NickelChip

Hey there, I'm 6 days out from gastric bypass too and the only things I'm having right now are protein shakes, water, broth, and little bit of zero sugar yogurt or unsweetened kefir. Focus on fluids first, protein shakes second, and anything else only when your goals are met for hydration and protein. I'm finding hot tea (decaf) and broth go down much better than cold stuff, so you could give that a try and see if you are the same.

I spoke with the nurse last night and tomorrow I get to begin the soft proteins phase, which will be one week post-op. I'm going to the grocery store tonight. I will have to start separating food and liquids, waiting 30 minutes after drinking to eat and then 30-60 minutes after eating to drink. This is going to be a challenge because it takes me forever to drink anything. Part of the problem is I am developing an aversion to my protein shakes and anything sweet or artificially flavored. I think it's time to start making use of my unflavored protein and Greek yogurt to make my own shakes because the commercial stuff is just tasting terrible. Soft proteins include cottage cheese, string cheese, ricotta, flaky white fish, ground poultry, refried beans, tuna salad, eggs, yogurt, and tofu. My eating schedule when I begin soft proteins will be: Breakfast soft protein 16-20oz fluid plus a protein shake between breakfast and lunch Lunch soft protein 16-20 oz fluid plus a protein shake between lunch and dinner Dinner soft protein 16-20 oz fluid plus a protein shake after dinner/before bed

Excited and nervous pretty much sums up my mental state from last July when I started the surgical program to last week when I finally got the surgery!

Excited and nervous pretty much sums up my mental state from last July when I started the surgical program to last week when I finally got the surgery!

I am enjoying the chicken soup flavored shake from Bariatric Fusion, which is funny because when I tried it pre-op, I thought it was terrible and nearly threw it out. Now, it's great. Celebrate and Unjury also make protein shake soups. I was also able to mix the unflavored Syntrax Nectar into a cup of organic tomato soup and it blended really well.

I'm on day 5 post-op and hot decaf tea and bone broth are by far the winners. I struggled all day yesterday with water and felt bloated the whole time, but got 16oz of hot bone broth down with little trouble. Today, I filled a 32oz thermal cup with hot tea and a dash of milk and finished it off in three hours without even noticing. It only got harder to drink at the last few ounces when it had cooled to lukewarm. I opted for warm chicken soup protein "shakes" today too because the sweet, cold ones sounded awful. I did have some luck with the Celebrate brand CLR protein water (pink lemonade flavor), although the taste is kind of intense and the price is shocking. But I bought 8 of them with the hope they might help in this early stage, and they do.

Try adding a scoop of Benefiber to your soup every day. It will blend right in and the fiber should help a bit. But passing gas is a good sign, or at least the nurses in the hospital were very pleased when I answered yes to that question.

Try the Bariatric Fusion soft chews. They come in multi, iron, and calcium. They are all the texture of a Starburst candy. I was given samples by my dietician and they were wonderful. I would have opted for them if they weren't the most expensive option. I went for just the calcium as a soft chew and did the chewable, chalky type instead for the multi and the iron to save money, but if you need a really palatable option, these are the way to go.

Applesauce is included on my list for full liquid diet, along with cream of wheat and yogurt. I'm not having to do blood thinners now that I'm home from the hospital, and I just have Tylenol for pain relief. My main concern with blood pressure is whether it will go back up so that I'll need the meds again. I haven't had such good readings in years, even with meds!

I crushed my thyroid pill and emptied the omeprazole and ursodiol capsules into a little bowl and mixed all three with 2 Tbsp of applesauce. It took about 10 minutes to get that down. I'm going to need to check with my primary care doctor because my blood pressure the morning I left the hospital was 92/54, so I have not been taking my blood pressure med since they told me to stop it the day before surgery. I need to go check it at one of those machines at the drug store later today.

My surgery was 2/21 and I was released from the hospital yesterday morning. There were some minor issues that caused the surgery itself to take longer, and the doctor wanted to do a swallow test before I was allowed anything to drink, so I ended up needing the extra night in the hospital. I'm not in much pain when I'm sitting or lying down, but it's tender when I'm walking around. It doesn't help that both arms hurt from IV and blood draws. Yesterday I managed about 32oz of water plus just under 2 Premier Protein shakes. Hoping the tenderness goes away soon. No hunger at all, which is just kind of weird to realize.

I have to say, decaf tea is like a cruel joke. It looks and tastes just like regular, and yet I am still asleep when it's done. And then it's noon and I'm asking myself how I can still be tired after drinking all that tea!

Hey there! I don't have any advice to give but I just wanted to say I'm hoping for the best for you. I'm sure your surgeon will be able to help. Just keep trying to do what you can and hopefully it will get easier each day. And hooray for the 13 pounds!

Congratulations! Mine was supposed to be 12/28 and was postponed for tomorrow. I'm more nervous about more delays than I am the surgery!

This time tomorrow I should be checking into the hospital! I've lost 15.4 pounds on the 2-week liquid diet, which is kinda crazy. My liver better be skinny enough to start a modeling career.

This is such a great piece of advice, @BigSue! My background is in costume design and I love clothing, both historical and modern, but it's been years since I could really indulge in stylish clothing in the way I wanted to. Right now, I tend to favor a lot of wraps and kimonos. I have heavier ones for winter and silky ones for summer, with tunics and leggings. I was talking to a friend recently about needing to replace my wardrobe and she said something along the lines of at least I would still have all my wraps, since those are one-size. But I realized when she said it that I might not want to wear those so much in the future, or might choose differently. I admit I choose what I do to hide my figure. I have no idea what I'll like if that isn't a necessity anymore. But, like @Arabesque, I think at a smaller size I will feel like I'm drowning in fabric with some of what I wear now. I will say that going through my closet now, I have too many clothes, none of which I love. I'll be happy to see most of them go. For the next year, I'm going to do my best to take it easy with my wardrobe buying. Easier said than done, I know! But it feels like a good time to enjoy having a lot less, and make the most of the seven thousand or so scarves and necklaces I have to achieve different looks until I can settle into a maintenance weight and really think about how I want to dress. I'm tempted to do the Wool& 100 day challenge this summer, where you choose one of their dresses and document yourself wearing it for 100 days in a row and get a $100 gift card toward buying a new one when you complete the challenge. The variety of looks people achieve with accessories is amazing, and wool jersey is a surprisingly good fabric for all seasons, including summer. I figure by June my rapid weight loss will have slowed a bit (surgery is tomorrow!!!!!) and by the end of 3 months, I'll be ready for a new dress size anyway, so win win! Besides, I love me a good dress in the summertime.

That's a really interesting point I hadn't thought of. If you are active and larger, it is something that can make you special. People may admire you for it. But being an average weight person and exercising? No one cares! I do remember grappling with this as I got older and went from being a "young" person who had accomplished a lot of things in a relatively short amount of time to a person of an age where it was no longer remarkable. It definitely took some rethinking about my own identity when I was no longer that bright young person and was just another person out there doing stuff.

Every program will be different, but your best bet is to wean off it as quickly as you can. Decaf is usually fine, so you may start doing half-caf tomorrow with the goal of getting to all decaf before surgery. It's less a problem before surgery because you can make yourself drink extra water to combat the dehydration coffee can cause, but it's impossible to do that after, so ideally you don't want to drink anything that makes you get dehydrated. On the other hand, some programs let you have one cup of regular coffee per day. Just don't go cold turkey if you want to avoid a killer headache. I spent two weeks weaning myself off caffeine before my pre-op diet started.

If it helps, I was told by my dietician (and have heard/read in multiple other sources) that the liquid/solid rule doesn't kick in until you progress beyond full liquids. If you are struggling to get in water and protein, I know they say to focus on water first. Your body has more stores of protein than water. But also, consider getting a protein water, which you can generally count for both. As for the difficulty with mood right now, it's to be expected. It's a hard adjustment, and would be even if your meds weren't causing more issues. It's okay to know you made the right choice for yourself rationally, but to question it emotionally at the same time.

Just wanted to say I'm starting Day 13 of my 2 week preop liquid diet and it's not so bad at this point. I mean, I wouldn't recommend it to friends, but my energy levels are good and the hunger isn't terrible. The first few days I was tired and cold all the time, but it is winter and I live near Boston, so cold comes with the territory. 4 weeks would be hard, but you can do it! I suggest getting any source of temptation out of sight, and keep yourself busy. Also, if you're like me, you will start thinking of the most random food-related things, like a food you like or a restaurant you went to one time 10 years ago, just totally out of the blue. Avoid cooking shows. I stupidly was halfway through an episode of Great British Baking Show before I realized what I was doing! OMG, why am I watching someone cook a tart right now?!? If you're allowed it, get the chicken soup flavored shakes (I know Bariatric Fusion, Unjury, and Celebrate have versions, if those brands are available to you). That has been such a life saver as I'm really tired of everything being sweet. Sugar free jello is lovely and only 5 calories, so it should be fine for you to have. It's almost like chewing, sort of. Good luck!

You're 100 pounds overweight with a BMI of 38.7 (with 20-25 being normal). Only 20% of people can lose even 10% of their body weight and keep it off for more than 5 years through diet and lifestyle alone. You're looking to lose about 25% of your body weight, at which point you will still be borderline obese (29.5 BMI). You might consider asking yourself, how much more overweight would you have to be to see yourself as "very heavy"? And how much worse would the odds need to be for you to think you have no chance with diet?