catwoman7

I definitely eat faster than I did the first few months out - not sure if it's as fast as I did pre-surgery, though. And although I chew more than I did pre-surgery, I often forget about the "20 times" rule (you really are supposed to chew things pretty thoroughly, though, because our stomachs don't churn nearly as much as they used to - so some of the "churning" needs to take place before the food even hits your stomach - thus...chewing thoroughly) if I do a really bad job of chewing, my stomach will usually let me know. It'll either be really uncomfortable, or it'll come back up.

lol - yes, you're correct - I cut & pasted the name from an article a quickly googled because I couldn't remember the medical term off the top of my head. I thought that looked weird!

it's been over 20 years since I quit, but yes - I think I gained around 30 lbs.

I'm 7.5 years out and according to my clinic, I'm still supposed to wait at least 30 minutes after eating to drink (and I do...). I'd say for most clinics, that rule is for life. I don't dump, but dumping occurs once your food goes into your small intestine - so yes, that would probably take about 30 minutes, give or take... Some people call any kind of vomiting after eating something "dumping", but that's not true dumping. Dumping is when your small intestine goes into overdrive trying to deal with the all the sugar or fat you managed to consume in one sitting. Sweating or chills, dizziness, heart palpitations, cramps, and diarrhea are all common reactions. Nausea can be as well, but not as common.

wow - that's the first time I've heard this. Hmmm. Not sure what to make of it. Well, I guess they have their reasons..

we were told to take calcium citrate. I don't know how well AlgaeCal is absorbed by us - you might want to ask your clinic.

yes - hunger comes back for almost all of us sometime during the first year. Mine came roaring back at five months out. I know it sounds weird, but enjoy it while it lasts. Although I was weirded out by it at first, I soon found it very liberating to never be hungry. By the end I wish it had never ended - it was so much easier to lose weight when I was never hungry and didn't give a flip about food! p.s. are you still supposed to drink protein shakes? The RD at my clinic said we could give them up once we were able to get all of our protein requirements in from food.

stay off TikTok. I read those kinds of stories before I had my surgery and they scared the crap out of me. I almost cancelled my surgery. However, those kinds of horror stories are extremely rare. Most of us never had complications or just had mild ones that could be "fixed" or treated. The most common complication is a stricture, which happens to about 5% of bypass patients, if that tells you anything (I personally would not consider something that only happens to 5% of people "common", but that's the most common complication...). It's a minor complication that's easily fixed. P.S. I finally made myself quit reading the stories.

that's very common and is usually due to low blood pressure. It's temporary, though. In the mean time, just get up slowly. medical term for it is hypostatic orthotension There are undoubtedly a lot of posts on here about it, too - you should be able to find them by doing a search (may or may not come up by searching for the medical term - but try searching on "dizzy" or "dizziness") it could also be caused by dehydration or low blood glucose - or some imbalance in the inner ear, but most often it's low blood pressure.

were you told to take them all ten minutes apart? I always took a handful at breakfast time, another handful late afternoon - and then my two extra calcium chews spaced out. Then iron before going to bed. I never was told to wait 10 minutes after each one...

sounds like the infamous three-week stall...

that's actually true - you're only going to see the surgeon a couple of times, most likely - once while you're in the OR and knocked out! You'll be dealing a lot more with the PAs or NPs, nurses, dietitians, and psychologists at the clinic than you will with the surgeon.

should be fine. Although one possible caveat - tomatoes are pretty acidic, which may or may not bother your stomach being this early out (further out it likely won't, though)

iron can be hard on some people's stomachs. Carbonyl iron and heme iron (heme iron is derived from animals) are usually easier on people's stomachs. There are a couple of other versions that are easy on the stomach, too, but I can't remember what they are. Does anyone else remember?

the place my insurance company covers has a decent reputation, so I just went there.

Bypass was once the gold standard of weight loss surgeries up until a few years ago, when sleeve took over. It's easier for surgeons to perform, it's cheaper, and a lot of people are afraid of the bypass. Thus, sleeve is currently the most popular weight loss surgery. I went with bypass because I had GERD prior to surgery. Bypass usually improves if not outright cures GERD, whereas sleeve can make it worse (doesn't happen to everyone - and some people say their GERD even improved after getting sleeved, but the risk of having it get worse was too high for my comfort, so I chose bypass). bypass is the stronger of the two surgeries, but sleeve is close. And yes, you have more options for revision after sleeve, but then, very few people who have bypass get theirs revised. honestly, they both have their pros and cons. There are some health conditions (like GERD) that would make one surgery more appropriate for you than the other, but barring that, it really comes down to personal preference. They're both good surgeries and you'll find many examples on here of people who've been very successful with both. I love my bypass and would choose it again if I had to make the choice today.

I'd just take it with a small swig of water either right before or after eating.

I'm the same as a couple of the others - close friends and family knew, as well as others who were obese and asking a genuine question. For most others, I told them I was working with a dietitian and exercising like a fiend. People without a history of weight problems usually believe that schlock and are satisfied with that answer.

I used to hear reports that they didn't have enough of what we need, but that was a few years ago. They may be better now. I know that a lot of clinics are OK with them (including mine), but I always opted for Centrum or the generic equivalent, which my clinic's RD said were actually a better choice. here are the recommendations of the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. Just make sure that whatever you pick meets their basic recommendations for your type of surgery, and you should be good: ASMBS-Nutritional-Guidelines-2016-Update.pdf

I was only allowed to walk for the first four weeks (in fact, strongly encouraged to do so). At four weeks out, I was cleared to do everything except for weights. At eight weeks out, I was cleared for weights.

I was on chewables for the first several months (then I was allowed to switch to tablets). I don't know that any of the chewables are terrific, but I always got Centrum Silver or a generic equivalent. You can sometimes find those in chewable form (I always found them - but I know some people have trouble finding them). They were OK.

recovery was much harder and longer than it was from my RNY, but I would say the three months you mentioned is an exaggeration. Well, I may have had some discomfort for that long, but I could have worked. I retired before I had my plastic surgeries so I don't know exactly how many weeks it took, but I was pain or had some pretty significant discomfort for probably three or four weeks - at least with the lower body lift. Arm/breast lift wasn't as bad - but you're not supposed to reach for things for awhile after having an arm lift, so it could be a problem if you have to reach for things at work (this was hard to do - I caught myself reaching a few times when I shouldn't have been....). I didn't have a thigh lift, so I can't address that one...

I was "allowed" to take pills the size of a pencil eraser or smaller as soon as I got home from the hospital. I had to wait two or three weeks on the larger ones (and I only had two that were "larger"). One I was able to split using a pill splitter, so I could take that one after all as long as I split it. The other one the PA at my clinic said it was fine to hold off on for a couple of weeks. So in other words, I never crushed anything.

I felt kind of nauseated the day of surgery (it's the anesthesia - in my surgeries since then (three plastic surgeries), I've asked for one of those anti-nausea patches they put behind your ear before the surgery - works like a charm!). I let the nurses know, though (that is, after my RNY), so they put Zofran in my IV bag, which did the trick. I had very little to no pain while in the hospital or once I got home, so I didn't even bother with the pain meds they sent me home with. The only uncomfortable thing was getting in and out of bed. If I was lying down, I was fine - and once I was standing up, I was also fine, but the transitioning between the two was tough - my abs felt like I'd done 1000 crunches. pain is all across the board - some people have it - some don't (or have very little), but I would say based on the posts I've seen here in the eight years I've been on BP is that most of us don't experience much - if any - pain with these surgeries. But if you're one of the ones who does experience it, take your pain meds as directed to keep on top of it. You don't want to wait until it's really bad - just keep on schedule and should be manageable (and also keep in mind that's only a few days at most) I also had buyer's remorse the first couple of weeks after surgery (as in "what did I just do to myself? And why?"), but that's pretty common. Once I got through that, I was really glad I got the surgery and have been ever since. I think it literally saved my life.

it'll likely be temporary, but I would suggest taking full advantage of that while it lasts - turn the negative into a positive. If food doesn't appeal to you that much, then you likely won't eat all that much of it. You'll start seeing it more as fuel. Which is what we actually should be doing - seeing food as fuel. I completely lost my hunger and appetite for five months, and although it was disconcerting at first, by the end I wished my hunger & appetite had never come back. It was so much easier to stick to my program when I was never hungry and didn't give a flip about food.