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Haven't posted in a long while. I am approaching 6 years post op. I have had lots of ups and downs. Generally I am pleased and I have not put weight back on. I was about 350 prior to surgery and I float in between 160 and 170 pounds. Eating is still a struggle but its something you learn to deal with. I hope everyone is doing well and receiving the support that is needed. If I can help anyone the way that I was helped and supported by this forum, I would gladly help.

I read a news article this morning that really set me off. So into the Rants & Raves bit bucket this goes. The three most important elements after gastric bypass surgery are to meet your daily protein, fluid and vitamin requirements. Food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. Weight loss is achieved after surgery through meal volume control. You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as protein shakes. Without sufficient protein, your body will scavenge protein from other areas of your body, such as your muscles. Protein is extremely important after surgery as its job in the body is to build and maintain tissues including your body's major organs and skeletal muscles. Protein deficiency, when continued over a long period of time can cause a disease known as protein caloric malnutrition. Common symptoms are poor healing, fatigue, hair loss and muscle wasting. Immediate post op, protein promotes healing of the staple line and incisions. The article that I read was titled "Protein powders may be damaging your health" at http://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/2018/03/01/protein-powders-may-be-damaging-your-health.html Sometimes you come across an article that was intended to unjustly scare you and this one fits the bill. Right below the Title was a picture of a young healthy man mixing up a protein shake. The captions below read "A new study showed 70 percent of protein powders tested had detectable levels of lead, 74 percent had cadmium and 55 percent had BPA, the chemical formula found in many plastics." The operative word here is detectable. Just because something is detectable doesn't mean it is harmful. Every year we make improvements to our instruments and their ability to measure substances. So today we can detect elements down to one-part-per-million or one-part-per-billion or one-part-per-trillions. And just because an element or substance can be detectable doesn't mean it is harmful, it is the amount of that element that is important. The poison is in the dose. So as far as I am concerned this article was nothing more than a hatchet job. Consider for a moment water. Is water harmful? No, not really. It is very beneficial. But if you drink too much of it all at once you may likely die. Water intoxication, also known as water poisoning, hyperhydration, or water toxemia is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain functions that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside safe limits by overhydration (excessive water intake). The Poison is in the dose.

Frust8 my height weight was 360 I was a size 28W now I’m 220 and a size 14 I am 5’8’’ My goal was a size 16 but I now have a new goal. I want to hit onederland. I have worked my butt off and don’t you guys ever let anyone tell you that you took the easy way out this is way harder Both mentally and physically! I’m so happy for you guys! Your about to get your lives back! I didn’t realize till after surgery that I had but the pause button and was just watching my life instead of living it.

If you google this it is common after bariatric surgery.

Now that just sounds nuts! I’ve been reading a lot online and I know the liquid diet helps to clear your system and make sure there aren’t any chunks of food in your system so I get that. A protein based diet with zero carbs and sugar puts us in ketosis and basically helps our fatty liver shrink so it’s easier to perform the surgery. If you don’t even know when your surgery is going to be than I think it’s crazy to be on all liquid! The crazy thing about the pre op diet is that everyone has such different instructions!! Some people do a liquid diet two week before surgery and I’ve talked to someone that only had a liquid diet 3 days before surgery! I wish there was a cookie cutter answer for this

When I was at the bulk food store this weekend, I noticed some cricket protein bars. I'm going to give them a shot sometime soon.

There are many different types of formulations on protein shakes. I would recommend that you keep experimenting until you find one that you can tolerate. You don't have to like it, just tolerate it. I used Muscle Milk Light (Vanilla Creme) protein shake powder blended with water and a half a banana. That worked for me. But on the opposite end of the spectrum, you might try premixed Isopure.

Why not consider bypass ? As The stomach isn’t removed Also would consider the amount of sleeve patients who end up with doing another surgery from sleeve to bypass Good luck on your decision! HW 242, SW 236- (Bypass 12/20/17) GW#1- 199 [emoji736] (2/11/18) GW#2- 175 CW 191.4 5’6”

What’s keto? & thank you(: