Search the Community

I have the exact opposite problem. I'm 3 weeks post op with the sleeve. I always feel like I have to burp but I can't. It's very uncomfortable.

short answer: i didn't. i was not able to reach my prescribed protein goal, even with protein shake supplements (70g if my memory serves me correctly) regularly until about 3 months post op. and even after then, i probably only reached it daily about 85% of the time. during weight loss phase, i relied heavily on protein shakes. during maintenance and beyond, i get my protein from the regular stuff: meat fish/seafood dairy, etc. i also have a chicharron addiction, but i wouldn't advise it during weight loss phase (lotsa calories!) today (7-ish yrs post op) i"m "supposed" to be getting in 80g based on my current weight (103 lbs) and activity level (alot! ha)...but honestly i probably reach 80g in a day less than 50% of the time. and i seem perfectly fine. so i dunno. just do the best you can (your honest best, not your pretend best), i always say. nobody is perfect. and we are all so different that what work for me may not work for you. find what works for you and keep doing it until no longer does...then find something else that will. you may not be getting all your protein in, but if u are losing weight and all your labs come back satisfactorily, then why fix what aint broke?? sorry, just my self-supporting proverbial 2 cents. if my POV flavour is not for you, feel free to ignore... good luck❤️

Perhaps you are burping because you are gulping your fluids and getting air into your stomach/pouch. You could also be dealing with some of the air that was put into your abdomen for the surgery. Sometimes that moves into the pouch or what is left of the stomach and you will burp it out. As what SpartanMaker stated, it would be helpful to know how far out from surgery you are because if you are like 3 months out, it may be your signal that it is time to stop eating, it indicates you are full. Some people get a runny nose, burping, the foamies, etc. Everyone is different. Let us know how far out from surgery you are so we can perhaps be more helpful.

Small changes for the win every time! Small changes are always much easier to adapt to and adopt. It might take longer but it’s more likely to stick in the long term. Track your eating and drinking for a week or so. Over time it’s easy to become complacent and let things slide a little in regards to food choices, portion sizes &/or frequency of eating and activity. Then choose which one or two you’ll focus on changing first. Remember to hit those old goals. Get your protein in first, then vegetables, some fruit and some whole or multi grain carbs last of all. Ensure you’re getting in your water. I’ve put on a small amount this year after a hysterectomy. We’re still trying to sort out my hormones but it’s been an emotional time not helped by experiencing full on menopausal symptoms (after managing them for years) plus cravings, food noise, bloating, headaches, … even acne. My weight had been stable until this & my routines were deeply embedded.i felt in control for the first time ever so the weight gain was difficult to understand & messed with me. But life does throw crap at us at times. I’ve dropped a snack, reduced my portions a little, added a couple more stretches and movements to my non exercise activity routine. Deciding what I might change next. All the best.

The best advice I can give is to not try to revamp everything all at once. People that try that rarely succeed long term. Sure, it can work in the short term, but the real goal has to be retraining your body and mind how to be healthy. As such, I would urge you to pick something small to start working on today, or at least in the morning if you want to start fresh. This needs to be something so small as to almost be inconsequential. The reason it needs to be small (aside from helping with compliance), is so that your body and mind don't actually recognize that you're "dieting" or "working out". Continue with that one simple thing for a couple of weeks until it's become a new habit. Once that new habit is established, you can then make another small change. Just keep making small sustainable changes until you reach your goal. Yes, this approach is very slow, certainly much slower than drastic diet and exercise plans that promise quick results. Remember, what does it matter if you lose all the weight quickly if when you get there, you can't maintain the weight loss? Your real goal needs to be learning how you personally need to eat and move for long-term health. What that looks like is different for everyone, so no one here can tell you "eat this way", or "do these exercises" and you'll find success. It has to fit in with your unique needs, tastes and abilities and only you know what those are. If you feel like you need more guidance than that, I'd suggest seeking out professionals such as Registered Dietitians and Certified Personal Trainers. to help put more detailed plans together.

Everything sounds so difficult to begin with. Once you get thrown into it, its a lots easier than you thought. I obsessed about taking my meds and needn't have. My plan changed in two week cycles. I couldn't do puree, not my texture that. My surgeon didn't do shakes or protein powders so I drank a lot of milk, its higher in protein and cheap. I did do high protein yogurt and protein pudding though. He didnt ask and I didnt say. I love cheese, I would eat soft cheeses. Never be afraid to go back a step for a day or two. We are not all the same

I have a red bull addiction. It's not as fizzy, but definitely what I shouldn't be drinking. I was told it need to give up fizzy drinks for life, ideally, but for at least during the firstv8 weeks after surgery. I knew I couldn't give them up, but I don't drink coffee or tea and I need caffeine somehow. I was good and waited until the recommended time after surgery to drink fizzy drinks.

A high protein yogurt was my go to in the puree stage & you can make it into a smoothly y simple adding some extra milk. Add powered flavours or protein if you want. That an instant oats (very milky),runny scrambled eggs (again lots of milk to keep therm thin) and soups. Your tummy can be very fussy in there first couple of months and your taste buds and sense of smell can become very sensitive. For me shakes were unpleasantly grainy and many foods were too sweet or too salty. Also I struggled to eat any meats I pureed but if you go down this route ensure to add enough gravy or stock to keep the pureed meat thin ( slurping off a spoon thin). So beware & tread warily when introducing new foods. Yes plans can be different. Mine was probably the most common of two weeks liquids, two weeks, puree, two weeks soft food but there were differences in what foods were allowed or not allowed at the stages from other plans. Another thing to consider is we all heal at different rates and while your plan may say you can move forward to the next stage at a certain time your digestive system may not be ready. Don’t be afraid to stay longer at a stage than your plan says if this happens to you. If you don’t reach your protein goal in the first weeks don’t panic too much. As long as you’re making an effort and getting closer as the weeks pass you’ll be okay. The volume of food you’ll be able to eat those first weeks alone hinders your ability to get all your protein in. It would take me three days to eat 2 scrambled eggs and the same for a single serve of instant oats. But work extra hard to get your fluid in. I could count shakes (but I stopped them after liquid stage) but I also did things like count the extra liquid I added to soups or yoghurt, the extra milk I added to the instant oats and scrambled eggs - not the recommended liquid you might have to add but any extra I added. All the best.

I had my gastric sleeve surgery 10/31/2024, turned 57 2 weeks later. Had hysterectomy 1/20/2024….so slapped into menopause then g. sleeve…..my hair is 1/3rd the thickness it was 18 months ago…had started thinning in late Jan 2024….but handfuls are coming out now. 😭

Yep, SpartanMaker is awe inspiring a lot. He has good advice and will give you volumes of information. That is why he is so high up there on the track to Guru. Just to restate that hydration is the #1 reason for a visit to the ER. While there will be some nausea, it is because your body is healing and you need to give it time. Think about your 1 day out as having a 1-day old baby to feed, they only get formula. Your formula is fluids. Week 2 you have a 2 year old tummy, and they are still struggling with some foods, so it is a slow introduction of new foods. Slow and steady, don't push and you will do just fine. The nausea goes away once you are on real foods. But it takes time for the insides to heal. Just breathe right through it and don't over do it. Sip means sip, no gulping. Wishing you the best!!

Wow, that's really quick to move to pureed. Let me share the plan from my surgical team for comparison: Stage 1 -- Days 1-4: Non-carbonated Liquids only. Water, popsicles, jello, etc. Stage 2 -- Days 5-7: High protein Liquids. Add in 1 oz of a protein shake per hour. Goal was to work up to 2-3 eight oz protein shakes per day. Stage 3a -- Days 8-14: Easy Pureed foods. At this point, I was only allowed Yogurt, cottage cheese and ricotta cheese. In addition to the protein drinks, I was now allowed to add in 1-2 "meals" consisting of 1 TBSP of these foods per day. Since I focused on Greek Yogurt, this meant a max of 2 TBSP of yogurt per day. Stage 3b -- Days 9-30: Other pureed foods: Now could add in Pureed Meats, Pureed Beans, Cream Soups, Hummus, Cooked Pureed Veggies, and Eggs. Here the meals went up to 2 TBSP in size and I could have up to 3 "meals" per day. In stage 3b on a perfect day, I might have gotten to ~60 grams of protein per day, with the bulk of that still coming from protein shakes. I averaged less, especially early on since I just couldn't get that much food in me. Note that my plan didn't actually have a protein goal for the first month. It wasn't until I got to the next stage where they wanted me to get 70-90 grams of protein per day. I added all that not to say my plan was right and yours is wrong, I just wanted you to see how little protein I was getting for the first month. I think it's important to keep in mind a few things during the recovery period right after surgery: If you have to choose between hitting your hydration goals and food (including protein), hydration comes first. Introduce foods slowly. Things you loved before, or even things you think should be easy to digest may not be. As an example, I loved eggs prior to surgery and ate them all the time. I was unable to eat eggs at all for the longest time after surgery and still don't eat scrambled eggs to this day because of how bad an experience I had right after surgery. Things you never ate before may become your new favorites and things that sound good now may turn your stomach. It's weird how we all react differently to surgery. I would advise not trying to stock up on things now, expecting you'll want them after surgery. Just ask here how many people still have stuff they thought they'd want and now can't eat it. When reading your plan, keep in mind words like "up to", "max", etc. I highlighted some of those above in my plan because sometimes I think people read right over those and think of the upper end as mandatory. If they put words like these in the plan it's there for a reason. You may just not be able to reach the higher end of those ranges and that's perfectly fine. It's not like there's some sort of test and you only get an "A" if you hit the upper end. All the best.

My Gastric bypass surgery is scheduled for August 18, 2025 and here in Hawaii, our liquid diet is only for the first 2 days after surgery, then we move on to pureed for the next 2 weeks. I am trying to prepare because I know the day will be here shortly so just wanted to get some ideas of how most of you managed to get a lot of protein in with such small portions.

I was an early adopter of sparkling water too but I let a lot of the bubbles go first so it was semi flat. Plus I sipped on that glass (500ml) for a few hours. I turned to it as plain water started to become heavy and difficult to drink so sparkling water gave me an alternative to predominately plain water. I still do this almost every day. I actually gave up a lot of carbonated drinks years before my surgery (except for soda or tonic water as a mixer & champagne). Carbonation is terrible if you have reflux (GERD) of which I had a mild case so it is something to keep in mind especially as you have a sleeve. I’m not a big or regular alcohol drinker any more either & I can’t recall the last time I had soda or tonic water as a mixer. Still have the odd glass of champagne - maybe one or two glasses a month. As for being able to take large gulps, drink large volumes of liquid or take multiple sips at a time is an individual thing. Personally I can’t gulp any more nor can I take more than 2 or 3 sips at a time. (E.g. had trouble swallowing a med last year - 4 attempts then up came all the water & the med I had finally swallowed.) Regularly sipping doesn’t bother me. I never feel thirsty or at least never so thirsty I need to take several gulps or down a whole glass at a time. It comes down to what you and your tummy is happy with you doing in regards to how much liquid you can swallow at a time and to carbonation.

A'ole pilikia my friend. I'm sure you'll do great! I won't lie, it can be hard the first few weeks, but it should does get better over time. Remember, you're having major surgery, so give yourself some grace. Remember to just take one day at a time and if you have problems, turn first to your surgical team, but for everything else, we're here for you.

ok... first: DISCLAIMER...we are all different and will experience life and all its awesomeness in different ways. what *I* go through is in no way indicative of what YOU will go through. with that said, I am closing in on 7 years post-op (sleeve) here is/was MY experience: - i accidentally found out that i was able to GULP a whole bunch of liquid at around 3 weeks post op (i was super thirsty at the time), and have no problem doing it since. - i was cleared for ALL food/drinks at 1 month post op (except alcohol..which was 6 months**). - i started drinking carbonated drinks (i.e, Perrier or Soda Water) at about 1 month post op) and had no issues, and i could even GULP it! i did not drink sugary carbonated drinks much at this time...except for tonic water, which i had with my GIN or VODKA. ** i drank maybe 4-5 partial gin/vodka tonics in the time before i reached GOAL at 7 months post op. - since reaching goal (like 7 years ago!), i have regulary drank carbonated drinks (real sugar and artificially sweetened) almost every day. i also have some sort of alcohol every day, but that's a different story, ha! - i have maintained BELOW my stated goal weight (127 lbs) since achieving it more than 6 years ago. - i am currently 103 lbs, and eat admittedly not the healthiest, but i exercise like a m-f*cker so i think it all evens out. Edited to add: for those that my think i'm like way underweight, i'm barely 5'2" so my current weight is actually "healthy" for my height (at least that's what BMI and my doctor says, ha!)

I was wondering, how am I able to raise my liquid intake if my stomach pouch doesn't allow more than 4 ounces sometimes 3 ounces per hour? I read that if we don't increase our protein intake it'll be a lot slower to lose weight. Maybe instead of drinking water a few more hours I should drink protein? I'm 3 weeks post op from a sleeve surgery

Hello @Mama - Bee. I am wondering why this is an issue for you ? As its a surgery on the stomach and it really affects your hormones, the chances of getting nausea early on are a thing. They give you medication to deal with it if its a problem. I found that it was like being in the early stages of pregnancy. If I smelled food cooking or thought of food then the nausea would start. It didnt last very long though , maybe a couple of weeks. Also I had issues with excess stomach acid which made me queasy early on but being on PPI and a wedge pillow sorted that out. Don't worry about things that you may never have an issue with. Its not worth the stress.

During the first week of surgery, I was absolutely miserable and very much regretting my decision to have the RNY. Now I’m 15 days out from surgery and I have done a complete 180! I feel AMAZING. The support of this forum is wonderful. I appreciate being able to lean on you all and hear from your experiences. If you are on the fence about this procedure, I would highly recommend it. BUT, go into it with the expectation that the first week will be pretty terrible. Maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones that it won’t have much pain or issue. But if not, just know it DOES GET BETTER. So much better. I’ve never been so excited to the future. ❤️

Wendy, I just want to thank you for this. Seeing your experience and your positivity really helped. They did give me an abdominal binder and I also did the pillow method for coughing. 2 weeks out now and I’m feeling a million times better. I hope your journey is going amazingly!

Sorry you are having such a tough time & I do agree with the others your experiences are extreme and unusual. While aversions to certain flavours, smells &/or textures isn’t uncommon in the first couple of months, it usually is to rather specific foods & odours not the broad ranging all encompassing aversions like yours. Same with developing such extensive sensitivities or allergies. Our digestive system is just so sensitive after surgery & while healing. Can I add it might be an idea to get a referral to a therapist. You may find it helpful to talk the through your feelings of failure and even your food aversions. Our mind can really mess with us and convince our bodies of many things. I recall my dad’s oncologist saying that sometimes after experiencing a lot of nausea over a number of weeks, your body can start to think nausea is its natural/normal reaction to food. Not saying this is your situation but it can’t hurt to rule it out as a possibility. Also have you tried sipping water overnight to get in more fluids? Still have a large glass y my bed and sip every time I wake ( usually when I get up to pee 😆) or while I’m reading before I sleep. Another thing to consider is that multi vitamins are known to cause nausea and is an issue many of us experienced the first months after surgery. They could be adding to the nausea you are experiencing. As you have an allergy to anti nausea meds, try sipping ginger tea (it counts to your fluid intake & warm drinks are often more soothing) or look into acupressure point bands often sold to help sea or motion sickness. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Anti+nausea+bands&ref=nav_bb_sb I hope you can find some relief and solutions soon. All the best.

So sorry you're going through this! This does NOT seem normal to me at all. Yes, most of us have things early on that just don't seem to sit right in our guts. For example, I could not eat eggs in any form for the longest time. I also can relate to the mental side of things. I was probably about 3 months post surgery and had a work function where they catered lunch. I knew better, but wanted to "fit in", so I decided to just eat whatever was provided. It was sandwiches so I decided to just eat the deli turkey out of the sandwich. It made me horribly nauseated to the point I had to leave work. After that, it took me almost 2 years before I tried any sort of deli meat at all. I knew it probably wouldn't actually make me sick, but the fear that it would kept me from trying it. Anyway, my point is a few changes and food aversions is quite normal. EVERYTHING making you sick is not normal. Regarding fluid intake, lots of people have a little bit of a challenge drinking at first, but it's supposed to get easier and easier as you go. That does not sound like you're experience, though? At 5 weeks in, if you're still only getting 40-48 oz that's pretty low. You mentioned that you're working with your surgeon. I'm curious what they are telling you? Have you really told them everything you explained above? I have found a lot of people (forgive me for stereotyping a bit), especially younger people are not good at advocating for themselves. Unless you really make your doctor fully understand what's going on, they may not realize just how big of an issue this is. I would also recommend talking to your dietitian and your therapist about all this if you have not already started working with those other professionals. The dietitian should have more experience dealing with these sorts of dietary issues and may be able to help you find foods that can help. I would also agree with your assessment that at least some of your issues are mental, thus talking to your therapist would be a really good idea because they may be able to teach you some ways to overcome those issues. With all that our of the way, I wanted to maybe suggest a few things for you to try to help you eat and hydrate: Your water intake seems to be on the low side as I mentioned. I would think you really should be getting closer to 64 oz a day right now. (If your program told you a different amount, go with what they told you.) Be aware that dehydration can actually cause nausea, so could be making your issues worse. IMO, you really need to double-down on drinking, even if that means you have to change your meal schedule. Also, at 5 weeks you should be able to drink several ounces at a time, thus it really should not take hours to get in another 15-20 ounces. If it does, this is yet another thing to talk to your doctor about. You could also consider adding in an electrolyte drink to help with the dehydration, but please only do that with your doctor's blessing. Consider taking a broad spectrum probiotic. I know that then becomes one more pill to take, but I do think at least some of your digestive issues are due to an out of whack gut microbiota. If you can get your gut healthy again, it should really help. You mentioned you are not exercising. At 5 weeks, you really should not be doing any strenuous exercise anyway, but you do need to be walking. I don't know your current weight or how much you're capable of doing, but if all you can do is just 5 minutes to walk to the end of the block and back, that's what you should be doing. If you can do more than 5 minutes, great, do what you can do. I would strongly encourage you to do this outside if at all possible. There are lots of benefits mentally from that exposure to nature, so please don't just walk around the house or on a treadmill. I know this feels like just one more thing to do, but how about you take some water with you and drink some while you're walking? Believe it or not, walking can reduce stress and even improve gut health. In short, don't consider this a nice to have or somehow related to weight loss. Think of it as part of your treatment plan to get past this nausea and on the path to feeling better. Food-wise, you mentioned you're okay with yogurt, but getting burned out on it. You might try flavoring it? In other words, if you're just eating plain greek yogurt to avoid the fake sugars and other ingredients, you probably can add extracts to make whatever flavor you want. I love coconut for example, but vanilla, almond, etc. would also work well. Just check the labels carefully and make sure it doesn't have weird ingredients and that it's using natural flavorings. Fairlife Milk. This is lactose free and taste just like regular milk (at least to me). It also has a lot more protein in it than regular milk, so will be a way to boost your protein intake. Best of luck. I do hope you find solutions to your issues.

Have you tried the unflavored powder you mix into things. I will have my surgery in a week and have allergies already the powder is easer for me to mix into things even the water if I can not stomach the flavored shakes. I like the Isopure Zero Carb 100% Pure Whey Isolate Protein Powder, Lactose Free, Gluten Free, With Vitamins, Unflavored.

Hi everyone! Sorry for the information dump, I'm just incredibly overwhelmed right now and would love to hear any experiences you've had. I've been talking with my surgeon about all this. I just need to get some thoughts from other people who've been through it. I'm in my 20s, autistic and ADHD, and got the SADI early May. It's been 5 weeks. I've basically failed almost every instruction (except to lose weight, I've done great with that! I've lost over 30 lbs post-op). Like protein shakes. I'm very lactose intolerant, and intolerant to several fake sugars, AND allergic to yeast (which is in every soup known to man). After surgery I became intolerant to every fake sugar, even stevia. The three shakes I had managed to tolerate became intolerable post op. Two have things that burn my insides now, and one just makes me puke because it tastes gross without too much sugar for me to tolerate. So I tried a bone broth and then eventually foods (in line with the stages) to try and get protein. Lactaid didn't work unfortunately so no cheese, creamy soups, ECT. Meats are hard to tolerate. Eggs are ok, and vegan Greek yogurt, but after eating anything consistently (like every day) it makes me nauseous. I wasn't picky before surgery, and actually had a protein shake daily, so I wasn't prepared to find food I tolerate literally vomit inducing after a few meals of it. I have massive food aversion now. I get nauseous anytime I think of food, or smell food, though I manage to find something to choke down with my pills so I don't get more nauseous. I've tried to force myself to eat/drink things, but it always ends in dry heaving at best. Its mental, I'm sure, but I liked eating the same foods pre-op so that's confusing for me. Water was fine when I was in too much pain to sleep and had all that extra time, so the first week, but now I'm mentally and physically exhausted and want to sleep a lot. Or even just lay down, and with the GERD that means not drinking while laying down. With all the meals and the not drinking around them, I get 40-48 oz of water a day. I'm not exercising (another ding) so I don't actually seem to be too dehydrated? But once I hit the 40-48oz I stop being able to drink, even if I stay up 2 extra hours to get some more down much more slowly. It just makes me nauseous past the amt mentioned. I don't know what that's about. Also intolerant to the anti-nausea pills btw. For some reason they make the nausea worse and give me stomach cramps to boot, yay. There's more issues, but that's the gist. There's so much to juggle, and it seems like everything I try to fix my issues leads to nausea. How do you do all of this? And not go crazy? And please tell me it ends soon?

Hi! I got a SADI 5 weeks ago and have really been fighting nausea ever since. The nausea pills make it worse for me, and I'm on the double set of PPI to keep the GERD down (which is only working moderately well). I'm not nauseous constantly, but it's inconsistent enough to confuse me. I've been struggling to know what's causing it when every issue seems to come with nausea as a symptom. I'm trying to stay hydrated but not drink too fast, eat but don't eat non-tolerated foods, take my meds but do it with food, etc. Since the nausea goes away each morning I'm guessing it's not an ulcer or something like that. I'm in talks with my surgeon ofc, but I just wanted to reach out and see how you all deal with this? I thought it would be better by now and I'm really miserable. I'd love to stop eating but I know my meds will give me more nausea on an empty stomach.