Deb9386

So sorry to hear you're having these problems. If you haven't seen it already I'd suggest watching Dr Weiner's Youtube video about alcohol use after gastric bypass - the video and the comments are very interesting. Judging by what he says it seems that gastric surgery can trigger alcohol abuse, and that the same amount of alcohol will affect more strongly after surgery. He suggests that zero alcohol after gastric bypass is the best way - maybe keeping no alcohol at home at all? You're definitely not alone. I've been teetotal for nearly 35 years - I just wasn't interested in drinking alcohol at all - and I found his video a few months ago because I was trying to work out why all of a sudden after surgery I was craving an alcoholic drink - it's bizarre! The last thing I expected. But you've already overcome the food addiction and lost loads of weight - you can definitely overcome these cravings. Stay strong - life has been so rubbish with covid, but hopefully we're coming out the other side now.

Hi Orchidlover - hope things are going better for you now. It's hard fitting everything in with full time work and I really sympathise. Try to think of your original goal and how well you've done already to lose 100lbs! That's a huge achievement. I think that all of us who have gastric surgery are going to have to treat the eating/exercise as a lifelong thing, and inevitably we'll slip at times. We just have to get back on track by prioritising our health over everything else. I know it's easy to say, but not always easy to do. My diet has definitely slipped and while I'm not putting on weight I'm definitely not eating right. As for exercise - I did well at first but now that's almost non-existent. You're definitely not alone in struggling but you can get back on track and do it!!

Hi! I can empathise with that. People say - oh, you've lost so much weight, you look great - and then I think - so you;re saying how rubbish I looked before? Even people I don't really know like my dentist's receptionist! It's particularly irritating/upsetting when people make the same comment every time they see me. I also catch myself thinking about how much time/how many years I spent very overweight and unhealthy, which meant I felt self-conscious and insecure - and then I obsess a bit about how awful I looked for all of that time. I suppose we just have to try to put all that behind us and just look forward.

I also find it hard to stay on track. I see this as a lifelong battle and my motivation is that I NEVER want to go back to the overweight and unhealthy person I was. My absolute "set in stone" rules are that I weigh myself every day (for me this is absolutely crucial to maintaining my weight); I count my protein carefully to make sure I get enough, and always take my vitamins (I really want to minimise other medical issues and hair loss). Other than that I have good food days and not so good food days but I just can't be "perfect" with what I eat everyday and I've accepted that.

I've been taking specialist bariatric vitamins, but I agree the cost is huge. I've been working to the specification of vitamins from the website recommendations of the ASMBS, and if I could find those specifications in over the counter vitamins I'd take them. I couldn't find any here in the UK though so still paying out...

My surgeon explained it to me that the issue is that if the liver is still too fatty after the pre-op diet it's just impossible to lift up the liver to do the bypass. My bloods b4 the pre-op diet showed that my liver was very fatty and so I had to do the pre-op diet for 18 days beforehand rather than 14. The nutritionist's diet sheet included carbs, so I didn't go into ketosis as some people do. So, I'll be honest, I was hungry most of the time, but I did what all the other posters here did and drank plenty & filled up on veggies. I managed to stick to it simply because it was so time limited. I knew it was only for 18 days and the surgeon had told me of one patient who he'd opened up but whose liver was still too fatty to move, so he'd had to sew him back up again without doing it and I was determined not to let that happen if I could help it. Just focus on the fact that it's only for a very short period of time. The hunger is good - you're losing weight and visceral fat. You can do it!

Very interesting topic! I was 231 lbs pre surgery and set my goal at 160 as that was a weight I'd maintained for much of my adult life before piling on the pounds. I got to that about a month ago, and despite now trying to up my calories and maintain at that weight I'm still losing. So maybe your final weight does choose you?

I also had exactly this - and my doctor showed me the pictures of my liver from during the surgery (horrifying...). I'd followed the liver shrinking diet to the letter as well. When I attended my 3 month check-up my blood tests showed that my fatty liver had improved radically and levels were now in a "normal range". [I'd had non-alcoholic fatty liver for years (it'd showed up in blood tests). My doctor said that the reduction was entirely down to the loss of weight. So this should be exactly the same for you as you continue to lose weight (hopefully).

Could you post the foods that you can eat - others on the board may be able to make suggestions for recipes or meal plans? My personal experience after RNY bypass is that the underlying issues (whatever they are) that caused the disordered eating in the first place don't go away magically, and it's going to be a constant battle to keep on track. [well for me anyway]. I see you're in the UK too - I had my bypass privately here and had a UK dietitian who was very helpful. If you're interested in her contact information I can dm details?

So I tried your recipe today using apple sauce as the wet ingredient. It took a bit of experimenting with the microwave times but wow! It actually had the taste and texture of a brownie - a sort of chocolatey apple brownie! Thank you very much for the recipe - this will become a staple.......

Yes, I've found this too! Semi retired and at home a lot during lockdown I've managed largely with very casual clothes and it doesn't really matter if things are a bit big on me. Some of the clothes I had from before I put on weight were not very flattering when I tried them again, so I bought some new things a couple of months ago - they're now getting loose. It's a nice problem to have but as I'm only a couple of pounds from my goal weight, I really can't wait to stabilise my weight and get into a maintenance mode. I've also been buying and selling some clothes on ebay which has worked well so far.

Thank you! I think I'm going to have to look at everything I take/eat again.

I've tried to stick to my diet plan and have considered myself fortunate to have had just 1 or 2 minor dumping episodes since surgery - the worst being when I was sick after eating some restaurant food which must have been (but shouldn't have been) very oily. Then last Saturday I gave in to temptation and ate a small chocolate bar..... (it was very small - about 85 calories worth). And I paid for it with upset bowels that evening and during the night. So I thought - right, never again, and that'd be the end of it. Except it hasn't been. Every day since I've had the same problem - usually in the evening, but always waking up at about 4am. I haven't eaten any sugary or fatty foods since Saturday - the foods I've been eating are the same ones I've used throughout the whole period since surgery without a problem. And I don't think it's a stomach bug, because it's weirdly consistent in the times of day I have the problem. I can go all day just fine and then the evening and night - oh dear me....... Has anybody had a dumping episode which has upset their whole system like this for days on end? Or should I be thinking what I would normally do with d&v, i.e. nothing but clear water for a day or two? Any advice welcome! Thanks

I did change the dose of an existing medication - I hadn't thought of that. Thanks!

Thank you - that's very helpful. Have to think what it might be.

Strange - that's exactly what I wanted at about the same stage after my bypass. I did actually lick the coating off a couple which helped get rid of the craving....

Coffee makes me feel unwell after my bypass, but I can drink decaff (1 cup a day).

Sorry this is a bit of an essay, but it's been something I've been thinking about for a few weeks! Before my wls, I'd been taking NSAIDs for some years because of bad arthritic pains. I thought I'd still need anti-inflammatory drugs after the bypass and this was the thing that worried me the most about the operation (I couldn't have the sleeve because of reflux). My thinking in deciding to go for the bypass was that once I lost the excess weight the arthritic pains would be manageable without anti-inflammatories 🤞 At my initial consultation in the August before my bypass in October, my surgeon prescribed me different anti-inflammatories that he said would not cause an ulcer and so would be ok to take after the bypass. I tried these for about 4 weeks pre-op but found that they exacerbated dry eye symptoms that I also suffer from and this was extremely painful. So I just decided I'd stop taking the anti-inflammatories completely after the bypass and put up with the arthritis pain until I'd lost enough weight for it to make a difference. I did lose about 1 stone in the pre-op fat reducing diet, but since the bypass (literally since I stopped taking them about 5 days before the op) I haven't taken any anti-inflammatories at all, and immediately noticed that I had significantly reduced arthritic pains (so before I'd lost any significant amount of weight). I found this so unexpected? My diet before wasn't particularly fatty, but I definitely ate a lot of sugar and I can only think that the sugar was causing a lot of the inflammation? Has anybody else experienced anything similar?

That sounds a great idea! I'll try it!

The first few weeks I was advised to concentrate just on getting in the protein and fluids. The suggested menu for when I started the puree stage came to about 800 calories per day. This gradually increased with the new menu plans, and at the 3 month stage post-bypass my nutritionist told me to aim for between 1000-1200 per day. I couldn't have physically taken in 1200 calories at the stage you're at. My weight loss has been steady with this plan.

I don't buy protein bars - they're packaged too much like chocolate/candy bars for me: I'd just either eat every one I had in the house or be desperate to eat them 🙄 I've found high protein yoghurt - greek yoghurt or skyr to be the most effective for getting in protein. I also use flavoured protein waters a lot (I use a Wow! brand).

I wish you success with your surgery! It certainly sounds as if you're preparing well. 😀

I've definitely found this. I hadn't realised how much I was using food to "self-soothe" until I couldn't have it. I haven't yet found a way to deal with it effectively, other than trying to distract myself by doing other things. It's difficult here - we're in a full lockdown so no visiting family/friends & no trips or holidays, or even going out for a meal/coffee. But I've now dropped sufficient weight that I need new clothes and I've started selling my better quality clothes (i.e. the stuff I might have bought for a wedding or party and hardly worn) on ebay and am replacing it on ebay with smaller sized items. It's given me a bit of a boost to get into clothes that are at least 3 sizes smaller; it doesn't cost a lot and I'm making what I spend anyway on my sales. It can get a bit addictive though! I've become someone with lots of party/wedding guest dresses and nowhere to go!

This thread just goes to show how different each individual and their experience is. I was always hungry before the op (actual hunger). I also found when eating that it took me at least 50 minutes to register the food I'd eaten and feel full. It's part of the reason I gained so much weight! I felt starving hungry all the time when on the 2 week pre-op 800 calorie diet. But straight away after the bypass I did not feel hunger at all. The nutritionist had said this would happen and I just didn't believe her! I still don't feel hunger (that gnawing feeling in your stomach where you'd wolf down anything), but I do feel what I know is head hunger. It's easy enough to tell the difference I've found. If I feel "hungry" but I don't fancy a nice bowl of spinach & pea soup, it's head hunger. As for the calorie need, again I think that's very individual. I have no idea how people survive long term on 1000 calories per day (though my sister did for decades when anorexic), and I haven't got to maintenance yet so don't know what my actual basal metabolic rate will be to maintain, but before the op, in my periods of yo yo dieting, I could always lose weight easily when taking in 1500-1600 calories: more than the bmr tables suggest for my sex, age, weight etc. My personal opinion is that nobody gets to the place of needing wls by having a healthy relationship with food. We all have our own individual & different triggers for eating and it's good to be tolerant of each other.

Life can throw some horrible curveballs at us, but well done for working so hard to get your life back on track! The surgery is a really great tool to help with weight loss and I wish you the best of luck!