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I was looking for an introductions forum, which was mentioned somewhere, but couldn't find it, and this seemed the most appropriate place! I just joined the site after reading - well listening to - Alec Brecher's book on the gastric bypass. I'm George, I'm 43 year olds and I currently live in Spain after a lot of moving around. I've been overweight all of my adult life, but I have rapidly gained a lot more weight in the last few years. Considering bariatric surgery was first recommended to me by my doctor a few years ago, but it was right before the pandemic and that interrupted the process I was on at the time. I am now scheduled to have (hopefully) gastric by pass on April 15th, privately, at a clinic in Latvia. I decided to pay for it myself since the wait time to do it on my government plan in my part of Spain right now is said to be about three years. Currently I am on Rybelsus to help me loose some weight before the surgery, and there's been /some/ success. I expect to be on the liver reduction diet for a month before the surgery and I have to admit I'm not looking forward to it! I look forward from learning from everyone on this forum.

Congrats on 10 years! I think we all will have ups and downs our whole lives! Just life! I too was 277 at my highest ever. Lost 100 lbs before and 60 lbs three times, and 20 and 30 lbs several times and it always came back slowly over the next few years. So I got the sleeve done Dec 2 last year and have gone from 244 at start of liquids before surgery to 202.4 today. Almost to Onederland! I love all the tips you shared. Snacking and drinking calories are DEFINITELY culprits to regaining our weight! I bring divided out grapefruit every day lately if I do want something. Or berries or cucumbers. And I've been drinking water during the week and add in my tea and coffee on the weekends usually. But I use Stevia. I was divorced a few years back also and remarried and my husband is pre-diabetic. He doesn't eat sugar now so that helps me too. 🙂 He eats healthier than I do since he found that out too. Determined to not become diabetic. He eats baked fish, grilled shrimp, spinach and cabbage, etc. LOL! He's got some great willpower. You and I seem to have lots in common! But I don't like beer. LOL! It's probably better for me though than pina coladas, which are my fave! LOL! I haven't had one in a year or longer. And just had surgery about 3 months ago. You can tell I hardly drink at all. 🤣 I am so glad to know restriction stays! Some people say it fades. I'm glad it doesn't! Hopefully we can continue to lose and get to a weight we are happy with this year! 💗

I don’t know why I’m suddenly getting messages again I deleted myself from this form as I found it toxic. I came here for support and was told no one believes me my body went into complete starvation mode. They sent me home until they had test results, everyone said they didn’t believe me because they sent me home three days later my kidneys failed. I missed Christmas with my kids because I was in the hospital. Spent three weeks there on IVs. They eventually had to make my pouch bigger. miss a hell of a lot thought this form would help me and I got responses that no one believed me great support deleting myself from this again just know this form can be toxic. I cried hysterically after the responses I got thank you all for not supporting me. Good luck to all of you.

Hey guys! Thanks for taking your time to read and answer I appreciate it. I had Gastric Sleeve last Friday the 14th. I have had a few moments where it felt like I was having low blood sugar, because I was/am prediabetic. It will go away even eating a sugar free popsicle will make it better. My bf told me it's not my blood sugar cus sugar free wont fix that. I have just had a handful of moments that felt like i would pass out if i didn't get something in me. Is that normal? I get in all my fluids and then some, ate my 2ox 3 x a day liquid diet as well. I was getting about 40 grams of protein a day which was all I could really fit in in three meals of 2oz lol. Today I am starting puree so I am expecting it to get better but just curious. I've had 0 complications and 0 dumping as well.

Oh the disposable knickers may be useful at least for a couple of days. Friend was advised by her surgeon to wear disposable knickers for the first week. Sudden and unexpected diarrhoea is a possibility and you shouldn’t trust a fart for the first week or so. Wish my surgeon suggested the paper knockers. My real knickers ended up in the bin at the hospital. Got up to pee, took three steps and oh my God!! Away it came. Of course it doesn’t happen to everyone but it’s not worth the risk. Glad things are going well so far.

Today we meet with the Nutritionist (super cool and I think my husband wants to being her home) and the surgeon. I can't say enough good things about him. He is so friendly and knowledgeable. Plus he had the surgery 15 years ago himself so he definitely understands. All is good to go for in the morning. I have three drinks to drink tonight and in the morning to get ready. 10AM is go time!! We had our last meal (my husband is having an inguinal hernia repair) and it was the perfect way to spend the afternoon! Pics attached!

Both are very important to your general health. Vitamins because you’re not able to consume enough of a variety of foods to get all the nutrients your body needs to function effectively. Protein should be your focus not only now but forever. It can be a challenge to reach your protein goal every day especially in the first couple of months after surgery when your portions are so small. But work at being at least close to your goal and that your general trend is you’re consuming more and getting closer to the goal. We usually say eat your protein first then any vegetables you are able to and lastly any allowed complex carbs but only if you are able to eat more. This often means a meal is solely protein and nothing else. Protein is very important to your wellbeing and if you’re not consuming enough your body will take it from any it can i.e. your muscles. Not taking your vitamins or meeting your protein (or any other goals you are given) will have a negative impact on your health. The regular blood tests your surgeon & team will request are to ensure you’re not deficient in any nutrient. (5.75yrs out I still have regular blood tests - was 3 monthly until year 4 & every 6 months now.) You are likely experiencing a stall. Stalls are very common with the first one (yes, first one) almost all of us experience occurring around the three week mark though it can be earlier or later than that. @catwoman7 would tell you, there are literally 10s of 1000s of posts here about the infamous three week stall. A stall usually lasts 1-3weeks though some experience longer stalls. Frustrating yrs but they happen for a reason. A stall occurs when your body shuts down to reassess your current needs in response to your weight loss, smaller calorie intake and this first one the stress of your surgery & recovery. You will start to lose weight again when your body is ready to move forward again. Stick to your plan & meet your nutritional goals as closely as you can so you’re not & stressing your body more than it already is experiencing.

That's a very different pre-op diet than I had. I was on three protein shakes a day, pureed (non-starchy) vegetable soups, and as for fruit I could only have apple or berries. The berries I mixed with vanilla protein shake in my Magic Bullet for a smoothie. I never felt dizzy. Are you getting enough protein? Not sure how much is in one pint of skim milk...

That's very different from my pre-op. I was on three Optifast products a day plus pretty much unlimited non-starchy veg, and about 100g lean protein. I didn't get dizziness. Do you have a dietician as part of your surgery that you can talk to?

Happy to see you're doing so well! I'm going home today. Ended up getting sleeved on Wednesday, which wasn't the initial plan. My surgery was scheduled for Thursday, Jan 30. When I arrived on Wed morning for my pre-ops (blood work, urine test, EKG, meeting with psychologist, etc) they asked if I'd like to have the procedure that same day as the schedule had unexpectedly opened up. I was like, sure let's just get this over with lol They gave me a bottle of water with 1000mg Tylenol, benadryl, and Clonopin to help me relax, and told me not to drink anything else from there on out. I had the VSG around 3:00p. I remember the anesthesiologist saying, "If you feel a little dizzy, that's normal." And then nothing. I woke up in recovery lol I was really groggy when I woke up and a little disoriented, like "Where am I? What's going on? It's over already? That's it?" Haha. I did feel pressure in my abdomen and I kept having to tell myself to breathe. I haven't felt much pain, only when getting up and sitting down, and I haven't felt nauseous at all, thank god. A young lady in the room next to mine had nausea SO bad. I felt for her cuz that's awful. I've been walking a lot to help relieve the gas pressure. It's a lot better than it was a couple days ago. They took out my IV yesterday and I have been able to take my medications by mouth without any problem. I'm able to tolerate liquids, and have been mixing water with gatorade. I got a B12 shot in the ass today, and that sucker hurt! Yowza. They have me on an antiobiotic and blood thinner for the next week. I also have pain medication that I can take every 6hrs, but I honestly haven't needed to take it that much. I'll just use Tylenol once I get home. Looking forward to going home today and seeing my three babies! (They're cats lol) But first I have to discharge and then go to the airport. Hopefully the flight home isn't too bad. 🤞

I am about 18 months post gastric bypass surgery. For about the last three months I have developed a condition where one or both of my eyes sting between 5 and 7 pm each evening for a period of about five minutes. At first, I thought perhaps I had something on my hands and I had touched my eyes and it had caused them to sting, however it happens without touching my eyes. It's the same kind of sensation as having sweat in your eyes. However, I'm not sweating. One thing that I have noticed is that in the evenings if I touch my forehead my skin feels very oily. So I do wonder if perhaps my eyelids could also be getting oily and therefore getting the oil onto my eyeballs. I have tried eyedrops for Dry eyes but they don't seem to work. The only relief I get is actually by rubbing my eyes, which when I was growing up my parents told me not to rub my eyes. But it does seem to give me a relief and it seems to make the sting go away faster. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

I am here to add my vote for meal planning. I also have ADHD tendencies and I LOATHE food tracking. In the early days after surgery when I absolutely had to make sure I got in my protein and water, I managed to track by keeping a physical tracking notebook next to me at all times. I had to see the book to remember to do it. I stopped tracking around 5 months when I was consistently hitting my goals. Now that I am almost a year out, my weight loss has slowed (as expected) and I am finding it too easy to make poor choices if I don't plan ahead. I forced myself to actually track for a couple days and was shocked by how many calories I could eat and what I was choosing even when I "thought" I had been pretty reasonable. So, instead of tracking, which I am still terrible at, I've started meal planning and prepping ahead. For breakfast and lunch, I came up with a selection of maybe three or four choices I liked that have around 20g protein and entered them into my meal tracking app. For example, a spinach frittata for breakfast that I can slice into several servings, fruit cups that I make ahead for the week, single-serve packets of protein oatmeal or a protein bar for those days when I have to grab and go. For lunch, I make homemade chicken veg soup and also salad jars. I also like to make a batch of turkey chili to have on hand, which I store in single-serve containers. I also came up with a few snacks I like such as Greek yogurt with blueberries, or an apple with cheese. I also entered in my typical favorite 6 or 7 homemade dinners as recipes or meals in the app so I could easily add them to my day with one click. Before my shopping day, I try to plan my meals for the coming week. If I see my calories going too high or my protein not being enough, or whatever, on any given day, I can adjust accordingly. On a day that I eat oatmeal, I make sure my other choices are less carb heavy. If I have eggs for breakfast, I might plan to have a carb at dinner. I have the tab easy to get to on my computer, but printing it out each day would also work, as would entering each meal as a reminder in your phone's task list or calendar app. It is so much easier for me to look at my menu and follow it than it is for me to decide what to eat every day in the moment. It also means that if I can eat what I plan most of the time, I can have a restaurant meal or a dessert a few times a month without worrying about it or trying to track it. And since I tend to package up most of my make-ahead meals in single-serve containers, it's pretty easy to grab something to take along if I'm going to be out and don't want to have to hunt for food on the go and risk being off plan. The worst days for me are when everything in the house is an ingredient instead of a meal. That's exhausting and inevitably leads to snacking or poor choices. I find I need to set a regular day of the week for shopping when I can also have time to prep some items right away, before the food even goes in the fridge. I have the most success for the week when all my produce enters the fridge already washed, sliced, and portioned into fruit cups and salad jars, and when I can kick off a batch of chili in the slow cooker, a frittata in the oven, and a batch of taco meat to store for later in the week all at once. Freezing complete single-serve meals is another great strategy for those busy days when you might otherwise get off track. Like any habit, it takes a while to establish and may not be 100% perfect all the time, but I definitely find this helping me.

Make a list of all those things you want to change. Pick just one to focus on THIS week. Make sure though, that it's something small that you can measure in some way. For example, you can't say "I'm going to eat better", because that's too big and too vague. Instead, pick something even smaller and definitive like "instead of eating ice cream after dinner every day this week, I'm only going to eat ice cream 4 days this week". That's probably small enough that your brain won't make a huge fuss over it, and is also easily measurable. If you successfully make that change and can keep doing it for two or preferably three weeks, then you can more on. For example, maybe after three weeks, you decide to move to only eating ice cream once a week. Again, you need to be able to successfully do that before moving on again. If you fail, no worries, just try again. If you keep struggling, you may have picked something too big and you need to scale it back. I would also recommend alternating diet and exercise goals. Thus if you successfully made a diet change that you're able to stick with, next time maybe it's "I'm going to walk after dinner 3 days this week". By alternating in this way, you'll find the diet changes are easier to adjust to and at the same time, you'll be improving your health. Just make sure to go slow with these as well. I often see people in the gym (especially this time of year), that tried to go from basically doing nothing, to working out 5+ days a week. Sadly, the failure rate for such people is well north of 90%. Here's the thing. This will take a LONG time, but if you try to go faster because you're feeling impatient, the likelihood is that you won't be able to maintain the loss, you'll fall off the diet, and before you even realize it, you'll be right back where you were before. I also want to be clear, I do still recommend seeking out counseling for a possible eating disorder, as well as help from an RD. Dieting is HARD. if it was easy, we wouldn't have an obesity epidemic. The smart play here is to stack the cards in your favor by getting help from experts.

Unfortunately weight loss isn’t consistent. You won’t get a lovely perfectly straight line on a graph. It zig & zags. More one week, less the next. None one week and a gain the next. We also have natural fluctuations in our weight which are all normal and when we are weighing ourselves every day they suddenly are very obvious. There are many reasons why we have these fluctuations and I swear sometimes it’s just your body messing with you. As long as your weight loss trend (over weeks and months) is in a downward direction you’re doing well. Add some soluble fibre to your soup or shake each day to help with the constipation. I got into a routine too. No poop for three days I took a stool softener. Remember too at first you’re not consuming much so you don’t have much for your body to excrete from so don’t expect to go every day. Despite some hiccups (like the power outage and loss of food) things seem to be going pretty smoothly for you. Yay!

Well, we are all different so take this with a grain of salt, but I was the same BMI prior to my preop diet as you are now so relatively close and I just looked back at my weight log and Iwas losing about 6 pounds per week on average in the beginning, but I also had the SADI which is quite a bit more aggressive than the sleeve or even the bypass so my loss statistically should’ve been more rapid than yours with a sleeve. Frankly, I think that you are doing very well with losing a pound a day and I wouldn’t be too shocked if it does slow down a bit. It definitely will not be a perfect line where you lose the exact same amount every day though. There may be times when you even gain a pound or three and hold it for a few days and then one day you will just drop those 3+ another pound. But if you only log your weight once a week, even if you must get on the scale every day, if you only look at the once a week or even once a month, your trend will be far more consistent. Some people only get on the scale once a week or once a month. I know I couldn’t do that but it really would be better for your mental health if you could hide your scale and just do what you’re supposed to do and trust the process.

Thank you 🙏🏻 my gastroenterology appointment is in three weeks so I am going to start there and I look forward to figuring it out because it’s not fun I have talked to a few doctors on the scope of my PCP…. One has seen complications/odd symptoms in long term gastric bypass patients. When I say complications, I mean digestive complications because there are plenty of people who don’t have enough nutrient, etc., and have issues that are beyond that. I pretty much covered all of those in my first 10 years when I really didn’t know how to take care of myself from a nutrient standpoint and vitamins. I do think it could be a parasite, or potentially a combo of diverticulitis and acid reflux. Most of the potential diagnoses have weight loss associated with them, and that is definitely not the case unfortunately lol. Yes, I would love to press the fix me button, but I know I have to do the work on this

I didn’t have significant issues immediately after the surgery. I know a lot of people experience, dumping, nausea, and vomiting. I had one experience of vomiting, and it was simply because I made a bad choice to drink a drink that had too much sugar in it. I really had, other than the inability to eat big portions, no issues at all. Since that was what I was going for to begin with I was pretty happy and felt very fortunate. I followed what I now know to be a pretty typical less fiber, diet as the lettuce and other things seem to not do well. But vegetables that were cooked were fine. About three years ago, I started to experience extreme, explosive diarrhea - at first I thought it was random… Maybe I was sick, or I had eaten something bad. At that point, the occurrences were about a month apart. As this started to occur more often, I started eliminating things from my diet. Last summer, it was every day. I also had cramping and it would continue until my bowel was empty. At that point out of complete necessity I changed everything I wrote down what my habits were, anything that was consistent that I was consuming. I started systematically removing. I had stopped drinking diet sodas about five years ago, and it never occurred to me that artificial sugar could play a role in this however, I did find out that as I added, sugar-free vanilla to my coffee each day, that was playing a huge role. As soon as I started drinking, just black coffee I felt some relief. I thought that maybe I found the solution. It went from every day to every other day basically. So I started cutting more things out. And then I started having more symptoms. My stomach hurt when I ate. It felt like my esophagus hurt. I started having food come back up. I had to eliminate anything with oil in it. Almost everything I enjoy eating in anyway is off the list. Which is fine, I’m 63. I don’t need to enjoy my meals, exactly. However, it makes selecting food very difficult, especially as I travel a lot. I’ve now started adding gas, more cramping, and the symptoms are better one day worse than next. as to what my team says, lol… My gastroenterology appointment is next month. I have been waiting four months for that appointment. My blood work is perfect better than it’s ever been. I’ve had an ultrasound on my abdomen. Everything is fine except for my gallbladder has some sludge in it. I am well aware that my gallbladder perhaps is part of the problem. However, my PCP thinks that I should just lose weight and my gallbladder will be OK. With that, I can’t lose weight. I’ve actually gained during this whole time. Which seems almost impossible as I spend a tremendous amount of time eliminating everything I eatalmost immediately. The other amazing part of this is I feel great other than the diarrhea/other stuff. I go to the gym, I travel every week for work, I am in different environments with different schedules and somehow I have been able to work around my situation. I have had to cut out longer flights, which has made me really sad because I’ve missed several opportunities to go places I’ve wanted to go, but the risk of not being able to being in a bathroom for a half hour is too high. my current list of what I can eat with no issue is toast, sharp cheddar cheese, cooked green beans, chicken noodle soup, and Parmesan cheese crisps. It’s not a diet that anyone really wants to live on lol. Nor is it actually possible to live on.

Today, I'm officially under 200lbs! only by half a lb but I'm counting it! I did a little weight conversion and had to remeasure due to disbelief! After gaining and losing the same kilo for the last three weeks, I'm so happy!

I wondered if it was scar tissue too. But yes check with your medical team. PS : After my three surgeries (sleeve then gall then hysterectomy) all using my poor belly button it’s almost sealed shut. i can barely get a cotton bud in it to clean it. 😁

I'm on day 3 of my pre-op liquid diet. My surgery date is the 30th. Three protein shakes a day, and I can blend fruit (apple and/or berries) with some protein powder for a smoothie and also non-starch veggies for pureed soup. No sugar, no carbs, no dairy. Thank goodness for my Magic Bullet and immersion blender! It's going okay so far. My cravings are all head hunger because the liquid diet is keeping me full. I'm also having doubts every day. I know I need to do this because whatever I lose, I will just gain back and then some. I've lost 60 lbs. over and over again for the last 15 years. I can never keep it off. So, this surgery isn't necessarily to help me lose as I know I can do that on my own, but to help me maintain loss and keep it off for good. There are so many things I love that I am looking forward to doing, things my weight has been preventing for most of my adult life. Shopping "normal" sizes, traveling, socializing, horseback riding. I just need to focus on my long-term goals.

Being in the midst of summer have started making salads again for dinner. Basically coleslaw and chicken though chicken schnitzel from butcher (so real chicken breast not processed, mass produced). Coleslaw was 2 different types of cabbage, carrot, celery, capsicum, small tin of corn, small tin of 4 bean mix, 2 tablespoons Italian dressing & 2 teaspoons low fat mayo. Made enough salad for three nights.

Thank you! Yeah, spreading it out does seem to help a bit, or literally 'eating' the meds with something that barely needs chewed, like yogurt or cottage cheese. The three I am supposed to take in the morning are Prilosec, Strattera, and Chantix. Something about those three together is a recipe for ick and I'm not sure why. I wish I could ditch the Chantix but to keep from relapsing into smoking I don't dare yet. I've already slipped up a few times on the smoking; have to really focus on redirecting myself after eating to keep from lighting up while my food settles. I thankfully don't have issues with my chewable vitamins and do space my Calcium out at least three hours from my multi with iron; I mainly need to focus on mindfulness regarding all of my intake. I am glad my relationship with food is getting better though! I don't completely restrict myself from any food but just keep in mind how the food will make me feel. WIN: I'm definitely getting better about noting the difference between brain hunger and physical hunger and reach for a protein before a salty carb to sate cravings!

Hi, I'm new here. Let me give you a bit of my history. I'm 43, weigh 290 pounds, and have diabetes. On November 24, I experienced stabbing pain on the right side below my rib cage. I went to the ER, where the doctor gave me pain medication and an ultrasound, which revealed gallbladder stones. He scheduled a visit with a surgeon for mid-December. I had another gallbladder attack before the appointment, but luckily, apple cider vinegar (ACV) and Aleve helped relieve the pain. On the appointment day, the surgeon suggested I consider getting sleeve gastrectomy along with gallbladder removal. I was shocked to hear that and, in a panic, declined the VSG. However, after researching, I found it's a potential solution for weight loss and reversing diabetes. Now, with only three days left before my surgery, I'm trying to add VSG to the gallbladder removal. I'm unsure if it will work out with the surgeon, and it might be too late to make changes. I don't want to go through another laparoscopic procedure and double the cost. I'm feeling nervous about how this week will go.

The only three I can stomach are Unjury Genepro Animal