kcuster83

Y'all I DID IT!!! 1 YEAR AND 8 MONTHS POST OP AND I HIT MY GOAL!! 🤩 Now, I know my little "signature" doesn't reflect that, but my REAL goal which my surgeon and myself agreed on was 225 lbs and I AM THERE!! I am also very satisfied here, especially if the skin was gone. My "new/documented" goal is 210 lbs just so I can officially say I lost OVER 50% of my starting body weight! I am so excited!! NOW TIME FOR SKY DIVING!!!! As my personal reward, as soon as it gets warmer I JUMP!!!! SOOOO much has changed, I don't even know where to start! DO IT, DON'T WAIT- DO IT NOW! ZERO REGRETS!

Goodness, I haven't been on here in quite some time. But I am sad to see you are still have difficulties and complications! I am thinking of you and I hope you get some relief very soon!

Goodness, I haven't been on here in quite some time. But I am sad to see you are still have difficulties and complications! I am thinking of you and I hope you get some relief very soon!

WHOOOO! I needed a "formal" dress for a Charity event. I walked in, saw a dress I liked, grabbed a size. Tried it on an BAM! DONE!!!! Never in a million years would this happen. Normally it would be 45 stores, 2 weeks of looking and basically finding something I hate but fits.. WHOOOOO HOOO Also- I HIT MY FIRST "ORIGINAL" GOAL THIS WEEK! This was what my surgeon and myself agreed on from my initial appointment and I am perfectly fine here.. but my "updated" goal is just there to be able to say I lost half of my original body weight!

WHOOOO! I needed a "formal" dress for a Charity event. I walked in, saw a dress I liked, grabbed a size. Tried it on an BAM! DONE!!!! Never in a million years would this happen. Normally it would be 45 stores, 2 weeks of looking and basically finding something I hate but fits.. WHOOOOO HOOO Also- I HIT MY FIRST "ORIGINAL" GOAL THIS WEEK! This was what my surgeon and myself agreed on from my initial appointment and I am perfectly fine here.. but my "updated" goal is just there to be able to say I lost half of my original body weight!

I am sure they had you on IV fluids, it is water weight. It will pass, don't worry. Weigh yourself less, that helps. Commit to a weighing schedule and try to stick with it. Once a week? Once a month? Even, every day if you need to but if the fluctuation bothers you; I suggest weekly. I weigh myself every Monday, because that was the day I had surgery and the last time I was weighed before surgery. Now that I am basically at my (first) goal I weigh myself more because I am excited to get there. haha Best of luck! I hope you are feeling better Sepsis is no joke!!

I am sure they had you on IV fluids, it is water weight. It will pass, don't worry. Weigh yourself less, that helps. Commit to a weighing schedule and try to stick with it. Once a week? Once a month? Even, every day if you need to but if the fluctuation bothers you; I suggest weekly. I weigh myself every Monday, because that was the day I had surgery and the last time I was weighed before surgery. Now that I am basically at my (first) goal I weigh myself more because I am excited to get there. haha Best of luck! I hope you are feeling better Sepsis is no joke!!

Yep- I lost mine. Officially,been months of looking.

Yea, I dont "count" fat either. But, it helps cut the calories so naturally I am just lower fat.. myself too.. its not soo bad. HAHA

Yea, I dont "count" fat either. But, it helps cut the calories so naturally I am just lower fat.. myself too.. its not soo bad. HAHA

@GreenTealael I buy Butterball lean ground turkey and it is way less calories than what you posted here?? (And more protein) Maybe you aren't buying the lean? (purposely for burgers?)

I have ALWAYS had horribly dry skin. No matter that I do, what bath wash or moisturisers I use. It has definitely gotten worse since surgery. I have always drank TONS of water, I mean over 100 oz a day plus other drinks. Right after surgery was VERY bad, probably because I was barely drinking and getting fluids in for at he first few days. But I had big patches of dry skin and I never had that problem before. It cleared up and never came back, but still just generally dry now. Now, I still hit at least 80 oz of water a day, and sometimes other drinks like sugar free lemonade. I have prescription cream which works wonders but I am still a dry b***h. lol

Track your food, even just for a little while to get a real strong understanding on what is going into your body right now. Take it one meal at a time. If you "mess up" acknowledge it self address and try again the next meal. It was the BIGGEST thing for me to learn through this. Previously, I would be like "Whelp, I already screwed up the day might as well go to town" and then pig out all day... and then it would become...."Whelp.. the week is already ruined might as well start back up on Monday"...and so on.... In one of my pre-approval classes this actually came up and our Dietician made a point to talk about this. It was hard really.. it IS hard.. but it does work. Honestly it was probably the thing I took away from all of it, I already knew all the nutrition stuff. Another thing I learned is stop eating because it is there, for example if I make a wrap the ends suck. (haha) all wrap or a clump or wrap and sauce.. I would eat it anyway because it is "the wrap".. part of my meal.. but why? It doesn't even taste good. So, I starting to stop. It sounds SO little, and sometimes it is one bite less but when you are trying to maintain 1200 cal. a day that bite makes a difference. Or the outside crust of bread (because YES I eat carbs... my plan is very balanced) I will eat the center with all the yummy stuff and leave the outside even more than just the outer crust but the outer part of the actual bread too. I don't know if this helps what you are asking, but just some tips I learned through this to stay on track and train myself into new/better habits. best of luck!

HELLO! I go on a lot of vacations, even if just a quick weekend. Point, we do eat out a lot and my first vacation was about a month after my bypass. I did take shakes and a few protein things I keep on hand. My first go, was to just eat what I have already had at home because I was afraid of getting sick. So I had a crab cake but just picked the jumbo lump crab chunks out and ate that with like 2 green beans. Someone in my family ate the rest. haha Now, (over a year out) and back to a normal eating diet and can eat anything. I usually try to just make a good decision. But, rarely eat an appetizer or just a bite or 2. Never finish a meal and whenever possible (and we can agree) I will share a meal with just about anyone I am with. When you eat so little and restaurants give you so much food, eating a few bites of someone else's isn't a big deal. My people don't even notice. haha Another tip I have heard a lot of people doing, ( I don't personally) is to ask for a TO-GO box right away and pack up at least half of or meal before you even start eating. Keep in mind when you eat out everything is drenched in butter or oil. I literally just add a serving of oil to my food logs when I order out, unless I straight up eat junk like a fried piece of chicken or something like that. But, even if I order grilled chicken I add the oil serving. Ask for things without butter, it will still be cooked with it but won't be lathered in it again before it is served. Just take it slow, you will be eating so little that you will be ok!

My plan or Dietician never once mentioned sodium and I had high BP pre-surgery. But, you eat SO minimal and it's basically all protein especially this early post-op that your sodium intake is going to be super low regardless if you watch it or not. When you get further out, you could over due it especially with eating out. (If you do) With that being said, NOW i have LOW blood pressure, to the point it drops so low and quick that I have passed out a few times. I have learned to notice the signs and can usually rebound it before it gets that bad. But, now I have to watch and try to increase my sodium levels to help keep my BP stable. To the point I have licked salt off of my hand because there is nothing salty around. It is not as bad as I may have just made it sound, once we figured it out it balanced out and rarely happens. Also, there are meds to raise my BP if needed but since we got it stable I don't need meds. Sorry for my rant: My point is don't stress it, you aren't going to have a high enough sodium intake to retain water like that.

Mine was (pretty much still is) super pale. I asked my surgeon about it and he did some blood work to be sure but said it was likely nothing. But, it could be a sign of some other more serious things, so he did the blood work to be sure. All was good, so may be worth just letting your surgeon know.

I just recommend that you try the foods before packing them, you never know how your new tummy will handle these things. Soups are always a good/semi safe go to. Pack your favorite protein powder and once you have been able to try a few snacks and know what you handle pack those too. You got this, it will just take a little more prep!

Hello and welcome! This forum is full of information and opinions! Just remember, listen to and trust your doctor. BEST WISHES!

My version of a healthy chicken parmesan. Boneless skinless chicken breast, pounded thin coated in shake -N- bake then topped with a slice of provalone cheese. A side of spaghetti squash with sauce. It was SO delish! 264 calories and 27g protein! I ate about half of the squash and all of the chicken but no after pic.

Have you tried the savory shake flavors? Unjury brand has a chicken soup and a southwest flavor. I personally did not like the chicken soup and didn't try the others but I see a lot of other people talking about liking them so it might be worth giving it a try. I know with Unjury you can go to their website and by single serving samples before jumping into a full bucket. Also, a little "hack" I found to break it up was to get creative. Mix flavor packets with shakes to change the flavor, for example a vanilla shake mixed with a little orange flavor could be like an orange creamsicle? Another option is to add more liquid to it to thin them out. For example one of my all time favorites is to take about 10-12 OZ of sugar free lemonade and mix it with strawberry protein powder and it is a delicious strawberry lemonade and thinner like a regular fruit drink because of the extra fluids. It is like having a drink rather than a thick shake. I still drink a shake every day for breakfast, I even did a lot of times before surgery. I am just not a morning eater so the shakes are easier for me. I am currently on a coffee shake kick, I take a caramel shake mixed with 6oz of black coffee and pour over ice. Also, thins it out because of the coffee so it is like having a coffee drink instead of a thick shake. I have tried adding the sugar free creamers but they didn't do enough for me to bother with it or to add the extra calories. Good luck! It gets easier, and you will find ways to change it up and make it less monotonous!

I know it sucks, but you definitely want to be sure it is and will fix the problem before moving onto another surgery. I will say, I had HORRIBLE GERD pre-op. I mean I was on 2 PPI's PLUS still eating tums daily. I would still wake up in the middle of the night with acid draining out of my throat almost vomiting it up.. Didn't matter what I ate, how long I waited for bed. I tried everything. Anyway, point is... bypass and fixing the hiatal hernia COMPLETELY resolved the issue. I am 13 months post op and have not had one hint of acid problems since literally the day of my surgery. I had to stay on low dose pepcid during recovery and then he took me off of it at 2 months post- op and I have never looked back. Off all meds and haven't had a single tums. So, I REALLY hope it works for you too if that is what is best for you! You have been on a roller coaster ride and I really hope they get it figured out and you start feeling good! Wishing you the very best!!❤️

I don't know if it is common or not but I wasn't hungry on my pre-op either. I was only allowed 4 shakes and up to 6 select items from a list I was given. (fresh veggies, yogurt) I just assumed my mind and body were focused and on the same page for once and working together. haha

My plan allows any "Calorie, sugar and carbonation free" drinks to be counted as fluids but they suggest that at least 46oz of your daily fluids are actually water.

Pureed was the worse for me. I have texture issues and I knew right off the bat I would have a hard time with that. So, I went for foods that are already "almost" pureed by nature so giving them a little extra pureed texture wouldn't be as bad. I had, refried beans, taco meat using ground turkey, chili, egg salad and chicken salad.. all pureed. I also drank shakes so that early out I was barely eating any actual food. The other tip I have is to try new foods at home, as you probably learned by your mushroom soup experience. You have to slowly test foods, as some things will bother you. Absolute worse case, have a shake for a meal at work until you get a little further out and learn what you can eat. Take your time, be patient. You got this!

Any bariatric vitamin will do. You need a minimum a Multivitamin and daily calcium to start and then your team will adjust from that based on your blood work. The "melts" and "chews" are unbearably disgusting to me, so I would advise you try to find a "sample" size and taste them before you invest lots of money. Some plans allow capsules and some don't, I was allowed and luckily have no problems with handling them. Maybe you could ask about capsules, unless of course you find you like the taste.