BigTink2LilTink

What pre-workout did you use?

I was on Panera (Bread Co) Turkey chilli about 6 weeks post surgery. I tried to avoid beef for the first 6 months per my surgeon's plan. If your plan calls for you to avoid beef until a certain time period, then I would strongly suggest following those guidelines. However, because all surgeon's have different meal plans, if they claim that you can go the chilli route with beef then gfi.

Two weeks out I had very little to no pain at all. I was still quite nauseous and had a hard time getting my fluids in especially water at the time. But I know like a lot of people have already said here, everyone recovers and heals differently. Best advice I can give is to follow the plan you and your surgeon have come up with, and keep in contact with them if pain or any other unplanned symptoms start to show up.

I had this early on too. What helped me was a few things. I started using calamine lotion to help with the itching and hives, and I tried to increase my protein intake as much as I possibly could. Because this happened to me right after surgery and lasted about 3 to 4 weeks post op getting in protein was already sorta difficult. I unitized unflavored whey protein in every form of liquid I could get down including water. It wasn't the best tasting thing by far, but after about three weeks of that, the hives recessed and I wasn't itching all over. .

I would suggest a pre and probiotic to help sort of get things regulated under control again, and fiber along with more fluids to help soften the stool, and to keep you going regular again. Since I've been doing that I had no issues with having a bowel movement and/or constipation.

For me, I would say that I didn't start to notice actual belly/tummy loss until about 10 weeks post surgery. So for me my surgery was a few days before Christmas, and it wasn't until like late April before I notice the difference in actual stomach/tummy area. I lost a lot in my arms/legs, face, neck & ass before my tummy/waist started to shrink. And shrinking its still doing. I went from a 58 waist to a 38 waist now currently. Sent from my SM-N910P using the BariatricPal App Thank you so much I'm just getting to the 10 week mark now. So that's is encouraging that hopefully I start seeing those results soon! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Just remain focus, follow your surgeon's plan for success and you'll get there. Sent from my SM-N910P using the BariatricPal App

For me, I would say that I didn't start to notice actual belly/tummy loss until about 10 weeks post surgery. So for me my surgery was a few days before Christmas, and it wasn't until like late April before I notice the difference in actual stomach/tummy area. I lost a lot in my arms/legs, face, neck & ass before my tummy/waist started to shrink. And shrinking its still doing. I went from a 58 waist to a 38 waist now currently. Sent from my SM-N910P using the BariatricPal App

Started with Men's One a day a few weeks after surgery. I still take them or Vitafusion. It took a while to get over the sweetness of the gummies, but I make sure to take them daily. I still take my b12 sublingual daily and I've increased to taking a D3 (daily) and chewable Iron, prebiotics, and Calcium tablets daily.

You look fantastic!

LOL......Oh I see what you did there......And I like it. As the weight comes off, a new condition occurs also called buried penis... but it causes no suffering.

Hey, every good hero needs a name to counter his/her alter ego I say.

I guess cause I'm holding out for the true big one. The one where I make goal weight finally. These last 25lbs are like freaking a beast to lose. Inspiration? To Babbs? Wow, that's some pretty hefty praise! And hot? Hi Pot, I'm Kettle.

Hopefully this will attach right Sent from my SM-N910P using the BariatricPal App

That is very cool. I am not at the pull up stage of this yet, but I did hit some pretty cool milestones here in recent days. First I was able to successfully do planks where I could hold the position for a solid 60 seconds. Second, I was able to do sets of squats without my back or knees killing me afterwards. But the most cool thing so far was to step on the scale this morning and see that I'm now under the 250lbs mark. Yeah its 249lbs, but damn it I'll take it. .

Not to thread jack or anything, but on the date of my surgery my BMI was at 55. Well north of the super morbidity obese. And this morning when I did my weight in I was at a BMI of 28. Not bad for about 17 months post surgery. Now according to the BMI chart, I'm just "Overweight".

In the Males only section there is a thread talking about this and how we as men release stored testosterone from our fat cells as we are rapidly losing weight. So yeah expect the sex drive to increase. Hell I wasn't even a full two week out from surgery and I was craving sex like there was no tomorrow.

Yup everything said below is why they have you go through the psych evaluation.

I am guessing because mostly all over the counter multivitamins in pill form are huge pills, which early on in the process can be difficult to digest. I know you can get prescription multivitamin pills that are extremely tiny yet as powerful as 3 over the counter pills. But again that is a prescription which will require a doctor permission to use. I would think getting on either a prescription multivitamin pill or shot is probably going to be the easiest answer to this question.

Dude way to go man. I'm very proud to hear you moving towards the right path. When I started this process 24 months ago, surgery 17 months ago, I was at 597lbs. So it can be done. You can reach that goal.

I totally agree with everything said here below. If I could go back before I had my surgery I would have joined or found a support group sooner than when I did, and started to weaning off of the bad eating probably a good 4 to 6 weeks before the liquid diet phase. I mean I did cut back on a lot of eating a few months before the surgery and wound up dropping about 40lbs before I started my liquid diet, I still think I could have done more to both help with recovery and to be more mentally prepared for what it was I was truly getting myself into. Support groups and/or therapist to help with the emotional stuff is going to be key. Even if you aren't emotional now, all the chemical changes your body will start to go through will give for a higher probability of you going though some serious emotional changes such as depression, and anxiety. Anxiety especially when it comes to eating foods again.

See my answers below in bold.

3 months post-op I was able to eat lean cuts of softer protein such as fish and chicken. Trust me you will get tired of eating fish and chicken. And getting in around 96oz of water based fluids in per day. One thing I would warn about is trying to consume raw veggies. I would wait at least 6 to 8 months. So things like salads, carrots where hard on the tummy for me and caused very uncomfortable bloating issues. I was still using protein shakes somewhat daily but instead of relying on them to give me basically all my protein grams per day, the shakes were giving me about a 1/3 or my daily intake goal.

Yeah my skin hated me for the first 6 to 8 months post surgery. Besides getting in the fluids and vitamins, I switched body wash to a shea coco-butter base body wash and shampoos. That helped with my dry cracked skin big time.

Yeah I too would suggest if you are going to go the frozen food route to go with either the Atkins meals or the Healthy Choices meals. They tend to have lower sodium levels that other frozen meals. I wasn't ready to do those though until I was about 10/12 months post surgery. Anytime before that and it was like play Russian Roulette with the microwave and reheating food. What I could warm up via microwave and eat one day could totally make me puke the next day. You may find yourself doing a lot of trial and error here as you go further along in your journey. I would also probably suggest that you run any of your food ideals by your nutritionist to see what he/she may think. Best of luck to you.

Pull up? Wow I remember when I was in like 5 or 6th grade I tried to do a pull up. I got one in and when I tried to do the second one, the bar broke and all the kids in the gym laughed at me. It was at that point I tried my hardest to avoid gym class in school and never attempted to do a pull up again. I know I am still not ready to do one yet. Physically I might be ready, but the mental scars from that episode almost 22 years ago still hurt as if this happened yesterday.