brightfaith

Practicing eating mindfully and making small changes to start was really helpful to me. I found the book by Michelle May, Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat for Binge Eating, to be very useful. There is a companion workbook for people having Bariatric surgery.

I have been exercising at gym for a while and worked up to 6-7 days per week pre-op. Four days a week in the pool and three days a week strength training and using the recumbent stepper. I am recently post op and not going at the moment (just walking outside while I am off work) but will go back as soon as I am able to get in the pool again. I am planning to buy three or four personal training sessions when I am a couple of months post op to help me design a workout using body weight exercises that is a little more challenging for me. I would love to try yoga or Pilates or Body Pump but don’t think I would be able to keep up and so am reluctant to try those at this point—maybe if I can build some confidence on my own with body weight exercises I can convince myself to try a class. I love going to the gym. Exercise has gone from being a struggle to being a must-do stress reliever over time. I am really itching to go back and would really like these incisions to heal already so that I can get back in the pool. Hoping I can do it in another week or so.

I’m just 12 days post-surgery but would be happy to contribute!

Are you looking for people at any stage of the process?

You have been doing great... I’ve been noticing all of your progress over the last few months. I will be crossing my fingers for you!

I chose gastric bypass because the rates of resolution of diabetes are higher and because I was starting with a very high BMI, and average weight loss tends to be a bit higher. There is also at this point more long-term data on gastric bypass as it has been practiced longer than the sleeve. There have been many people on here successful with both. Good luck!

That is awesome! Congratulations! As of today, I’ve lost 100 of my 240 excess (92 were lost pre-op). I don’t know that I will lose all 240—that seems too good to be true. I would be thrilled to lose 200.

Glad all went well! I hope your recovery is smooth. I’m at day 11 and doing really well. Walking helps with the gas pain more than anything, I found.

I started with about 240 pounds of excess weight, so I totally get it!

I saw a friend today for the first time since surgery (11 days ago), and she looked confused when she saw me. She said, “You don’t really look different,” and I told her it will take a while for me to lose enough weight that I’ll look significantly different. It turns out she thought that in weight loss surgery, fat is actually removed from your body like massive liposuction and was confused by my appearance. Lol.

Wow! You look amazing. What did you need to do to get it covered?

I had been having a hard time with this too. I tried unsweetened applesauce, and I still couldn’t tolerate it. My evening pills are especially awful tasting. What I did was make protein pudding — a packet of Jello instant sugar-free pudding mix, 2 cups of Fairlife milk, and 1 scoop of protein powder (I used unflavored). Then I put the crushed pills in about a tablespoon of it, and they are far more tolerable. And I get a little protein. I even made up a second batch of pudding and froze little portions in ice cube trays so that I could pop them out and thaw them for each morning and night and use up the rest of my milk. Hope this helps!

Thinking of you and hope you are able to get some answers on Monday.

You sound very prepared, and it looks like you have everything that you will need! I totally understand—I am a list maker and had long lists of everything I needed to get, pack, etc. before surgery. I’m glad I did—it helped to have everything I needed. And everything went just fine for me. You will do great. I wish you the best!

Wonderful! I wish you all the best!

I’m 7 days out as of today and my recovery has continued to be remarkably smooth. I am definitely feeling physical hunger, especially in the mornings, that I wasn’t necessarily expecting. Happily, I think my body has finally let go of most of the extra IV fluid that was pumped into me, and I dropped below my surgery weight. Helps psychologically at least.

My surgeon recommends 3 weeks but will support 2 weeks off for a sedentary office job. I am 5 days out from surgery and have been planning to take 3 weeks. Honestly, my recovery has been so easy and smooth so far that I think 2 weeks would be fine, but I have the sick time and think I will continue with the plan to take 3 weeks and make sure I feel 100% instead of going back early.

Wow, congratulations! Glad everything is going well for you!

This is appalling. Years ago when I was scheduling surgery to remove my gall bladder, my boss at the time tried to get me to postpone the surgery until a project at work was finished. I spoke to her and I spoke to HR and let them know that my health absolutely needed to be the priority. I got no argument from HR. I hope you schedule the surgery based on your needs only and do not feel in any way beholden to your boss! As others have said, just because the surgery is “elective” does not mean that it is not medically necessary or incredibly important to your health and well-being. Good luck to you in dealing with this!

I am five days out. I was told no lifting anything over 10 pounds until 6 weeks post op and that I could resume exercise in the pool when my incisions are fully healed (estimated to be 2-3 weeks). Do you have discharge instructions from your surgeon that provide their guidelines?

Thank you for sharing this. I lost about 25% of my body weight in the 8 months prior to surgery and this makes me hopeful that I’ll continue to do well now that I’ve had surgery. I do think that my recovery was much better because of this weight loss and as a result of daily exercise since November. My recovery has been amazingly smooth so far; I’m fortunate.

Taoz, congratulations on getting home, and I hope you have a smooth recovery from here on out!

I also had surgery on Thursday and came home on Friday. My plan is a bit different from yours, so I am eating three meals of 1-2 tablespoons of soft protein food (e.g., Greek yogurt) and one protein shake divided into three portions throughout the day. It seems like you’re doing very well! I agree, hard to keep sipping but so important. I am thrilled that I was able get over 70 ounces of fluids today. This will get easier, too. Hoping for a continued smooth recovery for you!

I am having gastric bypass surgery tomorrow and am feeling really good about it. Only slightly nervous at the moment, though I’m sure that will changed by morning. I’d definitely appreciate any well wishes! As of this morning, I weighed 270—down 92 pounds from my first consult with the surgeon in September. Though I at first lamented the 6-month nutrition requirement, I am ultimately so glad to have had this period to prepare. I have made so much progress physically and emotionally since then and feel very ready for the surgery. I really appreciate all of the support on these forums and feel like I know what to expect in the next few weeks because so many have shared their experiences here. Thank you! And much luck to everyone with surgeries coming up!

Thank you, everyone! Just waiting to be discharged from the hospital and feeling pretty good!