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Update on the whey protein. I was sensitive to 'milk concentrate" whey protein. This includes the bariatric pal soups, puddings, and gnc lean shakes. It caused a lot of very foul gas and bowel discomfort. Whey isolate, Genepro, and several GNC shakes have been fine. I was not sensitive to the milk concentrate whey shakes before. The cottage cheese also gave me issues and I had to cut it out. Greek yogurt has been fine. So if you are stocking up before surgery I highly recommend making sure you get whey isolate, especially the Genepro as it has no flavor and can be added to anything to boost your protein intake.

I was told by my Bariatric nutritionist that meats did not have to be pureed, but rather chopped finely and moistened with broth, fat free gravy, or low-fat Mayo. As long as you chew properly, the food is pureed before it hits your stomach. Chicken salad and tuna were staples of mine. I also did shredded crock pot meats that were chopped prior.

I am protein shake, bariatric soups, and sugar-free liquids only. I am on day 10 of the pre-op diet, and I agree, the protein shakes are so sweet. I can only handle 2 a day. I add unflavored protein powder (GenPro) to my soups to get enough protein. Good Luck with your surgery—I am the day before, so I will be thinking of you from my hospital room!

My bypass surgery is scheduled for this Monday (May 3rd). I am on Day 10 of my pre-op liquid diet. The first 3 days are the hardest—I had body aches, hunger, weakness, and fatigue. Now, I don’t really notice being hungry, and I have more energy than I did last week. I have lost 15 lbs! I bought the bariatric soups from my surgeon’s office, and I find mixing them with flavorless protein powder and broth make them better—I also added a little black pepper and garlic seasoning. My best advice is to keep busy and keep drinking water and sugar-free Gatorade to help! My motivation for getting through these two weeks is constantly reading about what happens when you don’t follow the diet. I don’t want my surgery cancelled or my health at risk, so I drink the soup, the protein shakes, and the sugar-free liquids and count the days until Monday! I am both nervous and excited. Anyone having a bypass? Most of the people I know had the sleeve, but I have severe GERD so my surgeon recommended bypass!

Exactly! Instead of beating ourselves up for not reaching our goal weight, we should focus on how much we have accomplished! And for most of us, the original goal weight was a fairly arbitrary number. The important thing is that you are way healthier than you were two years ago. Congrats! Well if we’re doing confessions, I’ll admit that I can have mimosas (yes, plural) and not suffer. Weird story, but I actually ran into my bariatric surgeon at a padel ball tournament last fall. Weirder still, my husband and I got paired up against him and his wife. Mimosas and breakfast burritos were flowing and my bari-surgeon himself poured me a mimosa after our match! I told him I either had room for the mimosa or the burrito and his response was “damn surgeons, can’t trust ‘em” Lol, I chose the mimosa 🤣 Hope everyone is doing well So far I’m hanging into the high 130’s and I too think that I look much better now with 5 extra pounds on. I seem to be in constant flux-regaining then losing the same 5-7 pounds. I’d like it if I had a bit more consistency, but as long as I can keep within my window I’ll take it.

Greetings Coexister, i does seem that I am not a dumper either because I’ve tested this several times. I did get a bad reaction from drinking whole milk kefir. I got a stomachache. I wonder is this a form of dumping syndrome? When I drank low fat or non fat kefir, I absolutely had no problems with the kefir. However, when I had a frozen yogurt, I didn’t experience any sickness in my physical body. In terms of losing weight, for the last three weeks, I have stayed the same weight. I haven’t gained or loss weight. I guess that’s a good thing. You know something, Coexister? I have often wondered if my Bariatric Surgeon actually did the RYGB on me. My recovery is very similar to when I got the VGS in 2016. I control my snacking by putting everything I eat in my dietary journal. My dietitian gave me a calorie target and I rarely go above my calorie target. If there’s a particular snack I want to have, I budget for it within my calorie budget. I also read these forums for insight and inspiration as everyone that uses these forums have pearls of wisdom to offer each other. I have no regrets that I proceeded to revision to the RYGB because I my weight is coming down again and I have no more GERD & heartburn anymore. I also can’t risk get throat cancer from the hideous GERD I suffered from before I had my RYGB. 😃 I am six weeks post op and today was my first day back on solid food. I’m going back on solid food slowly - introducing each new food slowly back into my diet.

Interesting responses here. There are indeed some insurance plans that have requirements of things they want you to do prior to approval for the surgery. Yes, the medical WLS program requirements are separate. Indeed some people have insurance that do not require anything. But if you do a search on this site, it's not just about hoops from the medical staff. Folks indeed report that their insurance required 3 months, 6 months, weight management, etc. And, for some of the "hoops" reported, some can be regarded as helpful in some ways just for your own medical care perspective and preparation for surgery. You can tell which programs prepared folks and which did not when you read posts on here. But, people also have all kinds of programs and insurances. Plus, some folks are self-pay and move through the process faster. From the medical program perspective, blood work and an EKG seems simple to me. Plus, some do EGDs before to see if you have a hernia that needs repairing or if there is anything internal that might cause a problem with the surgery. That's cool with me. I haven't had a lot of other surgeries, but getting information beforehand and tests that provide information about my health seem like a good deal to me. I guess that's also because from my perspective I wasn't trying to race through this process. Man, after surgery you certainly can't race through the process either. I think that if I had to wait more than 6months, I would be annoyed, but 3-6 months seems tolerable to get info, prepare mentally, prepare physically, fully understand what the program does and does not do, etc. I think one of the better "hoops" that people report is meeting with a therapist who understands bariatric surgeries, food addiction, eating disorders, etc. For folks on here who report not meeting with a therapist prior, many times it is recommended after. This is not a fast process. I'm glad that I had time to really fully understand and know what I was getting into. I recommend a good therapist for everyone going through this process. Good luck

Definitely take it to the hospital. You are required to have it there, especially for surgery. That said, I kept mine plugged in next to the bed but didn’t put it on. The nurses didn’t enforce it. Granted, I stayed in the orthopedic wing rather than the bariatric wing. Not sure why.

insurance generally doesn't require you to jump through a bunch of hoops (as long as you qualify, which you said you do) other than many policies require a diet supervised by a physician or dietitian (often for six months) - although not all have this requirement. Your bariatric clinic, on the other hand, will likely have you go through several medical clearances, though - blood tests, sleep study, EKG, etc. Some also require you to go through classes. You may first need a referral to a bariatric surgeon from your PCP - so I would start there. Once you're an official patient at a bariatric clinic, the process will begin..

Congratulations to you. I can't give perspective as a parent, just as a child. I know that my mother has made plenty of changes in her life that were not bariatric surgery but affected me a lot. At the time (when I was a teenager/in college) I was upset about some of them. But I got older and some time passed and I realized that she had to do those things for her. It might take a little while for them to get on board but they love you and they will get there. You just have to stay the course and do what is right for you.

Yes. I am ashamed. I ate a cup of nonfat yogurt with 1/8 cup of brown sugar and cocoa. Boy was it good but it wasn’t worth it. I felt much better physically the rest of the day after that, but I got on the scale tonight and I weigh 5 pounds more than I did this morning. So now I have lost a net 7 pounds instead of 12 in 6 days. I’m not going to kick myself over it. For now I guess I’ve got to continue the keto journey even if i do not feel well most of the time. Because I’ve passed out once and almost again yesterday, I am going to call the general doctor tomorrow to schedule an appointment before surgery. Because I don’t think things are right with my body. The bariatric clinic says it is not the diet but I am not convinced of that. It may be that some people just cannot do well on a plan that has only 10 grams of carbs per day and 700 calories. I mean, I am 65 years old.

You may want to get a second opinion from another bariatric surgeon. I very much trust my surgeon, but before I underwent surgery I got a second opinion from another practice to confirm I was doing the best surgery for my situation.

Your team may give you a list of shakes they prefer, but generally I think 5grams of sugar or less and 200 cals or less per shake. This criteria seemed to be the common thread in all of the shakes recommended to me by my team. Protein isolates appears to have better bioavailability than concentrates. (Someone please correct me if I’m wrong) Besides that it will depend on your personal preference for flavor and tolerance. They range from shakes, and shots to waters and soups. So there really is somethings for everyone. Testing a few at a time instead of buying a huge supply can definitely help until you find your go to brand/type. This site’s store has a ton of options. Vitamins (Bariatric) are also preference based but I personally favor one a day types.

re: shakes, everyone's tastes are so different that you're bound to get 100 different answers here. If you can find individual packets online or in specialty stores (like Vitamin Shoppe), I'd pick up some of those - that way you're not stuck with some $30+ tub of protein powder that you hate. here are the vitamin recommendations from the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. You might have to scroll down a ways to see them - and be sure to check the recommendations for your particular surgery (although some clinics have both sleevers and bypassers on the same vitamin regimen). For pharmacy or grocery store vitamins, you usually need to take two multivitamins a day to meet requirements. There are some bariatric-specific multivitamins out there where you only have to take one per day - but either will work as long as it meets the requirements (I take Centrum or the generic equivalent): https://asmbs.org/app/uploads/2017/06/ASMBS-Nutritional-Guidelines-2016-Update.pdf

I had emergency gallbladder surgery about a month ago. I found out I had a BMI of over 50, & a fatty liver. My gallbladder surgeon highly recommends gastric sleeve surgery. He does bariatric surgeries as well as general. Yay me... I have begun my journey; I had my 1st dietitian appointment, done my upper GI scope, have a cardiologist appointment this week & a follow up to the upper GI this week. I am waiting to find out about the sleep study and have 2-3 more appointments with the dietitian before surgery... Was wondering what the best pre & post Op protein shakes are best as well as liquid & chewable vitamins are recommended..... Sent from my LM-Q730 using BariatricPal mobile app

Many people do not tolerate higher levels of Iron in Bariatric vits. Certain types of zinc can also make you nauseous. I personally take zinc piccolinate and use desiccated liver caps for iron and other vitamins along with a B complex pill. It’s annoying to have to take so many pills, but vitamin intolerances are common.

I am in Ontario and almost 6 months post op RNY. When working through the OHIP process for bariatric surgery there are a lot of resources provided including documentation on all the do's and don'ts etc. I believe that all of these surgeries covered by OHIP are funnelled through the Ontario Bariatric Centres of Excellence. This way they were able to achieve some level (using that loosely) of standardization. I would be very surprised if the clinic/surgeon you are going through doesn't have some sort of similar options to offer you. Sometimes advocating on your own behalf isn't easy but I personally think the surgery is the easy part. The rest is what's hard. I would like to send you a pm but I have never done that in here. I will give it a try.

This 4-ingredient* protein mug cake is amazing! (*This recipe is awesome as written, but see below for my recommended modifications.) Cocoa powder, protein powder, pumpkin puree, and sweetener of choice. It sounds weird, but you don't taste the pumpkin once it's cooked. You can even make it vegan if you use vegan protein powder. https://masonfit.com/one-minute-protein-brownie/ There are a lot of low-carb mug cake recipes out there, but this is the best one I've seen because it's so easy, low in calories, and doesn't require any weird, expensive, hard-to-find ingredients (unless you count protein powder, but I'm guessing most bariatric patients have a tub or four of protein powder in the house). It's amazingly cake-like for something that contains no flour. I normally eat it directly out of the bowl/mug, but I wanted to get a picture that shows the texture (unfortunately, I'm a terrible photographer, so you might just have to trust me). . I find it a bit dry (which could be because I use whey protein isolate instead of the recommended whey/casein), so I always top it with sugar-free syrup or melted sugar-free Jello (plus a dusting of powdered Swerve), flavored Greek yogurt, or -- my favorite -- raspberry or strawberry puree (sometimes I mix about half a tablespoon of raspberry puree into the batter, which adds a little moisture). . Although this recipe is great without any modifications, I couldn't help myself from tweaking it. I like to add a pinch of salt and a splash of vanilla. I also like to substitute half of the pumpkin puree with liquid egg substitute (like Eggbeaters), which provides even more protein. But that makes it more than 4 ingredients, so if you want to keep it simple, you can stick with the original recipe. 1 tbsp dark cocoa powder 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder (or any flavor you like) Optional - calorie-free sweetener to taste (about 1 tbsp sugar equivalent) Optional - pinch of salt 2 tbsp pumpkin puree 2 tbsp liquid egg substitute (Eggbeaters or equivalent) Optional - 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract Mix dry ingredients in a mug or small bowl. Stir in wet ingredients to make a smooth batter. Microwave for 1 to 1.5 minutes (it might take some trial and error depending on your microwave; 1 minute 20 seconds is perfect for me). . Seriously, this is SO GOOD! If you try it, let me know how it goes!

I posted about this on the sleeve forum before. I developed GERD after my sleeve and was able to control it with one PPI a day until the end of 2020 where it's increased to two PPIs, 1 H2 and tums all day. Had issues with vomiting, nausea, stomach and chest pain. Difficulty swallowing. Sore throat since December. Had an endoscopy 3/3. Lax LES causing GERD, gastritis and a nodule in the antrum of the stomach that appears to be benign but will be removed in an endoscopic ultrasound in June as a precaution as it has a small risk of turning cancerous later on. Gastroenterologist referred me to my bariatric surgeon believing revision is needed. My surgeon wasn't sure on revision because I have lost all my excess weight with no regain. I have only been in maintenance for 4 months though. He sent me for a barium swallow. Had the barium swallow and the radiologist found esophogeal dysmotility and a hernia that the endoscopy had missed. Radiologist said I will either need a nissen fundoplication or revision to bypass along with hernia repair When I called my surgeon's office to schedule a follow up the nurse said something about maybe a hernia repair would be enough which left me feeling confused. I told her I want do whatever has the best chance of not having more complications or needing more surgery in the future. I had my galbladder out June 2020 after sleeve June 2019 and really just want to be healthy with no more surgery. My follow up is on Tuesday. I am not sure what my surgeon is going to recommend. From posts here it seems nissen isn't the best option for sleeve patients. Would hernia repair be enough or is revision to bypass the best option? I just don't want to be getting hernia repair and then still have reflux be a problem due to my esophagus and end up needing a revision later on.

Yes, I am having the same problem. I passed out yesterday trying to stand up. Thankfully I landed on the couch. I checked with my daughter, an RN; she says it is hypoglycemia. She brought a glucose monitor for the next time it happens. Your blood glucose must stay above 70. What she did yesterday is cook me some yellow squash. That worked for around 20 minutes. After that, I just went to bed for the day. I have a call into the Bariatric Clinic; they told me to go to the ER. I didn't do that because it costs me $350 each time. I feel certain it is hypoglycemia since it goes away after I take in a few carbs.

I take the bariatric advantage chewable multivitamin with iron and their calcium citrate chews both twice a day and use cocoa butter and collagen peptides daily to help minimize excess skin.

I had bypass revision on Jan 11,21 which included a common chanel resection as well as making the original pouch smaller. I have lost 62 lbs and am doing amazingly well post op. No vomiting, nausea, or heartburn, I still have 3 weeks left of taking a daily prilosec but then I will be just on my bariatric vitamin and calcium chew. I was able to stop taking my only prescription medication for high blood pressure. I go to the gym about 4 times a week and my back pain has decreased significantly. My comfortable goal is to loose 40 more pounds but would love to loose 45 just to make sure. Sent from my SM-G965U using BariatricPal mobile app

My surgeon's office also recommended Bariatric Fusion chewables or liquid vitamins for the first couple of months. They did advise against patches, which is unfortunate, as it seems like such a great idea for post-op patients.

My surgeon's office recommends Bariatric Fusion chewables. I started taking one per day while I'm in pre-op phase, but post op it's 4 per day to get the required vitamins. Multiple pills, but at least it's just one vitamin bottle on the shelf.

Good Luck all with your pre-op diet and surgeries! You all will do great! For me, the 1st couple of days home after surgery were a bit rough, but by the third day, the brain fog was gone and once I figured out how much I was able to sip at once, it was much better. My surgeon said that the more I drank, the easier it would get...he was right! I also got some Proti Diet 15g Protein Soup - Chicken. My clinic sells them for $10/box of seven. Had them in the hospital and they actually soothed my new tummy. And are really good. They have been a life saver for me with getting my protein in each day. You can get them various places online, including Bariatric Pal Shop.