James Marusek

Fortunately today there are alternative to satisfying a sweet tooth such as low calorie natural sugars such as Stevia and synthetic sugars such as Splenda and sugar alcohols. And many of these are being integrated into products that you can buy in the supermarket.

The fortified milk can be broken down throughout the day. 8 ounces of 1% milk plus 1/4 cup of powdered dry milk provides 14 grams of Protein. After surgery, I became lactose intolerant. If I drank milk, within minutes my stomach began to rumbled and I had to make a quick trip to the bathroom with diarrhea. This condition lasted for a couple months and then went away. So it is possible that you have become lactose intolerant and some Protein shakes contain lactose. But your other symptoms do not seem to fit: nausea, vomiting, migraine. Protein is extremely important after surgery. It is important that you continue to experiment until you find a Protein shake that you can tolerate. You don't need to like it, only tolerate it. So experimentation is the key.

I had RNY gastric bypass surgery whereas you had a mini gastric bypass. As a result of my surgery, my body does not synthesis the Vitamins and minerals that I need from the food I eat. So I have to take vitamins for the rest of my life in order to avoid becoming Vitamin deficient. But I do not know if this is the case for the mini gastric bypass patients. In my case my follow-on blood work-up showed that I was Iron deficient. This is despite the fact that I am male. As a result, I take a daily iron supplement of 65 mg of Ferrous Sulfate. This chemistry is better absorbed. In general, after surgery, I undergo a yearly blood workup, which checks my vitamin/mineral levels. This is directed by my surgeon's office. After 5 years post-op, this tasks of writing the medical scripts for the bloodwork will be passed on to my general practitioner (GP) to generate. These blood tests are fairly extensive. It is better if the surgeon's office requests this type of testing rather than a GP because the surgeon's office understands the malabsorption issue caused by the surgery. A complete blood count (CBC) is a blood test used to evaluate your overall health and detect a wide range of disorders, including anemia, infection and leukemia. http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/complete-blood-count/basics/definition/prc-20014088 Often, the first test used to diagnose anemia is a complete blood count (CBC). The CBC measures many parts of your blood. This test checks your hemoglobin and hematocrit levels. Hemoglobin is an iron-rich Protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen to the body. Hematocrit is a measure of how much space red blood cells take up in your blood. A low level of hemoglobin or hematocrit is a sign of anemia. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/ida/diagnosis So if I understand this correctly, then your doctor is right, a CBC will tell you if you have anemia and if you do than follow-on testing can tell if this was caused by an iron deficiency.

I couldn't agree more. Sugar is my kryptonite.

These are the thoughts that passed my mind when I read this thread. The statement "half of the population receiving this surgery are women", isn't really true. Most of the individuals receiving weight loss surgery are women. I am not sure of the statistics but it may be 4 to 1. I don't know why because obesity is shared somewhat equally between men and women. Asking about pregnancy after surgery is a good question. I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. Prior to surgery, I attended a half day training session about the surgery and post-surgery requirements. We were given a 2/3 inch thick binder of information. This subject was addressed in the information. One of the viewgraphs in the presentation read: Avoid Pregnancy * It is recommended to wait at least 12-18 months following surgery. * Low caloric intake cannot support a pregnancy. * If you have been told by a doctor that you cannot get pregnant...DO NOT COUNT ON THAT!!!! From my perspective, I would rather assess the quality of my surgeon by his/her technical expertise in performing the surgery than in his/her bedside manners. But maybe that is just me.

32 ounces of 1% milk fortified with 1 cup of dry milk provides 56 grams of protein.

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. I choose RNY because I had severe acid reflux prior to surgery. The sleeve will only make this condition worse. Also RNY gastric bypass is almost the gold standard. It has been around a long time and most of the bugs have been worked out.

Thanks. Good to know.

Good luck on your surgery and check back with us when you are on the other side.

I am a hard draw. It takes someone who is more of a specialist to find my veins. So whenever I get blood drawn, I warn them, and if the nurse who initially tries to draw blood fails, she gets someone who has the knack. Now that I am 3 years post-op, I have noticed that the nurses seem to be able to find my veins easier because I have lost the excess fat. This is important because after RNY gastric bypass surgery, I have an annual blood workup and they take almost 10 viles of blood with each workup.

I became lactose intolerant after RNY gastric bypass surgery. This condition lasted for a couple months. I used "Muscle Milk Light (vanilla creme) Protein powder blended with Water and a half a banana.

Congratulations on your weight loss. How far along are you?

I haven't used the product. I did a search on the internet, but many of the links say "We no longer carry this product". Not sure why. The Bullet Nutrition Protein Bullet has 42 grams of protein per bottle. Your body can absorb only so much protein at once. So therefore if you use this product it would be best to drink half a bottle and wait a few hours to drink the rest. It has no sugar. That is good. It has 134 calories. That is good. I cannot tell if it is lactose free. After RNY gastric bypass surgery, I became lactose intolerant. That is an important issue but I suspect this product is lactose free. One of the websites I found on the product gave it a grade of D+. I don't know why.

O.K. now that you went through this once, you have decided like most of us that you never want to go through this experience again. It is a great learning tool. So what did you learn. If you were really observant, you might have noticed some pre-triggers prior to reaching full scale dumping. These might be hiccups or sneezes. In my case food which was tasting really good, in an instant started to taste really bad. Or you might start to feel the generation of excess mucous. So whenever I hit a pre-trigger, I stop eating immediately because I know that all it takes is one more bite and I will be in full blown dumping syndrome. Another lesson that you might learn in the future is never eat two hours before bedtime. This is because food goes down differently when you are in a horizontal position (such as laying in a bed) vs. a vertical position (such as standing or sitting). It is impossible to sleep when you experience dumping. The process can take several hours before you will feel well enough to sleep and trying to lay down is miserable.

Good luck on your upcoming surgery.

Good luck on your surgery and check back with us when you are on the other side.

Generally when I get nauseated, it is because I ate too much. It is one of the signs of dumping syndrome. One of the Protein bars that I use is Quest Protein Bars. These bars typically have less than 1 gram of sugar. They contain 21 grams of protein and have around 220 calories. I generally stay far away from sugar. I had sugar diabetes prior to my RNY gastric bypass surgery and I never want to walk that path again. Also sugar can cause dumping at least around the first year after surgery. The Luna Bars generally contain only 7 grams of protein. They have 5 grams of sugar and have 180 calories. So they are not the best choice for protein supplements. If you had been eating Luna bars for several months now without any adverse reaction, then I would not suspect this to be the cause of your nausea. But on the other hand, if you introduced this recently into your menu, then I might suggest that you transition to another type of Protein Bar with minimal sugar content.

Surgery can definitely affect your sense of taste or smell. After my surgery, even Water in the hospital was undrinkable, because it had the taste of being heavily chlorinated. It does change over time (but not completely back to pre surgery levels). I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass. I found that mixing food groups together (such as in chili and soups) put flavor back in the meals. Spices can help a lot.

As my meal volume increased over time, I concentrated on consuming high Protein meals. The protein requirement is met by a combination of the protein derived from meals combined with the protein from supplements (Protein shakes, protein bars). So as the meal volume increased I started to reduce my reliance on protein supplements. I went from 3 protein shakes a day, down to 2, down to 1 and then finally zero at a year and a half post-op when my volume increased to 1 cup per day. The logic to this approach is that the protein supplements contain calories. This was the approach that I used to break stalls and it worked for me.

Congratulations.

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. So basically, make sure you have worked out how to meet your daily protein, fluid and vitamin requirements. I am not sure how long ago was your surgery, but I suspect it was recent, in which case you are allotted 2 ounces of food per meal. This is really a very small amount of food.

This is what one internet source recommends: Instead of sugars and simple carbohydrates, eat complex carbohydrates because they release less sugar over a longer period of time. Having a complex carbohydrate with Protein will slow this release even more. Try putting any of these together when they fit the stage of bariatric diet you are at: Complex Carbohydrates • whole wheat crackers • whole wheat bread • whole wheat pita • whole grain rice • potatoes • cereal Protein • nuts • cheese • meat • lentils • Peanut Butter • eggs • yogurt Here are some snack ideas to have to treat low blood sugar: crackers and cheese pita and hummus nuts and yogurt melba toast and peanut butter

Good show!

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass. I had episodes of severe acid reflux (GERD) prior to surgery but none since.

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass. One of my projects after surgery was to construct an underground shelter. As a result I moved a lot of gravel and cement landscaping blocks. So a couple years ago I moved 100,000 pounds of gravel by hand along with around 60,000 pounds of concrete blocks and then last year I moved about the same amount. After surgery, I found that I had a lot more stamina [ability to perform physical labor] than before surgery. I am 67 going on 68 years old and I developed the stamina of when I was in my 30's.