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It's been 2008 since I had a very successful surgery. Seriously, I swam in SF Sharkfest from Alcatraz to SF 2 yrs in a row. As I've gotten older, I have learned a few things I'd like to pass on to those who might not know this. Someone who has had bariatric surgery can only drink 5 oz of alcohol (wine/beer) and then they are legally drunk (trust me, you look act like you have had way too many drinks--slurred speech, staggering, falling down) and if you were to blow into a breathalyzer, you would get a reading indicating you are inebriated. Although I hadn't had anything to drink in about 30 yrs, during a few social dinners at our house, I had a small glass of wine and then my husband wanted to know just how much I had had to drink. When I say, "Not even one glass of wine," I was in such bad shape that he didn't believe me. He was furious and told me I wasn't to have any more drinks for the night. This also happened at my son's who was just livid with me and told me to go to a spare bedroom for the rest of the night. And, truly, I felt super drunk. At some point, I did some research and learned that because of how small my stomach pouch is and the way liquids are absorbed, I really shouldn't even have a sip of alcohol. Just thought I'd pass that on. Also, I originally lost 137 lbs to get to my goal weight. I maintained it for several years because I was working out regularly. A few yrs ago I started to put some weight back on, mostly because I wasn't exercising as much, I was alone ALL the time because of Covid because my husband was in contact with Covid infected people at the hospital he worked at 5 shifts a week for 1 yr and 9 months until his last day was Nov. 1. My diet wasn't as healthy and we were sleeping in different bedrooms on separate floors because he was so afraid he would test positive and give it to me. All last year, from July through May 29th when I had left hip replacement, I swam in a local lake for 1 hr each session...2x-4x a week with water getting down to 40 degrees. That kept me sane. Both of us have had our Covid vaccination shots and booster shots and I'm back in swimming in the cold water. If you have gained weight during the pandemic, just go through every day thankful and get back on the post-surgery diet your doctor put you on. (Currently, mine is 1200 cal, unless I burn over 900 swimming and only then do I get to add on 300). Even though I was afraid I had "stretched" my stomach pouch (I'll be 68 yrs old in a few weeks), I had an endoscopy and colonoscopy a month ago and the gastroenterologist said everything looks perfect.

Thank you so much!! It means a lot to hear that after such a long journey struggling with weight my whole life. Here’s a few before and afters including a tiktok I made but never posted haha. I’ve been very lucky with having minimal loose skin. I have been taking a collagen supplement daily and started that months before the surgery. I think that combined with a good strength training regimen and perhaps also because I got the surgery at a relatively young age (33) helped. For workouts I do an hour 5-6x a week; half cardio (indoor cycling or running) and half strength training. All of my strength has been the peloton strength classes. If you happen to have a peloton membership You can see my full program on my profile DucesWild, follow me!! Highly highly recommend peloton it has made it so much easier, convenient, and fun to workout. Finding classes I actually enjoyed and not pushing myself too hard, just committing to staying consistent moving my body, whether it be a walk or yoga on days I didn’t feel well, that has been the KEY so far. Hope this helps! Happy to share more details. IMG_0222.MOV

Had my RNY October 5th. I was diabetic, so getting off those meds was goal #1. After the 2-week pre-op diet, I had come off all my meds, but was hesitant to say I would be free from those after surgery. Had my appointment with my diabetes doc at 4-weeks post-op, she declared my diabetes was now in remission, and we said our goodbyes! Daily glucose sticks are between 80-92...no matter when I test them! Goal #2...reduce size & get back to feeling "normal", whatever that will be!

While it seems to be more of a blood pressure issue, if you've gone from liquids straight to soft foods, you may benefit for a week or two doing pureed foods as a transition to soft foods, even if it isn't part of your plan.

Binders (girdles, lol) would have been nice for about the first week. The first cough/sneeze made me wish I had taken them up on it at the hospital!

a lot of people lose their sense of hunger for a few weeks or months - plus your stomach will be a lot smaller - so yea - 1000 calories will seem quite filling. Even too much the first few weeks. I pretty much lost interest in food altogether for about the first five months (unfortunately, that didn't last!!). Milk that for all it's worth, because it's never going to be easier to lose weight than when you're not hungry and don't give a flip about food!

I was in a similar situation as you. 47 years old, 340 lbs (down from 400+), and doing a physical job, playing basketball still, and enjoying life. Then the dreaded D word came up, and I'd seen the diabetic story play out too many times. WLS immediately went from the back of my mind to it's happening. I picked the brain of a friend who'd had it, lurked on forums like this, and had 2 notebook pages of questions for my surgeon, and dietician. To answer your question, the liver shrinking diet prior to surgery tested my soul. Followed that up with the 3 week liquid diet post surgery. Was more bored than anything. Soft foods, on it now, and it's not hard, and extremely satisfying. Not only will you live on fewer calories, but with the proper preparation, the right mindset, and a good support system, you'll thrive.

You don't what to put the cart before the horse. Do your homework on the various WLSs out there. If you believe WLS if for you then you will find a surgeon. When you speak with your surgeon you should bring up all your concerns, your history, and your future. Undoubtedly your surgeon will take your situation into account when arriving at a recommendation. If WLS is one of the recommendations then your post-op life will be part of the discussion and planning you and your surgeon undertake. Worrying about the first 6 weeks of post-op life would be the least of my concerns. Good luck. Tek

It's really common for people to experience an immediate drop in apetite right after surgery. This can last from a few weeks to forever, it just depends on how your body reacts. I lost my apetite for most of the first year and then it slowly returned until now it is about 65% of what it was pre-surgery. When I had very little apetite, it was easy to live on 600 calories and I did for months. Then it went up to 800 calories and stayed there pretty much until I hit goal. I was blessed not to be hungry during the weight loss phase, but some people never do lose their apetite. So you won't know exactly how your body is going to react until you are post-op. But if you have the average experience, there will be at least some period of time when your apetite is greatly diminished.

So I only had 2 meals as it was my 1st day eating after 2 weeks post-op as advised by my surgeon. So my 1st meal was the scrambled eggs and then I did a protein shake for lunch and for dinner I had the lean ground beef. But it happened after I ate the scrambled eggs and after I ate the lean ground beef.. weird............ so today I'm only doing my liquids and get back to solids when I hear back from the doc tomorrow. Thanks GreenTealael Sent from my SM-G960U using BariatricPal mobile app

@misnomer My Preop diet is just low carb low cal. I'm kinda grateful. My pre op appointments are on Friday. Im hoping the week goes by very quickly!

My program refers to the entire 2-week thing as a "liquid diet," but part of the plan is a protein bar every day plus either a banana or 8oz of low-fat milk (for potassium). It becomes strictly liquid-only 2 days before surgery, though. For me, that will happen on Saturday. I love bananas, so that was an easy choice at first, but right now I'm desperate for any variety so I'll be switching to 1% milk this week. And they only provided 12 protein bars to begin with (smart bariatric center!), so I won't have to remember to stop eating them. I have my pre-op nutritionist appointment tomorrow morning, and Wednesday morning is the pre-op with my surgeon. I have a feeling this week will go by really fast!!

Scheduled for a mini gastric bypass this Friday, the 19th. Trying today to get a list together of everything I need as far as new foods and drinks so I can have it all in house by then. Confusing with so many different sites/people saying different things or mentioning different products. I would really appreciate any help or sites that kind of lay it out in simple terms. I've been given a lot of paperwork from the doctor and hospital and met with the hospital's bariatric person. Just ordered disposable medicine cups and case of Ensure Max Protein (suggested by Dr.'s PA) Also bought a bag of Bariatric Advantage Calcium Chews and Bariatric Fusion Multivitamins from them to start out on but will source out equivalent products that may be less expensive during my week off next week. Any tips or things to watch out for are welcome. Thanks in advance!

I'm on day 7 of my pre-op diet, and that is exactly what got me through day 5 -- which was the first Friday when I couldn't order a pizza/look forward to eating in front of the TV after a week of work. It really helped to remind myself that in just three more weeks I can start having yogurt again, in four more weeks I can go back to having (sf) pudding and applesauce and tuna and steamed veggies (etc.), and by February all dietary restrictions should be lifted. There may well be many foods that I never have again, but that will be by choice.

Scheduled for a mini gastric bypass this Friday, the 19th. Trying today to get a list together of everything I need as far as new foods and drinks so I can have it all in house by then. Confusing with so many different sites saying different things or mentioning different products. I'm a single man and have to handle this alone and would really appreciate any help or sites that kind of lay it out in simple terms. I've been given alot of paprerwork from the doctor and hospital and met with the hospital's bariatric person. Guess how I feel afterwards will dictate what I drink the 1st few days or week, but still unsure of how often and what is allowed or suggested as a whole. Thanks in advance

My surgery is in just over a week, and I bought this t-shirt to wear home:

Don’t freak out. You don’t feel the restriction right away even on soft foods. The important thing for me is I have to eat slowly; the new “full” signal apparently arrives in my brain via slow boat from Gibraltar. And honestly, even if you were eating only 2000 calories in the Before Times, a 1000 calorie a day deficit is 3.5 pounds a week loss. Chances are you were eating more than that. So a day of 1000 calories isn’t going to kill your weight loss. I am two months out and eating 1000-1400 a day and losing weight hand over fist—3-5 pounds a week. (The amount was set by my NUT, who calculated in my very active lifestyle.) I had a barium swallow last week and my stomach is fine, I still feel restriction. Courage, you will be fine.

My surgery is scheduled for 11/22 -- just one day before you, @Wolfievonsnap! It was originally scheduled for 11/1, but last month there was a miscommunication with my cardiologist that resulted in an unnecessary 3-week delay. Frustrating, but I'm glad it wasn't longer! This is day 7 of the pre-op diet.

try tart cherry extract for gout. it worked wonders for me. i had the gout 3 weeks post op, doc gave me colchine to clear it up, and then told me to take the cherry extract. it works

Did you ever get an answer? Have you tried it? I wanted to do a soft one starting at a few weeks and then a few months in go for the real ones.

I'm a little over a year post-op revision and I still have "dumping" episodes a couple times a week. It was MUCH WORSE the first couple months after surgery. Unfortunately, there isn't really any rhyme or reason to when I dump. Yes, high sugar and high fat items are sometimes a trigger, but overeating anything can have the same result. I get hot flashes, then severe bloating followed by diarrhea. But, dumping does keep me honest when it comes to watching what I eat. And I have to be super careful about my eating when I'm not at home!

You can also fry a week's worth of eggs in advance and keep them in the refrigerator. Warm them in the microwave along with a slice of Canadian bacon or pre-cooked bacon and a bit of cheese in the time it takes to toast an English muffin. Then assemble and eat in the car. (Sorry for being unresponsive to your actual question. I don't use yogurt of any kind, including plant-based.)

Every single hiit and cardio routine includes abs now. I feel a bit cheated...to me ab work is ab work and I don’t understand why every single cardio routine is including them. They thicken the waist if done every day, and planks and all plank movements are the worst for thickening it up. I like to do my abs 3 maybe 4x a week max and find myself changing exercises for every single routine I’m doing now. When will this trend go away? It’s like trainers can’t think of any more cardio moves so they throw in abs again to fill many minutes of a workout. I just paid top dollar for a new cardio routine dvd and about 60 percent of it is standing or lying abs. I’m improvising again! I just don’t find the boxy thickened waist of excessive planking and overstrained waists attractive. If your going to train the abs like that there should be some back strengthening moves to balance out at the very least.

I had surgery two and a half years ago. I, too, had an extremely traumatic childhood, part of which involved being frequently left home alone without food. That obviously led to a host of eating/food issues and a considerable weight gain in adulthood. I've lived with a fear of starvation since childhood, so was also concerned about whether I could go through the various eating stages for the surgery. What really bolstered my confidence was when I was able to severely restrict my food intake a few weeks *before* the surgery, paring down my calories to about 800/day, which is what I would live on for the year after surgery. After the initial fear wore off, it actually became easy. I was really shocked at how easy it was. Plus, I was lucky to have weekly therapy to discuss my progress and concerns. The surgery resulted in my losing my lifelong fear of starvation. My brain now knows that there is always food available to eat, that I won't be threatened with hunger, etc. It has been really uplifting. I hope this happens for you, too, whatever your childhood issues were.

I'm 2 weeks post op gastric sleeve and was excited to start my scrambled eggs today and something very weird happened 30 minutes after eating my 1 scrambled egg. I got this feeling of being drunk (I've been drunk before but haven't had alcohol in 45 days). I got a high feeling, I was slurring my speech,I tried to wake up to go the bathroom and damn near staggered all the way. My husband was really worried but also found it funny because he has seen me like that before but after a few.... so he found it funny that my 1st meal made me drunk. I've Googled and can't get any answers. Fast forward, this evening i had about 6 spoonfuls of plain ground beef and 30 minutes later my husband was waking me up telling me i passed out asleep while on my phone. The first thing I told him was that i felt buzzed like earlier and i slurred my words again. I'm wondering, has this happened to anyone here before? Am I having some weird complication? What am I doing wrong? I might end up calling my surgeon if this keeps happening..... Sent from my SM-G960U using BariatricPal mobile app