the vitamins are cheap insurance. Even though I just had surgery, I've taken a multivitamin for years. Not because I was trying to make up for a diet deficiency, but because there are some really nasty diseases/conditions that can occur if you did end up having a significant deficiency of certain vitamins or minerals. Even with just lower levels of some things, you can be left feeling not so hot. So the question in my mind isn't why take a multivitamin, but rather why not?

I'm not familiar with the Bariatric Fusion brand (I use Bariatric Advantage one-a-day with Iron), but based on a comparison I did, most of the bariatric vitamin brands are fairly similar. If you're doctor recommended Bariatric Fusion, you should be fine using it. I'll go out on a limb a bit here and state that the majority of us probably take one-a-day capsules. Why capsules? Lots of us have found that the chewables don't taste very good. Why one-a-day? because why take more pills than I have to? You can probably check the Bariatric Fusion website, but most of the time, the only real difference between the one-a-day versions and the multi-day ones is that the one a day is bigger. If you have issues taking large capsules, you might want to stick with multi-day. Separate vitamin D or B12 may or may not be needed. Your multivitamins already have D and B12 in them, so unless you're one of the folks that have a hard time absorbing those from you multivitamins, I don't think a separate supplement is needed. Best to check in with your medical team on that one, but most people only use it if their labs show a deficiency. You don't want an ADEK multivitamin. Those are designed specifically for DS patients. Collagen is fine to take. It's a good source of protein, though it is missing one essential amino acid. Nonetheless, if your other protein sources are complete proteins, I don't see anything wrong with adding collagen as well.

I'm still trying to figure that out! If I overeat (or what I assume is overeating?), I don't seem to get any of the horrible symptoms I was told to expect, just maybe some additional upper abdominal pain? It's almost, but not quite like heartburn. I also notice, often a bit later, that I feel fuller lower down in my abdomen. I assume that may be me feeling the roux limb being full, but I'm not sure?

Congrats! Sounds like you're doing really well! I too get tired really quick, but I'm hopeful it will get better soon. I seem to feel a little more energy every time I go to a new diet stage? I just started soft foods today and am hoping that helps with the energy!

Typically we only see 4 weeks for people with a lot more weight to lose. Don't know what your specs are since you have not added them, but people with a BMI in the 50's or 60's will sometimes have a 3 or 4 week pre-op diet. If that's you, it's to make the surgery as safe as they can.

Definitely could be dehydration, but would be best to talk to your surgical team.

You won't permanently stretch out your pouch over one meal. It takes overeating repeatedly over time. Also keep in mind that ounces of protein is a measurement of their weight, not volume. While 4 ounces of most meats will be about the same size, the 4 ounce rule doesn't apply to other things. The only thing where we generally use ounces as a volume measurement is liquid ounces.

I just ignore the MyFitnessPal nastygram about low calories. It still works fine, even if they want to complain about my calorie count.

Word of warning: A LOT of people have issues with scrambled eggs post-op. So much so that my plan says to avoid them until at least 4-6 weeks out. If you're like me, I was always told that scrambled eggs were a good choice when we had an upset stomach, but new tummy, new rules, I guess? At the pureed stage, I was allowed poached eggs, and they were fine for me. Also egg salad was fine, as long as I mashed it up well first. I agree that pureed meats were generally not appetizing, but mashed-up (not pureed) tuna salad was allowed on my plan and it was pretty good. Pre-surgery, I already mashed up my tuna salad some, so I didn't really notice much of a difference. Chicken however was unpleasant. So much so that I won't be eating chicken of any kind for a while! Another good choice is refried beans or pureed bean soup. You can add unflavored protein powder to those and really up the protein if desired.

I agree with @catwoman7, but I'll add one thing. There are three things I suppose this could be: Dumping syndrome. Not all that likely, but possible I guess? A reaction to one of the ingredient. Could be xylitol, but there are other "not-really-foods" in there that may have also caused a reaction? That said, my money's on excess fiber. Those bars seem to have quite a bit of fiber in them, especially soluble fiber. Soluble fiber will swell in the gut, expanding to a much larger size than the bar itself. As a bypass patient, I think that definitely could have caused your symptoms.

For sure, and it's so variable. Lots of people complained about not tolerating shakes, post-op, so I bought several brands & flavors of protein water. Luckily I don't really get nauseous PO, but I found the protein waters didn't sit right on my tummy, so was better off not drinking them. The shakes as still fine, by the way. Go figure?

100% agree. Waiting won't hurt, so I'd say wait and see what happens now that you're working with the endocrinologist.

Cyclobenzaprine maybe?

Might just be a pulled muscle, but if you have or develop any of the following symptoms, please go to the ER, it could be something more serious and may or may not be associated with your surgery: Persistent vomiting Unable to eat or drink Fever > 101.5 Pain gets worse instead of better Not urinating or dark or foul smelling urine Dizzy/light-headed Sudden sharp chest pain Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing Rapid heart rate at rest (>100 beats per minute)

Don't know if that's quite a universal truth, but there is an important point here: bedside manner be damned, I want the best. I'd much rather have an a-hole that's really good at what they do, than a super nice person that's just an average surgeon. Hopefully the OP won't have to make that choice. There are actually decent human beings that are really good surgeons as well. I hope you can find one

The only one that can really answer that is your bariatric team. Don't hide the truth from them. Let them know what's going on and they will let you know what you need to do.

Squats bro, squats! 😎

I hear you. I honestly don't think the OP has anything to worry about. Bariatric surgery is almost universally praised for its ability to either completely reverse diabetes, or at the very least, reduce the need for medications. If surgeons only did the surgery for people that already had controlled blood glucose levels, it wouldn't have this reputation. Now from a complication perspective, when patients have an A1C above about 8.5 or 9, the data suggests that they are much more likely to have issues post operatively, such as infections, renal failure, or even heart attacks. The lesson is, I think, high A1C = bad, low A1C = good 😊

I agree. While this is probably just something like a vitamin deficiency, there are any number of other causes. You need to be screened for those to rule out anything more serious.

OP could always ask for another test, but since it's measuring the last ~90 days, it's not likely to be that different.

You shouldn't need to fast for an A1C test. This test is actually measuring your average blood glucose over the past 90 days or so. That's one of the advantages of the A1C compared to just measuring your current blood glucose level. It's not impacted at all with things like how soon you ate, so it's a better measure for diagnosing diabetes.

I'll second the one about medications. Between the supplements and meds I take, it sometimes feels like it takes me all day to get through taking everything. Many nights i stay up too late just trying to get through all the meds! I knew it would be challenging, but I think I was also expecting to more quickly drop some of my meds. At this point, I dropped my diabetes med and one of my BP meds, but added 2 more (at least temporarily): ursodiol and omeprazole.