Biddy zz 🏳️🌈

Anyway, back to me... 🤣 Anyone here been doing post bypass eating and then had a gallbladder out? What changes did you make to your eating choices, once gall-bladder less??

Me neither. I am 6 months post surgery. I have just been in hospital having gallstones out. For 5 days I have been on the acute surgery list - nil by mouth from 9pm, through the day, until I get sent home at 9.30pm the next day cos I got bumped off the list by more urgent cases. Never hungry, not once. (PS I got the surgery this morning!)

I used bio-oil on randomly-chosen half my hysterectomy scar as a single-subject trial. Independent assessment (my partner) says the bio-oil half is perhaps 30% as visible as the non-bio-oil half - a difference was clear after about 2 months. One subject only, so not good science, but I am now putting it on all of my RNY scar. I had an open bypass - navel to breastbone scar. Hysterectomy is navel to pubic bone scar. My backup plan is a tattoo of a zip and small words alongside saying “Store pyjamas here” 🤣

My gallbladder is out, and they managed it laparoscopically, against their predictions! The surgeon (not same as my RNY surgeon) said on my waking “the surgery was relatively simple because you are slender”. I could have kissed him. With tongue 😁😁😁😁💋

@Losebig - Wendy’s has fab bean and mince chilli. I love it occasionally because my wife is vegetarian. I buy a big one, and freeze it in 1/2 cup portions. The Wendy’s website gives nutritional breakdown - I don’t have it regularly (I love cooking these days) but it is a great occasional treat - where I really feel like I am treating myself! (Sometimes I add sriracha, or sliced jalapeños or chilli flakes, before freezing!)

Some surgeons say no to this, but it seems most say yes. All fluids count - as do popsicles!

I reckon start a new thread with these names in the title. No-one will find it here!

I assume you mean 25ml at a time? Just sip. Hold water in your mouth. You should be sipping every few breaths. Dry mouth is one sign of being dehydrated - so getting more fluid in by many many many small sips is the answer...

The key certainly is “this is my forever eating” - I have over the years tried so many things billed as diets, but unsustainable. Right now this post surgery eating style is working great for me. I try to avoid sugars, but not seriously restrict carbs (lentils, beans etc). When I looked up this Mayo Clinic diet, @Creekimp13, I see it mirrors what I am doing most days. I have a coffee shot/vanilla protein slushy for breakfast, lunch a simple salad of lettuce/tomato/bell pepper with cheese and meat (ham or chicken or maybe salami) and nutritious tasty home made dinner. Usually veggies with beans or lentils or tofu - and a good chunk of dairy as we New Zealanders love cheese! My favourite ‘treat’ is a ‘cake in a mug’ made with mashed banana, protein powder, egg, almond flour and fruit pieces. BUT I was out with a new relative, they wanted to go to McDonalds. So I did, got a Big Mac with no sauce, and ate the burger pattie/cheese/salad and pickle and LOVED it! Was it a slippery slope? No. Have I been again? No, but I might. Until I got gallstone trouble (6kg lost this month) I was losing about a pound a week (much higher at the start, 2-3lbs a week after 2 months, a pound a week after 4-5 months). A pound a week has suited me well, and now I can lift my calories a bit and settle in to my forever weight!

My days are reasonably consistent. My surgeon is very ‘hands off’ with regard to food, protein, but has done a fair bit of Rea search with his 1700 bypass patients - the average is 800 calories a day a year out, and 1000 long term. He is strictly 3 meals a day, no in between snacking. I have coffee/protein shake at breakfast - coffee shot, bit of milk, 30g protein, ice cubes blitzed. For lunch 25g cheese and either chicken/ham or maybe a salami beerstick. And then we have our big variety in dinner. We have mostly eaten with a strong focus on preparing from-scratch evening meals all year, low carb, good protein and loads of fresh veggies. I do use bought (processed) dressings, sauces, sometimes. Like most New Zealanders, we do eat a fair bit of cheese, sometimes home made (oh, making halloumi, mozzarella and ricotta is SO easy) and homemade yoghurt. And that is us - no treats, but we make an evening meal we really enjoy. BUT. up until the bypass, our BS (before surgery) diet included fairly frequent takeaways, regular brunches. But the worst offender was potato crisps and dip, and binges with ice cream, chocolate or biscuits or other processed ‘treats’. These have ceased, and I feel way better for it. I crave different food types now, and seldom have sugar cravings - and when I do, I ride it out!

Don’t panic about it. All doctors have different rules! in general, it best to follow his plan but the plan’s main purpose is teaching you about eating, more than it is about your new tummy. I was on solid food (chicken, fish) before leaving hospital!

I didn’t even know there WERE preventative meds! My advice? TAKE THE MEDS! I cannot wait to get this gall bladder and sand out so I know I won’t have another bout of that pain again. The silver lining - I am at my goal weight. I am officially no longer overweight!

I am - just posted pics. I thought I would suck at this journey like every other weight thing in my life, but no, I have LOVED it...

No age limit! Go for it, my friend! I am 55 and have reached goal today - that is, today I am no longer overweight according to my Dr’s bmi calculator - one week shy of 6 month post surgery. Imminent hip replacement drive me - and today I am pain free! Whatever is driving you, the life improvement is just so dramatic. I am a fan - if you can survive the anaesthetic, go for it I reckon!!

Hey Hannah i have spent a bit of t8me here and mostly folks are kind, supportive. I don’t reckon I could be doing this without the good folks - keep being kind and they’ll find you!

Congratulations on this milestone! And the even better milestone - still enjoying that forever eating style. I look back and cannot for the life of me quite get a grip 9n why it took this tool to so happily alter my food choices, but it just did. I love my new eating style, rarely miss the old - and when I do I have just ridden it out each time! Congratulations - it has been great watching you on this journey.

Well, I am home “on leave” for the weekend, back tomorrow for a blood test and back in bed Monday. Liver function tests are slowly reducing, so that is good. If they get to ‘normal’ then I go on a non-acute wait list for surgery 26th June and hope no gall bladder event before that. If they don’t then it is more urgent and I will get acute patient surgery this week. Meanwhile eating is a challenge, no sugar (dumping), low protein (damaged liver) and avoid all fat (gall bladder) so lettuce is my friend! And chickpeas. But looking on the bright side - I am only 1 lb from goal now!!

Yep, I agree. Find the thing that works for you! Your walking is amazing. Way more than me - I am getting up to about 1.5 miles a day. And normal steps at work etc of course. I probably should do morit, I think. Good muscles burn mor energy at rest, which helps keep weight off. Cheers

You are right about the gallstones being a weight loss thing, not an RNY thing. But of course since an RNY results in rapid weight loss.... The surgeon in this city said 1/3 people he does RNY on have gallstones to begin, so he removes. Of the remaining 2/3, half went on to develop gallstones - so now he removes the gallbladder as standard. Wish mine had! But he did palmitate the gallbladder and it was in good shape - despite me having previously lost a lot of weight with my initial gastric band, so I guess that was a good call at the time...

I am not sure I agree about not weighing every day. There is pretty convincing research out there showing daily weighing is strongly correlated with weight reduction and, more importantly, keeping weight off. If you weigh daily, then you know you only ever face a 1 or 2 day ‘diet’ in future, not a month or two as weigh gain got a bit out of control... But I reckon different strokes for different folks. Some focus on the numbers, some on the waistband snugness!

Funny! One thing for you - those favourite brands - maybe in part because so few companies make plus sizes. So now you have many brands at your disposal, for your new different shape... I am experimenting with work clothes that are coloured, not black. Yay! And I am having to resist “oh, it fits, I will buy it” which was the rule when I was bit. Now everything fits - so I have to work out what suits me, flatters, hugs the right curves etc. I quite like that journey!

Hi there @Midwest Girl I had a band in 2009 at 260 lbs. I did lose - got down to 180 and stable, but had it emptied in anticipation of chemo in 2012. On refilling, the port broke. Eventually I replaced the port - but had gerd and never got it right again. So, late last year, back up to 220 lbs, I converted to RNY. Now, my replacement port had been installed using mesh - and the mesh was messy, rolled up, causing pain and abscesses. So I had open surgery, and had the band, port and mesh all removed and RNY done. And now I am nearly 160lbs, just 6 months later! The open surgery was a breeze - and all was above the navel, so if your mesh is low, you should be sweet with not having it touched! So, I have had both a laparoscopic band surgery, and open RNY surgery (and open hysterectomy years back - yep, I look like I should have a zipper installed from Brett bone to pubic bone, so I could store my own pyjamas!!). The open surgery is seriously not a lot harder so don’t sweat it too much. But the RNY is WAY better than the band. No regurgitation, no gerd, little hunger, and gob-smackingly easy weight loss! Of course it is just a tool - you have to eat different. Forever. If you are ready, go for it. It is fab.

Don’t fret, it’ll come! They fill you with loads of saline - if you feel bloated, that is why. Some people don’t really lose for a couple of weeks - others just a few days. Stick to your plan, sip sip sip, and you’ll be a loser in no time!!

What a great post. Your daughter is a bit overweight - this surgery, and the way it forces you to eat healthily, might just do her the world of good. You”ll be low carbs for a while (and maybe forever if you like that eating style), and you’ll get good at meals with healthy protein and veggies, with treats of fruit, and a huge drop in processed food - you might just see her weight slide towards normal. And set her on good eating habits for life, if you make it all positive for you both. My partner wasn’t chubby, but has lost 10lbs and dropped a clothes size because we are both eating healthily - and liking it!! PS my sister in law did this before me. Lost stacks - and her kids loved the delights of suddenly having her to walk with, cycle with, play ball with...