James Marusek

Researches in Australia (Dr. C. Westgarth from the University of Liverpol, Leahurst, Australia, and colleagues) looked at the relationship between owning a dog and the exercise one gets by walking a dog. What they found was “Forty-five percent of owners reported that their dog ‘very often (3+ per week)’ ‘encouraged them to walk’ in the past month and 66 % of owners reported that they agreed with the statement ‘Having my dog(s) makes me walk more’. “ They also found that "a number of factors could influence the likelihood of an owner walking his or her dog. The dog-related factors that significantly increased the probability of frequent walks was the size of the dog, with medium/large dogs more likely to be walked; so was a high degree of attachment to the dog, and the person answering the question being most responsible for dog-walking. Also, believing that the dog enjoys going for a walk was associated with a greater likelihood of walking, as was believing that walking would keep the dog healthy and decrease barking. Conversely, if the dog was old or sick, the probability of walking frequently was lower, as one might expect." http://www.acsh.org/news/2017/06/10/lassie-effect-can-motivate-exercise-11398

I did not experience this. In looking it up on the internet, there appears to be a correlation between nausea and hunger. Nausea with hunger is a well known symptom. It may precede the borborygmi (stomach noises like rumbling and growling) that is associated with the strong stomach muscle contractions, which we commonly refer to as hunger pangs. In fact these hunger pangs may arise as late as 12 to 24 hours after the last meal. Excessive salivation, constantly thinking about food and even lightheadedness and fatigue that is associated with hunger may be later symptoms than nausea. http://www.healthhype.com/nausea-and-hunger-sensations-causes-and-conditions.html Nausea and vomiting are the most common complaint after bariatric surgery. This condition may be due to an ulcer. And ulcers can produce hunger. If that is the cause, then the general advice is to avoid NSAIDs, use a proton-pump inhibitor and have yourself tested for Helicobacter pylori infection.

I use Quest.

I found that softer foods such as chili and soups went down much easier than harder foods such as steak and chicken. These also added more flavor to the meal. So there is no reason to rush the transition to harder foods. I have included a few recipes at the end of the following article about my experiences with gastric bypass surgery. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

I was in the hospital for 2 nights. I was ready to go back home after 1. The weekend staff at a hospital is different than the weekday staff. I had my surgery on Friday. I would have been better off scheduling it for the early or mid part of the week, in which case I might have gone home after a 1 nights stay. Everyone is different. I was up and walking every two hours after surgery, round the clock. I took no pain meds after I left the recovery room. Didn't need to. Others crawled out of their hospital beds for the first time a couple days after surgery. They tended to stay longer.

Transitioning to solid foods such as chicken and steaks can be very difficult. Therefore I focused on primarily softer foods such as soups and chili. There is no need to force this transition, just take your time. I have included a few recipes at the end of the following article. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf First and foremost, dumping is a learning experience. Once you have done it, you never want to repeat the experience again. So a couple words of wisdom. Recognize the pre-triggers and stop eating the moment you encounter them in the future. The pre-triggers can be hiccups, sneezing, excessive mucous, a change in the way food taste, and others. Individuals are different and their pre-triggers vary. Dumping experience can last for several hours. In general maintain a vertical position instead of a horizontal. If you lay down on a bed or couch, it will only aggravate the experience. As a result it is important not to eat a meal close to bedtime. Generally when I experience dumping, I go to the toilet and force myself to vomit up some of the food I ate. That helps to relieve the condition.

There is a whole gauntlet of requirements to go through to qualify for this surgery. If she has gone through the gauntlet, then she has made up her mind, really wants this to happen and dedicated herself to achieve this goal. Since she is scheduled for surgery in 11 days from now, I would recommend she does the following: 1. Have her take a good before photograph of herself, so that she has something to compare to after surgery. Many times we are blind to our obesity. We do not see ourselves. Therefore when the weight begins to drop off rather dramatically, we question if this is really happening. Photographs are a good visualization of our success. Many people carry a before and after photo with them, just to remind themselves of their success. 2. Walk 30 minutes each day, every day until surgery (or equivalent exercise). Walking helps the recovery process go smoothly and minimized the pain levels from surgery. 3. Wean herself from caffeine and carbonated beverages now. After I gave up my 6 diet coke a day habit, I suffered from a week of severe withdrawal syndrome consisting of severe headaches and body aches. I was miserable. You don't want to combine the effects of caffeine withdrawal with the effects of surgery.

Dictionary gives four possible pronunciations: doo-uh-deen-l, dyoo-uh-deen-l, doo-od-n-uh l, dyoo-od-n-uh l

That sound like good weight loss for 3 weeks post-op. What type of surgery did you have. Generally the surgeons office and nutricianist provides a list of acceptable foods that you can eat during various stages after surgery.

I had RNY whereas you had DS, so the following advise may or may not fit. One thing to do now at this stage is to assess your protein intake. Your daily protein requirement is met by a combination of the amount of protein you obtain from food combined with the amount of protein from protein supplements (protein shakes, protein bars). Right after gastric bypass surgery, the volume of food you consume is minuscule (2 ounces) per meal. But as you get further along, the meal volume increases. Therefore you have a very important option available to you. As a result, you can begin to reduce your reliance on protein shakes. I went from 3 a day, down to 2, down to 1 and eventually none when I reached 1 cup per meal at a year and a half post-op. This is important because protein shakes contain calories. If you can reduce your caloric intake, then you can end a stall. At least that was the approach that I used and it worked for me.

After surgery, your body is in a major heal mode, so it is common to be unable to meet your daily requirements for protein and fluids. Just keep trying and you should be able to meet these soon. But you should be able to meet your daily vitamin requirements from the get-go. Having said this, I recognize that it can be difficult. After surgery I discovered that I could no longer swallow medium to large pills. So I used pill splitters and pill crushers. This condition lasted for about 2 months and then things returned back to normal. I had to crush my calciums into powder and the only way I could get these down was to mix it with Crystal Light and drink it. But because it formed a white thick paste at the bottom of the glass, I generally had to repeat this several times in order to get them down. It is important to put a 2 hour separation between the vitamins that contain iron and those that contain calcium. So in my case I found that what works best for me is to take the iron supplements just before bedtime. I put my vitamins in a weekly pill container. I have one container for the morning and one for the night. And I use a very small glass bowl for my calcium supplements. I put my calciums in the bowl in the morning and take them throughout the day. If I am up and about I put my calciums in a ziplock bag and carry them with me.

How long are you on a liquid diet for? Program requirements may vary. I had RNY [Roux En Y] 4 years ago and I was on full liquids for the first 4 weeks, then pureed foods for the next 4 and finally in week 9, I transitions to solids. How to make sure I get the proper nutrients/vitamins? The three most important elements after RNY 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. So you will be taking vitamins for the rest of your life. In the beginning after surgery, you will need to take protein supplements in the form of protein shakes. After several months when your stomach heals, you can transition to protein bars. If you concentrate on consuming high protein meals, as your meal volume increases, you can begin offloading your protein supplements. How long will the recovery be? They are doing an open procedure so how big will the incision be? I had minimally invasive surgery for my RNY. For me it was fairly painless. I took no pain medicine after I left the operating room. In the past I had open surgery for other conditions. In open surgery the pain is greater and the recovery time was longer. After my RNY surgery, I walked back from the recovery room and I was up and walking every 2 hours thereafter while I was in the hospital.

After surgery, my taste buds changed dramatically. Even water changed. In the hospital it tasted excessively chlorinated and I could not drink it. So I experimented. Sugar free popsicles became my best friend. Some individuals find hot or cold can help with fluids. For me, I found that I could tolerate flavored water. So I began using Crystal Light. I also found a new drink Bai which I liked cold. In the winter, I found that I tolerate hot drinks such as piping hot cocoa. But you have to use the "No Sugar Added" variety. Also fine English teas were very good.

The transition to solid foods can be a rough one after gastric bypass surgery. There is no need to rush it. I found that softer foods, such as chili and soups, went down much easier than harder foods, such as steak and chicken. As a result I relied on these to a great extent after surgery. I have included a few recipes at the end of the following article. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

When I was young I thought I would try and lose a little weight by bicycling to and from work. After a few months, I gave that up because it was way too unsafe. On the way home people would pass me in cars going around 50 or 60 miles per hour, get within a razor thin distance from my bike and then honk their horns. Even the slightest knee jerk reaction would have caused a serious accident. And it would be me, the bicyclist, that would be on the way to the hospital. This didn't happen once or twice but was almost a daily occurrence. So I retired the bike. After weight loss surgery, many take to the roads in bicycles for exercise. Are the steep rise in accidents, and the billions of dollars in annual medical expenses and costs associated with them, worth this push towards expanded two-wheeled transportation? This observation comes to the fore in the wake of a recent study of a 17-year period published in the journal Injury Prevention which stated that, "Each year, the total costs associated with non-fatal adult bicycle trauma increased by an average of $789 million," and that "Medical costs increased by 137% from $885 million in 1997 to $2.1 billion in 2013." Meanwhile, the "number of adult cycling injuries increased by approximately 6,500 annually," and the authors added, "Over the last 15 years in the USA, the incidence of hospital admissions due to bicycle crashes increased by 120%." http://www.acsh.org/news/2017/06/05/more-bike-commuting-more-crashes-skyrocketing-medical-bills-11383 Exercise is good. But it is not worth your life if you have an major accident. Seek a route that has minimal threats, such as a bike trail. Analyze each close call and stay safe.

It will take time, but not overnight. Each day gets a little better. But it took me 6 months after surgery to reach my "happy state" when all the problems seemed to melt away.

Some patients experience a condition called Reactive Hypoglycemia after bariatric surgery. But generally this condition appears much later than a few days after surgery. https://www.stjoes.ca/patients-visitors/patient-education/f-j/PD 7972 Reactive Hypoglycemia after Bariatric Surgery.pdf

After my RNY gastric bypass surgery, I completely lost my hunger. This condition lasted for about a year and my hunger slowly returned. It was not as strong as before surgery. I am 4 years post op and sometimes I experience nausea. This occurs when I eat too much. Generally I recognize the pretriggers to dumping and I stop eating in order to avoid dumping. Assuming that you are not eating too much, perhaps you are experiencing a stricture. Sometimes strictures will resolve on their own. Anyways, this might be a subject to discuss with your surgeon and their staff.

Since you are at the beginning of this process, I would recommend three things. 1. Take a good before photograph of yourself, so that you have something to compare to after surgery. Many times we are blind to our obesity. We do not see ourselves. Therefore when the weight begins to drop off rather dramatically, we question if this is really happening. Photographs are a good visualization of our success. Many people carry a before and after photo with them, just to remind themselves of their success. 2. Walk 30 minutes each day, every day until surgery (or equivalent exercise). Walking helps the recovery process go smoothly and minimized the pain levels from surgery. 3. Wean yourself from caffeine and carbonated beverages now. After I gave up my 6 diet coke a day habit, I suffered from a week of severe withdrawal syndrome consisting of severe headaches and body aches. I was miserable. You don't want to combine the effects of caffeine withdrawal with the effects of surgery.

Congratulations.

After my surgery, my tastebuds changed significantly. The water they gave me in the hospital tasted like chlorine, so I could not drink it. I could tolerate the ice. But the best was the frozen popsicles (sugar free) that they gave me. These went down easily.

After my gastric bypass surgery, the weight dropped off quickly at first and then the weight loss tapered down. At around 7 months it leveled off and I entered the Maintenance phase. Goals are an artificial number. I think during my initial conversation with the surgeon we established a goal of 190 pounds. In the end the lowest weight I achieved after surgery was in the 140's. Anyways I would not be concerned that you are losing too much weight. If I did my math correctly, you have lost around 0.7 pounds per day since the surgery. This sounds like a good average. Congratulations on your surgery.

It is common for your taste buds to change after surgery. So you may want to hold off until after surgery and be willing to experiment. For me I found the Muscle Milk Light (Vanilla Creme) powder blended in water with a half a banana worked best. But everyone's taste is different.

Congratulation to both of you.

Congratulations.