Losebig

I was walking normally the day of, but it took about 10 days to be totally off pain meds. It was a sudden improvement.

No, but the program psych person will likely see any records if they’re part of the same medical network

I had chest pain too from the hernia repair, t was a dull pain in the low chest. If it’s more severe call the dr as cardiac issues (blood clot etc) could happen.

Keto breath.. unfortunately breath spray or similar is the only thing that seems to help. Hopefully you don’t also get the keto rash, which is no fun!

Awesome! I’m interested to see what weight loss has done to my boyancy...

Not sure it'll help with loose skin, but depending on the goals you have alternating cardio days with strength training days can be effective. It's something I used to do all the time and am just now getting back into. Cardio is riding a bike, running or similar for at least 30 minutes (obviously start slow with walking). Strength training can be lifting weights for bulk, or circuit training, which also hits cardio (lower weights, but moving quickly between them with more reps - usually on machines because you switch between exercises constantly). For me personally my initial focus will be cardio / circuit training as I lose the weight and then strength once I am closer to maintenance... my hope is adding a little bit of bulk will help take up loose skin at least in my arms and legs. If you're joining a gym they may have a personal training available for a fee that you could use for a time or two in order to align a routine with your goals. Then you can do it on your own and don't need additional sessions unless you can afford them and the other person is motivational. Good luck!

Yes, same here. No bracelet, but we had it in a binder and then on the discharge instructions. It is just the office number, which then forwards to the oncall doctor after hours. In our local hospitals everything is online and records are shared, so if they can figure out who you are then all the info is available if you're in the ER, which is helpful.

Usually there is someone in the program working with the surgeon who does the evaluation.

I would suggest a frank conversation with her to find out why she objects. Are there risks for your mental health that she sees? Does she anticipate an issue with your BP depression? It could just be that she personally thinks its drastic, unsafe or has other ideas about it, which is fine, but that’s not her area of expertise. She obviously can’t stop you, but you really want to understand why she thinks its a bad idea.

Search via google type: "site:www.bariatricpal.com can eat too much" works too. Of course if people are posting and not reading they'll never see this post either :-)

Vegetables depend a bit on the program. In my case if I can fit them great, if not then they say don’t worry about it. When I do get in vegetables it’s 1/4 - 1/2 cup of something that’s usually mushy (canned green beans, carrots, etc).

Sorry you're dealing with that. Any idea why the hernia happened? Hope that everything goes smoothly and you're feeling better.

I've been freezing as well, but it has gotten better as I've gotten more active. I was even out in a T shirt today and fine for an hour in 35 degrees.. 3 weeks ago and I would have had multiple jackets and hats on.

I'm not out quite as far as you (surgery was 12/12), but I've been having meals that consist of 4 oz of dense protein (i.e. chicken, ham, sausage, ground meat). That usually leaves me painfully full and I have to eat really slow and chew a lot. Most folks say something in that vicinity is pretty typical. If you have softer things or eat over more than half an hour you can fit more. If I have ground turkey I'll often mix it with 1 oz of re fried beans and .5 oz of sour cream and that'll be a meal. My program is low carb, so my meals are pretty boring... Did you get a packet pre-surgery that talked about the stages? Sometimes those have meal suggestions with portion sizes.

I was 304 before the pre-op diet At surgery I was 296 (down 8) A month out I was 268 (down 28 from surgery) As of last Tuesday, which is 7 weeks out I was 257 (39 since surgery, 47 since pre-op) It has been a bit lumpy with a big loss initially, then level, then small losses and now its speeding up again. According to my program they would expect 15 - 30% of excess body weight to be lost as of my 6 week checkup. I was at 23% lost, so right in the middle of the pack. I had been eating a fair bit, 1,100 calories daily, but after talking to my nutritionist switched to only having a snack when I'm hungry VS forcing it, so now I don't snack (no hunger) and am averaging around 600 -700 calories a day and 80g of protein. I get exercise 3 - 4 times a week and am generally active. I'm very happy with progress and am now at a weight I haven't seen in 10 years.

I haven't found nuts to be too filling. I too started them a little earlier than I should have. Now I can have them, but I generally choose not to. They don't really fill me up (probably because they're low volume and you can chew them so much). I've found if I eat more than 1 ounce I start to feel sick, but it's tough to stop. As a result I now have a nut free house... which is just easier and better. I too have a wicked salt craving. Nuts helped, eating a single chip here and there can help too. I've found eggs with a lot of salt on them or soup helps somewhat too. I'm a little further out than you, and had really bad cravings early, but they've gone away in the last couple of weeks. In fact the last 2 days I've been busy and I simply haven't eaten (or drank) anything all day and then of course miss my protein and fluid goals. I think it might get easier once you're on more solid foods - they fill you up and the cravings at least for me went away.

Make sure you are taking vitamins with something in your stomach (even a protein shake), that should fix the nausea. I’d definitely talk to the DR to see if they can help, if you’re short on protein and fluids you will be exhausted. Not sure if they did nutritional blood work pre surgery (they should have), but vitimin deficiency will also make you feel terrible - though its pretty quick for that if you had pre op labs. Not sure what the challenge with protein is, but watering it down may help you get it down and you can just sip that all day. Warm fluids will be easier to drink and might help you get fluid goals. An IV with fluid and electrolytes might make you feel like a new person and if you haven’t been hitting fluid goals you might need that.

I started with a recommendation from my PCP, which ultimately I went with. I did some reading on how centers are ranked and what makes a center more or less successful. There’s a bariatric surgery accredidation that grades centers and the best ones have certain characteristics. Some of them I recall as being more than 300 surgeries per year, have a tracking system in place for their own stats, have specialized treatment units or floors and a bunch of other things. I found a list of ones near me and it turned out the one the PCP recommended was on the list too.

I’d donate them immediately and not even open them. That way its a win win, she spends a lot of money to buy and send you stuff and it benefits a good cause too. Pretty unbelievable, she must be a special person.

Hang in there it gets better quickly. The first time I tried eggs was trrrible too, but a week later I tried again and now I eat them daily. If something doesn't sit well try it a week or two later and it will likely be fine. You definitely won't be on broth forever. For thirst try a warm beverage like herbal tea or light hot cocoa, it goes down way easier and helps get the ounces in.

I haven't tried most non protein foods that I would have eaten before to test everything out - but I definitely feel like things have changed too. I used to crave things like chips, bread or other carbs. I have no interest in bread now, it just doesn't have any particular appeal, same with chips. Same with sweets, i was never hugely into them, but I'd want cake or whatever. We've had a bunch of birthdays so I've tried a little cake and a tiny bit is ok, any more and I also feel sick. It's not something I crave at all. The protein shakes drove me nuts and powerade is tough to drink daily because of the sweetness. I think one of the biggest changes for me is that everything tastes too sweet. I'm hopeful fried food doesn't agree with me. I haven't tried it yet, but that is something I'd like to live without if I can... pizza too for that matter What I do crave is salt. i really want ANYTHING salty. I really like nuts, but more than 1 oz makes me feel sick. I really like water with lemon, unsweetened tea or cocoa and can't stand artificial sweeteners. I used to drink seltzer, but don't miss it at all. The surgery definitely has changed my relationship with food. It's hard to describe, but before eating something bad would be amazing, like air for a drowning person. It would feel so good for a minute or two. Now the magic is gone. Food is just fuel and I can take it or leave it. For now I'm happier that way.

Sorry to hear that, super frustrating! I personally would go with the sleeve if it can be done safely and laparoscopicly. An Open bypass isn't that crazy, but you end up with a huge scar and more healing to do. The risk of a hernia is much higher. I know someone who had one and their recovery was fine, just much slower, but they did have to have hernia surgery to repair a hernia years later (they also didn't follow instructions that well and probably over did it). Like with anything else I'd suggest talking to both surgeons and getting opinions of what they think. For example can the adhesions even be cleaned up, or is it going to be worse if they try? I'm guessing they won't do either proceedure for a couple months until you heal, so you have nothing to lose by getting a couple expert opinions. You could also talk to a thoracic surgeon about what they think.

Wow that's scary! Did they say what it was from? Just left over from the surgery, or something else? I would have been freaking out too!

You didn't mention the preparation of the meats, but that can play a BIG role. Having things moist and in small pieces definitely helps. I find that shredded meats (chicken salad for example) are much easier. You might try cutting it into tiny pieces (mince or dice it) and then using a lot of sauce (BBQ for chicken, A1 for beef, etc) will help. I've been eating a lot of ground meats, which helps (I also use sauce like mustard for these). Solid chicken still doesn't work for me, but I find that low fat hot dogs (45 calories, 6G protein), low fat chicken sausages (80 calories, 13g protein), ground turkey with sour cream (30c, 8g protein per ounce) will work well. Egg whites are another low calorie high protein choice and are soft, I usually have 1/2 a cup for breakfast with 1/2 an ounce of low fat mozzarella and sometimes a diced turkey sausage mixed in. Greek Yogurt also works, but has more calories and carbs. Beans and nuts can work too, but can be very dense so need to be mixed with something. Good luck!

That's terrible! The lady we had doing weigh ins wasn't a former member or anything, she was rail thin her whole life and super snarky to everyone if they didn't lose more than a couple of lbs. Eventually they seemed to be getting rid of her after the meeting leader heard one of her comments, but by that time I was already done... Plus I was eating perfectly on plan and GAINING weight!