Djmohr

Then you should be fine with sugar free.....however, i would not make it with Water, i would make it with milk and if you have it fairlife milk because it adds Protein..... My instructions state, no caloric beverages unless they are protein beverages. Again, you might reach out to your surgeon but I would make those calories count by making it with protein.....fairlife is a great product for WLS patients and it tastes like normal milk.

Honestly I did not but mostly because I set my end goal at the high end of the BMI scale for my height which was 165lbs. I set smaller goals along the way to keep me motivated. Such as: 1st 75lbs 1st 100lbs Onederland - hoping to never see over 200 again Final goal 165 I ended up continuing to lose to 158 but now that I am in maintenance I bounce between 158 and 165 which is fine with me. best of luck to you!

Your surgeon or nutritionist should give you very clear instructions on what to drink or eat for many weeks. I had bypass and I was on a clear liquid only diet for the first 7 days. I was not even started on Protein shakes until week 2 when I well to full liquids. So for me I was allowed: sugar free drinks like crystal light, Water, chicken broth, sf popsicles, sf Jello and for this week only I was allow watered down apple juice. Once I progressed to full liquids, watered down apple juice or juice of any kind has been removed completely from my diet. That first week it provides some needed calories/carbs......Week 1 for me was the roughest mostly because it was hard to keep up with everything I was supposed to drink so I ended up somewhat dehydrated. That leaves you feeling very weak, dizzy and even nauseous. My best advice to anyone going through WLS is to sip sip sip liquids every few moments all day long once you get home from the hospital. Getting dehydrated is of the most concern.....protein will come a week or so after and you have plenty of stores in your body for several weeks..... Drink up!

It is absolutely normal to feel like this after major surgery. Try sleeping in a recliner if you have one or use pillows to prop yourself up while in bed. I honestly dont know what I would have done without my adjustable bed. Now I have major plastics coming up and thankful that I have it yet again. Things will get better! A lot of the feelings can be hormones as well but having had many major surgeries in my life.....the feeling down can really get overwhelming. things will get better, give it some time and good luck to you!

I would ask your surgeon to do a peer to peer review with your insurance company. They know exactly how to get around it if in fact it is possible. My insurance company said the same thing only one per lifetime.....thankfully I chose bypass in the first place so hopefully i will never have to worry about it. But I would ask your surgeon to push back given your complications.

I was not......Clear liquids only and Protein shakes. Now, bariatric pal sells protein hot cocoa that is made with Water. It is essentially a hot Protein shake and very good. And....my liquid phase was Clear Liquids so in that case even the protein cocoa would NOT have been on plan. Are you on clear liquids? Or the pre-op liquid plan. If you have any questions about your diet I would call your nutritionist or your surgeons office and ask.

I would not worry too much about it. Just stick to the plan, even 5lbs can make a huge difference in the size of your liver which is why they put you on this plan in the first place. The other thing I would say is homemade clear chicken broth is how I survived the liquid diet for 14 days. I tried the junk out of a can and it was horrible...tasted like dishwater. So when my bariatric nurse called to check on me, I told her I was struggling with all the sweet. She suggested I either cook up some homemade chicken broth and then strain it saving the chicken in the freezer for later or getting some mrs. Grass chicken noodle Soup and just not add the noodles or the golden egg. That is what I did and both during pre op and post op, I sipped this like crazy. In the end I lost 13lbs in 14 days but for me, I started at a heavy weight with little loss prior to pre op diet. By the way....I gained it all back from Fluid IVs in the hospital (LOL), so dont be surprised when that happens too. Hang in there and keep your eye on the prize. None of the christmas food is worth losing your surgery date. Best of luck!

Yes PLEASE!!!!! No stretch marks, perfect elasticity.....What I would give for that fairy godmother!

Artificial sweeteners can cause migraines for those who suffer from migraine. I happen to be one of those and so is my neurologist. I avoid them as much as possible and will use regular sugar or honey instead. In the beginning (post surgery), this is not that big of an issue because you cannot eat much anyway and honestly sugar is one of those things that just tastes weird after surgery. That being said, once you do get used to it and you head toward maintenance, sugar can become a problem if you are not careful. Because you can eat more....if you are eating it, it makes you crave more (at least in my experience). For some reason, I did not have dumping syndrome in the first 18 months post surgery but somehow I have clearly developed it. When I do have something sweet or too fatty, I now end up with racing heart, sweats, and even stomach cramping. I believe it is the amount of food with sugar that effects me and because I could not eat much in the beginning I had no problem. I am honestly kind of glad that it effects me that way because it is becoming a significant deterant for me. thank goodness.

How weird! This exact thing happened to my hubby on saturday night. He was literally chattering..... Then again, it was -10 degrees here saturday night.

My surgeon said if I had a gallbladder they would automatically take it out when they did my bypass because it is very common to have trouble with your gallbladder after WLS. I had mine out in an open surgery many years ago so it wasnt necessary. Many surgeons do things differently though. There are many people on this site that ended up having to have it out in a separate surgery which seems crazy to me. Then again, many people have no problem with their gallbladder after surgery so it all depends on the surgeon and the insurance company. Best of luck to you!

Enjoy it.....its slows down a lot after the first month or two. Then you will wish you lost that fast. LOL

Yep.....sibling rivalry, I know it well. Try not to let it get to you. The reality is, her weight loss will slow down and if you follow the plan, you will likely move on past her. Or....if you are like me you could tell her to shut the ---- up! LOL

@@LittleBill I have to say that I have had exceptional care on a few instances. One was at the University of Minnesota in 2015 where I had a 3 level cervical fusion. Having had so many surgeries in my life I had lots to compare it to and i was literally blown away by the nurses in that hospital. I am not sure if it is because it was a university or if they are just that phenomenal. After having that surgery I was hospitalized for two nights. It was a pretty painful surgery and when i am in pain i tend to roll my shoulders and back up and in. My pain control was excellent but for some reason I just could not relax my shoulders and that was really stressful. I swear my nurse was on it before I even asked calling my surgeon for new orders. I also had a terrible migraine brought on by my neck, again he got an order for dihydroergotomine which is the only thing that works for me, gave it to me IV which I usually give myself a shot in the leg. Within 5 minutes the migraine broke and I was nice and relaxed. These hospitals that are all chained together like here in Milwaukee must be short handed and honestly they dont see to care. They will leave you lay there for hours. I also had incredible care in a small regional medical center in which i was self pay. So sometimes i wonder if that has something to do with it.

Drugs are definately not handed out easily here, in fact if you have a chronic pain problem, the emergency rooms wont even help you. Last November, I has my second spine surgery in a matter 4 months. The second surgery was to try to relieve pain caused by the first surgery 4 month earlier. I was in severe pain after surgery #2, I in fact dealt with it for 10 days and in those days had called my "new" neurosurgeon 4 times with no call back. They did give me norco 5/325 when i left the hospital but they were not touching this pain. On day 11 the pain was so pain i was crying and my husband was pissed that we were not getting a call back from said neurosurgeon. So, he helped me into the car and off we went to the closest hospital for help. The same hospital where the surgery was performed 11 days before. I was immediately take back to a room and when the nurse went over my pain control post surgery she admitted i was under medicated. About 30 minutes later, doctor comes in and asks me when the pain started. I told him right after surgery #1 which had been 4 months earlier. He then said this was considered chronic pain and it was against their protocol to provide medications for chronic pain. By the way this was a friday night. My husband immediately jumped in and said, are you telling me I am supposed to take her home in this much pain with zero help from you? She had surgery in YOUR hospital 10 days ago and her pain is unbearable. My husband told him that he needed to page my surgeon or deal with the pain himself because we were not leaving. By the way, at this time I was not on pain meds following surgery 1 so it is not like i had this giant history of narcotics. So, the reluctant doctor increase the norco to 10mg but now I was told i could only take one which was the same dosage as I was already taking. So we took the script left and called my general doctor as they instructed given my surgeon was not responding. The next thing I knew they sent me to a "pain specialist" - ha.....I would not let this guy treat my dog. Before I knew it they had me on 4 different drugs (i hate taking drugs) and I had to sign a contract stating I would not get prescriptions filled anywhere but one pharmacy that I regularly use. I tried taking these drugs: Cymbalta, Desiprimine, gabapentin and now 10mg of norco. Now i was trying to take all this crap, getting black outs, syncope and still it was not controlling the pain. Because I had just had that surgery they wanted an MRI but wanted to wait for at least 12 weeks so there was no stuff in the pictures that was related to the 2nd surgery. When I started getting the blackouts, they took me off desiprimine, switched me to lyrica. No change in the pain. Then I had shoulder surgery in feb and they talked and decided now to put me on a combo of MS Contin(morphine) and 5mg norco for break through pain. For the first time in 9 months my pain was more under control but my stomach and brain was not liking this routine and i was barely functioning. My general doctor took me off MS Contin and norco and put me on a fentanyl patch!!! I knew nothing about these darn things but i knew the first dosage did not give me any relief and the pain was worse so she increased it to 50mc patch. Well, I definately got some relief but now i was literally a veg all day long. I think i slept 14 hours or more a day. I hated these darn things but they had no plan to deal with my back pain and yes, if i did anything, the pain was still there. I was on that stupid patch for 3 months and it was hell on earth. It would take 14 to 24 hours for the medication to kick in and it was supposed to last for 72 hours. Well, it didnt so by hour 48 I was now back in pain plus going through withdrawal symptoms from fentanyl so i was sicker with them than without them. I finally told these doctors I need to get off all of this crap asap because it was NOT helping my pain and making me sick on top of it. So, we built a 3 month plan to get me off of it all. My plan was to get the hell out of that system because all they did was try to cover the problem with medications and PT. I had been in PT for a very long time. By July, I was off all of those medications, I was alert and yes, still in a lot of pain but decided it was better I learn to deal with it in other ways. Since then we have been treating with epidural, nerve blocks, pt, biofeedback, acupuncture and warm Water pool therapy. I still have the pain, I take nothing for it at this time. I cannot work a normal job, I started my own consulting company. I can do 99% of my work from home and so far that is worked out because I have a client in another state. When my contract wears out, I am not sure what I will. In every instance where we had to get prescriptions filled, I felt like a drug addict. Anytime I ever talk about my pain, it feels as if it is all in my head because that is how these doctors and nurses in this system make you feel. I know this is not true, because I feel it every day and cannot function normally. I am only 53, and I dont want to take medication because it doesnt help anyway. What would help is if these morons would listen to their patients. I have 3 tumors on T9, T10 and T11. They insist that the pain is not coming from there. One of them on T10 is very large. They have ruled everything else out. About a month ago, I let them do a intercostal nerve block and at the time I think i asked at least 20 times, is this going to help my back? Not just my ribs? And was told, we dont know until we try it. It did absolutely nothing for my back pain and about 20% improvement in my ribs which has already worn off. I now have to wait until December 30th for my follow up. In every instance where I had to get pain medications, I had to jump through hoops just to get it. It is not worth it at all in my opinion. I used to live in Minneapolis and i have had 7 total back surgeries (fusions, big ones) - my pain is not in my head. I never had these issues when in Minneapolis but here is Wisconsin, you practically have to stand on your head to get anyone to listen to you about your pain. Not sure what will happen next, part of me has given up trying to get any help because clearly these people do not want to listen to their patients. I guess the good news is, I am in a different system and at least these people are trying some things that dont involve narcotics that I really dont want to take and they dont help anyway. We will see what happens at the end of the month.

@@LittleBill Thanks for sharing another funny but frustrating story. I swear these days, it is so difficult to deal with all of the rules in place for people who abuse medications when there are other people who need them for pain or illness. Ridiculous!

I drink them just the way they are. For me I use 1 per day as my Breakfast. chocolate is my favorite and really the only one I buy. i buy them at costco and about every 3 months or so they go on sale for 5.00 off per case.

I would just bring it up with your doctor. If they are not supportive, reach out to a bariatric center of excellence and ask for a recommendation for a general doctor that will support your decision. I basically told mine I was doing it and thankfully after a quick conversation she was on board.

@@MrzGainey88 I would just get back on track immediately. I was glad to hear it was pre-op vs. post op. I was also glad to hear how upset you are about it but at this point, getting back on track is the most critical thing. it sounds like you have lost a lot of weight already so you can get back on track and you will be well on your way. Best of luck to you!

It is worth every single penny you invest. Getting your health back is the main priority but you just dont realize how many other things come with the weight loss. Getting your confidence back, caring about how you look and feel. When i made the decision to have surgery, it was all about the health issues. I never expected to feel as great as I do. Figure out how you can make it work. It sounds like you have some funds available. It is so worth it! Every hoop, every bump......every step. 100% worth it. I wish you the best of luck!

Lots of folks use a vanilla protein shake in their coffee. Its sugar free and low fat.

@ You may have to add more Protein because of your activity.

I had bypass and lost 152lbs, almost half my body weight. I chose it because of the reflux and I will say that I was struggling with constipation for a while but doctor put me on linzess and I no longer have issues with that at all. I know that you are a nurse so maybe you have thought about this, but in my opinion both surgeries are pretty aggressive. One removes the remainder of your stomach, the other reroutes your digestive system. I have not had any trouble with my RNY and am very happy I had it done. Best of luck to you!

Honestly this surgery was an easy one for me. If you keep up on hydrating you only need a week or so. It is the diet that requires time to get used to. Those first weeks, months hydration is critical and it is super easy to get dehydrated and then sick from it. It happens all the time so if you can sip sip sip constantly at your job, I would guess you can go back within a week or two. It should not require any time off before other than to go to your required doctors appointments.

The first time I tried alcohol after GB was 2 years post op. I could have after 1 year but chose to hold off. Now, I love having wine when I go out. You must be very careful when you do because following bypass, just a few sips and you can feel it. A whole glass has me at the tipping point. My surgeon actually made me sign a contract that I would not touch the stuff for a minimum of 1 year post op. This is just me but I would be concerned that you are not fully healed yet and would abstain for now. Not sure what the alcohol could do to your new pouch. Most of the wait is because they do not want anyone transferring food addiction to alcohol and it is very very common after WLS. I can honestly say I never used to think about drinking and did it rarely, now I love a glass and sometimes two every time I go out for dinner. I could see how it could become a problem but am watching it closely.