Taj

Overnight for me. I think overnight is pretty standard for VSG and 2 nights for RNY. Although one person on here said they had overnight with RNY and one person went home same day after VSG, those are exceptions. My daughter had RNY two years ago in Houston and because she doesn’t handle pain very well she had 3 nights in hospital.

I just want to say congratulations to everyone who here who took the major step of wls. There is a pervasive myth that wls is the easy way and even though we are just beginning, we all know that there is nothing easy about major surgery and committing to a lifelong dietary plan where we are determined to change and deny ourselves the thing that once brought us immense pleasure. Or at least we told ourselves it brought us pleasure because food was our friend. WLS doesn’t miraculously cure us of our love of food or our cravings for food, WLS is a tool to help us overcome our addiction to food. It just really surprises me to hear so many people who have zero knowledge about WLS say that it’s the easy way and we should just cut calories and exercise. So congratulations to my fellow warriors!!

Wow!! That’s fantastic!! You’re the first person I’ve heard to only have overnight with RNY so you’re really doing great!! Not for everyone, but gasX and ab binder helped me tremendously. Congratulations on the first step to your new life.

Where did you have your surgery?

It really is crazy how different surgeons do things differently and all insist that their procedure absolutely must be followed for proper healing!! Same for me with no leak test, fluids and walking immediately. Overnight stay but discharged exactly 24 hours after surgery.

True as well. The problem is: what's questionable or not is too often in the eyes of the beholder. That personal point of view is shaped by your own experiences, current trends/hypes and numerous other things. Some years ago people were all over the place with "low fat" and scolded others when they dared to admit to eating fatty foods. Today people are scolded when they're eating "carbs". I never counted calories or carbs, my diet is absolute **** by BP standards, my exercise level dropped significantly (luckily so did my appetite though) because of several injuries first and then second due to a significant increase in workload and yet my BMI is 23.something, so I absolutely can't relate to the eat-as-little-as-possible-and-protein-only-while-moving-as-much-as-possible crowd. So that's the bubble I am in and this is also what's shaping my opinion on certain things. Yes, I know people want to "get it over with" as soon as possible (even though one of the other BP mantras is "it's a marathon not a sprint) but I have serious doubts that people do themselves any good by crash dieting after WLS. There are too many people struggling less than a year out already to not question this approach at least once in a while. And yes, I think I should stay out of threads like these because what I have to say (as one of the precious "vets" people always want advice from, mind you, lol) is not what people want to hear anyway. *shrug* The OP asked for “advice” and there appears to be a lot of people taking issue with people offering advice based on their personal experience when their experience and advice differs. How does sarcasm and ridicule and anger benefit any of us?

Poor thing. Apologies to the OP for any negativity on your thread. You are not required to provide your personal details and we are not here to diagnose you. If you’re doing what your nutritionist says you should do and it’s not working, you made the decision to ask for advice from people who have experienced the journey. The majority of people using this site are genuinely concerned and offering suggestions based on their personal experiences. Don’t lose hope, you will figure out what works best for your body.

This is a site to offer positive support based on our experiences. We are not doctors nor nutritionists and do not seek to “diagnose” anyone. My weightloss stalled and I discovered I was consuming an additional 18.5grams of carbs per day from the chewable supplements alone. I switched to different brands with less carbs and dropped 3lbs overnight, after not losing a single pound for a full week. Nothing to do with my starting weight, my age or anything personal, it was due to consuming excess carbs-period. Being nice is nice and helps everyone, including ourselves. Try it-you might actually like it.

No one likes sarcasm

Hi Seimmaj. Just as there are bad doctors there are bad nutritionists. I have spent months reviewing bariatric eating plans from hundreds of hospitals and the most important factor is cutting out ALL refined sugars from our diets. It’s really alarming that a nutritionist would tell you it’s okay to drink regular Gatorade or anything containing sugar. Even adding a cup of regular Gatorade to 32 oz water is sabotage. Powerade zero is delicious and has less sodium and zero sugar and I add water to it because after four weeks of absolutely no sugar I can’t stand the taste of anything sweet. Maybe your nutritionist is under the false assumption that all artificial sweeteners are bad, but stevia isn’t artificial and doesn’t effect glucose levels. It is simply a fact, attested to by the thousands of people on this site, millions of doctors, and years of research that any refined sugar, especially after bariatric surgery, will prevent weightloss and even cause weight gain. Think of your new stomach as a newborn stomach and ask yourself if you would give Gatorade to a new born baby. If you don’t believe us, maybe attend a group session for bariatric patients or maybe ask your surgeon their opinion. Wishing you a successful journey.

My surgeon is adamant on 4 weeks before taking any pills larger than a tic tac.

Thank you so much for the encouragement. Makes me feel much better to hear that this stall isn’t unusual. I bought keto sticks and I’m actually in moderate Ketosis with no weight loss this week so that really bothered me. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing and know that it has to go down eventually. Congratulations, again!!

Fantastic!! Congratulations!! Can you tell us what your eating and exercise plan is? I’m really getting anxious because my scale hasn’t moved in a full week. 3 weeks post-op and still at the same 24 lbs I was at on my two week post-op appt.

Ok. Counting weight at start of pre-diet I’m down a total of 25 pounds so I guess right on track. But weightloss has stalled for the past week and I’m following the diet religiously, including walking. I’m thinking one morning I’ll get on the scale and show a 5 pound drop overnight. Just really having problems with constipation so maybe that’s the issue with not showing any weightloss on the scale. Drinking the full 64oz water, sometimes 72oz, and urinating frequently. Yesterday I switched to Unjury whey protein isolate from Premier protein shakes and can already tell the difference in that my system feels cleaner. I think the Premier protein is just too good to be true and is the reason I’ve been having constipation. Will see how things go with a few days on a cleaner protein. Unjury is medical grade protein with outstanding customer service and I really wish I had started this journey using a higher grade protein. 4 week post-op is this coming Friday and looking forward to going on soft foods. I have a feeling I’m probably not getting enough calories-less than 500/day currently.

24 pounds at two weeks is fantastic. !’m only down half that amount and also had sleeve on 1/6. You’ve motivated me to do more walking.

Hi. Never heard of Lovenox and to be honest, kinda scary that they send you home the same day of surgery. I was discharged the day after surgery and the first night there was a lot of monitoring of pain and also heparin injections every two hours, compression socks to prevent swelling and blood clots and IV fluids the entire time because we’re unable to physically drink much water. Pre-op protein diet was only two weeks and I believe that’s the standard for most centers of excellence. That overnight stay in hospital was crucial for smooth recovery. I’m sure you’ll be fine but if you have any concern you should immediately call that surgery center. Wishing you a smooth recovery.

One very important thing to remember...the binder should not be tight. Just snug enough to hold everything in and has to be a post surgical binder and not a weightloss binder so your incisions can heal.

I don’t know why all bariatric surgeons don’t recommend ab binders after surgery. I was absolutely miserable the first three days until I remembered I had to wear one after the tummy tuck so why not after gastric sleeve. I immediately felt better after putting on the ab binder and within two days all of the bloating and swelling was gone. I did read on here that a few people woke up from surgery with ab binders already on them so there are a few surgeons who know how important they are for recovery. When I sneezed without the ab binder, day 3 post-op, it felt like the inside of my tummy ripped apart!! Good luck!!

You sound like my twin!! I have a very high tolerance for pain (last March I walked around for hours on a broken foot thinking it was just a sprain before finally going to urgent care and learning that it was a clean break). I knew I needed to walk so as soon as they got me to my room, I walked and haven’t stopped. Discharged next day after surgery and only took prescription pain med the first day home then switched to liquid Tylenol for one day then no pain meds. I sincerely believe pain is good in the sense that it lets us know how our body is healing. I have followed every detail of my surgeons instructions with diet and walking and two weeks two days post-op it’s as if I never had surgery. The ab binder and ice packs made a huge difference in comfort and helping the swelling and bloating, which honestly was the worst part for me, and I’m still using sippy cups because immediately after surgery every sip from a regular cup caused heart burn, no matter how small the sip. Never experienced any nausea at all. You will do fantastic. Having had the tummy tuck I remembered that the plastic surgeon had me in an ab binder for swelling, otherwise I wouldn’t have had one because unfortunately my surgeon didn’t mention using one. Good luck!! Please let me know how everything goes.

So sorry to hear that you had complications. It will get better-everyone here can attest to that fact. Don’t let the pain get away from you-every time you’re due medication-ask for it. When you get home you’ll be surprised at how fast you’re able to transition to liquid Tylenol. Wishing you a speedy recovery. It’s uphill from here.

My situation was the same. Had tummy tuck exactly five years ago. My surgeon said the surgeon took longer because of it and one of the incisions is larger because she had to use special tools (by larger it’s 1” instead of 1/4” like the others). Definitely not open surgery and my recovery has been smooth. My incisions were healed by my first post-op visit. My surgeon also said my stomach lining or wall was extra thin due to the tummy tuck so she had to be extremely careful. She’s also a top surgeon here in NYC at NYU Langone-a center of excellence.

Check Amazon-they sell post-op binders that have openings for the drain. The binder really helps speed recovery and saves a lot of pain if you cough or sneeze the first two weeks.

I’m two weeks post-op VSG and lost 13 pounds since surgery. Following every detail of liquid diet and walking and beginning to think I’m not losing fast enough. Thank you to everyone for your answers. I also thought I should have lost 20 pounds in the first two weeks? So easy to get discouraged. Today was first day eating purées so I opted for baby food (green beans) and was able to eat 3 oz with no problem so then thought my sleeve might be too large. No water 1/2 hour before or after meals either. Vitamin water and Powerade zero mixed with water and hot lemon water are my only fluids. Thanks for the encouragement.

You’ll do great!! Wishing you well and an easy recovery.

Serious kudos to you for going to the community center to exercise. I’m still self-conscious so don’t even like walking outside so bought this machine to use at home. ☹️ Maybe I’ll be brave enough one day to work out in public alone. I truly love walking outside, just not alone.