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I had two - one at four weeks out and one at eight weeks out (they almost always occur within the first three months post-op. They're very rare after that). My clinic sent me over to the hospital to get an EGD (the doctor who did it was not a bariatric surgeon - he was just someone on the hospital staff who does EGDs). They knock you out - you won't feel anything or know what's happening. And I felt 100% better afterward. when I had mine, I first noticed I had what seemed like acid reflux, which I thought was odd since bypass usually cures that. A couple of days later, I was having a hard time keeping food down, which is when I called my clinic. if you're able to keep fluids down, they may not get you in right away - it may be a couple of days. If you can't keep fluids down, either, then that's critical - they'll get you in ASAP. People can live without food for a few days (or longer...), but not fluids.

The surgeon gave me three choices that my insurance takes and I called one. That was Wednesday and I had an appointment for two weeks later that day. I need to know what they will charge me before I show up. I have Medicare and I will start calling Monday.

I have a Dec. 8th appointment. They said three hours. Two of testing and one hour with the shrink. Does anyone know what that covers? It seems like a lot to get approved.

It tasted really good. Leftovers for tomorrow evening (I'm on call anyway) and three portions of plain rice for freezing.

there is absolutely no consensus at all among surgeons re: the caffeine issue. Some say you can never have it again for the rest of your life. Some patients are allowed to drink it before they even leave the hospital. Still others say you have to wait one month, or three months, or six months. And then others say it's OK as long as you limit it to 1-2 cups a day. My take on this is that it's not the worst thing you can do. Follow your plan from here on out just so, if asked, you can say you followed the plan - but don't worry about the slip up.

No, no diabetes medication since about three months after my surgery. I wonder if she was just cranky that day haha. 😆

I'm three months out from mini bypass and had a Thanksgiving dinner with friends a few days ago. My plate was about a third turkey, and then a bite or two of everything else. It worked out really well - I felt like I was able to enjoy the meal along with everyone else. I didn't bother tracking that meal because I religiously track everything else, and I knew that if I missed my protein goals or went over my calories that day, it wasn't going to be by much. We're also having our own (very toned down) Thanksgiving and I'm planning on doing the same thing - a decent serving of turkey, and then a taste of everything else. It helps that I'm still pretty food... ambivalent? and that I'm not really interested in sweet things since the surgery.

Vegemite & marmite are similar in that their main ingredient is yeast extract (from barley & wheat) but they’ve some other different ingredients. Vegemite has a much stronger taste & is thicker & harder to spread. Promite has vegetable protein as it’s main ingredient. It is a softer spread & has a slightly sweeter & more mellow taste. All three are good sources of vitamin B & generally considered healthier spreads. The main problem is you tend to slather butter on with them. LOL! I’m a Promite girl but I did enjoy Marmite when I was a child which my paternal grandmother always had. Vegemite is too strong - even the smell irritates me. Yeah, not a good Aussie about that. 😁

Today I had a bit of loose stool. Not too bad but not the norm. I did take extra benefiber, and haven't added anything different so I came to look at this site to see- since I have been pretty much eating the exact same things for two to three weeks- and my yogurt has one of things you listed as sugar alcohol <1g I didn't see it as an issue. Maybe it's that or something else. I'm thinking I should drink some extra fluids to compensate. Scared but excited.

I had my "three-week stall" during weeks 2 and 3 - so yes, it could be it. If it goes on for more than two or three days, then yea - that's likely it. Just stick to your program and stay off the scale if it starts messing with your mind too much. It'll eventually break and you'll be on your way again...

I am scheduled Nov 28th. I am not going to thanksgiving either not because of covid (I have a really small family, just three of us) but because I know myself and the temptation to eat might be too much, and I am not taking any chances either! I got for my 4 hour nutrition class on Nov 22nd. I will have a week to go ont the liquids after that. I am with you on the hair loss. My hair is baby fine now so this is a real concern. My surgeon said to expect some hair loss but that it will grow back, which is some comfort. In the meantime, I will go buy a wig if it gets too bad I wish you the best, you will do great!!

I agree with the above comment - sounds like it might be a stricture. If you were only not able to keep food down, then a call to your clinic to schedule a upper endoscopy would be fine - but since you can't even keep water down, I'd go to urgent care or the ER. People can live for awhile without food - but not fluids. I had two strictures - one at four weeks out and another at eight weeks out. Easy fix, and you'll feel better immediately if that's what it is. They almost always occur between 1-3 months out (that is, if you have one - happens to about 5% of bypass patients). They've very rare once you get over 3 months out. I know you're only three weeks out, but I think it's possible that is what's going on. I would definitely get it checked out.

Constipation is very common. It does getter better & you’ll find your periods of constipation won’t be as frequent or last as long. It’s usually worst in the early stages when you’re eating very little, which means you don’t have much to poop out as waste, & on a restricted diet. Once you’re able to eat a little more & a greater variety of food & nutrients, you’ll start to notice an improvement. Keep up your fluid intake & taking your additional fibre. Don’t worry if you don’t go every day (most of us don’t in the beginning) but also don’t let too many days pass before going to avoid discomfort & straining. I used to take a stool softener only if I hadn’t had any movement for two or three days just to keep on top of it. But have a chat with your surgeon if it persists or if you don’t feel comfortable with how long you go without pooping or with how you manage it.

I dropped 50+ lbs pre-surgery by cutting out all foods containing sugar, flour, white potatoes, rice, and processed foods. These are my trigger foods. I consider myself to be a sugar/food addict. I can never go back to eating these things with abandon. I started using the Baritastic app. I occasionally used liquid protein shakes during that period. My calorie count dropped to around 1000 per day. I attended water exercise classes three days a week, including swimming 1/4 mile each time. I also increased my mileage on my walking tricycle to at least a mile a day. I've lost another 50+ lbs since my RNY>RNY revision surgery. I still strive to avoid my trigger foods. It's harder to resist now and weight loss is slow going, but I'm still dropping a few pounds a month with lengthy stalls.

I have so much sugar free jello its crazy! I had a rough day yesterday it was day three and i was starving.Thank goodness today i am back to feeling really full with the protein shakes. You are doing amazing!! It helps to have support and I will be right there with you. Thank you for responding. I haven't started to get anxious yet but I still have 11 days until my surgery so it will probably hit me next week. I think staying busy is best too. I am jumping on here and reading a lot of posts to keep me focused on the goal.

I am two years post VSG. I have used it for a year and a half. I have been pretty successful. I just had my tummy tuck three weeks ago. My team had no problem with it at all.

In 2010 I had a lap band surgery at the Slimband clinic in Toronto. Dr. Patrick Yau was my surgeon. I never felt that the band worked, but because of the cost I was determined not to fail. I joined MyfitnessPal and faithfully logged in for over 500 days. I swam daily for one hour during the winter months. Walked, and rode 100 miles per week on my bike. I lost weight, nearly 100 lbs. Three years ago I experienced pain in my abdomen on the lower left side. I had every test possible and nothing was found. This past March 2022, I was in unbearable pain and an ambulance was called. The lap band had perforated my bowel. My life was in jeopardy and after some harrowing days I was out of the woods. I spent a month in the hospital and had food the last three days. It took five months to recover. I was told that when I recovered I would need the band removed because it was precariously positioned against another part of the bowel. Nov. 8 of this year I went to Humber River Hospital and had it and another portion of bowel removed. My question is ; is there a class action suit against Slimband and/or Dr. P. Yau? Thank you.

I am amazed that i made it to day three of the pre op. I gave away most of the food in the house but today i saw some salami, cheese and ham i missed. I thriew it away really fast adn poured some water on it. This may seem small and silly but it made my day. I don't why today i have felt really hungry, i still have two protein shakes to go though and can broth. I have drank a ton of water. I am hoping this is the worst of the hunger days because day one and two i wasn't hungry at all.

Back through the history of this thread I started out posting my meal when I was in the weight loss phase, like a quarter sandwich, lol. Then I posted my dining out meals, from work travel. Then I posted the low carb meal preps I was doing primarily for my bf (cause my diet is anything but low carb!). Then early pandemic I was doing large scale meal prep for three different (but small) households, because of grocery scarcity, and the sudden end to my work travel gave me free time. But I burned out on cooking a while ago. Now I just post the occasional home cooked meal, or something special or fancy. Like @GreenTealael I don't post because how many times a week do people want to see a paper bowls with tater tots and season salt, or an 80% eaten McChicken 😂? This is what currently makes up a large % of my weekly diet (when I'm not in France 🥐🥖🍷) 😂

Hey August Buddies! I finally broke through my last stall - I hovered at 203 forever... but it finally broke through with more exercise. I have been doing a regular regimen for my hair and **knock-on-wood** it's working. So I wanted to share with you what I'm doing. 1. Daily take high-quality grass-fed collagen in my water. This is what I currently use: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074T8HKGF It has no flavor and dissolves great! 2. Collagen works best with a REAL FOOD vitamin C. It helps the body absorb and utilize collagen better. Not just a regular Vitamin C Ascorbic acid. Here is the link to what I use, and I swear by it. Here is the link: https://shop.drberg.com/vitamin-c-complex 3. I take 2 supplements a day of Dr. Bergs hair supplements. Here is the link: https://shop.drberg.com/hair-formula-capsules 4. Three times a week I massage my head to bring blood flow to the roots of my hair. Even pull and tug on my hair to give it circulation. 5. I use Morrocan oil on my hair after a shower. I try to only wash my hair twice a week to help keep its moisture. So overall, I am trying to hydrate from the inside and from the outside, and so far it's working!! I've seen a little increase in hair loss, but nothing compared to when I was on Keto full-time. I'm also doing intermittent fasting for 16:8. I eat for 8 hours a day and then I'm done for 16. It really helped me get over my stall too. Hope this helps!

It's really individual. I don't exactly recall what I was able to do at 3 months out, but I am pretty certain it was VERY little pasta or rice. I remember having to cook for my MIL after her surgery at around that time and I couldn't eat much of anything with pasta in it. Now I can have a bit more, but only a few bites if I am eating protein with it (which I am, most of the time). If not, I can eat 3/4-1 cup, but that's it. Which is good thing because that's a portion. Bread is more complex. At three months, the only bread I tried eating was a half slice of toast. Non-toasted bread was not happening. Now, I can eat bread, but how much is partly dependent on the qualities of the bread - how fluffy it is, how dense, what else I am eating with it. Also... anything with two slices of bread is usually a no go. I always stick to one slice of bread, or half a roll, or half of whatever. The only real exception to that rule is light English muffins. That portion size works well for me, but I am also 15 months out, so I wouldn't recommend trying that.

because I like to over share sometimes (lol) and just give people a window into a true reality of a very large persons journey struggling with bad habits, eating disorder, anxiety depression etc….… I have decided to show a general weight progression for my weight loss journey so far….it has been far from drops all the time, even when I was doing the right thing! My high weight was July 2021 when I tipped the scales at 456. I am starting the rest of my story in January 2022. I was taking Ryselbus for a bit and was back down to 440. It was at this time that I doubled down to start doing the mental work on my stress eating, emotional eating, binge eating and other disordered eating which had gotten me pretty immobile and huge. During feb, march and April I avoided the scale, focusing on my relationship with food, the triggers contained in my relationship with other people who had made me turn to binging and life in general. Also in some changes in portion size and being able to stop when full (which was hard for me) but April 24th I stepped on the scale and was 426. I felt like I had made progress on me for the first time in a long time. May 8th I was gradually down to 421, then my body did the first drop on may 9th (which I have learned is normal pattern for me) to 414.6 I went up about two pounds and down about two pounds for another couple weeks until finally dropping so to 405.6 May 27th. June I really worked hard on dealing with fast food addiction and some very deep emotional hurts along with work stress and financial stress. My weight varied from 412.6 down (yep, gained!) to 403 at the end of the month. I was gaining, I was loosing, I was struggling to eat better and not loose my head to anxiety and other emotions. Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost. The whole month tracks up and down and up and down until I started to find my way towards the end of the month and the struggle became easier. June 30th saw my surgeon for first consult. I was 403.2 that morning on my scale July 4th I celebrated my own independence by leaving 400s with 399.6… I had started doing a lot of portion control and making healthier choices. Had nearly eliminated fast food. You would think I would be on a better path, but no, my body was still going to frustrate me. Even though I was eating a consistent diet, my weight decided to go on a joy ride and spiked back past 400 to 411.8. I was devastated and disheartened. How could I gain when my calories were in control and I was not eating much junk??? Emotionally I struggled and dug deeper into my past, my present and what I wanted for my future. I made some emotional breakthroughs and slowly the scale slid down, leaving the month at 396.4 Then August 3rd, 399.9 lbs, my nutritionist appt where I got my surgical guidelines and it threw me for a loop. I was told three weeks of either 1) 4 protein shakes a day and a light meal of lean protein and steamed veggies or 2) 50 total carbs a day….. that morning I had what I thought of a healthy smoothie breakfast with split pea (protein/fiber), berries and a banana with ice… I did the math on the carbs. It was 108 for my breakfast… could I do this?? with my struggles with disordered eating I knew I needed baby steps to get used to anything. Carb counting seemed to give me more variety and feeling of control. I started tracking all foods and reducing my cab count throughout Aug….. a miracle happened to my body as my mind relaxed with the guidelines given to me. The weight fluctuated, but trended truly down. I ended august at 376.3 by September I was (mostly) living with 50 carbs a day.. reading all labels and looking up food, paying attention to portion. Funny thing is my calories only dropped about 200 from my pre carb counting diet, but I was even more stringent with what I would consume… I was ready for my surgery when my surgeon was finally able to schedule ! By making my new habits my new normal, I was down to 365.6 at the end of September. A few hiccups delayed my surgery scheduling (mostly an uncommon complicated insurance issue ) but I kept moving with my new normal… I finally got my date of Nov 3rd, so October was go time. The time to double down and follow things to a T so I could be in the best shape for surgery. My body wasn’t as cooperative even with me doing right as I hoped, but with perseverance I dropped more weight. During the last week in October with changing nothing I went from 362 to 353. My body just finally released the weight… surgery day 351.4 ! Will do a post op so far in a bit…

I have United healthcare. From my initial apt to my actual surgery was three months. But that is because:1. I did every pre opp thing super fast 2. My BMI was 44 and 3. My program was fully covered because I had maxed out of pocket already.

The difference between three and six months may seem like a lot but during that time you will be taking in a lot of information. Honestly in retrospect it wasn’t that long to wait. I know it seems like an eternity when your ready to go but I think you will realize it kinda flies by.

You’ve done amazingly well so far. Congratulations. Ok, breathe. Weight loss is never a straight downward line. It goes up & down, plateaus, goes faster at times, slower at others. As long as your general trend is downward you’re golden. We all have a natural fluctuation too from hormonal changes, water retention, constipation/diarrhoea. It’s just how our bodies function. Don’t let the scales rule your life. You know best how to manage it - weigh every day or less frequently. I weighed every day until I stabilised now I weigh every second or third day but that’s what I need to keep myself honest & on track. Don’t forget to that what you weigh on your scales will likely be different to your doctors. Different scales, you’re weighed at different times, after eating/not eating, dressed or not, etc. Also scales are not 100% accurate all the time. A few weeks ago my scales said I weighed 136.2kg & that was after I changed the batteries. It initially read 151kg - about three times my weight. Yes I did have heart palpitations for a second or two. Since it wasn’t the batteries, it may have been the days of extremely high humidity or that it was just time they went to God. I bought a new set … which weigh about a pound heavier than the old ones. ☹️