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Hi there, it has been wonderful to read all of the stories here. I'm a 39-year old mother of three from Finland and have had RYGB 17 days ago. Here surgeons actually operate more RYGB than SG (contrary to US), and although I was set on SG before when I decided on needing the surgery, the surgeon did convince me with RYGB suiting me better in the end (and she is the surgeon in Finland who gets referred with the most difficult cases and operates a lot both in University hospital as well a privately, so I just ended up trusting her expertise). I don't know anyone personally who has had the surgery so nobody to really have discussions with about the downs (ups is another matter as I do have a family but obviously not all of the NSV's (a new term I learned today, yay) can be comprehended by someone who really has never been there. I started my journey with the decision in May, first appointment at the clinic June 2nd weighing 352 lb (160kg, I'm 5'10 tall so BMI about 50 at this point), 11 weeks later August 10th had a meeting with the surgeon and internist for approval (weighing 320 lb), had to have ECG and gastroscopy due to medical history to be approved, and the surgery was done 26th of August so jyst over two weeks ago. My weight that day was 317 lb (143,8kg), and currently it is 301 lb (136,6kg). Here in Finland we have the possibility to get the operation through regular healthcare system if we fullfil the criteria (BMI over 35 with obesity related diseases or BMI over 40 plus you need to have had experience before atleast of 6 months of conservative weight loss (can be from the past, does not need to be just then) and you need to lose 8% of your weight prior to surgery with atleast 3-4 weeks vlcd to make sure liver loses its fat to make surgery less risky). I obviously fullfilled the criteria and was referred to the process, but unfortunately due to Covid having resulted in so many cancellations of elective surgeries, the waiting time for surgery was more than a year in every University hospital (we have 5, so I called everyone of them). Here we have this wonderful thing, called progressive taxation which ensures that people who make decent money, don't really get to keep more than 50% of my paycheck so having good healthcare and free education (like University is free, free school meals up until you're 18) comes with a prize tag that we just have had to accept, so obviously I would have preferred to get the surgery for that regular prize (which would have been probably around 300 euros in total with the doctor's pre visits and the hospital days). However I quickly decided, and my hubby agreed, that waiting for a year, maybe even two, was too long as my body had gone through so much already last year. I was worried that too long of a wait would result in me yoyoing with my weight and more complications could have a really bad impact on my long term health. So, I ended going to a private hospital in Finland which in overall was a good experience, and I was able to go home the next day as planned. Tried to go to work 3 days later, but had to go back home after a couple of hours and just work from home the amount I was able to. After leaving the hospital I only took a couple of acetaminophens a day, which I found quite surprising. A week later I was already working regularly normal hours (mostly a desk job, no heavy lifting). No vomiting but a couple of times now that after two weeks I was allowed to have crisp bread (and somehow thought it was a good idea to make it less dry by combining it with cream cheese) have I had it block the stoma or just become just a big clump inside the pouch. Not a pleasent feeling, and tried to drink a bit, and I could feel the fluid staying in the esophagus so just waited it out... Thing I find most annoying is that I have never been a person to drink my calories, not a soup person, especially pureed soups are not at all my thing. Vlcd with the shakes was already a 5 week misery and the the liquid and pureed food phase now after surgery. I already hate all the things I previously used to like such as protein puddings and smoothies. I like the textures of differents foods, fresh fruits and vegetables and can't have most of them in a long time. I have started to chew foods like sweet paprika in my mouth to get the experience and then spit it out to not cause problems. I had no idea I would grow such a disgust (it really is like a physical feeling of nausea) towards so many liquid and pureed foods so quickly.. Feels like right now, at this point when I really don't have any of the NSV's etc effects yet, that it is quite hard to stay in positive at times when the physical nausea, inability to join the family dinners etc. makes you feel down. Maybe atleast some of you understand where I'm coming from, some support would be encouraging. At least reading threads about different topics related to WLS is already something to keep my mind of negativity. Final note; WLS aka weight loss surgery sounds so much more upbeat than our translation in Finnish which is Lihavuusleikkaus (direct translation to Englush for it is Obesity surgery). It sort of has the emphasis on the obesity rather than what it aims to do. Person who came up with the terminology must not have been obese themselves... For anyone who actually read the whole post, thank you, I appreciate it! Sent from my AC2003 using BariatricPal mobile app

Keto is HIGH fat, low carbs and moderate protein. Bariatric is HIGH protein, and from there depends on the surgery team. Some are low carb/sugar low fat. Others are a BALANCED low fat/low sugar diet. Mine is VERY balanced, I have never heard anyone on my team tell us we can't have carbs. Through all the classes, appointments and Nutritionists follow ups. They all say the same thing, balanced diet while making sure we get our protein first and then veggies, if you want or have "room" then have the carb. Understand this is only my opinion: I do not think it is realistic to think someone is going to stay "keto" or "extremely low carb" for the rest of their life. Isn't that how we all YO-YO? By doing extreme diets that we realistically cannot maintain long term? I have lost 100+ lbs 4 different times. (I know, ridiculous) The last time I even had skin removal surgery and still gained it back because eating chicken and broccoli every single day was not realistic! This is what convinced me to finally have WLS. I went through the classes for pre-op still hesitant to have WLS and just figured what do I have to loose by learning more about it in a formal manor. I learned that while some things we might not be able to eat, there was really not the restriction of foods like I heard by travel of words. Even on my worst days, I haven't been even able to eat more than 1200 calories. it really is the restriction of capacity that makes the HUGE difference from a diet to WLS. Eating healthy (most of the time) was never a problem for me. My problem was ALWAYS being hungry, eating 3 servings of chicken rather than 1. Eating 3/4 slices of pizza rather than a half a of slice without eating the outside crust. Again, my opinion and what works for me may not work for you or the next person. I think we all have to figure out what works for us and go from there. Everyone is so different and every bariatric team/center is just as different. I had this surgery so I can eat like a normal person and not like a 400 lb person. I am almost 6 months post op and when I eat around people, rarely does anyone notice my diet being different than their own. I think maybe 3 times someone (who doesn't know I had WLS) has commented about what I was eating. You do you girl, work with your team. Find out what works best for you and run with it! Modify it as you go if needed. We are all on the a different version of the same journey. We got this!! (Sorry for my long post, I got carried away)

See, what you all are saying makes sense, but my nutritionist said I will be eating the bariatric diet for the rest of my life. That's why I was so shocked that she said keto is a fad diet but the bariatric diet is ok. I love keto. My body responds well to it. I have friends that have been on it for years and are doing really well. I lost 100 pounds on it. But I couldn't keep it off no matter how strict I was with it. With the bariatric diet, I was really struggling because my body doesn't do well with low fat. Higher fat with low carbs and high protein seems to work wonders for me. I tend to stay around 70-80 fats per day, 25-35 carbs per day, 70-90g of protein per day, and 1050 - 1200 calories per day (1200 if I work out that day, less if I don't). I may need to call my nutritionist again, because if keto and the bariatric diet both aren't meant to be followed for life, I need to see why she said it would and what I'm supposed to do once I hit my maintenance weight (nowhere near that yet).

Speaking of noodles. I made a roasted eggplant konjac noodles stir fry dish in spicy garlic sauce. I first roasted one eggplant (114 cal) and then stir fried it with the konjac noodles (10 calories, zero carbs), spicy garlic sauce (25 cal) garlic, onions, a splash of chinkiang vinegar and soy sauce. I didn't eat it all but it was great as leftovers too.

ok, breath. My surgeon was ok if I didn’t meet my goals as long as I was making an effort & slowly but surely getting closer. I just couldn’t eat or drink more than I was through the stages: you can only do what you can do while you are healing & recovering & your tummy is being sensitive & fussy. The hormonal flush can be a b*tch. You’re losing weight (yay!) but your stored oestrogen is being released into your blood stream causing things like you’re experiencing almost like a punishment (boo!). I didn’t exercise either apart from the initial short anti blood clotting walking/strolling). Remember trying to walk on my treadmill in the second month because I felt I should do something but the extreme lethargy hit so I stopped (I almost fell of my treadmill I was so tired one day). Even now I just do some stretches, more for my oozing discs, some wall pushups & a few sit ups. Probably wouldn’t burn 10 calories LOL! But you need to do what exercises & level of activity that works for you when you are ready & able.

I don't think keto is any more a fad diet than is the diet recommended to post surgical bariatric patients. They both have specific purposes and are (or were) very effective for their original purposes. The keto diet was originally developed a long time ago as a specific treatment for severe epilepsy. At the time, before antiepileptic drugs, it worked very well in controlling symptoms. The problem is that it became popular for weight loss and it's probably not the healthiest way to eat long term. That said, I think the same thing is true for the post-surgical bariatric diet. It's a diet developed for a specific purpose and it works well for that, but it's not really a healthy way to eat for the general population. The reason we eat a protein forward diet is for a few reasons: Protein helps preserve as much muscle as possible while eating a low calorie or very low calorie diet. This helps keep your metabolism as high as possible so you burn more calories at rest. A carb forward diet (or even a more balanced diet), would cause your body to burn less fat at any given time because carbs are easily burned for energy, whereas protein is not. Protein (actually the amino acids in protein), are essential to your bodies proper functioning, whereas consumption of fat or carbs is not nearly as important. Protein is even more important when healing, thus it's critical post-surgery. The reason the medical community focuses on protein for bariatric surgery patients is due to the above. It's not because protein is actually "healthier". It's just because we are so restricted in what we can eat, thus tradeoffs must be made. I think most doctors would agree that once a bariatric surgery patient can eat more, they should not eat more protein, but instead should work to add healthy fats and carbs ASAP in the form of more whole foods. The general consensus in the medical community is that the healthiest diet is one that starts with lots of fruits and vegetables, has very little processed food, and a lot less meat than what most American or Western Europeans eat.

Why is keto considered a fad diet but the bariatric diet is considered appropriate to follow? For example, my surgeon said to get 60-80g of protein per day, less than 50 carbs per day, and less than 50 fats per day. Keto is high protein, low carb, and higher healthy fats (think mct oil, avocado, not necessarily eggs and bacon). Both are also low/no sugar and require you to eat at a calorie deficit (they just specify how much since calories are not the main concern for either one). Both also require some exercise, based on your ability. The ONLY difference is the fat content. They are virtually the same otherwise, yet one is considered a fad and the other is acceptable. Why? If one can stick to the bariatric diet, why is it assumed they couldn't stick to keto?

I had surgery 9 months ago and didnt hit my goals until at least 6 months along. I had so much nausea and vomiting that taking the extra vitamins and calcium was tough. So I rarely did. I never ever got enough water or protein. Then on the 6th month I saw the right person and got the help I needed. Two doses of the right PPi a day. My husband was so worried for me. Since then I have gained strength and can do loads more. My body tells me when its time to rest and sometimes take a day off. I rarely get more than 60 gms of protein a day and if I had not found protein yogurts that I could stomach, I would still struggle. My calorie count is about 650 to 1000 a day. I am lucky that I have no hunger. I dont count my liquid intake but its probably less than it should be but I am ok with that. Its not a biggy with my team either. I am not dehydrated I can walk anywhere I want to now as before I would need a walking stick to go the shortest distance and be puffing like an old train. I may have had a slow start but it has not affected my weight loss, other than having more stalls when I have not been able to eat enough. Every persons journey is different. Its hard not to compare yourself to others but it does no good in the long run. I didnt exercise until month 6 and I knew I didnt have enough strength to do more than keep my home clean and go shopping. Now most days I have too much energy This surgery makes your hormones go stratospheric. Even at my age I knew my hormones where out of whack. My poor hubby couldn't understand why I was so short with him. I was just like when I had PMT again. My team were never bothered about my progress, just helpful I hope you get through your period quickly and get the right amount of ppi for the nausea. You will then gallop along

You may still be able to tolerate it with less food but the 350 calories is for it to absorb properly. So your body may be getting like 20 or 30 out of those 40mg. I’m just making up numbers but it’s probably getting something less than the whole dose. You could be fine on the lower dose, though. I was on Latuda pre surgery and I switched to Vraylar because I was concerned about the absorption but if you feel fine I don’t think I would worry too much about it. You will be taking in more calories soon anyways.

Did anyone take Latuda pre-surgery and then were able to keep taking in post-surgery? Latuda has an instruction on it to "take with a meal of at least 350 calories". I've been taking 40g of Latuda, but I never get 350 calories in one sitting, I can't eat that much food! I'm also in the last phase before "normal" foods now - my clinic calls it "Easy to chew foods". I wondered if anyone changed from Latuda to something else or was able to take smaller doses of Latuda with smaller amounts of food for it to be just as effective. I don't feel like its not working, but maybe I just can't tell.

Ooh I almost forgot on of my favorite “no cook” recipes is quiche. They have one made with egg whites at Walmart deli that is 300 calories. If that fits your stage and calorie budget you can slice it and heat up one piece or more at a time. I like it crispy so I like to do it one piece at a time. Just bake it for 28 minutes. I always have one in my fridge for last minute lunch or dinner plans. Also Panera has half salads on Their kids menu which also gives you the option to get yogurt instead of bread or chips. When you can tolerate lettuce. I like to take it to go or bring my own dressing with me though cause most of their dressing's are pretty high calories.

Hey all - I guess I'm 8 weeks post-op. I haven't been on in a while, so I thought I'd check in. I have now lost 38 lbs since surgery. When I include the 3-4 months pre-op, I've lost a total of 66 lbs, which puts me at the halfway point to my goal weight of 185. I've thrown the menu out. Okay, I exaggerated. I still have the menu--somewhere, but can't remember when I looked at it last. I am eating right, avoiding breads, carbs, sugars, fat, etc. I still log my food daily. I take my vitamins, watch calories, and make sure to get 90 grams of protein and 64 oz of fluids. The only complaint I have at this time is recurring heartburn, which I have been taking care of with some Alka-seltzer chews. I think I'm going to try some over the counter Nexium next. Hope all of you July Peeps are doing awesome!

They haven't really advised me about calorie amounts, and I have my first post surgery appointment in two weeks. I gained weight today, after 680 calories yesterday. Now my stall has lasted for ten days. How long was your longest stall?

Yea I remembered that from another post of yours. You should be able to find Gatorade there if you have an issue sneaking in the peanuts but I say if your gonna have calories it may as well be protein if it can.

steak is not something you really should be eating so soon. while every surgeon is different. In my paperwork it said to avoid steak for at least 6 months. BUt you should be taking your time eating. Taking around 30 minutes or so to eat a meal. At 2 months i was to hit a max of around 600-800 calories which i did without issue. If you eat slow you can typically eat more as it gives time for food to move thru your system but you always want to go nice and slow and chew very well.

So my Surgery was on June 29 which is a little over 2 months ago but I am noticing my appetite is increasing. I just finished a 6 oz sirloin steak. Is that concerning? Should I be eating up-to 4 oz of food at a time? Am I overeating? I’m still only eating upto 1000 calorie a day but for me to be able to finish a 6 oz steak was alarming. I know people can usually eat 6 oz of food maybe 10 months out but I’m able to eat it now. Any advice? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Eat the amount of calories your team advises you to eat. I thought the same as you did in the beginning the stall will pass, it sucks right now cause you are in the middle of it but it will pass. I have been through four stalls since my surgery and I still lost weight maybe I will hit another and maybe not but I'm not too worried about it right now. Stay strong.

I hit a stall at 2 weeks and five days, and I'm at four weeks now and still at a standstill. So I've been in a stall for a week and two days. To be honest, I'm afraid that this is it. That I will have gone through painful and expensive surgery, only to lose a little over 20 pounds and nothing more. I'm eating 4-600 calories most days. The highest I've gone is 900 calories (included fruit juice) and the lowest was under 200 calories when I was feeling really bad and couldn't get anything down. The day after I ate 900 calories I gained 700 grams, so I don't think upping the calories is the answer.

Try premiere protein caffe latte. You of course can’t have four of them because it would be too many calories and protein but I have one every morning for breakfast and they are great and have about the same caffeine as a cup of coffee. You can also get caffeinated crystal light??

It’s a thing that plenty of people have done. Myself included. I did it because I thought I wasn’t ever going to be able to eat the foods I loved ever again. It really wasn’t necessary because I now can tolerate anything I ate pre surgery just in smaller portions but it won’t kill you either. Just that many calories you have to lose post surgery.

Make sure you are eating enough protein. I found my energy low when I hasn’t eaten enough calories (by way of protein). Hang I there!! Btw congrats on the 11lbs - that’s awesome! 👏 👏

This is why I have not started back on coffee. It's crazy sounding, but it is better for me to plan on special coffee treats from Starbucks (lower calorie options) 1-2x a week than to let myself fall down the coffee rabbit hole. I hate skim milk in drip coffee, which means I want to use other items that are very calorie dense. At least if I plan the coffees, I can track them and program them into my week. The Protein shake option is my back up, for when I decide I want a drip coffee with the husband.

My Doctor said to increase calories a bit and it would end, I did that, and lost 3 lbs in 2 days.

I am about 1 1/2 years post op and I have an issue. I lost 100 pounds, going from 305 to 205 in 7 months and then..... I started coffee again. Sugar sugar sugar. That crack like creamer, International Delight. I totally regret it because since that 100 pound loss, I've been going between 205 and 212, with no more weight loss and I have about 4 cups of coffee a day. Doing the math, that's 560 calories, 80g sugar, 80g cards a day. I have a problem and I am only just now realizing the extent of it. I'm at the point where I want to stop cold turkey today. The reason I drink so much coffee is due to self medicating for my ADHD. I didn't realize that's what I was doing until recently. I started real medication for my ADHD and it helps with it a lot, but I'm still addicted to caffeine as a byproduct. Additionally let me say this right now because I wish someone told me when I was first post-op: Sweetened coffee creamer, whether artificial or real, will increase your desire for sweets and risk your post-op health. Sorry for the scary text formatting, but this is important and I feel it needs to be said. --------------- Moving on, I now need to find a way to navigate this addiction and remove it from my life. Do any of you have experience with quitting coffee, especially cold turkey? I tell myself I like coffee not for the caffeine, but for the ritual and because warm beverages are comforting to my anxiety riddled brain. Coffee is my safe place, but I need to find a healthier replacement. What are some good bariatric friendly, creamy, hot beverages?

The best advice I can give is to return to your pre-surgery food plan. My clinic uses a "liver reduction" plan which is high protein, low carb, high vegetables/fiber, and occasional 30g protein drinks I am post RNY>RNY revision on 12/21/21 and losing very slowly after losing a lot (70 lbs) pre-surgery). It's frustrating. Because of complications post surgery I have no more consumption restriction than I had pre-surgery, so I have to strictly track my food intake, calories, and protein on the Baritastic app. I'm getting about 1000-1200 kcal per day now. The clinic wants me to eat 800 kcal. I can stick to the diet for meals, but struggle with craving between meals. I'm like a zombie staggering to the refrigerator at 3pm, 8pm, and bedtime. The cravings are irresistible. I want ANYTHING! While I have been choosing "good" food, like fat-free Greek yogurt or fat-free cottage cheese and fruit, I'm exceeding the calorie count they want me to maintain. I don't eat sugar, flour, white potatoes, rice, and processed foods because I am a sugar/food addict and these are "trigger foods" for me. I've recently found a few snack foods that are satisfying the craving for these things. For "bread" I've discovered low-cal, low-wheat Ak-Mak Sesame Crackers, WASA Crisp'n Light Crispbread, & WASA Light Rye Crispbread at 20 kcal per cracker. For sweets I like Smucker's Sugar-Free Jam at 25 kcal per Tbsp. A single cracker with a tablespoon of the sugar-free jam often satisfy the urge to stuff my mouth. If not, two surely will. I'm still not meeting the 800 kcal goal, but getting closer. Good luck getting back on track with eating healthy. Get exercise, too!