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Hi Casey I guess I could consider myself a "third generation bariatric". Grandma, Aunt, Mom, and Dad all had surgery before my wife and I did. My Grandma and Aunt had it back in the 90s (Aunt in her 20s, Grandma in her 50s). Mom had it in early-mid 2000s (40ish age), and Dad had surgery in 2010 (he had just turned 50). With Grandma, Mom, and Dad, they were so heavy for so long that between getting older and having been too heavy for too long and some damage being done, they still had issues with their joints or health. Grandma and Mom have both had knee replacements, despite remaining relatively healthy since their surgeries. Dad had triple bypass heart surgery last year. My Aunt has been relatively healthy. None of my relatives regret the surgery, but I can bet if I asked my parents or Grandma, they'd all probably wish they had their WLSs sooner. I had surgery in 2017, three days before my 29th birthday. Doctors have told me that, despite my lifelong being obese (probably been "the fat kid" since 2nd grade), I haven't done any significant damage. Pre-op I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and a vitamin D deficiency (I live in upstate NY, everyone has a vitamin D deficiency!). And since my surgery, I've trained and completed two full marathons, and have more to come. I was training for a marathon this spring, but COVID-19 canceled that one, as well as another long distance race has been canceled. I feel like I have the rest of my life to do things I've never even dreamed of doing! When I wife and I were dating, she asked me if I had considered it (I was a 380 pound 22 year old) I took what I call a "typical man" position and told her "I'm young enough that I can lose the weight myself", which was true, but I couldn't maintain it, and I never got as light as I am now (230-240 neighborhood, with approx. 20% body fat). Sorry for the long backstory, but I fully support having surgery in your 20s. Probably 95% of the people I've spoken to about surgery say their biggest regret is not having it sooner. Good luck to you!

Thanks to all of you for this discussion. I had bypass, but am having some real issues with fat malabsorption and low D level which was 15.1. Doc prescribed 50,000 units twice a week of the green capsules, but it looks like maybe this is not what I should be doing. I'll check out the dry form.

You're only a week post-op and already eating eggs? That might be a little fast - and clearly it is since you are either in some kind of discomfort or have the hiccups which means you are overeating (!). I had my surgery on March 3rd and was on full liquids and purees for 2 weeks - so blended soups, cottage cheese, yogurt, mashed/pureed veggies, soft tofu, etc. - all that. Now that I'm on week 3 I have started with soft/mushy foods. I tried the ricotta bake but that was a disaster - clearly I'm (hopefully temporarily) lactose intolerant (very common for bypass patients!), so I'll be avoiding any primarily dairy-based foods for a while. I tried some of Shelly's Egg Bites this week and they've been going down quite well. Canned tuna has also been a good option for me (I mix in a little shredded cheese and add some seasonings, warm it up just enough to soften the cheese). Here's the thing - just because you CAN eat something, doesn't mean you HAVE to - if it is causing any kind of problem, just refrain from eating it for a week, and try that food again later. Stay on full liquids, or add different kind of mushies like the ones I mentioned above. And the less liquid it is, the less you should eat of it, at least in the beginning. So if you can drink 1/4-1/2 cup of liquids at a time, your food intake should be 1/8c. Try that - you may have to have more "mini-meals" but it's better than waiting hours for the discomfort to clear so that you can your liquids and/or other food in.

(((so sorry this was meant for the bypass post op section!))) Hello everybody - I'm SO sorry for continually asking "is this normal" constantly. It's just that this new pouch is way more stressful than my bad was, and it's all new to me! So I had my RNY on 3/12/20 - On my week post op appointment I was supposed to eat an egg (made any way I wanted, I chose poached), I got almost all of it down, but by the time I was at that point the egg was cold...BLAH! So the doc gives me clearance to eat mushy soft foods as the next stage, I tried the ricotta bake, and didn't really like it...plus it got stuck and I had to relieve myself of it... Later on that evening, I tried a scrambled egg - I thought that I was going to die! The pain in my chest was almost exactly like it was when food got stuck at the band. I ended up getting rid of SOME of it, but the one or two bites that stayed in me, took HOURS to leave my tummy. In those hours, I could not drink anything. I also got these strange spasm hiccoughs...not regular hiccoughs, it's like the pressure on my chest/esophagus was causing these long slow hiccough - just one or two of these happened but they are definitely odd, both in feeling and in sound. As far as my food consumption goes, I've got toddler silverware and pretty ramekins where I measure everything at no more than a ½ cup serving. Yet I can only manage a bite or two, and I'm either full, or the stuck puppy comes back to visit. I'm also forcing myself to eat, as I have barely any hunger. My concern for me eating and having it take hours to go down my tummy is I m not drinking during this time, then I get backlogged, and panic at the catch up at the end of the day both in food (calories), and water. Will all this crazy stop once I heal more?

I did not have DS. I was wondering if other gastric bypass patients have dealt with this and what helped minimize the fat malabsorption. All my other vitamins are great.

The DS folks are old hands at this, as that specifically malabsorbs fats; while the bypass isn't specifically known for it, there no doubt is some fat malabsorption going on there as there is some commonality in the sections of intestine that are bypassed. There are some D supplements that are water soluble (strangely referred to as "dry" form) that are commonly available from the usual Vitamin Shoppe/GNC type places, or online. You may also need to adjust the dosage; within the DS crowd, some, like my wife, only need one of those 50k pills every week or two (she varies depending on her labs) while others need one or two per day. Go figure - but that kind of individual variation is not uncommon.

Well I hope everyone is surviving with this virus issue? Here in Australia things are going ok just the issue of supermarkets being raided and hard to get toilet paper before everyone buys it all... But no quarantine or anything yet... Umm I don't go online as much because I'm happy and doing things my way... Fired my useless dietitian months ago... I started this diet journey 7 months ago pretty much to the day and I've hit 150LBS lost I cannot even fathom it. I never ever thought I would even get this far or this low but this bypass just seems to keep working for me. I started my journey at high weight of 322lbs and today I weighed in at 172lbs first thing this morning 😁 Some might say I've lost more than enough but I feel I'm going well just taking each day at a time.. Still experimenting with different foods I can tolerate but taking it slowly and doing it my own way. Some days I'll still feel like a shake or two. Some days I'll be real hungry other days no hunger at all... I've been doing it my way not worrying about specific stages or phases really. So yeah 150lbs gone and I feel amazing. I feel like a new man and I'm like where did all the fat go? It feels great people calling me skinny and I weigh less than most of my mates now hahahaha I know I'll eventually need to start weights and stuff but I'm in no hurry yet. Love Mikey xo

I did bypass at 35. I wish I did it at 25...

Gosh! Such burden! ((hugs)) I can't waive a magic wand and keep you from feeling the things you are feeling, but if I could, I would. You are a strong productive person and you've done things you never thought you could do before and have succeeded SO WELL! You've been an inspiration to many here! I BELIEVE. Choose to believe. Even if you don't feel it in your heart. Choose to believe that this WILL end and that we will all rebuild! Escape if that helps you for now. But also plan or schedule time to do things that are constructive. For instance, I love the idea of being a "super cleaner." Maybe research what it takes to be a plague cleaner?! I know my niece has passed a cold around her house and asked the other day if there were any cleaners who would come in and deep clean...like DEEP clean. Clean toys. Sanitize. Etc. So research it! Charge a premium for it cuz you will become a front liner. You would be able to hire people. People are desperate for work. And you would be able to pay well. It would be pre-pay or pay on completion so no waiting for invoices to be paid. Also, there will be tax extensions, and tax forgiveness. This is being planned. There will be bailouts. I just believe that this is the beginning of a forced change for us all. And you WILL get to revise and conquer. Remember to deep breath. And start thinking creatively how to repackage your business to adjust to this changing need. People will still need to have cleaning!!! Businesses too.

There is no need to be afraid of a bypass. Of course people are scared because surgery and general anesthesia with all the risks are involved. That's normal. That's also normal with plastics. However, there is no need to be afraid of the bypass itself. What is supposed to be so different? Possible dumping? It seems to me that people highly exaggerate the possibility of dumping. The vitamins? Well, sleeve patient should take them as well. Every procedure has its complications. With the sleeve it's e. g. severe GERD.

I feel your pain! I had the sleeve done three years ago, lost over 100 pounds in about 10 months, then gained about 60 back through bad food choices and/or just plain overeating (even healthy foods). I'd go on reset diets which would work for a while, but then I would plateau for a long time and start to gain weight again. Part of the problem was trying to deal with my food addictions that came back once I fell off the bariatric diet wagon. After a while it was just too hard to get back on again. Eventually I decided to have a revision to bypass, which I had done 2.5 weeks ago. Hopefully that's not something you'll have to do - if you have support groups around you and people that you can work with, it should be possible to lose the weight you regained.

It's not about calories. It's about PROTEIN. The only protein I see you consuming in a day is breakfast and dinner. The soup is okay I guess, but I would cut the portion in half and add some protein to that meal. All the snacks are empty - no real nutrients. If you are capable of eating a veggie burger and asparagus, you certainly could add more nutritious snacks throughout the day. *Note: I understand jello and lollipops if that's on your plan, but if you are eating real foods then I don't know why these are still on your plan. More yogurt, or cheese, or eggs, etc - something with protein would be a better alternative. The other thing to consider is that jello/lollipops/etc are traditionally sweet foods, desserts, snacks. Even if they are zero calories, they probably still remind you of eating those real things in the past. If you can avoid those kind of temptations, it will probably help you in the long run. For example, today I had: Breakfast: Chocolate/PB2/banana smoothie made with sugar free almond milk [Protein: 29g, Calories: 266] Snack 1: 1 Mushroom egg bite (size of a small deflated muffin) [Protein: 5g, Calories: 53] Lunch: a chicken roll (basically a processed chicken breast rolled to the size of a small breadstick). I split this up into two servings eaten about 2 hours apart. Today was my first day to try meat of any kind. [Protein: 13g, Calories: 65] Snack 2: PB2 mix (PB2 is powdered peanut powder with 85% less calories/fat. I mix it with water for a small snack). It's actually a bad habit I need to break eventually, but I can't eat yogurt or cheese straight up because of a newfound lactose intolerance problem, so this is my alternative. [Protein: 8, Calories: 90] Dinner: Miso soup with tofu [Protein: 14g, Calories: 136] Total for today - Protein: 69g, Net carbs: 38 (a little high today because of the banana and PB2], Fat: 20g, Calories: 610 You can see that I don't eat a single meal that doesn't have some kind of protein in it. Even when my stomach is feeling a little rough and I want to just have liquids, I'll replace the meals with an extra protein drink (the juice kind) or miso soup, and skip all snacks (just drink extra water). If I have soup, I'll add protein powder to it, or, my preference right now is miso soup, since it's so savoury and high in protein. The tofu is optional but it's basically a puree/slider so goes down easy. My main goal is protein (50g or more on this stage, but if I can get over 60 I'm really happy, staying between 400-600 calories (today was a little high), and under 40 net carbs - 30 even better). Fat, high or low, is not a concern for me. Anyway, I'm just posting this all here as a way to think about what you are consuming. Focus on the protein, not the calories. You can get many nutrients from vitamins, but you can only get protein from food. It's important - if you don't consume enough, your body will start taking it from your muscles to make do, since it's so important for several different functions (tissue repair, hormones, etc.). This can really weaken you. Try your best to find real foods (not protein powder, although that is something we need in the beginning) for your protein. One suggested meal I have now that I'm on soft foods is to add egg white to oatmeal and mix it in. I've never tried that but I will once I can find some oatmeal around here! I don't know what kind of guidelines you've been given, but what I have right now from my surgeon (and bear in mind this is for gastric bypass) is to eat one or two bites of food, chew well, wait 5-10 minutes, then have a few more bites, then wait, etc. But all food must be eaten within 30 minutes - any left over after that time goes back into the fridge for later. Regardless of surgery type, portions should be about 1/8-1/4 cup for real food, and 1/4c -1 cup for liquids like soup, is about right. I also try to be very conscious of what and when I am eating - if I am in front of the computer (which is almost always) I make sure to focus on my food, not the screen, when I am eating. I measure out portions before I put any food in front of me. I weigh things - tofu cubes, bananas, everything. It gets me accountable down to the last gram. It is more work, but I feel much more satisfied with the way things are going. Hopefully you can find a way around this!

I'm just a little confused as to why you had to have revision surgery. It seems your original surgery was done correctly. ??

I went through the same experience as you as I recovered from the sleeve - I was way ahead of the curve in terms of what, and how much, I could eat. Here's the thing - it takes a long time for your stomach to heal completely - not days, but weeks, even months (it is a major amputation if you think about it). So it may not be sending you the signals you need to stop eating. As someone who's sleeve failed, partly because after 6 months, and especially after a year, I could a proper dinner plate of food again (at least 2 cups), I would say follow your dietary guidelines. If it says half a cup, eat half a cup. How many calories (and other macros) are you allowed in a day? Are you staying within them? Just because you CAN eat more, doesn't mean you SHOULD. The guidelines are there to help us get into the habit of portion control, because the honeymoon period of easy weight loss/no hunger only happens for 6-18 months (depending on the person). After that, if you overeat, you may regain, even with healthy foods, as it may encourage you into the same bad habits you had before surgery. Also, how long is it taking you to eat? If it's more than 30 minutes, then you are definitely overeating. When are you drinking liquids? If it's too soon from eating it could make the food slide faster through your stomach making it easier to eat more. I'd also be worried about the asparagus - it seems too early to be eating such a fibrous and low protein vegetable. They are really hard to digest and can form clumps in your stomach, especially early on. In any event, I'm not trying to make you feel bad about this - as I said at the beginning, I went through exactly the same thing after my sleeve, and I had the belief that the surgeon made it too big which is why I could eat so much. However, on my recent revision surgery, my (new) surgeon said that the sleeve was perfect and small, so I know that my weight regain had less to do with my stomach, and more to do with me. Some of us can eat more, and don't feel pain (others are the complete opposite). In that case, you have to be vigilant about what, and how much, you are putting into your body.

On June 26, 2017- I had gastric bypass surgery. I have lost/maintained 180 pound weight loss. I share my journey on Instagram - (my name on there is Maddie5088) and I also have a public Facebook Page called Mornings with Maddie. I created a blog almost a year ago that focuses on sharing my journey, creating/sharing healthy recipes. You can find it here - foodfitnessandbeauty.com I share body positivity, kindness, self love, inclusivity, healthy recipes, grocery hauls, I do monthly giveaways, how to meal prep, affordable/easy meals for bariatric patients and I do Q and As for Bariatric patients. I have felt very called to share my journey with the bariatric community! I hope you come follow along my story! It’s been a heck of a ride! Xoxo Maddie

I have struggled with my weight since I was five years old. Late in 2016- at 28 years old at my heaviest weight- I had my first appointment with a bariatric surgeon in Akron, Ohio where I live and began the steps towards gastric bypass. I was so scared. But I knew that I would rather risk my life than live like this forever. I feared that my parents would bury me in 20 years and that my sister would become an only child. I knew I had to do something. I had tried everything. Between the ages of 8-28 I had tried everything under the sun. I could not lose/maintain the weight loss. On June 26, 2017- I had gastric bypass surgery. I have lost/maintained 180 pound weight loss. I have a whole new life. It is quite beautiful. I look forward to living everyday. I share my journey on Instagram - (my name on there is Maddie5088) and I also have a public Facebook Page called Mornings with Maddie. I created a blog almost a year ago that focuses on sharing my journey, creating/sharing healthy recipes. You can find it here - foodfitnessandbeauty.com I share body positivity, kindness, self love, inclusivity, healthy recipes, grocery hauls, I do monthly giveaways, how to meal prep, affordable/easy meals for bariatric patients and I do Q and As for Bariatric patients. I have felt very called to share my journey with the bariatric community! I hope you come follow along my story! It’s been a heck of a ride! Xoxo Maddie

I have struggled with my weight since I was five years old. Late in 2016- at 28 years old at my heaviest weight- I had my first appointment with a bariatric surgeon in Akron, Ohio where I live and began the steps towards gastric bypass. I was so scared. But I knew that I would rather risk my life than live like this forever. I feared that my parents would bury me in 20 years and that my sister would become an only child. I knew I had to do something. I had tried everything. Between the ages of 8-28 I had tried everything under the sun. I could not lose/maintain the weight loss. On June 26, 2017- I had gastric bypass surgery. I have lost/maintained 180 pound weight loss. I have a whole new life. It is quite beautiful. I look forward to living everyday. I share my journey on Instagram - (my name on there is Maddie5088) and I also have a public Facebook Page called Mornings with Maddie. I created a blog almost a year ago that focuses on sharing my journey, creating/sharing healthy recipes. You can find it here - foodfitnessandbeauty.com I share body positivity, kindness, self love, inclusivity, healthy recipes, grocery hauls, I do monthly giveaways, how to meal prep, affordable/easy meals for bariatric patients and I do Q and As for Bariatric patients. I have felt very called to share my journey with the bariatric community! I hope you come follow along my story! It’s been a heck of a ride! Xoxo Maddie

I have struggled with my weight since I was five years old. Late in 2016- at 28 years old at my heaviest weight- I had my first appointment with a bariatric surgeon in Akron, Ohio where I live and began the steps towards gastric bypass. I was so scared. But I knew that I would rather risk my life than live like this forever. I feared that my parents would bury me in 20 years and that my sister would become an only child. I knew I had to do something. I had tried everything. Between the ages of 8-28 I had tried everything under the sun. I could not lose/maintain the weight loss. On June 26, 2017- I had gastric bypass surgery. I have lost/maintained 180 pound weight loss. I have a whole new life. It is quite beautiful. I look forward to living everyday. I share my journey on Instagram - (my name on there is Maddie5088) and I also have a public Facebook Page called Mornings with Maddie. I created a blog almost a year ago that focuses on sharing my journey, creating/sharing healthy recipes. You can find it here - foodfitnessandbeauty.com I share body positivity, kindness, self love, inclusivity, healthy recipes, grocery hauls, I do monthly giveaways, how to meal prep, affordable/easy meals for bariatric patients and I do Q and As for Bariatric patients. I have felt very called to share my journey with the bariatric community! I hope you come follow along my story! It’s been a heck of a ride! Xoxo Maddie

I have struggled with my weight since I was five years old. Late in 2016- at 28 years old at my heaviest weight- I had my first appointment with a bariatric surgeon in Akron, Ohio where I live and began the steps towards gastric bypass. I was so scared. But I knew that I would rather risk my life than live like this forever. I feared that my parents would bury me in 20 years and that my sister would become an only child. I knew I had to do something. I had tried everything. Between the ages of 8-28 I had tried everything under the sun. I could not lose/maintain the weight loss. On June 26, 2017- I had gastric bypass surgery. I have lost/maintained 180 pound weight loss. I have a whole new life. It is quite beautiful. I look forward to living everyday. I share my journey on Instagram - (my name on there is Maddie5088) and I also have a public Facebook Page called Mornings with Maddie. I created a blog almost a year ago that focuses on sharing my journey, creating/sharing healthy recipes. You can find it here - foodfitnessandbeauty.com I share body positivity, kindness, self love, inclusivity, healthy recipes, grocery hauls, I do monthly giveaways, how to meal prep, affordable/easy meals for bariatric patients and I do Q and As for Bariatric patients. I have felt very called to share my journey with the bariatric community! I hope you come follow along my story! It’s been a heck of a ride! Xoxo Maddie

Do you want to spend the rest of your life getting bigger? Wait until you are 50 BMI (with probably more co-morbidities) to qualify? I think most people will say the earlier you do it, the better. You are young so don't wait for 20 years letting things pass you by that you couldn't do because of your weight. Get the surgery. Compared to all other weight loss methods, cutting out part of your stomach will "reset" your body - metabolism gets boosted, most people with diabetes no longer have it within weeks (sometimes days) of having the surgery, and for many women, the PCOS issue also gets resolved. There are a lot of medical journal articles about this, easily found on the internet - and I imagine, since you are at nursing school, you probably have even more resources to access that support these claims. Another benefit to your youth is that your skin is still pretty elastic and will probably bounce back a lot better than those of us who are older and are already dealing with sagging skin, not just because of the weight. If you haven't already seen her videos, Clusie L has a ton of great videos explaining her process of getting through gastric sleeve surgery, food, plastic surgery, etc. I know she has multiple videos explaining why she got it and her struggles trying to get her family on board while she was still a teenager, but I can't find it at the moment. However, this video is a good substitute, geared towards teens, but maybe it will help you in making a decision. Edit: my first surgery (sleeve) was done at 42, I just had a revision (45). I wish I had done this 10 years ago when my weight really started ballooning up beyond Obese (class 1) into 2, then 3, then beyond.

Both. As an example: One of my co-workers drinks regular. She was originally 390-ish pounds before gastric bypass and got down to 210. She started drinking regular soda and now she's in the 280's. She's four years out. The other co-worker said she started at 230-ish pounds and her lowest weight was 120-ish pounds. She had gastric bypass. She drinks diet now and is in the 170's. She's nine years out. However, despite the weight re-gain they both seem happy with their current weight so... I guess it's fine.

I would definitely follow your surgeon’s instructions when you get them. The liquid diet is to shrink your liver which in turn aides in the success of your surgery and your safety. With that said, every surgeon has different requirements. Are you getting sleeve, bypass, RNY? I had sleeve on March 3rd. I think it would be a good idea to do some sort of diet or cleanse prior to surgery. Good luck on your journey!!

I had gastric bypass June 26, 2017. I’ve lost 180 pounds and maintained my weight loss. I’ve decided to share my journey with the world. I share recipes, grocery hauls, what I keep on hand in my kitchen, Q & As, and many more things related to my journey. I also have a blog where I share recipes. Come join me! This journey is much easier with support of those who have been in your shoes! My Instagram name is Maddie5088 - I also have a public Facebook page called Mornings with Maddie.

There are so many very useful accounts on Instagram that post recipes and content for bariatric patients. I post recipes all the time and save them to highlights that are bariatric friendly. I do grocery hauls, what I keep on hand in my kitchen, Q and As about my journey. I’ve lost 180 pounds with gastric bypass and healthy lifestyle change. My Instagram is Maddie5088. I also have a public Facebook page called Mornings with Maddie.

Hey all! I know this is an old thread! But I share a lot of bariatric friendly things on my Instagram. My name is Maddie5088 - I’ve lost 180 pounds. Gastric bypass June 26, 2017 ! I’m going to check some of y’all out on the gram!