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Omg you look amazing keep up the good work. I hope to be able to lose weight as well Sent from my SM-G935V using BariatricPal mobile app

Being that I am in my 3rd week post op from a sleeve with a DS, and into the mushy foods stage - I wanted to post a couple of things that I found to be very useful with pre-surgery and post. If you go on the liver reduction diet like I did pre-op, then do yourself a favor and go to the vitamin store that sells your stuff well before your start date, and get the single serving samples of ALL of the BA shakes, and also buy one of each of the snacks. My wife had me do this and it was a life saver! I found some of the "recommended" flavors were really not tolerable for me. I bought one big bag, and one medium tub of the BA shakes to get me through - and then added a couple single servings of the sweeter ones just to have a change of pace once I was on shakes only in my second week of the liver reduction. Another big help for me was that with the BA shakes, you need to drink them right after you shake them. If you let them sit, they swell a little and foam up, then get a really nasty texture. I found that if I shook them up, used super cold water from our water cooler, then chugged them within a few minutes - they tasted fine. No problem at all. I ended up wishing that I bought the big bag of chocolate instead of vanilla. Post op, only being able to have 2oz at a time - using the BA shakes are near impossible because of how nasty they get after they sit a while. I use Premier Protein shakes - already mixed in the drinkable box. They taste great, have a nice variety, and you can get them at the big box retailers. Another piece of advice - when you are post op, as uncomfortable as it may be - get up and walk, and do it as much as you can. I can't believe how many people said they had no pain after surgery. They had me on morphine and I swear it did nothing for my pain. I did better with the oral pain med once I could take it. The first 3-4 days were pretty painful. I stopped my pain meds as soon as I could because I was getting stopped up from them. I would try to walk 2-3 times a day, and I should have done more. It really helps with the gas and recovery for sure! Post-surgery - change your meal times. My wife made me stay away from the table and meal times, and we also kept food talk, food shows, etc all to a minimum. I did notice that just sitting and talking about foods or watching them I was fine, or at least I thought so...but then I would still get a craving just to have something to chew on. Staying away from those situations and "triggers" is a real benefit. Now that I am on mushy foods, I have been able to sit with my family at meal time and at least have something for oral fixation and it makes all the difference. Don't get me wrong, I am not worried about slipping, but your gut can get excited and saliva build up - even though you may not have a craving. Just being away from those situations made it so much easier to get through liquid only times pre and post surgery. Anyone else have any tips or advice they can think of for those getting ready to go through this? I had a couple of friends that were able to advise me before I went through it. Not everyone is that fortunate so I wanted to share.

Hi, just wanted to say good luck for today. You got this!

Thanks so much. No, they didn’t give me a body wrap. Yes, I am learning to take extra small sips, but still have some discomfort in getting my liquids down. Can’t wait to feel better.

Yes, I have this same issue and I'm a DS patient. I was in the salon getting my hair done the other day, and I could smell everyone's hair that was getting blow dried. It should have smelled nice and clean, but to me it smelled like week old hair stench. Gag.

Dublin Ohio...just starting the process, have my psych eval on 1/22 and first NP visit on 1/31. Getting my surgery at OSUWMC with Dr. Needleman.

I'm not a DS patient, but I experienced the same thing when I was in Ketosis. I could smell the breath of everyone around me. LOL. It was horrible. Once I started eating more carbs, it dissipated. Good luck!

Oh I apologize I thought that this forum was for that.. and this is only my second day so I guess you can just not reply?

I had surgery 6 months ago. The thing I appreciated the most was my husband staying with me in the hospital for two days and nights. My program required you to get up and walk every 4 hours. I'm a heavy sleeper so my husband set an alarm, got me up and walked with me. He also helped me keep track of my fluid intake. This was a huge help for me to stay on course. He then stayed home the first day I was home just to make sure I could manage by myself. I did fine at home and didn't need pain melds more than Tylenol, so he went back to work. My doctor didn't want me to drive for seven days so I didn't. When he would get home from work, he'd walk with me and if weather was bad, he'd take me to A store or the mall to walk so I could get out for a little bit and not go stir crazy. For me, I think the walking helped me heal and get my energy back. I was able to go back to work in two weeks and have not had any issues. I hope this helps, best of luck to you both.

I've got 165-ish to take off (roughly 50% of my highest weight) and I'm stalled at 20 pounds down on the pre-op diet. I'm struggling with hunger and impatience and defeatist thinking, but I'm trying to focus on TODAY. What can I "do right" today? This morning I got up and went for a 5k walk out in the sunshine, and thought about my goals of hiking and running and doing all my physical things. Then I drank some protein water and reminded myself again. I guess all I can say is try not to look st the huge overwhelming goal. Yes you're working toward that, but look at what's right in front of you. Do that right. And repeat.