Djmohr

I had both elevated Bun and terrible creatinine levels pre surgery. I was told that I had stage 3 chronic kidney disease. It is the reason I made the decision to have bypass. In fact it was my nephrologist who made the recommendation to me to move forward. I was told it would not be long before I would need kidney dialysis. I left his office and immediately took the on line course that evening and went to my first class the next day. At 1 month post op, both my BUN and creatinine had moved to a normal range. Now my Bun continues to be slightly elevated but that is coming from my high Protein diet now. I just have to stay at the minimum protein for my height. The damage to my kidneys was permanent but I have clearly stopped it from progressing. I had no problem getting approved at all. My paperwork got faxed in to the insurance company after following all the requirements and I had an answer by that afternoon and was scheduled for surgery 3 weeks later. Of course it took 9 months to get through all the requirements but it was well worth it's! Good luck to you!

Tapas! My husband and I love restaurants that have Protein based tapas and we share. Usually we still have leftovers! If tapas are not something on the menu, I will look close at Soups and salads. Breakfast is the worst for me because I cannot eat eggs. You can usually find a yogurt parfait but they can be dangerous because restaurants like to add very sugary fruit to them. If I cannot find anything for breakfast I will go for a plain crepe with sf syrup and bacon or sausage. There is very little flour in a crepe and for some reason I can tolerate all the egg in one.

LOL! Well, you could look at it this way, you can always put layers on to warm up. When you are hot it really sucks! I am in that lovely phase where I am freezing 90 percent of the time but because I am suffering from multiple hot flashes daily I prefer the cold. We live in Wisconsin where it is cold and I just turned the heat on 2 days ago, mostly because my poor husbands teeth were chattering. I simply wear lots of layers and those lovely jackets with the thumb holes to keep my hands warm, them when a flash comes along, I throw all the blankets off, jackets off, etc. I will be sweating like crazy but my hands and feet are literally frozen. Then of course when the flash stops, I am soaking wet and freezing cold! I swear menopause is my own personal hell! I hope it ends sometime soon!

Bella, I am so sorry that this continues for you. What you are experiencing is definitely not typical. I definitely would go get that stricture taken care of. You deserve to be able to enjoy the little bit of food we can eat. Also, I cannot imagine feeling so crappy all the time. Please try getting that stricture fixed. I am guessing your only being able to eat soft foods is also causing you to be hungry more frequently because they are simply sliding through. I almost hate hate hate to say this but if getting the structure fixed does not help have you considered getting your surgery reversed? You cannot live like this forever with the physical issues and every once in a while there is the need for reversal.

I eat jersey a lot! I started at about 6 months post op as well.

My Mom was a great cook, she always stuffed our turkey and I grew up knowing that recipe. I made my turkey that way for 20 years. The turkey was good but I swear the breast was always a little dry. Then about 10 years ago I saw a way to make turkey that keeps the turkey very moist and delicious and I have been making it this way ever since. This year because there was only 4 of us I chose a smaller 12lb fresh turkey which may have made an even bigger difference. I used this new process and my husband who is not a turkey fan ranted and raved how delicious this turkey was and even asked for more yesterday for lunch. That, never ever happens! Here is what I did. I started with a fresh turkey not a frozen thawed turkey. I washed him with cold Water and then patted him dry. I them sprinkled salt and pepper in both cavities. I quartered a lemon and orange, sliced a onion in quarters leaving the skin on, cut a whole head of garlic in half skin on, grabbed a bunch of fresh thyme and fresh sage. I stuffed all these ingredients inside the two cavities. I then took a stick of butter that had been softened. I chopped more fresh sage and thyme. The I mixed that into a compound butter. I separated gently the skin off the breast as far down as I could and squished about half of that butter under the skin of the turkey. I used what was left on the outside of the turkey and gave him a nice massage. Last I sprinkled him lightly with salt and pepper. Lastly in the bottom of the roaster, I chopped a whole carrot in big chucks, a couple stalks of celery, a cup of Pinot Grigio and a cup of chicken stock. You can add more stock later if you need to. I used a gravy separator to remove most of the fat before making gravy. That was delicious too. I did make my usual stuffing and used plenty of chicken stock so it still had that great flavor and baked it in a casserole on the side. This bird was so juicy and flavorful. It was definitely the hit! The little bit of citrus in the cavity sort of perfumes the bird.

Honestly Protein is such a personal preference. I found that I simply could not tolerate the majority of the powders, they are gritty regardless of whether you mix them with a shaker ball or put them in a bullet. Post surgery I simply could not take the whey protein and grit taste at all. I would gag and vomit. My Bariatric team recommended Premier Protein ready made shakes. There is no grit, 160 calories, 1g sugar and 30g of protein in 1 11 oz. shake. In the beginning I had to milk them down by half because they are a little heavier but they taste great, fill you up and keep you full for hours. To this day they are really the only protein I buy. If I had to pick a powder I could live with I would choose syntax.

Woot woot! Congratulations!

They are all different and it depends on how much weight you need to lose and how fatty your liver is. I had bypass and had a 10 day liquids only pre op diet. It was hard but doable.

If you are not seeing a Bariatric doctor I would do so immediately. I find that almost every doctor that is not part of that group have no idea how to deal with us. If your doctor that you mention is, then I would find a new doctor. In the meantime, I would definitely take the recommended Vitamins for your surgery. Bypass: B12, Calcium Citrate, Vitamin D and a multi vitamin daily and leverage good quality Protein shakes to supplement until you get to the bottom of this. I hope things turn around soon. Your situation is scary and I cannot imagine how crappy you must feel.

Thanks so much! I am excited to give some new products a try!

Which surgery did you have? I pretty much took anything I made for my family and tried to purée it. Sloppy joes, Salisbury steak, ground chicken with a little fat free gravy, I would have my Protein and then a healthy carb puréed like carrots, sweet potato, applesauce. I also had cream of wheat. What failed for me was egg, egg salad, pretty much anything to do with eggs which I loved before surgery I simply cannot tolerate now.

@@WildGrits I had to chuckle at your comment regarding the loss of padding. I literally have no behind left at all and unless I am sitting on a coccyx pillow I am extremely uncomfortable. I just bought a second pillow for my car. I have stopped eating at the table because of it as well which I know is bad but I figure I have worked hard to eat slowly and my pouch will give me hell if I do. I had heard that your body will readjust but I am 14 months post op and it only gets worse. I have learned to sit with 1 leg under me or I try to sit on one side of my rear.

Oh and gas really does cause pain for me. If I get a burp stuck I am in pain until it comes up. Thankfully that doesn't happen often because I have learned how to eat and drink much slower.

I do get this off and on. Sometimes I think I am just eating too fast and have to slow way down, other times specific foods that worked before are no longer tolerated. I will say that having bypass, food is always about trial and error. Is it possible you are eating to fast or not chewing enough? If the answer is no and it keeps happening give your doc a shout. Good luck!

Honestly this is a tough question to answer and I have battled back and forth on this. I chose my goal weight because it was on the high side of an ideal weight and bmi for someone my height. As I get close to my goal, currently within 13lbs, I am looking pretty darn good. There are places where I hope no more weight comes off (butt &boobs), and there are others where I still need to lose some weight(upper arms , stomach and thighs. I have decided I will push to no longer be overweight on the bmi scale and give myself a little room for that 10 to 15lb regain that happens over time. That may mean initially I am a little thinner than I would like.

Glad to hear you are doing well. Take care of yourself!

Wow, that is a long time to be off work for this surgery. Do you mind if I ask what you do? I hope that you are able to quickly get everything in order because this surgery is well worth it. I wish you all the best and if you need anything or have questions feel free to reach out. Good luck!

I was one of the unlucky ones who lost about 2/3 of my volume. Now understand I am Italian and had a huge head of thick coarse hair. It started very soon after surgery and did not stop until about 13 months post op. Yes I got all my Protein and used Biotin every day. I knew it was inevitable for me. Just about any surgery I have I end up with hair falling out. When it continued for so long I actually started to freak out a bit. I saw my Bariatrics team as well as my dermatologist. I was told as soon as my weight loss slowed down my hair loss would slow as well. That set a new panic because I was not ready to stop losing. I had shoulder length hair and cut it in a cute little bob. Also I am 52 and have to color my hair every 4 weeks. I really felt like it looked worse the lighter it got so I ended up coloring to my natural very darn brown color. It looked best short and dark. Now I am 14 months post op and my hair loss finally stopped and I have tons of regrowth. In fact it sticks up everywhere. Incidentally my weight loss did slow way down but it has not stopped. I have around 12 lbs to go and I know I will get there slowly. My vote is short and dark. The thinning definitely does not show as much. Also, most people don't even notice. My husband did because there was hair everywhere, my stylist did for obvious reasons but really no one else even mentioned it. I guess they were way more focused on how thin I am.

Wow! Congratulations on your great success and hitting Onederland!

Practice chewing your food a lot, removing distractions while eating so you listen to your body when you are full. Trying to slow down taking 20 to 30 minutes to eat. I might also suggest measuring out a real portion, now post surgery those portions are much smaller but the behavior of actually sticking to a real portion will hep you.down the road. The other thing I would do is start tracking your food intake (good or bad) into a tool like my fitness pal. This becomes really important post surgery but I really wish I had started it beforehand so that I could understand my nutrition better. I think I would have seen my Protein and carbs so upside down that it would have shocked the hell out of me. I believe much of my success so far is because I track literally everything, good or bad. I do it throughout the day so that I always know exactly where I am with my protein, carbs and calories. It really helps me to make much better snacking decisions for sure. If my protein is low, my snack is some jersey or a Protein Bar. If my protein is on track I might have some crackers and cheese or even something a little naughty if I am out with hubby for dinner. That tracking tool allows me to hold myself accountable. It also helps me understand when a stall has gone on for a while, what might be causing it. I also use an Apple Watch to track my activity and exercise. Before I had the Apple Watch I used a Fitbit. Good luck to you!

Just wait til u go through pre op diet and weeks of liquid and puréed stage. The only thing you think about and dream about is chewing something!LOL Then when you finally can you are terrified that u will accidentally swallow something too big. When you finally do swallow something too big and the chest pain comes , you will chew, chew, chew til the cows come home.

I have learned to appreciate the stall mostly because when it ends the weight starts coming off fast again! And it's weird but I swear my body composition changes and it's more noticeable.