Ukalliq

I don't want to worry you unnecessarily, but the diarrhea thing is real! I basically have not had a solid poop in four years. WARNING, discussion of poop ahead, highlight if you want to read it: It ranges from slightly softer than normal to pea soup texture, depending on what I have eaten recently. If I've eaten anything with a lot of fat, there will also be separated oily...gunk...coming out too. Farting has increased as well. From my understanding, your body does not have the chance to fully digest all the food you eat since it "skips" 2/3 of your small intestine. Water, fat, and gas that would normally be re-absorbed during the digestive process makes it all the way through. But, it doesn't really bother me. You know how if you have diarrhea because you're sick or have food poisoning you also feel crampy and nauseated? And you have to stay on the toilet for a long time? It's not like that, at least for me. I poop a normal amount and it's not urgent or painful, it's just runny. Sometimes I notice undigested food more than before surgery. I remember the smell being pretty bad immediately after surgery. In addition to regular stinky poop smell it almost smelled rotten and chemical-like. That doesn't happen any more unless I eat something REALLY stupid (vacation - many sugary cocktails. . . I regret nothing!) Usually it just stinks the normal amount 🙂 END OF POOP TALK

I don't remember any specific food that gave me trouble. The advice I got was to try regular foods one at a time slowly so you can see how your body reacts. I have heard people say that they used to love food X but now it makes them sick or they lost their taste for it but that didn't happen to me. I had kind of a weird experience with salads an other raw vegetables - they went straight through me with hardly any digestion. Seriously, the toilet looked like I just overturned a bowl of salad into it. It didn't make me sick or anything, it was just strange. I was never a big salad eater to begin with but now I don't bother at all. During the thick liquids/soft solid stages I remember being frustrated at the limited options. I wasn't going to puree food in a blender or anything like that so I stuck to foods that were naturally the right texture. I ate a lot of scrambled eggs and yogurt during the soft solids stage. Two Good was my go-to brand of yogurt and I still eat it pretty often. It is low carb and they have several flavors. I'd also eat instant mashed potatoes thinned with broth or milks but that is a lot of carbs so maybe wasn't the best idea. I ate mostly soup during the thick liquids stage. Any cream of _____ soup should work OK. If there are chunks of meat or vegetables in it, you can strain them out. Split pea and tomato soup work too although I have never liked tomato soup. You can thin them with extra broth if it is too thick and strain or puree if it includes pieces of solid food. You'll feel a lot of restriction immediately after your surgery. The difference between feeling comfortably full and ready to vomit can be just one bite. You'll get a feel for it but you may mess up a couple times before that. The restriction lessens with time but I still cannot eat anywhere near as much as I could before the surgery. Sometime I catch myself thinking that I could eat a normal sized portion of food but I end up stopping 1/3-1/2 of the way through.

I actually had virgin sleeve/SADI surgery nearly 4 years ago now. I don't think SADI is an option for the "my surgery" part of the profile on this site so I listed DS as the closest. Honestly, I had a pretty easy surgery and recovery. Of course there is soreness and healing like there would be with any other surgery but I felt well enough to go back to (extremely sedentary) work in a week. Really, the worst thing for me was a sore throat from being intubated. My doctors gave me a three week eating plan to follow one week each of clear liquids, any liquids, soft solids before eating a regular diet. I followed this faithfully even though I felt like I could eat more and was a little hungry at times. Now, I eat pretty much exactly the same things that I ate before surgery, just smaller amounts. If I have a lot of sugar or simple carbohydrates, I will get gas and loose stools. It's not painful though, it's just . . . happening. Still, I usually try to avoid it but treat myself now and then. My iron got very low about two years out from surgery. I was getting lightheaded and they ran some labs to find out my iron/hemoglobin was tanking. I had to get a series of IV infusions and then take extra iron supplements. Almost two years after that now and I am able to keep my levels in the low-normal range with just the supplements. I take three doses of an adult multivitamin per day, no special bariatric formula (don't tell the admins!). Be prepared to explain your surgery to any non-bariatric doctors you deal with. Unless they are bariatric specialists, they will NOT be familiar with the different kinds of surgery and they will likely have no idea what SADI is. A lot of them generically call any weight loss surgery "bypass" (e.g. the hematologist I see for my iron tests). Get a big plastic tote and put it on the floor of your closet. When a piece of clothing is too big, take it off, put it in the tote, and don't think about it again. When the tote is full, bring it to your local women's shelter or similar. If you can, get one new piece of clothing for every two you put in the tote. Build your new wardrobe thoughtfully. My only regret is that I didn't do it 15 years earlier.

Why take drugs for the rest of your life it changing your anatomy can do the trick?

Samesies! Well not quite the same, I had SADI-S. My surgery was in November 2020 and I had no complications and a quick recovery. I've lost 130 pounds so far. Mexico Bariatric Center was very thorough and professional in my experience. I am happy with my treatment there and very happy with the results. I also believe I could have had the surgery covered by my insurance but with the deductible, co-pays, and lead-up treatment (counseling, nutrition, etc.) I would have probably ended up paying about the same amount. And as Vassarini said, it would have been a 12 to 18 month wait time to actually have surgery. With MBC, I scheduled it 7 weeks out (for convenience, probably could have made it quicker if I wanted to). I did bring a companion, even though he had to stay at the hotel, and I liked having him close by while in the hospital and with me for the two nights in the hotel. In retrospect I don't think I would have liked having him staying in the hospital room with me overnight but visits would have been nice in a non-covid environment. Also useful for carrying bags in the airport. Didn't need a wheelchair. Piece of advice: If you can afford it, get a first-class seat for the return flight. I don't really have a PCP (I know, I know. . . ) so I haven't run into any problems with follow-up care.

So it turns out that 7kg or about 15.5 pounds is what I need now. Took some trial and error but my buoyancy seemed pretty good with that weight. Another weird NSV - I play the violin and I am going to need a new shoulder rest. There is a lot more room between my chin and shoulder now. I hadn't even thought about that until I wondered why I was cramping up during rehearsal the other night.

Mine has faded, but is not completely gone (yet). Also hoping it will go away completely after more weight loss.

I went to the big island of Hawai'i. I did a two tank dive out of Hilo then a few days later another two tank dive out of Kona. Last time I went diving, I was probably slightly over 300lbs and I needed 26lb of lead. I'm about 60lb lighter now so in Hilo I tried 24lb - way too heavy. I dropped like a brick and had to keep a considerable amount of air in my BCD. In Kona I tried 22lbs and that was better but still a little too heavy. 20lb is probably my sweet spot right now but I am still losing so I expect that to change. I am tentatively planning a trip in November, so we'll see where I am then. Getting in and out of the boat with all the gear on was noticeably easier too, but still no picnic!

Same here, including the sugar-free French vanilla! I don't get hungry until late morning but I need two cups of coffee to get going in the AM.

I went SCUBA diving for the first time in 2 years (thanks, COVID), and I need at least 4, probably 6 fewer pounds of weight to maintain neutral buoyancy. My air consumption is a little better too, although it was freakishly, unaccountably good to begin with.