James Marusek

The meal regiment used by @@deanieluv6 is typical for RNY gastric bypass patients at the beginning of the process. @@AnnaValenka I recommend you review the meal plan given by your surgeon and follow it if you want to maximize your weight loss. The three most important elements after RNY is meeting your daily Protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements. food is secondary because your body is converting store fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight.

After RNY gastric bypass surgery, weight loss is generally achieved through meal volume control. The limits on meal volume are normally set by the surgeon's office. These requirements may vary a little from one doctor to the next. I am unfamiliar with the regiment that your doctor has set. The volume seems high to me. So I was wondering if you had a different operation such as mini-gastric bypass instead of RNY. On the other hand you indicated a weight loss of 42 pounds in 6 weeks which is a good amount of weight. I do not think you have stretched your pouch. The weight loss phase after surgery is relatively short and then you slide into the maintenance phase. My concern is that you might not maximize the amount of weight that you lose during this initial phase because you are exceeding meal volume requirements.

No strip down during initial weigh in. I just removed everything in my pockets and my shoes to remove a little extra weight. Sometimes they even frown on having you remove your shoes.

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. The most important requirements after surgery are to meet your Protein, Fluid, and Vitamin daily requirements. food is secondary because your body is converting stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. Exercise is also important, around 30 minutes of walking each day or equivalent. Eventually some of your taste will return. I found mixing food groups gave the food some flavor. I also found the soft foods (chili and soups) went down much easier than hard foods (such as steaks). I have included some recipes at the end of the following article. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. Before surgery I had diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea and severe acid reflux (GERD). All those conditions went into remission within a couple weeks after surgery and stayed there. The following article describes my experience with the operation. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf It is remarkable how much changes can occur in 6 months. Here is my before and after photo.

Congratulations.

I am wondering if this is a conversation that you should be having with your surgeon's office. After RNY surgery, I was restricted from certain medicines for a few days but then given the green light to begin to use them again. I was completely off my diabetes medicines the day I left the hospital 2 days after surgery. I am over 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery, and this condition has remained in remission ever since. About 2 weeks after surgery I took myself off all my high blood pressure medicines because I no longer needed them. I periodically tests my blood pressure and blood sugar and I am fine. Because I have asthma, I use Advair. I take one puff in the morning and one at night. Over the last year, I found the condition has greatly decreased so I cut myself down to 1 puff per day and feel fine. After surgery I was restricted from all blood thinners (such as aspirin or in your case zyrtec). This was because I had to take a prescription blood thinner to prevent blood clots from forming. (This would apply to most surgeries) I was off these blood thinners after about a week. So perhaps the questions should be how long is the restrictions of certain medicines and what are alternatives that you can take in the interim,

I am 3 years post-op RNY. For over 6 months prior to my surgery, I walked 30 minutes per day. This really helped my recovery process and reduced my pain level. I told the anesthesiologist that I did not want any pain medicine after surgery. So after I left the recovery room, I received no pain medicine. I didn't really need it because I had very little pain. I was up and walking the halls every 2 hours after surgery around the clock. I could not even tell when my surgery anesthesia subsided. It was a little difficult on the first day to walk the halls because I had to drag around a rolling stand that contained the IV. But by the second day they took this all away and it became easier. I was in the hospital for two days and I obtained very little sleep during that time. I could drink the Water because my taste buds changed and water tasted overly chlorinated. But they had a type of sugar free popsicles that were great. It was basically a waiting game until I was discharged. As I walked the halls, they had several before and after photographs of other individuals that underwent bariatric surgery. It is important to make sure they have a trapeze type bar installed over your bed. It makes it much easier and less painful if you have one.

Its best to avoid caffeine prior to surgery. When I gave up my 6 diet coke a day habit, I suffered through a week of severe headaches and body aches due to caffeine withdrawal. You don't want to combine these ill effects with the recovery process. In other words don't wait until the last minute to cut out the caffeine. After RNY gastric bypass surgery, the part of your stomach that processes fats and sugars will be cut away. Thus if you consume fats and sugars it can lead to dumping syndrome. Generally Starbucks are high fats/high sugars/high calorie drinks. [For example Caramel Macchiato is 250 calories, 7 grams fat, 33 grams sugar]. So consuming this type of drink after surgery can easily send your weight loss into a stall. About a year after surgery, your intestines will realize your stomach is no longer processing fats and sugars and will take up this function. As a result your dumping will end. After the weight loss phase as you slide into the maintenance phase, the approach changes. The goal in the weight loss phase is meal volume control. The goal in the maintenance phase is hunger control. One of the approaches to controlling hunger is to consume fats. I am 3 years post-op RNY and I start out each morning with a cup of hot coffee [even Starbuck brand coffee beans]. But it has no sugar, I use Stevia in my coffee. It also is topped with a large scoop of whip cream for the fat content. I make my own whip cream from heavy whipping cream and Splenda. So around a year post-op, you might come close to having a Starbucks, only you have to make it yourself. Otherwise the calories may make you put on the weight back on.

After surgery, I found that I could not longer swallow medium to large tablets including Citrical. I used a pill crusher to convert them to powder and then I mixed them in with a glass of Crystal light. I had to fill the glass several times in order to down the powder that turns into paste. After about 2 months post-op, I found that I had regained my ability to swallow again and I was even able to swallow the large Citrical (horse pills). That was a good day. There are other alternatives to Citrical but in general I find them to be more expensive. Whatever you take it must be calcium citrate.

It is important to maximize your weight loss during the weight loss stage. This stage is fairly short. Then you will slide naturally into the maintenance phase. For that reason, it is important to follow the guidelines, in order to get the most out of your surgery.

It appears you are in the pre-op diet stage. Good luck on your surgery. I had RNY gastric bypass 3 years ago. Before surgery I had a problem with frequent urination. Every hour on the hour during the night, I made a trip to the restroom. But a few weeks after surgery, this problem went away. Now I get a good nights sleep. Although this is not the same problem you are experiencing it is similar. If Depend will contain this problem by all means buy some and use it when you need it. Hopefully this problem will disappear for you after surgery.

Utterly fantastic!

Good luck on your upcoming surgery. Let us know how it went when you are on the other side.

Congratulations.

Dr. Katherine M. Flegal from the CDC and colleagues presented an analysis of obesity data from NHANES 2013-2014, as well as an examination of trends in obesity data from surveys from 2005-2012. Their study was published in JAMA. Overall, the NHANES crude results from the 2013-2014 survey indicated that 38 percent of American adults were obese (BMI >30) — 35 percent for men, and 41 percent for women. When they examined the prevalence of class 3 obesity (BMI > 40), they found an overall prevalence of 8 percent: 6 percent for men and 10 percent for women. For both genders, the prevalence varied by race/Hispanic origin, with black women having the highest prevalence of both obesity and class 3 obesity compared to non-Hispanic whites, followed by Hispanic women. An examination of trends across NHANES surveys between 2005 and 2014 revealed little change in obesity and class 3 obesity for men, but a significant increase in both for women during that decade. http://acsh.org/news/2016/06/08/ladies-we-have-a-problem-our-obesity-prevalence-is-up/

The problems you cited are not very common. On the other hand - no risk/no reward. Within 2 weeks after surgery, my high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, severe acid reflux (GERD) and several other medical problems went into remission and have remained there. I am over 3 years RNY gastric bypass surgery.

Whatever you do, don't blame it on Epigenetics! This has nothing to do with weight loss surgery (at least I don't think). But I read this article this morning and I still don't understand it. But any article that incorporates "flapdoodle love" in an article has got my attention. Anyways maybe I am just getting old and my thought patterns are getting disrupted. Epigenetics is a new term that describes how genes get turned on or remain off. Methylation is a process that keeps genes turned off so that they will not make the proteins that they are supposed to make. Acetylation, on the other hand, turns genes on, allowing proteins to be synthesized. With any new subject, people will make dramatic claims without knowing the scope of limitations of the scientific technology. This is called quack science. http://acsh.org/news/2016/06/10/epigenetics-lamarcks-revenge/

I don't know. Pain is normally a sign that something is wrong. If the pain is severe, call your surgeons office again. My family doctor is a case in point. Whenever he sees a patient and they complain about a problem, he ignores it. It is only the second time that you bring it up, that he begins to take the problem seriously.

This sounds like a question for Chef Woody. Chef Woody was a restaurant chef who underwent RNY gastric bypass surgery. He then incorporated his knowledge of WLS into specific recipes. After surgery he became an avid bicycle enthusiast. He worked is way up in competitions and rode non-stop from one side of Indiana to the other. He said when he reached the other side of the state, he was totally out of energy and collapsed. I suspect he would know the answer. He probably told it to me but I forgot. He moved away and now lives in Florida. Here is a link to what I believe is his website. http://www.chefwoody.com

The three most important elements after RNY surgery is to meet your daily Protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements. food is secondary because your body is converting stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. So as long as you meet the protein, fluid and vitamin requirements, follow the directed volume of food and do approximately 30 minutes of walking (or equivalent) each day, you should be fine. But I will bring up one more point. Your protein requirement is a combination of the protein you obtain from supplements combined with the protein from your meals. After surgery, your meal volume is microscopically small and you obtained very little protein from you meals. But at around 2 months post-op, your food volume begins to increase. So if you concentrate on consuming high protein meals, you can begin to reduce your reliance on protein supplements (Protein shakes, protein bars). Over the first year and a half after surgery I went from 3 protein shakes a day, down to 2, down to 1, and finally none. Protein shakes contain calories and these calories can add up. This was the approach that I used to break my stalls.

Congratulations on your weight loss.

I am not a medical professional so take everything I say with a grain of salt. I was wondering if you were taking any antibiotics for your sinus condition. If so you might have killed off the good bacteria in your gut and that could be causing the bloating and discomfort. After a regiment of antibiotics it is important to reestablish the colony of good bacteria in your gut by using Probiotics. Ibuprofen 800mg falls under a class of medicine called NSAIDs. The warnings associated with using this class of medicine are: Cardiovascular Risk NSAIDs may cause an increased risk of serious cardiovascular thrombotic events, myocardial infarction, and stroke, which can be fatal. This risk may increase with duration of use. Patients with cardiovascular disease or risk factors for cardiovascular disease may be at greater risk. Ibuprofen tablets are contraindicated for the treatment of peri-operative pain in the setting of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Gastrointestinal Risk NSAIDs cause an increased risk of serious gastrointestinal adverse events including bleeding, ulceration, and perforation of the stomach or intestines, which can be fatal. These events can occur at any time during use and without warning symptoms. Elderly patients are at greater risk for serious gastrointestinal events. So since you are taking Ibuprofen, as @@KristenLe has mentioned, you might have induced an ulcer.

Good luck on your surgery and let us know when you are on the other side.

Take a good photograph of yourself. Many people do not really look at themselves prior to surgery. I mean really, really look at themselves. Therefore after surgery when the weight begins to drop off they fail to see the difference. This is where a good before photo comes in handy. I don't mean the one that the surgeon's office takes. I mean your own personal copy. Buy a pill splitter and pill crusher. After surgery I lost my ability to swallow even medium size pills or Vitamins. Buy a product called Bio-Oil. You can find it at CVS, Walmart and other stores. After surgery, my face began to develop very, very fine wrinkles. The kind you see on people that are 100 years old. My wife suggested this product and I began using it and it does the trick. When you sleep on your side after surgery, put a pillow between your feet. This will help to keep you comfortable. Also I recommend a product Wonderful cushion which you can find at Bed, Bath and Beyond. You will lose fat in your rear end and this can make it uncomfortable to sit. Fat is a good insulator. Before surgery I was always hot. Even on cold days I would sweat. Now I feel the cold and I thank God for the person who invented hand warmers. A great product when you are shoveling snow in the winter. You will have to replace your entire wardrobe of clothing in the end. I found belts, especially cowboy type belts to be good, because I could cut them down and punch new holes in them as my waist size dropped. One thing you don't want to do is walk down a street and have your pants fall down on you. You may even have to replace your shoes. You may drop a size or your width may decrease. Mine didn't but several patients experience this. I bought a small metal spoon and use it all the time. I think they gave me a small plastic one in the hospital but I liked my small metal spoon. Here are some other thoughts. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf