James Marusek

I am 3 years post-op RNY and this is the approach that I used in the Maintenance phase. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

After surgery your body is in a major heal mode so it is common of patients to be unable to reach their Fluid and Protein requirements. But keep working at this each day and eventually you should get there. The three most important things after surgery is meeting your daily protein, fluids and Vitamins requirements. food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. One thing to remember on your daily fluid requirements is that everything counts. The Water or milk you drink. The fluid in the Protein shake. The water you drink to swallow your vitamins. The water component of Soups. Flavored drinks such as crystal light. Tea and decaffeinated coffee. Some people find temperature makes a big difference in their tolerance of fluids. Some like it hot while others like it cold.

It is very common to hit plateaus during the weight loss process. Just make sure you are meeting your daily Protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements. And walk about 30 minutes each day (or equivalent exercise).

The full feeling generally happens when you transition into the solid stage. Also become very aware of the strange symptoms that come just before you are full. These are things like sneezing, hiccups, mucous buildup, instant food taste changes. They are warning signs for dumping syndrome.

Good luck on your upcoming surgery.

Congratulations. When I went shopping I actually bought close that just barely fit. The kind you need to take a deep breath and hold it in order to put them on. It was a great motivator to come back a week later and find that they were now fitting like a glove.

I didn't really experience much pain nor did I take pain medicine. But then again I didn't have a gallbladder removed. I was up and walking 2 hours after surgery and never really stopped. But there are many people who report significant pain after surgery. Also muscle relaxers may work better than pain medicine after surgery. But work any prescription change through your doctor.

After surgery the three most important requirements are meeting 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. After surgery, you will have some limitations on lifting. I did hill walking 30 minutes per day for 6 months prior to surgery. It really helped me with the recovery process and I had minimal pain after surgery. I began walking the halls a couple hours after surgery. And when I went home I slowly worked back into my walking routine. There will be a little down time because of the surgery incisions, the bruising from the blood thinner that you need to take for a week or so after surgery to prevent blood clots.

I am 3 years post-op RNY surgery. I just feel like a lighter version of ME. Also a version that does not have significant health problems. So good luck on your surgery and I hope that all goes well for you.

Some individuals drop a size or two after surgery. For others the width of the shoe gets smaller.

Right after surgery your body is in a major heal mode and many individuals find it difficult to get the required fluids and Protein in. It does get better with time. Keep trying and eventually you volume will increase.

Congratulations.

Living a normal life.

I found out that softer foods go down easier. By softer, I mean chili and Soups. I put some recipes at the end of the following article. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

After RNY surgery, my skin on my face became extremely dry and very fine wrinkles formed. They were the type of wrinkles that you see on someone who is over 100 years old. Now I am 67 years old so I expect wrinkles, but this was really accelerating the process. Anyways my wife suggested that I use Bio-Oil which can be found at CVS or Walmart and other stores. I put it on my face each morning and that took care of the problem.

Being exhausted can be a sign of low blood sugar. I was diabetic prior to surgery. If I had not come off all my diabetic meds after surgery, these meds could have forced my blood sugar to go towards the low side. For the first month after surgery, your body is in a major heal mode. That might cause the exhaustion. Some meds may cause these symptoms. There is also a condition called reactive hypoglycemia that some people who underwent WLS encounter. But at 2 weeks, I think this is too soon for that condition.

I loved drinking Water before surgery. But immediately afterwards when I was in the hospital, the water began to taste very chlorinated. So I stopped drinking it a lot. Some people like their drinks cold, some hot. So you might try adding ice to the water. Or use hot water to make tea or decaffeinated coffee. If you can tolerate milk, you might rely on that. During the cold winter months, I found that I enjoyed hot cocoa but it must be the "no sugar added" variety.

Sometimes it is just a challenge to qualify for the surgery. Most of my battles were with my insurance company. But I just put blinders on and perservered.

Sucrose is sugar, sucralose is a non-nutritive sweetener (Splenda). So your tylenol and Centrum Vitamin contains sugar. I never experienced dumping from my Vitamins or medication but I stayed away from anything that contained sugar. Because it could lead to dumping syndrome. I used the Flintstone chewable for my Multivitamin.

58 kilograms equates to 128 pounds. But it seems to beg the question why did you get a gastric sleeve? You don't appear to be overweight. Your surgeon or nutritionist should have given you guidelines that describe when you can transition to solid foods. I had RNY surgery. My guidelines were full liquids until 4 weeks following surgery, then pureed foods to week 8 and then at 9 weeks post op transition to solids. But you indicated you had sleeve and the requirements may be different than mine. Also some surgeons have slightly different programs. After surgery, the three most important items are meeting 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.

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. This is my approach during the "Maintenance" phase. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

Generally once you decide that surgery is an option, you attend a seminar that describes the program. Then you must meet the requirements so that the surgery is covered by your insurance policy. Their requirements will differ from one policy to the next. In my case I had to undergo a structured 6 month medically supervised diet and exercise weight loss program in order to qualify. When you begin the program, they measure your initial weight. Generally this is the weight that is used when your insurance determines whether you qualify for insurance coverage. Most are computed from a minimum BMI. So for most insurances, if you lose weight during this 6 month period, even if it drops you to a lower BMI, you still will qualify. It is your program start weight rather than your program end weight that matters.

I had minimal hair loss after surgery. I am 3 years post-op RNY surgery and I am 67 years old. About a decade ago I started using a supplement called Juvenon which was available for purchase over the internet. I took this product because it dramatically improved my breathing. One of the side benefits of this product was that it affected my hair. At the time I was beginning to go bald and my hair was turning white. This product stopped this hair loss and also moved the hair coloring back to gray/brown. This product does contain Biotin but I suspect that the other ingredients in the supplement play a more important role.

As far as your daily Fluid requirement, remember everything counts. The Water that you drink. The water that you use when you take your Vitamins. The water component of Soups. The water you use to make your Protein shakes. Milk, tea, decaf coffee. Sometimes people find that hot fluids (such as tea) work good for them, other find cold fluids works better. For me I know in the winter that I really enjoyed hot cocoa (no sugar added variety) and then in the summer Crystal Light flavored drinks.

I found that Protein shakes tasted terrible after surgery. But if I blended in a half a banana, it significantly improved the taste. I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass, and that is what I did and it worked well for me.