JamieLogical

It's because of the change in their main ingredient. That apparently diminished the flavor for a lot of people. They have since reformulated again, still using soluble corn fiber, but have "improved" the flavor to bring it more back in line with what it used to be. You might want to give them another shot. I still can't handle them because of my body's reaction to the soluble corn fiber, but the taste is supposed to be better after this latest reformulation.

@@79looking Having a nutritionist that you can hound with questions post-op is INVALUABLE! It is one of the things I liked best about the surgeon I chose. So yes, definitely factor that in. Even when they give you a lot of documentation on the pre and post-op diet, nothing beats clear and concise answers from a real human being. They can't possibly cover everything in those binders.

Only 4 days and you are already at your wit's end? This is gonna be a rough journey for you.....

Snacks for me in the weight loss phase were usually: cottage cheese light greek yogurt string cheese "meat" sticks (like beef sticks, but with turkey or other lean meats) Protein bars (be VERY careful about the nutrition if you go this route) peanuts (not until 3 months post-op)

3-4 oz. at a time seems on the high side. I was instructed to only do 2 oz. at a time in the early weeks. Perhaps you are overfull?

What @@Bufflehead said. Losing weight alone doesn't reduce the size of your liver. It is what you are eating. And weight loss is just often a byproduct of the liver reduction diet. Some surgeons will use it as an indicator of whether a patient actually stuck to the pre-op diet as well.

I was using Quest Bars during my weight loss phase, but they changed their pre-biotic fiber from isomalto-oligosaccharide to soluble corn fiber. The soluble corn fiber made me SUPER gassy.... I couldn't even be in the same room with myself it was so bad. So I searched around for other bars using isomalto-oligosaccharide and eventually settled on Combat Crunch. They are great for me in maintenance, but I don't know that I would recommend them during the weight loss phase, because they are higher in net carbs than Quest Bars. You could try Quest Bars yourself and see how you fare with them. Many people have no problem with them at all after the ingredient change. I was just unlucky. Another poster recently posted some info about Oh Yeah! ONE bars and the nutrition on those looks similar to Quest, but I haven't tried one yet. They allegedly carry them at Vitamin Shoppe.

The good news is, you are now free to focus on YOU and your recovery. You also don't have to worry about him eating pizza and double cheeseburgers in front of you during your liquid phases! But seriously, I do think meeting with some sort of councilor or therapist would be beneficial. It will help you deal with and process the split from your husband as well as food!

First we were giving up nuts in Dub's thread and now we're giving up sausage? I don't think this is what I signed up for when I decided to have WLS!

Sounds like you've had a very rough go of it! Hopefully your hernia repair will go well. There's bound to be some pain for a while, but you can get through it. Look at all you've made it through already! Stay strong and take care of yourself.

First of all, welcome! This site is a great tool for getting your through this journey. You will find support, sympathy, tough love, and LOTS of great information here. So please do not hesitate to post your questions, concerns, and rants here! Also feel free to join in on any existing topics. We all have great insight to offer one another. I find that, even 18 months post-op, this site helps keep me engaged and accountable and I love "paying it forward" so to speak, since it was such a huge help to me in the early part of my journey. Now, on to your questions! It does seem quite common for people to develop some other sort of addiction, once they are no longer able to turn to food for comfort. It's certainly not inevitable and as long as you are mindful, it can probably be avoided. If it is a real and legitimate concern of yours, it might be wise to find some sort of councilor or therapist and begin working through your addiction issue NOW, in preparation for the surgery. Who to tell what and when is something each of us has to work through for ourselves. Some people choose to tell everyone right up front. Some people only tell close family. Some people plan not to tell, but end up telling when the questions start. There's no "right" answer. You have to figure out what you are comfortable with. If you just want to go with "eating less and moving more" when the inevitable questions arise, it won't be a lie. The straw rule.... So the issue with drinking from a straw is the potential to suck in and swallow air, which can be VERY uncomfortable immediately post-op. There's no real physical danger. And as long as you are careful and mindful, it shouldn't be a real problem. Some people find it is the only way to get all of their Water in. I personally don't use straws in general anymore, but if I'm out and a server brings me a drink with a straw in it, I will use it. No big deal. Diet coke... definitely just cut that out. Carbonation is a little like the straw rule, though more severe. The concern again is gas/air in the stomach. It can make some people very uncomfortable or even cause pain. There are some theories about it stretching the sleeve over time, but I haven't found any concrete studies or proof of that. My theory is that aside from the potential for discomfort, surgeons and nutritionists discourage carbonated beverages because most have either calories or artificial sweeteners, so you are better off without them. I steer clear of carbonation and haven't missed it as much as I thought I would. I do occasionally miss beer and I have had a couple beers since surgery with no ill effect. But I have no intention of making a habit of it. hair loss... It is pretty inevitable. Getting your Protein and Vitamins in *might* help. Losing weight on the slower side seems to help some too. But the VAST majority of WLS patients are going to experience some amount of weight loss for some period of time. The good news is, it grows back! I lost hair starting around 3.5 months out until about 5 months out. It wasn't noticeable to other people. I just cut my hair shorter. It was a bit more noticeable when the baby hairs grew back in and were sticking up all over. But it was a minor blip in the grand scheme of my life. Hope all that helps!

How much protein are you getting? How many calories? Are you getting all of your water in? I agree with the others that it might be worth a trip to your PCP to get some blood work done and see if there might be some sort of deficiency.

It depends on how much weight you still have to lose. I have heard of many cases (not necessarily post-WLS) where women were told to lose weight during pregnancy.

Pre-op liquid diet is the suck. There's no way around it. It's pure misery. Just have to hang in there!

Most surgeons prescribe a PPI immediately post-op. If you aren't on one already, definitely ask your surgeon ASAP.

My plan said I could introduced peeled and pureed veggies in my pureed stage, but only after Protein. I never did, because the amounts of food I could eat in my pureed stage were microscopic, so I had no "extra" room for veggies. The plan does say to specifically avoid fibrous veggies like celery and any fruits or veggies with skins. In the soft food phase I was allowed steamed veggies. But again, I never had any, except refried Beans. I was not allowed any crunchy foods until 3 months post op and the list of foods to avoid in that category included raw carrots and celery. I have never been able to resume eating raw veggies. They make me incredibly and uncomfortably burpy. I do fine with cooked veggies, but rarely eat them. Putting protein first just doesn't leave a whole lot of room. So I take my Vitamins religiously and all my labs are fine. But not a lot of veggies for me!

It is completely normal to be absolutely miserable during the pre-op. Day 4 was probably the worst for me and then I kind of got "over the hump" and settled into it (grudgingly) for the remaining 10 days (mine was 15 days). I am not going to sugar-coat it. These next few weeks are going to be some of the hardest of your life. I'm sure you are experiencing a lot of anxiety and stress about the upcoming surgery on top of dealing with the misery of the pre-op diet. Once you've had the surgery, the recovery is not a lot of fun. You will be sore, tired, thirsty, and very emotional. You need to just focus on living one minute to the next in this little stretch here. There are a lot of things you will need to do to stay on top of... your sipping, your Protein intake, your Vitamins, and your walking. So focus on those things and doing them when you need to be doing them. It will seem like it drags on FOREVER, but then in a few weeks, you'll look back and not be able to believe how far you've come. Hang in there! And no matter what, hold onto the knowledge that it WILL all be worth it in the end and you WILL feel normal again. I promise!

Good luck to you! I was able to give up my coffee for my pre-op and the 30 days post-op, as required by my surgeon and nutritionist, but I was literally counting down the days in the end there. Fortunately, I drink my coffee with just 2 ounces of soy milk and Truvia, so it's only 23 calories and it's the only calories I drink, because I don't even do Protein shakes anymore. I don't envy you having to give it up altogether if you aren't willing to change what you are putting into it.

It is so so so important NOT to drink your calories as a sleever. It's is one of the primary ways of "eating around your sleeve", since there is no restriction with liquids. If you can't ween yourself off the sugar and cream in your coffee, then you need to ween yourself off of coffee altogether. You should have a serious conversation with your nutritionist about this.

@@4dogcrazy No one is claiming that WLS has a 100% success rate, but a medical doctor should not be ignoring the fact that study after study shows that WLS has a much much higher long term success rate than straight up diet and exercise. If every single person who failed at diet and exercise was guaranteed to also fail at WLS, then there would be no WLS performed. What would be the point of it? It's not a guarantee of success, but it certainly gives a better chance of success on average. I am sorry it hasn't worked out for you. If severe acid is an ongoing problem for you despite various medications, have you asked your surgeon about a potential revision to gastric bypass? That surgery is shown to aleviate acid issues.

20 grams of fat? That seems pretty crazy. I have a general rule of making sure everything I eat has more grams of protein than grams of fat, but that's about it. What reason we're you given for keeping fat that low?

I believe, depending on what your job is, your boss may have had to know. No. I'm not suggesting that the subject was tactfully handled, but I don't know if your boss asking was necessarily negative or gossip mongering.I would, however tactfully inform her that I expect confidentiality--complete and totally as it is my choice who I tell.. Definitely not. The boss would only need to know about time off covered under FMLA and any physical restrictions upon returning to work. Only the individual handling the FMLA paperwork has to know what the actual medical condition is.

@@Barry W Definitely a more liveable plan than my surgeon required. I was just allowed three shakes a day and one green salad (specific veggies) with calorie free dressing. It was 450 calories a day.

For traveling to/from Mexico for my surgery, I bought Syntrax Nectar, because it makes a "clear" shake and I had to be on clear liquids the day before surgery and in the days immediately post-op. I also bought some of the Unjury Chicken broth, because I was allowed broth during my clear liquids phase.

If you have an HR department, you should report her immediately. She has no right to ask you that question and you have no obligation to answer it.