BigSue

My appointments haven't been affected by COVID. I'm 6 months out and I had follow-ups with my surgeon at 1 week, 3 months, and 6 months. I met with the dietician at 1 week and 6 weeks. I had bloodwork for my 6-month appointment (they gave me the choice of getting blood drawn at the appointment or ahead of time, and I chose to do it ahead of time so the surgeon could get the results before I saw him).

They brought me water to drink pretty much as soon as I got to my recovery room. I didn't really have to wait at all.

Pre-op diets vary quite a bit from one surgeon to the next. I can tell you what mine was, but others may be different. As long as you are staying within your surgeon's guidelines, you're fine, and my understanding is that you are wanting to be more strict than what your surgeon requires. My pre-op diet was two weeks: Week 1: 3 protein shakes + 1 healthy meal per day (healthy meal = 3-4 ounces lean protein + 2 cups non-starchy vegetables OR healthy frozen meal <350 calories with no rice or pasta) Week 2: 4 protein shakes per day, low-sodium broth, up to 2 servings sugar-free Jello or popsicles per day Day before surgery: Clear liquids only, no red food coloring; 1 bottle of full-sugar Gatorade (to get out of ketosis before surgery) The requirements for protein shakes were: Less than 200 calories per serving 15-30 grams of protein per serving Less than 15 grams of sugar per serving Protein source from whey, egg white, casein, milk, or soy isolate or isolate/concentrate mix

I am loving all of these before/after pictures! What amazing transformations. I think this is the first time I've seen before pics from @catwoman7 and @Arabesque. It's so motivating to see your success stories.

No, I would rather not go that route if I don't have to. Fortunately, my iron levels are good now with the oral supplements I'm taking, so that shouldn't be necessary.

Welcome! Sorry to hear that you have to start the whole process over again, but I hope that means you are in a better place (mental health-wise) to have the surgery. Please feel free to post with any questions that come up during the process. There are lots of people here who have been through it and are happy to help. Good luck!

You're doing great! Being active is a good thing. You didn't really gain a pound. It takes 3500 excess calories to gain a pound, and I know you're not eating that much in a day 6 weeks out from surgery. Your weight can fluctuate by more than a pound just over the course of a day, so you have nothing to worry about. It's most likely due to water retention. Keep the faith and stick with your plan, and I promise you will continue to lose weight.

Congrats on your surgery! I'm glad to hear your recovery is going well so far. I, too, was surprised by how easy my recovery was and how little pain I had. They gave me a prescription for Vicodin, but I didn't need to take any of it. Most people have trouble meeting their fluids and protein goals in the beginning, and the IV helps with that while you're still in the hospital, but fingers crossed that your recovery continues to go smoothly!

Are you still on liquids or are you allowed to have purees now? Purees give you a lot of options, especially once you get the unflavored protein powder. My favorite purees included: Unsweetened applesauce with cinnamon roll protein powder Triple zero yogurt with chocolate, vanilla, or birthday cake protein powder Sugar-free pudding with chocolate protein powder Protein oatmeal with cinnamon roll protein powder Pureed refried beans with unflavored protein powder, topped with enchilada sauce and Laughing Cow cheese Pureed black bean soup with unflavored protein powder I also ate a lot of sugar-free popsicles, fudgsicles, and Jello in the liquid and pureed stages.

I love those! I use them sort of like mini taco shells (with taco meat, lettuce, tomato, and plain Greek yogurt). The loaded taco flavor is also good for that. Have you tried the spicy sweet chili flavor? They have a lot of good reviews, but I haven't tried them because I've only seen them in an 8-pack and I don't want to buy that many when I don't know if I'll like them.

Yes, totally normal. I actually weighed more at my one-week follow-up than I did on the day of surgery (I've lost more than 80 pounds since then). It's because of the IV fluids. Don't worry about your weight right now -- just focus on getting your protein and fluids. I promise you will start losing weight if you stick to your plan. Your body just went through a major surgery, so everything's a little wonky right now.

I figured I'd post an update here in case anybody comes across this post wondering about the same thing. I took my endocrinologist's advice and started taking additional iron. I now take a multivitamin with 45 mg of ferrous fumarate, plus a chelated iron supplement with 36 mg of iron, for a total of 81 mg of iron per day. I just got my 6-month bloodwork, and everything is great, so I think I'm taking the right dosage of iron (at least for now). I have no idea whether the chelated iron makes a difference, but it's certainly not hurting.

Definitely ask your doctor about this, but most likely, you'll just need to lower your iron dose (I assume you are taking 65 mg, not mcg, right?). 5000 mcg of B-12 is a lot (I only take 1000 mcg), so your doctor may tell you to lower that as well. I think taking B-12 supplements can make your bloodwork show erroneously high levels. My bloodwork showed high B-12 levels, but my doctor was not concerned about it because you just pee out the excess.

I am terrible about shopping every purchase TO DEATH (I had been shopping for a new TV for over two years before I finally gave in and bought one on Black Friday). When I bought my air fryer, I was actually shopping for a deep fryer (this was way before I started my weight loss journey, when I was in an "eat what tastes good" phase), but I kept seeing air fryers in my search results. I decided that I would give the air fryer a chance and buy a deep fryer later, and I just picked one! I bought the Amazon's Choice air fryer and I could not be happier. I never did go back and buy a deep fryer.

I purchased Genepro unflavored powder to mix into foods, but I don't like the way it tastes. Even though it doesn't have added flavoring, it still has a taste and I find it unpleasant. I would not drink it in plain water. When adding protein powder into foods, I prefer to use flavored protein powder for sweet foods like yogurt, pudding, applesauce, and oatmeal. I only use Genepro in savory foods like soup, beans, and pureed vegetables.

Somebody asked a similar question here: Here are the ones I purchased (I think I found all of these through ads on Facebook; none of these are referral links and I do not benefit in any way from them): IdealFit (IdealLean) (You can also buy individual sample size packets if you don't want this many) 1up Nutrition Northbound Nutrition Waves of Whey Strength (Unfortunately, the samples are 5 packs of the same flavor, so you'd have to buy 10 packs just to get both flavors) KetoShop (There are two different sample packs; I got the zero carb just because the flavors were more appealing to me) My favorite was IdealLean and that's my go-to brand now (I love the birthday cake flavor mixed into yogurt -- that makes for a great high-protein meal after surgery -- and the chocolate brownie is my favorite chocolate Protein shake). Once you start shopping for Protein Powder online, you'll start seeing ads for other protein powders. I've seen some appealing ones recently, but I'm all stocked up on protein powders so I'm not buying any more right now. You should look at the ingredients and nutrition info to make sure they meet your requirements. You might also want to try clear protein powders. IdealFit has some (including samples) and you can buy Syntrax Nectar samples in the BariatricPal store. They do not have the same thick texture as the shakes, so you may find them more palatable. I also recommend trying protein hot chocolate; I find it easier to drink than the cold shakes.

What do you do when you can't finish your meal? I prepare an appropriate portion size (about 4 ounces) and eat slowly with small utensils. Sometimes, before I finish the portion of food I prepared, I start to feel full, so I stop eating. I'm sure this happens to most of us on occasion, so what do you do with the rest of the food? I usually put it in the refrigerator for a while and then go back and get the rest later. I don't know if this is the right approach, or if it's a bad habit that will come back to bite me someday. I'm a little worried because I recently saw a WLS YouTuber say that this is a habit that contributed to her regain. I don't like wasting food, but I can get over that. The bigger problem for me is that I plan out my meals to get enough protein, and if I don't eat all of what I served myself, I'm going to be short on protein. I'm not eating an excessive amount of food; I rarely go over 600 calories in a day, and I sometimes get full before I finish something like 2.5 ounces of Greek yogurt or a small salad with 1.5 ounces of chicken. Today, I started eating 4 ounces of pureed black bean soup with half a scoop of Genepro, and I felt full after eating about 3/4 of it in 15 minutes. I only eat three meals per day and no snacks other than protein drinks between meals, but I'm afraid that this might be kind of like cheating, because I'm sort of having the rest of my meal as a snack. I'd love to know how other people handle this situation!

I purchased sample sizes of a bunch of different brands so I could get some variety and figure out what I liked before I bought a big tub. My favorite was IdealLean and that's my go-to brand now (I love the birthday cake flavor mixed into yogurt -- that makes for a great high-protein meal after surgery -- and the chocolate brownie is my favorite chocolate protein shake). Once you start shopping for protein powder online, you'll start seeing ads for other protein powders. I've seen some appealing ones recently, but I'm all stocked up on protein powders so I'm not buying any more right now. You should look at the ingredients and nutrition info to make sure they meet your requirements. Here are the ones I purchased (I think I found all of these through ads on Facebook): IdealFit (IdealLean) (You can also buy individual sample size packets if you don't want this many) 1up Nutrition Northbound Nutrition Waves of Whey Strength (Unfortunately, the samples are 5 packs of the same flavor, so you'd have to buy 10 packs just to get both flavors) KetoShop (There are two different sample packs; I got the zero carb just because the flavors were more appealing to me) P.S. None of these are referral links and I do not benefit in any way from them.

Sorry to butt in here, but I just wanted to say that I love my air fryer! Buy one! It is honestly life-changing. I just made some amazing garlic parmesan carrot chips in the air fryer tonight. I used the air fryer a lot more before my surgery because it's really good for frozen fries and anything breaded, which I don't eat anymore, but it's also awesome for cooking meat (you can air-fry fantastic chicken wings without any oil), roasting veggies, reheating stuff, etc. You can definitely air-fry meatballs, and I've never made falafel, but Google shows tons of air fryer falafel recipes, so I'd say that's also a yes. I almost never use my toaster oven anymore because the air fryer does almost everything better. I have this one: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LX9T6HF But I bought it a couple of years ago, so there are probably better ones on the market now.

Yes, that's very true! I have watched a lot of her videos, and there is definitely more to the story. She gained some weight due to pregnancy and she has acknowledged adding foods back into her diet that she shouldn't be eating. What she says in the video implies that her portion sizes were too large and she was "eating around the surgery" by eating too large a portion over a longer period of time. That's not what I'm doing -- I'm planning out an appropriate portion of healthy food for each meal -- but I'm also only 6 months out from surgery and still in the honeymoon period. I'm trying to avoid habits that could cause problems later on, so I was concerned when she cited this as something that contributed to her regain.

This is the video: Now, what she is describing is a little different than what I'm describing because she says she was making poor choices and perhaps eating more than her allotted portion size, but it was kind of alarming to hear that because I stop eating mid-meal and save the rest for later fairly often.

Sorry to hear about your mother-in-law. It's totally understandable to get off track when you are grieving, but good for you for committing to getting back on track and reaching your goal. You have done great! You look so skinny. From that picture, you don't even look like you have 20 pounds to lose! Have you tried chelated iron? It is supposed to be better absorbed by gastric bypass patients, and also easier on the stomach and not cause constipation. I had iron deficiency before surgery, but I've been taking 36 mg of chelated iron per day (plus a multivitamin with 45 mg of ferrous fumarate) and my latest labs were great. This is the chelated iron I take: https://amazon.com/Nutricost-Chelated-Iron-Ferrochel-Capsules/dp/B0792MCYGW

Just keep doing what you're doing -- 45 pounds is great! There's a lot of superstition around how to break a stall, but the reality is that all you can do is stick with your plan and wait it out. Some people recommend only stepping on the scale once per week so it doesn't drive you crazy every day. Right now, a week seems like an eternity, but when you look back 3 months from now, 6 months from now, a year from now... This stall will be a tiny blip on your progress. I'm in a stall right now, too, so I feel your pain, but I am over 150 pounds down from my highest weight!

I'm not looking to start a debate or anything (I follow the protein-first approach that my surgeon recommends), but I came across this video from Dr. Matthew Weiner explaining why he recommends a vegetable-first approach for his patients: