skyguy

Hey everyone! I do a half marathon every April, walking most of it. I've just had a RNYGB and although my surgeon has given me the green light to do the half marathon (six weeks post surgery) I'm concerned about fueling options as I suspect sugary fuels are likely to cause dumping... Does anyone have any experience with endurance events post-surgery or good portable food suggestions given the constraints of our procedures?

If you like chocolate pudding, you can make a protein pudding with three scoops of chocolate protein powder in 250ml (1 cup) of 1% milk. Blend with a hand mixer or whisk. Makes 5 pouch sized (3oz) servings each with 18g of protein.

Hang in there. Best to discover this right away while still in hospital. They’ll have you back on track in no time. You’re in our thoughts.

It really depends on the program how restrictive your pre-surgery diet is. In my program, the surgeon explained that it's primary purpose was to shrink the liver to make access to the surgery site easier. They have to lift the liver to work underneath it and a fatty liver is more fragile and susceptible to damage during the lifting. You are helping to ensure the least possible risk of complications during surgery by following your pre-surgery diet to the letter. The pre-surgery diet is essentially a keto diet made simple through the use of very low carb shakes (in my case, Optifast 900). As your body goes into ketosis, it burns fat stores for energy. Physiologically, you body burns fat from the liver first as it's easiest to access. Ketosis is an on or off thing, and when switched off, takes a day or two to get started again. If you provide your body with any other carb source (simple or complex), ketosis gets switched off. The salad wouldn't make any difference, unless there was cheese or fruit or dressing on it. The chilli however, while usually a great healthy choice, contains lots of complex carbs from the beans and would have stopped ketosis. On a keto diet, you can not have any legumes for this reason. Not to be a stick in the mud, but every single instruction you will receive on how or what to eat has a reason behind it that will contribute to the best possible outcomes from your procedure. It sounds harsh, but each time you cheat, your outcomes get a teeny bit worse. Good luck with your procedure - you're going to do great!

Congrats! Please let us know how you enjoy the event! Try not to get caught up in the excitement at the start and run at a faster pace than you've been training! My PR for 5k is still the first 5k of the Chicago marathon... burned through a ton of energy and had a great time with the crowd, but it made for a very long marathon lol.

Exactly! What a great setup @Everythinganna! I'm jelly! ...Mmmmmm chicken and dumplings... now i have to have some chicken broth so i can pretend! Good southern cooking is hard to find up here in the frozen north. In April, we're heading to Disney, and one of the stops has to be Chef Art Smith's Homecomin' in Disney Springs. I sure hope I'm ready for a tiny piece of that chicken.

I hear you on this! Like you, I've told very few people about the surgery. I have had a couple of social events that couldn't be missed - a retirement lunch for a work colleague and a funeral for a friend's dad. Both during the pre-op liquid diet. At the lunch, I found wonton soup on the menu and ordered that without wontons. Other than a weird look from the waitress, that one flew. Funerals around here are big food events though and friends make trays of sandwiches and cookies and everything under the sun. It was hard to make excuses for that, but I just said I was on a crazy shake diet and couldn't eat anything. I'm finding there's enough people on the keto kick in my social circles that there's almost always someone on a restriction of some sort. Bless your neighbour (and anyone else who loves to entertain) let me know how you make out with that one!

How are my February buddies doing with old habits? I'm the cook in our household, and while I got the day after surgery off, I'm back in the groove of preparing meals for the rest of the family each evening. I really have to watch my old habits though... before if I was slicing veg, anything that wasn't the right shape for the dish went into my mouth. Last night I was trimming green beans and slicing zucchini and twice I caught myself about to throw something in my mouth. Before surgery I was worried that I would find it hard to watch them eat whatever I prepared while I get 1/3 cup of broth lol. But, I have to say I actually enjoy watching them eat good food. Anyone else struggling on kitchen duty?

Thank you so so much for this great info!! It's funny, because of my weight I'd never considered myself a 'runner', but 9 years ago I met (and married) an ironman athlete and have since done three full marathons and six halfs. Walking, mostly. Then in the pre-op butterflies my biggest fear surprised me: "what if I can't do races anymore!" I guess I am a runner. lol I'm looking forward to the day I can actually run from start to finish! You're right about carbs stopping weight loss - I though marathon training was going to be my salvation but throughout 2011 I trained religiously for my first full marathon (Chicago) and didn't lose an ounce lol. Thank you again for your detailed guidance - much appreciated!

I know everyone may be different in this regard, but my post surgery instructions specifically said not to take fibre... isn't it odd how there's so much variation in pre and post op programs!

Hi Everyone, I had my RnY yesterday morning from 8-10am. Was in recovery til about 11:30 before moving to my room. Slept on and off between sips of water til about 5pm then up for a walk and bathroom break. Released today around 10am. Not feeling much except some bloating... so far so good today. The lack of pain is a bit of a pleasant surprise though... taking tylenol and tramedol and wondering if that's the meds doing their job or if there just isn't much pain. Am I in for a rude awakening in a day or two?

Hi everyone, I've just read through the February forum and your posts have been so inspirational - so a thousand thank-yous for reassurance when I needed it most! My surgery is scheduled for Feb 28th, so I may be the straggler of the group. The date worked out well as Valentines day also became the 'last supper' 😄. Today is the third day of liver-shrinking Optifast and so far so good. Best of luck to those heading into the OR in the morning!