Search the Community

Hello again everyone! I'll start by saying I'm sorry it takes me so long to post my responses. This is because while I do skim posts from my phone, especially when I see an email that has me tagged I find it so much easier to type and properly respond from my desktop computer. So - If I 'Like' a post' just know I'll likely later mention something in one of my long summarized posts, like this one! Yesterday was exhausting for me; I slept poorly Tuesday night due to heartburn and tenderness on the left hand side. I did get a few things done yesterday, though, including making it to Walmart finally to get my returns processed. I'm not sure why I thought I'd need extra bandages and such after my surgery, but I didn't. That said, after reviewing the cost of canned soups and canned chicken, I decided just to buy a rotisserie chicken! Honestly, that's proven to be easier and more economical because after deboning it there is plenty of flavorful chicken to either puree into chicken salad or puree with chicken broth and some canned peas/carrots as a kind of 'no noodle' soup! I also had a ridiculous epiphany this morning - cooking and straining our fruits BEFORE mixing them with yogurt or ricotta works WAY BETTER! This should have been obvious but in my addled mind I've been either 'peeling' the strawberries, or like this morning I thought I'd put the whole blueberry yogurt smoothie through the metal screen to strain and hey - that worked POORLY! Lol - silly the illogical things we do at times, eh? Or maybe it's just me, idk! Oh - I ALSO realized yesterday evening, when I had basically zero energy nor desire to mess with dinner but still was far short of my protein goal that I hadn't started taking the Collagen yet that I bought to help my hair, skin, and nails. Lo and behold when I scoped it out (I ordered Nature Target Multi-Collagen Peptides from Amazon) that one scoop DOES have 9g of Protein! I truly felt like I was cheating the system when I poured a scoop in about 4oz of Gatorade Zero, Orange and called that my dinner. I'm not sure what caused me to sleep better last night - the fact that I held/hugged a pillow ( Thank you again @draikaina8503 for mentioning the pillow your nursing staff gave you!) against my left side during most movements throughout the day, the fact that I was extremely tired, the relief from hearing from my doctor's office, or just time and healing in general) but I DID sleep well and today has gone more smoothly for me. As of today I'm 17 days post op, about a 1/4 of the way into my two weeks of puree diet. @ShoppGirl - I haven't noticed about white spots on the tongue after different types of protein drinks because I've been really aware of any 'filmy texture' so rinse my mouth after each meal, but I do feel like the Ensure is thicker and takes more effort for me to rinse after drinking. Thanks for mentioning the Protein Water! I'm going to look into that to see if it will help me meet my protein goal of 60g/day. @draikaina8503 - I haven't noticed much as far as skin sensitivity goes although my bruises from where they stuck me have taken an AGE to heal! I've been worried about you and hope that the incident with your doggo didn't leave you with any lasting damage (I may see a post about that later as I read). Are you taking Collagen Peptides by chance? I noticed one of the Youtubers who documented their own surgery journey dealt with breakouts afterward while taking Collagen and wondered if maybe it was impurities being purged from their skin as a result of the Collagen itself. If not I'd definitely mention it to your surgeon and double check (not that I think you'd miss anything since you seem VERY thorough) that some ingredient you're intolerant to hasn't snuck its way into your routine. Update: Oh good, I'm glad you got some reassurance from your physician's office. Wow - congratulations on the return to school! The start date is rolling right up, isn't it?! Yeah, timing - eesh - I feel ya! Best of luck in finding a comfortable position in which to do your course work, and the energy to tackle everything at once! So far though it looks like you're nailing it and no reason to think that success won't keep right on coming! Oh - and yeah, I guess I AM blessed to have been given this little bottle of Hibiclens! I had noticed that there was one of those tubs in my hospital room when I got ready to check out and there was another bottle of it in there as well as a couple of 'No rinse' shampoo caps. I snagged everything out of it - figured if my insurance was paying for it, I was gonna grab it for possible later use! I wish I could hand you this extra bottle, honestly! @Pepper_No_Salt - Wow; goodness! Yeah; honestly it sounds like you're doing way too much! I'm only just now starting to feel up to helping load the dishwasher, and today I managed to slowly sort through the clothing in my chest of drawers for size/quality of condition. Even then, I had to have my fella open the drawers for me because it's older and they stick a bit, plus pulling anything makes me tender, much less bending and pulling at the same time! I can't IMAGINE trying to tackle everything you just listed at this stage. I know we all heal at different rates but my surgeon's office told me yesterday that the pain *I* have been mainly experiencing, a pulling/tugging on my left side, can take up to a month or two to recover from. She said to remember that despite how the surface appears to have healed that there is a LOT of repair and healing happening internally. She also said that as frustrating as it is to just try to be patient with myself because the body is adjusting in a lot of ways between not getting hardly any carbs, learning to get its energy from different sources, i.e. stored fat, processing our intake of protein/water differently, and literally healing multiple organs (for me, SADI, intestines and stomach from the sleeve portion) and that takes a lot out of a person. @Justarwaxx - Oh my goodness, that sounds VERY anxiety inducing! This is your body and your journey, I absolutely suggest contacting your surgeon's office to see if they can send you some kind of guideline on what to be doing at your different stages. Also, I will be honest - that sounds like a lot of calories to be intaking during your liquid diet and I can't help but wonder if you're drinking maybe the wrong particular protein shake? I don't say that because I think you SHOULD worry about calories specifically but you DO need to worry about sugar intake. I got tripped up because my surgeon's team gave me a booklet guide for the whole process and I'm not supposed to drink any protein shakes that have less than 15g of Protein and more than 5g of sugar. The protein shakes are deceptive as heck, though! Example: The off brand Equate ones I got are Max Protein with 30g of Protein and less than 1g of sugar, and one time I accidentally bought their Protein Plus which had 20g of sugar in each one! They tasted great - but at the cost of all that sugar it was a hard pass! Also if you are drinking regular Gatorade or Powerade I could see that being a factor; I'm on Zero Sugar for my non-protein beverages. I can totally see how you'd feel at a loss - I spent 10 months working up to my surgery (because I had to quit smoking, etc) and I still feel like I'm winging it. If your surgeon's team didn't mention it, I will - there is an app called Baritastic that is free on the Google Play Store. You can scan the items you intake or search them on the 'Food Log' and it usually pulls up the correct information and lets you put what percent of the listed serving size you consumed. I do suggest checking at least one time to make sure it's pulling up the correct information that matches the Nutrition Facts listed on the item. After that it will be recorded in your 'Recent' list and you can just choose it easily that way. Baritastic also has a built in Timer for 30 minutes you can use to track when you stop drinking and can start drinking after a meal - once you're past the liquid stage and move on to meals that's pretty important across the board as far as I know. The 'No drinking 30 minutes before, during, or after a meal' is important because due to the adjusted size of your stomach it can only fit a certain amount, and you could get overly full of water before or after a meal otherwise, leading to you being sick to your stomach or feeling miserable overall. Honestly, I've been setting a timer when I sit down at my computer as well so I don't get absorbed in what I'm doing and sit for too long. That's been helpful! Best of healing and well wishes to you all - Oh, finally updated my ticker but bummed I can't put 'SADI' as my surgery type. Oh well! Adding: The Finch App continues to help me navigate these waters, big time. I open my free Finch app (Also on the Google Play App store) more often then I open Facebook or any social media. Taking care of that silly cute cartoon bird and getting rewarded for taking care of MY personal business is such a benefit to someone like me who is almost certainly ADHD/Autistic at some level. I even use it to remind me to log my food/liquid intake in Baritastic. OH and I did make solid contact with the testing center I've been on a wait list with - looks like I'll at least be able to get in to a counselor soon, though I'm still on the wait list for actual Autism testing. Ok - that's all for now!

Wow. I’m surprised you made it a week with the caffeine withdrawal headaches. I’m glad you didn’t have any issues from drinking it so soon post surgery. I am weaning myself off it now and I tried cutting back too fast the first day and woke up with a massive headache at 2am so bad that I downed some. I am down to my last day actually. I should be caffeine free tomorrow. 😁 and I start my preop diet the next day I THOUGHT I had more time between the two and I was going to do lower carb to sorta detox from those before preop but the office messed up and I got alot less warning. Oh well stuff happens I guess. Just trying to keep going forward. Anyways, I guess my point is that I definitely second the cutting caffeine. I did it further in advance with the sleeve and really wish I hadn’t cut it so close this time. It has been stressful thinking what if it’s too fast and I can’t get there. Especially for me being post sleeve because I can’t just take an Alieve and Tylenol doesn’t do anything for me. I can’t even imagine dealing with everything post op and having a withdrawal headache on top of it all.

To be honest, I feel like I'm having a week long melt down over it and just giving myself a week's grace to work through my feelings. Thanks for your comment.

Week 3 Puree diet sucks. I may need to seek counseling as I didn't realize my relationship with food, or lack thereof, is this out of control. Maybe it's not a food addiction? Maybe I don't try hard enough? I lack control and I know it will affect me long-term. I convince myself that I'm trying, but am I really? I'm supposed to be eating/drinking plenty of protein. 64oz of fluids per day, but I'm not. I have absolutely NO motivation to get out of bed or the control to not snack on foods I'm not even ready to properly digest. I keep telling myself I'm chewing enough so it's "basically pureed" before I swallow. I could literally be furthest from the truth. Wth is wrong with me? I did SO good for my pre-op diet. I was very militant, even drank more fluids than I was supposed to. I also lost more weight than my doctor asked me to. What happened? I'm hungry, what seems like, all the time. I was warned I may not like sweet things and even salty foods could throw me off. If anything, I'm craving those two like never before. I've been cheating with food already...drinking around 35oz of fluids per day, on a good day. I'm so tired all day all the time. End rant... I hope I'm not the only one here who is suffering from stagnancy and lack of control. I will become stronger. I have faith in myself. It's just right now I'm at a loss.

Hello from hot Arizona! Everyone is so different as to what makes them dump. I’m over 6 years out & can eat almost anything. Fruit can be tricky because of all the natural sugar. I just finished eating 3.5oz of watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberry & grapes. I make little portion cups up with just a couple of bites of each fruit & keep them ready in the fridge for a late night snack. You just gotta start off slow to see what your body will tolerate & just because something makes you dump this week doesn’t mean that it is always gonna be that way the next time. Good luck

your surgeon is nuts - you just had major surgery! Of course you're going to get easily fatigued! I had to take naps in the afternoon for the first couple of weeks - and it was probably two months before I felt back to normal (although it got a little better every day...)

8 weeks PO today and 14 kg down- 56 more to go- I made myself one of those goal thermometers so I can colour it in week by week- I also have a weight tracking app- but there is something nice about colouring in the thermometer.

I would also join a Discord group if there was one! I'm still struggling with consistency since returning from vacation. I had to dive back into work and household stuff immediately and my brain power doesn't seem to stretch as far as food prep and maintaining a schedule. I've been stuck between 186 and 187 for a few weeks now. And since my region has been under a heat advisory since last week, I haven't been getting my walks in at all. I keep waiting for something new to report, but I still feel stuck. I will be taking 5-month photos in a few days, though. I missed my 4-month while on vacation, so I'm extra curious to compare this time to my before photos.

I'm actually getting my surgery on the NHS. To be honest, I feel like I won the lottery because I was approved for surgery in May 2024 and I'm getting it in October 2024. The surgeon said to me it was extremely unlikely it would happen before next year! But I guess the downside is they gave me the option of sleeve or bypass and those were the only options. I would love a last fry up, but sadly, I'm on milk diet for 12 weeks until surgery and then after that, I don't suppose I'll really want food for at least a month.

like someone else said, only 30% of bypass patients dump, and it's not common to dump on fruit, even though it contains sugar. People who dump tend to dump on things like ice cream, cake, etc (and often they can eat SOME ice cream, etc - like maybe a few bites - but just not a lot) I'm several years out. The first few months I really only ate berries (once I was able to, that is - anything with seeds I was supposed to avoid the first few weeks post-op). I've been able to eat pretty much any fruit ever since - although sometimes acidic fruits like pineapple and citrus fruits irritate my stomach. I still eat them occasionally, though. P.S. I do know someone who dumped on pineapple once, so it IS possible to dump on fruit - but that was the only time I've ever heard of anyone dumping on fruit - so I think it's pretty uncommon.

I agree with the others! You just had major surgery and your calorie intake is still super low. I was so tired the first 2 months, I remember sleeping like before motherhood. You probably still have little ones waking you at night so you’re not getting any recovery time! Listen to your inner voice and trust yourself. At one week I was pleased to get out of bed, do some simple house chores, move around hourly, and take a shower. I went back to work after week 2 and went to bed as soon as I came home. My kid thought it was great playing outside longer living free like a Gen X kid! Lol, seriously sit in the shade with a fan on while the little ones play outside with water. Send the older ones off to friend’s houses with bikes. Enjoy your pause in life :)

I found a stock cube in water with some protein powder had a bit of a salty flavouring to it. I am more savoury than sweet for my taste buds so I know how you are feeling. The thing that got me through was knowing I was able to swallow very little of the liquids and it was only for a couple of weeks.

That's so smart - I have been trying to get my house in order this week, too - this sounds like great motivation to me because I TOTALLY would be doing the same thing; you're right - going crazy about everything I see that needs done at the worst possible time to deal with it! I hope your EKG is good as well! I'm sure it will be *crosses fingers* I go in on Monday for my Pre-Admission Testing; I'm not sure if they'll do an EKG or not but I'm glad you mentioned it! I was just reviewing my paperwork and it says that "You will have non-fasting labs drawn at this appt. and may have other testing done." so I guess it's possible; I hadn't even thought of it. I'm sure they mentioned it and I lost it in the overwhelming amount of information I've been trying to process. It really is a LOT to keep track of. I lucked into hearing about that app I mentioned, Finch, from another friend who also had WLS. (Weight Loss Surgery - it took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure out that abbreviation! ) She had the sleeve, and another friend of mine had the Roux-y about a year and a half ago done by the same surgeon I'm using. I've watched her recovery, and it's been rocky. I think doing a 'virgin SADI' as you called it will be way better for me. She's already got an ulcer due to continuing to use NSAIDs and drinking way too much coffee. She also went back to smoking cigarettes. It's been quite the motivator to do this right, I'll say that much! I start Colace and the Liquid Diet on 7/29, so we'll be on about the same track! I've got the one week pre-op diet, and then surgery on Aug. 5th as long as I get the insurance and other clearance! Best of luck!

I do wonder if I will lose anymore. I hope not lol I look too small in my opinion. And thank you! I am having a rough week, still working out but I have been eating sugar free chocolates and for some reason I am not having a lot of self control. I am due for my womanly time so I am blaming that. But stepping on the scale this was a happy surprise!

Had my MSK appointment yesterday to discuss my poorly knees and go through my X-rays. Turns out my knees are, and I quote, ‘riddled with arthritis’ and I will need both replacing. It may sound odd but it’s kind of a relief that the pain I feel is justified if that makes sense? The areas of pain on my knees marry up with the worst areas on my X-rays. She did explain that weight loss wouldn’t get rid of the pain but would obviously help with regards to the replacements and quality of life afterwards. I really did appreciate her honesty because the last thing I would want is to think that getting the weight off would make the pains go, and then be disappointed or blaming myself when that didn’t happen. So, can’t have any replacement op until I can get weight off - that’s a given so I was prepared for that. She did say that I was ahead as I’m on the Bariatric pathway which is a huge help. I’m booked in for steroid injections in both knees in 2 weeks. I’ve had these before which weren’t successful but I’m happy to try again, just in case! A couple of weeks after that I will be contacted by physio to see if the injections worked and to have some physio if so. 3 months after that I will be back to see MSK and discuss next steps. It was a huge help that the MSK person was also recovering from a knee replacement op that she had in January. She also needs both replacing and should hopefully have the second before this year is out. She explained recovery and how long it takes etc. It sounds 😬 but needs must and all that. Hopefully, by the time I’m 60 (4 years to go) my weight will be gone, my knees will by done and I will be able to run around with my 2 grandchildren 😊

I wish I ate more of the things I loved pre-op LOL!!! Nah jokes aside, WLS is a tool that we utilize towards - hopefully - permanent life changes, if you see it as a means that'll all it'll ever be, if you see it as an effective tool, it will get you where you want to be. I would say, clean up your act, get moving, change your daily habits and get into the fat loss mindset. This doesn't mean going completely cold turkey on everything, but whatever bad habits that led you to needing the surgery in the first place need to be thought of and turned around. I didn't need a liquid diet, my BMI was on the lower side and I worked out consistently my entire life so I didn't much change anything and boy I wished I changed some things because dealing with the discomfort of the surgery, the huge changes in your diet and all the restrictions afterwards is no fun all together. I wish I cut back on caffeine (I had caffeine a week post surgery because I had terrible headaches), I wish I cut out diet soda prior to WLS because I love diet soda so very much and it was tough to think that I can never have this without any mental preparation beforehand. I wouldn't change much else because fortunately for me, I had a good experience post op, the weight dropped off very quick, I never threw up or had severe food aversions and have very effective restriction. But I also had a very balanced diet and workout regimen before WLS and that helped me tremendously and I know that might not be the case for everyone. Also, prepare yourself for a new life and new you, it's cliché but it's very true.

I would suggest that. I have been athletic my entire adulthood with a really good muscle tone and maintained a really healthy weight for decades until a very bad ankle sports injury that caused my weight to balloon up. At one point I was exercising 6 days a week for 2 hours, that's when my weight suddenly went up 4 kilos out of the blue and I didn't know why. A few months later I was forced to cut back to 4 days a week (1 hour each) and my weight dropped on its own. What I found out is that 4 days of 1 hour workouts suited me much better than 6 days of endless time at the gym. Now that I am below goal weight I follow the same, 4 days of workouts (2 Pilates sessions and 2 heavy weight lifting days with cardio). My body is comfortable and the weight is melting off. I workout hard, but I rest hard as well. During the first few months I lost a lot of weight rapidly and I was weak and frail, so I stopped any sorts of weight lifting. The first week I started weight lifting again I was so incredibly sore and guess what, I hit my first ever stall since surgery, not only that but my weight even went up that week and took me a good 2 weeks to break through the stall. Muscle fatigue causes inflammation that causes water retention within the muscles. Rest days are just as important as workout days. I am not saying that this will 100% work for you but might be worth giving a try. Good luck!

Had vacation with friends last week. A bit worrisome. I read everyone having dumping syndrome and restriction that helps keep you ‘honest’. I cant say i had any adverse effect. We ate out daily. I did watch my portions and proper mechanics- no drinking 30 min After eating. Had a bite of a donut, one day ice cream, a variety of small things that i should not have eaten, a fry or two…..I did not get sick —however, i also only lost 0.5lb this week :( So this week back on track! I still have 85lbs to shed.

That's so cruel and everyone is so scared that it could happen to them. I think I might have had a melt down. I feel for you because we want this surgery so badly and 3 weeks on a liquid diet is brutal. Biggest hugs sent your way.

I had the Sleeve 3.5 years ago and I’m pending revision to SADI or bypass (Bypass if he gets in there a can’t do SADI for some reason). From what I have seen on these boards the post op pain level for the sleeve and bypass is pretty similar year still different from person to person. I think the main difference between someone with an easy vs tough recovery depends on whether any air gets trapped in there and causes gas pain. I was really fortunate with the sleeve that I didn’t have any gas pain at all and my recovery was quite easy. I was up a couple hours after being back to my room Bugging then nurses with questions about my urine output 🤣 At one point I even questioned whether they had somehow forgotten to do the surgery. I did feel like I had done about 1000 crunches. And I had to use the bed rails to assist in sitting up for the first day but if I was just lying or standing I felt normal. I even said I didn’t need pain meds right away. They said they suggested they wean me down because I was already on some and may not know it if I’m in pain. I went home the next day on just Tylenol but with a pain script just in case. I did feel fatigued for a while so I took naps daily and I waited the full two weeks before I did much as instructed but I FELT like I could do most things if I had tried. It is an adjustment to remember all the vitamins and figure out what to drink or “eat” and when but I set alarms on my phone and that helped quite a bit. I actually just created alarms for every half hour and then toggled them on as needed to plan my day. You are a step ahead of the game that you are already here and established where you can get support and ask questions if you have any I didn’t find this site until a couple of days before so I was still figuring out how the thing even worked while working through the rest of it. The people here are incredibly helpful to answer questions, cheer you on or just let you vent if you have a bad day. The main thing to keep in mind is your goals and your reasons why you are doing the surgery and that will get you through it. If you ask everyone if they have any regrets about Weight loss Surgery the most common response it that they only wish they had done it sooner. After a few months you should be in your new groove, just losing weight and noticing that you can already do things you haven’t been able to do. If you haven’t already, Check out the “weirdest non scale victories” thread on this site. It sorta turned to just normal non scale victories but it’s pretty inspiring

So since posting I’ve not been very active and my issue with weight regain has gotten worse. I am now sitting at 270 pounds. That’s 100 total pounds regained. I am miserable. I am going to start a protein shake diet thing for a week starting tomorrow and really try to get active again, but as I mentioned before I am still on night shift and a student as well. My fitness pal seems to cost money these days and im absolutely not paying 20$ a month for that, I wish it was still free. Any tips is awesome, motivations, and even pen pals, I find not having anyone to hold my accountable is really a big problem for me as I tend to convince myself to do as I please (I get it, I need to hold myself accountable, but it’s nice to have a helping hand) thanks for all the comments

Oh my gosh, me too! But: We got this!! I'm going to get my lab work done next week and I know it should look really good with as long a path I've been on to get to this point and all the vitamins I've been taking! I've been taking the Barimelts multi w/iron (dissolved crazy easily, best I've found) the Calcium from BariatricPal every other day, and some Multi-collagen Peptides w/Probiotics for like, two months. I also had to quit smoking cigarettes and with the help of Chantix I've managed to do it, and just passed my fourth month of not smoking! I use the Baritastic app for my food tracking. There's SO much to the process! I'm nervous and wondering if I'm going to end up feeling like a stranger in my own skin but I'm trying to keep focusing on my reasons for doing all of this - better health, longer life, better quality of life, etc. Feel free to message me; I can be bad about checking my emails but I found an app called Finch that is helping me keep track of everything, thank goodness, and reminds me to CHECK my email. Sorry for the delayed response!

Okay so tonight I had cauliflower crust pizza. I didn’t make the crust. It was frozen. Not the absolute greatest but not terrible either. I made it with ricotta, mozz, chicken and onions so I got my protein at least. I have a battle between my brain and my stomach trying not to eat too terrible in these next couple of weeks Before I start my preop.

I had the same feeling at first. But the important thing is that you personally are going in the right direction. Slow or fast doesn’t matter. (Although i would love the weight to ‘go’ faster). Im at 9weeks and every week shows a tiny bit of progress.

You have to start walking right away, before you even leave the hospital. For the first 3 weeks, the walking is plenty. It's about increasing the amount you can walk. Around week 4, I started doing the treadmill on a lower incline (not completely flat but a lower incline) and a normal walking speed. I also started doing arm workouts (without weights). I started doing mild step ups, and increased walking even more. At 6 weeks, I started increasing the incline on the treadmill, added low weights to my arm work outs, and added the exercise bike. At week 10, I increased the weights and started doing more strenuous workouts and small hikes. At 12 weeks, I started core work and increased the workouts more. i also do beginner pilates, but I only just started that.