James Marusek

Transitioning to solid food like steak and chicken can be rough. I found that softer foods such as chili and Soups worked very well for me. I have attached a few recipes at the end of the following article. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

Good to hear that you found the cause of your problems.

In general, I used measuring cups after surgery. Odd sizes cups such as 7/8 were hard to come by, so at times I used a fraction less than the required size such as a fraction less than 1 cup instead. Weight loss is achieved after RNY 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. So it is important that if you want to achieve the maximum weight loss that you comply with the program requirements. Meal size is a function of solids. Thus if you consume a soup, the Water portion of the soup does not count against your meal volume. I found that chili and Soups went down easier than solid foods such as steak and chicken so I relied primarily on these for meals. It also allowed me to combine foods, so I could very accurately measure my total food volume. I would make up a pot of chili, put it in the fridge and eat many meals throughout the week. I included some of my recipes at the end of the following article. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

At this point in time it has probably gone through your stomach and into your small intestines. So there is no way that they will be able to retrieve it without doing surgery. Which they wouldn't do surgery unless there were symptoms. If you have severe stomach pain or bloody stool, nausea or vomiting then go to the E.R. Call your doctor's office this morning and appraise them of the problem. I am not a doctor.

After my RNY surgery 3 years ago, I completely lost my hunger. It was not difficult to drop the weight when hunger was not constantly continually gnawing at my bones. After surgery many times I had to force myself to eat. This loss of hunger does not affect everyone with RNY but it does for many. About a year after surgery, my hunger returned but it was not as strong as pre-surgery.

Congratulations on your surgery.

Welcome and let us know if we can be of any help.

After RNY gastric bypass surgery, your meal volume size is so small that you will not need very much food. 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 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. Your taste buds may change after surgery. Food, Water, fluids and protein shakes that you had no problem consuming prior to surgery may taste different, even revulsive. So be willing to experiment until you find those that you can tolerate. Experimentation is the key. As you work through the various stages, each stage has its series of changes. Have a pill crusher/pill splitter on hand because you may find it difficult to swallow in the beginning.

Congratulations.

Since you asked for advice, I recommend you do three things prior to surgery. 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. Prior to RNY gastric bypass surgery, I lost 20 pounds just by giving up diet coke.

This is my approach during the Maintenance phase. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

What should I expect for my first weeks??? When in the hospital they pump your body with fluids. Therefore it is common that when you leave the hospital you might weigh one or two pounds more than when you entered. You have to lose this added weight first. So at the end of the first week, your weight loss may be slightly retarded.

Congratulations on your surgery. Let us know if we can be of any help.

This is not really about bariatric surgery but I found it interesting. Flu season is coming, are you prepared? This article talks about the latest changes in the flu immunization for this year. They now even have a flu shot especially designed for the 65 year old and older crowd called Flaud. FluMist is out this year. There is also an immunization for those allergic to eggs called Flucelvax. Vitamins that I am taking seems to boost my natural immunization. I think this is a shared experience across the community.

My program said that 4 months after RNY surgery, shrimp and lobster is acceptable. Canned lump crab meat is O.K. at 5 weeks post op provided it is pureed and at 9 weeks post op as solid.

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 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. Your protein requirement is met by a combination of the protein from your meals combined with the protein from your supplements (protein shakes, protein bars). As the amount of protein from meals increases, especially if you concentrate on consuming high protein meals, you will have an option to reduce your reliance on supplements. I went from 3 protein shakes a day, down to 2, then 1 and finally zero when my meal volume increased to 1 cup per meal at a year and a half.

Congratulations.

Congratulations.

Good luck on your surgery.

It might be Clostridium difficile (c diff) as others have stated. Here is a link. http://peggyfoundation.org/c-diff-101/cdiff-101/ After my RNY surgery 3 years ago, I immediately became lactose intolerant. Dairy products gave me instant diarrhea. Some Protein shakes include lactose. Anyways I stopped the dairy and my diarrhea cleared right up. About two months later my lactose intolerance went away. But I tend to think this form of diarrhea problem is associated with RNY gastric bypass and not sleeve patients. Another thing you might try if you haven't already is to take Probiotics. In surgery, they will often administer antibiotics. This kills not only the bad bacteria, but also the good bacteria in your gut. It is important to reestablish this good bacteria by taking probiotics. On a side note, years ago I suffered from bouts of diarrhea. I found that eating bananas helped immensely with this condition.

Try to do as much walking as possible. It will help with the pain.

I had RNY gastric bypass surgery 3 years ago. One thing to do now at this stage is to assess your Protein intake. Your protein requirement is met by a combination of the protein from your meals combined with the protein from your supplements (Protein shakes, protein bars). Since your meal volume is beginning to increase, that also means that the amount of protein from meals is increasing, especially if you concentrate on consuming high protein meals. Therefore you could be able to reduce your reliance on supplements and the calories they contain. I went from 3 protein shakes a day, down to 2, then 1 and finally zero when my meal volume increased to 1 cup per meal at a year and a half. This helped to break my stalls.

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 bowel 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. 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. Vitamin chemistry is important for absorption. Calcium supplements should be calcium citrate. B12 supplements should be sublingual methylcobalamin. Iron supplements should be ferrous sulfate (if you need to take them). Gummy vitamins are not absorbed properly and should be avoided. I was taking medicine for my diabetes and high blood pressure prior to surgery. When I left the hospital I was off all my diabetes medicine and then a couple weeks later I was off all my high blood pressure meds. So essentially, I did not have a problem with taking meds because I was no longer taking meds.

Congratulations.

Congratulations on your weight loss thus far.