Absolutely surreal to be posting this as I have read so many of these threads! I didn’t think the day would ever come! Excited and petrified. My date is 2/22/21!!

Any February 2021 bypassers out there? I would love to connect and share prep plans and how things go after surgery.

I had my surgery on 2/9! It's been quite the rollercoaster. I live in Texas and the winter storm hit a few days later, which delayed my protein delivery AND we didn't have water for 5 days. Oh, and I had a severe allergic reaction to the medical adhesive that sent me to the ER in the snow...which for SE Texas is a way bigger deal that you'd imagine.

BUT! The good news: I'm down ~15lbs, I feel better and I'm not struggling with my food addiction as much as I thought I'd be. I love soup so it's been great to blend up different kinds and mix them together to create interesting flavors.

I've only had 2 food related issues:

1) sugar free jell-o is not my friend yet. It put me on my knees in pain and I nearly blacked out. It lasted about 20min, but was most intense in the first 5min. My advice: if you want to try it, take no more than 2 bites and wait 30min to see if you react.

2) I drank a heavier beef based soup too fast and it had me up in the middle of the night vomiting, but just once. It wasn't too terrible, just something to remember.

Good luck to all of you with upcoming surgery dates! I'm new to this site, so I don't know if you can send questions or whatever, but feel free to reply and ask away! :)

12 minutes ago, Ashes2Ashes said:

I had my surgery on 2/9! It's been quite the rollercoaster. I live in Texas and the winter storm hit a few days later, which delayed my Protein delivery AND we didn't have Water for 5 days. Oh, and I had a severe allergic reaction to the medical adhesive that sent me to the ER in the snow...which for SE Texas is a way bigger deal that you'd imagine.

BUT! The good news: I'm down ~15lbs, I feel better and I'm not struggling with my food addiction as much as I thought I'd be. I love Soup so it's been great to blend up different kinds and mix them together to create interesting flavors.

I've only had 2 food related issues:

1) sugar free jell-o is not my friend yet. It put me on my knees in pain and I nearly blacked out. It lasted about 20min, but was most intense in the first 5min. My advice: if you want to try it, take no more than 2 bites and wait 30min to see if you react.

2) I drank a heavier beef based soup too fast and it had me up in the middle of the night vomiting, but just once. It wasn't too terrible, just something to remember.

Good luck to all of you with upcoming surgery dates! I'm new to this site, so I don't know if you can send questions or whatever, but feel free to reply and ask away!

@Ashes2Ashes Congrats on overcoming all those situational obstacles! Hopefully it will be smooth sailing for the rest of your journey. Do you think it was the texture of the SF Jello or the artificial sweeteners?

Also I’m just starting on soups. Care to share your favorites? Today I blended a bunch of leftover cooked rotisserie chicken breast and some herbs into Campbell’s Cream of chicken soup with a hand blender and added a scoop of unflavored protein powder to 1/2 cup. I strained out the few chunks that were left and it was pretty dang good. I’m 9 days post op so I half expected to not be able to get my 1/2 cup down but it went down super easy. Soo happy to get my protein from something other than a protein shake!!

Hi, I had surgery on February 18, 2021 today I am 16 days after surgery, I lost 10 kilos I still have a little pain and I can only eat liquids and soups

Had my revision to bypass on 2/24. Originally had a sleeve and needed to revise because of GERD. I don't remember being this exhausted when I had the sleeve. I can barely go from one room to another without sitting. Just started pureed stage and I'm hoping it will help with my energy levels. Living off of crystal light, broth, and protein shakes. Just had some egg drop soup and it tasted like heaven! Started at 181# and I'm down to 167. So far...no GERD. Hoping this worked.

You were one day after me ? I have been surviving on Protein shakes, broth, sugar free popsicles, and crystal light. I really believe our bodies are in a totally different place with the bypass than they were with the sleeve. With sleeve the just took 2/3 of our stomach with the revision to bypass they hooked two things together that were never together before. Definitely more pain and the feeling of being exhausted. I have been home since last Thursday and so far I have had 3 showers. One assisted on a tub bench, one unassisted on a tub bench, and this morning standing the whole time. I am a water baby. I love to shower, swim, and so forth and I promise you that was one of the quickest showers I have ever had. By the time I put my clothes on I needed to lay back down. I have faith we will get back to our normal selves again but might just be a few weeks. Be gentle with yourself through this process. I keep stated it but this was major surgery ?

On 3/4/2021 at 1:36 PM, ThisMomOf5 said:

Hi MissSmartyPants. I had my surgery 2 days after you and I had similar concerns. I have not yet felt any restriction with liquids. I can drink just like pre-op and not feel a thing. I told my doc and he said “that’s great!!” He said I’ll feel it when I transition to puréed foods. He also said I can move on to non Clear Liquids this weekend. I’m only down 6 post op lbs so it sounds like we are twinning it! Btw we are also the same height.

I had same concerns and felt like I was going to be able to eat everything. Liquid moves through pretty quick. Even most of the puree I did moved through pretty quick. The soft food week was rough trying to gage how many bites would fill me. It is still rough, trying to figure how much food will fill without giving me a lump in my chest for an hour. When you eat real food you will notice the limit of your stomach. I had surgery 1/28. Been eating solid for a few weeks. Everyman I have to remember to eat slow and stop when you start to feel even a little uncomfortable.

On 3/4/2021 at 1:36 PM, ThisMomOf5 said:

Hi MissSmartyPants. I had my surgery 2 days after you and I had similar concerns. I have not yet felt any restriction with liquids. I can drink just like pre-op and not feel a thing. I told my doc and he said “that’s great!!” He said I’ll feel it when I transition to puréed foods. He also said I can move on to non Clear Liquids this weekend. I’m only down 6 post op lbs so it sounds like we are twinning it! Btw we are also the same height.

Hey! Have you prepped any recipes for purees? I prepped avocado and beans , gave it a taste tonight and OOF they hit me like a rock. Literally felt like a chainsaw was being ripped through me. And, this is 1/8 teaspoon through sieve. Maybe those just don't agree right now?

That's a shame because I'm vegan and was looking forward to relying on those savory staples. Hopefully tofu doesn't do we wrong!

I look forward on following your progress since our stats are so close!

On 3/5/2021 at 12:24 PM, ThisMomOf5 said:

Do you think it was the texture of the SF Jello or the artificial sweeteners?

Also I’m just starting on Soups. Care to share your favorites?

I think it was the artificial sweeteners, I had greek yogurt with no issues and that's a bit thicker. I've stayed away from it since and haven't felt that way again, thankfully.

However, I'm now dealing with serious constipation. It's so painful! I am trying to drink as much water as possible, but feel so bloated it's hard to get anything down. I've had 2 doses of milk of magnesia (the most disgusting stuff ever!!) and it's getting stuff moving, but not fast enough for me. I'm planning to call my doc here in a bit, just to assuage my nerves and also see if she has any advice I hadn't thought of.

Soups! So, to be very honest...I don't cook. I hate it with a passion. Most of the stuff I eat is from a can or the deli section at my local grocery store. I blend it and mix different flavors to get some variety. My sister is 2 years post-op and loves to cook, so she brings me fresh stuff once a week and that's been huge.

The soups I keep going back to are the sipping soups from Well, Yes! brand. The best and thinnest is the Roasted Corn and Poblano. I don't like spicy stuff and this is perfect! The chicken ones tend to have chunks and/or noodles, so I stay away from those.

15 hours ago, MissSmartyPants said:

Hey! Have you prepped any recipes for purees? I prepped avocado and Beans , gave it a taste tonight and OOF they hit me like a rock. Literally felt like a chainsaw was being ripped through me. And, this is 1/8 teaspoon through sieve. Maybe those just don't agree right now?

That's a shame because I'm vegan and was looking forward to relying on those savory staples. Hopefully tofu doesn't do we wrong!

I look forward on following your progress since our stats are so close!

@MissSmartyPants oooh that doesn’t sound like a good time at all!? Hopefully further along you will be able to tolerate them again. I keep expecting that type of reaction with just about everything new I try but so far everything agrees with me.

As far as purées, I made this butternut squash soup (FF coconut milk for the creamy part). https://www.evolvingtable.com/roasted-butternut-squash-soup-coconut-milk/. I threw some unflavored protein powder into my bowl to up the protein and really couldn’t tell by taste. It was good

I bought a really cool immersion blender at a friends recommendation that purées just about anything right in the cup or bowl. I think I’ll try to purée some jarred vegetable soup later with protein powder and see how that comes out.

16 hours ago, Orig Ironman said:

I had same concerns and felt like I was going to be able to eat everything. liquid moves through pretty quick. Even most of the puree I did moved through pretty quick. The soft food week was rough trying to gage how many bites would fill me. It is still rough, trying to figure how much food will fill without giving me a lump in my chest for an hour. When you eat real food you will notice the limit of your stomach. I had surgery 1/28. Been eating solid for a few weeks. Everyman I have to remember to eat slow and stop when you start to feel even a little uncomfortable.

I’m counting on this to be true for me too. So far I can’t tell I had surgery. I’ve never felt full and have to limit myself based on what the doc says I should be eating which is hard because well if I was that great at portion control I wouldn’t have needed the surgery in the first place. At my docs suggestion I had a soft scrambled egg the other day and I felt it stop for about 10 seconds and then pass right through! Looking forward to feeling some sort of restriction!

On 3/7/2021 at 10:42 PM, MissSmartyPants said:

Hey! Have you prepped any recipes for purees? I prepped avocado and Beans , gave it a taste tonight and OOF they hit me like a rock. Literally felt like a chainsaw was being ripped through me. And, this is 1/8 teaspoon through sieve. Maybe those just don't agree right now?

That's a shame because I'm vegan and was looking forward to relying on those savory staples. Hopefully tofu doesn't do we wrong!

I look forward on following your progress since our stats are so close!

that is so sad about beans and avocado. I tried beans by themselves and could not eat them. I was going to try more with avocado and cheese, but now I am not sure. Also my taste buds have changed so much I don’t know what I like anymore. I have been craving veggies, but have to get that protein. A lot of things are getting stuck so I may become the mushy food queen.

I tried the ricotta bake from the Baritastic app under soft foods and it went really well.

It's full of protein 16g per serving, I have a hard time drinking protein shakes so I'm trying to get it from my food. I tried to do refried beans with a little chees and could not it just got stuck in my throat. I also do a spoon of peanut butter slowly

Oh man I think I got the flu or something, I feel like crap. I got a covid test but still waiting for results. I hope everyone else is taking advantage of the warmer weather.

Has anyone experienced late post-op pain? My bypass was on 2/8/21, so I'm almost 5 weeks post-op. On Saturday, I started to experience a tight/burning-like pain on my left side (near that larger incision). I've spoken with my surgeon a couple of times to check-in and they said it's the internal sutures healing and could last 1-2 weeks! This is killing me! I want to get out and start walking and exercising but I feel like I can barely move! So frustrating! Everything else is going so well!

How is everyone this weekend. Anyone having trouble staying motivated to exercise. Any tips or suggestions? My tip that I'm having trouble with. I was at a wellness retreat for three weeks. The trainer gave me a very simple total body workout 4 exercises in a circuit 4 sets with 1 min rest between sets

10-20 push exercise( push up or shoulder press)

10-20 pull exercise( some kind of back row pull ups)

10_20 ab exercise( twist or crunch)

10-20 leg (squats or step back lunge)

1 min rest repeat

It only takes 10-15 minutes gets some strength and some some cardio all in one.